The Beginning

Ok so to those wonderful people who read upto Chapter 13, I did not load Chapter 13 like I though and skipped right to 14 so if you want you can skip this Chapter and move on or reread for plot flow. Your choice. Anyway please R&R at the end and enjoy.


~Chapter fourteen: Home for the Holidays~

Isis was sent back to Hogwarts by use of a portkey. She felt very unwelcome when Dumbledore greeted her as she landed in his office.
“Good afternoon Isis.” He said gesturing to a chair opposite his desk. “Professor McCormick has informed me that you left Hogwarts school property and trespassed onto the Liberty campus.” Dumbledore steeped his fingers. “This is distressing, however, I do not feel that detention nor expulsion would be an appropriate punishment.”
Isis looked into his face, “What punishment would you suggest sir?”
Dumbledore smiled, “I think that your awareness of your actions is punishment enough, however, I must give you some sort of reprimand, so I have to ask that you not be allowed to be by yourself at any time. During the day I ask that you remain with a prefect and since there is one in your dorm…”
“What about during holidays. Do I have to go to my aunt and uncle’s since Remus is a prefect?”
“That is up to your family.”
Isis sighed. “Headmaster…”
“Unless you’d rather be expelled I suggest that you take your punishment without question.” Dumbledore smiled rather blankly.
Isis nodded and smiled wanly as Dumbledore opened the door for her. She quickly left and went into the hallway. She ran into Sirius at the foot of the stairs. He looked furious.
“Remus is pissed off at you.”
“I know. He has to baby-sit me now.”
“Well he’s given that duty to me.” Sirius said smiling, “Remus is angry that you got caught. It could have gotten everyone in trouble. All of your American friends and us!”
Isis went red again, “You are infuriating. Do you think I meant to do it! I’ll never see my friends again! I don’t want you to baby-sit me either. I’m going to talk to Lily!”
Isis stormed all the way to the common room and sat by the fire. Remus stared back at her angrily.
Lily didn’t seem to mind at all, “This gives us a chance to spend more time together.” She said. “See Isis, every cloud has a silver lining.”
Isis smiled at Lily and ignored everyone else’s presence while she tried to do her homework. Her pile of work was always a toppling mass after classes, but since elves required so much less sleep then humans she had six extra hours on everyone else. She skipped lunch and by mid-afternoon Isis was ahead on her work. She stretched lazily and went up to the common room to get a book, but Sirius stopped her before she reached the stairs.
“Isis I need to talk to you.”
“I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I really am.”
Sirius cupped her face, “Apology accepted. Listen since we can’t talk walks or anything… that is if you still want to be with me… would you like to… erm… do you want to play chess?”
Isis kissed Sirius’s palm. “Yes I would like to play chess.”
Sirius smiled broadly. “I’ll be right back.” He charged up the stairs and retrieved his chess set. “Here we go.” He said placing it on a near by table. “Do you want to be white or black?"
“I’ll be black.” Isis said sitting behind the black pieces. Sirius made his move first and three moves later Isis had him in check.
“How did you do that?” Sirius asked.
“You fell into my trap.” Isis said in a mater-of-fact tone.
Sirius moved his king. “Ha!” he said loftily.
Isis surveyed the board mildly and moved her bishop. “Checkmate.” She said softly.
Sirius looked at the pieces. Isis had arranged them in such a way that they seemed like an advancing horde on his small army. “That’s bloody amazing! Remus did you know she could play like this?”
Remus looked up from his homework. “Yes. She never actually played until this summer she just made patterns to annoy me. The first time she played to play she beat me in six moves.”
Sirius looked at Isis admiringly. “No way.”
Isis smiled and commanded her pieces back in place. “Do you want to play again?”
Sirius put his arm down on the table. “You’re some kind of genius aren’t you?”
“No.” Isis said. “I’m about average.”
“What do you mean average?” Sirius asked. He sighed, “Isis listen to me. I want you to make patterns this game. Annoy me.”
In ten moves Isis made what she called flowers. They consisted of three pawns with the second pawn higher then the other two, bishops in the center, and the royals, the knights, and castles making the bottom. This left her two pawns to attack with.
After Isis had carefully created theses Sirius couldn’t make himself destroy them. His men called up to him. “Use me! I can smash flowers better then anyone… they don’t even look like flowers… is this chess or a museum?” The queen however cleared her throat. “It is up to the master what we do. Besides I think that she made lovely flowers.”
All of Isis’s chessmen looked up at her and then bowed to their opponents.
Sirius looked at Isis and she smiled at him. He took her hand in his and kissed each fingertip. He didn’t really know why, but Isis’s game had excited him more then it should have.
Isis got up, and moved to sit next to him, but Sirius pulled her down on to the arm of the chair. “I love you.” He muttered.
Isis smiled. “Pickle juice.”
Sirius felt his excitement ebb. He had told Isis he loved her and she was making a joke. He sat back in the chair. “What’s that mean?”
Isis put her arms around his neck. “When you say pickle juice it looks like your saying love you.”
Sirius muttered them both and smiled. “Your right.” He laughed. “Is that your code?”
“Maybe.” Isis said kissing Sirius’s forehead. She got up and sighed. “I wish I could go outside.” She walked over to a window and looked at the snow falling.
Sirius felt sad looking at her. Christmas holidays were just a week away. He was looking forward to a month off from schoolwork, but he didn’t want to leave Isis. He felt especially connected to the fact that neither of them wanted to go home for the holiday. “Maybe Remus can talk to your aunt and uncle about me coming over for a while and we can take walks together.”
Isis turned around. “I’d like that. Remus…”
“Consider it done.” Remus said picking up a fresh piece of parchment. “How long do you want to stay mate? Maybe you can come for the whole month…”
“I can’t, I promised mum I’d be around the first few days.” Sirius said. He suddenly looked brooding.
“I’ll tell dad to expect you about a week after the holiday starts.” Remus said with a laugh
“Sounds good.” Sirius said. He was still looking darkly into the wall.
Isis went over to him and sat on the arm of his chair again. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Sirius looked into Isis’s face. “Come home with me?”
“No!” Remus said. “They won’t take kindly to you Isis.”
“He’s right.” Sirius said.
“I want to go with you.”
“No Isis.”
Isis gave up and slumped onto Sirius’s chest. He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sure we’ll have a lovely time once I come to your aunt and uncle’s place.”
* * *
By the following Saturday afternoon Isis and Sirius were saying good-bye on platform nine and three-quarters.
“I’ll be there in a week.” Sirius said kissing Isis’s forehead.
Isis nodded. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.” He kissed Isis and she kissed back. Sirius tried and failed to think of something dull as his hands slid down her back.
Isis pulled away and handed Sirius his owl which he quickly placed over his now uncomfortable britches.
“Bye Sirius.”
“Good bye Isis.” He kissed her cheek, and met up with his parents who were waiting at the end of the platform by the barrier. Regulus looked at Sirius malevolently, “Having fun?”
Sirius looked at him blankly “I always have fun when you’re not around.”
Regulus cocked his head, “I see.”
Sirius walked through the barrier and saw that James had followed just behind Regulus. James winked and held up a letter. “See you at Lupin’s” he shouted.
Sirius nodded and felt his father’s hand clamp over his shoulder. “Leaving are we?
Sirius didn’t answer. He brushed his father off and continued walking toward the ticket booth for the underground. He rummaged for the pound notes in the pockets of his jeans among a handful of gold galleons. “One ticket for the local one-seventeen.” He said into the box. The worker behind the glass pushed a ticket out. “Thank you.” Sirius said walking toward the train.
He sat in a seat by the window. He hated the fact that he was going home with his parents. His trunk sat in the overhead bin, but Sirius wanted to dig into it and find the scarf that Isis had lost one night while practicing on the pitch. She had told him to keep it as a token. Sirius had never felt this way about a girl before. He couldn’t believe that he was going so crazy as to pour over a scarf. He sat lost in his thoughts as the train rattled under London.
Once he was within the block of Grimwald Square he disembarked and hauled his trunk from the square to Number Twelve. He knew that none of the muggles outside could see the house and Sirius wished he couldn’t either. He saw the grimy outside, the frosted windows, and the serpentine knocker. He felt a stone drop in his stomach as he walked through the door. He could smell his mother’s perfume and the sweet must of a decaying tapestry. He didn’t want to be in the house. He would have given anything to be anywhere else. Even Hell seemed like a better option. He had a few minutes to himself before his father’s car would sweep into the drive. He sat down in the drawing room and rubbed his eyes.
Just then an aging house elf entered the room carrying a tea tray. “Hello master.” He said balancing the tray and bowing stiffly. “Would master like tea?”
“No.” He said, “But I’ll take alcohol.”
The elf bowed again and walked down to the kitchen. Sirius felt a sense of foreboding. He was in for something if Krecher was asking him if he wanted tea. Sirius pulled his wand from his jacket and gripped it. “He didn’t care about expulsion anymore. If his mother dared… he was ready to defend himself using magic. The elf came back with a shoot glass of fire whiskey and a bottle of bourbon.
Sirius downed the shoot and immediately put some bourbon in its place. He quickly downed the bourbon. By the time he heard the car he was losing his grip on his wand and put it back. He’d use his fists instead. His mother walked past him and went down to the kitchen to check on dinner. His father sat adjacent from him in the drawing room.
“Regulus tells me you have a new girlfriend.” Mr. Black said warmly. “Lupin is a fine family son.”
Sirius took another shot of bourbon. “Yeah.” He said sloppily. “Great family. Good friends. Nice assets.”
Mr. Black smiled wryly. “I noticed. So she’s pure-blood?”
Sirius took another shot; he was now up to seven. “Kind of.” He muttered into the glass.
Mr. Black’s smile faded and his eyes flashed at his son. “What do you mean kind of? Either you are or you aren’t.”
Regulus stepped into the room behind his brother. “Oh it’s a real laugh this one.” He said.
“You tell him then.” Sirius said dropping the shot glass and stumbling to his room. Sirius closed the door. He was proud of himself; he found a way to get through the week. All he had to do was drink himself stupid. It wouldn’t exactly be difficult either; his father was an alcohol connoisseur. Sirius was half-asleep from the alcohol when his father’s voice roused him.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’S NOT HUMAN?"
Sirius rolled out of bed and fell onto the floor. “One too many.” He mumbled to himself. He struggled up and was ready to attack when his father walked in wand raised.
He knocked Sirius back onto the floor. “You traitor! Speak!”
Sirius got up and got into his father’s face. “You don’t have the mental force to make me.” He then sat in a chair by his desk.
“You’re asking for it boy.”
Sirius grinned, “Thank god for alcohol then.”
His father then bound him to the chair and hit Sirius with a multitude of spells. The curatious curse, jinks that cut damaging swipes across his skin, welts, bruise and cuts adorned his skin in minutes. The pain was so blinding that the alcohol just turned in his stomach.
Sirius tried not to scream, but when he received a gash on his scalp that made him think his head would split he couldn’t help it. He pleaded for mercy in a horse voice, but it never came.
Around three in the morning Sirius was biting through his bounds between heaving gasps. He felt sick and weak. He had to leave, screw his promise. His father finally kept one of his; Sirius knew that if he hadn’t been exhausted his father would have tortured him until he actually died. He had felt the pain even after passing out. “Enough.” He muttered getting up and leaving the magical ropes behind.
He tried to grasp his trunk, but he was too weak to lift it. “What the hell.” He muttered. “Locomotor trunk.” He then went down the steps as softly as he could manage and went out onto the street. He set his trunk down and tried to figure out how to get to James’s house in the middle of the night. He bent double trying to control the nausea that was taking over. A loud bang broke the night air and brilliant headlights suddenly blinded Sirius. The vehicle stopped just after the headlights swept over him and the door to a deep purple triple-decker bus opened.
“Good evening and welcome to the Knight bus. My name is Ernie Prang”
Sirius looked up “How much.” He croaked.
“ ‘Pends on where you want to go.” Ernie said.
“I need to get to Edenbrough.”
“Six sickles and two knuts.” Ernie said picking up Sirius’s trunk. Sirius dug into his jeans and gave Ernie the money.
“Thank you.” Sirius said brushing the cold sweat from his face. He climbed onto the bus and slid under the covers of a bedstead. Sirius felt very lucky that the driver had mastered driving such a large vehicle. He laid his head down and immediately curled up onto his side. The feeling of illness wasn’t helped by the speeding bus, but knowing that he wouldn’t be on the bus for too long was encouraging. Sirius drifted in and out of sleep occasionally wiping more cold sweat of the back of his neck and his face.
At one point Sirius could see the false dawn rising in the east and thought of Isis. The pale green of the sunless sky was similar to the green that Sirius had seen in Isis’s eyes when they first met. He fell asleep again and when he woke up he noticed that they were blowing down James’s street. The bus stopped with another bang. Sirius pulled the covers off and shakily began to disembark. Ernie jumped off the bus ahead of Sirius to get his school trunk.
The Potters were all standing outside; the bang must have woken them up. Sirius felt clumsy, between the hangover and his injuries he couldn’t seem to walk straight. In fact just the idea of walking sent Sirius diving behind the rose bushes and getting violently ill. Mr. Potter and James collected the trunk and Mrs. Potter helped Sirius into the house.
“You can sleep on the couch if you like.” Mrs. Potter said comfortingly. “And we’ll take you to a healer this afternoon.”
“Thank you.” Sirius said, “But may I wash up first?”
“Oh yes of course. You remember where the bathroom is?”
Sirius nodded and stumbled toward the wash. He couldn’t help but feel grateful. The Potters had always been extremely kind to him and now that he had nowhere else to go he was comforted by the fact that they were going to help him until he was able to get on his feet. He washed out his mouth and cleaned his hands. He striped off his damp shirt and got under the blanket that Mrs. Potter put on the sofa for him. He felt the pain of his scratches as he lay down. He turned on his side again and fell asleep.
Sometime around noon Sirius woke up feeling much better then he had the night before despite the fact that his head was pounding. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but it was in vain, he was awake and it was useless to pretend otherwise. He got up and put his shirt back on and found everyone in the kitchen.
“Morning Sirius.” James said brightly
“Is it still morning?” Sirius asked pulling out his watch.
“It’s morning for another fifteen minutes.” James said.
“Would you like some coffee?” Mrs. Potter asked.
“Yes please.” Sirius said.
“Do you want cream and sugar?”
Sirius rubbed his eyes, “No thank you. I think I should take it black.”
Mrs. Potter set a mug in front of him and Sirius sipped at it. He shifted his weight and groaned just slightly. “Sorry to come so early.” Sirius said putting the coffee mug down. “I just needed to get away from home.”
James smiled “It’s okay mate. You can go back once things cool down. Just like always.”
“I’m not going back.” Sirius said, “I have some gold. I’m going to get my own place to live.” Sirius sipped the coffee again. “I can’t go back. Not this time.”
“You’ll stay with us then.” Mr. Potter said casually picking up his cloak. “I need to get to work Sarah.”
“No I insist, I can get a place to live…” Sirius said uncomfortably. “I…”
“You’ll stay here.” Mrs. Potter repeated. “I’m not sending a sixteen year old boy to live by himself. You can bunk with James.”
James smiled. “Come on mate. You can’t even cook for yourself.”
Sirius smiled. He had never really felt at home in his parent’s house, Hogwarts was his home, but the idea of having somewhere to go during the holidays made him happier then he’d been in a week.