The Sight Of Eternity With You

If You Could Be Anywhere

"If I had to use my brain for something else,
Tell me what would I do?
If you could be anywhere,
Then where would you be?
If I could be anywhere, I'd be there with you, girl"
-if you could be anywhere, Tom Felton

****

"You didn't want to go with them?" Sirius asked, taking a seat in the living room across from Harper who was quietly reading a book.

"Oh...I just..." Harper shook her head slightly, "still feel a bit awkward."

Harper was nervous to see Mr. Weasley at Mungo's, she wasn't fond of hospitals to begin with, but the guilt she felt in knowing that she'd been predicting that attack still sat deep in her chest-attempting to suffocate her when she allowed her mind to wander. While Sirius and Tonks offered words of encouragement, she still felt put off at the end of the day.

"And...duress sets off my wandering mind more than I care to admit, I couldn't handle it even if I wanted to," Harper shook her head, rubbing her hands along her arms as she shivered, looking at the fire for a moment.

"The twins told me all about you over the summer," Sirius smiled from his seat beside the fireplace, "you lot are really working hard on the joke shop?"

Harper nodded with a smile, she pulled her knees under her and looked around the dark living room.

"It's all them really, I just fine tune things here or there if they get stuck...they're brilliant inventors."

Sirius nodded, turning his glass over in his hand with a thoughtful smile. "You come up with a clever idea for when schools out?"

"Join the Order and run the joke shop with the twins," Harper shrugged.

"Oh I'm sure your parents will love that!" Sirius was laughing. "How did you manage to get Wren to allow you to return to school anyways? She was very headstrong when she was here over the summer."

"Oh a lot of sabotage," Harper said proudly, Sirius smirked with an appreciative nod. "But...why would I run anyways? If something happened to you or anyone else in the Order or this house...how can I live with myself for essentially being a coward?" Harper gave him a quizzical look. "I'd be insane..."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "now....I have some burning questions that need some answering!"

Harper snorted slightly, closing her book as she readied herself for the onslaught of unsupervised questions that Sirius had. Molly had been sure to keep a watchful eye on Harper, seeing as Tonks and Sirius were so curious about her, they stopped at nothing to ask her an onslaught of inappropriate questions her first night there.

About an hour of questioning passed, Harper smiled at Sirius as he laughed at her response to having to be taught Legilimency by Snape.

"Now....still think you can take me on?" Sirius got a mischievous grin on his face, a light blush crept up her own as she shook her head.

"Absolutely not!"

"How about we prove it then?" He smirked, clapping his hands together and getting to his feet. "What's the saying? While the cats away, the dogs will play or something?"

"I don't think that's how it exactly goes," Harper chuckled, following him up to what appeared to be a small drawing room.

Pushing everything out of the center, Sirius turned and faced her, readying his wand.

"The twins will murder you if you hurt me," Harper mused, folding her arms across her chest.

"Then don't get hurt," Sirius said with a wink.