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Sirius O. Black (pad_foot) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-09-05 19:33:00

Entry tags:

!closed, phillipa cobb, sirius black

WHO: Sirius and Phillipa
WHAT: Phillipa and her new babysitter visit the park.
WHEN: Lunchtime.
WHERE: The Park
RATING/STATUS: PG/Incomplete

Sirius was babysitting. Not that he minded. Sirius had always got on well with children, partly because a very large part of his personality wasn't that much more mature than most of them. He'd adored Harry, after all, and he'd practically raised Regulus until his little brother had turned (quite effectively) into an evil git. He'd spent many an afternoon minding Dora back home. (That was, before she'd grown up and had started shagging his best mate, clearly...) Anyway, Sirius found that having a cute little kid running about did wonders when you were trying to meet women.

And it took his mind off a lot of things, which was what he needed right now.

So the animagus loped into the park, hands shoved into his pockets, dark hair falling elegantly into his eyes as he chatted seriously to his newest charge. He had just shared a cup of his usual black, sweet coffee over the Cobb's kitchen table, but it hadn't quite been strong enough to banish the ache from his joints. He hadn't been sleeping too well recently, and he was itching for a cigarette... Only he knew that particular craving would have to wait until he'd dropped Phillipa back home.

The sun washed over the grass, banishing some of the autumn chill, although there was still a brisk breeze that nipped at Sirius' cheeks and neck. After an hour of tricking Mal into thinking he wasn't completely insane, she'd finally allowed Phillipa to drag Sirius to the open spaces of the park. After all, there was still a blackout, and there wasn't much to be doing in the flats while there was no power and, in their case, no magic... As they trudged down one of the winding paths, Sirius glanced down at the little girl skipping energetically along beside him, his mouth twitching into a grin.

"You're gonna be too tired to walk home if you keep that up," he told her.

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daddys_angel
2010-09-05 08:08 pm UTC (link)

"Nuh uh! I can walk for miles and miles!" Phillipa was quite excited to be out walking around with the awesome Sirius Black. He was much younger than she had thought he would be, but that was okay, because some grown ups were boring anyway (but not her parents or uncle or Mr. Eames, of course), so the younger, the better. She had just spent the last ten minutes telling him all about the Harry Potter books, which had been probably a very confusing conversation for him, especially since Phillipa assumed he had known all about them because, after all, he'd been there. The fact that he didn't look like himself from the movies was okay with her, because shes knew he was a wizard and he could do magic, so that of course explained everything.

A patch of flowers caught her eye and she moved off the path and over to them, plopping down to pick two big handfuls, not noticing that her denim overalls now had a grass stain. Getting up after a moment, she ran back over to Sirius and offered the flowers to him. "These are for you!" She smiled and waited for him to take them, and after he did, she started to hop along instead of skip, pretending she was a bunny.

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pad_foot
2010-09-05 08:50 pm UTC (link)

Sirius laughed as the little girl bounded away over the grass, heading for the flowerbed that was bursting with the last of the summer's flowers. There was a moment when he hesitated, then he grinned broadly and sloped off the path after her, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet with an energy not dissimilar to that of Phillipa's. She met him halfway, holding out handfuls of flowers, and Sirius squatted down to accept them. The moment he took the plants, she was skipping away again, and Sirius plonked himself down on the grass.

"Phil!" He called after her, waving her back to him as he crossed his legs and scattered the flowers in his lap. "Want to see a trick?"

Sirius pulled his wand from his pocket, selected a white daisy from the collection and held it between thumb and forefinger. A flick of his wand, and the snowy petals merged and morphed until a pure white butterfly was balanced on the stem clutched in his fingers.

Sirius dropped the stem, and the butterfly fluttered its winds, darting through the air to sit for a moment of Phillipa's tiny palm. Sirius grinned at her, pulling one leg up to his chest and slinging an arm over it casually. It was a pretty piece of magic, something Prongs would probably have teased him about before he realized just how good it was for impressing girls, both of their own age and those who were only five and three quarters.

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daddys_angel
2010-09-05 09:04 pm UTC (link)

When he called, she turned and hopped back towards him, sitting again on the grass to watch. She smiled brightly when he pulled out his wand and sat up, because she knew that it meant he was about to do something magic. She watched closely, her eyes widening as the flower turned into a butterfly.

"Wowww..." The word was dragged out in awe as her wide eyes stared in wonder. When the butterfly flew towards her, she put out her hand, then giggled as it landed. "It tickles!" Her other hand reached out to very gently brush its wings, and she giggled again as the butterfly took off once again. She watched it until she couldn't see it anymore, then turned back to him. She stood and started flapping her arms like wings as she made her way back over, and plopped onto the grass yet again.

"Can you turn me into a butterfly?!"

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pad_foot
2010-09-05 09:19 pm UTC (link)

He laughed again, leaning back on his hands as Phillipa's eyes widened and the butterfly took flight, skimming away over the grass and away until it vanished from sight. The little girl almost exploded back into life, using her arms as wings before flopping back down in front of him. He grinned at her, his wand caught between his fingers and one arched eyebrow lifting. "I don't think your Mum would like it much. Anyway, I reckon being a Butterfly'd get a bit boring after a while..."

He grinned widely at her, before glancing back down to the flowers shewn around him and over his jeans. Sirius gathered them up together, placing them carefully to one side. "How're you liking your new flat?" He asked her. Mal had told him Phillipa hadn't been here long. "Apart from the lights not working."

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daddys_angel
2010-09-05 09:31 pm UTC (link)

"But if I'm a butterfly I could fly up and up and up and all over the place and I could eat flowers without getting sick." Her eyes traveled up as she spoke, and she eventually flopped onto her back, staring up at the clouds. "And I'd be pretty and no one could catch me!"

It took her a moment to remember what a 'flat' was, but when she did, she spoke up right away. "It's kinda big but it's real weird. I miss our house back home and my daddy and James. But I'm glad mommy's here because it's been soooo long since I've seen her and I really missed her." Her eyes turned from the clouds to look over at him. "She was living with the angels but now she's living with me. And I like that Uncle Arthur and Mr. Eames are here too. Mr Eames can do magic like you - he finds quarters in my ears!" Which was almost as cool as being a butterfly. She sat up again and started to pick some more flowers, these ones being for her mommy.

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pad_foot
2010-09-05 09:59 pm UTC (link)

"There's ways to fly without turning into a butterfly," Sirius pointed out to her. For a moment he considered his bike, which was still parked a little way away from the Cobbs' building. But then he remembered the look on Lily's face when he'd threatened (offered) to take the baby for a ride, and decided against it. At least, for the time being. He still didn't see what all the fuss was about. It wasn't like he'd crashed it regularly...

He shifted to meet Phillipa's gaze when she spoke, listening to her seriously. Quite frankly, hearing the name 'James' so close to the word 'angels' made his stomach do that painful twisting thing, but he ignored it. Still, Sirius couldn't really stop the frown twisting his features for a moment as his charge turned her attention back to the flowers. He wondered what happened to Mal, back home. If she knew. How many people in this stupid city were carrying on with their lives, knowing all too well that it'd all be cut short when they returned home...

Merlin. What happened to taking his mind off things?! Also, he didn't really appreciate being compared to this Eames dude - the muggle idea of magic was about as mental as everything else they came up with. Though his excellent 'rabbit from a hat' trick had always gone down with the muggle girls in James' village.

"Well, I heard they're all happy you're here now," he told her, watching her gather the flowers. "I think everything here's a bit weird though." He wondered, briefly, what Harry would have been like at five years old. He hoped he had been as happy as Phil, but somehow doubted it. "I'm here with all my friends as well. Only one of them's really old compared to how I remember him."

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