The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

A Perfectly Pleated Corner

"Nah," Sirius replied, leaning against the counter and watching as Jasper pulled cups from underneath the counter. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Fire away," Jasper answered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James Potter look up from the table where he sat with the boys, looking over at Sirius's back, a glint of mischief in his eyes. Sirius hadn't seen James when he'd come in, and now he was too focused on Jasper to notice the smirking face of his best mate looming behind him. Jasper chose to keep his silence, and grabbed the scoop for the double fudge for Remus's dish of ice cream.

"When I was incarcerated," Sirius began, using what had to be the most dramatic word for his 48-hour hold, "You popped in and you were talking about your little club thingie you do, with the healing and all that, the one you said you hold 'round about that church or whatever...?"

Jasper nodded, "Yeah."

"You still do that?"

"Yes."

"You said it's like AA."

"Sort of. But for all sorts of maladies and things that are bothering folks." He packed down the ice cream scoops and added a bit more to the cup, then slipped in a wedge of sugary, crispy waffle and a hot pink plastic spoon and put it down on a small try before grabbing the next cup. "We talk about things and support each other, things that are bothering us, and anything we say there stays there, it's a very loving little group."

Sirius shifted his weight. "Well my question's this, a person who - who did a program like that, like an AA or something... They're really trying at bettering themselves, aren't they?"

"Yes," Jasper said, nodding. He scooped some of the Frog Pond ice cream into a dish next. "You get out of it what you put into it. Everyone tries really hard, honestly, though, at our program. I suppose there's probably people who don't sometimes, but I think if you're taking the effort to be involved in something like what we do, as long as it's by your own choice - which all our people are - then it's something you really have to want quite a lot and healing and getting over the things that have haunted your past is something you have to be taking seriously to want to work on, you know?"

Sirius nodded.

Jasper pressed another scoop into the cup, "It isn't always about quitting drinking or what have you, either, it can just be - like if you need to talk to somebody and you dunno who to talk to, you know? You don't want to burden the people in your immediate circle, say, but you've something on your heart you need to get out. It's like that. Sort of a group therapy session."

Sirius nodded. Jasper slid the Frog Pond filled cup onto the tray, a green spoon and another wedge of the waffle slid into the ice cream and finally he turned to the case for the peppermint, though this time he used a cone - kids always preferred cones, he'd found, and he lined the inside of the cone with a bit of fudge before putting in the peppermint ice cream.

"You thinking of coming by?" he asked.

"No, not yet anyway. More - I met an old acquaintance today who did some shit to me a few years ago and he was showing me his AA chip, how he's trying at cleaning himself up." Sirius played with a small fox-shaped figurine that sat beside the register, a little bank which people could put tips into. He focused on that, and continued, "I suppose I was curious about the sincerity of the apology I was offered is all." He set the fox aside, then looked up at Jasper. "I realized as he was giving it that I didn't need it, but - I guess it's good to know that he meant it at least. Yeah?"

Jasper nodded. He wondered what Sirius was on about, but didn't want to ask, afraid to pry.

"Thanks Jaz for listening to my stupid rambling."