Without Another Choice- Sirius Black

Ghosts and Unrealisticly Clueless Brothers and Friends

warning! smut

America went down the stone steps to the place where George always sat. He rose to his feet when he saw her, but she just smiled at him. The trouble with George was that no one else could see or hear him — only America.

       George was a ghost. This is why she avoided talking to him when other people were around. But she was glad of it, because when George first set eyes on Lily, he said, "Good heavens above, the poor child has more freckles than there are stars in the sky! If she doesn't start using a good bleaching lotion at once, she'll never catch herself a husband!"

       Like so many ghosts, he refused to accept that he wasn't alive anymore. Try as he might, he couldn't remember dying. George and America had met five years ago, on her first day at Hogwarts, but to George, it seemed only a few days ago that he was sitting in his club playing cards with friends and talking about horses, beauty spots, and wigs. (He wore both a beauty spot and a wig, but they looked better on him than you might think.) He completely ignored the fact that she had grown several inches since they first met, had acquired breasts, and braces on her teeth, and had shed the braces again. The only thing he did seem to notice from time to time was the ever-decreasing length of their school uniform skirts. Obviously, girls' legs and ankles hadn't often been on show in his time.

       "It's not very civil of a lady to walk past a highborn gentleman without a word, lady America," he called after her. He was deeply offended that she'd brushed past him.

       "I'm deeply sorry, but I best be on my way, for I am in much of a hurry," she said. "I must make haste."

       "If I can help you in any way, I am, of course, entirely at your service," George said, adjusting the lace on his cuffs.

       "I don't think so, but I must thank you for your offerings anyway. I must get to my dorm immediately." As if George could possibly have helped in any way. He couldn't even open a door. "Remus isn't feeling well," she explained.

       "I'm very sorry to hear it," said George, who had a soft spot for Remus. Unlike "that ill-mannered girl with the freckles," as he called Lily, he thought Remus was "delightful, a vision of beguiling charm." Now he offered more of his flowery flattery. "Pray to give him my best wishes. And tell him he looks as enchanting as ever. A little pale, but as captivating as a fairy."

       "I will make sure to tell him," she said with a smile.

       Then, there was also Mimi, his little sister who took the eighteenth century a little less seriously than her brother. She rolled her eyes at every turn and loved to make witty comments, which George highly disapproved of.

       George had almost fainted away when Lily produced a knife with a seven-inch blade from her school bag. "So, you can defend yourself better if another of those unpleasant lowlifes out to get you."

       "That looks like a—"

       "Japanese kitchen knife, yes. Slices through vegetables and raw fish like butter."

       America gazed at it with a fascination like no other.

       "Only for emergencies," Lily had added. "To help you feel a little safer. It was the best weapon I could get in a hurry without a license."

       Mimi smirked and whispered something in George's ear, that did in fact make him faint.

       Saturday morning, James, Remus, Peter, Lily, and the girls left for Hogsmeade. They were going to some party and wouldn't be back until Sunday night. As soon as everyone left America's dorm, she grabbed a piece of spare parchment and dipped it in ink.