Sugar & Spice

*Rosie’s Point of View

It didn’t take long at all for me to calm down, for me to notice the prone form in the hospital bed.

My father.

I jumped down off of Tom, who was now smiling widely despite my tear-streaked face. Seeing his uplifted expression alleviated my fears; Tom wouldn’t be smiling at all if our father was seriously injured, but still...

I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about seeing Father again, but before I could stop myself I’d knelt down beside him and pressed my palm to his forehead, peeling off the dark hair that clung to the skin there. It felt cold and clammy, and his usually tan complexion looked drawn and pale.

The letter he’d left for me flashed into my mind and I cleared my throat, dislodging the lump that had settled there.

“What’s wrong with him?” I whispered without looking up. I couldn’t help my eyes roving over his face; it was as if I was trying to find a trace of truth in that letter – some proof in his expression that he’d written it, that it wasn’t some dream I’d had. This wasn’t how I’d imagined our family reunion. I’d assumed we’d all be conscious for one.

“He was hit by a curse. If I hadn’t gotten him out of there as quickly as I had, and if Dumbledore...” He trailed off into uncomfortable silence, but his mere presence an arm’s length away soothed the flurry of emotions that assaulted me.

After a few moments one particular emotion shone through and I turned slowly and just looked at him. He shifted nervously under my scrutinising gaze as my jaw clenched involuntarily. Abruptly I was seething.

He disappeared for months and now he dared to return without so much as an apology for keeping me in the dark like that, not knowing what had happened to him? Think again Tommy...

“Here it comes,” I heard a tiny ‘ow!’ as Black was silenced, but didn’t look over.

I slapped Tom then, right across the face, putting every ounce of the worry, confusion and grief I’d felt since Christmas into that one movement. He stared at me with wide eyes, but when my hand came up again he caught my wrist in his strong grasp; he didn’t look surprised by my anger in the slightest. I struggled fruitlessly, disregarding the sounds of my awkward friends behind me.

“I was SO worried! How could you do that to me?! I thought you might be dead! Or that you were going to die! Don’t you DARE smirk at me, Tomasso Tamsworth – I was SICK with dread, you stupid, good-for-nothing, thoughtless -” Tom’s hand pressed tightly over my mouth so that my words came out as an unintelligible mush, though I tried to bite him.

“Now there’s a man knows how to handle a woman! ...ow!”

“Sirius, shut up!”

My brother and I ignored them.

“Are you going to bite me?” Though I didn’t shake my head he grudgingly let me go. I eyed him distrustfully; the relief and joy at his safe return had mostly faded into a slight case of the shakes and furious disbelief. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair – his nervous habit. “Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t write, but it was too dangerous, you know that, Rose. I mean, what did you expect?”

I stared down at the floor, gritting my teeth. Much as I wanted to rage and shout and scream out all my emotions, I knew it was stupid and petty. He was here, he was alive, my father was alive, and I should be happy with that.

I suddenly felt exhausted; my family was safe (kind of), and all I could do was shout at my brother.

“Yeah, whatever. Good to see you’re still breathing at least.” I added dryly, punching him half-heartedly on the arm – although it was maybe a bit too hard to be considered friendly, Tom smiled like I’d given him my firstborn.

I grumbled at his expression, trying not to smile, and for the first time since leaving the classroom looked over my shoulder. I blinked in surprise; the whole group was there: Black, James, Remus and Lily. The only person missing was Peter, but I was glad for his absence; I’d begun to feel uncomfortable around him of late.

They all stood quietly at the other end of the hospital wing by the door.

Black was eyeing Madam Pomprey with a definite sense of wariness - for reasons I could only imagine, Lily was shuffling her feet and staring at her shoelaces, and the other two were fiddling in their pockets. None of them were looking our way for the moment.

“Are these your friends?” Tom nodded to the group, his eyes flicking between them. I nodded quickly, knowing he was already formulating judgements and first impressions. “Well aren’t you going to invite them over?”

“Yes.” I answered without hesitation. “But first I need to know how Father’s doing.”

“He’ll be alright Rosie, don’t worry. He’ll be up and about in no time, just you wait.” The sudden lift in my heart was surprisingly strong.

“How long till he’s better?” I asked, my eyes silently cataloguing the map of bruises on Tom’s normally golden skin.

“He’ll be better by the Easter Holidays, at the longest, and he’ll be awake in a couple days, give or take.” That was enough. Once more I nodded and turned to where my friends stood gathered. I waved slightly, catching Black’s attention.

Lily was the first to reach me. She gave Tom an uncertain smile. I concealed a smirk; I could definitely see why she’d be wary. His bruises, together with the long dark sweeping cloak and hood didn’t make him seem like the friendliest of people.

He looked just like a rogue – a dangerous stranger you might meet in a dark alleyway. I rolled my eyes.

“That’s your Dad? He’ll...he’s going to get better, right?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” I grumbled, avoiding her eye. Suddenly, I didn’t feel very sociable.

Tom and Black drew my attention at that moment and I could only eye their odd behaviour with bewilderment and curiosity; they openly stared each other down with assessing looks, and Tom’s eyes repeatedly darted between Black and I. I felt a sudden mad urge to laugh.

Black’s hand shot out of nowhere and grasped Tom’s. I could only watch on with mingled interest and exasperation as their grips tightened ridiculously – to the point where their knuckles turned white.

“I’m Sirius Black. Tammie’s friend.” If Tom took a moment to figure out who Tammie was, he didn’t show it.

“Tomasso Tamsworth,” They kept their fists locked for another moment and then relaxed. In the next second everybody was introducing themselves to Tom. Remus enveloped me in a bear-hug.

“Can’t – breathe -!”

“Oh! Sorry about that. Are you going to be okay, Tammie? No, not the hug, silly girl – about, well...everything.” He smiled fondly down at me as I stared at my hands, not sure what to say. I didn’t even know the answer. I shrugged and he frowned deeply, but decided not to say more. He gripped my shoulder gently for a moment and then moved away.

The sharp clack of well-heeled shoes came marching up the aisle towards us; I turned - along with everybody else – to find Madam Pompfrey standing before us.

“I know you two are family - Miss Tamsworth, Tom - but he needs rest,” She raised her voice louder than I thought strictly necessary and addressed everybody as a whole. “Right! Everybody out please!”

Quietly, my friends bade me goodnight one by one until it was just Black and I. And Tom standing irritatingly close behind me.

I had a feeling that Tom was going to play the clichéd older-brother part, but somehow that didn’t bother me. I grinned; Black was more than capable of handling a bit of brotherly over-protectiveness.

Ignoring my stoic brother entirely Black caught hold of my hand. Before I registered what he was doing, his lips were gently brushing my knuckles. He looked up and gave me his signature crooked smirk, the pale grey of his eyes catching and holding the moonlight streaming in through the windows.

My face flamed scarlet in response – especially with Tom watching our every move like a hawk.

“Until next time, love. Stay safe.” And he was gone; the only sign that he’d ever been there at all were Tom’s incoherent, irritable mutterings.

Finally Tom and I turned as one and without another word I settled myself in the hard wooden chair next to my father’s bed, mentally preparing myself for the long haul.

He may not have been an ideal father to me, but I was damned if I wouldn’t be the perfect daughter.