March 1, 1980
Calandra sat on the couch in the safe house, her knee bouncing up and down. She chewed her thumb nervously. The scrolls of parchment she brought along to revise lay untouched in her bag. She alternated between staring at the fireplace and glancing out the window, just waiting for some movement.
Sirius had brought her here so she could be added to the wards. He and James had bought this place specifically as a safe house for the Order to use. There were half a dozen other houses the Order used as well. All of them had extensive wards and charms placed on them, but this safe house was the only one Calandra could get into by herself, since she wasn't a part of the Order.
She'd brought supplies with her and had already restocked the kitchen and the pantry with food. She'd put pain potions and healing supplies in the bedrooms and bathroom under stasis charms, so they would last until someone needed them. She'd even conjured extra furniture and put it in the basement. She knew Remus stayed here pretty frequently, and from what she read and overheard from Sirius and James, if he could take out his more violent urges on something else, he would be less likely to hurt himself. All she could think to do was give him furniture to destroy.
But now, she had nothing else to do but wait. Calandra pulled a roll of parchment form her bag and unrolled it a bit. She tried to read the different charms on tracing magic, but she couldn't focus. Sirius and James should have been back already.
Suddenly the fireplace roared to life with green flames. Calandra jumped up and trained her wand on the flames. Soon two figures appeared, spinning in the flames. Sirius and James fell out of the fireplace, laughing. Calandra peered at them and cleared her throat.
"Sorry, Cal." Sirius wheezed. "What's the question?"
"What's my favorite item of your clothing?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Ooh." Sirius chuckled. "Low blow. My pants with Kneazles on them."
James groaned and she caught sight of him shaking his head out of the corner of her eye. Calandra smirked, and turned to James.
"When did you ask me on a date, Potter?"
James rolled his eyes and Sirius turned to him, affronted.
"Excuse me." He said. "Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?"
"Because I didn't really ask her on a date." James shook his head.
Calandra gave him a pointed look.
"I thought she was someone else." James muttered. "Her hair was straight, and I was behind her. Thought she was Diedre Murphy fifth year. I asked her to Hogsmeade."
Sirius started laughing again and Calandra kissed him on the cheek.
"I said no." she said. "I was quite enamored with another bloke at the time. Now, tell me. You two go off to intercept Death Eaters, I wait here worried sick, and you come back laughing as if you'd just nipped out to the pub. What's that about?"
Sirius and James burst out laughing again, slapping one another on the back and wiping their eyes. They collapsed on the sofa still shaking with laughter.
"We've got to tell Moony and Wormtail about that spell." James said.
Sirius rubbed his face and smiled at Calandra.
"Oh Cal." He said. "You should've seen it."
Calandra crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
"Alright, alright." Sirius said, sitting up. "We found them. The information was right, they were hiding out at McHavelock's waiting. They had plans to go after one of the ministry officials. We heard them talking about it. We were getting ready to head back, and inform the Aurors just like we'd planned, when they figured out we were there."
"What he means is; he tripped and fell on our way out of the alley and said, 'Merlin's saggy bollocks who puts a crate full of Homburg hats in a perfectly good alley?' And, they heard him." James said.
"Sirius!" Calandra admonished.
Sirius waved her away.
"There were only two of them. And I stand by it; why clutter up the alley? With suede hats, no less. One dew fall and those hats will be ruined." he said coolly.
"You are ridiculous!" Calandra rubbed her temples. "What if they'd have hexed you, or cursed you, or killed you?"
"Bit hard to do that with the spell we hit them with." James said, and Sirius laughed.
"Relax, Cal." He said. "We're fine, they didn't even get a shot at us."
"You expect me to believe that you disarmed two Death Eaters before they shot a single curse at you? Do you think I was born yesterday?" she demanded.
"Look who you're talking to, love." Sirius gestured at himself. "That's exactly what happened. They didn't know what hit them."
"Literally." Snorted James.
Calandra turned to Sirius and glared at him. He held his hands up and nodded.
"We hit them with Anaticula." He explained. "Every spell they tried to cast just ended up causing ducks to appear out of their wands."
James started chuckling again, at the memory, and even Calandra smiled a small smile.
"Every spell?" she asked.
"All of them." Sirius nodded. "One tried to Avada us, and poof, ducks."
He smiled a disarming smile at her, and James giggled on the sofa. Calandra looked between the two of them and shook her head.
"Will the two of you ever learn to take anything seriously?" she asked.
...
March 14, 1980
Calandra drew the blade across the top of her arm and winced. She picked up her wand and trained it on her left arm. She focused and swished her wand in a half circle. Sirius came into the room holding a cigarette and a piece of parchment.
"Bloody hell, Cal!" he said when he caught sight of her arm. "What happened?"
He stubbed his cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe and threw his parchment on the bed. Calandra held up her hand and shook her head.
"I'm fine." She said. "I'm just practicing."
"Practicing?" Sirius echoed. "What the fuck are you…"
He looked at the knife sitting on the bedside table and back to Calandra's arm.
"Godric's balls, Cal." He expostulated as he trained his wand on her.
"No!" she moved away. "I want to see if I can do it."
She brought her wand back to her arm and muttered the spell, turning the wand in a half circle again. She watched as the wound sealed itself shut and when there was nothing left of the incision but a thin pink line, she flicked her wand straight up and said the other spell. The scar faded and her skin smoothed itself back out to the way it was before. Sirius stood there, shaking his head and staring at her.
"You've been carving yourself up like a Christmas ham just to practice a few spells?" he asked.
"No. Don't be daft." Calandra said. "I know how to heal normal scrapes and abrasions. This is a goblin wrought blade."
"Yes." Sirius said shortly. "I was aware of that when I bought the bloody thing."
"Well, you know more about Goblin wrought silver than me. You know that they can absorb things that strengthen them. Some people soak their blades in dragon's blood to enchant them."
Calandra turned her arm over and ran a hand across where the scar should've been, impressed.
"This spell completely heals any wound from the goblin blade as long as the blade hasn't been soaked in something as strong as Nundu mucus or, I don't know, Manticore poison. You know, stuff like that."
Sirius pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. He shook his head at Calandra as he took a long drag off it. He blew a lungful of smoke in the air as he sighed.
"That still doesn't explain why you're slicing yourself open." He motioned to her arm and sat on the bed.
Calandra sat next to him on the bed and tucked her leg under her. She plucked the cigarette from his fingers and inhaled. She wrinkled her nose as she blew smoke out and handed it back to him.
"I have to do something, Sirius." She said softly. "I can't go out with you, but I can help when you all come back injured. I can do that. I've been reading up on healing charms and counter curses to dark magic. I came across these and decided to try them out. I needed to see if I could do it, and I can."
Sirius waved his wand and vanished the cigarette. He blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth and held Calandra's hands in his. She traced her thumbs along his hands and gave him a smile.
"You're something else, Cal. You know that?" he asked.
Calandra rolled her eyes at him and leant in to kiss him. She pressed her lips to his and sank into the familiar taste of caramel and tobacco.
"You trying to seduce me, Black?" she asked.
"Always." Sirius grinned and leant back in to kiss her.
...
March 21, 1980
"I brought back the books you wanted." Sirius called out.
Calandra piled her hair up on the top of her head and stuck her wand in it. She helped him put the groceries away and sat at the table in front of the pile of books.
"Wonderful." She said. "Thanks so much."
She flipped open the first one and pulled a notepad forward. Sirius opened two bottles of beer and set one in front of her. She tucked her feet under her legs and leant over the book, refreshing her memory of healing potions.
She made notes and conjured bookmarks for different points she wanted to go back to. Sirius made sandwiches for them and sat next to her at the table. He pulled the notepad close to him and scanned the page.
"You know you don't have to do this." He said softly.
Calandra looked up and gave him a tired look.
"I do." She said. "This is all I can do. I have to do it."
"You do enough already." He said. "Those portraits have helped more than you know."
Calandra took a bite of her sandwich and stole a crisp off his plate.
"I'm glad they did." She said. "But I can't just paint portraits and hope for the best. If I can do something to help, but don't; well, that doesn't make me much better than them, does it?"
Sirius shook his head and smiled at her.
"One day." He said scooting his chair closer to her. "We won't worry about all this. One day, we'll go over to Prongs's or head to Fawcett's, and it won't be to patch people up or go over plans. It will just be for fun."
She leant over and kissed him on the nose.
"I look forward to it." She said and wound her arm through his. "But until then, we have to do what we can."
"Sirius!" a voice rang out from the counter.
Sirius jumped up and grabbed the hand mirror off of the counter. Calandra saw James Potter's concerned face staring out of it.
"Yeah, mate." Sirius said. "What's going on?"
"Have you heard?" James asked. "Has anyone contacted you?"
"Heard what?" Sirius's forehead wrinkled. "No one's contacted me."
James ran his hands through his hair and looked pained. Lily could be heard in the background speaking softly.
"Tell him, James. If he hasn't seen it in the Prophet, he will soon."
"Prongs." Sirius said. "Spit it out."
Sirius stalked over to the windowsill and picked up the bundle of post the owl left.
"Pads, floo on over to ours." James said. "I want to talk."
Sirius snapped the twine around the Prophet and shook it open.
"I've got the paper right here." He said scanning it. "What is it?"
Sirius was still scanning the pages. He read through the articles on the latest happenings in the wizard world and advertisements for magical transportation. Those were the sections he always read first. He read the paper for news to assist the Order, she read the obituaries to see if her friends were still alive.
Calandra stood beside him, looking at James. He had a sad distant look in his eyes. She knelt down and picked up the middle page of the Prophet and folded it back up. A name caught her eye and she froze.
"Let's go see what he wants." Calandra said in a small voice.
Sirius looked over at her and his eyes narrowed. His eyes dropped to the page in her hand and he reached for it. Calandra bit her lip.
"Mate, floo on over." James said. "Lily has Bolognese ready and waiting."
"Who was it?" Sirius asked unfolding the page.
"Pads." James said.
"Who was it?" Sirius asked again. "Was it Moony? Wormtail? Longbottom?"
Calandra laid a hand on his arm and turned the paper over. He read the name on the page and his face went white with shock. His mouth set itself into a firm line and his eyes turned to steel.
"Pads, I'm so sorry." James's voice seemed to echo throughout the room. "The Floo is open. Come on over."
Sirius nodded and set the mirror down. Calandra gently took the paper from his hands and folded it up. He just stood there, arms dangling at his sides, eyes lost. Calandra laid a hand on his arm and he stared down at it.
"I'm sorry, Sirius." She said. "I'm so sorry."
Sirius shook his head and made a horrible face; something between a smile and a grimace. He shrugged his shoulders and turned away from Calandra.
"I got what I wanted." He said gruffly. "It didn't come down to me facing him in a duel. It wasn't me."
Calandra didn't know what to say. She looked at him helplessly as he withdrew into himself. Her throat felt thick and she blinked back tears. He stood there at the window, staring out of it, searching for something in the whirl of snow. Calandra picked his jacket up off the chair and pulled two bottles of Odgen's and a jug of Rosemerta's mead from under the counter.
She steered Sirius toward the fireplace and tossed in the floo powder. She studied Sirius's face as the flames licked up around them. She didn't know what this would do to him; his relationship with Regulus was so complicated. But she knew he needed his brother.
