Mischief not so Managed

25: Sirius

George:

I turned over and felt something beside me. Not something, a person. Her. So, it hadn't been a bliss full dream. She was curled up in a tight little ball in one of my t shirts. He dark hair falling over her face. The sun wasn't up yet but the sky was turning lighter outside. I laid back, taking a couple of deep breaths. That had actually happened. "what are you smiling at?" Lia croaked turning over to push her head into the pillow.

"this girl" I chuckled darkly.

"she pretty?" I heard her through the muffle of the pillow.

"stunning, but she's a right pain in the back side"

"I get rid of her if I were you" she said propping herself up on her elbows. She lay on her stomach looking over at me, her eyes lined with sleep.

"nah can't" I laughed lying the whole back down. "I love her too much". She ley her hands down on my chest, her head on top of them and watched me intently as I ran my fingers through her hair. "you okay?"

"better than okay" she smiled.

"you sure?" she just nodded with this sleepy smile spread across her face.

"what time is it?" she groaned wrapping the covers up further to savour their warmth.

"close to six I think". Reality came crashing back down when Fred launched himself through the door.

"get dressed quick and come down stairs", I knew it was bad when he wasn't going to poke fun at what he was looking at. Lia shot up in the bed.

"what's wrong?"

"it's the kids" he began "and Sirius".

10 minutes later we clambered down the stairs. Mum and Dad were sitting with grey faces. "what's going on?"

"he's back, he's really back" Dad said gravely, and he began the story. Harry had seen a vision much like the one of Dad from Christmas. Of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort. So, they had gone. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny, to the department of Mysteries, alone. My heart fell. I felt like I was going to be sick. They had gone alone, without help, without reinforcements. "they were ambused" Dad said quietly "12 death eaters, but they fought them. They fought them all. Kingsleigh got word, and he gathered some of our people. Tonks, Remus, Sirius and a few others to go protect them. But, but" he stopped his hands shaking.

"Bellatrix" Mum said, tears tracking down her face "she was too quick". She stood and walked outside.

"Sirius is dead". I felt my legs go limp. Ike all of the happiness I had had in my body just leeched from me. I sat abruptly. My hand clamped over my mouth, tears lining my eyes. Lia walked away to lean against the wall, her face away from the rest of us as the shock rolled over her. Fred kicked the dresser. Sending all the photographs flying. "then he showed up, he fought Harry, he got into his head. Dumbledore found him of course and helped, but Sirius, we couldn't help him". A sob wracked through Lia's body. She dropped down on to her hunkers. Her head in her hands. None of us could move. We were all in complete shock. I hadn't heard Remus and Tonks leaving last night. "the kids are okay, bruised up and in shock, but okay". He had been so kind to us, Sirius. Fred and I were tricksters and he enjoyed us driving everyone in the house wild with our games.

"Harry" Lia whispered, "Remus, oh dear god" she ran upstairs. It then hit me what Lia had meant about being terrified to fall in love. Terrified to lose the people around you. She had done that before. She had watched her Dad bleed out and die on the side of the road. She was stranger to loss. But this hit me like a train. That realisation that it's not going to be as easy as I had thought.

Lia:

Days later we offered to go to King's Cross to collect the group along with a few others. I didn't know where Remus was. Tonks just shook her head sadly when anyone asked. I slipped into a pair of jeans and a red jacket. And fumbled around searching for my car keys. I was to take Harry and Hermione home. "you can drive?" Kingsleigh asked surprised when I had offered to take them.

"full of surprises" I said with a sad smile. I didn't know where my Mum was, she was off on a mission scouting for something that Sirius had asked her to do. I had been going between our home on the outskirts of London city and the Burrow. I sat into my little red car. The summer sunlight beating down through the windows. It had been a gift, from my Dad, when I was 18. A note that my mother had written in the box with the keys said "because sometimes the muggle way is best", and that's what Dad always would've said. I pulled up at the station. I nodded to Tonks and I moved along the platforms. She would be taking the Weasley's home, along with Molly and Mad Eye. Fred and George weren't with them, they were getting ready to open their shop in diagon alley. I'd barely seen either of them in days, they were working that hard. Hermione was the first off the train, with Crookshanks in her arms, she looked tired, like she hadn't slept in weeks. Harry came after her. Hugging Mrs. Weasley first. He smiled sadly to me as they dragged their trunks behind them. Hermione made small talk from the back of the car. Harry beside me just started out into the streets, in his own little world.

"write to me" I said to her, "I won't be able to tell you much but we'll see you soon, I promise" I said as I pulled her trunk out of the car. She hugged me tightly and then looked at Harry in the car, her face lined with worry. "I've got this" I smiled at her.

An hour into our journey we arrived at Harry's Aunt and Uncle's house. I pulled the car over. I looked out of the wind screen. Harry didn't even flinch, he just looked at his feet. "I know how you feel" I said quietly. He looked like he didn't believe me for a moment. But he turned in his seat to face me. "my Dad dies when I was eight, he was hit by a drunk driver. I watched him die on the side of the road. I don't what it's like to have the Dark Lord get into your head and trick you into what happened that night. But I know what it's like for someone to push their way in" I took a deep breath, "I know I wasn't there, and the others were but if you need to talk to someone with some experience" I slid him a piece of paper. "muggle phone number and address just be careful with letters". He took it with a relieved expression, but didn't get out just yet.

"does it still hurt? Your Dad?" he asked in a tiny voice "I never knew my parents really, so it's hard in a way to miss them"

"I used to tell myself that because I couldn't really remember him that well, I didn't deserve to miss him" I swallowed "but I am allowed and you are too, they're still part of us. But to answer your question" I smiled at him, "yes it does hurt, it hurts on the days you don't expect", he nodded in understanding "but it gets better every day, it takes a while, but it gets better". He nodded climbing out the car bringing Hedwig with him. I watched him walk in the door and shut it behind him. I turned on the ignition and pulled away, seconds later my phone ringing. I answered it. "hello"

"do the dreams, of seeing them die go away?" Harry's voice came through the phone. We talked my whole drive back to The Burrow. I was heartened to have someone who understood, even a little, what it was like to feel that little bit empty every day.