Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Eighty Seven

"Oh, this is going to be great! I'm so excited!"

Since Sirius had Dumbledore apologized to him and since he had responded to his cousin's letter, the man had been quite in a giddy mood as Andromeda had extended an invitation to her home for Sirius and Nixie to come visit her and Ted. Nixie really hadn't met anyone from the Black family besides Sirius' immediate family, such as his mother and his brother, both people who were not fond of her in the slightest because she was a half-breed. However, while growing up, Sirius had always spoken highly of his cousin Andromeda. And Nixie didn't think she had much to worry with since Andromeda had broken away from the family so that she could be with her husband, Ted Tonks, who was a muggle-born. 

With dinner time approaching, the two were expected, but Sirius had been ready to go since noon time while Nixie was trying to sleep. She nearly kicked him outside permanently at one point, but he eventually took the hint and let her sleep. Things were going great for Sirius, despite the mess with the Order, he was getting his life back and he wanted to enjoy every second of it.

He was a free man, he had received an apology from Dumbledore himself, he had a beautiful wife, Harry was under their care, and for the first time, he was happy. Truly happy. He was thankful to spend time with his cousin as he wasn't able to talk to her in so long. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her after the family had disowned her.

"Sirius, calm down, you're making me dizzy," Nixie said holding her hand to her forehead. "You're probably going to overwhelm them if you keep acting like this. How...how much sugar did you have today?"

Sirius came to a screeching halt in his skipping and looked over at her. Nixie glanced over and walked over to the cupboard, opening it up to see that all the creme puffs that they had purchased earlier in the week were gone. She closed the cupboard and looked back at him.

"Really? You ate them all?"

"Well, you were sleeping and I got bored," Sirius replied. "Plus, I didn't feel like cooking and I wasn't going to ask you-"

With a wave of Nixie's wand, Sirius found the bottom of his shirt pulled over his face. The struggle began as he tried to pull it off but it was stuck for as long as Nixie held her wand up. Over the course of the last couple of weeks, Nixie had been trying desperately to just cook the simplest of meals, but each time it failed miserably. 

Relaying the message to Molly about Nixie's dilemma, Sirius figured that if any person could help Nixie with her cooking it was the Weasley Matriarch. But by some strange forces of the world, Molly had sent Nixie home and no improvement had been made whatsoever. Meri told Nixie to face the music, there was just no way that she was destined to cook. It was the curse that fell upon merfolk apparently, one that Nixie could not escape.

Luckily, she wasn't the one entertaining the guests that evening as Andromeda promised them a cooked meal. Although it was hard to say who was more relieved, Nixie or Sirius.

Eventually, Nixie lowered her wand and Sirius was able to pull his shirt down, he let out a gasp and glared at her.

"I could have died!" He said dramatically, his hair all in his face, while Nixie smirked at him.

"Well, what do you know? It's a miracle, you're alive," she reached out her hand and patted him on the head. Sirius made a biting motion towards her causing her to let out a squeak before laughing. 

"Don't make me chase you around this house, Nini," Sirius threatened.

"We don't have time. We have dinner plans, remember?"

"I didn't say right this minute...but keep this up. You'll still have to come home with me."

"That's what you think," Nixie muttered, bringing Sirius to look over at her with his lips parted.

"What did you say?"

"Hmm? Nothing!"

The Tonks household was more than inviting as the two arrived at the home, near six in the evening, to find Andromeda waiting outside with the door to the home opened behind her. As soon as Nixie and Sirius arrived, Ted appeared in the doorway with a bright grin. Sirius seemed overjoyed to see them, greeting the couple with hugs, while Nixie hung back feeling slightly out of place.

"Mr. Warren Funkle, how have you been?!" Sirius laughed hugging Andromeda first and then going over to Ted. Nixie had no idea who or what Warren Funkle was, but she wasn't about to question it at the moment as Andromeda approached her.

"You don't have to be shy," Andromeda said welcoming Nixie over and pulling the other woman into a hug. "It's actually great to meet you finally, you know, not just hear about you through letters and see you from a distance."

"I'm sorry, from a distance?" Nixie said with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we did go to Hogwarts together, even though it was only for a year. You were only a first year and you were trying your best to get away from this one," Andromeda pointed at Sirius as they entered the home. "But he used to come to me all the time, talking about you."

"Really?" Nixie asked, thinking back to first year where all she wanted to do was punch Sirius in the face. "I'm sure it was nothing nice-"

"Oh you would be very surprised," Andromeda laughed. "Apparently, you left quite the impression on him, right away, because he wouldn't stop talking about you. Always coming to Ted or me for advice about how to approach you."

"It was my idea about Herbology tutoring!" Ted claimed proudly before Sirius whacked him in the stomach.

"I knew it!" Nixie started to laugh as well as she looked over at Sirius. "I knew you didn't need help in that class."

Ted looked down at Sirius with a grin. "It worked, though, didn't it?"

"Indeed it did," Sirius nodded. 

Andromeda brought them in to sit in the living room, claiming that dinner would be ready shortly as they sat around. Nixie really enjoyed Andromeda's company, although it was slightly unsettling at first of how much of a resemblance the woman bore to Bellatrix. All the Black sisters looked very similar to each other, but there was the obvious difference of the hair colors and the softer appearance on Andromeda's face. She didn't look completely mental like her older sister. 

But there was obviously one thing that was on the woman's mind once the conversations got underway.

"You'll be honest with me," Andromeda said in a low voice to Nixie while Ted and Sirius spoke. "How is Nymphadora doing? She always tells me that she's fine, but I know she'll lie to me to make me feel better. So I just want to make sure that she's okay, that's she's not too stressed."

Nixie smiled before nodding her head. "I understand, my mother is the same way about me, she's always asking Sirius if I'm fine. But I assure you that Tonks is fine, she's the only one who can smile at every meeting with the Order. The only thing that seems to be causing her stress is well..."

"Remus?" Andromeda replied knowingly. Nixie nodded, slightly surprised but she should have figured that the mother would be able to figure it out. "Yes, I figured. You should hear how she talks about him when she's here. It makes you wish that he would pay attention to her a bit more."

"It's nothing personal against Tonks, that much I can say. Remus is just...he means well, he's just very self-conscious about..."

"The lycanthropy, yes, I'm aware," Andromeda said. "But if Nymphadora isn't bothered by it, why is he?"

"Because Remus is the type of person that never wants to see anyone get hurt because of him. It's one of his biggest fears."