| �Excuse me, sir, and just where exactly have you been?�
Sirius paused walking in the door of his large, spacious new house. At least, it felt new, though he and Cassie had occupied it close to three years. �I just went over to see Harry,� he said, closing the door and throwing his cloak onto the couch. Cassie came in and sighed disgustedly. �How many times have I told you, when it�s raining, don�t throw your cloak on the furniture,� she lectured, bending over to retrieve the cloak. Sirius attacked her from behind, pulling her off of her feet and swinging her around. �You sound more like a mother every second, you know that?� he said as she giggled. �Are you sure that Curse was right? You�d make a very good, nagging mum.� �Sirius put me down! Put me down!� she screamed. �I�ll never let go!� �Sirius, I mean it! I�m going to throw up!� she said, thrashing against him. He set her down hastily and she ran straight for the bathroom. He was in an awkward position suddenly, and so he took care of his cloak and then went into the bathroom to help Cassie. �Is there something wrong, love?� he asked. �No, no, everything�s fine. Just a little dizzy, I guess,� she called. He sat down on the bed and waited for her to reemerge. She came out and smiled at him. �I�m all right now, darling. The excitement got to me.� He opened his arms and instructed her to come over to him. She obliged, settling into his arms nicely. He breathed her scent in deeply, cuddling close to her and squeezing her tight. �You should have seen Harry today, love,� he sighed happily. James and Lily had gotten married five months after Sirius and Cassie did. This was just at the time that Cassie had finally chosen a house to move into and they had bought it. Now, James and Lily were married, settled into their home at Godric�s Hollow, and had just celebrated the first birthday of their son, Harry. Sirius was unbelievably flattered when they�d asked him to be the godfather. James had surprised Cassie by asking her to be godmother. �What did he do today, darling?� she asked. �He pointed at me today and when he saw me, his eyes just lit up. It was the most amazing thing I�d ever seen. He knew who I was. He�s got Lily�s eyes, and I never noticed how much he looked like James.� �Did I ever tell you�� Cassie started, but before she could say anything more, she�d fallen asleep. Sirius looked down at her and smiled. He�d been married to Cassie for over three years and he still loved her as much that day as on the day he�d set eyes on her. He�d often thought about that day with much joy. He hadn�t even though it possible that the girl running into McGonagall�s classroom with her hair covering her face was going to be his future wife. Now he couldn�t imagine a single day without her. It always amazed him how he�d been able to just pass over her face during Hogwarts, how it had taken him a detention to meet her. He�d never regret doing it though. He almost wanted to thank that wanker Severus. If he hadn�t been around to pick on, Sirius would never have fallen in love with Cassie. He watched her breathe deeply against him, still clinging like the night she�d confessed everything three years ago. After a long time, Cassie had finally opened up enough to talk about her Curse, as before meeting Sirius, she had tried not to even acknowledge its existence. Now she was open enough to allow Sirius to joke with her about it. It was as if she didn�t even care about it. She sometimes even joked about it. Then again, Sirius had told her time and time again how stupid he thought it was that she feared something she had no control over. He loved her no matter what. He placed his arms around his sleeping wife and lifted her up off of the bed. He moved the covers down and placed her inside of them, tucking her in comfortably. He bent forward, placing his lips on her cheek. �I love you,� he whispered. He walked out, closing the door and leaning his head up against it. A smile played on his lips, one that he could never get rid of. He loved being married. Especially to Cassie. Sirius was surprised to find the bed empty that morning when he woke up. He could see the other half of it was ruffled, like Cassie had been sleeping and practically stumbled out of bed. The pillow still smelled like her, so it couldn�t have been too long ago that she had gotten up. Yet he couldn�t find her when he went searching around the house. He turned to go to the bathroom and take his morning shower when the door burst open. It was Cassie, laughing and in great spirits, accompanied by Lily and baby Harry on Lily�s hip. �Good morning, darling!� greeted Cassie. She walked over to him and placed a small kiss on his lips. �Did you just wake up?� He nodded. �Didn�t you?� �Me? Of course not! I had to go to Lily�s and see my godson,� she said, while leaning over and tickling Harry. He giggled immensely and hid his face on Lily�s shoulder. The two women laughed whole-heartedly. Sirius smirked at Cassie underneath his mop of wavy brown locks. �I�m going to go take a shower,� he said, waving them off and turning to walk away. Cassie grabbed his arm. �Wait, wait, wait! Not so fast, husband of mine. First of all, I�ve got something to show you, second of all, don�t you dare shower without me.� Sirius grinned mischievously at him, wrapping his arms around her frame and kissing her lovingly on the lips. �Don�t worry, love. I was saving the really dirty spots for you.� Lily gasped. �Innocent ears, children!� she said, covering Harry�s right ear with the palm of her hand. All he did was giggle in reply. �Oh please,� Sirius said. �James� son is anything but innocent.� Lily narrowed her eyes at Sirius. �Hey, he�s only a year old. He�s got nothing to be worried about yet.� �Yet being the operative word,� Cassie joked and then stuck her tongue out at the child. He only reached out with two chubby fists to grab tufts of her hair. �AH! Harry Grabber! Let go of my hair, darling!� Harry did not answer nor made any sign that he understood. He continued to giggle and grab at her hair. Lily had to interject, slowly opening the fingers of her sons� palms to release the hold he had on Cassie. Sirius scratched his head again and turned toward the door. �Okay, I love talking to my godson and everything, but I�m really dirty and I need a quick shower.� �NO!� Cassie yelled, grabbing his hand again. �I�ve got something� we�ve got something to show you. Come. It�ll take a second.� Rolling his eyes, he stepped out the door with the two of them and they walked out to the front of the house. Sirius stopped dead in his tracks. No, it just couldn�t be� what he was staring at� it just� couldn�t be! Seeing his jaw had dropped, Cassie�s eyes lit up and she leaned close and whispered into his ear, �So does that mean you like it?� He turned to look at her, completely starry eyed. He walked toward his new gift, the thing he�d been admiring for two years. It was a motorbike, one that was good for ground and air use. He stood over it for a few seconds, exploring it. �Touch it, Sirius, it�s yours,� Cassie called to him. He did just that. He touched every single piece of the bike that he could get his hands on, loving the feeling of the chrome underneath his fingers. How wonderful it would be to feel the wind in his hair again. The last time he�d been up in the air was that night Cassie had taken him on a broom ride three years ago. The reason he�d wanted this motorbike so much was that reason exactly. He stood up and faced Cassie. �When did you�?� �I was saving up to get it for you as an anniversary gift, but I didn�t have enough money. Then I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but I still didn�t have enough. Finally, I got the last of the money a couple days ago and I couldn�t wait to get it to you. Do you like it?� Sirius� eyes filled with tears as he approached his wife and wrapped his arms around her. He whispered over and over, �Thank you, I love you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!� She was crying when he finally lifted his head up and pressed his lips down to meet hers. �I love you, Sirius. I�d do anything to make you happy.� �Then come with me for a ride. Tonight. Once I take my shower and we kick Lily out of the house, we can go and have a romantic ride. Just like that night so long ago.� Lily frowned at them indignantly. �Well, fine! If I�m not wanted�� Cassie laughed at her. �Of course you are. Any other time you would be, that is.� Lily pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at them. She flipped her head and held tight to Harry. �Well, I know how to take a hint. I�ll be back tomorrow to find out how it went,� she said, and with a wink, she Disapparated. Sirius shook his head and then looked back to Cassie. �You are the greatest, did you know that?� �I try.� He sat down on the edge of his bike, grabbed the collar of her shirt, and brought her closer. Cassie fell onto his lips with satisfaction, curling her arms around him and letting her fingers tease his hair. His hands ran up the inside of her shirt onto her bare back and they kissed with such passion that they had to retreat quickly to the house several seconds later. Sirius had made sure that his romantic bike ride with Cassie that night was that much more romantic than their first broom ride. They stopped atop a random grassy hill in the middle of an unknown meadow and made love while staring at the stars. They spent a few hours there, locked in their embrace before Cassie felt that she needed to get home. They landed outside of the house and Cassie turned to look at her husband, her bright blue eyes twinkling in love and desire. �I love you.� He closed his eyes and kissed her, a smile gracing his face that no one could ever have replaced. �You�re everything to me.� They stayed like this for a while before Cassie breathed and opened her mouth to start speaking. �Listen, Sirius, there�s something I wanted to tell you about.� �Mmm?� �It�s about my Curse.� �Mmm hmm?� �I did some research a few months ago, and I never got to tell you, but�� Yet she said nothing more. Sirius looked up, as he had been in the midst of a dreamy bliss. Cassie was no longer sitting on the motorbike. She had escaped to the house. Sirius followed inside and didn�t see her anywhere. He walked into the bedroom and found her lying on the bed, burying her head in a pillow. �Cass? Cass, is there something going on?� She turned around and faced him. Her face, which moments ago had been lit up and full of passion and love, was now pale and sweaty. She was sick and Sirius knew instantly that something was terribly wrong. She reached for his hand and clasped it tightly. She brought it to her chest. �I�m sick, Sirius. I don�t know what it is. I�ve never felt this way before. I�ve been vomiting. I think there�s something terribly wrong. I�m weak. I don�t know if I can get up and walk around most of the time. I�m fatigued so easily. Am I dying?� Sirius looked at her imploringly. �Of course you�re not. You know what? You�ve probably got influenza or the cold or something. It�s nothing to be alarmed about. You�re fine. Why don�t you go see a mediwizard tomorrow and figure out what�s been going on?� She nodded, gripping his hand tightly. �Will you come?� �Of course,� he said, placing his cheek close to hers. He held her hand as his sick wife fell asleep. He�d spoken comforting words to her, telling her the ailment she was suffering was probably nothing, and she�d become more confident. How was he supposed to convince himself that it was nothing as well? After a fitful night of rest, Sirius woke up and realized that he had to take Cassie to the mediwizard as soon as possible. He walked into his closet and slipped on the first pair of jeans he came across, a white muscle shirt he happened upon, and a gray sweatshirt to throw on over it. He was about to go wake Cassie when he heard someone calling him from the living room. �Sirius! Get in here!� Sirius did as the voice told him, as he now recognized it as James�. He shut the door quietly to his bedroom and found James standing in the doorway, very agitated. �What�s going on, James?� Sirius asked, grabbing his shoes and slipping them on. �There�s an emergency gathering at the Ministry, Sirius. We have to go.� Sirius stopped tying his shoes immediately and looked right up at his friend. �I can�t, James. Cassie is very sick; I have to take her to the mediwizard today.� James shook his head impatiently. �Listen, there have been three Death Eater attacks on Muggles and two more on wizard families last night. They�re calling an emergency meeting for all Aurors in the area. We have to go and find out where You-Know-Who will be hiding.� �Just say the damn name, James,� Sirius said, leaning over and finishing his shoes. �I can say it, Sirius,� James said crossly. �I didn�t want to alarm your wife.� He nodded toward the bedroom door and Sirius looked up at it immediately. �Darling, what are you doing up?� he asked, walking over to her. �I�m feeling all right this morning. I heard what James was saying, Sirius, and you need to go.� �But what about-� She waved him off edgily. �I�ll be fine, Sirius. I can go to the mediwizard all by myself. I�m going to be twenty-two you know, not four. I�ll manage.� He nodded, still not convinced. �All right, you go ahead. I�m going to check up on you later to find out what�s going on, all right?� She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. �Now go! Go before I have to kick you out of this house myself.� He grinned at her tenderly. �I love you, you know?� �I love you.� James Disapparated first and Sirius followed after a slow, passionate kiss from his wife. |
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