Chapter 23 - Of Zombies and Invitations
The weeks flew by pretty quickly for everyone; well, everyone but Sirius. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he was missing her. Of course, no one outside of Lily, Frank, and the marauders knew what was wrong with him; the rest of the school was buzzing with gossip.
Sirius had really let himself go. He had stopped shaving, and his hair looked like he decided to stop brushing it. He didn't strut around with his usual,
I'm too sexy for this school attitude. He didn't wink at his fan girls, and he didn't stare at the girls with their skirts hiked up for his approval.
In fact, Sirius Black hadn't even looked at a girl since the day Harmony left.
Sirius didn't have much to do with Remus either. He was civil to him, but their friendship had suffered a major blow.
"I'm so sorry Sirius. I know I shouldn't have done it. She was only using me because you made her mad. It didn't mean anything to her. It was a meaningless onetime thing. I never wanted to betray you like that. I hate myself for letting my hormones take over. Will you ever forgive me?" Remus asked, his warm hazel eyes starting up at his friend intently.
"It's fine, Moony. She's not my girl. I have no claim on her. You can do what you want with her. I give you my blessing," Sirius told him, looking back at him, his eyes lacking their normal light.
"Pads, what's wrong with you? You sound like a zombie. Hit me. Scream at me. Do something other than just sit there." Remus was truly worried about his friend. He had expected Sirius to punch him when he finally struck up the nerve to go and talk to him. Sirius hadn't done anything. He just stared at him and told him he had nothing to apologize for.
By Christmas break, things had changed more than anyone could have seen coming. Shortly after Harmony's departure, Lily finally agreed to go out with James. Frank got himself a girlfriend. Even poor, pathetic Peter had found himself a lady.
Everyone was having luck in love, everyone but Sirius and Remus. Neither of them seemed to even look at girls anymore.
"I'm so tired of them both being so freaking mopey. They're like freaking zombies, Lily. They go to breakfast, go to class, go lunch, go to class, go to dinner, do their homework and go to bed. Neither one says more than a handful of sentences a day. It's driving me crazy to see my best friends like this," James told Lily as he cuddled up against her the night before they left for Christmas break.
"I know. I just wish there was something we could do to help them," Lily replied, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes.
After thinking for a few mintues, James jumped up off the couch, tossing Lily onto the common room floor.
"I have an idea!" James exclaimed as Lily thumped against the floor.
"James!" she shrieked.
"Oh, I'm sorry Lily." Grabbing her hand roughly, James jerked her to her feet.
"Are you going to tell me your plan?" Lily asked, looking up at him with one of her eyebrows cocked.
"No time, my Lily flower. I have to go and draw up the schematics," he told her as he rushed off. He raced up the boy's stairs and into the sixth year boys' dorms. "It's going to be hard to pull off with so much of the group out of commission. . " he muttered as he rifled through his trunk, searching for something.
At three months, Harmony's baby bump was beginning to be clearly visible. Her parents, once they had gotten past the initial shock period, had been very helpful. Her mother kept a supply of morning sickness potions, and her father was constantly checking in on her.
A few weeks before Christmas, Harmony was starting to get antsy. She was so tired of being cooped up in the house; she was missing her friends terribly.
"Mum, do you think that some of my friends could come visit for Christmas break? I'm going crazy cooped up in the house all day with no one my own age to talk to," Harmony asked as she carefully sat down at the breakfast table beside her mom.
"I don't see why not. You need to have some fun with your friends," she told her with a smile.
"Thank you, Mum," Harmony exclaimed happily
"So, have you talked to the father lately?" Mrs. Longbottom asked, using a butter knife to spread jam on her piece of toast.
"No. . . I haven't talked to him since I left Hogwarts. . . "
"Why not? That child growing inside you is half his, Harmony. He deserves to know how the baby is doing and things like that. You can't shut him out. Why don't you invite him to stay with us over the break? It might do you some good."
"In. . invite him here? I. . .I can't do that, Mum. We're not exactly on the best of terms anymore. In fact, we've gotten into a fight every time we've tried to talk since I found out that I was pregnant. I don't want to spend three weeks fighting. We both know that would not be good for neither me nor the baby."
"Well then, Harmony Jane, I guess you're going to have to learn to get along with him. You're going to need him later down the road. It's best to go ahead and mend your bridges before they get burned."
"I don't want to!" Harmony screamed as she pushed away from the table, "You have no idea how badly he hurt me, Mum."
"Harmony, you need him. I know you hate the idea of it, but you do. And don't you think the poor lad is worrying about you and his unborn child? It's not right to make someone have to worry like that. It's not fair to him either."
"Fine, Mum. I'll owl everyone later." Talking about Sirius had made her lose her appetite so she got up from the table and walked back up to her room
"I can't believe she wants me to invite him to spend the break with us. Even if I was on good terms with him, Dad will skin him alive," she said to herself as she paced around her room. In all honesty, there was a part of her that did want to see Sirius. She still loved him just as much as ever if not more.
The baby growing inside her only seemed to make her love him more.
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