Crossing Over

CHAPTER TWO

It was eleven when Nora woke up to complete darkness. Feeling around her she instantly knew where she was and switched on the orange coloured lampshade on her bedside table.

In a split second the room was filled with dim light that blended into the shadows. Her room. The place where she spent the second half of her life in. Not bothering to get up Nora continued to lie down in her bed, trying to reflect on what she had been dreaming...

She had just left work...walking into the car park...thinking and then...someone...Mary rang her...now paranoid and moving to her car getting in...driving ... no...driving fast...going home...elevator... man ...father ...Mary's father... Nothing.

There was nothing else after that. Everything seemed to become nothing. It was like reaching the end of a book. You think about it but it's now turned into some form or nothingness. It stopped.

After a while of thinking it through Nora's mind calculated it was all a dream, a vivid dream. One that seemed real but was definitely a dream. Satisfied Nora got out of bed and decided to make a coffee since her mind was a blur of images and conspiracy theories. But even before Nora could open the door she knew she should have never got out of bed.

"Hi mum..."

Sitting near the glass top coffee table Mary had so loved, Nora could see him. Even though she could repeat the name to anyone who asked her Nora did not want to think about it because every time she thought about it her mind would go into overdrive.

"Mum are you okay, you've been out for a long time?" questioned Mary anxiously. Without even waiting for an answer Mary got up and took the still three-quarter full tea on a tray back to the kitchen for a very, very long wash. But Nora didn't care because at that precise moment all that was on her mind was who, where, when and why this man was here.

Nora stood there and didn't move an inch, her whole body was tense and she was practically lost for words. Well not lost for words but she was speechless she couldn't decide on what to say to him because in her mind thoughts were swarming around her mind like a hive of busy bees.

What gives him the right? Does he realise where I found her ...all alone... Why don't I just cool down and why am I getting so hyped up over this guy anyway? You know what I really feel like doing anyway? Do you know what I want to say? I want to tell him to...

"Piss off"

Nora gave him a hard look. What's he going to say? Is he going to tell me to leave as well? Through Nora's eyes it seemed his expression didn't seem to change it was neutral and didn't give any clue what so ever what he would say. The only thing she could detect from him was a faint twinkle in his black eyes.

"Just tell me when you get too hot," he replied with a smile playing on his lips. Nora had no time to hide it. It came out as a sudden suppressed giggle and then out as a laugh. Out of all the replies she had prepared herself for, this was definitely not on her list. This guy has attitude...but definitely no style she thought as she looked the huge black robe that covered him.

Sitting herself down into a big green armchair next to the sofa Nora smiled. Traces of her laughter had carried itself to the kitchen and now a bemused Mary came out to pick up the pieces. Seeing Nora smiling and her father also smiling Mary was happy enough to come back and join them.

Though Nora had been working in the office and had been quite a bookworm all her life she had learnt a lot about human nature, who to trust and who to not trust. Even in her job as a detective she learnt more than the most sociable person in the world. She had seen cases where there were parents who abuse and neglected their children and come back for more.

That's what she had thought it may have been like with Mary and Mary's father. She had found her on the streets somewhere in London whilst working and then she adopted her. Thinking of the way Mary had been left there to starve Nora had concluded only an abusive parent would leave their child there and not let them say anything to anyone else about their lives. But now she started to think otherwise.

Maybe it was only a joke. But comic relief from situations like this proves something of the nature of a person. Maybe there was something more to this story that hadn't been told.

After vigorously apologising for her rudeness and non acceptance towards him, Nora and Sirius Black engaged in a friendly conversation in which they wanted to know as much about each other as possible. After an hour of memories and reflections of the past there was complete silence.

Nora had by then learnt a whole lot more about Mary (whose real name was Cressida). There were normal cliché facts...father and mother fell in love at a young age...had a baby and mother died at the baby's birth. And there were other not so normal facts..father was a wizard and mother was a witch...went to some wizarding school called Hogwarts.

Even though Nora had felt that the stories Sirius told were lies she couldn't help but look at the evidence and believe it. She believed he was a wizard for he had performed magic right before her very eyes. But her mind found it absolutely hard to believe the fact there was a wizarding school.

"So why are you here now?" questioned Nora breaking the silence. Sirius stared hard at her and then pulled out two envelopes with red seals on them.

"They're from Hogwarts...Cressida?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," answered Cressida as she was preoccupied with the envelope.

"That letter is there to tell you that you are enrolled in Hogwarts and Nora they're inviting you to a party being held there for witches and wizards," informed Sirius.

"I can understand Cressida," said Nora before Cressida could leap for joy and all, "but why are they inviting me?"

"Are you curious for the reason why I left Cressida there?" questioned Black looking straight at her.

"Yes"

"Then go...questions will be answered and anyway I have friends and enemies who want to know you," stated Sirius in a serious tone.