Taking a rest and chatting(Sirius, Norah, Amy)

[Kris Lupin]

Kris walked with Sirius into the Three Broomsticks, she looked around and saw an empty table. "There's a table over there." She said pointing at it.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius glanced around the room and didn't answer Kris right away. He scanned the crowd, almost unconsciously searching for Amy. Stop that! he thought to himself. You're here with Kris. You need to focus on her. Stop thinking about Amy.

Looking down at Kris, he followed the direction she was pointing. "Yeah, that table looks good," he said brightly, smiling at her. He squeezed her hand and led her over to the empty table. "I can go get our drinks, if you want. What would you like?"

[Kris Lupin]

Why did he take a bit to say anything? Kris wondered to herself, she bit er lower lip to think on a drink. "Just water." She liked water more then anything anymore, she wondered why that was.

[Sirius Black]

"Just water?" Sirius repeated as he pulled out a chair for her to sit in. "OK, no problem. I'll be right back." He pushed her chair in for her, then headed up to the bar.

"I'll have one water, and one butterbeer," he said to Madam Rosmerta. She walked away for a minute, then returned with their drinks.

"Here you go," she said, winking at him.

Sirius couldn't help but blush slightly. Madam Rosmerta was a very attractive woman. He took out a few galleons and put them on the bar. "Thanks," he said and turned back toward their table. But before he could start walking, he saw the door open. In walked a very familiar redhead, and Sirius suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. You've got to forget her, he reminded himself. He gave her a slight nod, then looked away and headed over to Kris.

"Here you go," he said, handing her the glass of water.

[Amy Icefire]

All the walking around and shopping became the cause of Amy's thirst. The Three Broomsticks would be an excellent place to grab a butterbeer. On her way over to the Three Broomsticks, her mind drifted over to Sirius, for the umpteenth time since she saw him in Zonko's. Amy gave her head a shake and pushed open the door. Glancing around, her eyes didn't lay on anyone she knew. In fact, she wasn't really looking for anyone she knew, because she was scared if she did, she may end up making a fool of herself and she would cause someone to hate her, even more than they did. Amy walked up to the bar and ordered a butterbeer. While she waited for a few seconds, she handed the lady a few galleons to pay for it. "Thank you," she said kindly as she received her drink.

She carried her drink, as well as her bags over to an empty booth. Amy sat facing the entrance to the place in half hopes she would see him again. As she glanced around slowly, her eyes did find him, and once again her eyes seemed glued to him. Finally she glanced away. If she ignored him maybe these crazy feelings would go away, and everything would be just fine. But then again, who was she trying to kid? Herself?

[Kris Lupin]

Kris took her water and started to sip on it, she quietly asked, "Can I have one of the chocolate bars, please?" She glanced up at him and tried to act like nothing was wrong. She had her back to the door and didn't know Amy had entered the pub, she would have caught her scent if there weren't other scents.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius dragged his gaze away from Amy. "Oh, yeah, sure," Sirius said, reaching for the bag of candy from Honeydukes. He reached in and pulled out a chocolate bar for her, and a chocolate frog for himself. "I didn't realize you liked chocolate so much. You feeling OK?"

[Kris Lupin]

Kris nodded as she took the chocolate bar, she opened it then looked at him. "What did you really talk to James about?" She asked quietly before taking a bite of her chocolate. She just couldn't shake the feeling that he had lied to her.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius, in the middle of sipping from his glass of butterbeer, nearly choked when she asked the question. Luckily, he was able to cover it as he quickly swallowed his drink and gave a subtle cough. "Um, you know... guy stuff," he said. He looked over at her sheepishly. Seeing the look on her face, he sighed. "I mean, you heard him. Asking Robin for advice on getting Lily to like him? I just needed to talk to him about his obsession with Lily. That's all, I swear."

There, that sounded reasonable, he thought. He hated himself for lying to her, but the truth would have been worse.

[Kris Lupin]

Kris looked at the table, she didn't know whether to believe him or not. She swallowed the bite and thought for a little bit, she bit her lower lip then asked, "D-do you still like me?" She felt like if he didn't like her or he liked Amy more it was her fault. She knew she should be honest with him but she thought that honesty would make him leave her anyway.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius was about to tear into his chocolate frog, but immediately dropped it when she asked the question. Thankfully, in that moment, he was not looking at Amy. "What are you talking about?" he said, reaching across the table and taking her hand. "Of course I like you. What made you think that?"

[Norah Lake]

Visiting Hogsmeade was entirely too difficult when one had no magical powers. She couldn't take the Floo Network or fly there, and even if she could have found a way onto Platform 9 3/4, the Hogwarts Express wasn't likely to take her there, being a single adult woman with no magical powers. She had been forced to get a wizard to summon the Knight Bus for her. And Norah hated the Knight Bus. It was crowded, noisy, and smelly. And then of course, there was the wild, out of control driving. They'd whipped around a corner so wildly that Norah was sure she had whiplash. If this was a muggle city, she could have sued the driver for reckless driving. As it was, she just had to deal with it. Law suits in the magical world were almost never done. And taking the Knight Bus driver to muggle court would risk exposing the world which she so desperately wanted to be a part of.

Norah rubbed her neck as she walked into the Three Broomsticks. After all it had taken to get here, she really needed a drink. One of those butterbeers would be good... she hadn't had one since she left England. After her drink, she would head over to the school and see if she could find Kris. She needed to talk to her daughter.

As she walked toward the bar, she spotted a girl, who, from behind, looked just like Kris. She stopped and stared for a moment, trying to determine if it was her. She glanced at the boy sitting with her. He looked like trouble to her.

Unable to be sure if it was really Kris, Norah shrugged and headed toward the bar. She ordered a drink and paid for it with the galleons she had picked up in Diagon Alley (which had also been a pain to get to, since she couldn't open the passageway on her own). Taking a sip from the drink, she turned around and looked back where she had seen the girl. She nearly choked on her butterbeer. It was Kris! She stared at the girl for a long moment, suddenly not sure of what to say.

[Kris Lupin]

"I don't know, it just seems that you're somewhere else.. somewhere I'm not.. I want to be honest, Sirius, I really do... but that honesty might cause you to leave me.. and I don't want to lose you." Kris took another bite of chocolate and slowly chewed on it, she did want to tell him the truth. She looked at the table and wondered if she should just tell him.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius ripped open the chocolate frog and bit the head off before it could hop away. But the taste of chocolate reminded him of his kiss with Amy, and this made him feel even worse. He wondered if he should tell Kris that the reason he was distant was because she was always so sad and serious all the time. He couldn't have fun with her or laugh with her, and that was all he ever really wanted to do. Instead, he felt like he was always having to comfort her or counsel her on something. And he sucked at that. Even now, in this moment, she was all upset, and he hadn't done anything wrong. Well, except for looking at Amy. But there wasn't really any harm in looking, was there? He was trying to keep his distance and forget about her.

Sirius wondered if maybe Kris had "the curse" that he'd once overheard Bellatix and Narcissa talking about... it was something that, supposedly, happened to young girls around 12 or 13. It apparently made them moody and irritable.

"Kris... I still like you. I don't know what else to tell you. I know things have been weird lately... I don't know why. But you seem kind of different to me this year."

[Kris Lupin]

Kris swallowed then looked at him. "I am different, I want to tell you how I'm different, you don't know how it makes me feel inside." Kris hated having to hide something that she knew was causing him to look at others. "I love you, Sirius, and I feel like I've already lost you." She hung her head, feeling alone even though people were in the room.

[Norah Lake]

Norah stood at the bar, staring over at Kris. She hadn't seemed to notice her at all. Norah felt wounded. Did she really mean that little to her own daughter? Whatever she was talking about with the boy seemed to be rather intense. She couldn't believe Kris hadn't told her that she had a boyfriend. Her own daughter had become so distant to her... she felt like she didn't know anything about her anymore.

As she sipped her butterbeer, Norah noticed the miserable look on Kris's face. She looked about ready to cry. Her baby needed her mother! Putting down her butterbeer, she pushed past a few wizards and nearly knocked down an elderly witch to get to Kris.

"Kris, baby, what's wrong?" she said. "I'm here now, I'll make it better." She threw her arms around Kris.

[Kris Lupin]

Kris jumped slightly then looked at who was holding her, it was Norah. She glanced at Sirius then looked at Norah again. She needed to tell her she was staying with her father and brother now. "Um... I-I need to tell you something..." She spoke a little bit nervously, "about my father..."

[Norah Lake]

Norah pulled back and looked at Kris. "Yes, baby?" she said. "You can tell me anything, you know that. But are you sure this is what you want to talk about right now? I thought maybe this beastly boy was upsetting you in some way. I just want to protect you, baby. Why don't we talk in private over there?" She pointed at an empty table, then turned and glared at Sirius.

[Kris Lupin]

"He's not beastly." Kris said. She stood up and looked at Sirius, "I'll be back." She bit into her chocolate as she walked to the table. She had got so close to telling Sirius about her secret, as they got to the table she thought about how to tell her. She sat in a chair then took another bite of chocolate as she thought.

[Norah Lake]

Norah sat down and looked at Kris for a long moment, studying her carefully. She looked ill. Her face was pale, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her eyes had lost their bright shine. "Oh, my baby, look at you," she said, reaching across the table and putting her hands on Kris's cheeks. "You look terrible. You've been ill. Why didn't you write me... I could have sent you some chicken soup. What's wrong, baby? Talk to me."