The Love Of A Wizard

The next day Remus left on, what Claudia thought was, a job for Dumbledore. He left midmorning with goodbyes all around, and a hug for Emma. As the trio now sat outside by the pool, Claudia thought back to the previous night. How her life had changed, as if by magic, in a blink of an eye. Never before would she have ever believed it if someone were to tell her that this would happen to her. She even had a hard time believing in it now, even after all that she herself had witnessed. The man laying next to her in his beach chair could do real magic. He could even turn himself into a dog at will. Claudia hoped that none of this was a dream and if it was, she hoped she would never wake again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Emma calling to her from the pool.
“Mommy!”
“Sorry hun, what?”
“I’m hungry. It’s lunch time!” Emma was hanging on a plastic floating toy as she spoke to her mother. Claudia had not realized that time has passed so quickly.
“Alright. I’ll fire up the grill.” Claudia rose from her chair and wrapped herself in a towel.
“You are firing up a what?” Sirius was roused from his own thoughts by the conversation.
“The grill. It is a muggle way of cooking outdoors.” She emphasized the word muggle much to Sirius’s amusement. “Want to help?”
“Sure. Just tell me what to do.” He followed her into the house and she instructed him on the fine art of making hamburger patties. Claudia, in the mean time, lit the grill close to the pool and waited for Sirius to appear with the tray of meat.
Half an hour later the three of them, Emma dripping with water, all sat on the grass and enjoyed hamburgers, potato chips and soda.
“So this is called a what?” Sirius asked referring to the meal.
“This is a traditional American cookout meal. Reserved for summer days next to a swimming pool.” They passed the time laughing and talking about Sirius’s life before his prisoner days. He spoke at length about his school where he and his friends learned to fine tune their magical abilities. Also about his close relationship with Remus and a man named James. The mention of James brought on a sad aura around Sirius. Claudia noticed at once that this was a heavy burden Sirius carried and wondered if Remus too felt the weight of it.
After awhile, Emma decided to go inside and lay down for awhile while her stomach settled from all the food. Claudia returned to her beach chair and lay flat on her stomach. Sirius followed her and brought his chair right up close to hers, so that they were face to face, laying flat.
“I suppose this is quit a bit different than Azkaban prison.”
“Oh…you have no idea. I feel like I haven’t been in the sun for years. Well…I guess I really haven’t have I?” Claudia and Sirius both laid and looked at each other.
“How did you do it Sirius? How did you escape?”
“Magic.” And with that one word, they both laughed hysterically. Only after a few minutes had passed did Claudia mention Sirius’s very red skin.
“Um…Sirius? I think you had better get out of the sun now. You are burning up!” She lifted herself on her elbows and looked over his back. He was covered in tattoos and his once pale, almost translucent skin was now a pale pink. “Here, you need to put this on you.” She handed him a bottle of sunscreen. He opened the cap and took at big sniff of its contents.
“Agh…That smells terrible!” His face was twisted and he held the bottle back out for Claudia to take.
“No Sirius. You have to put it on you! It will keep the sun from burning you further. Should have put some on you before. But, I guess you could use a bit of coloring up. Here, I’ll help you.” She sat up in her chair and took the bottle from Sirius’s hand. She squeezed a small mound of it in her hands and began to rub his back, shoulders and arms with the sunscreen. After she had rubbed in most of the lotion fully, her mind running wild as she did it, did she see the smile on Sirius’s face.
“What are you smiling for? I thought you didn’t like the smell of it?”
“Oh…It still smells dreadful, but it is nice to have someone rub my back like that.” His body moved with silent laughter and Claudia poo pooed him and returned to her own chair.
“I hope you burn.” She jokingly said to him. “It’s your turn now.” She handed the bottle back to him and he took it at once. Two seconds later, half of the bottle was squeezed onto her back.
“Oh my God Sirius! You don’t need that much.” Still laughing he scooped most of the lotion from her back, back into the bottle. He began to massage her back and shoulders and Claudia relaxed at once. He was right. Having someone else do this is pure heaven. His hands were gentle and firm on her shoulders. It was when his hands started rubbing her lower back did she realize that she was in fact, enjoying this a bit too much.
“Alright. Thank you Sirius, I think I am all ok now.” She turned over and smiled at Sirius, but her smile fell almost immediately. His face was intense and his eyes bored straight into hers. He was even breathing heavily, she could hear him exhale. They sat there like that for what seemed to be an hour. When Sirius finally realized that his hands were still on Claudia’s back, he pulled them away rather quickly and returned to his chair. They sat in silence for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts.
After a few moments of silence, Sirius looked at Claudia and smiled. She returned the smile and nothing more was said between them for some time.
“You know, you should consider trimming your hair a bit. It looks shaggy.” Claudia broke the silence with what she hoped was a nice suggestion.
“You know…I think I will. You’ll help me, won’t you?” Sirius stood and dipped his foot in the water. “I suppose I should wet it first…” With that he dove head first into the pool. Claudia smiled to herself as she watched him do laps around the pool.
After Sirius was done showing off his swimming abilities, he and Claudia headed into the house. Claudia went to fetch a pair of scissors and Sirius stood in front of the mirror, attempting to comb out the tangles in both his hair and beard.
“Give me that.” Claudia took the comb from him and began to comb out tangles in his hair. Sirius knelt on the floor in front of the mirror and watched her work. When she had satisfactorily rid his head of knots, she grabbed the scissors and readied them.
“You ready?” She asked.
“By all means,” He waved his hand. “cut away. But mind you, not too short.”
Claudia began to cut his hair in large chunks first, then she tackled his beard. This proved to be very difficult, so in the end, he decided to shave it off.
An hour later, Sirius emerged from the bathroom clean shaven and sporting clean, neat, shoulder length black hair. Emma laughed at him, saying he didn’t look right to her anymore. He chased her into her room threatening to tickle her to death.
“Nice.” Claudia admired him from the kitchen as she was cleaning up. He stood in the kitchen doorway and flashed her a brilliant smile.
“Yes, I think so too. Before my unfortunate incarceration, I was quite handsome. Pity, My youth was wasted in that hole.”
“Oh Sirius, you have some youth left in you.” Claudia enjoyed nothing more that bantering back and forth with him. “And you are still handsome. If you like that sort of thing.” She smiled at him and handed him a towel to dry the dishes. He snatched the towel from her and took his position next to her in front of the sink. Claudia couldn’t remember ever enjoying doing the dishes as much as she did that night. After the dishes were finished, the three of them sat around and watched television until Emma decided she wanted dinner.
They all three had left over hamburgers and sat and talked for what seemed hours. Emma bored of the talk easily, so she slipped away to play, leaving Claudia and Sirius to chat. He expanded his stories to tell her the history of this dark wizard that wanted to take over the wizard world and how he disappeared. Claudia sat speechless as he told her of all of the horrible things people suffered at his and his cronies hands. He told her of the people he lost, of what the members of the Order of the Phoenix did and the night he was taken to prison. It all was a fantastic tale of bravery and tragedy. Claudia wanted with all her heart to help these people as much as she possibly could. But for now, she was helping someone who needed her help. Sirius talked openly of his family and why he ran away at an early age. In turn, Claudia filled him in on her husband’s death and her decision to move to her country paradise.
“But why did you leave your family?” he asked her.
“My family and I were never really as close as we hoped. I left home and moved to California and created a family of my friends. Then, I married one of them. When he died, I went home but I knew I didn’t belong there. My friends are off doing their work all over the world. It is easier for me to see them here than at my mother’s home. She didn’t approve of them much. They were…the rough crowd. Military men that were, as she puts it, ‘reckless and dangerous’. I don’t know…I always had fun with them.” They continued to talk into the late night hours before Claudia realized what time it was. Emma had fallen asleep on her bed, fully dressed. Claudia turned off the light and closed her door.
“I’m off to bed Sirius. See you in the morning.” She waved hr hand and turned to go to her room.
“Wait!” Sirius rushed up behind her, turned her to face him and hugged her like a sister.
“Thank you. I don’t think I have talked that much for years. I feel light as a feather.” Claudia didn’t trust herself to say anymore. She returned his hug and turned to her room. As she closed the door, she saw Sirius standing in the hallway, his back to her and his hands shoved in his pockets. She closed the door before he could turn. Claudia leaned against the door and let out a deep breath. She shook her head and proceeded to get ready for bed. All the while a nagging feeling was causing chaos in her insides.
Two days later Remus returned to the house looking horrible. His clothes were dirty and he even had cuts above his left eye, Claudia eyed his appearance warily and raised an eyebrow.
“Tough night at the office?” She asked him.
“Oh, it’s nothing to worry about. Where is Sirius? I have something for him.” He gestured to the front window and Claudia saw, perched on the porch railing, a large multicolored bird sitting there. The bird itself was enormous, with long plumage for a tail that swept elegantly behind it.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! What is it for?”
“This is Sirius’s messenger for the time being. A little flashy, I admit. But he is big and strong and it would take something quite ferocious to intercept his letters. As he said this Sirius walked in and exchanged greetings with Remus.
“Blimey! That is one huge bird!” Sirius was obviously excited about having such a flashy letter carrier. “It’s almost as big as the last one.” Apparently, Sirius had taken an liking to exotic birds delivering his mail. Remus said Sirius enjoyed the idea of sending his post in such an obvious way, it made him feel as if he was defying the ministry right under their noses.
Sirius sat down straight away and conjured a feather quill and paper and began to write a letter. After he had finished, he tied the letter to the bird’s leg and it swooped off the porch and into the sky.
“Was that to Harry?” Remus asked him.
“Yes. Just letting him know I am alright. I wonder what he thinks of the bird?” He smiled as he thought of the reaction his post carrier would bring and he settled in to go through clothes Claudia had pulled out of the attic for him. Her husband’s old clothes would fit him, and he went through the piles of pants and t-shirts holding them up to his body.
Things were reaching a state of normal in the country with the two wizards, Claudia and Emma. The summer carried on with intense heat and they spent their time swimming, walking, and helping Sirius get back to a healthier state and also keeping Buckbeak entertained. Sirius was nursing sun burns , he now wore sunscreen every time he ventured outdoors. The coexisted happily in the country together and waited for any news from the wizard world.
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Well? ANy thoughts on this so far? Who is it that Claudia will...erm...be with?