Cats and Dogs

Chapter 14

“Oh, I’m dead! I’m dead aren’t I? She’s done it! She’s finally done it! She’s killed me!” Sirius whined, shaking his head in disbelief.
I rolled my eyes, “No, you’re not dead, Sirius.”
“Ha! What a pansy!” some kid yelled in the large group of first years who were surrounding Sirius.
Sirius’ eyes flashed open, anger flickering in them, “Who said that!” he yelled angrily. “I swear, I’ll kill you! Who said it-”
“Sirius! Shut up!” I reached down and grabbed him by his collar and began to pull him up. He struggled to stand and blinked a few times before rubbing the back of his head.
“What the bloody hell happened?” he looked around at the kids who were surrounding us.
A young girl grinned and wiggled her eyebrows, “Amilia knocked you on your arse!” the group erupted in laughter and Sirius glared at them, and then me.
I shrugged with an innocent smile, “I merely casted a simple spell.”
Sirius narrowed his eyes, “What happened?”
“It was amazing!” a boy exclaimed.
“Yeah! It looked like your soul got pulled out of your body!” another yelled excitedly.
“My-my soul?” Sirius’ eyes were wide as he stared at me, awaiting an explanation.
I shrugged nonchalantly, “It’s just a spell I’ve been working on-”
“You made the spell you just used on me?” Sirius asked, still in shock.
“Yeah, you’re the first person I’ve tried it on-”
“What?! I’m the first person you tried it on?! I was the test subject?!” he was now angry as he stood up straighter, staring me down.
I chewed on my bottom lip and shied away in my shoulders.
“You-y-you - I could have exploded! I could have died! I- I - my- my-!” he suddenly shoved his hand down the front of his pants.
I slapped my hand to my forehead in embarrassment as chatter broke out along with laughter. “Hey! Hey! This is serious!” after a second he grinned and then winked at me and pulled his hand out. “As good as new.” he waggled his eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes and then looked around at the students, “Okay, that’s all there really is to dueling! And do not try that spell. If not done perfectly you can kill the person you have casted the spell on.” I said seriously. “Disperse.” I ordered and then they all scattered and went back to their dorms,
I turned to see Sirius glaring at me, though with a hint of curiosity. “Tell me exactly what that spell does.” he ordered.
I smiled lightly, a hint of pride in my smile. I was proud of my spell. It took me years to develop and perfect the spell, and what a powerful spell it was. “Animuslato…” I whispered the name of my spell. My eyes darkened my I still held my smile, “It basically means soul thief. You have to twist and flourish the wand perfectly, you have to pronounce the spell perfectly and at the perfect time, and you have to have the right feeling in your stomach to cast the spell without killing them.” Sirius face was in wonder and seemed to hold a dark curiosity. “When produced properly it rips the targets soul from their body and then quickly shoves it back it. To each person the pain is different. Is like… all the bad and horrible feelings you’ve felt and all the bad experiences you’ve been through have never happened… but then it gets thrown back into you all at once and that feeling… For you it was so horrible and overwhelming you passed out.”
Sirius wide gray eyes became lighter as they held bewilderment, excitement, and - if possible - admiration. “Teach me.” was all he said.
I rolled my eyes, “No way! Its my own spell! Come up with your own.” I began walking out of the great hall with Sirius on my trail. Suddenly there was a high pitched whoot as a gray owl swooped down and dropped something at the end of the table. I leaned over and picked it up to see my name scribbled on the front of the envelope. I tilted my head slightly with curiosity and slowly opened it.
Sirius craned over me, watching and waiting to also see what it was. “Who’s it from?”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him through the corner of my eye. “Do you mind?”
He rolled his eyes and took a step back as I unfolded the letter.

Amilia,

I am very sorry I was unable to see and speak to you after your Quidditch match, especially seeing as you became injured. I really did want to see you but was immediately called away. I am also sorry I haven’t written to you at all. What kind of brother doesn’t write to his little sister to check up on her? Especially in our situation…
But on a better note, I am pleased to say I have caught many Death Eaters and have lost my right eye in battle.
I am curious to know how you have been doing in school. Give my regards to Dumbledore.

Love,
Alastor

My eyes were wide and my mouth was ajar. He lost his eye?!
“What? What is it?” Sirius asked slightly worried. I held out the letter for him to take and read. He grabbed it and began mumbling what it said. He paused where I predicted he would. “Losing his eye is on a better note?” Sirius shook his head and handed me back the letter.
I was still in shock and to be honest, a bit scared. “I’m going to lose my brother.” I said softly.
Sirius walked around to stand in front of me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and shook them slightly, “Hey, Amilia, you are not going to lose your brother.”
“He’s an Auror. His job is to risk his life to fight dark wizards! He’s going to get himself killed! Just like…” images of my parents flooded into my mind. Their laughs, their smiles, their words, their frustrated faces, their hugs, their kisses, their love… I was breathing deeply and fast but it felt like their was no air in my lungs.
“Amilia!” I fell to my knees and Sirius looked at me frantically.
“I-” I was shaking my head, “I can’t go through that again!”
Sirius wrapped is arm around me and shushed me, “Sh, hey, listen, Amilia, listen to me. I… I can’t say that your brother wont die-”
I took a deep breath and then laughed bitterly, “You’re bad at this.”
“Come on, listen, alright? There is a chance he will die, but you need to know that he also knows that. He knows about that risk and he still chooses to fight. And do you want to know why?”
I looked up into his gray eyes showing him I was listening and nodded slightly.
“The same reason your parents fought and the same reason we will be fighting soon - to protect the ones we care about and love.” he smiled lightly. “And besides, he seems like a strong guy, seeing as he thinks losing an eye is a good thing.”
I smiled and noticed my breathing had gone back to normal. He hugged me with his arm that was already around my shoulder, but to my own surprise, the hug wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was… friendly... loving. And surprisingly it felt nice.
We stood up and I grabbed the letter and put it in my robe pocket and then looked back at Sirius, “Thanks… for… being a friend, Padfoot.”
He smiled, shrugged, and then punched me in the arm, “No problem, Whiskers.”
My eyes widened, “What’s today?!”
Sirius was caught off guard by my sudden outburst, “Uh- um, Friday-”
“Crap! I’m supposed to meet Reg-” my eyes flashed to Sirius and then quickly away. “I have to go.” I began to run out of the Great Hall and then called back, “I’ll see you later, mate!”

~~~~~~

“You are late.” Regulus said as he pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against. I instantly smiled and almost forgot about what just happened a few minutes ago.
I shrugged, “Sorry. Got caught up with other stuff.”
He raised an eyebrow, “More important than me?” I pulled out the letter and handed it to him, “What’s this?”
I rolled my eyes, “Read it.”
I watched as his onyx eyes flew over the letter. I watched as his eyebrows knitted together and then as one raised, then they relaxed. His eyes slowly left the paper and landed on me, and I was indeed shocked when they seemed to look blank, but with a small hint of frustration or anger. “So, what’s this supposed to mean?”
I was genuinely confused as I shook my head and knitted my eyes together, “What are you talking about?”
“What do you think? I’m supposed to know something about this? About the Death Eaters or something? What are you trying to insinuate?” his anger began to rise.
“I was talking about the fact that he lost his eye. I don’t know what the bloody hell you’re thinking about - what’s going on?” I crossed my arms.
He clenched his jaw, “Did you talk to anyone else? Did you show the letter to anyone else?”
“I-I showed it to Sirius, because he was there - but that was it-”
“How did he handle it?” his face and voice was changing from angry to a dark impatience and self-frustration. His anger had re-directed from me to himself for some reason.
“He…” I thought about how he handled it. He immediately felt worried for me and immediately comforted me. “He handled it like a friend would.”
He protruded his jaw and was staring intently at the ground. What the hell was going through his mind? First he seemed angry at me for an unknown reason, and now he’s seems to be angry at himself for some unknown reason!
I walked over to him and then gently placed my hand on each side of his face and slowly lifted his face until his eyes met mine. “Regulus, please, tell me what’s wrong?”
His eyes were roaring with multiple emotion, but the most prominent were frustration and grief, and also seemed burdened. He shook his head as if trying to shake of his thoughts and feelings, “Nothing. I’m fine.” he then leaned forward and kissed me gently. “How are you?”
I shrugged, “I’m alright, I guess. Better than my brother, that’s for sure.” I smiled weakly as did he.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and then kissed the side of my head, “I have a surprise.”
I smiled, “Yeah? What?”
I chuckled, “I can’t say. You have to wait and see. But I will tell you this - we are going to have to break some rules.”
I raised my eyebrows and grinned, “Eh, that’ll be easy.”