Our Endless Numbered Days
Chapter 5-Hide and Seek
June 2, 1981
"Jojo!" A loud whisper in her ear urged and Josie groaned, shocked out of her slumber. "Jojo, wake up!"
"G'way, Henry," Josie whimpered at her brother. Her tired, hungover brain knew it had to be him; he was the only one who ever called her Jojo.
"Jojo, you need to wake up. I can't take your temperature if you're asleep." Forcing her eyes open with a sigh, Josie tried to focus on her brother.
"Why'dya need to take my temperature, Henry?"
"Mrs. Pierce told Mommy that you were ill at breakfast. Please don't be sick Jojo. I don't want you to be sick. If you got sick, you'd have to go to the hospital and then you'd die and never come back."
"Henry, I'm not sick. I'm a bit under the weather, sure, but I'm not going to go to the hospital and die. I promise. I just need to sleep." Josie closed her eyes again, willing sleep to return.
"Pinky promise," Henry demanded. With a sigh, Josie lifted up her arm, presenting her pinky to the child. He crossed his pinky with hers and squeezed.
"There, all better." Henry nodded.
"Will you feel better in an hour?" Henry asked.
"I dunno. I might if you let me sleep."
"Then we can play a game?" Josie nodded.
"Yes, Henry. When I'm feeling better, we'll play a game." The boy smiled brightly. "Now scoot, you."
"Okay, bye Jojo!" Henry bounced off her bed and ran out the door, closing it softly behind him. Josie lay still for another couple of minutes, regaining her bearings. She was awake now, however much she didn't want to be. Forcing her eyes to reopen, she stared at the ceiling. So she was definitely in her room. Josie couldn't remember how she had gotten to her room, but she was certainly lying in her comfortable bed, still in her clothes from last night—even her shoes were still on her feet. Concentrating, she tried to recall anything from the previous night; she had been so excited when Matt had called, but waking up now, she could feel it in the pit of her stomach that something had happened.
Matt. Oh Mattie. Smacking herself on the forehead, Josie groaned. "Oh God," she muttered, the mess coming back to her now. "Fuck."
"That's not very lady like language there." At the sound of another, male voice in her room, Josie sat up quickly, her eyes wide opened now.
"Fuck," she said again, her eyes landing on Sirius sitting in the chair next to her bed, sans a shirt. "What the hell are you doing in my room?" Sirius shrugged.
"Fell asleep here. Only woke up a bit before you."
"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"Just making sure you didn't die. You were a little drunk when you stumbled in at the wee hours of the morning, Flanders."
"I…I don't remember. The last thing I remember is getting in a fight with Matt."
"Well, whatever you did after that involved lots of alcohol. You couldn't even stand up right. Wound up knocking over a vase and waking Mrs. Pierce up."
"Oh shit. The one in the foyer, right?" Sirius nodded. "Mum's going to have a cow."
"Um yeah. Don't worry about it. I fixed it."
"Fixed it?"
"Yeah, fixed it. Didn't do it for you or anything, either. Mrs. Pierce was going to have to clean up the mess and, well, it just didn't seem fair to make the elderly do something like that when I could just wave my wand and make everything better." Sirius looked at his hands, doing his best to seem nonchalant.
"You magicked it into the trash can or something?" Josie inquired, wearily.
"Um, why would I do that when a simple reparo will fix it?"
"Fix it, like fix it, fix it?"
"What does that even mean?" Sirius responded, his eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"Like, there's no way to tell it's broken or anything? No glue, tape, adhesive marks?"
"Um, no. Well, that's not true. There's a little nick on it. The spell missed the sliver of glass in your arm. That's somewhere around here, I don't really know where though; lost track of it in the night. You might want to be careful where you step for a little bit." Sirius explained.
"Christ, I want to be magical. I could get away with everything," Josie replied, looking amazed. Sirius laughed.
"Somehow I think you get in enough trouble without it."
"That's true." Josie agreed with a sigh. She stretched her arms over her head, tugging at the sore muscles. Her head ached a bit, her back was stiff, and she was sure her hair was a mess. With a yawn, Josie shifted her legs out from under the covers and stood up. "Now's as good as time as any to get up, I suppose. Henry'll be back before I know it and I'd like to have a shower before that happens."
"Er, right." Sirius said, standing up himself and making his way towards the door. "I should just go, then."
"Um, before you go…" She trailed off, searching for the words. Sirius stopped and faced her.
"Yeah?"
"Um. Last night. Did I say…I mean…this is rather awkward…I just…"
"You didn't embarrass yourself that much, if that's what you're asking. And apart from a little bout of self pitying nonsense, you didn't say anything stupid." Josie sighed.
"That's a relief. Thanks. It's just that….well… I don't remember." Sirius shrugged.
"It happens to the best of us."
"And, uh, I didn't mention why Matt and I were fighting? I mean, it would be a lot easier to apologize if I knew what I did to make him mad."
"You didn't mention anything. You did say you told him about me though."
"Oh shit." Sirius shrugged.
"He probably didn't believe you anyways. You'll think of something to tell him to explain that away."
"I suppose." Sirius nodded and turned back towards exiting the room, but paused once more.
"Uh, Josie?" Josie, who had, upon believing the conversation to be concluded, entered the bathroom, popped her head back out.
"Hmm?"
"I may be out of line, saying this. I mean, I don't know you very well. And I don't know this Matt character at all. But in my opinion, the last thing you should do is apologize. He doesn't deserve one. I mean, he just left you to fend for yourself when you were clearly too drunk to do so. I don't care what you did, there's no excuse for him to take off. You deserve better." Josie stared blankly at him after he finished, her mouth opened slightly in shock. "And I'm, uh, just gonna go now." The next instant, Sirius had left the room, closing the door behind him. Josie stared after him for a second, a sweet smile forming on her lips. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had said something so nice to her.
Showered and dressed in a fresh set of clothes, Josie stood in the doorway of her bathroom, her eyes focused on the phone sitting on the nightstand. Her face was blank, but her mind was not. She was struggling to remember the argument from the night before.
They had argued in the basement and he had stormed out. She remembered that much. He had accused her of not telling him anything. But what did it matter if she told him or not? They were friends—good ones, yes—but that didn't entitle him to know every thought that came through her head. And if she wanted to talk about it, she certainly wasn't going to do it in Dylan's basement. What right did he even have to be angry?
Sirius was right; the jerk didn't deserve an apology. It didn't matter how belligerent she got; she was clearly too drunk to make a decision. And he had just left her. What if she had been unable to get inside? What if someone had abducted her? She had told him that security was tightened because of a new threat-yes a magical one, but he didn't know that! Something terrible could have happened to her!
Let him call her and apologize. The situation certainly warranted one for his callous behavior. She was Josie freakin' Flanders; she wasn't treated like she was a speck of dust—to be swept away and never thought about again. Matt would call; he always did after a night when she drank too much. And when he did, she would certainly give him a piece of her mind for his behavior. Only after he admitted he was in the wrong would she consider apologizing for her behavior. Resolute in her decision, Josie stalked out of her room and ran directly into her mother.
"Josie, darling, I was just coming to look for you!"
"Uh, hi Mum." Florence shoved a piece of cardstock into her hands.
"What do you think?" Josie looked down at the rectangle of paper; it was a simple, cream invitation with a gold border. In gold, elegant script read the words 'You are cordially invited to the celebration of Josephine Victoria Flanders' eighteenth birthday'.
"Um, Mum, I thought we agreed that there wasn't going to be a party."
"Nonsense. We can't not have a party. This is your eighteenth birthday, Josie."
"But dad said—"
"Oh it doesn't matter what he said at dinner last night. I managed to talk him into it at breakfast this morning. Of course, there were some limitations—family only. And the Reynolds'; they're practically family anyway. So I'm inviting my sisters and their families, and both sets of grandparents."
"Mum, that's seventeen people."
"That's not that many. If I had it my way, we'd have at least fifty here. And I would invite your friends and their families, but you told me they're away."
"You don't have to invite the Reynolds, you know."
"Of course I do. It won't be long until they're actually family."
"What exactly are you suggesting, mother?"
"Well, I think we all know that it's just a matter of time before Matt proposes. He might wait until you both finish university, but that's only a few years. It's right around the corner."
"Matt and I aren't dating and are certainly not going to get engaged anytime soon!" Josie exclaimed, outraged and frustrated. Her mother reached out and put a calming hand on her arm.
"It doesn't matter if you're not so called dating right now. I completely understand your reluctance to put a label on your relationship with Matthew. But the inevitability of your relationship with Matthew is that in a few years, you're going to be married, settled down, and starting to have children."
"What the hell, Mum! This is 1981, not 1951! I'm my own person; I have my own goals and dreams and not a single one of them includes marrying Matthew Reynolds!" Josie ripped her arm out of her mother's grasp and stormed down the hall to go look for Henry. Flossie called after her, something about watching her language, but Josie was too heated to care.
Back in his room, Sirius was thinking. He was laying on his bed, his left leg bent towards him at the knee, his right leg hanging slightly off the end of the bed, swinging lazily. His hands were behind his head and he stared directly at the ceiling, his eyes unfocused. The window next to his bed was open and the sounds of people walking around the city reached his ears. There was some sort of dispute going on down the street—a car accident, although Sirius didn't know or understand what that was—but Sirius paid it no mind. Instead, he was lost in thought. This had been happening to him a lot these days, even before he arrived at the Flanders'. James and Lily were in hiding, Remus was off doing god knows what—although, Sirius did wonder exactly how the werewolf did spend his time-, and Peter was working at an entry level job at Gringotts. The only companion that Sirius had had for the weeks coming up to his assignment at the prime minister's were Mad Eye Moody, who wasn't exactly the best conversationalist, and Steven Horton, a good natured fellow who Sirius worked with, but not someone with whom he would share his innermost thoughts.
So instead of talking, Sirius thought. He had spent countless hours locked in his head, turning over everything about this war, about all his problems and looking for some sort of solution towards it. When thinking about the present got to be too much, he thought about what life would be like in the future, after he and his friends got through it. The thought of even one of them not making it through this war wasn't an option and was automatically shut out of Sirius' mind. He couldn't think like that. He already knew that he had too much going on in his head. If that thought got in his mind, it would never get out and it would drive him to the brink of insanity.
But to be honest, Sirius was tired of thinking. He supposed that this was payback for not thinking all those years, growing up, at Hogwarts, only acting on impulse. Now he had nothing else to do but think. And he was sick of it. He needed to talk to someone, needed to do something other than lie in this bed, in this stifling room, and think.
And as if he called her to him, Josie whipped open the door. A little shocked, but a hefty bit relieved to be in the presence of another person, Sirius sat up and opened his mouth to say something. But Josie completely ignored him, instead, striding purposefully into his room and dropping right to the floor, examining under his bed. Confused, Sirius stood up and tried to figure out what she was looking for.
"Uh…" No words came to Sirius as Josie laid on her stomach on his floor, peering under his bed. Not finding what she was looking for, she sighed, pushing herself up into sitting position and looking around the rest of the room carefully. When her eyes landed on Sirius she paused and her face softened from the determined look that was present for her searching.
"So this is where they put you, huh? I should have guessed."
"What exactly are you doing?" Sirius asked about her strange behavior
"Henry and I are playing hide-and-seek again," she explained.
"And you thought he would be under my bed?"
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time he's hidden there. It's one of his favorite spots, to be honest."
"And you couldn't have just asked if he was there?"
"How do I know you wouldn't have lied and said no? I learned long ago that in games of hide-and-seek, there's no point in asking anyone if they've seen Henry. It's easier to just check for myself."
"Oh. Okay then." What else was he supposed to say? The more time he spent around Josie Flanders, the less words he could come up with. She said and did things that, in a million years, he would never expect. She was unpredictable, surprising, exciting, if not exasperating at some points. Perhaps it was a muggle thing—perhaps this was how all muggles were; Sirius would have to ask Lily the next chance he got.
"Well, I should get back on the hunt." Sirius nodded at her and Josie rewarded him with a small smile. She left the room just as quickly as she came in, no trace of her left behind. Sirius sighed and moved back towards the bed to sit down and resume his thinking. And then Josie did something else unexpected—she came back. She stood in the doorways, her posture slightly awkward and indicative of her slight anxiousness over what she was about to do.
"Yes? Did you forget something?" Sirius asked, politely.
"Do, uh, you want to join the game? Help me find Henry, then we'll do this thing properly." At twenty one, Sirius never thought he would desire to play hide-and-seek. But in that moment, there was nothing he wanted to do more. He nodded.
"Yeah, sure." Josie's smile this time was wide. Sirius thought she looked incredibly pretty when she smiled.
"Great. Shall we?" Josie extended her arm to him. He chuckled at her actions, but looped his arm through hers. Arm in arm, the two exited Sirius' room in search of Henry.
A/N: Thanks for all the support I've been getting on this story! Every review, every alert notification makes me incredibly happy. I'm glad to know that there are people out there who enjoy this fic. I can't tell if I like this chapter or not, so you'll all have to let me know what you think.
Again, please see the profile page for my excuses about not updating. I promise that I will get you all a chapter in August, before I go. But that's the best I can do. Until next time!
NaP