Sirius POV:
James and I were sitting in the common room. His face was still red from having admitted so obviously his true feelings for our one and only Lilly Evans. I had pulled out my book of pranks, and was reading when the portrait hole opened and Remus came running in out of breath. “Guys!” He said excitedly and ran up the stairs to our dorm. We followed, the second we walked inside he blurted, “I know we’ve only known Addy for like, a day… but, I feel like I’ve known her forever. I mean, I’m not saying we should tell her tonight or anything. But we’re going to have to tell her soon, because well… Dumbledore’s teaching her to become and Animagous!” He huffed. “I mean, its almost like he wants me to tell her, almost like he knows. But its not only my secret to tell. Evans already knows, well, knows about me at least, and don’t you think Addy deserves to know? Especially if Dumbledore is rooting for it.”
“Breathe man. I feel the same way.” James cut in. “It’s the creepiest thing in the world. I feel so open around her. Maybe because she reminds me so much of Padfoot.”
“Hey! I resent tha—oh wait. That’s a good thing. Nevermind.” I ended sheepishly.
“Ok. So maybe she’s not exactly like him, but close enough.” James joked and Moony laughed. I grew somber. So I wasn’t the only one who felt like I had known Addy for years.
“No but seriously guys. I feel the same way. She can read my face so easily. And its bugging me so much that she still doesn’t seem to notice how all these guys are undressing her with their eyes. Her innocence is obnoxious!” I growled. “Plus she can fight like hell.”
Lupin laughed. “That’s right mate, I never got to congratulate you for today in DADA. Well done.” I glowered at him.
“Oh shut it Moony. So we agree? We’ll have to talk to Peter, but other then that, we all trust her?” I asked and everyone nodded. Well at least we were all on the same page now.
“Sounds like a plan.” We nodded. We noticed it was time for dinner so headed down to the Great Hall to eat. Once we were down in the common room I literally ran into someone. I grabbed her and steadied the both of us, and once I had the chance to look who it was, I saw Katherine Clearwater. She was almost as tall as I was, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, a total babe, but unfortunately her personality was as dry as a snakeskin. She looked at me for a second before pulling herself closer to me.
“Hey Sirius, haven’t seen you since last year. How’s it been?” she said pressing herself up to me.
“Kat… its been great? You?” I asked.
“Well, my year just got a whole lot better.” I heard James groan.
“Sorry doll, I was just heading down to dinner with my mates. I’ll catch up with you later.” I winked at her and led my friends out of the Common Room. James and Lupin rolled their eyes.
“God. Why you put up with her I’ll never know.” James said distantly.
“Oh c’mon guys, you know she’s hot. Plus she’s a freak in the sheets. She may have the personality of a stale piece of bread,” I laughed and the other two joined in with me. “But its worth it.” Once we got down to the Great Hall, we noticed Wormtail sitting by himself. We went next to him.
“Hey Wormtail, how was your first day of lessons?” Lupin asked.
“Eh, I’ve got a detention in five minutes.” He grumbled, “I sent trinker puss into this guys’ hair.” We all laughed. “What? He was bothering me!” That just made us laugh harder. We dug into the food that had been prepared for us when Lilly and Addy sat down across from us. For the first time in years James avoided Lilly’s eyes. I rolled mine and noticed Addy was doing the same, we broke out in sniggers. That’s when I remembered what Prongs had said about me acting like Addy, and I flushed. Luckily Moony had his nose in a book, Wormtail had gotten to leave for his detention, and James was still busy avoiding Lilly’s eyes. We ate in silence for the most part, other then Lilly’s and Addy’s light laughter about the rumors that were floating around the school. I had to admit I had heard some pretty crazy ones myself. Most seemed to originate from the idea that she was somehow related to Dumbledore. Which I assumed was fueled by her private lessons. This reminded me,
“Hey Addy. How’d your lesson with Dumbledore go?” She smirked, glad I had broken the tense silence. James and Lupin both looked up at my mentioning.
“It was actually great. I’m working on Occlumency, then I get to learn Legilimency. But the coolest part is that he’s going to teach me to be an Animagous!” I widened my eyes in pretend shock.
“Woah. That’s sweet! I wonder what animal you’ll be?” I asked the question I knew what was on everyone’ s mind. We made small talk for the rest of the meal, and James even met Lilly’s gaze once before looking down and blushing furiously. She seemed to like this side of him and actually cracked a smile, not that he was able to see it; infuriating. “I’m going to head up.” I said getting up and everyone followed me.
“Ugh…” Addy groaned. “I’m too full to move!” I leap-frogged the table and scooped her up in my arms.
“Have no fear!! I will carry you my princess!” I said in a booming voice causing most of the Hall to look at me and Addy to start laughing. I threw her onto my back and once again she clung on to my waist and shoulders.
“Onward noble steed!” She called waving her arms as if riding into battle. I laughed and charged off towards the Common Room. I expected her to freak, but all I heard from her was her ringing laughter and her encouragement of “Faster! Faster!” By the time I got to the fat lady I was short of breath. Whether from running or from laughing so hard when Addy had remarked that I needed to stop working out so much. She had said, “Sirius darling, if you can take two stairs at a time with me on your back, you’d better stop working out or one of these days you’re going to find that you can’t feel the girls hanging off your arms.” She said poking my rock-hard biceps. I stopped at the fat lady and waited for the rest of the group to catch up at a more normal pace. I could feel Addy’s head resting on mine, and her steady breathing. I wondered if she was sleeping. James came up behind us and told the password to the Fat Lady, and the five of us wandered into the common room. I could’ve sworn Addy was sleeping on my back until I felt a sudden poof of warm breath on my ear. “That was fun!” She said as she climbed off my back.
“Anytime monkey.” I told her sitting down on the couch. Addy sat next to me with James on the other side of her, looking into the fireplace. Lilly went upstairs mumbling something about reading. Moony settled himself down on the seat closest to the fire and pulled out another book. I noticed it was nine-thirty and we had had a long day. I had no idea what time Addy had gotten up but she looked worn out as she sat between us. She lied down, head in my lap and legs in Prongs’s.
“Tell me a story.” She said sleepily to no-one in particular . I raked my brain for a good one. Finally I came up with one.
“It is well known by witches and wizards that the magical community has not always been hidden.” I started, “The time of King Arthur, and Shamens, and healers are proof of this. No one knows why this era came to an end, but there is a legend, a myth of sorts. It was a time when wars between nations were common, and there were two kings, King Theseus, and King Narcolepto. They were once brothers, but when there nation split they began a war over a beautiful girl, Princess Geraldine from a neighboring kingdom. She was said to be beautiful, bright, and kind, and also a powerful witch who possessed many powers. She had jet black hair, and lips that looked as though they were painted with blood, and was the envy of many kingdoms. Her father, Gregor the Great, was very concerned with who he would choose to marry his beautiful daughter, and at last he was stuck between the two brothers. He asked them to complete an impossible task, said that whoever could find a firebird, a bird who rose from ashes, and bring it to his daughter would win her heart. A firebird was the most rare creatures of all time, and for the request the two brothers were infuriated.
“They scoured the globe, but after years of searching they still came back empty handed. Their frustration led them both to hire an assassin to murder the great king, and one of the brothers succeeded in doing so. The loss of her beloved father left the beautiful Geraldine mourning the loss. She swore she would never love again, and promised herself to the church. The brothers became furious with one another at the loss of the bride they were supposed to have. Neither was sure who’s assassin had committed the act, so they each blamed the other. This started a immense and terrible war. They gathered all the magic folk from their villages and forced them to fight, whether they were women, old men, or children even, they were taken from their homes and forced to the front lines. It is said that so many witches and wizards died during that war that the magical community hid itself, so never to be used in such a way again. And thus we are now using spells and charms to protect ourselves from what was.”
I finished and looked away from the leaping flames of the fireplace down to my lap where Addy sat sleeping. James and Lupin were both entranced in my story and looked away now that I had finished. We sat for a long time, each one of our separate thoughts taking us in different directions. I thought of the first time I had heard that story, from my father, as I played with Addy’s hair. Finally I noticed it was getting to be ten o’clock so I scooped Addy up in my arms. I wasn’t sure what to do with her. I wasn’t going to wake her up, but I couldn’t get her up to her dorm. I made a decision and carried her upstairs and sat her on my bed while I got ready for bed. She still slept soundly.
