Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Thirty Five

"Oh Nixie, you look so tired."

Nixie smiled to herself as she came upon the water to see her mother waiting for her as she expected her to be.

"I'm fine, Mum."

"Darling, you are incredibly young and I'm pretty sure I'm seeing bags under your eyes. Are you getting any sleep as of late?" Meri normally wasn't the one to throw questions of concerns around, Nixie couldn't help but think she had channeled some of her father's spirit at the time as she asked all sorts of questions pertaining to her health.

"It's hard to sleep in that place, Mum. With the boggarts, doxies, not to mention that blasted woman screaming at all times in the night whenever she senses movement."

"Why don't you burn the picture?" Meri suggested.

"Don't think we haven't tried. "Nixie mumbled. "That cow of a woman was evil but smart. There's all sorts of magic protecting that blasted painting." 

"Well, why don't you come here for the night and get some rest?"

"I can't just leave Sirius-"

"Then the both of you come here and sleep at the house-"

"We can't, Mum." Nixie sighed hearing the slight desperation in her mother's tone. "The Order needs us there, it's headquarters now. We can't just abandon it because we have trouble sleeping at night."

"This is coming from the same woman who put up years of fighting because someone woke her up a couple of minutes before the set time she was supposed to get up." 

Nixie chuckled. "Look, I'm alright. Really, don't worry I can take care of myself. If it gets too bad I'll take you up on the offer and come here for the night to rest, alright?"

"You promise me?"

"I do."

"Alright, you know I worry about you Nixie. I thought all this war nonsense was over years ago." Meri splashed at the surface of the water angrily.

"I thought so too. But I think we're much better prepared this time, there are a lot more elements added to the mix."

Meri nodded her head. "Well, alright."

"Can I ask you for a favor while I'm here?" Nixie asked her.

"Of course. Something for the Order?"

"No, not really." Nixie smiled. "Remus' daughter is celebrating her seventeenth birthday and I thought of a nice gift for her."

"What did you have in mind? Some of that popping seaweed you liked when you were younger?" Meri grinned.

"No, Mum," Nixie laughed with an eye roll. "I was thinking those pearls, remember the ones you-"

"Say no more!" Meri said before disappearing beneath the waves.

Nixie sat patiently on the shore, waiting for her mother to return.

"Actually come to think of it, I really do miss that seaweed. Really good stress reliever."

When Nixie returned to the Grimmauld Place after visiting with her mother, the home was quiet with the exception of the flat making some sort of noise, along with Kreacher muttering about. The house-elf despised Nixie, but she couldn't help but pity the creature knowing that the house-elf had been to devoted to Walburga that he took on the same views as the horrid woman over the course of time. He was only repeating what he had been told a million times before.