A Change of Plans

Chapter Nine

Annie did not want to tell Sirius, so Patsy did.

Annie could not stay downstairs to check on the Order, so Patsy did that too.

Annie would not come back down, so it was Patsy who made her excuses.

Sirius was very shocked.

"When should Eugene be back?" he asked Patsy.

Patsy did not feel as if she should have to answer anymore questions at all. She was exhausted from answering them all day, ever since that phone call had come in. She was also very irritable about the fact that Annie was hiding up in her room; she understood that Annie needed time alone, but she could certainly use some help down here.

"By the end of the day, at earliest," she snapped impatiently, knowing that she was being very unfair to Sirius, but not caring a bit. Images of Annie's grandfather were swirling around her head, making her angry at herself. Now was not the time to fall to pieces; Annie had already done that for her.

Sirius's mouth was a thin line of worry.

"The meeting has to go on," he muttered to himself.

Patsy exploded.

"Oh, you mean the meeting that you forgot to tell Annie about? The one that slipped your mind, I suppose? The one that's supposed to be in Annie's house, not yours, that you saw fit not to tell her about. Actually, it's not Annie's house, it's Eugene Howard's house. You know, the one you're supposed to be marrying? The one whose father just died? The one who you're supposed to care about?! But no! All you can think about is the stupid meeting! I bet you never cared for Eugene! I bet you were just looking for a safe place to have your stupid Order meetings, and Eugene was nice, and gullible, and heartsick, and frustrated with her daughter. And you--you decided to take advantage of her! And then, of course, her father got sick! How convenient. That way you'd be able to have your little meetings in peace, without her interrupting. Of course, her bratty kid and her friend were also there...but what trouble would they be? I bet you are a spy, just like in Prisoner of Azkaban. I bet it is you who betrayed Lily and James, not Peter. What did you do to Annie's grandfather to make him sick? Did you poison him? Did you kill him? What are you planning to do to Eugene after the wedding? Kill her too? What are you planning to do to us? To Annie and me? Will you murder us also?!?"

Sirius just stood there, looking very hurt and a bit angry. Patsy's breath was coming in short gasps. Her fingers trembled with rage. Sirius opened his mouth to protest.

"Patsy, I--"

The doorbell cut him off. Patsy didn't care who was behind it; it was obviously another Order member. But she did not care. She just glared at Sirius.

"Well, there's another one of the Order members! I'd better leave before you hold a meeting inside another person's house!"

And she flung open the door, pushed a very confused Peter Pettigrew off the steps and out of her way, and ran all the way home.

Only after her bedroom door had been slammed behind her did she bury her face in her hands and cry.

<><><><><><>

Annie was punching a pillow.

Everything had been going so great! Harry Potter had turned out real--something, contrary to popular belief, she still could not get used to--and the Order was having meetings in her own house! How cool could you get? But then Grandpa had to go and die...well, there was no helping it. Reality, she knew, would never hide in the shadows for long.

She remembered her father. He had been tall, over six feet, and people who did not know him were at first intimidated by his size and deep voice. She had thought him invincible.

That weekend they had been going to go to the video store, and rent some movies, and buy a mountain of popcorn and hang out, just the two of them, watching the movies on the big screen television they had rented from one of those rental places. Mom wasn't going to be there; she had some workshop that would last the whole weekend going on. Patsy was going to her cousins wedding, down in Connecticut.

It was she who had mentioned ice cream.

They had had the root beer, but no ice cream. This was a definite oddity in their household; her father loved ice cream. He was able to eat a whole gallon of the stuff in one sitting. But she had finished the last of it the night before, with Patsy, who had come for dinner. So there was none left.

So her father had left for the country store. It was just down the road, but he insisted on driving. She had had no idea why. She still didn't.

She still remembered the sickening sound of metal against metal.

She remembered the frozen state of her mind, knowing, before she had even seen the two cars that had collided.

She remembered not believing, as she swung the door open to run outside. She remembered thinking No, it's someone else. It's not my dad.

She remembered her scream as she recognized the purple of Dad's car. Dad had loved that car. Few other people had cars that color. It had made them stand out in the crowded turnpikes.

She remembered darting oncoming cars, screaming "No! It's not him! It's not my dad!"

She remembered the cuts on her hand as she tried to tear the metal of the car off, trying desperately to get to him.

She remembered the blood.

She remembered her tears.

She remembered her anger at the police and paramedics when they told her gently that he was dead.

She remembered her anger when they had then told her that the other guy would live, even though the accident was his fault; he had been drunk, and driving on the wrong side of the road.

She remembered his body. Or what was left of his body.

She remembered six month later, her rage as Eugene introduced her to Derek, first in her string of boyfriends.

She reached under her pillow, and pulled out her mother's first engagement ring. She fingered it, glaring at Reality. Why did it have to be so awful? Leave me alone! I've suffered enough!

Voices rose downstairs. She recognized Patsy's yell. She didn't even care what was going on; not even when she heard the door slam shut, and heavy footsteps on the gravel driveway. Patsy had obviously left. Well, good for her. At least her father wasn't dead. At least she didn't have to go to her own father's funeral, years too early.

Through her bitterness, she knew she was being unfair. None of this was Patsy's fault, and besides, Blake Howard might as well have been Patsy's father, what with all the time she had spent over here. But still! Her father wasn't dead. But it still wasn't Patsy's fault. She had been as supportive as can be.

And besides, she and Patsy, together, had made sure that drunk driver had gotten what he deserved.

<><><><><><>

Patsy switched on her computer angrily. She felt guilty, and knew she had been out of line, saying all those things to Sirius. But really, what did he think? Annie's grandfather was dead, and all he could think about was the stupid Order meeting! The nerve of it all.

She waited for the Windows 98 to boot up, glaring at the screen the whole time. Finally she was able to get on the internet. She went in her normal pattern: first to Sugarquill. Nothing new from KEDme. Then to FanFiction.net. Robin had not yet updated. Neither had Jakia, Rynne, or Qui_Xux, on Fictionalley.

"Damn," she muttered. How was she supposed to get her mind off Sirius if there was no new updates on her favorite fan fiction? Come to think of it, most of these fan fiction stories included Sirius; he was widely a favorite character in the fandom. She made a mental note to be sure he saw Prisoner of Azkaban when it came out.

She went back to FanFiction.net, as it was the site that loaded up the fastest. She considered digging up a Sirius/Remus to hide under his pillow where he'd find it, but decided not to. That would humiliate Remus too, and he'd been fairly nice, from what she'd seen of him.

She decided to find a humorous story, to get her mind off things.

Hogwarts Meets FanFiction.net! by Sassybird popped up on the screen.

A few minutes later, immersed in the story, she forgot about Sirius, except for thinking what would happen to the wizarding world if she and Annie decided to set these slash fics loose.

<><><><><><>

There was a knock on Annie's door.

"Annie?"

She did not recognize the voice, but she did not care.

"Come in."

The door was opened slowly, cautiously. And a red-haired someone peeked in worriedly.

Annie felt numb. It was Charlie Weasley. She was able to recognize him instantly from that picture she and Patsy had been studying earlier, It's A Girl by Kate. She blushed slightly when she remembered what Patsy had said: "Oooooh....if I didn't know that that was Percy, I would actually think he's pretty cute as well. In a little kid sort of way, though, unlike how you think of Charlie."

She studied her fingers in her lap.

"Hi," she muttered to her hands.

He closed the door behind him. Or maybe he had left. She didn't know, until she felt him sit down next to her on the bed. She willed herself not to turn red. Don't act like such an idiot.

"Hi," he said. "Sirius said that you're grandfather died." He sounded oddly apologetic. "I thought...you might need someone to talk to."

The meaning of this simple sentence struck her. He was worried about her. But she hardly knew him! But that didn't really matter right then, because she was looking up at his face, and she was seeing the concern in his eyes.

And Annie-Elizabeth Howard smiled softly, and said, "I'd like that."