Augury [Harry Potter Fanfic]

h. six

"Sawyer?" the door to her room was opened ever so slowly, hesitatingly, giving her a chance to stop him, even though the door was left ajar.

"Yeah?" she set her book down on her lap, raising her stormy eyes to him, smiling softly.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?" leaning against the door frame, he watched her body. You could see some bandages peeking from her shirt or arm, and he wanted to apologize for things turning out the way they did.

"Much better, you know-- it's been over three weeks, I'm fine." He nodded, walking over to sit on the bed. "Sirius?" she asked after a moment.

"Yeah?" he wondered, grabbing the book she was reading. "The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time. Sounds like a heavy book."

Sawyer set down the book once more. "Sirius, I've got a question." Nodding, he ushered her to continue. "My uncle... Regulus."

"Yeah?" suddenly bitter, Sirius seemed much less enthusiastic to answer his daughter's question.

"Are you mad at him?" Sirius looked at her in surprise. He expected a different question, something about their childhood, or even about whatever little he knew of his disappearance. Was he mad at him?

"I..." Sirius was unsure. "I don't know, really. When he disappeared we were  on bad terms, but truthfully," he shrugged, "I don't really--"

"SAWYER!" Fred appeared with a crack inside the room.

"SAWYER!" George did the same a moment later.

"Milady," Fred bowed, and George followed.

"We are here to invite you-"

"For dinner with our family."

"And your family."

"And some friends."

"And some people who are neither."

"Coming?" they both asked, grinning widely. Sawyer and Sirius stared at them silently and after a moment Sawyer laughed.

"You guys, you gotta stop apparating everywhere, what if I were just changing clothes?" Fred and George looked at each other, before shrugging.

"We wouldn't mind."

Sirius threw the book right at them, and the two ducked just in time.

"Hey!"

"Don't speak to my daughter like that!"

::

Suddenly, with the trio reunited at the dinner table, everything was as loud as it wasn't for a while. Cedric was telling Ginny and Hermione stories from a Quidditch matches a few years back, Dung was busy eating anything close to him, and both Bill and Tonks were laughing at that, and at each other.

Sawyer, Fred, and George, of course, were the center. Harry-despite being ever gloomy- and Ron were laughing hysterically at them, and Sirius didn't hesitate in joining the banter.

Remus was smiling at the angry yet comical exchange between the group, and Molly sat by her husband, chatting with him pleasently.

"All I'm saying is that you apparated into my room, and by a chance I was with dad! If I wasn't, I'd probably be changing clothes."

"But you weren't."

"So all's well in BlacksVille."

"All's not well!" Sirius called out. "You will learn to knock!"

"Nah."

"DUDE!"

::

"Ragnok's been quite against it though," Bill told Cedric as they sat in the living room later.  Sawyer needed catching up to things, and the Hogwarts term was getting close to beginning. All the sofas and chairs were occupied, so a few were scattered across the living room's floor. No one felt the need to use magic to get more chairs.

Sawyer had her back against Bill's legs, who sat on a single person couch, leaving Remus and Sirius the space needed to use the sofa as their own back rest.

"Ragnok's easy to speak to, all you need is one of the goblins to go with you, and then the rest will follow. You should try Griphook or Gornuk. Griphook's more into his best interest, but Gornuk is also more of a logical and nicer. Try both of them at the same time." Sawyer offered, scribbling down what Moody told her to.

"Griphook's really bitter, I hardly think he'll go around talking to me, when lately he's not even talking to the other goblins."

"As I said, Gornuk's nicer. Try timing it so you'd speak to Gornuk while Griphook's there. Best thing is when Ragnok's there too. Speak to Gornuk next to Griphook's office, then Ragnok will be right next to them."

"Two birds," Bill smirked. "You're smarter than you look, Eggplant."

"Back at ya, Apricot."

The group laughed at the exchange, and quickly fell into casual chats, Remus and Sirius either side of Sawyer, distracting her from her writing. Remus had his arm around Sawyer's shoulder, while Sirius was leaning against the sofa while playing with a ball they found in his room when they tidied it up earlier that evening.

The purple in Sawyer's hair was much less prominent, and her hair grew a bit, so now it seemed as though she dyed only a part of it, and Remus was glad that was the case. Sirius was glad that her hair grew in a color different than Amanda's, and closer to his. Sawyer's hair grew almost pitch black, and with her eyes that seemed stormy these days, he could see himself in her more and more. Her haunted look and her smaller frame, however, often reminded him of his brother.

Remus ran a gentle hand through Sawyer's hair every now and then, and at that point she stopped trying to concentrate.

Her heart was content with Remus and her being on good terms again, and she clung to the touch of her most beloved.

It was a while before any of the three spoke again, but then Sirius decided to lean right into Remus' face.

"Hey Moony, remember how you guys always said I'll never be able to raise a kid?" Smirking, he pointed at Sawyer. "Well, guess what."

Remus shoved his face back, "Padfoot, you literally didn't know about her until two years ago."

"Yeah well, she's my kid and she's all grown up."

Sirius looked so proud of himself, Sawyer could do nothing but chuckle at his smug, ridiculous face. Remus, however, had about enough.

"I'm the one who raised both you and her. Should I remind you how you used to act at first year?"

Sirius' ears were tinted pink at the remark. "Well, that was a nice chat, what are you writing, Sawyer?"

Tonks smiled heartedly at the scene, looking at the way Remus' lips rose in satisifaction as Sirius gave up the argument.

Sawyer found herself smiling warmly at the scene, explaining to Sirius that she was writing all she knew about the Centaurs' opinions about anything going on.

Even though there was a burning in her inner arm, she kept smiling.

She prayed she could savour the calm for as long as possible, since the storm's end was still too far away.

She clung to Remus' hand, and the calm.

For as long as she could.

Just for now.