Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Ninety Nine

Despite the afternoon approaching, there was no sound or movement coming from the Dover household as Sirius and Nixie had agreed without a word that they were sleeping in. For the entire night, Nixie had slept in her husband's arms and despite Sirius' arm falling asleep and becoming numb, he didn't dream about moving an inch. The two shared in wonderful and yet, similar dreams. As Nixie found herself resting by the water, her father Henry there, sitting by the water's edge talking with her mother about something before Meri proceeded to splash him with her tail. Sirius was there as well, sitting beside her and in between, sat a little boy who was gazing up at his parents with a grin. He looked similar to them, taking mostly after Sirius, his hair long and dark, his blue gaze twinkling in the light. She and Sirius were younger, and during the dream, Lily and James arrived with little Harry, who proceeded to play with their son. Remus showed up, along with Marlene, all of them enjoying themselves as it should have been. 

There was no sign of Peter, perhaps because her subconscious had blocked him out entirely to make sure that the dream remained a pleasant one. Everything was perfect as Henry walked over and lifted up his grandson in his arms before tickling him. He brought him over to the water's edge where Meri took hold of the toddler allowing him to splash about in the water. It was a dream that Nixie needed to sleep peacefully through the night.

Sirius, on the other hand, shared a dream that envisioned the child, but instead of a boy, he saw a little girl. One that looked very similar to Nixie, taking on the appearance of a little water sprite as she splashed about in the water happily next to Nixie. They looked like they were only fresh out of Hogwarts again, he looked younger and a lot less stressed. Of course, Nixie didn't age like others, always keeping her beauty about her even as they were approaching the years of middle age. For his friends to be there, everyone looked so happy. Even in his dreams, he was surprised to see Regulus there. But he was happy as his younger brother approached him with a hug, apologizing for everything that had come in between them. If he could have held onto the dream and made it a reality, he would have done a million times, but fate held different plans for Nixie and Sirius. 

The real reality came forth again as the two were woken up by the sounds of heavy knocking on the front door downstairs. Sirius stirred first, lifting his head from his pillow and glancing around in confusion. Looking down, Nixie was still asleep for the time being, her eyes closed as their limbs were tangled together beneath the sheets. 

"Nini," he whispered to her. "Do you hear that?"

"Yes, ignore it," she mumbled. "They'll go away eventually."

"Nini."

"No."

Suddenly, they heard Remus' voice sound from downstairs as he allowed himself in. 

"Your brother is here," Sirius said allowing his head to fall back into the pillow.

"He's your in-law," Nixie countered.

"Are you two home?!" Remus continued to call out. The couple exchanged a silent look, he didn't sound frantic, so they had to assume that nothing was wrong, but they really didn't want to get out of bed for the day, they were enjoying a nice quiet moment for as long as they could.

Suddenly, the door opened and Remus poked his head in calling to them, only to spot the two in bed.

"Still in bed?" He placed his hands on his hips. "You two realize that it's past noon and...sweet Merlin, you two are naked!"

He quickly turned around to keep his back facing to them, bringing Nixie and Sirius to chuckle.

"Relax, Remus," Nixie called out to him. "It's not like you haven't seen a penis before granted if you've ever gone to the bathroom in all your years of being alive and I'm sure you've seen Tonks naked, it's not much different."

"We are not having this conversation," Remus told her as he continued to keep his back turned. "Not now, not ever."

"Then why else would you come barging in here like this?" Sirius asked, leaning back as neither one of them planned on getting up from the bed anytime soon.

"I was coming to tell you that Eleanor is engaged! Fred proposed!" Remus said, surprisingly in a very excited voice.

"Really?!" Nixie sat up with an excited look, bringing Remus to spin around with equal enthusiasm, only to let out a screech as Nixie was not covered. Sirius chuckled quickly grabbed one of the blankets and threw it over her shoulders and front. Remus kept his hands covering his eyes as he continued to talk.

"Yes, he proposed and naturally, she accepted. We all met at the Burrow, it was really nice."

"I'm glad to hear that you're in good spirits about this, Moony," Sirius said. "Figured you'd probably be crying by now."

"No, I did enough of that earlier."

"Those are the type of things that we don't admit out loud, Remus," Sirius whispered to him. 

"Right, well, if I would share any information like that, it would only be with you two. I just wish the circumstances were better. Preferably if you both had some clothes on."

Sirius snorted as Remus looked absolutely ridiculous shielding his gaze. "Actually, Nixie and I were discussing joining one of those muggle nudist colonies, just last night, weren't we, darling?"

"Oh yes," Nixie nodded. "It's very unnatural for a mermaid to wear clothing so I don't see the problem in it. I bet if we brought it up to Tonks she would be thrilled-"

"No! No!" Remus quickly dropped his hands from his eyes and looked at the two with a stern expression. "That is completely out of the question."

"Moony, I remember nights when you threw your clothes off and had no problem streaking through the forest."

"Is that why they called it the Forbidden Forest?" Nixie replied cheekily. 

"I'm leaving," Remus announced. "Next time you two see Eleanor congratulate her and Fred."

"Aye, aye, Captain Moon Moon," Nixie called after the man as he went to leave the room. He paused in the doorway before shaking his head and then leaving. "Poor Remus. He puts up with so much especially when it comes to us."

While the idea to remain in bed seemed like a perfect way to spend the day, the Order had a different idea as the two were called in. However, the news wasn't all bad. Moody explained that Harry would be returning from the Dursleys, bringing Nixie and Sirius to rejoice even if it wasn't under the best circumstances. The boy would be coming of age and it meant that the Death Eaters and Voldemort would probably be moving in to attack him with all their might, it even included going after Harry's muggle family members.

"So who is going?" Nixie asked. "All of us?"

"No," Moody shook his head. "We all can't afford to go, even with Eleanor's help, I can't expect the turn out to be good. No matter how much planning we put into this, there is always chance that something will go wrong. We need to have back up at different points. Sirius, can you get in contact with Andromeda and Ted?"

Sirius nodded his head. "I need to go to collect Harry-"

'No," Moody's voice grew stern, more stern than usual. "This is not going to be a splendid trip, Harry is going to need you two to be there for him when we get him to safety, do you two understand?"

"He's our godson, we should have a say-" Sirius attempted to argue but Moody didn't seem to be up for an argument.

"He is your godson, so start acting like a godfather. Be there for him when he gets here!"