All the way IIII: Change

The next morning, Sirius found Eileen asleep in the chair by the window of his living room. In the grey morning light, her skin seemed translucent and thin, as pale as china next to her waves of ebony hair. She looked so small, nestled there in the puffy cushions.

He had heard her get up in the night. Obviously she didn't sleep well. At first he had suspected that she was awake late because she was in a strange house, but she was so quiet that he suspected she did the same every night.

Her tiny form shivered and Sirius grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa. He draped it over her and tucked in the edges.

Sirius stood back and laughed at himself. He had always had a soft spot for her - they had grown up together after all - but that spot seemed to have engulfed his whole body. Perhaps it was just the feel of the moment; Eileen, sleeping peacefully; Sirius trying to make sure she didn't get seriously ill.

He was just thinking over that possibility - that the feeling was in the moment - when Eileen made a small, breathy noise. Her long lashes fluttered open to reveal her dark eyes. She blinked hard a couple of time against the light and rubbed her eyes with heels of her tiny hands.

Sirius stared as she stretched, arching her back in a feline movement. She looked up and smiled at him.

"Good morning." She sighed sleepily.

"Morning," he smiled, "What time did you get to sleep?"

She shrugged, "Some time after 3 o'clock; earlier than usual."

Sirius shook his head, "You can't survive on that much sleep! And ant couldn't survive on that much sleep!"

She shrugged again, looking away, "Staying awake just became a habit. I adjusted to living on so little sleep, so I guess my body clock's a bit out of sync."

Sirius closed his eyes briefly, letting out a long breath. He opened his eyes again and watched her playing with a curl of black hair.

"D'you want some coffee?" He asked.

Eileen nodded, smiling slightly, "Please,"

""""""""""""""""""""

Hermione had just sat down for breakfast in the Great Hall, when Gary seated himself beside her.

"Good morning." She said politely, sipping her tea.

"Morning," He said, surveying the students, "They're a scary lot, aren't they?"

Hermione laughed, "They're not that bad."

"I didn't expect the castle to be this nice." He admitted.

"You've never been here before?" She asked, puzzled.

"Never," he confirmed, taking a gulp of steaming hot coffee, "I went to Durmstrang. My parents wanted me to go here, but one of my best friends was going to Durmstrang, so I followed him, like you do when you're young. But, on the day I was supposed to graduate, I got into a fight and I was in a coma until five years ago."

Hermione frowned, "Who did you fight with?"

He smiled sardonically, "Victor Krum." Hermione choked on her tea. "Yeah," He said, rubbing large circles on her back as she coughed, "He's a year younger than me. We were arguing over something stupid probably; I can't really remember. Of course, his publicist covered everything up."

Finally, Hermione was able to breathe again and he drew his hand away slowly, "You don't like Victor Krum?"

Gary shrugged, "He's nice enough, just not when he's angry."

Hermione laughed, "That is a scary thought. Every one - well, Ron - told me he was probably dangerous, with all that muscle and no brains... oh, sorry, you don't know who Ron is."

But Gary seemed to be deep in thought, looking at her closely. Finally, he spoke, "Hermione Granger?"

She smiled, "That's me. Or was me."

Gary nodded slowly, "He talked about you a lot." Suddenly he grinned, "He said you were a nice girl, but not to bright." Hermione started laughing, shaking her head, "Not really. He said you were too clever for him." Hermione laughed harder, "Ok, so he didn't say that either. He did say some nice stuff though; he was quite smitten with you, little lady."

"Shame," Hermione sighed, calming down, "I might have liked him, too, if it hadn't of been for the fact that he had the IQ of a dog biscuit and the emotional range of a sock. Plus I couldn’t understand one bloody word he was saying."

Gary snorted in amusement, "He did have a bit of a strong accent, didn't he. I'm really not sure how I managed to keep my English this good."

Hermione smiled and started to eat her toast.

""""""""""""""""""""

Eileen was staring out of the kitchen window. Suddenly, she whirled around to Sirius, who was digging through his freezer.

"Let's go for a walk!" She said excitedly.

Sirius looked up, "What?" He glanced passed her and out of the window, "But it's raining."

"I don't care!" She beamed, "I feel better than I have in a long time and I want to go out!"

Sirius smiled and shut the freezer, "Alright then, get a coat and we'll go."

Soon, they stepped out of the house and headed down the street. They walked until they came to a shop. Near the shop was a bench under a shelter.

As they sat down, Eileen spoke, "Thank you for finding me. I don't think I could have gone one much longer as I was, but I wouldn't have been able to help myself either. I think I just needed a familiar face, d'you know what I mean?"

Sirius nodded, "I understand. I just thought... well, we've always been close and it seemed weird that you didn't write or anything."

"I was scared. I thought that if I stayed with Sam then he might keep me safe but, as you've heard, he's a bit of a wimp." She sighed, "And I thought if I went back to the wizarding world... well, I’m not sure what I thought, but I didn't want anything to change, incase that change was for the worse."

""""""""""""""""""""

Severus hadn't been lying. He was having withdrawal symptoms. He wanted his wife so much. He knew that she should be safe at Hogwarts, so he wasn't that worried, but he missed her.

He missed her hair. Strangely enough, it had always irritated him when she was a student, but now he loved it and he missed it. He missed her skin, always so warm.

But the thing Severus missed the most was her love. He actually missed the silly soppy feeling he had when she looked at him with her big brown eyes.

And it was killing him that he could so easily just go through the floo and see her, but he knew that if he did, he wouldn't come back.

And anyway, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Wrong.

Because, when it came to his wife, Severus couldn't get any fonder.