Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Thirty

When Nixie awoke in the morning, she awoke to the sounds of something scraping against the floor causing her to sit up quickly. She looked over to see Buckbeak resting on the floor, several dead Doxies resting near his feet, before he glanced over in her direction.

"I see you've been up during the night hunting." she said.

Buckbeak grabbed at one of the dead Doxy's and threw it against the wall to make his point.

"I don't know what that means, but sure." Nixie smiled at the hippogriff before pushing herself over to the side of the bed and setting her feet down on the cold floor. She shivered before she heard a crashing noise from downstairs.

Quickly, the woman was up on her feet and exited the bedroom in search of Sirius and the mysterious crashing noise.

"Sirius?" she called out.

"In here." he said.

She followed the sound of his voice down the stairs and found the man in the living room, staring up at the ceiling where part of it had fallen to the floor.

The two adults stared at the gaping hole for a moment before looking at each other.

"I'll fix that." Sirius told her.

"I'm sure you will." she said.

"Did you sleep well? No disturbances?"

"No..not at all. I see that Buckbeak gathered quite a collection of Doxy bodies last night."

"He's such a good hippogriff, isn't he?" Sirius grinned.

"The best." she smiled. "Did you end up sleeping at all?" She instantly noticed the bags growing under the man's eyes from the lack of sleep he had been getting over the last several weeks.

"Oh I don't need sleep." he said before trying to conceal a yawn.

"Right." she said. 'Perhaps it wouldn't hurt you to take a small nap?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'm fine, Nini. There needs to be a lot done before everyone arrives."

"Sirius, between just the two of us, all the work that this place needs is not going to be done before everyone is set to arrive. They're just going to have to deal with it, and while they're here we'll have much more hands and wands to spruce up the place."

The two jumped as Walburga let out a scream at the sound of other people arriving to her home.

"Oh Nini, you've awoke the beastie." Sirius sighed.

"Sorry." she smiled at him. "Is there no way to take it down?"

"Unfortunately, no. My mother continues to haunt me from beyond the grave. I hate to admit this, but the woman was pretty good at magic, she put something on this bloody painting that I can't take it down no matter what spell I use."

"We could try to set it on fire." Nixie shrugged.

She glanced over at Sirius to see him staring in her direction. "What? Too much? I'm sorry, I know she's your mother and all but-"

Sirius snorted. "No, it's not that all. I just think you're absolutely precious when you become violent."

"Well I'm about to get adorable if she doesn't stop screaming!"

The two were in the midst of cleaning a few places in the home when someone arrived to the location, knowing the only other person who knew the location, the two were fully aware that Dumbledore had arrived to check in on them and to inform them of the transition of the Weasley family.

"All of them are coming here?" Sirius questioned. "It's going to be a full house."

"Well, I certainly hope they don't mind the mess." Nixie said rubbing her arms. "Will it just be them for now or..."

"Harry is with the Dursleys for now." Dumbledore informed them, but among the Weasley's will be Miss Granger and Miss Ross."

"Oh so that means we finally get to meet her in person?" Nixie smiled. 

"Until they are ready to come here, only you will meet her for the time being." Dumbledore said.

The smile on her face faded as she looked to Sirius but he didn't seem all that bothered by it. "It's alright, Nixie, I'll meet her and the others when they come here. You can go and then you can tell me all about it when you get back."

Sirius wanted her to go, he wanted her to get out of the house and get fresh air. He couldn't do it, but he didn't want her stuck in the same situation as well. He reassured her that he would be fine while she left to the Burrow to speak with Remus about upcoming transitions.

"Are you sure?" she asked him. All he could see was the worry in her eyes, as much as he worried over her, she worried over him.

He put on another brave smile for her. "Of course. Go."

Nixie wasn't all that confident arriving on her own to the Burrow to meet other Order members and to see Remus again. But it had to be done, she hadn't seen Remus since before going on the run with Sirius, so she knew it would be nice to see him again.

Upon her arrival to the place that Dumbledore had instructed her to go, Nixie's apparating was a little off, leaving her nearly to fall over as she arrived at the Burrow.

She cursed under her breath as she brushed plenty of dust off her robes that had traveled with her from the Grimmauld Place.

She looked up and immediately caught sight of Remus, bringing a smile on her face.

"Remus.." She greeted him as the man stood up from the steps and walked over before embracing her.

As she hugged Remus, she looked over the man's shoulder and saw a brown haired teenage girl staring at her with a puzzled expression. She was a beautiful young lady and automatically, Nixie was reminded of Remus' mother, Hope.

"Oh Remus, is that her?" she questioned softly as she released him from the hug.

"Yeah," Remus answered slightly embarrassed that he didn't introduce her first. "This is Eleanor. My daughter."

The girl turned red as all attention was suddenly placed on her.

"Eleanor," Remus began, " this is an old friend of mine-"

"Watch the word "old" will you, Remus?"

"Sorry," he said with a small laugh. "I mean, we go way way back-"

"You're not making this any better." Nixie sighed as she shook her head. She walked over and extended her hand out to the girl.

"I'm Nixie. Nixie Dover.' she introduced herself.

The girl smiled taking her hand and shaking it lightly.

"Eleanor Ross."