Play the Game ✔️

All the Young Dudes

The first thing Liesel saw upon opening her eyes was hair. Soft, silky, black hair...close enough to smell. She breathed in deeply...Mint. Mint and...rosemary, she decided. Best for oily hair; she knew that first hand as she used the same kind of shampoo. She looked at her right hand...it was cradled in his.

Her body was weakened, but she managed to position herself so that she could comb her fingers through the fringe of his hair as she watched his long eyelashes flutter as he opened his eyes with a start and yawned. Finally he lifted his head and smiled, remembering where he was and more importantly, why.

"What time is it," he asked as he rubbed at his eyes.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know?"

He struggled to focus as he looked around. "It's early yet. I know that much."

"How do you know?"

"I don't smell food. Do you?"

She shook her head. She touched his arm and he saw panic in her eyes. Sirius thought that if she had been standing on a precipice, that she would have jumped. "Sirius, where's Rommy," she asked finally.

Sirius smiled warmly and nodded his head and tenderly squeezed her hand. "Your father arrived shortly after you fell asleep. He took your Mum to the Three Broomsticks. Said he let a room there and that they'd return in the morning."

She backed up and swallowed hard. "Oh, well, I guess you know that the dog is a lie then?"

"I prefer secret and it wasn't yours, so I've no issue with it really."  He held her hand with both hands. "But your wand. That is another issue, isn't it?"

She sighed deeply and turned her head away. He reached up and touched her chin and gently turned her head to face his and raised his brow.

"What happened to your wand, Love?"

"It failed and it was smashed into bits," she said, hanging her head.

Sirius sensed a sin of omission. "How? You can tell me."

"I tried to subdue my mom during her transformation. She was coming after me and I...I panicked."

He nodded and looked at their joined hands. "You have to be pretty damned good at charms and spells to subdue a werewolf. Better than that actually," he replied gently. "I think you know that."

She nodded. "I used to be better than decent at charms before that night."

"What was your wand made of, Bobbie," Remus asked, causing Sirius to flinch slightly from surprise and he rolled his eyes and closed them with a heavy sigh. He turned his head and eyed him harshly.

"Black walnut," she said.

"And the core?"

"Phoenix feather," she replied.

"One of Olivander's?"

She nodded again. "Yeah," she said quietly.

Sirius stared at him from the corner of his eyes. "So what's that mean, Professor?"

"Any number of things really, but my guess is that she lost confidence in herself, which is understandable honestly, especially if you've a werewolf charging toward you." He looked into Sirius' eyes and Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Sounds plausible," Sirius replied.

"No! That's not what happened! I cast protego maxima and It flew out of my hand and lodged itself in her throat and I was able to get away!" Hot tears fell from her eyes. "It..it saved my life!"