"Briar Lupin had dreamt, predicted, foreseen death more times than she cared to admit. If she actually remembered all of the times it had occurred, at least."
Sequel to Blue.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
TO CATCH A CRIMINAL
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DURING THE HOGSMEADE trip, it had been rather easy for Briar to make up an excuse, justifying her absence from spending the entire day with Fred and George at around half-one, thirty minutes before she was set to meet Sirius. She left the two quickly before one of them kissed her goodbye and made her forget about what she was actually leaving to do.
It was cold still, and Briar kept her hands firmly inside the pockets of her coat on the walk to where she had agreed to meet Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As the three walked up to her, Ron said, "Aren't you busy smacking face with my brother?"
Coolly, Briar replied, "Having a breather."
He looked at her oddly for a moment. It seemed that the answer was approved on his behalf, as his expression went from pondering to okay, fair enough. Hermione didn't look impressed, whereas Harry looked eager to visit Sirius.
"Right, let's get crack-a-lacking," said Briar. "Padfoot's big day out!"
Harry, as the four of them trudged along the beaten track, looked over at Briar, who was brightly strolling along. "Have you seen him here before, then?" he said. "You look like you know the way."
"I've been this way with Fred and George before," she shrugged. "I haven't seen Sirius since last June. He's been hiding out all summer, hasn't he? I don't know how much he's seen my parents, but I doubt it's much because Mum's pregnant..."
Ron said, "Wait, since when?"
"She's not going to know the specific date, Ron," muttered Hermione, shaking her head disapprovingly. Briar began to snigger, whereas Ron and Harry were clueless on the matter. "How don't you know—?"
"To be fair, school doesn't bother with that sort of education, they just expect parents to educate their children," explained Briar. She continued to walk down the track with a spring to her step, despite the fact that she was one wrong step away from falling face-flat into a bed of grass and stones. Brightly, she looked at Harry and Ron. "Fancy talking about the birds and the bees?"
Hermione shook her head. "How about you tell them that when there's more time — considering we're walking to see someone who probably doesn't want to discuss that with a bunch of teenagers, two of which being clueless about it..."
The four of them reached a stile, down the lane from a couple cottages with massive gardens. Around this area, Hogsmeade resembled the town that Briar lived in. Houses had windows with flower boxes that had daffodils and seasons flowers. To be honest, the current area of the town made Briar feel slightly homesick. Now, all she needed was the smell of chlorine and she'd be missing the swimming pools from the next town over to hers.
