So, yes, this took a very, very long time. And I'm very sorry about the delay, but oh you have no idea how much grief Friday was giving me. I don't know how many times I had to rewrite it until I finally got this.
Fortunately, though, I have Saturday and Sunday properly mapped out, so they'll be up considerably more quickly than this one was.
Enjoy!
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonnie and blithe and good and gay.
Traditional Nursery Rhyme
Friday's child is loving and giving.
It was loud in the Department of Mysteries. Too loud, really. Sirius could barely think with all the noise – of course, not much thought was necessary. It was all reactionary.
Bellatrix – cousin Bellatrix who wasn't his cousin anymore – was just before him. Laughing and shrieking and taunting, just the way she always used to.
Sirius didn't understand how, after all those years, after Azkaban, she could still be so much like her old self.
But he didn't dwell on that, for the woman with mad eyes who was no longer his cousin was laughing and shrieking and taunting him, and Harry was just there. Just on the other side of the room, looking so like James that it almost hurt to see him, at times like these.
Just like old times – cousin Bella laughing, and James just there, laughing too, but for a different reason.
And Sirius thought he might give anything, anything to see Harry laughing and smiling the way James did.
And Sirius thought that he could make it happen. He knew he could make it happen, if only Bella would stop. But of course she'd never stop, so he would have to stop her.
He ducked.
A curse flashed by him, and it was Sirius' turn to laugh, because Bella, young Bella, so like her former self, had never missed him before.
But Bella, old Bella, wasn't her former self. And she didn't like it when Sirius – little baby Sirius who never bested her at anything – managed to skip away from her curse like it was so easy.
So Bella did the only thing she could – she sent a Stunning spell at him. Nothing dangerous, but he was laughing, and that was guaranteed to hit, to teach him a lesson.
But she didn't see – or she didn't know – that the archway leading nowhere was behind him, and when the bolt of red hit his chest, he was still laughing, thinking I've beat her now. I'll get her, and then I can help Harry –
And the laugh was still on his face, in his eyes, as he fell through and didn't emerge from the other side, like he should have.
I do love reviews, you know. (hint hint, nudge nudge)