A Change of Plans

Chapter Four

Annie tried to cry out as she tumbled out of the fireplace, but a hand was pressed up against her mouth.

It took her a moment to get her bearings. She was in a small kitchen; it was mid-day, which completely confused her. There were voices drifting through a door to another room. Patsy was the one covering her mouth. She caught Annie's eye, pressed a finger to her lips, then removed her hand.

The voices from the other room sounded anxious.

"Let me get this straight," a man's voice she didn't recognize said. "Eugene--this wonderful woman who is engaged to you--she leaves, because her father is sick."

"That's right," she heard Sirus say.

"And then," continued the other voice. "You tell the girls--Eugene's daughter and her friend, both who seem to hate you--that they need to eat and they refuse?"

"Yes," Sirus sighed.

"So you tell them they have to eat, and then they disappear, and you search for them all night, and don't find them?" The voice sounded incredulous.

"Yes," Sirus said again, a note of exasperation in his voice now.

"God, Sirius, you are an idiot."

The two girls looked at each other. Sirius?

"I know," Sirus--no, Sirius, groaned. "They didn't like me anyway, and I tried to force them..."

Patsy nodded in Annie's direction, then stepped into the room, brushing off soot as if she'd only just arrived.

"Force us to do what?"

Annie followed her lead, though saying nothing.

Sirus jumped about a foot in the air. A man with messy black hair stared at him.

Patsy, naturally, was the first to put two and two together.

"Oh, hi, James. Sirus, or should I say Sirius Black, we're hungry now."

Both of them just gaped at her. Then the man with black hair--James ?!?!--turned to Sirus--Sirius?!?

"You said you had never told them, or Eugene!" he hissed.

"I-I didn't," he said, staring at Patsy as though he had never seen her before.

"Oh, c'mon," she said, rolling her eyes. She seemed to be the only one who wasn't too shocked to speak properly. "It's so obvious. I mean." She pointed to the man. "You're James Potter. I mean, you've got the trademark messy black hair, and you have no scar. It's the only person you can be. And you." She pointed to Sirus. "You're so obviously Sirius Black. I mean, you've got the trademark long black hair, and the carefree grin. Plus, you're a master pranker, and the only two real master prankers that I know of are Padfoot and Prongs."

Annie stared from Patsy to Sirius (?!?) and James (?!?), waiting for them to laugh and tell her she was crazy, and that she had read the Harry Potter books one too many times. But they didn't. And Annie thought of a question.

"Why aren't you dead? I mean--" She paused, looking at the surprised looks on their faces. "--in the books--"

Sirius interrupted her.

"What books?"

Patsy took it up.

"What books?" she asked incredulously. "What books? The Harry Potter books, of course, by J. K. Rowling! The best selling books in the Muggle world! They give the whole story. Or--" She looked James and Sirius over, staring at them as if making sure they were alive. "--or, at least, I thought they did."

"The 'Harry Potter' books?" James asked weakly.

Annie nodded.

"Haven't you heard of them? They are about your son and all, and they also are the latest thing in the Muggle world!"

"Except," Patsy added, "that in them you are dead, and so is your wife, and Sirius."

James collapsed into a nearby sofa.

"Is Lily here?" Annie asked eagerly. It was odd how the both of them were adjusting to this: the fact that wizards were real, and so was Harry Potter.

"No," James said. "She's at work,"

"Oh?" Patsy butted in. "What does she do?"

James smiled.

"She's the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic." He sighed, looking very proud.

"Yuck," Patsy said, closing her eyes disgustedly.

"Umbridge," Annie agreed. "I wonder if she's dead?"

James was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Patsy waved the question away. "Are you an Auror? Is Sirius? What about Lu--Remus?"

Sirius shook his head.

"How do you know all this stuff?" he asked.

"So...you are? You two are Aurors? Awesome! And what about Remus?"

James was looking bewildered.

"Remus's the headmaster at Hogwarts," he said. "And Peter--" He stopped at the looks on their faces. "What?"

Annie glanced at Patsy, and said, "Nothing. What is Wormtail doing?"

James shook his head in confusion.

"Peter's working in the Magical Cooperation Office,"

Annie tried hard not to have any emotion show on her face, hardly succeeding. Patsy wasn't even trying to keep her face blank; it wore an ugly expression. She waved a hand toward Sirius.

"And what was he doing in America? I mean, the States? We're obviously in England, or at least Europe. And where'd you learn to change accents like that?" she asked Sirius, with a slightly impressed look on her face. "Is there some special spell that can do that?"

Sirius sighed.

"I--" He hesitated, looking at James. Patsy sighed impatiently.

"It's work for the Order, isn't it? Idiots, you're as easy to read as those Frog and Toad stories that they force kindergartners to suffer through!"

They stared at her. Annie elbowed her in the ribs, though only half-heartedly. Seeing James' and Sirius' mouths fall open repeatedly was very amusing.

"You know about the--"

"Well, yeah," Patsy continued, unconcernedly. "I mean, it's all in book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where you," she pointed to Sirius "die."

Annie snorted with laughter; she couldn't help it. Sirius blinked.

"I...I what?"

Patsy was now also nearly rolling on the floor, but gained enough control of herself to speak again.

"Well...yeah," she said, choking back snorts. "Actually, it was one of the best parts of the book...best written parts, I mean...otherwise it was rubbish..."

"SIRIUS!" Annie cried, miming a fight to get toward the veil. "SIRIUS!"

Patsy realized what she was doing immediately, and grabbed hold of her hand, appearing as though to hold her back.

"You can't get to him, Harry--he can't come out because he's d--"

Right on cue, Anne screamed at the top of her lungs, "HE--IS--NOT--DEAD!"

Both girls collapsed on the floor in a fit of giggles. James and Sirius were staring at them in a sort of horrified shock. Both were very pale.

"S-sorry!" Patsy gasped, getting to her feet at last, fighting down the last of her laughter.

"We're just--" Annie added, but broke off because of a particularly large surge of laughter, causing Patsy to finish for her.

"--Completely and totally obsessed."

It took a few moments for them to pull themselves together. Both men were still staring at them.

Suddenly, the seriousness and reality of the situation occurred to Annie. Her face--which had previously been full of laughter--suddenly became sharp and firm. She looked at Patsy, who nodded; she understood, and was realizing this at the same exact time.

"Okay," she said, her voice now as sharp as her face. "Let me get this straight. You're" she pointed to Sirius "Sirius Black, Auror and wizard, who also happens to be engaged to my mother!?!"

"And," continued Patsy, "someone who just happened to be in America, when he's a British wizard. Look, this make no sense. Are you having us?"

"And if you aren't," Annie picked up, "does this mean that Voldemort's alive and wreaking havoc?"

"Oh, God," Patsy sighed, eyes closed, collapsing into a chair. "I mean, this really complicates my life. And--" she added, jumping up, her eyes wide and alert. "--don't you dare 'Obliviate' me! You are not wiping my memory! Not happening!"

"Besides," added Annie wisely, "we know too much. A mind-wipe that powerful would seriously damage our ways of thinking. Look what it did to Bertha Jorkins!" Then, looking at the confused expressions on their faces, said hastily, "Sorry...fourth book..."

"Okay," James said slowly. "Okay, one thing at a time, please! First of all, yes Sirius is Sirius Black, British wizard, and he was in America for the Order, and yes, he obviously is engaged to Annie's mother. Yes, the Dark Lord--" Both Annie and Patsy snorted, but he ignored them. "--is 'alive and wreaking havoc'. And yes, you're right, you know too much., and we can't cast memory charms on you without permanently damaging your minds," He shook his head. "I can't believe you got all this from a muggle book!"

"Well, we did--" Annie started hotly, but she was interrupted by a voice from the hallway stairwell.

"Who's screaming, Dad? Who's there?"

Annie and Patsy whirled around, and in one breath both said at the same time the only thought that penetrated their shocked minds:

"Harry Potter!?!"