" First you must attend to things here!" said my mother with a smile."Make sure I am given a decent burial, Feodor, but most of all, I wantyou to... r...member me..."And then her head fell back on the pillow, and her face turned to theside - she was dead. I held her to my arms and wept bitterly allthroughout the night, rocking in my chair. ***The following morning, I found a spot under our apple tree in which tobury my mother. I kissed her soft human brow. This was followed by a long, low, angry screech that pierced both their ears. “Sounds like a friend of yours,” said Sirius slyly. “Riiiiight,” Harry said with a smirk. “I’m not the only one here that has a furry friend with claws, you know.” Sirius nodded in agreement, but still motioned Harry to the door. Harry shrugged, wrapped his hand about the door’s handle and, wand at the ready, swung it open. If it had not been for the crumple of dark blue robes dangling from the creature’s enormous. I wondered where he was now. “Sorry about the bump on the head. I would have extended a more conventional invitation to stay awhile, but I hate rejection”. It was the shirtless muscle bear. “Besides, I think it’s important to establish my dominance early on in the relationship. Knocking you out, and tying you up covers that pretty well, don’t you think?” “You have a pretty hard head, I was surprised when you didn’t black out from me clocking you. You didn’t have much fight left in you though,. ‭ ‬I didn't even make coffee‭; ‬I just pulled on some heavy clothes and packed my ass out to the van.‭ ‬I did check to make sure the temperature inside the cabin was above freezing.‭ ‬It was by a few degrees, ‭ ‬so I didn't increase the setting on the oil stove.I stopped by the closest fast food joint for coffee and a biscuit.‭ "‬I miss Skeeter, ‭ ‬damn it, ‭" ‬I said aloud, ‭ ‬as I drove into the office parking lot.‭ ‬I opened the door and staggered to my desk.‭ ‬The Hardee's bag held not only.