Disclaimer: I wish.
Dedication: to the EEOC. Oh, how I hate thee. Shall I count the ways? No, but at least I finished my paper on it. YES!
XxXxX
Anyone who had been in the room when Aly had stormed off would have told you that they wished that Aly had forgiven her father and had taken back what she had said. But all three of the boys waited for days to see a change in their headmaster's mood, but it never lifted. Aly went back to her life, a life without he father. She quietly served her first two detentions without so much of a glance at her father and eventually he gave up and let McGonagall supervise her. One of the boys was with her each detention and of the three, Remus was the only one who actually took it upon himself to talk to her about it.
"You should talk to him," Remus insisted.
But Aly just spat back at him, "Mind your own business, Lupin."
The term continued on and the snow melted to springy grass. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup and James' popularity seemed to swell as well as his head. When the term finally ended, Aly went to Lily's for the summer without so much of a word to her father. Petunia seemed even more unbearable this summer. Every time Aly entered a room, she'd yell "Freak!" and storm off. "Ignore her" became Lily's new over-used phrase.
One hot August day, when Mr. and Mrs. Evans were both at work, there was a knock on the front door. Lily was the one who answered it.
"Good afternoon, miss. I'm here selling Remus' door to door. So far no one wants one. So, how about you? Give Remus a home?" It was Sirius in a ridiculous hat and tie. Remus was standing behind him looking thoroughly annoyed. His eyes traveled to Lily and he smiled, "Hello."
"Hi," Lily said kindly.
Aly, who hadn't been in the room, appeared behind Lily as Petunia could be heard yelling "Freak!" somewhere in the distance. Aly leaned over Lily's shoulder to get a glimpse of their visitors. All either Sirius or Remus could see of her was her head. Aly smiled at Sirius and said "What you selling?"
For a response, Sirius reached up and removed his hat and in the tone of a beggar said, "Please, miss, won't you give our dear friend, Remus, a home?"
Remus looked annoyed again, "I think you're the one who needs a new home, Sir."
Sirius' head snapped towards him and he growled through clenched teeth, "Shut up."
"Ah," Aly said impersonating a wise, old, Chinese karate instructor she had seen while watching TV with Lily's dad, "We are but two of the same card." She stepped back and did a bow causing her to disappear from sight for a moment.
"So, you still haven't talked to your dad?" Sirius asked slowly, almost cautiously. It was Remus' turn to snap his head and say, "Shut up." Aly looked on in confusion.
"Sorry, touchy subject," Sirius explained quickly.
Lily turned and looked at Aly. "You haven't talked to your dad? You told me you patched things up."
"Yeah right," Sirius stated. Lily's head shot towards him and Aly's eyes went wide and she started shaking her head frantically behind Lily. "Aly hasn't talked to him since—"
"What's James doing?" Aly said trying to change the subject.
"James? Here? At my house?" Lily yelped. "Oh, hell, no."
"Their vocabulary has started meshing," Sirius whispered to Remus in fright. "It's almost like two Aly's."
Even though he was whispering, Aly was able to pick up what he said and chuck her flip-flop at him.
James didn't hold Lily's attention too long. "So, your dad doesn't know you're here?" she snapped at Aly, her eyes still on James, who was examining the mailbox in awe.
"Course he does," Aly said casually. "Come'on," Aly said waving the boys inside.
"Ohh, no," Lily mumbled, but Remus and Sirius were already inside.
She stood in the door frame watching James as she contemplated what to do. One of her neighbors appeared to be watching James also as he played with the flag on the box. "Potter, come here," Lily hissed.
James closed the door to metal box and scurried across the yard. He gave Lily a breathless "hello" as he swept in.
Lily leaned out onto the porch. She smiled at the man who had been watching James curiously and was now observing her. "Foreign," Lily said and turned and closed the door behind her and faced the living room. Remus was sitting with a magazine he had found and was reading an article from it. It looked like one her mother's gardening magazine's from the picture of a flower bed on the cover. Aly was on the couch and Sirius was next to her examining the TV remote as he flipped animatedly through the channels. Aly sat smiling at the odd innocent boyish charm that rarely showed through Sirius' hard outer exterior. James stood right by the couch looking keenly for direction of what to do. "Sit," Lily barked at him suddenly aggravated by the whole situation. James fell onto the couch next to Aly and sat up straight, both feet planted flat on the floor.
Aly watched as Lily pounded into the kitchen. She got up and Sirius stopped channel surfing and looked up at Aly as she passed over him to follow Lily. "Dude," Remus hissed. Sirius turned to see one of the inner organs being taking out of the body. "Oh, that's pretty," he grimaced before changing the channel.
"What's wrong?" Aly asked Lily as she watched Lily pace the length of the kitchen.
"Why are they here?"
"I don't kn—"
"Yes, you do," Lily stopped and looked at her. "Did you invite them?"
"No."
Lily's face contorted into the premature lines that seemed to grace her face in times of confusion.
"Don't lie, if you really did," she barked.
"I didn't," Aly insisted.
"Really? Then why are they here?" Lily was red with anger. "You had to have invited them."
"She didn't invite us." Sirius had come into the kitchen and both girls turned to face him. "Dumbledore sent us. He figured you'd talk to us, Aly. He was worried about you."
Aly's felt her insides start to burn. It wasn't the burning she normally felt when someone mentioned her father, it was worse. It was more painful and hotter than before. "Now he's got you spying on me? This is unbelievable," she yelled and stormed out of the room leaving the other two to stare at the slammed kitchen door.
"We didn't mean any harm," Sirius said awestruck.
…….
Remus put down his magazine and moved so he could see the source of the loud clanking. Aly appeared dragging her trunk behind her. "What's going on?" Remus asked with mild concern.
"I'm leaving," Aly told him as Lily and Sirius came out of the kitchen.
"What's this?" Lily asked.
"Leaving," Aly restated as she went over the coffee table and filtered for loose homework pages she may have stuck inside a magazine.
"You can't," Lily said, "You're only 13. Where are you going to go?"
"Somewhere he can't find me."
Remus turned on Sirius, "You told her?"
"I had to. Lily was giving birth to a cow in there," he stated.
"We were told that under no conditions was Aly to know that we were here to see her for him," Remus exclaimed.
"I had to," Sirius pressed again.
During the argument, Petunia came down to investigate all the noise and when she saw the scene, she smiled wickedly and ran up to her room. James was the only one who saw her though. He was still sitting quietly.
"Aly, you can't leave."
"Yes, I can. I have to. He's watching me here."
"Because you're his daughter."
"A mere technicality."
"We were told to get info on Aly and report back and under no circumstances tell Aly why we were here."
"Now, what if it was life and death?"
"What?"
"What if Aly put her wand to my head and said to me 'Tell me why you're here or I'll kill you?' Could I tell her then?"
"Stop rambling, you moron."
"Big words from such a little man."
"Little man?"
"Yea, you heard me."
James sat watching the whole thing unravel; their voices and the tv turned into one loud echo. Petunia returned downstairs. "Lily! Lily! LILY!"
Lily's attention stirred towards her. "What?" she yelled over the sound. "Mom's on the phone for you," she said with a snigger and ran back upstairs.
"Shut up! Everyone just shut up!" she yelled to the room and everyone fell silent. Only the sound of a blender from the cooking show Sirius left on was heard. "Now, everyone be quiet for a minute. My mom's on the phone."
Lily walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Hi, Mom . . . Hmm, did she? Well, uh, yes there are boys here . . . well, I don't—" Aly snatched the phone from Lily's hand. "Hello, Mrs. Evans," she said as Lily moaned quietly and rubbed her ear. "Uh, I invited some friends over from school to help me and Lily on homework. . . oh, yeah, Lily and I, sorry . . . anyways, yes . . . well, I guess, wow. Would you look at that? They are boys. Never noticed that before." Aly pushed the phone down under her chin and asked the two boys, "Have you guys been boys long?"
Catching on to Aly's game they answered with a "Why, I guess so" and a "Can you imagine that? We're boys!" Aly put the mouthpiece back up. "Yes, I guess they are just as confused as me. . . We're just studying, it won't take long. . . oh," her face changed," I guess so. . . Well, Mrs. Evans, I may not be at dinner myself." Aly jumped over her trunk as Lily made a leap for the phone, hitting Sirius in the head with the cord and causing Remus to duck. "Oh, just out. I'll see you later, Mrs. Evans. Bye." She hung up the phone and hit Sirius in the back of the head in the process.
"You three are staying for dinner," she said grabbing her trunk.
"What?" rang from all four people; Lily's mortified, James' excited.
"I, on the other hand, am not." She started to pull her trunk towards the door.
"No," Lily said lunging at her trunk and landing on it. Aly still held onto it, so, Lily was slightly suspended from the ground. "You'll have to take me with you."
"Fine," Aly said dropping the trunk and Lily fell forward.
"I don't need my trunk anyways," she started for the door.
"Don't go."
Everyone was startled to hear James' voice speak these words. "Why? You don't care if I'm here."
"True," he said sadistically, "But he's going to follow you and find you no matter where you go. You know that. He's just going to keep looking. So, why not just stay here and be comfortable and let him have a tiny piece of mind?" James stated crossing his arms over his chest.
"Easy for you to say. You like you're parents," Aly growled.
"So? No one can really hate their parents," James said simply.
"Really?" Aly said her eyebrows rising.
"Really," Lily and Remus said agreeing with James. They both moved next to him and looked at Aly. Aly felt like something had deflated inside of her. She had to win this argument. It would make her look like a horrible person if she didn't win. But how?
Then it clicked and her clear blue eyes, so much like her father's, sparkled. "I think you're the one who needs a new home, Sir."
"Sirius, what do you think?" Aly asked, trying to keep the sound of triumph from showing through her voice.
He looked slightly startled, like a deer caught in headlights. "I don't," he shook his head, "I don't know."
"Really?" said Aly, laughter hidden in her words.
Sirius changed his face to a calm and casual look. "Why does it matter what I think anyways?"
"Because everyone else is choosing sides." Aly smiled and said, "So, do you love your parents," she pointed at the other three, "Or hate them?" she pointed at herself and then stood waiting for him to make his move.
He swayed slightly as he deliberated what to do and then took a large step behind Aly. "You can too hate your parents," he stated.
"But that's different," James started.
"Nuh-uh," Aly said, not really sure why it could be seen different.
"You're dad's not a death eater, Aly. That's a big difference." James seared and then clapped his hands over his mouth realizing what he had said.
Lily's eyes went big at the discovery and Remus glared at James. Aly, herself, was too shocked by the news to say anything. She felt Sirius move behind her and she made an instinctive grab at his shirt. He pulled free and Aly stood watching him flee out the front door. The whole house shook with the slam.
She started to move after him. "Let him go," Remus said looking very preoccupied.
She stopped short and stared at the door. She felt horrible because she knew she had caused this. She had hurt, yet another, person in her life. However, this time, she didn't feel that the person had deserved to be hurt by her.
XxXxX
Aly had gone back up to her room at the Evan's home and was lying on her bed. Her conscience had gotten the best of her. It had always been there, that little voice that told her what she was doing was right or wrong. When she was little, her father let he get away with ignoring it. As she grew, though, this became an issue. She had learned to ignore the little voice inside of her and as she reached the age where children became the most aware of their conscience she had to basically regrow hers. More and more, the voice inside her head started to sound like Lily. Lately, it popped in her head whenever her father was brought up. Lily was always there, whispering in her ear, "Go apologize" or "You can't hate him." But Aly had always been able to push it back down and get the voice to go away. All she had to do was tell herself that he deserved it and it was gone.
But now, a voice nothing like Lily's was in her ear "Go find him. Apologize for causing this." The voice was much stronger than Lily's voice usually was and it kept repeating those words over and over again, getting louder and louder until she heard the words out loud. She then realized it was herself she was hearing.
She jumped off the bed. She went over the window and looked out to the ground below. She had hoped he hadn't started walking anywhere. As she surveyed the ground a bunch of leaves and a few sticks floated down from the gutters. She realized instantly where he was for she herself had been up there many times before. She clambered out into the hallway into the upstairs bathroom and pushed herself onto the counter, using the toilet as a boost. She pushed open the window and sat on the ledge. She swung her legs around and heard her inner-Lily say that this was almost how the whole thing with her dad had started.
She swatted the voice away because this needed her full attention. There was nothing below and if she messed up she'd fall two stories to the ground. She reached up over the gutters and grabbed the chain linked rope she had wrapped around the base of the chimney the first time she had been up there. She tightened her grip and pushed herself off the ledge. She dangled down the side of the house and the started to swing side to side, slowly as first. When she had enough momentum, she kicked up and in one cat-like swoop landed with both feet on the roof, a skill that had taken many cuts and bruises and uncomfortable positions hanging off the house to achieve.
Sirius jumped in surprise as Aly straightened up.
"Hi," she said breathily, her breathe taken away from the adrenaline that always filled her veins after doing that.
He looked at her for a moment and then turned back towards the street. She had another feeling of déjà vu. Just like the lake.
"Come here," she said walking carefully over to the other side of the roof. He watched her move. "Come here," Aly snapped. He got up and slid slightly. "Be slow and careful. I don't want to have to clean Sirius-splat of the sidewalk."
He made his way over to her. "Sit," she instructed and he did. "This is the only place where no one can see you if you're up here," she explained. "Anyone could've seen you from you where, front or back. But here, you're virtually invisible to the world. Except for the fact that it is possible to see us from their yard if their outside," Aly pointed to the little brown house next store. "But if you lay down even they can't see you."
"Come up here a lot?" Sirius asked looking impressed.
"Yeah, I have to or else I'm pretty sure Lily would be buried under that tree over there. She can be a bit of a headache at times," Aly explained while pulling her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and laying her chin on her knees.
"Yeah, well, you guys seem like really good friends though."
"Yeah, she needs me." Aly smiled and then added, "And I guess I need her too. A lot more than I like to think anyways."
"That's how I feel sometimes."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I don't like to admit that I need James and Remus. And even Peter."
Aly's eyes slanted, "Where is the little—"
Sirius' looked stopped her. He knew she hated Peter, but he wasn't going to let her bash on him.
She restated her question nicer this time, "Where is Peter?"
"His parents sent him to some muggle summer camp. Camp Workshire, I think."
Aly started to laugh.
"What?"
"That's a fat camp," Aly chocked out.
Sirius' eyes went slightly wide and a smile spread across his face, but he tried his best to control it.
He let Aly laugh for a while.
"Oh, ho, that was good. I needed that." Aly told Sirius as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Sirius gave her clout-like look. "What are you up here for?" he asked trying to move the attention from Peter.
"I wanted to apologize to you. I didn't know James was going to say anything you might not want me or Lily to know." Aly was having a difficult time not laughing. She still had an image of Peter waddling around a fat camp in her head. "Sorry, sorry. I'm trying to be serious here. It's just not working."
"It's alright," Sirius said.
Aly looked at him adn he continued, "Both of them: the whole thing down there and the whole non-serious thing. Besides, you very well know that despite what my name implies, seriousness is not my strong point."
Aly didn't respond. Her laughing was subsiding and they sat quietly. Sirius seemed intent on watching a robin that was sitting on a branch of a not far off tree. Aly looked at it too.
"I do hate them though," Sirius finally said breaking the silence, but not taking his eyes off the bird. Aly turned to look at him. The lowering afternoon sun was setting odd, almost majestic statue-like shadows on his face. She was almost tempted to reach out and touch his smooth cheek.
"They haven't really gotten use to the idea that I'm not a Slytherin. It would be slightly forgivable if I was a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw, but being a Gryffindor is almost like a sin in my family. I don't care though." He stated defiantly. "That's why I think you should tell your dad you're sorry for what you said. That's why agreed to come see you. Because you have a man who loves you and cares for you and the only reason you hate him because you are just both so stubborn with each other. You don't really know the kind of hate it is to hate a parent. You hate the man behind the 'father', not your father. I hate my parents, plain and simple. And to be blatant, they hate me. I've never been an acceptable Black."
Aly still didn't say anything and Sirius still didn't look at her. He continued to watch bird and, as it jumped up on a branch, Aly watched his eyes dart upwards with it.
"They aren't technically death eaters." He turned to look at Aly finally. "They just like what the death eaters are doing. What Voldemort is doing."
Aly nodded in understanding.
"It's just that—well, they really hate muggles. More than they hate me."
"I doubt they hate you like you think they do. How could anyone hate you? You try so hard to make everyone laugh," she said suddenly feeling sleepy, her chin bumping against her knees as she talked.
He was looking at her and he smiled with an odd gleam in his eyes. Their rich brown seemed to blaze black. "No," he said sourly, "They hate me. My jokes have no effect on them. They've long past destroyed my spirit at home so I don't even attempt jokes anymore. Plus, I could careless if they laugh."
Even as he said this, Aly was sure that he really did care. She could hear it in his voice. She had a sudden feeling that he tried very hard to make them laugh and felt her heart break slightly at the thought of him trying so hard and then his parents snubbing him.
"My dad broke my spirit at home too," she told him.
"Your dad? Really?" he looked faintly surprised, but like he was still in his own ravine of thoughts.
"Yeah," she mumbled, sleep still calling her. "It's not really one thing he does, it's all the little things. Like forgetting my birthday and having Christmas a day late. Minor stuff. It just hurts me." Sirius's attention seemed to come back to being fully on her. "I don't know. It just makes me mad that he seems to care more about his students than he does for his own daughter. They've always come first. Even when I was little."
Sirius licked his lips and ventured something he had been wondering since he had found out who Aly was, "What about your mom?"
Aly turned away from him, not sure if she wanted to talk about her mom. The robin had flown off and left Aly with nothing to stare at. She took that as a sign. "She died."
Sirius seemed to want to know more but didn't want to press it. Aly looked at him and captured his face in her mind. His black eyes had seemed to melt back to their luscious brown color and Aly felt compelled to flick the loose piece of hair out of his face. She realized that she had seen him look like this before. After her vision, he had worn the same concerned look, so devoid of mockery or laughter. She had trusted him with that, why not this?
She plunged into the story of her mother and everything that lead up to her, Aly, arrival. Her throat was parched from talking and the beating down sun.
"I killed her." The words came out hoarse and cracking.
"No, you didn't" Sirius said wrapping any arm around her shoulders. "You were just merely the byproduct of what killed her. The birth killed her, not you."
"Well, if it wasn't for me she wouldn't have ever had to give birth."
"But she wanted to you, Aly. She decided to have you. She knew the risks involved. She really loved you."
Aly was unaware that she had started crying, but she sniffled and replied, "I guess she did."
She smiled at Sirius, "We really are two of the same card, aren't we?"
"Yeah, a black spade and a red heart," he joked.
"Those are two different cards!" Aly laughed at him.
"Oh, well."
They sat, together. One of the neighbors came home and they leaned back out of sight. How long they laid there, they didn't know. But each of them basked in the warmth of the slowing setting sun and in the warmth of their new found connection, both were neglected at home and leaned entirely on their friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans were both home and Lily was yelling at Petunia about setting the table before Aly sat up. The sun was basically gone. The sky was a vibrant red along the rim of the horizon and it faded into dark blue into black spotted with stars. "Let's go save Lily from James, shall we?"
"Ok," Sirius sat up too. He stood and brushed himself off and held out a hand to pull Aly up. "One question though."
"Hmm?"
"How do we get down?"
Aly smiled at his ignorance and walked to the opposite side of the roof. She held up her hand and jumped up and caught a rope and swung out of sight. Sirius rushed over. "Do it," Aly instructed up to him. "Just I did."
He looked suspicious but followed her lead anyways.
He landed on his butt next to Aly. "It's got a spring charm on it," she explained as she pulled him up.
"You spend a lot of time up there, don't you?" he asked for the second time that day.
"Yeah. It's agood thinking place." She looked slyly at him, "But what happens on the roof—"
"Stays on the roof," he finished for her. They smiled and shared one last moment of friendship knowing that they would go back to arguments and insults after dinner.
"After you, Miss Dumbledore," he swept down into a bow.
"Thank you, Mr. Black." She pranced past him and up the back steps.
A blast of sound boomed as she entered the house. Lily rushed over to her. "We were waiting on you."
Sirius came in behind her. Lily looked slightly scared of him. "He's such a muggle lover, that one," Aly joked towards him.
"Don't you know it," he said with his usual bout of way too much enthusiasm and that set Lily's mind at easy.
"Let's go eat."
"Oh, I'm not really hungry. Maybe I'll have some dessert later. I'm going to lay down for a bit. Alright?"
Lily looked skeptical. "I'll be here, okay? I promise," Aly assured her.
"Alright. This way, Sirius." She turned and Sirius did his weird nod-wink towards Aly. She turned the opposite direction and went back up to her room. She wasn't going to lay down though. She had someone to visit.
XxXxX
That is way long. The longest thing I have saved on my computer. A whole whopping 12 pages for me. Ok, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Happy St. Patty's day, if I don't update before then.
Life is full of choices. Like: to review or not to review? There really is no question. You should review. K? Thanks!