Chapter 1 – Inevitable
Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters recognisable as J.K. Rowling's, which means that we own Heather, Mark, Murray etc…
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Heather spotted Sirius coming from a mile off; it took a little longer for her friend to notice the tall boy who was bounding towards them.
"Florence!" The boy she adored looked straight past her towards her best friend and her heart sank. Then he turned to her and his pale eyes lit up with a friendly grin. "Hello, Heather."
Heather's heart began to beat at a fast polka as she repeated the greeting in a breathy voice. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him as he began animatedly talking to her friend about some trick he and his friends were going to play on Snape. If only he would talk like that to me...
His pale eyes were dancing as he stopped talking, waiting for the response Florence was about to give. He must have noticed Heather staring because he cast an amused glance her way with a playful wink and she had to use all her strength to keep herself upright.
"So, what do you think?" Sirius murmured in that deep voice of his. It took a long time for her to realise that he was talking to her.
"Uh..." She blushed pink and his grin widened. "S'good."
"Which particular bit?" He teased and Florence slapped him playfully.
"Leave her alone. She's a bit distracted, that's all." Her friend protested and Sirius gave way, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"And what's so distracting that she doesn't listen to what her lord and master is saying?" Sirius complained and Heather almost drooled. What he didn't know was that he actually was her lord and master! His wish was her command...
"You-who! Heather! Are you awake in there?" Sirius was rapping his knuckles lightly on the top of her blonde head and she gave a strangled gasp.
He looked at her with puzzlement until Florence quickly distracted him from Heather's adoring face so she could keep it in check.
"Uh... We're going to be late for our next class unless we leave now." Heather managed finally and Florence nodded, giving her a sympathetic glance.
Sirius frowned. "Alright. I'll see you later, girls." He gave them a jaunty wave as he swaggered down the corridor, soon surrounded by a group of giggling 4th years.
"Are you alright, Heather?" Florence asked in an undertone and she nodded slowly in response.
"I'll do."
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
"Heather?" A voice cut through her daydream and she opened her eyes to find Mark Anwyl, her work colleague, standing over her worriedly. "Are you OK?"
Heather pasted a smile on her face. "Fine, perfect. Have you finished those tests yet?"
Mark grinned. "Sort of."
Frowning slightly, she got off the uncomfortable wooden stool and raised one eyebrow. "Who was it last night then? Hannah or Nicole?"
"Jemma, actually." Mark winked. "She was wearing this tiny little-"
Heather harrumphed and glared at him as he laughed.
"Sorry, Heather. Couldn't help it!"
"How soon can you have them done? I want to start on the human trials." She was all work.
"And, let me guess, it's my turn to be guinea pig." Mark shrugged resignedly. "Probably in a couple of hours. That ok for you?"
Heather nodded and turned around to go in the cupboard but froze at Mark's last words.
"That'll give you time to get back to dreaming about Sirius, then."
She spun around again, back to face him, with a look of horrified embarrassment. "Sirius?" She said in a strangled voice. "Who's Sirius?"
"I don't know." Mark shrugged, his face perfectly straight, though inside he was laughing. "You kept murmuring his name..."
"What?!"
Mark winked at her again before he walked into the supplies cupboard and Heather groaned, her hands covering her face. She turned to her other colleague, Murray Lyle, and gave him an inquiring look.
He grinned and nodded in response. "You were speaking in your sleep, Heather. And you did mention someone called Sirius. That wouldn't be Sirius Black, would it?"
Heather paled slightly. "What do you mean? Why do you say that?"
"Well, he was in the Daily Prophet today. Some interview with someone about something." Murray absently waved the newspaper that his owl brought daily from England and Heather grabbed it eagerly. She scanned her eyes down the page, stopping at the moving photograph.
"So it is Sirius Black, then." Murray commented but Heather ignored him, staring at the smiling, healthy, truly gorgeous man that was speaking in the picture. He hadn't changed much since their school days, except for that period when he had been in Azkaban. Heather shuddered as she remembered the mug shot.
"Are you alright, Heather?" Murray asked, looking at her worriedly. Heather looked up, realising that she had been looking at the picture for ages without speaking.
"Can I keep this?" She asked and Murray nodded.
"Of course, but..."
"I'm alright, Murray. Sirius and I... It was a long time ago." Heather's eyes became misty and she blinked to get rid of the tears. "Let's get back to work."
Murray nodded and handed her a clipboard with all his notes on, still not convinced that she was fine.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Heather locked up the lab, waving to her friends and colleagues as they walked off down the corridor and home. Shrugging her thin jacket onto her shoulders – it was quite nippy at night – she left the building, walking back to her small house on the outskirts of the city.
Feeling a crumple of paper as she put her hands in her pockets, she drew out the newspaper article that Murray had given her.
'The courageous Sirius Black is free at last. Sirius, originally from a remote town in Derbyshire, was once a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry before he was put in Azkaban for aiding Voldemort with the murder of his best friend, James Potter, and his wife, Lily. It was a crime for which he was wrongly accused, set-up by his other friend, Peter Pettigrew, who staged his own death to escape.
And now we see Sirius again after he has helped the Ministry of Magic capture known criminal and Death Eater, Marcus Mulciber. For this daring act, he has been awarded the Order of Merlin.
"How do you feel?"
"Perfectly fine, thank you." Sirius answered grinning.
"So, how did you capture this dangerous criminal?"
"Well, we knew that someone had been performing dark magic near the school when Sna- Ahem. When someone at the school showed symptoms of it. With the help of my old friend, Florence..."
"That's Professor Florence Findal?"
"Yep. With the help of Florence, we discovered that the criminal was hiding in the Shrieking Shack and so I followed him there, captured him and brought him back to Hogwarts for questioning."
"I'm sure you've played it down there, Sirius..."
"Well, I am a very modest person."'
Heather smiled slightly, as she read the facetious statements he had made. He'd always been good at telling people things and leaving them feeling as if they knew everything, when in fact they knew nothing at all.
It had been about 20 years since she had last seen Sirius; she had been madly in love with him, even after he had hurt her at the vulnerable age of seventeen. They hadn't spoken much after that but the wound still cut deeply every time she saw him. And then when he'd been put in Azkaban for killing James and Lily...
Heather sighed. Well, he'd been put in jail and she'd moved to Australia to take up a new position as Charms Researcher at the Australian Ministry.
Quickening her stride, she tried to stop thinking about it and him and dwell on what she was going to cook for dinner. Shall I have quiche and salad?
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Sirius muttered to himself as he read the newspaper. They always seemed to make you sound worse than what you did when you were actually interviewed. He threw the newspaper down on the coffee table in the hotel and picked up his quill instead. It was about time he visited Moony again. Remus could put him up for a couple of days.
Wrapping his robe around him more tightly, he started writing a letter to his oldest friend just as his owl flew through the window with more mail. Sirius growled. If it was more fan mail from desperate housewives, he would...
But it wasn't. It was a letter with his and Harry's tickets for the Quidditch World Cup. About time too, as he'd ordered them a month ago. He wanted to be sure to get them for Harry's 18th birthday present.
The World Cup would be in Australia this year, so he would have to arrange a portkey or something to take them there; Harry wouldn't quite have his Apparating license by then. Maybe he should have a word with Ron's parents, the Weasleys, so they could all go together...
"Sirius? What are you doing?" A female voice floated through from the bedroom.
Sirius groaned. "Just reading my mail, Chastity. Nothing earth-shattering."
"Everything you do is earth-shattering..." Chastity simpered suggestively and moved to sit next to him at the breakfast table.
Sirius wondered what evil demon had made him get involved with Chastity. She had changed a lot since they were at school... and not for the better.
"I'm leaving this morning." He announced abruptly and she pouted.
"Oh... Where are you going? Can I come too?"
"No." Sirius said shortly. Sighing, he tried to soften his attitude. "I'm sorry, Chastity." He took her hand and looked deep into her eyes, not wanting to hurt her, but wanting his position to be clear.
Without him speaking another word, Chastity knew exactly what he was saying. He wanted to split up with her.
"Oh, well. I knew it wasn't going to last forever," she said nonchalantly. "I'm sure I'll see you around some place. Who knows? Maybe at some point…"
Sirius smiled. "You're a great girl, Murdoch," he said admiringly as picked up his mail and went into the bedroom to get dressed.
Chastity watched his retreating back and her face sank.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
"Oh, what are these?" Heather looked down at the odd pieces of paper in her hand.
Mark grimaced. "If you don't know what Quidditch World Cup tickets look like, then you really do need to get out more."
Heather had arrived in the laboratory this morning to find the two men talking excitedly. When she had asked them what was so interesting, Mark had handed over the two slips of parchment.
She gave him a quelling look. "I know what they are! I meant, why do I have them?"
"You like Quidditch, don't you?"
"Sure, as much as the next person. You want them?" Heather offered them to him.
Mark grinned. "As much as I'd love to take them off your hands, we've all got to be there as representatives of the new charms that are protecting the stadium. You know, the ones we designed not so long ago? We've all got free tickets."
Heather frowned.
"Maybe you could take that Sirius fellow. He seems to be in your thoughts a lot recently." Mark ducked as a carefully aimed hand whipped round his head.
"I thought you'd forgotten about that..." Heather sighed.
"I never forget good blackmail material." Mark grinned again and escaped her clutches, as he skipped away. She turned to the older man.
"You want these tickets, Murray?"
Murray smiled tiredly. "No thanks, Heather. You know you've got to go."
She nodded resignedly.
"You might even enjoy the break." He continued.
"Yeah, right." She sighed and Murray looked at her sympathetically.
"It won't be that bad."
"Yeah, only millions of rowdy Quidditch fans looking for a fight." Heather rubbed her head; she felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. "When is it?"
"Not for a while yet - early August," Murray clarified, "which gives you time to organise where you're living while it's on."
"You mean, they gave us the tickets but they aren't putting us up?" Heather muttered savagely about the Ministry Heads and Murray fought to hide a grin.
"Yep. Lucky for me, my wife and I are going to live with my sister. And Mark's got a girlfriend somewhere out there..."
"Typical. Which leaves me... alone." Heather sighed miserably and her older friend looked concerned.
"So there's no chance of getting back with...?" He started but she shook her head. "I'm sorry."
Heather smiled slightly. "Here, take my other ticket. I won't be needing it and you can take your daughter as well." Heather passed him her extra ticket and he smiled back.
"Thanks, Heather. You're a gem."
"I know." She winked at him and shoved the remaining ticket into her pocket.
It was probably why she was thinking of Sirius so much lately, she thought absent-mindedly as she pulled on a lab-robe. The fact that she knew her ex-fiancé Paul was never going to return, in person or with the money he stole from her probably reminded her of how Sirius had hurt her. He hadn't hurt her in the same way as Paul but the level of hurt was just about equal. It had taken over 20 years, if ever, for her to get over Sirius. Was she destined for the same fate this time?
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Authors' Notes:
Hello!
This is another new story we're playing with. There may be a couple of repeated scenes from Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night for the reason that they are important to the telling of the story; sorry if you have to read them again! J
Enjoy the story,
Martha and Squirrel.
xxx.