Shooting Star

Chapter Forty-One

We pulled up outside the Potter's house. I heard Sirius make a noise, but didn't look over.
We walked inside timidly. It was so dusty in here. I stared at the kitchen door, swallowing hard. I scurried past, not daring to stay near it.
Sirius sat down on the couch and a cloud of dust rose. As the dust fell, so did his tears. "It's my fault." He whispered to himself. "I'm sorry."
I didn't interrupt this time. We could deal with that later. I sat down in a chair and pulled my knees up to my chest, burying my face in my arms. How could it have come to this?
James and Lily Potter: Dead.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter: Dead
The McKinnons: Dead
Marlene McKinnon: Dead
Alice and Frank Longbottom: Insane
Harry Potter: Parentless
Neville Longbottom: Parentless
How could Voldemort be so inhuman that that didn't upset him? How could anybody be so inhuman that that didn't upset them?
I eventually went to sit beside Sirius. I couldn't stand this. He was sobbing almost as hard as he had when James and Lily died. He jerked away from me when I touched him, as I was sure he had done to Mrs. Potter several times. I put my arm around him anyway and hugged him. "It isn't your fault, Sirius." I said gently.
He cried harder.
Once he finally calmed down, he sat up straight, pulling away from me. He looked around the dark room and let out an audible sigh.
I wondered what my parents' house looked like.
He stood up and held his hand out to me. I took it, casting him a weird look. He led me up some stairs and down a hallway. This was where we'd slept that night.
He pulled me into the room that Mrs. Potter had referred to as his, kissing me.
"Really, Black?" I said.
"Yeah. Just like old times."
"Having sex in your parents' house isn't just like old times." I said.
He smiled a little bit at my pronoun usage. "More or less."
"Less. There is no more. Just less."
"Oh, c'mon, Taylor." He kissed me slowly.
I couldn't resist the urge to laugh. "Severus was right. You are a bad influence."
"At least he got that right."

Mum and Dad,
Neville's lost his toad several times already, and it's only the first night. I'm in a room with Neville, Ron, and two boys named Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.
We met this girl named Hermione Granger on the train. She was helping Neville look for his toad, but she was irritating.
I got Sorted into Gryffindor, and so did Neville and Ron. But so did Hermione.
You could have warned me that the stairs moved. How am I supposed to ever find my classes if they take me different places?
How did you say you sneak out and into Honeydukes again?
My scars been hurting, though. It hurts pretty bad. Is that normal?
Love,
Harry
"You told him that?" I chastised.
"Sorry." Sirius shrugged. "Tell him to--"
"No."
"But--"
"He's eleven, Sirius. He needn't be sneaking out."
"Fine, fine."
"Scars don't generally hurt, do they?" I asked worriedly, looking up at him.
"I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a blow or not--"
"It wasn't." I said quickly. "It was rhetorical."
"No, scars don't typically hurt. Perhaps he's imagining it."
"Hand me that pen, please."
He handed me the pen. "You know, at least Harry didn't name his owl Snow."
I shot him a glare. "Shut up. How is Hedwig more normal than Snow?"
"It isn't. But it's more creative." He grinned.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Oh, shit. I have to go to work."
"Bye." I waved.
He kissed my cheek. "Bye."
I wrote a response to Harry, and then I wrote a letter to Ms. Strout. She sent a letter back with Snow telling me I could start whenever I wished. I asked if tomorrow was okay, and then sat down to wait on Remus, sure that he'd show up.
He did, of course, with three bouquets of flowers. "You're the best, Remus. I love you." I hugged him.
"Yeah, I know I am." He agreed.
"Hey, Remus?" I asked as we were leaving the cemetery.
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind if we stopped by my parents' house?"
"Not at all."
So we did. I stared at it for a moment. It was green now, instead of grey.
He followed me up to the door, and a woman answered. "Oh, hi. Uh, may I help you?" She asked.
"Yes, hi. My name's Susan, and this is my husband John. I lived here when I was younger, and when my parents died, my sister cleaned it out. I was looking for a photo album, but she didn't have it, and I was wondering if perhaps she left it here?" I said.
"Yes, actually. I put it in the attic. Please come in, and I'll go get it."
"Thank you." I said, and we followed her inside. That worked out well.
She called for her husband to come be hospitable as she left the room.
"Someone missed their chance at Slytherin." Remus laughed quietly.
The lady's husband came in. "Hi, I'm Joseph. And you are..." He extended his hand to Remus.
"Uh-- John." Remus said, shaking his hand. "This is my wife.. Suzie."
Close enough. "Nice to meet you." I smiled and shook his hand.
The lady came back with a photo album. "Is this it?" She handed it to me.
I flipped it open to see a picture of me and Natalie in elementary school. "Yes, it is. Thank you so much."
"Of course."
"Was that intentional?" Remus asked as we left.
"Nope, just lucky. You're a sucky husband, though. Can't even remember my name."
"I wasn't prepared. I'll do better next time."
"Yeah, you better."

Sirius came home from work with flowers. I raised my eyebrows. "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing. Just figured that if my best friend gets you flowers more than I do, I need to step up my game." He grinned, giving me the bouquet with a dramatic flair.
"You know, Remus got me flowers when we were dating. If I'd wanted flowers, I would've married him." I laughed, taking the flowers. "Thank you."
"Did you just say that you and Remus dated?" He asked, blinking.
"Yeah. Sixth year." I said casually.
"You and Remus dated?" He repeated.
"Yeah. Sixth year." I repeated.
"You didn't feel the need to tell me?"
"I expected Remus had told you."
"He didn't."
"Does it matter?"
"No, I guess not. Why... Okay.."
"What?"
"He spent all those years teasing me about fancying you, then he dates you and doesn't tell me?"
"Perhaps because he knew you fancied me." I suggested, going to put Sirius' flowers with Remus'.
"Wouldn't that be a reason to not date you?"
"He didn't expect you to act on it, I'm sure."
"Did you date Peter too?" He asked sarcastically.
"Not Peter, no." I said, wincing inwardly.
"Why are you using that tone...?"
"I may have kissed James once. Or twice."
"What?"
"That was fourth year, though. Lily begged me to."
"Why?"
"She wanted me to date him, but I didn't want to do that."
"You snogged James, and dated Remus? And I didn't know any of this?"
"Looks that way, yeah." I nodded, agreeing. "Sorry, I just assumed they'd told you."
"You hooked up with my best friends?"
"Not hooked up, per say. I only kissed them. At least I didn't date the whole school." I gave him a pointed look.
"Hey!" He pointed at me. "I never dated the Slytherins!"
"There was that one girl--"
"Oh, so you were keeping track of my love life?" He winked.
"Oh, shut it."