Wallflower
Chapter Twenty-One: Order of the Phoenix
Sirius was bored. Today was Adelaide's first day at SMU, and now he was left at home alone trying to figure out what to do. He thought maybe he could read, but he got tired of that after ten minutes, and then he thought maybe he could play the muggle card game, solitaire, but it only succeeded in reminding him that Adelaide was off at SMU and he was left at home alone. He blamed the fact that it was called 'Solitaire'.
So, he ended up mindlessly levitating objects to entertain him, and finally around three o' clock he heard the familiar 'pop' of apparition he grinned in relief. He turned from his seat on the couch to see Adelaide standing behind him with a large smile on her face.
"How was school?" he asked and her smile didn't fade as she bounded over to him and took a seat beside him before leaning and propping her head up on his shoulder.
"It's school, what do you expect?" she asked, but she giggled, "Other then that it was wonderful. The teachers all seem really nice, and no one hates me." Sirius chuckled.
"Yeah, it would kind of suck if everyone hated you right off the bat," he said, and she giggled, before sighing and letting her eyes drift close.
"I forgot how school was like," she murmured, "and I can't help but wish that you, James, Lily, and Remus were all there to stand by me."
"Well, I may not physically be there, but my minds constantly on you," he said, wrapping an arm around her wais and running his thumb over her hip, "I can't stop thinking about you and it's driving me insane." Adelaide hummed in response and for the moment the just sat there blissfully.
"We should have a Halloween party," she said suddenly, causing Sirius to glance down at her. Her eyes were still closed, but she was already smiling at the ideas going through her head.
"Oh really?" he asked, and she nodded before snuggling closer.
"We could invite all of our old friends that we never see any more," she explained, "and we can just have fun together and we can tell them about our engagement."
"Will we have time to plan it?" he asked, "I'm sure you have class work to do." Adelaide snorted and cracked open an eye to look up at him with an eyebrow cocked in amusement.
"Since when do you care about class work?" she asked.
"Since it's your future we're talking about," he said simply, "I could care less if I succeed in life, but if any thing I want you to succeed." She smiled and sighed again, before nuzzling her face closer to him.
"Technically, I have so much money I could sustain myself for over five lifetimes," she said, "so my education is more so I don't feel like a lazy bum. I never wanted to be one of those snobby rich kids who don't have to learn anything because they get all their wishes handed to them on a silver platter."
"And that's why I love you," Sirius cut in before she could work herself into a fit, "you don't slack off just because you have it easier then most." She sighed, and shook her head.
"Not really," she murmured, "I'm pretty ordinary once you think about it. I'm not like Lily, who's just so unique and incredibly heart-warming."
"But that's why I love you," Sirius pushed, angling himself so he could look at her face better, "I love the fact that you're so normal. You give my life some normalcy that's hard to come by when you're family hates you and your best friend is a werewolf. You're an attachment to the normal world and you keep me from getting to proud of myself." Adelaide snorted.
"And we all know what a disaster that could be," she murmured. He grinned, before leaning down and pressing his lips to her firmly, cupping her cheek with his hand. They pulled away slightly breathless. She smiled at him, before laying down on the couch and positioning her head in his lap with a tired sigh, "Who would we invite to the party?"
"If we have it," Sirius corrected, and she shrugged.
"Sure, whatever," she mumbled, "There's obviously James, Lily, Remus, and Peter."
"You want Peter to come?" he asked, and she shrugged.
"He's your friend, and if you want him here then he can be here," she said simply. He hummed and idly twirled a strand of hair around his finger, "Then there's Elise, and I guess Caryn. Do we have any friends other then that?" Sirius shrugged.
"Those are the only ones I remember," he said truthfully. Adelaide nodded.
"Then that's who we'll invite," she murmured.
"You really want to do this, huh?" he asked, and she nodded again before yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah. It'll be fun to have everyone together," she replied, cracking open an eye to look at him, "Are you hungry?"
"Not really, no," She laughed.
"Good, because I don't want to cook today," she mumbled, "We'll get Nobbie to fix something up." Sirius raised his eyebrows and chuckled.
"The day has finally arrived when Adelaide doesn't feel like cooking," he said dramatically, "The world must be ending!" she snorted and lightly hit his chest, before drifting off to sleep. Sirius sighed and rested his head on the back of the couch. He had waited all day for Adelaide to get home, and when she does she takes a nap first thing.
But hey, a tired Adelaide was better then no Adelaide at all. Even if she was tired, she still managed to find time to plan out a party, and by the next week she had sent out invitations and got down the plans for what was going to happen. Sirius tried helping out, but after a few minutes he got so lost he thought it would be best if he just laid back and help only when asked. Before long, it was Halloween and Sirius was left to sit on the couch and watch as Adelaide ran through the rooms, waving her wand and setting up last-minute decorations.
"Caryn's bringing a date," Adelaide murmured as she hurried by Sirius as she set up some floating Jack-O-Lanterns and conjured up some plastic bats and spiders that she charmed to fly or crawl around the house, "I forgot who, though."
"We've got two hours before they even start to arrive," Sirius said, watching her in amusement, "You need to calm down before you have a panic attack." Adelaide froze in mid step, before sighing and taking a seat beside him on the couch.
"You're right," she said after a second, "I need to calm down, relax, and take deep soothing breaths…" She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against Sirius peacefully, "Why was I panicking again?" Sirius laughed and stared up at the ceiling that was now draped in fake cobwebs and spiders. There was silence as they sat there for an indefinite amount of time, when they heard a knock on the door.
"How long have we been setting here!?" Adelaide asked with wide eyes, glancing over at the clock. She swore, "it's eight o' clock!"
"Seriously?" he asked, glancing at the clock, "Huh. That was fast." Adelaide wasn't listening though, and she scurried over to the door and threw it open, smiling as she spotted Remus, who smiled as he saw her flustered expression.
"Lose track of time?" he asked casually, and Adelaide blushed and laughed in embarrassment.
"Yeah, I was panicking earlier and I sat down, and before I knew it, it was eight!" Remus kept smiling as she moved out of the way. Adelaide closed the door behind him and hurried into the kitchen when she waved her wand and the fridge opened for food to levitate out and arrange itself on the table, and the oven slid open and the still warm food to follow. She closed the doors quickly and smiled proudly, before getting out a punch bowl and pouring in some fruit punch.
"The house looks great," Remus complimented.
"Thanks," Adelaide and Sirius said simultaneously, causing them both to glance at each other with a raised eyebrow. Adelaide sighed and shook her head, when there was another knock at the door. She smiled at the two before hustling to the living room again and opening the door, where Lily and James stood with smiles and their arms wrapped around each other.
"Hey!" Adelaide said with a large smile as she hugged both of them and kissed them on the cheek, "how was Cancun?"
"Brilliant," Lily responded happily, her cheeks flushed, "I got so excited when we got the invitation."
"She gave me a papercut when she waved it in front of my nose," James inputted with a grin, "started panicking and promised to make it up to me." He winked and Adelaide blushed while Lily pushed him inside.
"So, what have you been up to?" she asked eagerly. They made their way into the kitchen, and it wasn't much later that there was another knock on the door and Peter, Elise, and her boyfriend Michael Abercrombie stood on the doorstep, Michael looking a bit out of place but smiled, and attempted to go with the flow. Thrty minutes in, Adelaide glanced at the door with furrowed eyebrows.
"Where's Caryn?" she asked suddenly, causing lily too glance at the door to.
"Probably made a pit stop with her boyfriend of the week for a quick shag," she said nonchalantly with a shrug. Adelaide sent her a scolding glance half-heartedly, when there was a final knock on the door.
"That must be them," she said under her breath, "I hope it's not Stevens or Parkers." Lily laughed and Adelaide hurried to the door, opening it with a smile. Her smile faltered a bit when she saw who was on the other side.
"Hello Caryn, Annalisa," she said sweetly, "I thought you said you were bringing a date?" Caryn tilted her head curiously, an odd smile toying on her lips.
"This is my date," she said innocently, "Annalisa Bertucci; we've been dating for two months now." Annalisa smiled alluringly at Adelaide and nodded her greeting.
"Oh!" Adelaide said, "Well, I'm sure you could understand why I thought differently." Caryn just smiled, and Adelaide noticed that her teeth were straighter and whiter then before, not to mention she was thinner and her cheeks looked as if they had caved in. She was the exact opposite of Annalisa, who was as full-figured as ever. Adelaide kept smiling and moved out of the way to allow them inside, closing the door behind them with wide eyes.
She had not seen that coming.
She hurried back into the kitchen with a calm expression, though her head was still reeling in surprise, and she could tell that the others were surprised as well; everyone except for Peter.
"I believe that's everyone," Adelaide said with a smile, ignoring the way Lily was looking at her, eyes screaming at her to talk with her in the other room. Adelaide kept smiling, ignoring all the surprised glances, "Who wants pie?"
"I'll take some," Annalisa said smoothly with a polite smile, "I've been craving pie all day."
Slowly people got used to her appearance and they acted as normal as ever, as if they were all friends. Annalisa seemed to fit right in, to most everyone's surprise, and had no problem with anyone.
"So, I hear you're attending SMU?" Annalisa asked as she licked whip cream off of her fork as she ate her pie, "How's that going?"
"Oh, it's all going really well," Adelaide said with a smile, "I miss Hogwarts, of course, but there aren't as many distractions at SMU as there were at Hogwarts."
"Perfectly understandable," Annalisa agreed, forking another piece of pie, "how do you and Sirius manage it?" Adelaide tilted her head slightly.
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. Annalisa shrugged as she swallowed.
"Well, you're at school half the day, and Sirius is at home," she said, "Do you get to spend much time together?" Adelaide laughed, causing Annalisa to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"You must not know," Adelaide said with a kind smile, "I moved in with Sirius after Hogwarts; after daddy died I couldn't go back home without having a breakdown." Annalisa formed an 'o' with her mouth, before twirling the whip cream with her fork.
"You've been together a long time now," she said idly, "aren't you guys sick of each other?" Adelaide just smiled and glanced off towards the living room where Sirius sat with Remus, James, and Peter, laughing heartily.
"I'm not tired of him," she said with a smile, "I don't think I could ever get tired of him." Annalisa hummed in acknowledgement.
"Are you planning on marrying him?" she asked, and Adelaide started in surprise.
"I completely forgot," she murmured, before grinning, "He already proposed." Annalisa smiled.
"Really? May I see your ring?" Adelaide nodded with a bubbly smile and held out her hand, while Annalisa gently grasped it and examined the ring curiously, and for a second Adelaide thought she saw jealousy flash through her eyes.
"It's really nice," she complimented, "It suits you well." Adelaide blushed.
"Thank you," she said, "I can't believe I forgot to tell everyone." Annalisa just smiled in understanding and released her hand.
"Well, you're probably just so relaxed that you didn't notice anything," she said before picking up her fork again, "Of course, you can tell everyone in time." Adelaide smiled before placing her plate in the sink.
"We should talk more some time," she said kindly, "for a Slytherin, you're not half bad." Adelaide winked playfully, and Annalisa laughed, though it didn't reach her eyes at all and instead she looked quite sad; Adelaide didn't mention it.
"Yes," she said softly, "You're not half bad, yourself." She stared for a minute, before coughing and standing, "Well, I'm getting tired, I'm afraid that I'll need to leave."
"Are you sure?" Adelaide asked with a frown, "did I say something wrong?" Annalisa just smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
"No, no, none of this is your fault," she said, and Adelaide frowned as she clearly heard the dark tone of her voice. Annalisa acted normally though, "I'm just tired, and I have a big day ahead of me. You place, things to do, people to see, that sort of thing."
"Of course," Adelaide said with a small smile, "It was lovely talking to you." Annalisa hummed slightly, and her eyes were very distant.
"I'll talk to you again soon," she said idly, "just tell Caryn I went home if she asks, ok?" Adelaide nodded and Annalisa offered her one more brief smile, before apparating on the spot. Adelaide was silent for a moment, before she picked up Annalisa's empty plate and placing it in the sink. She remained silent, before sighing and heading into the living room with a smile on her face as she pushed Annalisa to the far corner of her mind.
The party ended at eleven, with Lily and James being the last to leave when all the food was gone, and all that was left was the dishes. Of course, Nobbie insisted on cleaning up and Adelaide turned to Sirius with a smile before they headed up and went to sleep. November passed quickly with Adelaide passing through her classes with ease, and then the twentieth of December came, giving Adelaide two and a half weeks off of school, which she spent decorating for Christmas and going out to eat with Sirius.
On Christmas morning, Sirius woke up to Adelaide nibbling on his ear and giggling. He groaned and opened an eye to see Adelaide lying on top of him, something he had grown accustomed to after the months of living together.
"It's Christmas," she murmured softly, burying her nose into his neck and sighing blissfully, "but now that I've woken you up, I don't want to get up." Sirius chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist and running his fingers up her back.
"We can just pass the time some other way," he offered, and he felt a shiver move down her spine. She turned her head to watch him, and she giggled suddenly.
"Well, as tempting as that sounds if we don't get down soon Nobbie will probably come up to make sure we didn't die in our sleep; he's been known to do that," she explained, and Sirius groaned.
"Can't we make a 'do not disturb' sign?" he asked pitifully, and she laughed before pushing up and straightening her top.
"Well, if we were to take a shower…" She trailed off and arched an eyebrow. He grinned before he pushed himself up onto his elbows and nodded his head towards the door.
"Lead the way,"
After they had their fun in the shower, they got dressed and made it downstairs beside a hand rail decorated with bright white lights and garland, they came to the living room where there was a Christmas Village setting peacefully on top of the mantle and snowing, a large tree decorated in white lights and a variety of ornaments, and mistletoe hanging at every doorway in the house 9not that they needed it).
"Happy Christmas," Adelaide said with a smile as she grabbed one of the presents under the tree and handed it to him with a smile.
The day passed peacefully with them exchanging presents and having eggs benedict for breakfast (to Adelaide's absolute delight) before they spent the rest of the day lounging on the couch and watching the Christmas Village, which was really like a muggle soap opera. At one point in time, the baker was yelling at his daughter for frolicking with the rival bakers son, having walked in on them in their room, and the judge was just about to go home to see his wife cheating on him with his cousin, who was blackmailing her.
"Wizards have sick twisted minds," Sirius murmured, and Adelaide snorted before snuggling back into his arms.
"We are very odd, aren't we?" she asked, when a knock sounded at the door. Adelaide blinked in surprise before standing and hurrying towards the door with a frown. She opened it quickly, and smiled in confusion.
"Professor Dumbledore!" she said in surprise, "What…how can I help you?" Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled.
"Actually, there was something I had wanted to talk to the two of you about for a few months now," he explained, "I hope this is not a bad time…?"
"Oh, not at all," Adelaide said with a shake of her head. She moved out of the way and closed the door behind him, and offered him a seat. He sat in the recliner and Sirius watched him in confusion, but couldn't think of anything to say. Dumbledore kept a peaceful smile on his face, and held out two pieces of candy.
"Would you care for a Lemon Drop?" he asked pleasantly, and they both shook their heads.
"No, thank you," Adelaide said politely. Dumbledore nodded, and stuck his hand back into his robe. His smile turned serious and he eyed them carefully.
"I believe you are both aware of the current state of the Wizarding world," he said without preamble. They both nodded, and he continued, "and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have previously expressed you desire to help fight the war against Lord Voldemort?"
"Yes," Sirius responded, while Adelaide simply nodded. Dumbledore smiled.
"Then I believe I have a proposition for you," he said kindly, "how would you two like to join the Order of the Phoenix?"
-
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all things concerning belong to J.K. Rowling. I own Adelaide Vicknair, Vanessa Wolfe, Caryn Gree, Elise Barnes, Madeline Vicknair, Annalisa Bertucci, Professor Sicily and Jean Vicknair.
A/N: OK, this bugs me. It's you 'shake your head' when it's a negative gesture, and 'nod' when it's a positive gesture. I hate it when someone says that someone shook their head, but they mean it as if they nodded their heads. It's confusing.
And I'm losing my steam, I think…I'm just so tired all the time and I can't process my thoughts very well…I'm sorry about that if my chapters seem to be moving fast. There are only 27 chapters in this, and after watching the order of the phoenix for the sixth time I got ideas. I'm not sure how my updating streak is gonna last, since it finally caught up with me and now I have writers block, so don't be surprised if I update a bit later then every other day. Sorry.
OK, Annalisa is back in the picture and is DEFINITELY up to something. Why else would she date Caryn??? Because we know she isn't a lesbian…well, I know. I hope you know by now. O_o. I thought chapter 15 cleared that one up…
Yours truly,
B.E.N.
