When you have it all

Chapter 14...

Sirius and Alex watched as Dumbledore whispered something to the man before shaking hands and turning around to leave. The other man continued to walk towards the two, while Alex stood as still as stone, and Sirius kept trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He ran out of time.

“Alex…” the man said. “Alex, it’s alright.”

“D…Da…” she stuttered. She closed her eyes, and let out a deep breath. Opening them, she tried again. “Darcy.”

Sirius’ eyes widened. This is Darcy? The Darcy? Alex’s brother, the one who all the muggle girls are in love with… (well, yeah I can see why, he manfully admitted)…What in Merlin’s name is he doing here? 

Apparently Alex was thinking along the same lines. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to visit, obviously,” he said with a crooked smile.

Her eyes narrowed at his smile. “You’re smiling? What’s the matter, Darcy? I would have thought you’d be disappointed to see me not blown to bits yet. Although, I have came pretty close to falling off my broom so that’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it?”

Darcy cringed. He had known she wasn’t going to take his sudden appearance well, but he hadn’t been expecting the spite in her voice. “The truth is…Buckingham is not the same without you.”

“Of course it’s not. It’s completely problem, embarrassment, headline-free…Peaceful,” she stated with a bit of an edge to her voice.

“Peaceful isn’t quite the word I would use…”

“You mean it’s boring, then?” she restated.

“No. Well, sort of,” Darcy said smiling again. “I mean I missed you. I feel awful about what I said, and I really didn’t mean it, Alex. Really, I’m sorry.”

Sirius gaped at the two of them, trying to put together the small pieces of conversation between the siblings. They argued? About what? He raked his memory trying to remember the rare snippets of his and Alex’s conversations including her brother or family. She had said she was waiting for him to rat her out… He blinked. What the hell does that mean?! He had never spared a second thought to it, and now he realized there was more to that sentence than he thought. It wasn’t a joke. She had actually meant it... Well, whatever they argued about, it must have been pretty bad. I haven’t ever seen her in such a state before…It’s not even like how she is when she argues with me. The two boys waited, yet Alex still made no sign of response. So Darcy spoke again, “Lexy…?”

Oh. That’s why she didn’t want me calling her that…he thought, remembering back to their first conversation on the train. He had dibs on that name. 

A million memories came flooding back upon hearing him call her that. And she knew by it that he was truly sorry and that he accepted her for who she really was. She leapt into his arms, and he embraced her warmly.

“I’m sorry, Darcy,” she whispered.

“I am too…”

The bond tugged on Sirius as he watched, and after a minute or so his stomach growled loudly. Alex whipped around to face the source of the noise, and Darcy looked on. The smile on her face vanished as soon as she saw him.

“Oh. It’s you.”

“Yeah. Me,” Sirius replied.

“Sirius Black…Darcy Edwards, my brother,” she introduced the two of them as they shook hands.