October 2, 1998
She let his words comb through her tangled thoughts and felt their gentle balm against her heart. She still didn't think she was enough. He'd never given her any reason to doubt it, but how could she be when he deserved the world?
Calandra danced her fingers across the blue light that shone from the square in the door. That was the color blue she'd mixed in one of the paint shops to show the owner she knew what she was talking about. But she didn't get the job.
She didn't get any of the jobs. Her father had paid off everyone she'd gone to. It made her blood boil when she found out. She was absolutely furious. She screamed and cried and yelled. But no one would hire her.
She ran fevers after that. There would be nights when her skin felt like it was on fire and Sirius would cast cooling charm after cooling charm. Her throat burned and her fingers tingled. None of the healers knew what was going on.
So, they went looking for answers. She travelled to Greece, hoping to meet Sirens there. They went to Rome and Ireland and countless other places, in between Sirius's work for The Order. But didn't find anything.
The memories came quickly now. Those times where she sought answers and only found hints of them in threats from her father. She ran her hand down the blue square and allowed herself to get lost in the memories again.
...
September 10, 1978
Calandra waved goodbye to Tom and left the Leaky Cauldron. She walked down the busy street absentmindedly; thinking about libraries in the old cathedrals in Italy and Rome. The Greek Isles hadn't been very enlightening, but perhaps the other countries would hold the answers to all those secrets that swam in her blood.
She didn't even notice the man who pulled her into the alley. Calandra jerked her wand out in front of her, but it did no good. The man pulled the wand from her grasp and shoved her against the wall. Calandra struggled for a moment until she realized who it was.
Her father watched her; cool gaze meant to intimidate. Calandra lifted her chin and waited for him to speak. He held both of her arms in his hands in a punishing grip. Slowly, his lips split into a horrible smile.
"Hello, there Calandra." He said. "You haven't been returning my letters. My owl always turns up empty taloned."
"I don't have anything to say to you." Calandra muttered.
"Come now, Callie." Her father said.
"Don't call me that!" Calandra bit out.
Her father peered at her curiously.
"You disappoint me, Callie." He said, his voice dripping in condescension. "You could've been something great. Something I could be proud of."
"Don't. Call. Me. That." Calandra seethed.
"Perhaps I should start delivering the letters myself to ensure I get a reply." He said. "I daresay, I could find where you and the young Fawcett girl live."
Calandra smirked at her father.
"Look at that." She said. "He cares so much about his daughter; that she doesn't respond to his owls. But daddy dearest didn't even know she moved out, got her own place."
Johnathon's eyes narrowed.
"What kind of father is that?" Calandra asked pityingly.
Her father's grip tightened on her arms.
"The kind who should've put you in your place a long time ago." He bit out.
Calandra stood firm and glared at him.
"My place?" Calandra laughed. "Hidden in the shadows somewhere? Locked away so I can't cause problems?"
Johnathon sneered at her.
"Do you have any idea of what you do to my reputation? Even without the world knowing what kind of monster you are. Traipsing around with the dregs of society. Blood traitors! Werewolves!"
"All of them are better people now than you could ever hope to be." Calandra spat. "That werewolf you despise is the kindest person I've ever met. Those blood traitors are the smartest, most talented people out there. One's a bloody good shag, too."
Johnathon jolted, as if someone had hit him with an immobilizing spell. Calandra gave a wicked smile.
"That's right." She said. "Whatever little pureblood façade you wanted to play is over. Who would ever have me now? Used goods and all. You're out of boxes, Father."
Johnathon pulled his hand away and slapped Calandra across the face. She stared at him as her cheek stung and smiled once more.
"Leave me alone and there's nothing to fear." she said and silently acciod her wand.
Johnathon looked down at his empty hand with wide eyes, then looked back up to his daughter. Calandra watched his mask slide back into place before he smiled at her.
"You think I'm scared? Of you?" he asked.
"No." Calandra said. "I know you are."
She turned on her heel and spun, apparating away.
...
September 10, 1978
"I saw him, today." Calandra told Alice that night at dinner.
Alice looked up from her roast chicken in surprise.
"What did he want?" she asked.
"Same as always." Calandra said. "Me put away neatly, unable to stir up trouble in his life."
Alice slammed her fork and knife down on the table.
"You're already out of his life." She fumed. "You left and told him you wouldn't be back. And you haven't been back. Why isn't that enough?"
Calandra smiled sadly at her friend.
"You know why." She said.
Alice's eyes softened and she reached a hand out across the table to link fingers with Calandra. She searched Calandra's face for a long moment before she spoke.
"I just wish…" Alice trailed off.
Calandra nodded.
"Me, too."
...
September 27, 1978
Calandra sealed her parchment in an envelope and sent it off to the ministry with Abba. Sirius had sent his in yesterday, so his was taken care of. Calandra checked her watch and grabbed her sketchbook. She had some time before they were meeting James.
Calandra reset the wards and headed out the door. She came out on the street and breathed in the crisp air. She stuck her wand in her pocket and walked to the park near the flat. Ducks floated on the water of the small pond beside the shelter. Children chased one another around the swing set and a couple people walked around the path, their dogs leading them on leashes.
Calandra pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil. She made broad lines across the paper and drew trees. She rubbed her thumb across one of the lines to smudge it. Calandra sat at the picnic table absorbed in the world she was creating on the small page. Bit by bit, the lake took form. The trees crowded its edge and ducks glided across its surface.
"I figured I'd find you here." Sirius said, sliding onto the bench beside her.
"Hey." She said giving him a kiss, then checking her watch. "You're back early. I didn't expect you home until closer to five or six."
Sirius leaned in to look at her drawing.
"Didn't take as long as I thought it would at Eyelops." He said. "Prongs got finished early, too. Wants to know if you want to go get fish and chips for supper."
"I don't care." Calandra shrugged. "That sounds as good as anything else."
"Perfect." He said lighting a cigarette. "We'll meet him in about an hour."
Calandra nodded and pushed the sketchbook and pencil toward Sirius.
"Want to add something to it?" she asked.
He blew smoked over her head.
"And muss up your beautiful work of art? Hardly."
"I've probably got ten others just like this." Calandra laughed. "It's just the pond."
"Give it here, then." Sirius pulled the book closer to him.
Calandra watched as he worked. Cigarette dangling from his lips, hair falling into his face. His nose scrunched up when he couldn't get the pencil to translate what he was thinking, and he absentmindedly tucked his hair behind his ear. He reached up and plucked the cigarette from his mouth, flicking the ash off it and blowing out smoke. He added a few lines and pushed the book back toward Calandra.
She looked down and laughed out loud. He'd drawn a startling likeness of Dumbledore on a surfboard in the middle of the lake. His features were cartoonish; beard stretched out long enough to wrap around his ankle, his nose long and crooked. Sirius had put him in swim trunks with shamrocks all over them and long open robes covered in stars.
"I love it!" Calandra laughed. "We should send it to Remus. He'd get a huge kick out of it."
Sirius smiled and flicked his cigarette into the trashcan nearby.
"Yeah, he would." He said. "We used to do stuff like this all the time. Mine and James's schoolbooks were full of them."
"What a great use of schoolbooks." Calandra mused.
"It is when you already know what's inside." Sirius said.
"Come on, Einstein." Calandra got up from the picnic table and held out a hand. "Let's go meet up with Bergmann and have supper."
"I think of James as my assistant, too." Sirius said, getting up. "Nice to know you consider me the main brain of the operation."
Calandra raised her eyebrows at him, impressed.
"I did take Muggle Studies, you know." He said.
"Oh, I know. I sat right behind you for three years." She said.
"And right beside me for the next two." He quipped.
"What can I say." She said walking backwards while she spoke. "Genius attracts genius."
...
November 2, 1978
Calandra sipped her tea, perched on the edge of the windowsill. She loved the view from this window. She could see part of the pond at the park and the trees surrounding it. It offered a wide view of the sky as it stretched out before her. Sitting in the windowsill reminded her of her mother and of days at school.
Sirius padded into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of tea. He waved his wand over the breadbasket and pulled out two slices of toast. Sticking one in his mouth he carried the other over to Calandra and held it out. She took it with a smile and sat it on her knee.
"Who are you and what have you done with Sirius?" she asked.
He looked around.
"What?"
"Toast without jam or butter at least?" she nodded toward his slice of toast.
He laughed and waved his wand. Jam appeared on both slices of toast. He leaned against the wall and crunched his breakfast.
"I was getting there." He said. "Toast without jam is just sad."
"Well, suffer through your peasant breakfast today." Calandra said taking a bite of her toast. "Tomorrow you get to plan the menu."
"Mmmm." Sirius closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. "Anything I want?"
"Of course." Calandra laughed. "Birthday breakfasts are made to order.
"In that case, your drop scones and a full English." Sirius said. "Plus smoked salmon and fresh melon."
"Ahhh." Calandra smiled. "There's that pristine pureblood palate. I was wondering what you were going to order to appease it."
"I haven't finished." Sirius shot her a withering look.
"Oh, do continue, though you might want to save room. We've got lunch with James and Lily tomorrow, too." Calandra smiled into her teacup. "Perhaps something light, like caviar, Mr. Black?"
"Overrated." Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, I'm more interested in how my birthday breakfast will be prepared."
Calandra shook her head at him.
"You should know by now, that I can cook, you prat. Very well, mind you."
"Right I do." Sirius patted his stomach. "But what if I want you to prepare my birthday breakfast in the pinny I so devotedly sewed for you?"
"Then I'll wear the apron." Calandra said, laughing.
Sirius shot her a devilish look.
"What if I want you to prepare my birthday breakfast in the apron, I so devotedly sewed for you, and nothing else?" he asked and swung her up into his arms.
Calandra laughed and kissed his nose.
"Who am I to refuse a wish from the birthday boy?" she said.
...
November 3, 1978
"You want more?" Calandra asked as Sirius flipped through his new book, Magical Mechanics, that Lily sent him.
"Of course." He said. "Don't you?"
"Well, yeah." Calandra admitted, dragging the box she'd wrapped out from under the bed. "But I don't have near as many as you. Do you even know what all of them are?"
Sirius scoffed at her and crossed his arms, still holding his book.
"I know exactly what they are." He said, loftily.
"Mmmhmm." Calandra said, setting the box down on the table. "And if I were to ask, oh, what this one was, you could answer me?"
She pulled his shirt apart and pointed to a tattoo that snaked its way across his arm.
"That one is a star cluster." Sirius said, easily.
Calandra raised her eyebrows.
"And this one?" she asked, pointing to another.
"Ok, so that one is upside down." Sirius admitted. "We were drunk and the man looked at my perfect illustration from the wrong side."
"You know runes mean something completely different upside down right?" Calandra laughed and scooted the box closer to him.
"They're right side up when I look at them, love." He said and tore the paper off the box.
Calandra watched him as he pulled items out of the box. She was always at a loss as to what to get him. He had more galleons than he knew what to do with and James always ended up picking out the things Calandra had her eyes on for Sirius's birthday, so she'd stopped trying to go shopping with him to pick things out for Sirius long ago.
He pulled out a scroll of parchment and peered at it, interestedly. Calandra watched his eyes scan the page, then crinkle in recognition. She'd found new charms to make his motorbike fly faster and higher. He kissed her nose and reached into the box for the other items. He pulled out two black boxes, one long and a bit thinner than the other, and a small square box.
He opened the larger box first, just as Calandra figured he would. He threw his head back in laughter as he reached into the box. He pulled out a silver hairbrush ran it theatrically through his hair. Calandra smiled at the gesture and motioned toward the other items in the box he held. Sirius rifled through the rest of the box. A shaving kit with a magical razor, a bottle of Sleakeazy's, a magical comb to match his hairbrush.
"You sure this isn't a gift meant for Prongs?" he asked.
"Please." Calandra rolled her eyes. "James wouldn't know a hairbrush if he met one on the street. His father creates the best hair potion around and he still walks around with that bird's nest."
Sirius laughed and pulled the ribbon off the smallest box and removed the lid. He tilted the contents into his hand and studied them. Calandra bit her lip as she watched him. He looked at her curiously and she spoke.
"Obsidian." She said. "It's supposed to offer protection and shield the wearer from negative magic. It's beautiful. I love obsidian. It's a dark stone, but it's magic is nothing but light. I thought it was fitting. The Runes are infused with Unicorn blood, Dragon blood, and Phoenix tears."
Sirius ran a finger along the stone and looked at Calandra with a reverential expression.
"This must have cost a fortune, Cal." He said.
"It would have." Calandra said. "If the man didn't have four Class B Nontradable items on his counter. Alice agreed not to turn him into the Auror office if he disposed of them in front of her and offered me a deal."
Sirius laughed and hooked the band over his head, looking down at the pendant on his chest.
"I pity the fool who tries to cross you two." He said and wrapped her in a hug.
"I got another gift in case you didn't like it." Calandra said nervously.
"I love it, Cals." He said. "It's perfect."
"So you don't want me to go get the Rubix Cube I bought you?" Calandra asked innocently.
"I don't…wait." Sirius stopped.
"You got me a Rubix Cube?" he asked excitedly. "One of those little puzzles like they had at the muggle shop?"
Calandra waved her wand and acciod the cube. Sirius tore it from the box and set to fiddling with it immediately. Calandra dropped a kiss to the top of his head as she gathered the wrapping paper.
"Happy Birthday Sirius."
"I'm not finished with you yet, Cal." Sirius reached an arm out and pulled her onto his lap.
"What say we end the night with a birthday present for you?" he asked suggestively.
"For me?" she smirked.
"Of course. Although I'm sure we'll both get equal enjoyment out of it."
"Alright, Black." Calandra ran a hand through his hair. "You're on."
"Great!" Sirius said and jumped up. "Get your shoes on woman, and let's go."
"Go where?" Calandra asked, wrongfooted.
"To the tattoo shop by the pub." Sirius said with a smirk. "You said you wanted more."
Calandra laughed and went to get her shoes from the bedroom. She grabbed her coat and slid her feet in her boots. Sirius took her hand and spun her around when she came back out into the living room. He kissed her and followed her out of the door.
"You're a horrible tease, you know." Calandra said as they walked down the steps.
"Anticipation, love." Sirius raised his eyebrows at her.
Calandra shook her head at him and wound her fingers through his.
"Any idea what we're getting?" Sirius asked.
"We?" Calandra echoed.
"Of course. I told you, we'd both get enjoyment out of this."
"You want matching tattoos?" Calandra asked.
"Sure." Sirius said. "And since this is an early celebration of your birthday, you get to pick."
They weaved their way through the night traffic. Sirius spun Calandra around and waltzed with her on the pavement. They were laughing when they stumbled in the tattoo parlor, tripping over one another's feet. The burly man behind the counter gave them an uninterested look as he pulled two chairs over. Calandra watched Sirius unbutton his shirt. She took in the markings on his chest and thought back to her seventh-year runes class. She smiled when the man turned to her and asked what they had in mind. She drew a sketch for him, and he showed it to Sirius.
Sirius gave Calandra a devastating smile as he pointed out which one he wanted. The man smoothed his mustache down and studied the page. He gathered his supplies and set to work. Sirius joked with him as black ink sank into his chest. The man gave a few gruff laughs but remained mostly silent. When he was finished, Sirius looked down at himself with a smile.
"You getting yours in the same spot?" the burly man raised his eyebrows at her.
Sirius shot him a dirty look and stepped forward. Calandra rolled her eyes and silently transfigured her shirt to have a zipper up the back. She turned around and sat with her back to the man, pulling the zipper halfway down her back.
"Right here." She pointed to her shoulder blade.
The man gave a sound of acknowledgment and brushed Calandra's hair to the side. She smiled when the needle touched her skin. This wasn't her first tattoo, not by a long shot. But this would probably be her favorite. She looked up at Sirius and found herself drowning in the silver of his eyes.
...
November 3, 1978
"What do you think?" she asked that night as she brushed her teeth.
"I love them." Sirius said glancing down at his newest tattoo.
"Up to your standards, are they?" she smirked.
"What, pray tell." He shrugged his shirt off. "Is that supposed to mean."
Calandra rolled her eyes and gave him a look.
"It means that you've got some "young and dumb" tattoos." She said.
"What else is youth for?" Sirius said pulling her down on the bed. "But for being young and dumb?"
Calandra smiled and kicked her socks off. She traced a finger along Sirius's chest, not quite touching his newest tattoo. She glanced up at him and cocked her head.
"You chose need. The one for fire." She said.
"Reminded me of you." he said. "You go up in flames when you're angry."
"And you ice over." She murmured. "How fitting."
Sirius kissed her collarbone and moved behind her, pulling her hair off to the side to study her tattoo. His breath felt cold on the hot skin of her shoulder.
"Why'd you choose here?" he asked.
"Would you rather I show my tits to the man at the shop?" Calandra smiled.
"Course not." He said wrinkling his nose. "But you rarely do things without a reason. I was just curious."
Calandra pushed him down on the bed and snuggled up against him; her shoulder flush with his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the crook of her neck.
"They fit together." She said.
Sirius breathed a contended sigh into her hair, and she smiled.
Just like us.
...
December 18, 1978
Calandra stared down at the small stone cross in the church yard. Everyone else had left the ceremony, but she lingered.
She ran her fingers across the cold surface of the stone and as she read the familiar names on the plaque in front of her, a tear slid down her cheek.
She quickly wiped it away at the sound of footsteps behind her. When she turned around, she saw Sirius walking towards her, his hands in his pockets.
"Where did you sneak off to?" She asked.
"I thought you might want a moment alone." He said, draping an arm around her and pulling her close. "Thought I'd let you two catch up, maybe gossip about my good looks."
Calandra laughed in spite of herself. She leant into Sirius's embrace and tried to blink away the fresh tears that sprang to her eyes.
"I loved her so much." She whispered.
"I know." He kissed her head. "And she loved you even more."
Calandra nodded and smiled.
"I'm glad she's at peace now." She said softly. "She's with Ray again."
"Oh those two are probably being anything but peaceful." Sirius grinned. "Probably causing all sorts of ruckus wherever they are."
He cleared his throat and looked towards the sky.
"Alwilda, you cheeky minx, don't cause too much trouble!" He said loudly. "You tell Ray he's got a lot to live up to after your being in my company the last few years."
Calandra laughed and twined her fingers through his.
"Let's let the love birds be." She said. "They've got a lot of time to make up for."
Sirius grinned and led her back to the front of the church. He slung a leg over his motorbike and leant up so Calandra could get comfortable.
"What say we give them a proper send off?" He asked as he started the bike.
Calandra nodded and held on tightly to him.
The bike roared and Sirius sped off down the street, circling the church, revving the motorbike, and whooping. Calandra pressed her cheek against his back. As they turned the corner for the last time she could've sworn she heard the faintest hint of Mrs. Thisbee's laugh.
