Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Thirty Four

"There is dust everywhere and if...was that a mouse?" Nixie pulled her hands away from the corner she was working in, in one of the rooms. "Oh no..I'm not dealing with a mouse, I-"

She heard a snap of a beak behind her and turned to see Buckbeak throwing his head back as he swallowed the mouse whole.

"Lovely. Enjoying yourself an afternoon snack, Beaky?" She smiled before wiping at her forehead. 'Alright, I'm done in this room, I'm going to go work on the fireplace again. See if I can actually finish clearing that thing out. Tried to get Ron to do it, but the moment he heard about the spiders...well...that was a lost cause."

She picked herself up and headed down the stairs where the Weasley family, Hermione and Eleanor were working. She knelt down in front of the fireplace with her wand lit, trying to figure out how so much rubbish had managed to wedge itself in such a small place.

While mumbling to herself Eleanor let out a loud sneeze in the kitchen after opening a cupboard causing the Weasley twins to laugh at her, rather than help her. The young girl was aided by Anora, the young dragon handler that had traveled from Romania to assist with the Order as discussed along with her dear friend and Auror, Nymphadora Tonks, or preferably called Tonks.

"I can somewhat understand you George, but Fred...what kind of boyfriend are you?" Anora scolded the two as they entered the living room where Nixie was.

"One of a kind." Fred said happily.

"I don't think that's too true considering your look alike is right next to you." Tonks pointed out from where she was standing in the room.

The twins grinned at each other.

"I'm fine." Eleanor sniffed. "I just didn't expect all of it to come out like that."

"Yeah well, this place is a bit run down." Anora said glancing around.

"A bit?" Nixie snorted loudly as she picked herself up from the fireplace. "This place is..." She stopped as something moved in the fireplace causing the whole group to jump back.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked from the staircase.

"I don't know Ron, why don't you go check it out?" Fred volunteered him.

"No thank you."

"It's probably just another mouse or something." Sirius said from the doorway of the kitchen as he leaned on the door frame.

Nixie turned to him with a look. "Another mouse?" she questioned thinking of the mouse Buckbeak had killed earlier.

"Oh yeah, this place is crawling with them."

"Ew." Everyone said together.

"What is everyone standing around for?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she made her way downstairs looking at the adults and children that were eyeing the fireplace intently.

"We're on break." George told her.

Upon the arrival of Moody, the Order fell into the discussion of the return of Voldemort, the regaining of his followers and any news that they had heard. Unfortunately, there wasn't much information to discuss over and the topic of Eleanor came up, bringing Remus into a defensive mode that was rarely seen by the kind and soft spoken man. At the mention of getting his daughter involved with what she knew with protective charms, he refused to bring her into the situation claiming it was for her own safety and that the girl's mother would be furious if she knew what was going on. 

Answering Nixie's own question that Remus had yet to disclose to Eleanor's mother the events that had taken place during the school year. All the men seemed to do was argue and rather than listen to them bicker back and forth, Nixie took it upon herself to head upstairs and feed Buckbeak. The poor hippogriff was growing restless without being able to hunt as he once did. Stalking the mice of the Grimmauld Place didn't count for much those days.

When she went to return downstairs, she saw Eleanor sitting on the stairs knitting away, an irritated look on the girl's face bringing a smile to Nixie's lips. She trailed down the steps lightly and took a seat beside the girl.

"Trying to get some answers?" She said with a teasing smile.

"I gave up already, leave it up to them to be the best whisperers in history." Eleanor said with a slight bitterness to her tone.

"That's surprising..." Nixie mused. "Sirius couldn't whisper to save his life when we were younger."

Eleanor giggled. " I could see that." she said. Nixie could see the questions already coming together in the girl's mind as Eleanor turned her body to face her. "So, if you didn't like Sirius how did you become friends with him this long?"

"Because she just couldn't resist me!" Sirius voice rang out startling the two as Nixie jumped.

As they looked down, they could see Sirius grinning up at them as he leaned against the railing of the stairs.

"I remember it being the other way around, Mr. Black." She called down to him with a look.

"Oh no no, you can ask Remus, you absolutely adored me." Sirius replied cheekily. " Love at first sight."

Nixie shook her head as Remus walked over with a questioning look.

"I heard my name." Remus said looking at his two friends and then his daughter.

"Sirius was just telling your lovely daughter about how much I admired him back in school. " Nixie said in a mocking tone. "He said it was love at first sight."

Remus let out a laugh which warranted a glare from Sirius.

Eleanor's hands clapped over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at Sirius' face.

"Oh sure, you take her side." Sirius said to Remus.

"He just knows the truth." Nixie countered. "Remember, he was there."

"Fine, so you didn't fall in love at first sight ...but I grew on you, admit it."Sirius said triumphantly.

Nixie could feel her cheeks turn warm as she looked down at her husband. "Eventually yes." she said with an eye roll.

Remus smiled at the two of them, aware of the full story that had occurred before the two had actually fallen in love.

"But," Nixie said to Eleanor, " it took a long time."

"It didn't take that long!" Sirius argued.

"Five years." Nixie reminded him. "Five years before we could sit next to each other and I didn't contemplate throwing you into the Black Lake."

"Ah yes, that was a regular threat of yours." Sirius smiled at the memory.

Nixie couldn't help but smile back at him. While he had been a major pain in the arse when they were younger, she just couldn't picture life being any good without him.