Companion to Fa A Bhialainn Ann

Part 14

By Ebony Foxfire

The Beach

"That was Fi," she called back breathlessly to the remainder of the occupants of her table, most of who were already on their feet and hot on her heel. She climbed the stairs three at a time, sometimes stooping to all fours to propel herself toward the room where Fiona’s agonized scream was still hanging in the air. When Sapphira the open the door to Fi’s room, the girl was to be found thrashing about wildly in bed, entangled in bed sheets soaked with perspiration.

"Fi, Fi, stop screaming! Wake up!" Lily, just behind Sapphira called anxiously, dashing to the bedside and grabbing Fiona’s flailing wrists.

Fiona’s eyes snapped open, wide and bloodshot, hair disheveled and throat tensed to scream. Her mouth was hanging open in shock and she was gasping for breath. "Oh my God . . ." She whispered, eyes looking at Sapphira and Lily, unseeing.

"Are you all right?" Remus cried, pushing between Lily and Sapphira to gently place his hand on Fiona’s dampened forehead.

"What?" Fiona blinked rapidly, still dazed. Her blue eyes locked with Remus’s concerned brown ones. Suddenly, those blue eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Remus!" She sobbed, grasping his shoulders and burying her head in his chest.

Remus was too fretful to be taken aback. He just softly stroked her long, tangled hair. "Shhh," he whispered, "It’ll be all right, nothing’s wrong. It was all just a dream."

Suddenly, Fiona pushed back, muscles tensing once again. Sapphira leaned forward, anxious, "Fi, are you all right? Can we get you anything?"

"No," Fiona answered, a little too loudly, eyes darting all over the room as though she expected a shadow to attack at any moment. "I’m," she shivered, a spasm that wracked her whole body. She tried again, swallowing fearfully, "I’m perfectly all right. Please, all of you, just go away. I’m fine, just . . . go away."

Lily narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing. "Fi, sweetheart, you’re not fine! I’ll get you a glass of warm milk tea, and perhaps-"

"I’m fine!!" Fiona shouted, causing everyone in the room to draw back a bit and exchange nervous glances. "It was a dream, all right? Just, go to bed. I’ll be all right, it was just a bloody nightmare." She started shaking again, and started to tremblingly smooth out her sheets. "Go away," she whispered tears slipping out from between her tightly shut eyelids.

Lily and Sapphira each grabbed one of Remus’ shoulders and gently guided him away from Fiona.

"Remus, she need time, leave her be," Lily said knowledgeably. "She’s just been through a horrid ordeal, let her accept it. She has to."

Remus mutely nodded his head and glanced back one last time at Fiona before Sapphira gently shut the door. The girl was clutching her quilt to her like a life raft, curled up in a fetal position, weeping feebly with what looked like terror written all over her features.

As Lily led Remus over to where Sirius, James, and Peter were waiting, Sapphira slumped against the door, aghast that she did not know how she could possibly help the friend that had been there for her through so much. As she rested her head against the door, a faint whispering was to be heard through the wood paneling.

"You can’t have my ma, never, never ever. I’ll come, you dirty, evil wizard, but you’ll never, ever get my ma. Never, never ever. Don’t even try. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill . . ."

Sapphira strained to hear more, but the whispers were fading, and she guessed that her friend might be falling back into slumber. What had she been talking about? Or maybe she hadn’t been talking at all, yes, that seemed reasonable. The voice had been so faint. Sapphira straightened up and rejoined her friends.

"God, that was awful," Lily said softly, clinging to James. "Poor, Fi. I must have been about her mother . . ."

Peter, looking white as a ghost, piped up, "Wh-What happened guys? Why was she all screaming and stuff?"

"She had a — a nightmare," Sapphira said, struggling with the last word. "Let’s all just go to bed. We can talk to her in the morning."

As the group bid each other goodnight and started off toward their separate rooms, Sapphira glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and hung back around Fiona’s room. She softly opened the door once more to check on her friend, wincing as the door handle responded to her touch with a soft click. Peering through the darkened bedroom, she saw that Fiona wasn’t asleep at all. The girl had hastily dressed, and was tiptoeing around as quickly and silently as possible, throwing her now meager belongings into a large brown suitcase that had been salvaged from the ruin of her house. Sapphira noticed that the girl’s shirt was buttoned all wrong and the tails were hanging out of her jeans; her hair was unbrushed and matted, and her eyes were wide and fearful. She appeared to be whispering anxiously to herself, halting every now and again to wipe tears of fright off her stained cheeks.

"Fiona!" Sapphira whispered loudly, entering the room and softly shutting the door behind her. She rushed over to her friend, who looked upon her as a scared hare might a fox.

"Sapphira . . ." she said softly, calming down a bit as she recognized her friend. "I have to, to go . . ." Her eyes were becoming very hard now, determined with only an edge of the blind panic that had before possessed her. "Castle . . . Dark . . .my ma, he’s got my ma!" She suddenly sat down very hard on the disheveled bed and stared at her half-packed suitcase. "Castle, oh, Castle Something, Castle Arkaniss . . .Voldemort!" She shivered fiercely.

"Fi, it’s okay, it was only a dream," Sapphira didn’t really believe that it was okay, but what else could she say? She sat down slowly next to Fiona and put an arm around the girl’s trembling shoulders.

"S’not okay," Fi looked up at Sapphira. She looked as though she wanted to say more, but her mouth twisted violently and her regained their terrified, glassy state. "I’m so tired," she murmured.

"Go to sleep, Fi. You’ll be all right," but Sapphira’s words of comfort fell upon deaf ears, for Fiona had already slumped over onto Sapphira’s shoulder in a troubled sleep. Sapphira gently eased the girl onto her pillow and took the suitcase off the bed. "Maybe it really isn’t okay." She left the room, and sleep never found her that night.

***

"’Phira, you look terrible!" Sapphira slumped down in a vacant seat at breakfast the next morning and glared murderously at the unfortunate speaker, who happened to be Sirius.

"I didn’t sleep well last night," she snapped, helping herself to eggs and toast, as well as a nice, hot cup of morning tea. Do these Irish people have tea with every meal? She thought irritably. Tea with dinner, tea with lunch, tea with any given snack, tea for tea, and now tea for bloody BREAKFAST?! She gulped down the steaming contents of her teacup and slammed it down on he table, nearly knocking a chink out of the blue porcelain.

Everyone stared.

"What do you lot think you’re looking at?" She groused loudly through a mouthful of toast, startling he diners at the next table. "Honestly, you’d think a girl's friends at least would have some sympathy when, er, when —" Sapphira stopped suddenly. If she continued, she knew she would have to explain why she had been up all night, worrying and concerned and thinking about the incident with Fi. She searched her groggy mind frantically for an excuse. There was only one. "I’ve got my freakin’ period, okay?! Do you mind? Must I share everything with my beloved schoolmates?" She glared one final time along the length of the table.

They all shut up. Especially Sirius.

Just then, there was a stirring near the staircase and Sapphira, along with everyone else at the table, turned to look. Fi had emerged from her room, looking nearly as horrendous as Sapphira.

"G’morning, all," she said with a slight smile as she sat down between Remus and Lily.

"Morning, Fi," was the general chorus as everyone sipped their tea and tried not to look at Sapphira. Remus leaned in closer and put his hand gently on top of Fi’s.    

"Are you feeling better?" he asked softly so only Fiona (and Sapphira, who was eavesdropping) could hear.

"Yeah," she responded, shooting a unreadable glance at the blonde, who was pretending to be thoroughly occupied with buttering a piece of toast. "It was just a dream, Remus. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine."

"Soooooo . . ." a boisterous voice from down the table chimed. Sirius, looking as though he had gotten plenty of sleep. "What’re we all doing today?"

Lily glared briefly at Sirius. "Sirius, dear, I don’t think some of us are really up to a lot today, if you know what I mean," she shot a pointed glance at Fiona. "We should probably just have a nice, restful, day at the inn . . ."

Sirius, who undoubtedly had gotten the message, chose to ignore it. Well, it would actually be more accurate to say he chose to warp it. He exhaled sharply and rolled his eyes. "Listen, Lil, just because you and James haven’t been snogging as much these past few days —"

He was cut off by Sapphira nearly choking on a glass of water, trying to cover her laughter at the horror and rage on Lily’s face.

"Heeeey, I hadn’t thought of that! I think Lily’s right," James put in, with a wicked gleam in his eye. "Restful’s the bloody key, then?" He slipped an arm around Lily and proceeded to promptly drag her under the tablecloth.

"Oof . . . James! Stop it!" A fit of giggling punctuated Lily’s protests. "We’re in public . . . James!" More giggling. "Oh, you . . ." It was James’ turn to giggle.

The rest of the table was in hysterics by the time they resurfaced, looking slightly more disheveled than they had when they had gone under a minute or so earlier.

Sirius looked on the pair of them with amusement. "Well, we’ve gotten rid of them for the day! We can have a lot more fun without all the background groping, believe me." He turned his attention to Fiona. "So, what’s good around here?"

Fiona looked doubtful. "Well, we could go to the sea if you like…"

"Splendid! We all have our swimsuits then?" Sirius sprang up from the table, grinning, happy to have a mission. "Grab some towels and some sunscreen and off we go then! Get up you lot," he pulled out Peter’s chair from under him and ran up the stairs.

"The beach it is then!" Sapphira grinned tiredly. Perhaps the salt water would rejuvenate her. That and Sirius in a bathing suit . . . She dashed up the stairs.

***

            After all the miscellaneous beach apparel had been collected and Sapphira had managed to find a drink with caffeine in it, they all followed Fiona down the lane

toward the great salt waters. The air was indeed refreshingly crisp and salty, and the hot sun beat down on the group as they frolicked around the Irish countryside.

            "I see the sea!" Peter called gaily pointing just over the top of a hill.

            "Last one there has to kiss Snape when we get back to Hogwarts!" James yelled as he put on a burst of speed on threw off his shirt just as his feet felt sand beneath them.

            "Must I always clean up after him?" Lily gingerly picked up James’ forgotten shirt with two fingers, grimacing slightly. She dropped it in her bag and linked arms with Sapphira and Fiona.

            "We’ll get there last if we walk like this," giggled Fiona, hair blowing everywhere, watching the four boys compete their way into the crashing surf.

            "We can all snog Snape together," replied Sapphira lifting her chin primly. She winked at Fiona. "Though I daresay he’ll enjoy you kissing him the most!"

            "Oh, disgusting!" Fiona broke free of her companions and dashed toward the boys. "You can have him, ‘Phira!"

            "Unfair!" Lily left Sapphira standing alone on the beach as she too dove into the water. She resurfaced with a yelp. "Fiona, this is cold!"

            "Serves you right, wench!" Sapphira gingerly waded in to her knees and shivered.

            "Haha, ‘Phira has to kiss Snape!" Sirius called joyfully, swimming strongly over to where Sapphira was now waist deep in the beautiful Irish sea.

            Sapphira cocked an eyebrow at her grinning friend. "Well, Severus does have a certain flair." She pushed him haughtily out of the way. "You, my dear Sirius, could never compare! His handsome face and his muscular arms! Oh, and when he caresses me, I get these chills all through my body —"

              "Oh, bloody gross!" Sirius grabbed Sapphira around the waist, toppling her into the water. When she resurfaced, sputtering and coughing and laughing, he grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her. Swiftly he brought her face to his and gently kissed her lips.

            "Much better than Snape, I’d wager," he smirked when he broke off the kiss. H looked a little surprised at what he’s done, but he still had the Sirius-ness about him to look pleased and smug.

            Sapphira quickly recovered. She nearly started giggling but caught herself just in time and winked instead. "I don’t know," she pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. "You’d have to do it again for me to be sure."

            His reaction was cut short by the sound of James catcalling. Sirius merely rolled his eyes and responded tartly, but with a cheeky grin, "You just want to get some, James ol’ boy. Sorry, I don’t swing that way. Maybe Peter . . ."

            As can only be expected, a waterfight ensued. Peter splashed Sirius. Sirius splashed Sapphira. Sapphira splashed Fiona. Fiona splashed Remus. It went on from there until the entire group was a soggy, chilled mess. They all agreed that some time lying on towels on the beach was in order. And then Sirius had the presence of mind to splash the lot of them, and it all began again.

            After another fifteen or so minutes of swearing, ducking under the water to avoid miniature tidal waves, and general uproar that caused several elders strolling on the beach to ‘tut’ disapprovingly, the pandemonium was cut short.

            "Hi guys!" A distinctive voice cut through the shouting and the group as one turned their heads to the source of the sound. There was a boy standing on the beach, about the same age as themselves, wearing rather blindingly orange swimming trunks.

            Sapphira winced.

            Pilib came galloping down the beach to splash into the ocean and join the group. "What are you all up to? I just came down here to go swimming, and then here you all are! My new friends! Heh, heh, heh!" Sapphira couldn’t help noticing that he laughed like a donkey. But she was in a good mood (a reeeeeeally good mood) so she was nice.

            "Hey Pilib, how’s it going?" She smiled.

            "Great! Absolutely fabulous!" he grinned at her widely. "Say, where’d you all go after Brenna’s party? It wasn’t as much fun without you!" He laughed again and looked meaningfully at Fiona and Sapphira. He’d obviously noticed that James and Lily were together (who wouldn’t?) so he seemed to be mostly leaving Lily alone. Lucky her.

            "Well, I’m cold," Fiona stated loudly. "I’m for a lie on the beach."

            "Me, too," Sapphira agreed as she stepped into shallower waters. "Who brought sunscreen?"

            In a few moments, the entire company (Pilib included) had their towels stretched out on the beach and were lathering themselves up with sunscreen (Well, almost everyone. Sirius had declared himself too much of a ‘man’ to put on sunscreen. "Don’t come crying to me to put aloe on you when you look like a lobster" was Sapphira’s response. "Aw, but I won’t be able to reach everywhere you’ll need to put on aloe!"). Sapphira had just put some sunscreen in her hands when Pilib sauntered over.   

            "I’ll do your back," he offered. Without waiting for a reply he squirted some sunscreen into his hands and started massaging it gently into Sapphira’s back.

            "I’m quite all right, thanks," she jerked away, her eyes wide and her entire body stiff. Oh yuck. Oh my god that was bad. That was really bad. Oh my god, oh my god . . .

            "Here, Phira, I’ll do it." Lily swiftly took over where Pilib had left off.      

            "Thank you so much," she whispered as she watched Pilib make the same offer to Fiona, and try, rather unsuccessfully, to push Remus out of the way. Sirius leaned over from his place on his towel, next to Sapphira’s.

            "Should I have said, ‘kiss Pilib’ ‘stead of ‘kiss Snape’?" he joked, looking over to where Pilib had parked his towel; in the narrow space between Fiona and Sapphira.

            She shivered, despite the heat. "How do you know he and I aren’t secret lovers?" Her comeback didn’t have nearly as much sting as she’d intended.

            He leaned in even closer and whispered so no one else could hear. "You wouldn’t have kissed me back like that if you were."

            Sapphira looked quickly over at him, but he had already put on streamlined black sunglasses and was reading a muggle comic with lots of words with multiple exclamation points (Whoosh!!! Bang!!! Zing!!!)

            With a mental sigh, she rested her head on her arm and decided to let the sun do its thing on her too-pale skin. Oh, never mind.

            "Hey, Sapphira, you wanna play cards? You know rummy? Or gin? Or gin-rummy? Or poker? Or blackjack? Or —"

            "Stop naming games you know and I’ll play you in blackjack," Sapphira sighed. She sat up and let the grinning boy across from her deal.

            After a few games, Sapphira was a little more at ease with the new boy. He doesn’t seem like a bad sort, at least, when he’s not trying to hit on me.

            "I’m going to lie down for a bit now, Pilib. Thanks." She turned over onto her stomach and rested her head between her arms. It had been a lovely day so far, despite the horrific night before. What had Fi been going on about? Remembering her exhaustion, Sapphira promptly fell asleep.

***

Just before she awoke she felt aware of a very heavy weight all over her body, excepting her head. She was very suddenly aware of a malicious giggling coming from all sides. She forced open one eye. "Oh no . .  ."

She had been buried in sand! "You guys!" she struggled to get up and blinked in the sunlight. "Let me up!" She could make out the forms of her friends in the sunlight, all of who were laughing at her immobility.

"Stop it!  Ooh, when I get out of here I swear I will make you pay!"

"And why would we let you up after that greeting, Sapphira dear?" Asked Lily in a maddeningly singsong voice.

"I love you guys! I love you all! I have money! I have chocolate! Let me up!" She pleaded, realizing that she was entirely at their mercy and threats were not working.

"Hmmm, what shall we make her do first?" James asked the group, oblivious to Sapphira’s appeals.

"Kiss Pilib!" Fiona, being evil.

"Kiss Peter!" James elbowed Peter in the side, winking.

"Eat a sand crab!" Sirius, of course.

"Sing the entire new Beatles album backwards!" Lily, being a Muggle.

"Just let me up, or I swear, you’ll all pay at school," she would refrain from mentioning all the various hexes she’d looked up over the summer because there was a Muggle present, but she had quite a temper. And she’d mentioned enough curses to have the threat be dire, indeed.

"Fine, fine, but we’re all just being nice and lenient . . . this time," Remus had started to remove some sand so Sapphira could sit up comfortably.

"I’m going in for another swim," she said, kicking out her legs and showering the onlookers with sand. "You may join me if you like."

"Ooh, we have permission from her highness," Lily intoned looking mock-offended. "Shall I escort you to the water? Roll out the red towel for you?"

"Shove it, carrot-top," Sapphira replied with a glint in her eye. She turned to James. "James, dear, would you please shut your bloody girlfriend up?"

She winked.

James got the hint.

"Only too glad, majesty," he replied and promptly pounced on Lily, knocking her to the sand with a growl and a kiss.

"Oh, please," Fiona rolled her eyes and linked arms with Remus as they followed Sapphira to the water.

***

Later that evening, when the entirety of the gang was totally exhausted and the sun had already set, they started back to the inn, Pilib, as usual, tagging along.

"So, I guess this’s good night, then," Pilib smiled tiredly. "G’night all!"

Swiftly he gave Sapphira a huge hug that involved her being lifted off the ground. Lord, here he goes again was her annoyed thought.

Pilib put her down and turned to next sweep up Fiona in a massive embrace. Fi had actually been in the process of giving Remus a goodnight kiss and looked about ready to hex Pilib for interrupting when suddenly there was a green light.

Everyone looked around to find the source, and their eyes stopped on . . . Fi! Fiona herself was glowing with an unearthly light and the look on her face went from seriously aggravated to horrified shock. Her outline began to blur.

"Vol —" Fi started, eyes wide from fright.

"Fiona!" Remus reached out to grab her, but just as his hand was about to touch her shoulder, there was no shoulder.

Fiona was gone!