Cats and Dogs

Epilogue

"The end." Amilia clasped her hands together and flashed the two young girls, who were cuddled in bed, a smile. She stood up from the end of the bed and yawned. "Woo, I am tired. That story took longer to tell than I thought it would..."
"Whhaa? That's-that's it? Noooo, that can't be it. You're supposed to live happily ever after!" The youngest, Astrid, said as she pulled away from her older sister's grasp. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted her full lips. Her gray eyes were clouded with dissatisfaction and her dark eyebrows were furrowed together.
Athena, the older sister, rolled her gray eyes at her younger sister and said, "Astrid, that's only in the movies and fairy-tales! This was real life!"
Astrid's pout deepened and her look of dissatisfaction changed to sadness. "People don't live happily ever after in real life?" She asked looking up at her mother.
Amilia sighed and then smiled lightly, "It's true, not everyone lives happily ever after, but if you're lucky, then you just might."
Astrid seemed to be satisfied with the answer and grinned, "Aw, okay! That's okay for me, 'cause I'm lucky!"
Again, Athena rolled her eyes, "Since when are you lucky?"
Astrid turned to her sister and glared, "Since aalllwwaayys."
"That's a lie!" Athena said, glaring back.
"You're a lie!" Astrid screamed back as she stood up on the bed to tower over Athena.
"That doesn't even make any sense! You're stupid!" Athena yelled as she looked up at Astrid with a glare.
"Oooooo!! You said 'stupid'! And I'm not stupid! You're stupid!" And with that, Astrid jumped on Athena and started throwing hits and Athena started yelling.
Amilia quickly pulled out her wand, and with a quick swish and flick, Astrid was off Athena, levitating in the air while still flailing around trying to hit her sister.
“Mum, mum! She hit me! You saw her! She’s crazy!” Athena looked surprised, and slightly scared as she watched Astrid be slowly set down on the floor.
“I’m not crazy! I’m a Gryffindor! And you called me stupid!” Astrid crossed her arms once her feet touched the ground and the spell was lifted.
“I’m a Gryffindor too, aren’t I mummy?” Athena smiled sweetly at Amilia.
Amilia laughed lightly and placed her hands on her hips, “How about you’re both Gryffindors?”
Athena and Astrid both scoffed and rolled they’re eyes, “That’s such a mum thing to say…” Astrid mumbled.
“Well, I am your mum after-all, aren’t I?” Amilia smiled at them. “Well,” she placed her hands on her hips, “I think it’s time for you two to go to bed. Go on, Astrid, get in your bed.”
Astrid slouched over and dragged her feet as she walked over to her bed that was tucked in the corner of the room opposite of Athena’s bed. Their room was dimly lit with the enchanted galaxy that hovered over them, just under the ceiling. There was a desk placed by their window where Athena would do homework and Astrid would draw, a large book shelf was against the wall by the door and was stuffed with books, and a wardrobe and drawer were placed against the wall by Athena’s bed.
Astrid pulled back her covers and crawled into her bed, still with a frown. Amilia tucked in Athena, gave her a kiss on the forehead and then turned to Astrid. “What are you still frowning about?” Amilia walked over to Astrid and began to tuck her in.
“I want to know what happened next.” Astrid stated, pulling her arms out from under the covers and crossing them over her chest. “I want to know what happened to you and Sirius.”

~~~

A long night turned into a day, a day turned into a week, a week turned into three months, three months turned into six months, six months turned into a year… a year and nine months. That’s how long Sirius and Amilia were romantically apart.
For the first two weeks of their breakup they barely looked at each other, let alone say a single word to one-another. Neither of them talked about their break-up to any of their friends. Amilia actually found herself drifting from the group and started hanging around more with Alice because the tension in the group was too thick. Whenever Sirius wasn’t around, the group was fine and talked like nothing was wrong, but as soon as Sirius entered the room Amilia turned quiet, and vise-versa.
It wasn’t until Slughorn assigned a project and teams were they forced to finally talk with each other in the third week of their break up. Their conversations were civil and light and they strictly only stayed on topic about their project.
But that forced partnership helped them break through that barrier of not speaking to each other and no later after that were they on friendly speaking terms. It still wasn’t the same though, seeing as they were never on friendly speaking terms.
It wasn’t until April when Amilia shot Sirius a sarcastic remark that their friendly friendship started going back to the way they started out; a feud. They were back to bickering and constantly undermining each other by the end of the school year.
Amilia didn’t see much of her friends over the summer break because she demanded that Alastor take her under his wing and teach her more advanced magic. Though she did write to James and Remus mostly, and once in a while would write to Peter to see how he was doing, and would almost everyday talk to Lily through their enchanted butterflies, not once did she write to Sirius and not once did he write to her. Neither of them knew what to say to each other without their friends around.
Soon school started again, same classes, same professors, and same friends. They were the Marauders once more and though they were mostly consumed with homework and studying they still managed to pull a few pranks here and there.
During a game of Quidditch, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, Amilia once again managed to knock Amos Diggory off his broom stick, and though she apologized profusely, Amos refused to forgive her unless she agreed to go out with him. Amos was very attractive, smart, and charming and Amilia couldn’t help but agree to his terms.
Their first date went extremely well. It consisted of laughter, interesting conversations, and flirtatious eye-contact.
The kiss they shared that night was new and exciting and sent a wave of heated lust through their bodies.
That first date turned into a second date, which turned into a third and by the end of November the whole school knew about the new couple.
Remus, Peter, and Lily did not mind too much about this new arrangement, but James wasn’t afraid to show his disdain for it. Sirius was surprisingly cordial to Amos and approved of Amilia and Amos’ relationship.
In December, Clair, the Ravenclaw who had had a crush on Sirius since her first year, finally mustered up the courage to ask him out. Sirius was shocked and also impressed about her asking him out on a date and accepted with a smile.
Sirius thought Clair’s intelligence, shyness, and slight innocence were very cute and almost felt the need to protect her from any kind of harm. And unlike Amilia, Clair accepted his protectiveness and actually found a sense of comfort in it.
Again Remus, Peter, and Lily did not mind this new arrangement, but James was thrown and seemed to have given-up his antics of trying to get Amilia and Sirius back together. Amilia was too busy with classes, homework, and above all, Amos to really care about Sirius’ new relationship with Clair and Sirius felt the same way about Amilia and Amos’ relationship.
They had moved on.
They all graduated from Hogwarts. James, Remus, Peter, Sirius, Lily, and Amilia all joined The Order Of The Phoenix, while Clair and Amos went to work in the Ministry of Magic.
On July 1st, nine months of a serious and happy relationship, Amos and Amilia broke up. Amos expressed to Amilia that he couldn’t live with the constant worrying about her when she out their fighting for The Order against Voldemort and his followers. He told her he couldn’t keep living like that; wondering every second while they were apart, whether she was okay or not; alive or dead.
It broke Amilia’s heart. They did love each other, very dearly, and Amilia could actually see having a future with Amos, but she would never give up fighting for him or anyone else.
August 17th, Sirius Black showed up at Amilia’s door step.
“Sirius? What are you doing here? Are you alright? You look like a mess.” Sirius looked tired and worn-out and asked if he could come inside. With a nod, Amilia stepped inside and let Sirius enter her home; the home she had grown up in; the home Alastor let her have. “Do you want tea or something?” She turned from Sirius to walk into the kitchen but before she could, Sirius grabbed her wrist.
“No, no, I don’t want anything to drink. I just… I just need to talk to you.” Amilia noted that there was a small flicker of fear in his eyes and she immediately began to worry.
“Oh no… Oh god, what happened? James and Lily, are they okay? Remus-?”
“No, they’re fine, they’re all fine. It has nothing to do with them. It’s me… you know The Order gave me an assignment last week, to find out which one of our informants were double crossing us?” Amilia nodded. “Yeah, well, I was getting close to finding out, Amilia, when I was ambushed. It was eight Death Eaters against me… I honestly thought I was done.” Amilia’s stomach was churning and her body felt heavy and she wanted to sit down but stood there with him in the hall. “You know, how they say supposedly your life flashes before your eyes when you’re in a near-death experience?” Amilia gave a weak nod. “It’s rubbish. Time slows… the only thing that keeps up at normal pace is your mind… and my mind… I didn’t think about Remus, Peter, Lily, James or Clair. My mind focused on you. Your face. Your face was so clear in my mind. Then regret… it just flooded into me. Regret of being an idiot for letting you get away so easily.”
“Sirius…” Amilia took a step back and she was against the wall.
“How could I do that? I could I let you go? I felt so sick… because I had you and I let you go because you were scared.”
Amilia shook her head, “It wasn’t your choice.”
“Yes, it was. I had a choice to pick whether to just let you go or fight to keep you and I took what I thought was the easy way out. I let you go. Not because you wanted it, but because I did. You said that night, when we broke up, that in that moment when Remus and I were fighting that you thought I was going to die and that you couldn’t live with that… that feeling of losing someone you loved. You had… this… fear on your face… It scared me… that feeling you were trying to describe to me… it scared me. I didn’t want to feel it either. So I was selfish, and I let you go so I would never have to feel that feeling if something happened to you. Because that night when I tried to get Snape killed and you were on the ground, unable to move, Remus was about to kill you. For a moment, I felt that fear you were talking about. But only a piece… and just that small about… I couldn’t take it. I didn’t want it. So I agreed to let you go so I would never feel that feeling again.” Sirius fell to his knees and looked up at Amilia. “But then tonight… when I almost died… there was this other feeling… and it was so much worse that that fear of losing someone you love. Amilia, it was pure torture… raw and unwavering torture… it wasn’t fear of me dying and never breathing again… it was fear of me dying an unhappy man.” Sirius took Amilia’s hands. “Right now, I have you in my hands and I refuse to let you go.”
Amilia was shaking her head but her body and limbs were not moving. Amilia wanted to spew that pathetic speech about her not being able to be with him because of that feeling of losing him, but she couldn’t because when she looked into Sirius’ clouded gray eyes, that fear in them… she knew he was telling the truth. Amilia didn’t want to die full of regret and unhappiness. She didn’t want to die knowing that she wasn’t brave enough to be with the one person she loved above all else.
So when Sirius asked her if she would marry him she quickly said yes, fell to her knees and began kissing him.

~~~

“And then nine months later an owl brought me Athena.” Amilia quickly kissed Astrid on the forehead and tucked her in.
“Are you sure the owl got the right address?” Astrid asked hopefully earning laughter from her mom and an angry ‘hey!’ from her sister.
“Yes, I am absolutely positive. Now, go to sleep.” Amilia stated firmly. Astrid nodded and watched as her mom walked out of the room.
“Mummy!” Astrid called.
Amilia poked her head back into the room, “Yes?”
“What happened to them?” Astrid asked softly.
Athena watched her sister and mother quietly with equal curiosity, but unlike Astrid, she was a bit scared to ask.
“To who?” Amilia asked tiredly, not entirely sure who Astrid meant by ‘them’.
“Your friends and Sirius. You know, Peter, Remus, Alice, Frank, James, Lily and our dad, Sirius… what happened to them? Why haven’t we ever met them?”
Though the memories began flooding into her head, Amilia did not say them out loud.
Amilia would never forget the day Lily and James died…

~~~

Athena was two and Astrid was one, Sirius was pacing in their house, worrying about his best friends James and Lily. Amilia kept telling Sirius not to worry, that he was the Secret Keeper and they were fine. She didn’t know of the last minute switch of Secret Keepers. The fewer who knew, the better.
“Look, if you want I get go fetch Royal and call Lily.” Amilia placed her hand on Sirius’ shoulder in a reassuring manner.
Sirius nodded, “Yeah, would you?” Amilia nodded and headed up the stairs to their room while Sirius walked down the hall to check in on their sleeping kids. “Royal?” Amilia called once she was in the room. The beautiful butterfly that Lily had given her for Christmas flew and landed on her shoulder and an antenna was placed on her ear.
“Amilia?” Lily’s voice made Amilia let out a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, sorry if I woke you, Lily. Sirius has been worrying about you guys.” Amilia sat down on the edge of her bed and listened as Lily gave out a laugh.
“No, it’s alright, James has been doing that to, actually I was just about to call for you. Honestly, the men we chose to marry…”
Amilia laughed at this, “Well, alright then, you tell James that Sirius, the kids and I are fine and I’ll tell Sirius you, James, and Harry are fine and maybe we can get some sleep.”
“I agree. Alright then, goodnight-“
“Lily!” Amilia heard James alarmed voice in the background.
“Lily? What’s going on-?”
“Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!” James yelled.
“Oh god!” Amilia heard a door slam. “Amilia! He’s here! Voldemort is here!”
“Sirius!” Amilia screamed for her husband. Sirius rose his head from looking down at Astrid when he heard Amilia’s panic-stricken voice and quickly whipped out his wand and ran out of the room and saw Amilia running down the stairs. “He’s there! Voldemort is there!” Amilia’s face was contorted with fear and she was tightly holding her wand.
“I’m going!” Sirius turned for the door but stopped when he heard Amilia follow. “You have to stay here and protect the girls!”
“What?! But-“
“Please! You have to protect them! I’ll be fine! Just stay!” And with that Sirius left.
A loud bursting sound in Amilia’s ear made her jump slightly and she remembered Royal was still attached to her ear. “Lily?!” Amilia called for her best friend.
Amilia heard a high pitched cackling laughter which sent a chill of fear down her spine. “No! Not Harry! Please, not Harry!” Amilia heard Lily begging.
Amilia fell to her knees. Where was James? Amilia thought and she began to unconsciously rock back and forth.
“Stand aside you silly girl… stand aside now.” Amilia could hear Voldemort’s voice demand.
“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—“
“Lily, no!” Amilia screamed and her stomach lurched.
“Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy…”
Voldemort gave a shrill laugh and Amilia heard Lily scream, “LILY!!!” Amilia felt a tingle on her ear and quickly saw Royal fall off her shoulder and onto the ground. Amilia placed her hands on either side of Royal on the floor, watching the butterfly flutter around, as her body shook and she cried furiously. A few tears landed on Royal and slowly he stopped moving. He shown brightly suddenly, blinding Amilia for a moment and then bursted into small, fine, specs of shimmering dust.
Amilia let out a scream filled with fury, pain, and agony. Her stomach muscles seemed to be tightening and crushing her organs and quickly Amilia began to vomit. Amilia cried and fell back on the floor and looked like a child having a fit. All her muscles seemed to tighten and she was jerking around, kicking and screaming. The walls around her began to shake, pictures that were hanging on the walls fell to the ground and the glass shattered. Dishes and pans from the shaking kitchen flew out of the cupboards and slammed around. All the lights were flickering on and off and doors were slamming open and closed as Amilia cried and screamed on the floor.

The days after that night seemed to be the worst days of her life even though they seemed to be the best for others.
Yes, somehow Voldemort ended up dying that night, though Amilia did not know why, but Lily and James were dead and shortly afterward, Peter was dead… the Ministry explained to Amilia what happened when Peter died… they told her that Sirius was the one who betrayed Lily and James and then he killed Peter along with many other people. A strong part of Amilia didn’t believe it and knew Sirius would never do that… but another part of her just wanted to crawl into a hole and waste away with the knowledge that the man she loved caused the death of three of her best friends.
Sirius was not given a trial and was immediately sentenced to life in Azkaban Prison. Amilia begged the Ministry to give him a fair trial and to let her see him, but they looked at her like she had gone insane. That she was insane for still loving Sirius after everything he supposedly did.
No longer after he was sent away did Amilia find out that her other close friends, Alice and Frank Longbottom were checked in St. Mungo's for being tortured into insanity.
Everything seemed to be falling apart in Amilia’s life.
Even the friendship with Remus ended on horrible terms because he did not believe that Sirius was innocent and also thought that Amilia was insane for still believing in Sirius.
Then, Dumbledore went to see Amilia to explain Harry’s new living arrangements. She was furious that he was not allowing her to keep him since she was his godmother but Dumbledore explained the spell that Lily had placed when she died and that Amilia had enough to take care of already…

~~~

“Mummy?” Astrid’s voice pulled Amilia out of her momentary trance. “Are you okay?”
Amilia blinked a few times and then forced a smile and nodded, “Yes, I’m fine. Now, you two go to sleep alright?”
“But what about-“
“Okay, mummy, we’ll go to sleep now.” Athena quickly said, cutting off Astrid. Athena shook her head at Astrid signaling her to not ask again and Astrid became quiet.
Amilia’s smiled faded and she left their room.
“She looked sad…” Astrid whispered.
Then Athena whispered back, “That’s because she is sad…”