A Change of Plans

Chapter Ten

It was late in the evening that the Order meeting was interrupted by a knock at the door. Annie, who had been invited to sit in on the meeting, knew instantly who it was. Who else would it be? Patsy was still at her own house, having refused to answer any phone calls or instant messages, and all the Order members were present.

Annie glanced over at her soon-to-be step-father. He was looking very tense.

"What are you going to tell her?" she asked him quietly.

He stared straight at her.

"The truth."

She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them.

"She won't believe it. She'll think it's some lame joke you cooked up to try and cheer her up. She'll be upset."

He nodded tiredly.

"I know."

She sighed.

"Well, it's your decision."

Eugene knocked again.

Annie looked down at her lap.

"Should I answer it, or do you want to?"

She could see in his eyes his uncertainty. But then he shook his head.

"You do it. She'll need to see you."

She stared at him.

"She needs to see you too."

As she said it, she knew what she was doing. She was accepting. She was moving on. Eugene had been able to do it six months ago. Now it was her turn.

"She needs to see you, Sirius."

He did not hesitate. He rose instantly and half ran to the door, and Annie heard him pull it open. She heard him telling her mother that he had been upstairs and had not heard her knock at first.

She marveled at how easy it had been, letting go. Six months of hatred, and then a single conversation that helped her see. She looked up and saw Charlie smiling at her. She blushed slightly, but smiled back.

Everything, she thought, is going to be alright.

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Patsy stared at the ceiling from her bed, wishing she had in fact called Annie back. She wasn't really mad anymore, just a bit afraid. She'd said some awful things to Sirius and didn't want to face them. The fan fiction had gotten her mind off things for a while, but now she couldn't read it anymore. She had to figure out how to apologize.

She really, really did not want to. She would rather stay up in her room, staring at the ceiling for an eternity than go over there and apologize to Sirius. But she knew she had to. And if she didn't go and do it soon, she wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

She had spent so many nights over at Annie's the last few weeks that it felt odd being back in her own room. She resolved to spend all of tomorrow with her parents. She had hardly spent any time with them at all, and knew they were hurt by that. And anyway, Annie would want to spend as much time as possible with Eugene.

She had never, ever gone through the hating-parents stage. Whatever the reason, she had always loved spending time with her parents. She knew how unusual this was; all over school there were kids who constantly complained about not being allowed to do this, or being nagged to do that. Patsy had never really minded the nagging, and her parents weren't all that big on the setting limits department. As long as she wasn't out drinking, doing drugs, or spending her nights with boys, they were fine. And so was she.

Eugene was much the same. Sirius might've been as well; Patsy had not taken the time to find out. Only to spend time plotting the next prank against him.

She thought again of what she had said to him earlier, and cringed. She needed to get over there. But what would she say?

Suddenly, she knew. Perfectly. That had always been how her mind had worked; she'd have nothing in her mind, and then her brain would crack out such an excellent idea that she would have to act on it immediately.

She jumped up from the bed and went straight for her bedroom door.

That was when she heard the front door being blown from it's hinges.

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"Sirus, this is not the time for jokes," said an extremely tired Eugene Howard, glaring at him, although Annie could see beneath the glare just how much her mother loved him. For the first time, she did not feel any angry emotion in connection to such a look.

"I'm not joking, Eugene," said Sirius patiently. "I'm telling the truth."

"He's not joking, Mom," said Annie, trying not to laugh.

It was late evening; Annie, Sirius, and Eugene were in the living room. The Order had all dissaperated fifteen seconds after Eugene had come in the door.

"As if I'm going to believe my--what do you and Patsy call it?--Potterholic daughter!" Eugene tried to laugh, but it only made her look more tired. "Honey, I know how neat you would think that would be, but you need to learn the difference between fantasy and the real world."

Annie burst out laughing.

"If there's one thing I've learned from Sirius, it's that there is no difference," she managed in between giggles.

"I really wish you two would stop this!" Eugene finally had lost her temper. "Sirus, I know you just wanted to allow Annie to enjoy her little joke, but it's not funny, so please stop pretending."

Sirius, in contrast to Annie, was looking tense again.

"Eugene," he tried again. "I--"

But his words were cut off by someone crashing through the door.

Sirius sprung into action. He jumped up, his wand immediately in his hand. He ran from the living room, Annie and Eugene right behind him. They raced to the door.

But it was only Patsy.

"Jeez Patsy, you could have just knocked," Annie started, but then she noticed to blood and tears intermingling in her best friend's face, and the fright in her eyes.

Patsy had cuts all over her face and arms, from which blood was pouring freely. She was also sobbing; tears ran as freely as the blood. She was sprawled on the floor, due to the force she had used to open the door.

"Patsy," Annie gasped. "What happened?"

Patsy closed her eyes as if trying to remember.

"Death Eaters," she said finally, after a second. "They blew the door open. I heard them from upstairs...they were yelling at Mom and Dad, screaming at them."

"What were they saying?" Sirius demanded.

More tears leaked out from under Patsy's eyelids.

"'Where's Black,'" she told him. "They kept demanding that Mom and Dad tell them where you were...and they didn't know..." Patsy began to cry openly. It was horrible to watch; Annie hadn't seen her friend really cry in years. She herself was more likely to cry than Patsy. "They didn't know...so they tortured them...I heard the screaming...they were using Crucio...then they...they..."

"They what?" whispered Sirius. Annie looked up at him, and saw how pale his face was, and how much terror was in his eyes. And she suddenly knew exactly what the Death Eaters had done to Anne and Michael Dore.

"They killed them?" she whispered to Patsy, tears now prickling her own eyelashes.

Patsy nodded, and then buried her face in her hands. She continued talking, though, and her voice was muffled, as much from sobs as from her hands.

"Then they started coming upstairs, so I jumped out the window--" She lifted her face from her hands and gestured to the cuts on it. "--and I think they followed me. They're coming, Sirius, they're coming for you. I had to warn you."