Until We Meet Again (Sirius x OFC)

Part 2 - Chapter 31: Alcohol and Nightly Attacks

I arrived at Grimmauld Place feeling worse than ever. I was defeated. Losing Hogwarts felt like losing a beloved person – even if I knew that day would come sooner or later. But that it had to end like this... with this petty pink tyrant of a colleague...

No one expected me yet, so I was early and went straight down to the kitchen. There had to be some Firewhisky here somewhere... I found a bottle and filled a glass. Nyx who had come down beside me was hurrying to the stairs where I heard steps. Nevertheless, I downed my glass and filled another, the want to be numb making me down this second drink as well.

"Whoa, there... slow down," I heard a familiar voice. Sirius was walking towards me, Nyx on his arm. She was purring louder than I had ever heard before, snuggling up to him. We had both missed him.

I turned away and filled my third glass, but when I wanted to drink it, Sirius stopped me by snatching it from my hand. He sat Nyx down and then closed the bottle.

"What's the matter, love?" he asked.

I just looked at him and realized that the alcohol hadn't helped at all. Tears filled my eyes in an instant with the concerned look on his face. Before I knew it, I was crying against his shoulder while he was holding me, slowly rocking me in his arms.

Merlin, how I needed this.

"Ally, you're here already?" I heard Molly's voice then.

I quickly wiped the tears away and turned to her. She noticed my condition and gave Sirius a funny look as if to ask what was going on. He just sighed. "I'll take her upstairs. Be so kind and get rid of this bottle here, will you?"

Molly nodded and as we passed her, she gave my hand a squeeze.

Sirius took me to our room which looked quite like it had when I left. He placed me in the armchair and crouched down before me. I was still crying softly since the tears just wouldn't stop coming, even though I had calmed down by now. Sirius pressed a tender kiss to my forehead, gently cradling my face in his hands. Then he moved on to kiss away the tears from my eyes, then those on my cheeks and the corners of my mouth. At last, he finally gave me a loving kiss on the lips and then looked at me intently.

"Better?" he asked with a smile.

I nodded and forced myself to smile back.

"What is it?" he then questioned again. "I can't stand to see you like this."

I gulped, but the lump in my throat was still hurting. "I'm not going to go back to Hogwarts."

"What do you mean?"

"Means I handed in my notice. I can't stand another day with Umbridge. We collided, and I wanted to act before she could fire me."

Sirius looked surprised. "But you loved working there and what about Dumbledore?"

"I did love it, but not with Umbridge. I simply can't follower her orders. And I talked with Dumbledore. He understood why I did it and he told me he'd help keep it under the radar."

"I'm sorry this happened," Sirius said, taking my hand. "I know this job meant a lot to you."

I just shrugged and leaned against him. "I mean, it had to end at some point. Maybe it was time."

"You're just playing it down now, love." Sirius stood up then and walked to his side of the bed. "It's gotta be here..."

"What are you doing?"

"I still got some Firewhiskey here," he explained.

I furrowed my brown in confusion. "You just had Molly get rid of the bottle because you didn't want me to drink."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, I didn't know why you had been crying and now I think that Umbridge is reason enough to drink."

I gave him a sad smile and we settled in bed with the bottle. It wasn't much left, and I usually wasn't one for drinking away my problems, but in this case, the Firewhiskey wasn't just for that. It stood for being here with Sirius, the way it had been all those years before, when we were young and naïve and thought it was super cool to stay up and drink in bed. Tonight, I wanted to feel like I felt back then – at home, safe, in love and alive. With Sirius lips on mine and the taste of Firewhisky in my mouth, I could almost forget all the bad things that were going on.

* * *

A few hours later, I was awoken roughly and at first didn't notice what was going on.

"Ally! Wake up!" Sirius was shaking me now, trying to get me to come to.

"What is it?" I asked, my mind was in a haze and I had a headache from the drinking.

"It's Arthur," Sirius explained. "He's been attacked in the Ministry and was brought to St. Mungo's. Molly's is dead-worried, we don't know much yet."

When the adrenalin finally kicked, I was just as nervous and worried as Sirius and jumped out of bed, trying to find some clothes. "Oh fuck," I mumbled.

"Come on," said Sirius and pulled me with him. "Harry and the kids will be here soon. Dumbledore's sending them with a Portkey."

And so they did. Sirius explained the situation and could barely hold them back from wanting to head to the hospital right away. A little later, we got a message from Molly that Arthur was alive and that she would stay at the hospital.

Sleep was nowhere near, so we waited. I had my problems because I still felt the alcohol and I admired Sirius for being so sober. Why had I thought that drinking would make this any better? Past Alia was an idiot.

Next morning, Molly came back with the news that Arthur was over the worst and that we could visit later. After this good piece of news, we collectively decided to get some more sleep. I also decided that I wouldn't go with them later. I didn't think it wise to draw any attention to my person after yesterday, and I hoped Sirius wouldn't feel so bad when I stayed either.

At first, I couldn't sleep because I felt so sorry for Molly. I still remembered her breakdown after she found the Boggart and revealed that her biggest fear was losing her family. Now, she had almost lost Arthur and I can only imagine how she must have suffered last night. If it had been Sirius, I would have been sick with worry. But she still stayed so strong and I admired her for her courage.

"Alia... get some sleep," Sirius mumbled beside me. "You didn't have much last night."

"Only because we decided to stay up and drink," I replied.

He chuckled. "Yea and because you couldn't keep your fingers off me."

I rolled my eyes. "I appreciate that you were trying to distract me, but I still think it was the other way around."

Sirius smiled but then got serious again. "I guess Arthur involuntarily was a better distraction."

There it was again. I took a deep breath. "Molly is so strong. She almost lost her husband."

Sirius stroked over my back and pulled me in closer. "But he made it. We can be glad Harry saw it."

"I hope we never get into a situation like that."

"I hope so, too, but you know what's going on, what happened back then..." Sirius stopped. "Let's not talk about this now, though. We need to sleep."

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on Sirius and drown out my thoughts by listening to his steady breathing. He was here with me, that was what mattered.