A/N: As usual, I only own the plot. Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter. The train has left the station. And remember, Harriet is Luna's daughter.
Chapter 4: A Plan...
******************************Diagon Alley*******************************
July 4, 2015
4:20 pm
Contrary to the scene years ago, when the war with Voldemort was in full cry, Diagon Alley was filled to overfilling with Wizards and witches in town for the beautiful Saturday afternoon to do some shopping. Teenagers in a mixture of Muggle clothes and Wizarding gear were everywhere; standing in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies ogling the new Firebolt Mark VIII; slipping from Slug & Jiggers apothecary with bags full of smelly, squirming, potion ingredients; or struggling with stacks of books from Flourish and Blotts. Old witches down to London for the day were competing with young families walking along. A half-dozen brooms shot over the alley at ten meters up, each trailing a long banner marked with "WWW".
A troop of over-excited second year girls ran past a large, plate-glass window, the center one held a large, white cat, which she shad just purchased at Magical Menagerie. She was petting the seemingly bemused feline and calling over to her other friends about how she was going to keep him with her all the time, even in class. Emilia looked up from where she sat reading a new book on sympathetic thaumaturgy as she waited in Madame Malkin's and shook her head. She went back to her book and turned her page, turning past a section on induced action at a distance.
Emilia reached down and took a quill and a small notebook from her bag, and jotted down a note, resolving to ask Hermione about something in the text that seemed familiar, when a soft, hesitant voice came from in front of her. She looked up and stood quickly, setting aside her book in her chair. Harriet stood tremulously, looking around at the various students and parents in the shop getting their school uniforms and such for the year. Emilia smiled slightly as she noticed Naomi Jamillia, a sixth year Ravenclaw, looking daggers at the newest Gryffindor. Harriet smoothed down her skirt nervously and looked around the room, "How do I look? The attendant kept telling me that the skirt was too short and the jumper too tight, but it seems fine to me."
Emilia walked around the other teen slowly, and looked her up and down. She came around to the front and stopped, smiling slightly, "Do you feel comfortable in it, Harriet?"
"Yes, I don't know why that attendant wanted me to get a jumper two sizes larger, this one is perfectly comfortable. And the skirt is fine, she kept telling me that a proper lady's' skirts should be at her knees, but why?"
Emilia snorted, "I have no idea, I think that half the witches around here think it's still the nineteen-fifties."
"I do have one question, Em," Harriet went on as she looked down and bent slightly to play with the hem of her skirt that ended about halfway down her thighs. She looked up, "Don't these get drafty in the middle of winter; I'm getting a touch of a breeze..."
Emilia coughed loudly, as her eyes widened, and she pulled her friend to the side. "Um, Harriet..." Harriet's eyes opened wider in a silent question. "Nevermind." She turned from the girl, and moved back to her chair, "If you have everything, let's get going," Em smirked slightly, as her eyes lit with mischief, "I have Dad's Gringotts card, and there's a Muggle mall not too far from here. We'll get you some real clothes."
"But I have these, now," Harriet replied, "I won't need anything else for school will I..."
Emilia took her hand and pushed her back towards the changing room, "Get changed back, let's..." An explosion rocked the street, sending the large window crashing inward in a shower of glass, as both girls dove for the ground at the same instant. A thick pall of noxious smoke drifted in the window frame, which now only held a few jagged shards, like teeth to some impossibly huge mouth.
Soft moans of pain came from elsewhere in the shop as Emilia pushed up on her arms and rolled over the top of a large pile of clothes. She hurriedly checked out Harriet as the other girl rose to a crouch, shielding herself behind a doorframe with her wand at the ready. A horizontal cut dripped blood down the redhead's leg, but besides a small twinge of pain that Emilia could see in the corner of her eye, Harriet just waited, as if this was an everyday occurrence. More normal to her, than the typical fare, of shopping and boys, and Quidditch that was the life since Voldemort's defeat seventeen years before.
Emilia reached behind her back, pushing up her shirt slightly, and drawing her wand from the concealed wand sheath there. Distantly she felt a worried presence query her, and she waved her free hand at Harriet then towards the door. She made a popping gesture with her right hand, and Harriet nodded. Both girls took a breath, and vanished with faint, almost inaudible POPs.
As she reappeared in the shadow of Quality Quidditch Supplies, she took the briefest instant to catalogue the street. The source of the explosion was immediately evident, the Apothecary was a smoking hole, with the crumpled remains of dozens of cauldrons from the shop across the scattered about like marbles from some giant's bag. Several dark, cloaked shapes moved near the shop, obvious as they were the only ones standing. Emilia's eyes widened and her heart thundered in her chest as she felt a horrible, shuddering cold begin to take hold of her very bones. She shivered, and looked across at Harriet.
Harriet's face held an expression of absolute terror, before she swallowed heavily and lifted her wand, as the cloaked ones, six at least, came closer. Their dark tattered robes seemed to eat the light of the afternoon sun, and the ground froze at their feet as they glided nearer the two girls. A witch ran from a small pub in panic and the leftmost turned with deceptive slowness, and green, scaly hands emerged from within tattered sleeves and grasped her cheeks almost as if greeting a lover.
Its head, encased in a depthless hood, lowered towards the woman, she shuddered and collapsed, her open and lifeless eyes looking up at the sun. "NO..."Emilia screamed and the temporary shock ripped away as something else snapped into its place. She forced her mind away from the scene in front of her, even as tears streamed down her face, to a vision of Xander, his eyes wide and wondering as they both felt the torrent of emotions flowing over their link, that night only two days prior...EXPECTO PATRONUM...A horse-sized, silvery-white loup-garou erupted from the end of her wand. It took one, two long loping hops and tore into the Dementors, tossing one to the ground with a slash of spectral fangs and claws before launching on another.
"EM!" Harriet screamed, just in time for Emilia to turn and duck as a red bolt snapped over her head. Emilia rolled; diving away as a half-dozen Stunners cratered the wall above her head. Harriet dove out from cover, stunning a figure in a dark cloak. She took a step and the nimbus from a chartreuse beam cracked across her ribs. Harriet tumbled to the ground and time slowed abruptly.
Emilia rose seemingly oh-so-slowly, at least to her, her wand bucked twice in her hand, and shimmering blue bolts snapped downrange. A cloaked figure screamed as his arm was torn away in a spray of red. Emilia's other Reductor shattered the wall behind him, vaporizing a two-meter hole in the old stone. Her wand flicked, batting away an orange, spiraling curse into the sky, she spun and a wave of force picked up her attacker and slammed him against a stone wall. He slid down to the ground, pooling at the bottom of the wall and Emilia started back towards Harriet.
Behind her, her Patronus finished with the last of the Dementors and vanished. Emilia spun for just an instant, "CRUCIO," a yellow beam tore into her side, sending her tumbling to the ground. Suddenly, her insides tore as if flayed by a thousand, tiny, sharp knives. She rolled to her side, and looked up through tear-blurred eyes as she fought not to scream.
Vaguely, a dark shape filled her vision, and a hard, accented female voice sounded through the blood rushing in Emilia's ears, "I expected better from wee baby Potter's leavings...I knew he should have taken up with the blood-traitor, at least the breeding stock would have been better." The pain vanished abruptly, and then a sharp spike hammered through her core as a boot rammed her ribs.
"Mistress," a hard, cold voice called from somewhere behind the shape, "we have it."
"Very well," the female voice replied, Emilia started to rise back to her feet, "CRUCIO!" Emilia flopped backwards, the pain twice as intense. "I never thought that I would have the opportunity to leave Potter such a message," the voice paused, "however you would be such a welcome gift to..."
The voice taunting her cut off; screaming, as a wave of force picked up the witch and threw her through the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. "Get away from her...you BITCH," a hard soprano growled as a welcome presence pushed back the darkness. Hermione reached behind her, her hair floating on an invisible wind and her eyes glowing, outshining the sun in the sky above, as twin, daggers filled her hands and grew, the blades extending, doubling in length. Hermione advanced slowly, and the witch slowly, shakily rose to her feet.
"GET HER!" she screamed and a torrent of spellfire hammered at Hermione. Hermione slashed her left-hand dagger across her body, and a silver half-dome batted back fifteen spells as she flipped backwards, picked up Emilia and sprinted towards Harriet. Hermione slid to her knees beside the other girl and conjured a six-foot high stone wall. Four Kedavras hammered the wall with loud crunching sounds. Screams from the bystanders, as they ran for cover, filled the air. "KILL HER!"
Six figures, in the dark hoods and white masks that had been thought never to be seen again, appeared from out of the shattered storefronts. Odd glowing talismans hung around their necks as they approached, wands extended...
The air in the exact center of their rough formation shimmered, and before even the first could turn, his head was tumbling away to the ground. A shimmering blue blade reversed and neatly lopped off a wand hand before reversing direction again and sending another Death Eater tumbling to the cobblestone street in a spray of red. A ball of blue plasma snapped from his free hand, exploding another two Death Eaters even as he spun, and his heel neatly clipped the crippled Death Eater behind the ear sending him spinning through the air to slam into his last standing partner. Harry stunned both of them contemptuously as he MOVED towards the shattered storefront.
"FUCK," he snarled as he found the building empty, his quarry gone. The sound of Apparations filled the street like gunshots, and Harry spun on his heel, emerald eyes blazing, "CLEAR THIS MERLIN-DAMED STREET." Aurors ran at his command, checking wounded, and looking for hostiles. Harry ignored them, as he moved purposefully towards Hermione and the girls. A visible presence almost manifested on the air, as he stopped, before drawing himself close, pulling it back in. Mione, he called in a silent, pleading voice.
We're fine, Harry, she replied, very quietly. He vanished the wall that they were sheltering behind, and for a long instant held Hermione's eyes, as the glow faded to leave a look of almost panic, an image that he had hoped never to see again. She blinked and it vanished, but they both knew he had seen. Harry knelt next to her, and touched the back of her hand with his, before he reached out and touched Emilia's forehead.
A CRACK sounded next to them and Harry waved away the Aurors as Xander knelt next to Emilia and looked up at Harry and Hermione. Harry took a deep breath, as Xander pulled Emilia up into a half-sitting position across his legs. Her eyes blinked open, and she took a deep, panting breath, "Xan..." Emilia closed her eyes and swallowed. Harry watched as Harriet sat up and slid over, and took a glass of water, and part of a bar of chocolate.
"Are you alright, Poppet?" Harry asked as Emilia opened her eyes again.
Emilia smiled slightly, and coughed, holding a hand to her ribs, "Sure, Daddy, I've taken a lot worse hits in training...Can Xan and Harriet and I go home? Please?"
Harry looked back as one of the Aurors signaled it was clear. He nodded, and turned back to the teens, "Alright, Em...Xander, get them to bed, no arguments Em, Harriet," he added as he saw both girls rouse enough to try to complain. "You did your job..."
"Dad," Emilia quietly as the memory of that first victim filled her thoughts, "I wasn't..."
Harry shook his head, "It's alright, Em, your Mum and I will be along presently." Harry watched as Emilia opened her mouth to argue, but before a word escaped, Xander caught a small rock and he, Harriet and Emilia vanished in a fall of color and rush of wind. Harry looked at the empty space next to them for a long moment, before reaching under his light jacket, pulling a small folding mirror and flipping it open with one hand. "Remus," he called darkly.
The mirror reflected his face for a moment, before swirling with color and resolving into Lupin's rugged features. "We found Bella, Remus...she just attacked my daughter."
*************************Godric's Hollow******************************
9:20 pm
Xander sat silently in a slightly-tattered, green easy chair pulled up next to Emilia's bed. A cup of coffee sat cooling on her bedside table as he reached out, and ran his fingers through her hair slowly. She sighed quietly in her sleep and rolled over, facing him.
Xander frowned as Hipper gave him a significant look before settling down on his Mistress's feet, watching towards the door with unblinking yellow-green eyes. Xander reached over to a small plate next to the coffee and tossed a chunk of roast beef from the sandwich Dobby had fixed him and he had not eaten, to the kneazle. Hipper ate it without looking from the door. Xander reached forward and pulled a light blanket up to her chin. He leaned back in his chair, briefly trailing his fingers over a wire-wrapped hilt sticking out of his pack as if he were afraid that it had left in the last minute since he had checked. I love you so much, Em, he muttered, resting his hand on the sheets next to her.
"I love you, Xan," she muttered in her sleep and scooted towards him more, and wrapped her body around his hand, grabbing it with both of hers and tucking it to her chest. Xander rolled his eyes, but didn't move it, instead leaning forward and resting his chin on his other arm on the edge of the bed.
"That's not the most comfortable position," Harry's soft voice broke the silence from his post leaning against the doorframe. "Trust me, I know." He reached up and swept his fringe off his forehead, only to let it drop into his eyes once more.
Xander's head shot up, tracking towards Harry, "I...uh..."
Harry shook his head and moved silently into the room, he stopped next to Hipper's cat castle and picked up an old Gryffindor sweatshirt, with several holes burnt in it from Potions experiments, off the top, and tossed it towards a hamper set in the corner. "Xander..." he shrugged, "Roger never killed me; I suppose I should extend the same courtesy."
"Thanks...I think. You know that would rather Kedavra myself than hurt her, even before..."
"That's pretty much the only thing that's kept you alive," Harry replied, smiling slightly. Xander gave him a small smile and reached up with his free hand, cradling Emilia's cheek. "How is she, Xander?" Xander's eyes hardened, and started to blacken out. Emilia stirred and he took a breath, centering himself. "I see you've learned the drawbacks too...good luck trying to slip a Christmas, birthday or anniversary present past her for the next three hundred years or so too."
"Yeah...She was more scared than I've ever seen her...Un..."
"You can call me Harry, Xander," Harry replied shrugging, "nothing has changed really, I've known it was coming since you two were thirteen." He snorted and slid down the wall. His eyes closed as he held up an empty hand and Mr. Wings shot across the room and hovered over his palm. He looked at the stuffed Hippogriff for a moment, "I got this for Em when she was four, I was on some assignment, and damn near missed her birthday, picked him up at the last minute." He shook his head, and looked down at the floor, "How long was it before she got to sleep?"
"About two hours ago," Xander muttered. "She...she's blaming herself, Harry."
"I know. We're good at that." Harry looked up towards the bed, "How's Harriet?"
Xander shrugged, "Sirius helped me get them in bed, she's in his room," Xander bit back a short laugh at some memory.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked, bemused.
"When we checked, Harriet...um, Sirius got an eyeful," Xander shrugged, "I've never seen someone apologize so much in my life." Harry's face held an odd expression, "He didn't mean to."
"Don't worry, somehow, if Harriet's like her mother, I doubt she would mind." Harry smiled at some long ago memory, of Luna's voice distantly carrying to his ears, asking, "Hermione, you don't care if we use your room; do you?" and Hermione replying, breathlessly, "Just....clean up," giggle, "when you're done, Luna". His smile faded as he watched the suddenly dark expression on Xander's face.
"Yeah...I'm sorry, Harry;" Xander added, his voice soft, as his head bowed slightly.
"For what?" Harry asked.
"I should have been with her, Harry, I was going to go with them, but I canceled at the last minute, Nathan called and needed help with something, some damn stupid thing with fixing his broom again...Em told me to go, but I should have been with them...I..."
Harry stood and took a step over to Xander, he gently clasped the teen's shoulder, "Xan...you didn't know; you're not a Seer, are you?" Xander smirked slightly despite himself and shook his head. "Then we can only do what we can do...Xander, Emilia loves you, you can't try to hide them away, protect them like china, they deserve more than that that. My daughter is just as stubborn as my wife, Xander, if you don't already know that by now, you haven't been paying as much attention to her as I'd thought..."
"I know...How do you do it, knowing that..."
Harry sighed, "It tears me up inside Xander, makes me want to scream...to destroy everything in this world that could even bring a tear to her eye...but I can't, no matter how powerful I am, there will always be some threat." Harry looked up as Emilia's window opened and a huge snowy owl slid in on silent wings and alighted on top of Hipper's cat palace. Harry reached over and took a small scrap of parchment from Hedwig. She hooted and fluttered over to his shoulder, and accepted a rub of her feathers as only her due. Harry glanced down at the parchment, a random collection of letters and numbers and muttered a spell.
The letters rearranged themselves into a few terse sentences, and Harry nodded to himself as he read. "Your folks will be along in a bit, Xander, they are collecting Abby from the Finnegans," Harry explained, and Xander nodded. Harry turned slightly, Hedwig barely wobbling on his shoulder, "Xander...you both would be much more comfortable in bed." Harry smiled at his stunned expression, and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Sirius Potter's room was a young male mirror of his sister's, not that Emilia pretended to be anything but what she was. "A Bookworm with tomboy tendencies," as she had remarked to Xander one day early in her third year, the day after she had accepted his date to Hogsmeade and immediately panicked, and almost convinced herself to back out. A large, scarred dresser took up part of one side of the room, with every drawer half open and clothes hanging out. A single, large bookshelf sat on the other side of a doorway that led to his and Emilia's shared bathroom, filled to overflowing with schoolbooks, a five-part series on Defeating the Dark Arts, Quidditch magazines and various works of fiction.
On a stand on the dresser, a large, glowing orb sat, it continuously shifted colors across the spectrum, providing much of the light in the room. It lit the water of a large fishtank filled with tropical fish set next to it, like a large lightbox. Across from that, and catty-cornered to a window overlooking the backyard, a full-sized bed with a dark red comforter, and light tan sheets, sat with its headboard pushed against a wall. A tall, currently unoccupied, multi-level stand for Sirius' grey-horned Owl, Natasha, was set next to the head of the bed, opposite a table that held an unlit lamp, a Wizarding alarm clock and a Muggle Paperback with the title: On Basilisk Station.
The soft, glowing lights lit the red hair of the bed's sole occupant, casting glints of color along the girl's slightly shaggy tresses. The comforter was puddled at the base of the bed, and a light blanket matching the sheets pulled up to her hips as she slept the sleep of the exhausted. She rolled over in her sleep, flopping onto her back and wiggling for a moment before settling back down.
A quiet sigh echoed across the room as the door opened slowly from the cracked status it had been in. A shadow leaned heavily against the doorway, and the shadow of a hand came up to scrub at tired eyes before she continued into the room.
Hermione rolled her eyes as she found Sirius asleep on the floor, a sleeping bag from his closet his palette, as he defended the threshold of his room. His hand was resting near his wand and part of a black, lacquered sheath was peaking out from under the edge of the bag. She stepped over him and knelt, conjuring a pillow with a wave of her hand and slipping it under his head. She stood silently after gently kissing his cheek and slipped over to the bed. Hermione closed her eyes as she saw the white bandage around Harriet's side, peeking out from under her half-ridden up t-shirt, and felt the prickle of tears in the corners of her eyes. Hermione looked up and to the right as Harry wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder. Hermione reached forward and pulled the blanket up enough to cover her charge's belly and turned, burying her face in his shoulder.
Luna is going to kill me, Harry, Hermione remarked quietly. Her breathing was even, the panic already burnt away. She trusted her daughter to my charge, Harry, and I let her get hurt.
She's fine, Hermione, Harry whispered, kissing the top of her head. His fingers pushed up her shirt in the back slightly, rubbing small patterns in the small of her back. They are all fine, Love.
This time...Harry...this is exactly why, we...she took a breath and just went silent. She pushed back and started to walk around Sirius' room. With quick, annoyed motions, Hermione moved around the room, picking up clothes, books and other random junk. She dumped an armful of clothes into an empty hamper and paused, looking back around the room. She frowned at the broom propped up in a corner; He knows that he's supposed to leave his broom in the garage... Hermione started to stomp over to it, only to be waylaid as Harry wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her to him.
Mione...calm down, Love...you'll wake up the kids...they might not be able to read your thoughts directly, but they can feel it when we are upset.
You're not exactly calm either, Harry, Hermione snapped back, sensing the rolling frustration and near nauseous feeling of fear in his belly. She took a breath, I'm sorry, Baby, I just want...
I know, I know, he repeated, rocking her slightly back and forth. We'll find that bitch, Mione... Hermione nodded, and kissed his shoulder. She took a step back as she heard Sirius stirring and turned, her hands on her hips and a smirk carefully hidden from view.
"Mum," he called softly, feeling around on the floor near him for his glasses. Finding them under the edge of his bag, he slipped them on and looked up, blinking and pushing randomly scattered strands of hair out of his eyes. "Dad," he added on seeing Harry. He looked up towards the bed, and back at them quickly. "Um...we didn't know where else to put her...Xander was with Em, so, I, uh...thought that someone should be here in case she woke up."
"Then why are you sleeping in the floor, guarding the entrance with your wand and sword at hand?" Harry asked, his face carefully straight, Look, Mione, my son has a girl in his bed...
Shush, or you won't, Hermione replied in a quiet growl, even though he could hear the laughter in her words. Don't you dare tease him, Harry; I think he's got a crush on her...
A Potter and a Weasley-that sounds almost delusional-Don't worry, Hermione, I won't, though I have to wonder about these boys these days, I didn't pass up that first time you wanted to cuddle with me.
I had to damn near force your arse at wandpoint; if I remember correctly, you were being all noble too.
Sirius shrugged as he sat up, a faint redness to his cheeks that was almost lost in the inconsistent "I...dunno...I didn't ah...Dad..." He looked around the room and then up at the bed where Harriet was still sleeping, he sighed, "I'll go sleep on the couch." He started to move, but stopped as Harry waved him to the floor.
"You looked comfortable, Sirius," Harry replied seriously, he looked over at the girl sleeping in the bed. He swallowed slightly as the light from the orb cycled to gold. For an instant, causing her to look almost exactly like the girl whose wedding he and Hermione had stood up at. Whose supposed loss, along with Ron's, had almost driven them over the edge into insanity. "I would move closer to the bed, though, Sirius, just in case she wakes up."
Sirius just nodded, as Harry took Hermione's hand and pulled her from the room, both of them mouthing 'Good Night' to their son as they exited the room, pulling the door to.
July 5, 2015
8:20 am
Sirius groaned slightly and rolled over, blinking against the morning sun streaming in his open window. He looked up and around, and jumped back as he found Harriet stretched out next to him on the wood floor, her head propped up on one elbow watching, seemingly unblinkingly, with her odd, grey eyes. "H...h...hello," he stammered, pushing his glasses that he had slept in, up his nose.
"Hello, Sirius," Harriet replied, an enigmatic smile graced her lips for an instant, before she dropped her eyes from his for a beat. She took a breath, and she felt her own heart beat a trace faster as she watched his eyes flicker down below her neck for an instant before his brain forced them back to her face. "Thank you, for watching over me last night...it is Samarian Horsemoth season, or so Mum says..." she said quietly. She watched him a second longer. "Your hair is odd-looking;" Harriet said matter-of-factly, "does it misbehave all the time?"
"Um...yeah," he replied, even as he reached up and tried to tame it unsuccessfully, "it's the same as Dad's, never behaves really."
"I suppose I will have to get used to it," she replied, and shrugged, "I like it, it goes really well with your eyes."
"Um...thanks." Sirius looked at her, and slowly looked down. His cheeks burned slightly as his eyes decided to work their way down her legs that were peeking out from under the long t-shirt she had more or less by herself, put on to sleep in. They stopped on a white bandage wrapped around her left leg. A bit of blood had seeped from the cut, staining the white bandage, and before he could think about it, he reached forward and touched it, "Are you, alright?" he asked, absently as both of them froze otherwise.
"I...think so," Harriet replied, her eyes locked to his, as she noticed, just for an instant, the emerald green of his eyes brightening from within. Sirius looked down at his hand, which was still resting on her outer thigh and pulled it back quickly. "L..let me check," Harriet sat up and utterly unselfconsciously lifted her shirt enough to expose the bandage just below her ribs, Sirius looked away quickly as she gently probed the graze of a Bone-Breaker curse and looked at him. "What's wrong, Sirius..." her voice was soft as she lowered her shirt, letting it collect at her hip and not bothering to pull it back down under her bum.
"I'm...sorry," he whispered, still keeping his gaze adverted, "I...uh saw you without a shirt yesterday...I didn't mean to but you were hurt and..."
Sirius shut up abruptly as Harriet leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Mum was right," she mused aloud, "that does shut them up." Her eyes smiled as she reached forward and pulled his face around to meet hers. "I don't mind, Sirius-not as long as it's you," she added much more softly. Both of their eyes widened as she jumped up, and moved towards the bathroom. "I'm going to...take a shower..." Harriet announced and slipped into the bathroom and closed the door. Moments later the muffled sound of her voice came from beyond the closed door, something about clothes to Emilia, before sound of running water cut the voices off.
Sirius continued to look towards the closed door for a long minute, his hand on his cheek before he stood and started digging through his closet, "Bloody hell," he muttered, "Mum picked up...I'll never find anything..." He looked up suddenly as Harriet opened the door again and swallowed heavily as he found her wearing only a towel.
"Could you hand me my wand, Sirius...I...need it to cast the waterproof charm on my bandages," she waited as he stood, staring at her for a moment, "Sirius...my wand." He nodded quickly and moved over to the bed, finding hers on the bedside table. He carried it over to her and handed it off, receiving a smile in turn, before she closed the door again.
Sirius walked over to his bed and flopped back on it, wishing, desperately, that Harriet wasn't in his shower at that moment...as he really needed a frozen one.
A/N: There we go, next chapter...A Shadow from the past. And while I'm here, I'd like to thank Fenris Wolf, from whom I subconsciously took the charmed boots idea, from Cupidity It's good and on PK, go read it.