RP: Dinner for Two

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

Date: 30. November, 2001
Characters: Cecilia Proudfoot and Sirius Black
Setting: Early evening, Sirius' house
Content: TBD
Status: Open: Private


The basket on the kitchen table had been packed even before Jamie had left to join the rest of his class for the astronomy camp-out. Some of the faster growing vegetables in her own garden were on the verge of being ready for harvesting; another short week or so, she estimated, but they weren't completely right for tonight. So, she had made a round of the market, adding to the things she already had in her cooler and cupboards as well as a good portion of what most of all resembled dark turkey meat. She forgot which animal it came from, but she recognized it as a favorite whenever it was available.

After her shower she had let her hair dry into the stubborn curls she had given up on trying to tame, though she did let it hang loose, rather than tying it up in the usual ponytail. The clothes took a bit more consideration. Dinner with Sirius called for something a bit less casual than her regular everyday clothes, but they would be cooking, which took out some of the formality. She eyed her tank tops and cargo shorts longingly, but those wouldn't even be considered casual; they were her work clothes. Finally she settled on her white tunic with the black lace decoration over her sand coloured denim skirt and comfortable sandals. There, relaxed without being too casual.

With a light jumper draped over the basket, she apparated to Sirius' house, taking a moment to run her fingers through her hair, before she knocked on the door.

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[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

The past week encompassed the single most consecutive period of time Sirius had stayed on the settlement and Kingsley had taken advantage of his momentary stability to 'confer' with him on all manner of things - mainly having to do with the other continent. He was anxious to start building a new settlement there but Sirius had several issues with that - predominately Kingsley's indecision as to the indigenous life forms on that continent. Specifically, how the indigenous life forms were predatory and their current "non-interference position" - a position Sirius thought to be universally foolhardy.

He had reluctantly agreed to ferry a team of security personnel and geologists over in the following week, on the condition that he simply brought them back and forth, but they would not be relying on him for direction. Sirius was thinking of just that decision while he cast cleaning charms around the house - he didn't think of it as home, not yet at least. With the exception of doing his laundry and storing his rucksacks in the garage that housed the Jeep he'd been assigned by Kingsley soon after their arrival in pieces - Sirius had put it back together himself, then lent his skills toward getting the rest of them in order - there was just a thin layer of dust on everything.

Checking the time, Sirius took a shower and considered his limited wardrobe. There was little choice there, however, given that he hadn't had much to work with since his "resurrection". Jeans and a bottom down shirt was as fancy as his wardrobe allowed and that's what he pulled on. Moving back downstairs, Sirius set the kettle on to simmer - it couldn't hurt to have it ready though he'd found a bottle of wine at the marketplace for the evening, a bottle that was chilling in the cooler. He had several different foods in the cooler, fish and fowl, along with a variety of the root vegetables that he'd been experimenting with this week. When the knock came at his door, Sirius was half way across the living room floor already and he opened it with a low grin. "Cecilia, please, come in," he invited her, stepping back.

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Cecilia had only just turned her head to take a look at the surroundings and the neighbouring houses when the door opened in front of her. "Thank you, Sirius," she greeted him with a smile, stepping through the door and past him into his living room.

He looked different tonight, and not just his clothes, which she would have to admit suited his slim frame very well. No, there was something else; he looked... relaxed, or at least more relaxed than she had seen him the few times they had met. Briefly she wondered if that had something to do with the fact, that the previous occasions had been unplanned, as opposed to tonight when he had been the one to initiate contact... If that was the case, she was willing to let him make the decisions in that area, because it suited him.

"I hope you're hungry," she told and offered him the basket as a sort of present for the host. "I've brought a bit of everything that looked good."

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Closing the door behind her, Sirius wondered once again at just this witch could possibly be attracted to him. His internal demons were loud and consistent in that regard but he closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, pushing those thoughts back to their normal 'white noise' level.

Sirius took the basket from her and carried it to the counter where he set it down. "Do I need fattening up?" he asked with a low laugh, teasing her on the weight of it. Sirius gestured to the cooler. "There's more in there as well. I wasn't sure what to get. I don't do a lot of cooking that doesn't involve an open flame."

"Can I get you something to drink? A glass of wine, perhaps?" he offered. Merlin's ghost but she looked great in a skirt. Nice legs. Sirius glanced away then, trying to shake off the many lurid thoughts that had flooded his mind just then.

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With a hand on the doorframe, Cecilia supported herself as she toed off her sandals before she, barefoot, followed Sirius to the kitchen. "Not necessarily, no," she smirked, taking the offered opportunity to openly give his body a glance over. He was slim, yes, bordering on skinny, but the look of him made her think that he was looking healthier now than he had before, as if he was filling out his body again. "I just figured that it'd be easier to cook up something with a good variation of ingredients to choose from."

She came up next to him by the counter. "A glass of wine sounds lovely, please," she accepted his offer. An amused ripple ran over her forehead at the way he looked her over, not unlike the glance over she had just given him, and then he looked away. "We could make something flambé if you miss the open flame." From the basket she pulled out one of the roots she had found and tested a bit, both at the lab but also at home in her kitchen once she was certain it wasn't poisonous. "But you have to try this one. Peel it, slice it and bake it in the oven with some herbs," pinching her thumb and middlefinger on each finger together, she kissed them tip of them and hummed softly, "it's wickedly delicious. Tastes sinfully delicious even if it's disgustingly healthy."

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"You're right, of course. You'll have to forgive me, I'm unaccustomed to..." he hesitated briefly. 'Normal. You're unused to normality.' Remus' voice came in his thoughts. 'For Merlin's Sake, you're a bloody hermit.' "cooking for others. I'm barely capable of cooking for myself - if you call roasting fish over a campfire cooking."

She was close enough that he could smell the light scent of her perfume - or shampoo - he wasn't sure which. She didn't seem like the kind of woman who would bother with perfume - she didn't need it. His dark gaze was drawn like a moth to a flame by the movement of her fingers at her lips. He barely heard what she was saying.

The thousands of echoing thoughts in his head seemed to evaporate and Sirius reached out, curling his fingers around her bicep as he bent his head, the soft whisper of her lips under his drew a low groan in the back of his throat. Her mouth was so warm, so soft, and his head swam with confusion. Drawing back, Sirius blinked and released his hold on her arm, giving his head a shake as he apologized. "Sorry, that was out of line of me. Let me, um, get that wine for you."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

Sirius' fingers were surprisingly warm, she found, when they closed around her bicep and just moments later she found that his lips were equally warm and much softer than she had imagined. Wait! Had she actually imagined how his lips felt? Cecilia wondered about that for exactly a split-second, then gave into the kiss, accepting it, tasting him. She was just on the brink of losing herself in it, when he broke it off and drew away.

The look on his face was one she hoped to never see there again; the look of someone incorrectly thinking he had done something horribly wrong. That, however, wasn't what made her reach out for his hand, putting herself directly in front of him, keeping him from moving away. "Don't just kiss me and then walk away," she admonished him gently, her eyes on his as her hand came up to the back of his neck and she pulled him down for another kiss... or maybe to finish the one he had started. Slowly she deepened the kiss, taking her time to familiarize herself with the feel of him, seeking the taste of him, committing it to memory as her fingers carded into the soft hair at the back of his neck.

As slowly as she had eased into the kiss, just as slowly did she ease out of it until she could look up at him again. "Only an Englishman would apologize for a kiss," she told him softly, a smile playing on her lips, before she let go of him and returned to where she had been unpacking the basket. "Please, don't ever apologize for a kiss, Sirius."

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He expected a great many things. For her to slap him. For her to walk out. For a plethora of stinging words to be flung at him. But the last thing, the very, very last thing Sirius expected was for her to scold him for his apology. That is, until she was pulling him down for another kiss - that wasn't even on the list of very last things but Sirius was beyond thought, beyond caring when her lips pressed to his. Cecilia was directing the kiss, mainly because he was too surprised to do anything more for a few seconds.

The soft, questioning swipe of her tongue against his was like an electric shock down his spine and Sirius gripped her hip with one hand as the other sought out the silken threads of her hair. He groaned softly and deepened the kiss more, his fingers tightening as his body woke to the sensations. She tasted of tea and something else, something he didn't recognize, and he pulled her closer, the need for more growing overwhelming in his thoughts just as she began to draw back. He blinked again, mind on fire, as he looked down at her. Her lips were darker from the kiss, the image sparking another cascade of intense desires.

"And only an Englishwoman would scold a man for being polite," Sirius replied wryly, thankful that her focus had returned to the basket because it made him clutch at normal thoughts again. He crossed to the cooler and took out the wine bottle, summoning two glasses from the cupboard before taking the cork out. She looked unaffected by the kiss, and Sirius concentrated on pouring the wine without spilling any of it. "We could bake the fish, with the, whatever you call those potato tasting things, in a bit of wine and butter," he offered, struggling to think straight.

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Cecilia's lips tingled. Her whole body tingled, and as she outwardly turned her attention to the basket on the kitchen counter, she found herself grateful that she was standing barefoot, as any sort of heel would surely have made the stumble. She could feel her stomach churning, though not in an uncomfortable way and a spark she had kept dormant begin to glow again. Hiding her smile behind the curtain of her loose hair, she bit her lips to keep from chuckling at Sirius' response. No, she would have to be nonchalant about this, especially because she had no idea what this was.

"Bulbs," Cecilia supplied Sirius with the name he was looking for, pulling one out and holding it up as if she was performing a show and tell. "I am pretty sure that's the scientific name for them." Nodding she failed to keep the neutral look on her face before she shook her head. "It has been named, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is. Sounds good with the baking, perhaps make small packets from baking paper to keep all the juices in. Add a few more roots to spice up the flavour? And you said you only cooked over an open flame..."

Picking out a handful of the roots she believed would go well with the fish, she moved to the sink, carefully beginning to rinse and peel them as each of them required. "So, what is more polite?" she asked in as neutral a voice as she could muster and keeping her eyes on the orange root in her hand. "Paying a woman the physical compliment in a way that makes her feel desired or in a way that makes her think herself the object of a wrong and mistaken desire?"

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

"Bulbs," he repeated, glancing down at the one she held up and then back up again to meet her gaze. She was trying for humor and he silently congratulated her on having that ability just then but it also underscored to him that she was unaffected by his kiss. "Baking paper? I don't know what the is. I don't even think I have that, unless it came with the house," Sirius admitted, gesturing vaguely to the drawers. "Feel free to look."

She moved around him, crossing just close enough that he imagined smelling her perfume. Sirius gave himself a mental shake and summoned the cutting board and a knife, laying the fish out on it before beginning to make a slender cut down the center. He had gotten it to the tail when she spoke again and Sirius stilled the knife in motion. Drawing it free from the fish, he stabbed it into the edge of the wooden block.

"Wrong and mistaken desire? Fuck, Cecilia. I'm utterly rubbish at this. I would think that would be perfectly clear! What do you want me to say? That you're driving me mad? That I want you? I think that's ground we've covered just now rather thoroughly," Sirius growled, taking his wand out. A silent spell plucked the bones free from the fish and sent them to the garbage bin.

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Drying her hands on the dishrag, Cecilia went to go find a leaf or a piece of parchment she could Transfigure into the paper they could use to wrap the fish in. She stopped with a jerk, her eyes wide as she took in Sirius' outburst, torn between walking away and giving him a piece of her mind. She did neither. Instead she just looked at him as he spelled the bones from the fish while her mind was flooded with the same question he had just asked her. What did she want him to say? What had she expected when she had asked him that question? Nothing, was what she had expected; she had meant it as nothing more than a silly comeback to his quip.

With a wave of her wand, she summoned one of the big leaves from a plant outside, and with another swish, she transfigured it into a thin, slightly greased sheet of paper that she placed on the counter with a slap of her hand. "That is baking paper." Try as she might, she couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice, and the humiliation of that realization made her turn around on her heel, headed directly for the door.

The click of the door closing behind her made her stop. Something was wrong, and it wasn't just the fact that she had stormed out of what could have been a nice dinner with a potential friend like an over-emotional teenager. She could feel the tree of the deck under her bare feet, and that discovery had her sigh deeply as she pinched the bridge of her nose and turned around, knocking on the door like she had done when she had first arrived what could only be ten minutes ago.

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He didn't flinch when she slapped the parchment - paper - down, nor did he respond when it was very, very clear how upset she was. Sirius couldn't have responded. He had absolutely no idea what to say. He'd been honest. Perhaps too honest but what was done was done and he couldn't unsay the words he'd spoken. The click of the door did make him flinch and then sigh deeply. From intense kiss to utter failure in under five minutes. That had to be a record of some kind.

Sirius pushed away from the counter's edge and crossed to the sink, rinsing his hands clean before picking up the hand towel to dry them. His thoughts were chaotic, damning and heavy. Why had he chosen to be honest? What had possessed him to let his guard down like that? Of course she had left, he didn't blame her for that. Hell, he hadn't known why she'd accepted his invitation, or why she'd sought him out before.

A rap came at his door and Sirius frowned, throwing the hand towel to the counter before striding to the door, wondering who the hell could possibly be dropping by at a moment like this. He pulled the door open and the angry words on the tip of his tongue died away when he saw Cecilia standing there. "Damn it," he growled, grabbing her arm and tugging her close, his free hand cupping the back of her head as his lips sealed over hers in a fierce, thorough kiss, pouring the passion he felt into the deep kiss that he broke only when the need for air overrode the need for her. Pushing her hair back from her face, he growled. "I told you I was rubbish at this."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

Knocking on Sirius' door after she had left was beyond humiliating for her. A nagging voice in the back of her head kept insisting that she should just open the door and grab her sandals and let that be the end of it, but no matter how angry or disappointed he had made her, she couldn't betray the trust he had shown her when he had invited her to his home by invading his safety zone without permission. Another small voice kept telling her that she should just leave the sandals, but the reasonable part of her firmly pushed that voice down; these were good sandals and who knew when they would be able to get anything like that here again.

Ready to ask for her sandals back and then promise him that she wouldn't bother him anymore, Cecilia barely managed to open her mouth when the door was opened and Sirius pulled her close. She wanted to object, but instead her body overruled her mind when her arm wrapped around his neck and her lips parted under his, inviting him in. She moaned into the kiss, her fingers clenching around the fabric of his shirt, though only when it ended did she managed to draw the breath her body was calling for. The way he brushed her hair out of her face was so gentle and considerate, a stark contrast to the harsh words and the fierce kiss. Looking up at him, her breathing hard from the kiss, from the need he had spurred in her. Yes, he had told her that, but only after she had put her foot well and thoroughly in it. "And whatever possesses you to think I'm not?"

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She hadn't pulled away, no, in fact, her reaction had been something he could only have dreamed of, the curl of her fingers in his shirt, the soft moan against his mouth. Merlin, but the taste of her was better than whiskey. Sirius was drowning and he hated every second of ending the kiss though the chance to look down into her beautiful gaze was some consolation. "A great many things possess me, Cecilia," Sirius replied gravely, carding his fingers into her soft hair.

"Please," he asked quietly, pressing another kiss, soft and chaste this time, to her lips. "Please, come back inside - dinner... and we can talk. All right?" He drew back then, but kept his hand on her waist, slipping his other hand down, fingers caressing the curve of her jaw and neck. Her skin was so soft, so perfect. "I'll behave - as much as I can - I promise."

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"And which one is making you think I'm not rubbish at this?" she whispered, repeating her question. Looking up at him, Cecilia felt as if she could easily lose herself trying to decipher the haunted look in his eyes. Eyes that she had only seen light up once or twice, but those few, rare occasions were ones she wanted to see again. Even before he had said so himself, she had known he had ghosts, or issues, or he was troubled or whichever wording people chose to use about someone with a traumatic past, such as Sirius. It didn't take a genius or even training in Mind Healing to figure out that a man who had been falsely sentenced to prison for murdering his friends and had spent more than a decade around Dementors and only recently had come back from what she could only compare to death would have a few issues with settling into a regular life. And yet, she felt drawn to him, attracted as she had told him, though to which degree she hadn't known until tonight, when his first, spontaneous kiss had made her see her attraction in a different light.

His fingers were so gentle, his voice soft and the chaste kiss more intimate than she could recall having been with any other man. Letting him draw her along as he stepped back inside the house, she closed the door behind them, though she didn't move away from him. "You shouldn't have to behave, Sirius," she whispered and swallowed down to calm herself and quiet the myriad of contradictory thoughts. "How can I possibly get to know you, if you behave? It shouldn't be an effort for you and if it is, then I'm not the one you... the one you should be... with." Her head was filled with thoughts, wants, needs, reasons she should leave and reasons she should stay and concern for the man who was holding her while looking at her in a way she didn't recognise from anywhere.

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Unintelligible whispers chased around the edges of his thoughts, conflicting arguments rising and falling over and over again, the same caution of distance swelling loudly even as he struggled to ignore them. He believed he was endangering her, even now, just by being around him - his life was cursed and anyone how had been close to him had been consumed by that curse. 'Is it worth it? Sacrificing her life for a brief moment of happiness' Remus' voice rose up from the chaotic jumble and Sirius jaw tightened. 'I can protect her.' he thought as his fingers smoothed over her skin, silently mapping the smallest curves. "None of them do," he admitted softly. He didn't know her relationship history but he couldn't imagine to be worse than his.

The door closing only reinforced what she was saying but she couldn't possibly understand what that meant to him. He was raised with a certain degree of civility that he couldn't shake, no matter what. Even in Azkaban, those thoughts had strengthened him. "You don't know what you're asking, Cecilia," Sirius cautioned, taking a step away, his hand moving to rest on her shoulder for a moment before dropping away. "That last... involvement I had was just after Hogwarts. I can't - being a gentleman is part of who I am. I can't just step out of that."

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His soft admission made a smile tug at the seam of her lips. Slowly she nodded; she didn't have a whole lot of experience in the relationship department of her life, and the few instances she could actually refer to as relationships hadn't ended prettily.

Cecilia had to draw in a deep breath to hide her disappointment in Sirius' cautioning. This was it, she figured, preparing herself to hear how everything she had learned about him during the limited time she had spent with him had all been a charade. Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion when he began talking about his last involvement. Okay, so that had been years ago, but so had hers. Granted not nearly as many years as his, but still, it wasn't anything recent. And then came the big issue, the part that had her give a small yelp of relief, before she clamped her hand solidly over her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. This wasn't a laughing matter, this was a matter based on a misunderstanding that she clearly needed to correct.

"Oh my gods, Sirius," she muttered behind her hand before she shook her head, and closed her eyes for a moment. Letting her hand come down from her mouth to take his hand, she looked at him. "In my world behaving and being a gentleman are two very different things. Being a gentleman is something you are, something that comes naturally to you, while behaving is something you do. Behaving is what you tell a naughty child to do to keep from being judged by people around you." Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, she hoped she hadn't ruined everything with their misunderstanding. "The very last thing I want to do, is have you be someone you're not in your own home."

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Her reaction was confusing and Sirius couldn't fathom what her expression could mean, nor was he going to make any assumptions. He'd assumed her rejection and that had turned out to be the exact opposite of what she had felt. The best thing to do now was to listen to her and try to filter out the thoughts that were pounding in his head.

There was a momentary surge of relief when he realized that there had been a basic misunderstanding between them and she wasn't objecting to him. The internal struggle was still there - he wanted her and yet, he believed that being a part of his life would endanger her. Cecilia squeezed his hand and that drew a focus to his thoughts. "I would point out my limited experience with children, now," Sirius joked wryly.

"Why don't we get the food cooking and then you can ask me anything you want," he suggested, nodding toward the kitchen. Sirius hoped she would agree, that they could start this over again on better ground and the evening wouldn't be a total loss.

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Cecilia's lips twitched and her eyebrow arched in amusement at Sirius' joke; his humour was improving, or maybe he was just beginning to relax. At least the misunderstanding had been corrected, despite his supposedly limited exposure to children, and that made Cecilia begin to relax again.

At his suggestion, she paused for a moment. She wanted to stay, wanted to get to know him better, figure out where her attraction to him came from, but it was just minutes ago that a failed attempt at teasing from her side had touched on some insecurity in Sirius, and she didn't want that to happen again. On the other hand, he had just invited her to ask him about anything he wanted to know, and she took that as a sign that he was prepared – at least to some degree – to deal with her potentially crossing the line again. Looking from the kitchen and back to him, she nodded, accepting his offer with a gentle smile. "You can ask, too," she let him know as she kept a hold on his hand and followed him back to the kitchen.

"What was it like?" she asked him as she picked up the roots she had left on the counter when she had left, moving them to the chopping board and began to cut them into small dices. "Coming back, I mean. What was it like coming back?"

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He let out his held breath when Cecilia moved back into the kitchen with him, letting him lead the way as he focused past their misunderstanding. They were from different worlds - there were bound to be misunderstandings but that one had been a serious point for him and it was a relief that she hadn't left. If she had, he would have understood but he would have missed her companionship.

It was a measure of her trust that she had agreed to finish the evening and he was going to do his best to make her not regret that decision. While she attended the vegetables, Sirius brought out the fresh butter from the cooler and opened a cupboard, taking down several jars of herbs that the Longbottom boy had given him. Her question, however expected, made him pause, his back to her as he looked out the window to the foliage blocked terrace beyond.

"From Azkaban or the Veil?" Sirius asked, his voice gruff as he summoned a glass cooking dish, silently sending a prayer of thanks to whatever deity made the builders stock the houses well. "The Veil was... when I woke up, I was laying on the rock in front of it. I recall hearing Hermione's voice in the distance, like an echo, just seeing the shimmering grey of the opening as it mutated into a deep blue. I... I didn't know where I was. Hermione - she was there when I was hexed into the Veil, you see."

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"The veil," Cecilia said softly, scooping a handful of diced vegetables into a bowl. She let Sirius take the time he needed, sensing that he might need it. Perhaps it had been an unfairly hard question to ask him, but asking him what his favourite colour was, she thought, would have been making a mockery of his offer of complete honesty. Besides, she doubted he'd believe it was something she actually wanted to know, after all, a quick glance around the house would reveal a fondness for the colour green.

His answer made sense, in a way, because there was no way she could possibly understand what it was like, but it had affected him greatly, of that she had no doubt, and that was why she had asked the question; to get a better understanding of him. "Hermione..." she muttered, at first not certain who this woman was, when it struck her and she felt a bit silly for not having realised it immediately. "Oh, Hermione Granger, right?" That had to be her, otherwise she doubted he would have named her as casually as he had.

Bringing the bowl of vegetables over to where he had summoned the herbs, she put it down next to him in case he wanted to add some of them to it. "I guess I was more curious if you'd registered anything while you were... behind the veil," she looked up at him. "Like, the time you were there, was it an eternity or the five or six years you were there, or more like a blink of an eye?" Either way, his return was bound to have messed with his mind, though she was certain it would have been different all depending on how long it had seemed. Then again, this was solely for her own curiosity's sake and for her ability to understand him, to some extent, but it wasn't imperative that she knew. "You don't have to answer that, if you don't want to," she assured him with a gentle smile, placing his hand on top of his. "I can ask easier questions, too, if you prefer."

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"Yes, Hermione Granger. Brilliant witch. I'm indebted to her twice over now. She saved my life after I escaped Azkaban and I feel she saved it again to bring me out of the Veil," he replied somberly. There was little doubt in Sirius' mind that even though Hermione claimed the Veil accident had been simply that - an accident - that she had somehow affected the doorway to death enough to extract him from it's grasp.

Sirius glanced down at the bowl, making the assumption that Cecilia thought the vegetables would benefit from the herbs so he sprinkled a couple of fingerfuls onto them. Putting a spoon in the bowl, he tapped it and it began slowly turning the vegetables to mix them with the herbs. "I did say I would answer your questions," Sirius pointed out after a moment, grateful for her understanding but also knowing that she was extending him a trust that he hadn't yet earned.

"It might as well have been an eternity. The only friend I had in this... that world died while I was trapped there," he clarified, his tone taking on a small, but temporary hard edge. "I remember being hit with Bella's hex and feeling the push backward - the cold slip of the Veil as it touched my back. And then I don't remember anything specific. Whispers. Dark... dark whispers that came and went, speaking of vile, foul things." Sirius paused, his body giving a tiny shudder as he drew on those memories. He swallowed and looked down at her, his gaze grave. "I had no sensation of time passing. Just an engulfing sense of evil."

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Satisfied with the amount of herbs Sirius added to the bowl, Cecilia looked back up at him when he set the spoon to mix it. "You did," she acknowledged and summoned a few more of the leaves she had used to Transfigure before she had left. It wasn't only for her curiosity's sake that she was starting out with the hard questions. By asking the hard questions first, the ones she figured a lot of people were dying to know, Sirius would – hopefully – know that if she was staying around, it wasn't to get the answers from him. Hopefully.

One by one, she transfigured the leaves into sheets of baking paper, that she stacked neatly next to the bowl while she listened to him talk. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said quietly, meaning it from the bottom of her heart. For him to first be forced to be in what he himself had just described as an evil place, only to return and find that his only friend had died while he was gone was just more unfairness than a single person deserved in several lifetimes.

"And now that you're out from behind the veil," she started carefully, reaching for the fish and placing a suitable amount in the middle of the sheet on top. "Knowing what you know or remember from how it was there, what does that make you think about the place we've landed in? Is it really the paradise it looks to be, or is that all-encompassing evil still lurking all around?" If what was behind the veil was as evil as Sirius had described it, and she had no reason not to believe him on that one, then where would a time disruption through that very same veil have brought them? Removing the spoon from the bowl, she scooped a small handful of vegetables up, placing them on top of the fish before she meticulously began folding up the sides of the paper until it would hold liquid without it spilling over the edges. "Add a bit of butter and a touch of white wine, I'll close it up and seal in all the flavours while it bakes."

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"Thank you," he replied, a frown flickering across his forehead. She meant it. It was evident in her tone. So unlike all the others who merely mouthed the words, hollow and without thought. She was thoughtful, like Remus. Sirius felt a pang when he thought that but knew that his friend would have truly felt comfortable with this woman - perhaps that's why he'd felt drawn to her in the first place.

Sirius watched the ease with which she transfigured the leaves, finding a serenity in the way she moved, so neat and precise. He let her fix the fish, just watching as he leaned against the counters edge. "This place? No, no evil, just... just nature the way its supposed to be. If there's any evil, we brought with us. In us," he replied after a long moment.

Sirius did as she instructed, placing slices of the butter along the fish and splashing a bit of the wine in on top. He hoped it would be as good as it sounded, as he was feeling hungry just looking at it. "There's something old, very old and evil in the Veil, or there was. I didn't - it wasn't the same when I came through to here. At least, I don't think it was. I had more than a few drinks before I came through. Kingsley thought he'd have to sedate me."

"Hell, I thought he'd have to sedate me to get me to step through that damned thing but I didn't feel anything like - like I remember. Here, let me," he said, shifting the glass pan under the paper wrapped food and lifted it inside before moving the whole package to the cooker.

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

Cecilia nodded, understanding what he meant. Nature was a great many things; beautiful, overwhelming, and immensely dangerous, but never evil, and though she wasn't certain why, she felt a sense of relief in hearing that Sirius didn't sense that evil he had been surrounded by behind the veil here. Not that she had been aware that that could have been a risk until he had mentioned it, but at least he didn't feel it.

While Sirius put the fish in the oven, Cecilia went to get the glasses of wine he had poured earlier, that was still standing untouched on the counter. "But you got through," she said with a small smile, handing him one of the glasses, "and now you're instrumental in finding places to expand the settling..." Tilting her head she looked at him, curious about his motives. "You're doing things for the future of everybody, but what about you? What do you want for yourself?"

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

He took the glass of wine from her with a nod of thanks, his thoughts swirling as they normally did whenever he had a moment to think. Sirius had been close to falling down drunk, a level that had taken quite a bit of time to get to, before he allowed Kingsley to bring him to the Portal room. Even then, nearly at a pass-out level, Sirius had put up a bit of a fuss until Hermione had stepped forward, taking his hand and that had been the moment when Sirius knew he'd do it. He didn't have an ounce of cowardice in him but he wasn't ashamed to admit that he'd held her hand very tightly until the second in time when they'd stepped through the Portal.

"It needs to be done," Sirius replied with a minor shrug of his shoulder. "Kingsley doesn't think the portal will stay open past February. We're already having trouble getting messages through when the portal is open - things on the other side - they aren't stable enough for consistency." He had considered not telling her these things but he knew that Jaime was her entire family. "Me?" Sirius was surprised by that question. "I...I don't know. It's not something I've thought about in years. Since I escaped Azkaban. Even then, I just wanted to give Harry a home."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

"True," Cecilia agreed, taking a small sip of her wine, nodding in appreciation at the taste. He was right, the exploration needed to be done, somebody had to do it, but in her opinion it didn't have to be just one person doing it. And that wasn't just because it was Sirius; it was simply too big a task and responsibility to place on one single person. What he said about the portal, however, had her pause for a moment. That the world they left behind was growing unstable didn't come as a surprise, after all, if things were turning out the way they had been predicted by scientists, then it was steadily being encased in ice winter, but that the portal would be going inconsistent too, that one she hadn't expected. Personally, everybody she cared for and about was already here, but she was only one of very few who had that luxury. Sirius, for example, there was only one person he had talked about who was still alive, and that one person wasn't here. "Does he know or have any idea what might happen with it?" she asked him carefully, purposely avoiding mentioning the fact that Harry Potter had yet to join the new world.

As surprised as Sirius seemed to have been at her question, just as surprised was she to hear his answer. He had been travelling alone, living rather secluded from the rest of the population which she had thought had given him time to think, but apparently, if it had, it wasn't his own future he had been thinking about. That thought was both noble and sad at the same time. She could understand his desire to give his godson a home, though; it had been and still was like that for her when it came to Jamie. "That last part I recognize," she acknowledge, looking down at the wine in her glass for a moment, then back to him, looking at his eyes for a beat – he really had spectacular eyes. "Can I ask what you do when you're back here, when you're not out exploring?"

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

"I don't keep anything from him. He knows I want him here but he's a grown man and his faith in me is measured by how short a time we've known each other," Sirius admitted, his tone reflective of the fact that the had done his best to convince his godson that the portal was the only real chance humanity had but there were other factors playing upon Harry's decision. "He knows things aren't getting better there."

Sirius paused and took a deep drink of the wine, then gestured that they should move into the living room area. He led the way, settling on the sofa and stretching his legs out. "Usually, I help Kingsley. Review the notes from the herbologists out in the field. That sort of thing. Mainly, I do whatever I want. The last two times I've been back, I was over on Three helping them with auto repairs - seems their Magicals were having trouble with the manual transmissions."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

"From what I've heard from the latest arrivals, I don't think there's much you can keep from him that he's not already aware of when it comes to how things are going back there," Cecilia sighed, wishing there was more she could do to help Sirius out with his situation, but there wasn't, except for listening to him.

Following him to the sofa, she took a seat next to him, turning to face him while she rested her elbow on the back of the sofa and her head on her hand. "You review our notes?" she asked him, with a chuckling smile and small burst of self-awareness. "Well, guess I'd better start putting some effort into making them more interesting from now on, don't I?" With a small wink at him, she took a larger drink from her glass, and let it come down to rest on her thigh. "So, that's what you like to do? Auto repairs?" Her question was genuine; she wanted to know what he liked to do, where his interest were and what kept him going despite all the reasons she had heard from him to not do so.

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

"I'm afraid I have never understood some of Harry's motivations. He's like James and Lily in so many ways but there's Dumbledore's influence still lingering. I wish I'd had more time with him. I'm sure he'll come through, eventually. Hermione keeps in contact with him as well. If anyone can convince someone to come through, its that girl," Sirius commiserated grimly. He knew Kingsley sent messages as well but Sirius didn't know what was influencing his godson on the other side. All his friends were here. Could the hero complex still have such a grip on him?

He watched as Cecilia joined him on the sofa, sitting close. She had curves in all the right places. Distracting curves. Sirius arched an eyebrow but there was a slight pause before he answered, glancing down at his wine glass. "I don't judge them. It's the discoveries that I look for - to see if there are any similar plants on Australia. I crib the notes, to be honest. If I find the same plant over there, I just cross-reference it to the discovering Herbologist's report."

"I've always been something of a tinkerer - magical or muggle, doesn't matter. It keeps me... busy," he admitted. Sirius had been about to say 'sane' but he thought the better of that, given his history and what had been written about him. "What about you? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Besides taking pity on the settlement's resident recluse."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

Cecilia knew neither Harry Potter nor Hermione Granger well enough to know how one of the could be persuaded or the skills of persuasion possessed by the other; she had to trust Sirius on those matters, and settled for nodding in acknowledgement of what he was saying. From what she had heard, people were staying behind for all sorts of reasons, from believing they could wait out the cold that was coming to feeling that they'd rather die on their own terms than try to make a new life for themselves here.

His arched eyebrow had her tilt her head slightly in curiosity, wondering what was causing his reaction. "That's... actually pretty smart," Cecilia admitted, nodding, considering the way she was doing it. "I'm wondering if it wouldn't be easier for you if you transferred all the notes to your datapad so you'd have more to base a search on... but that'd probably take up too much space on your pad, so... nevermind." The datapad was a nifty thing, she could only agree to that, and she enjoyed using it and had become very familiar with it during her time here, but it did have its limitations, as did parchment and quills. Perhaps, in time, someone would find a way to make it better suited for large amounts of data without the direct connection to the command center's database.

As Sirius revealed what he liked to do, Cecilia's eyes were drawn to his hands. Long elegant fingers on slim hands; she could see how they suited tinkering and could easily imagine what they would look like caressing over gizmos and gadgets and naked skin. Shoving those last vivid images out of her mind by taking a drink, she smiled up at him. She got the feeling that 'busy' hadn't been the word he had meant to say, but didn't put more into it other than it was where he found his solace. "Taking pity on the settlement's resident recluse? Is that what I'm doing?" Cecilia's eyebrows shot up and she couldn't help but laugh softly at Sirius' description of her. "And here I thought I was stalking him, showing up at his house to push my company on him and make him accept that I really do enjoy his company," she teased him gently, as she leaned over to set her glass on the coffee table before she sat back, still facing him. "Believe it or not, but I enjoy working in my garden and... cooking what I grow there. But mostly, I just enjoy spending time with the people I care about."

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

"If I did that, I wouldn't have anything to read when I come here," Sirius pointed out with a half-smile. It wasn't necessarily accurate as he read all the reports that came into the Command Center out of curiosity alone but he didn't say that. Sirius wasn't a trained Herbologist and his time on Australia was limited in what research he could do. He was building wards and mapping the terrain for settlement along with making notes on the animals that were potentially going to present problems for them. He chuckled and shook his head. "I'm not a scientist like you are, Cecilia. I'm just a scout."

He didn't miss that her gaze dropped but Sirius didn't think anything of it, his own attention just taking her in, flashing a smile when she laughed. It was such a pleasant sound and Sirius felt a surge of pride that he'd made her laugh. Without thinking, he reached over with his free hand and brushed her hair back from her eyes. "You should have been an Auror, then, if you managed to find me so easily," he teased sardonically in return. Sirius sighed and took a drink from the wine glass. "You're a herbologist. I'd find it strange if you didn't enjoy gardening. You're welcome to my yard. It's overgrown with the native plants here, if you want to expand your efforts," he offered.

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

"Ah, true," Cecilia smirked back at him. "Couldn't have that, could we? I mean having to read those dull and dreary books from the library rather than the thrilling Herbology reports?" Sirius' chuckle was a welcome sound, and not one she had heard from him before. She had seen him smile, smirk, even scowl and heard something that could have been a sharp bark of laughter, but the soft sound of his chuckle, she found, suited him. "I wasn't a scientist until I came here," she said with a small sigh. "Back there, I was just an Herbologist growing medicinal herbs, using my knowledge to enhance their Healing properties."

His touch was gentle, the gesture chaste in itself, but the few times his fingers brushed against the skin of her forehead, felt scorching and even when he withdrew his hand, she could easily have pinpointed each tiny spot precisely. Quirking an eyebrow, amused by his teasing, she reached up to take his hand. "I don't think it takes an Auror to find a man who's already given you his address and invited you over for dinner," she smiled at him, giving his fingers a gentle squeeze before she let go when he moved to take a drink from his glass. She considered his offer for exactly two moments, then nodded. "You know, I might take you up on that. Perhaps get a good vegetable patch going that you could use as well?"

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

He chuckled again at her teasing, shaking his head a little as he did. "I've read most of those dull, dreary books. After the settlements were staked out and the wards raised, I was fairly bored until Kingsley sent me to Australia."

Sirius glanced toward the kitchen. The cooking food smelled good and he was mildly grateful for the momentary distraction from her touch. He was being a gentleman, more so now than he had been at the door when his better judgement had gotten away from him in an impulsive moment. "True but I don't think it would be a good idea to underestimate you. If I hadn't given you the address, I feel fairly certain that you would have found me again," Sirius pointed out, amused.

The wine was nothing to talk about but it wasn't terrible. They were starting to get older vintages through the portal. "You're welcome to do anything you like, Cecilia. Kingsley says its important that we all have gardens. I think he's afraid of something happening to the crops but I haven't seen anything in the reports to worry about."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

"Generally, I'd say it's never a good idea to underestimate anybody," Cecilia mused, sending Sirius a small curious smile. "But if you hadn't given me your address, I would have just left it at that and figured that if I was meant to meet you again, I would, eventually. However, had I not respected your wishes for privacy, I'd just need to look in the directory. It's not that difficult finding people here, really." Watching him as she spoke, she couldn't help but wonder at the fact that not too long ago, she had been ready to leave, and now she was sitting here, feeling comfortable and relaxed with him. Maybe it was the topic of their conversation, it was safe, or maybe the intense blow-out had set them more in tune than they had been before.

"I think he's wise to worry about that," she said, unconsciously glancing in the general direction of the fields that had already been planted. "There are plenty of things that can lead to failed crops that can't be predicted or foreseen." Gesturing towards the mountains, she continued, "there's the volcano, for instance, and for all we know, this place could be the breeding area for one of the migrating species here every year in January, not to mention pest infestations, drought, wildfire..." She managed to stop herself before she got too carried off on the list of possible things that could go wrong. "Anyway, the private vegetable patches are easier to protect and they'll have people better prepared if we had to start over from scratch again."

[tt_sirius.insanejournal.com]

"I suppose you are right in that aspect. It's impossible to disappear on the settlements. Off of them... well, it would be rather too easy to do that. I had neighbors when the first refugees came through, that is, until they discovered who they were living next to. Within a week, both homes on either side of this one were empty again. It took no effort to find the requests for resettlement," Sirius explained with an uncaring shrug.

Sirius found the sound of her voice soothing, and he relaxed more listening to her talk, clearly on a subject that she had a wise opinion on. A small frown flickered across his forehead at the mention of the volcanoes - the ones on this island were active but he'd been to the top of the calderas and they were vast so the threat of another Pompeii was minor. "It sounds like you've given this some thought before," he teased dryly, giving her hand a light squeeze. "You're welcome here anytime, Cecilia."

[tt_cecilia.insanejournal.com]

"Sometimes people are just... ugh." Cecilia sighed deeply, shaking her head as she combed her fingers through her hair. The fact that they had been given this second chance, being relocated to a place safe from the disastrous winter that was brewing in their old world and to a place where every step to avoid a society divided by class, and still they refused give other people the same second chance frustrated her deeply. Still, it explained a few things. "That's... why you were so worried about how being seen with you would affect me?"

His comment, however, had her chuckling softly as she nodded. "It's what I do, Sirius," she smiled at him, touched by the gentle squeeze of his hand. "Or, well, it's what I used to do. Back then it just wasn't a volcano or pterodactyls I had to take into consideration, but the neighbor's sheep or a leaking greenhouse." Tilting her head slightly, she watched him for a moment. Then she smiled and nodded. "I hope I won't make you regret that invitation."

[tt_sirius]

"Partially. There was the fairly remote chance that you hadn't heard of me and I couldn't take that chance. Kingsley gets away with associating with me because of who he is here. I would loathe for you to suffer from your... friendship towards me," Sirius replied gravely. He glanced toward the front of the house, where the shadows of dusk were making it impossible to see further than the light of the front porch.

"And now you have volcanos, pterodactyls, dragons, continental shifts and neighboring sheep, cows, goats, chickens, and ducks to worry about. I'd add in whale-sized sharks but I doubt you go that far out on the water - at least, I hope you don't. I'm down at the docks once a month helping to relayer the wards on the fishing boats as it is," he added, slightly serious, slightly teasing. He felt a tension in his stomach at the thought of this witch out on the water in that kind of danger.

The timer in the kitchen began to sound, making Sirius realize just how much time had passed while they talked comfortably. He flashed a sly smile. "It's not an invitation I offer lightly," Sirius pointed out, rising to his feet and holding out a hand to her. "But I daresay you won't make me regret it."

[tt_cecilia]

"Hey," Cecilia said softly to regain Sirius' attention as he looked away from here, and with a gentle hand on his cheek, she physically urged him to do so. "Your friendship means more to me than their judgment," she assured him. "Simple as that. I told you, the only one whose opinion matters to me, is Jamie, although yours is beginning to gain a bit of significance as well, but as long as I'm not forcing you on him, I don't see how he could possibly have any objections to this..." she shrugged slightly. "If he does, I'll deal with that as well. Alright?"

"Among other things," Cecilia chuckled as Sirius listed all of the things she had to take into consideration here. "You forgot the downpours and generally different climate altogether, but yeah, it's a challenge, but one of the better ones." With a smile, she shook her head. "I'm not a marine botanist or marine anything, for that matter... I prefer my feet on solid ground, so I sincerely doubt that the whale sharks will be much of a concern for me, at least when it comes to my work."

The sound of the timer had Cecilia look to the kitchen, surprised that the food was already done. Time had flown as they had talked, and with a smile she accepted Sirius' hand. "We'll see how regretful you are when you're trapped in your own home, surrounded by edible plants."

In the kitchen, she opened the oven and moved the dish to the counter. Careful not to burn her fingers, she worked open the paper package and smiled satisfied when the aromatic steam came wafting out smelling perfectly. "Perfect," she beamed up at Sirius, and unfolded the paper completely, letting the dish serve as a serving plate for the fish and vegetables. "All we need is the bread and the wine."

[tt_sirius]

It took a moment of mental struggle not to cup her soft hand to his cheek but Sirius had given his word that he would be a gentleman and he would abide by that as long as she let him. Sirius nodded. "All right."

"After twelve years of feeling like I would never be warm again, I rather enjoy the climate here," he chuckled warmly after she made it clear that she didn't go near the boats. That was a thought that would have haunted him, to be sure. As it was, he was somewhat assured of her ability to safely explore - on this continent, at least. She was a thoughtful witch, so the risk of being near the volcanoes was minimized there.

Following Cecilia into the kitchen, he circled around behind her and opened one of the cupboards to select two plates. He set them on the counter and returned to the cooler to retrieve the bread and the wine bottle. "Done and done," Sirius declared with a flashing grin as he set the bread into a shallow basket then levitated both over to the table.

"Just getting the cutlery," he added, nodding that she should head to the table with the main dish. Pulling one of the drawers open, Sirius selected knives, forks, and a set of larger spatulas to transfer the fish, then he joined Cecilia at the table. "That smells great."

[tt_cecilia]

"I didn't say I didn't enjoy the climate," Cecilia grinned back at Sirius, "but when you're used to colder weather, even for an Herbologist, the change of weather is a challenge. It's a different mindset, so to speak." Looking at Sirius, she felt a sense of relief, of delight, that he was comfortable here, that he was no longer cold and hoped that he would eventually begin to seem more at ease with this second (or was it third?) chance of life he had been given.

Placing the fish on the table, Cecilia took a seat and gestured for Sirius to start serving. "Hopefully it tastes just as great," she smiled at him, and made herself comfortable, ready for a comfortable night with Sirius.

[tt_sirius]

Sirius' easy smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he began serving, first to her plate, then to his own while Cecilia refilled their glasses from the wine bottle. It was a much easier setting than had been earlier and he was content not to push the envelope there.

"Mmm, this is a great deal better than what I normally have," Sirius commented after taking a bite. He'd have to remember the trick of wrapping the fish and veggies up - it could work over an open fire as well though he normally stuck to what was quick and necessary out there.

Dinner passed with easy conversation, safe topics, and the wine smoothed out any internal arguments Sirius might have felt though he was far more interested in listening to Cecilia regale him with tales of her exploring adventures since arriving on the island.