101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 59

"Dad I need to borrow the car or somehow find the money for a ticket to Belbroughton today."

Jack didn't even need to look up from his book to reply, "Ora, no."

Despite convincing herself he would somehow say yes all evening, she wasn't quite sure what else she'd been expecting him to stay.

"Is it because it's expensive?" Ora asked, "Because I will find the money to pay you back, I'll bartend, shine shoes, I'll even sell myself into the night..."

She trailed off as Jack looked up horror-stricken; maybe that wasn't the best example for her to lead with, "Well, definitely no, now!"

Ora leant against the door frame, digging her fingers into the paintwork as Jack closed his book, "Ora, what is this about? Why do you need to go to Belbroughton all of a sudden?"

"I think Sirius is in trouble at James's house," She replied, "Trust me, he said so in his letter and I'm worried which is why I need to borrow your car."

With a sigh, Jack heaved himself up, "Okay, show me this letter."

She was about to run and get in when the contents of the letter came flooding back to her and she grinded to an abrupt halt. When she'd described Sirius, she'd described his good traits and played it off as innocent teenage relationship when it was far from it. Her Father would probably prefer Sirius to be in danger if he saw Sirius's requests.

"Um ... I can't do that ... but you can trust me," She suggested, "I'll buy you a box of chocolates ... that would win me over."

Jack did not look impressed, "Ora, I do like chocolate - "

"Who doesn't?"

"But I want to see this letter before I fork out money or drive you down to Belbroughton," He folded his arms, "Why don't you want me to see it?"

"Um ... no reason. You know what, he did send a reply which had James's address in, can I just show you that instead?" Her father didn't have to say anything, his knitted brows said enough. She continued speaking, whilst slowly retreating up the stairs, "You know what ... I might be able to show it to you. Stay there, don't move. I will try and be less than five minutes ... in that case, maybe you can move but don't hide or anything, okay?"

"Where would I hide? I'm over 6' tall," He pointed out before giving her a wry smile and disappearing back into the living room again. Ora waited a few seconds before manically dashing up the stairs, scrambling up practically on her arms and legs.

She vaguely remembered a spell that erased ink and thanks to the trace having disappeared almost a year ago, she could actually use it. Sadly, magic wasn't particularly her forte and ten attempts later, the letter looked a little charred, ripped and significantly more ripped than before. Annoyingly, the word 'nudes' was still there, a cruel little taunt. After managing to finally get rid of the words, she brought it down to her father, feeling a little sheepish.

"Dad ... here it is."

Jack took the letter from her, barely glancing at it before handing it back, "Ora, this has obviously been tampered with. I'm not letting you take my car or paying for a train fare for you to go and see Sirius."

"No, Dad, you don't understand ... it came like that, Sirius is ... punk," She lied but her father merely smiled.

"Ora, when I was a boy, I used to play up emergencies as your Mother always had a way of solving them, I reckon your boyfriend is doing the same thing," Jack replied, "My advice is to leave it for a little bit, boys that age are ... not always the nicest. Write back to him but don't do anything hasty."