By Maverick

I was so tired when I woke up later that morning that I nearly fell asleep in my coffee. Moody wasn’t pleased when it splashed all over the table, let me tell you.

"Well, that’s what happens when you come home at three in the morning," he said loftily. "Did anything interesting happen at the Ministry yesterday? I didn’t get a chance to ask you before. Because someone wasn’t here."

I ignored his last sentence and said, "Moody, is it possible that there are people working at the Ministry who aren’t actually working for the Ministry?"

He turned and shot me a look. The kind that says ‘are-you-completely-stupid?’

"I mean," I clarified hastily, "people working undercover."

"For the Aurors?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "No, I mean…not for the Ministry or for the Aurors. Kinda like-"

"Independents? Yes, it’s very possible. Years ago, they were the ones who didn’t agree with the way the Ministry handled things-" he snorted, rolling his magical eye to the ceiling, "or the ones who couldn’t get into the Auror standings for whatever reasons. Some are…well, useless, really, but if we can find them, they generally have different information than we do. Can be very helpful, really. There aren’t many around now though. Fudge refuses to acknowledge Voldemort’s return and there’s not much else we can do to make people listen if their Minister won’t believe the truth."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"Why?"

I just shrugged. "No reason. Just asking."

He looked at me seriously. "Be careful, Lass. Sometimes there are Death-Eaters working as spies."

I got to my feet, pulling on my cloak. "I know. And I am. See you later!" Grabbing a piece of toast off his plate, I opened the front door and ran outside. Great…late again.

*****

It was quieter than usual when I got to the office. Puzzled, I grabbed Charles’ arm as he stormed past me with a plant in one hand and a chair in the other. "What’s going on? Where is everyone?"

He looked at me distastefully. "The Dark Mark appeared last night in Ireland. Half the departments are over there, making sure everything’s all right."

My mouth went dry. I hadn’t had time to read the paper that morning. "Was anyone hurt?"

Charles snorted at me. "What’s generally the situation when that bloody skull gets shot up into the sky?" he snapped bitterly, before pulling away and storming off. ‘Reminds me of Filch,’ I thought, glaring after him. What an incredibly unpleasant person he could be.

I dropped into my chair and leaned back, yawning. Looking around furtively, I pulled Tatiana Kent’s file out of my bag and started sifting through it. Just as I’d thought - blue eyes. Wow…but the girl I had seen yesterday looked just like her, right down to the arch of her eyebrows. I gathered the parchments up and shoved them back in the file. Getting to my feet, I made my way towards Kent’s office. If half the department was in Ireland, surely she would be too.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was empty. Smiling to myself, I wandered over to the bookcase, leaving my bag by the door. Kent had a lot of books. Some sounded incredibly boring (‘How many slivers of glass are present in…’) but there were also others. Others with names like ‘The Dark Years’ or ‘Darkening the Light that Shines.’

"What are you doing in here?"

‘Uh oh…’

Standing in the doorway was Tatiana Kent. And she did not look very happy.

"I was just…erm…making sure everything was…uh…" I trailed off. "It isn’t what it looks like," I blurted out. Ouch, scratch that. It was exactly what it looked like.

She held something up in her left hand and I inhaled sharply. My file! And it was open. I cursed myself for leaving it where she could find it.

"What I want to know," she said evenly, "is who the hell you really are."

I stepped closer and then immediately took a step back. Her eyes were hazel. "Maybe we should start with you, Giuliana," I retorted, wanting to kick myself when I realized what I’d said. You don’t say things like that to a Potential Death Eater. ‘But she isn’t one,’ a little voice in my head argued. I shoved it away.

She’d gone very pale. "What did you call me?" Her voice was scratchy, like she’d just received a huge shock.

I swallowed hard. "Giuliana," I repeated. "I know you’re not Tatiana Kent. She," I swallowed again, "-she doesn’t have brown eyes."

She stared at me for a second. "Who are you?" she croaked out. "Voldemort send you…? Because if you’re on his side, go ahead and kill me! I don’t care!" she said vehemently.

Tentatively, I pulled my wand out of my robes and placed it on the desk, stepping away from it. This was dangerous. If my hunch was wrong, I’d be dead in less than sixty seconds.

"I’m…I’m an Auror."

There was complete silence in the room. "A what?" she asked weakly.

"An Auror," I repeated, looking at her nervously.

She suddenly leaned against the wall, practically collapsing against it. "Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed, reverting back to an Irish accent. "I thought you were going to kill me!"

I relaxed, reaching out and shoving my wand back into my pocket. "Not today," I said, smirking at her.

"An Auror," she mused. "I can’t believe it. So the Ministry are taking this seriously!"

I sighed heavily. "No…not exactly."

She raised a perfect eyebrow. "What do you mean, not exactly? Either they are, or they aren’t."

"They aren’t."

"But-but, you’re here!" she spluttered in disbelief. "If you’re here, then-"

"I wasn’t sent by the Ministry," I said quietly.

She stared at me. "You don’t belong to one of those cult orders, do you?"

I snorted. "Of course not. Don’t be so absolutely ridiculous. I told you already, I’m an Auror."

"You’re from some sort of organization then, aren’t you?" she guessed. "Not from the Ministry, but not from Voldemort either."

I didn’t say a word.

"Then there are others who know he’s returned," she mused to herself.

"Where’s the real Tatiana Kent?" I asked suddenly. I don’t know… maybe Independent’s are murderers. Or something.

Giuliana waved her hand dismissively. "She’s safe and sound at home. She’s my sister."

I opened my mouth to comment on how dangerous it was to take on the identity of a witch that anyone could come in contact with.

"She’s a Muggle. Don’t worry, I was careful."

"Have you found anything out?" I asked uncomfortably.

Her gaze was sharp. "Listen…Auror. I understand that there are some others…like you, working against Voldemort. But I can’t tell you the secrets my organization has. Don’t step on my toes and I won’t step on yours."

I took the file out of her hand, shoving it quickly back in my bag. "I can help you," I said quietly.

"We’ve done fine without you lot until now," she said, not quite looking at me. "We don’t need your help."

"We could help each other," I said and then paused. "We’re fighting for the same thing, you know."

"I know that," she said evenly. "But…I need to talk to-"

"Thomas," I finished for her. She stiffened and her surprise was evident in her eyes. "If both of you have information…you could-"

"I don’t need your help! Our information will not help you," she lashed out. "We are trying to stop a war, not exchange recipes in baking!"

I couldn’t for the life of me follow her logic. "Fine," I said tightly, knowing the conversation was over. "But if you need help…if you change your mind…"

"I won’t but thank you. And I trust you’ll keep my identity to yourself?"

"If you keep mine to yours."

"Very well then."

I was about to open the door when her voice stopped me.

"We are fighting for the same thing…and we are on the same side. But we must continue to make our plans separately. It is much safer for all, this way."

I shook my head. "I disagree. But, as you wish."

I made my way back to my desk feeling strangely let down. I had hoped that my instincts would be right. They were, but I had also hoped that Giuliana would have some different leads to the ones the Aurors had. And that she would be willing to share them.

Voldemort hadn’t made an appearance yet but his Death Eaters were active again. Dark Wizards were popping up all over the place. I didn’t understand how the Ministry could possibly just disregard everything that was happening.

Finally deciding I’d better get some actual work done, I pulled out some reports and started filing them. I was starting to fall asleep again when Percy Weasley shuffled past my cubicle muttering something about ‘Penny’ and ‘lunch.’

‘Noon…Severus!’ Cursing the fact that I had a terrible memory, I snatched my bag and my wand and apparated to Hogsmede.

Hogsmede isn’t that big, but I had absolutely no idea where to find him. I was ready to give up when a hand grabbed my arm.

"Boo," he muttered half-heartedly.

I whirled around. "Why do you do things like that?" I snapped. "Do you think it’s funny because I-" I stopped abruptly. Severus looked awful. Really and truly awful. "What happened?" I extended a hand towards his cheek, which was starting to turn a lovely purple colour.

He pulled away. "Fell off a cliff," he said shortly.

I dropped my hand. What that meant was that Voldemort had used the Cruciatus curse and then left him for his Death Eaters to beat up. "Still paying for ‘deserting’ him in his time of need?"

A tiny smile flittered over his pale features. "Something like that. Can we walk? It’s just…I’ve got this feeling that someone’s watching me."

I rolled my eyes at him. Severus has never been able to stand still. He’s constantly fidgeting, which can be extremely annoying. "Fine, let’s go. Where are we going, by the way?"

"Anywhere but here," he muttered, more to himself than to me.

We walked side by side in complete silence for a few minutes.

"Heard you’re doing Healing down in Dover," he said conversationally.

I raised my eyebrows, watching the ground in amusement. "Why does everyone know this? How does everyone know this?"

He snorted. "Heard Black and Fletcher arguing about it."

‘Sirius?’ My head shot up but Severus didn’t notice.

"I didn’t know you two had gotten back together."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You what?"

He glanced at me. "Well…I can understand if you guys wanted to keep it…private or whatever. Him being a murdering, traitorous…" he trailed off. "But I just thought you’d have mentioned it, is all."

"Did he tell you-"

He cut me off. "No, no! I just assumed…I mean…well…" He looked incredibly uncomfortable. "I just thought you’d have mentioned it or something."

"But…but…we’re not."

Severus turned his black eyes on me, looking confused. "Yes you are."

"No, we’re not."

"Yes, you are," he insisted.

I rolled my eyes at him. "What makes you think that?"

"You should have heard the way he was carrying on! ‘You’ll pull her off that Ministry job, Fletcher! It’s too dangerous! She’ll be hurt! She could die!’" he said, mimicking Sirius’ voice. He snorted. "Ranting and raving and carrying on about how ruthless Death Eaters are with female Aurors. Honestly…"

My jaw must have been scraping the cold cement by now. Part of me wanted to hate Sirius for worrying and another part of me loved him for caring.

Severus stopped talking abruptly. "Why are you looking at me like that? What did I say?"

"He said that?" I asked meekly.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, you’re not going to go all mushy on me, are you?" he groaned. "The two of you are both so-" He stopped walking. "You. Aren’t. Oops…"

I started to laugh.

"You aren’t…right…of course, I should have known that. But you should have heard the way he was talking! As if you still belonged to him."

My laughter vanished and I stared at him wordlessly. ‘As if you still belonged to him.’ The words echoed in my head and I suddenly felt light-headed.

Severus raised his eyebrow. "That’s it though, isn’t it?" he said quietly, making it more a statement than a question. "That’s why you ran away. Why you came back. You still belong to him." He shook his head slowly. "He murders fifteen people, including his best friend and you still love him." His voice was thickly laced with disbelief.

"He didn’t kill them," I said quietly, even though I was starting to shake.

"Oh, not you too!" he exclaimed so loudly that I jumped. "Dumbledore, that…that Potter…boy! All of you have completely lost your minds!"

I glared at him. "Severus, I’m telling you the truth."

"How do you know?" he countered.

I paused, my mouth open. How did I know? "The same way you know you love someone!" I snapped before I could think. "You just know!" The surprise was so obvious on his face that I forced myself to calm down. "I just know," I said in a quieter voice.

"You trust him." He sounded bitter. I glanced at him in surprise and at that moment, in that very second, he looked every single one of his thirty-four years.

"Yes. I trust him."

If he was surprised by this confession, he didn’t show it. "I could never understand…why you were so…loyal…so devoted to him. All of you," he said distastefully, "too bloody caring for your own good."

"Sirius has done a lot of stupid things," I started softly and I saw him nod grimly, evidently thinking of that time in Sixth Year, when Sirius had nearly gotten him killed, "but he isn’t a murderer. He isn’t."

"He tried to kill me!" Severus growled, his fists clenching and unclenching in…anger? Rage? Frustration? I had no idea. "How are you going to justify that one?"

"What did you expect?" I exploded suddenly. "His father had just died and you went and taunted him about his family!"

Severus stumbled slightly before righting himself. "What?" His voice was barely more than a whisper.

I looked away. I felt guilty for telling him…even though I’d made the promise more years ago than I could count, I still felt guilty.

"I don’t want anyone else to know," he said firmly, his voice hoarse.

I didn’t know what to say. "Sirius-"

"Let me tell them on my own," he pleaded. "Promise me you won’t tell anyone."

I stared at him reluctantly. "All right," I said at last. "I promise."

"I didn’t know…never knew…I just thought…"

"How are you going to justify that one?" I said softly.

There was a long, awkward silence after that.

"I still don’t like him, you know."

I snorted, glad that the painful silence was gone. "I didn’t ask you to. All I’m asking is that you don’t outwardly try to, you know…kill him."

"As if I would!" he said, sounding insulted.

I coughed. "Of course you wouldn’t," I said smoothly, smirking at him.

His expression remained sombre. "Have you told him?"

I paused. "Told him…what?"

Severus turned his eyes towards the sky. "Does he know that you still love him?" he demanded impatiently.

"I never said that I-"

"Oh, Aria, please," he said in disgust. "You might not have said it, but you do."

"I don’t-"

"Then say it," he muttered. "Tell me you don’t. Say it."

I couldn’t even open my mouth.

He glanced at me and I was surprised to see the disappointment etched in every bitter line on his young face. "You can’t tell me that you don’t love him and yet…you can’t tell him that you do. Funny…never had you down as a coward, Walsh."

I started telling him that I wasn’t, that I just couldn’t say it, that I needed more time – but found myself standing next to thin air instead.

‘…never had you down as a coward…’

*****

I have absolutely no recollection of what I did when I went back to work. I could have blown someone up and I wouldn’t have known it. After work, I apparated straight to Dover. I felt faintly ashamed and I didn’t know why but I did know that I didn’t want to run into Moody. Although I still had to tell him about Giuliana and that whole brouhaha. Oh well…I would have time later.

"Aria," came a croaky voice from one of the beds.

"Hi Kasen," I greeted, glad to see he was no longer sweating and his eyes weren’t as dull as they had been yesterday.

"Carine’s in the kitchen feeding Ilana. She wasn’t expecting you until later though…"

"I just thought I’d come straight after work. Saves my energy." From the look on his face I knew that he could tell I was lying.

"If you say so," he said doubtfully.

I fiddled with the edge of his pillow. "Um…I’m going to the kitchens now." I got up to leave when he grabbed my hand. I jerked away as if I’d been burned. "Bye," I squeaked, turning around and walking briskly away. I could feel his eyes following me and it made me feel very very uncomfortable. I quickened my pace and nearly tripped down the stairs.

‘Calm down…just calm down.’ Why was I getting myself into such a state? ‘It’s okay…just calm down.’

Shaking my head at my incredibly stupidity, I pushed open the door to the kitchen and was greeted by a male House Elf, who pushed me into a chair and hurried away, only to return minutes later with a sandwich and a glass of Pumpkin Juice.

Carine surveyed my expression with a snort of laughter. "Cute, aren’t they?"

As I nibbled off the crusts of my sandwich, she told me briefly what we should be expecting later.

"The big thing’s up in Ireland now. They don’t know if they’re dealing with Voldemort or just Death Eaters fooling around. Or both. It should be pretty quiet tonight. Oh," she added, "before I forget, this was dropped off for you today." She handed me a package wrapped in plain brown paper.

It was heavy and rectangular shaped and, pulling off the cheap paper, I realized it was a book. A very thick book titled ‘A Glance at the Symbolic Side of Magic.’ It looked more like

a very in-depth gaze, rather than a glance, if you wanted my opinion. I hauled it onto the table and flipped it open.

A short note was tucked into the binding of the book and had obviously been written in a great hurry.

Followed by a large printed X with two parallel lines running across the top and bottom.

Rolling my eyes, I slammed the book shut and dropped my head onto it. "I must have been a really awful person in my past life," I muttered.

Carine chuckled. "Dare I ask?"

"I have to find different meanings of a symbol from this book," I said, my voice muffled.

I glanced up to see her eyeing the book dubiously. "Aria…are you sure? Maybe you misunderstood the instructions."

I shook my head. "I wish I had."

"But…it’s…it’s at least five inches thick! You’ll be searching forever!"

"Don’t I know it," I growled, shoving the book away and finishing my sandwich quickly. "When do we get started?"

She looked up at the Muggle clock mounted on the wall. "Now. We just have to make sure each patient is comfortable before anything drastic happens. It shouldn’t take too long.

There’s only about ten in the ward right now. Lots got discharged today."

"That’s good. Isn’t it?" I asked doubtfully, when I saw her expression.

She sighed. "I don’t know. It’s strange. Take Kasen for example. The poor boy’s been here for three weeks now and his symptoms should be gone. He should be healed by now."

"What’s wrong with him?"

"Internal bleeding," she said grimly.

I paused. "Can’t you fix it?"

She pushed back her slightly tangled hair. "I’ve tried! But everytime I try to help him, it just seems to get worse. I don’t know what to do anymore. There’s nothing else I can do to help him."

I stared at her, not wanting to believe it. "He’s dying?"

She shook her head. "I don’t know. I really don’t know."

*****

The hospital was relatively quiet that evening so I managed to start sifting through that book, searching for the different meanings of what that symbol could mean. My eyes were starting to close when I felt a shadow fall over me.

"Aria?"

I muttered something stupid and closed my eyes.

Bony fingers dug into my shoulders, shaking me.

"Ouch, bloody hell, what??"

Carine looked troubled. "Mad-Eye Moody’s…well…he’s er…in the fire and I think-"

I jumped up abruptly making my way out of the ward only to return a moment later. "Uh…where is the fire?"

Carine snorted and shaking her head, led me towards the office where Moody’s head was sitting, quite contentedly, in the green flames. "Helllloooooo," he greeted me cheerfully.

"What’s wrong?" I asked frantically. What else was I supposed to think? He was disturbing me at work. Something had to be wrong.

His face turned grim. "It’s under control now. But there was a small…problem with the raid tonight."

I sank into Carine’s chair. "Oh no. No one’s…"

He shook his head violently. "NO! Nothing like that. Actually, it didn’t get pulled off the way we’d anticipated. The files were dead. Anyway. That’s not the major thing. There’s a small problem at the Ministry."

I snorted. "Why does this news not strike fear into the depths of my heart?"

He glared at me. "As I was saying, half the Ministry was in Ireland this morning, fixing up and all that and a couple Ministry officials…well…they…er…"

"What? Ate lunch? Used the loo? Jumped off a building? Got new haircuts? WHAT?"

"They…well…they actually disappeared. Kind of."

It took me a while to process this information. "What do you mean, kind of? Either they did or they didn’t. You can’t kind of disappear!"

He paused. "Erm…well…you see…they did disappear. But…they didn’t."

"Moody, you’re not making any sense."

"Well…it’s strange, if you ask me. Apparently they were there one moment and gone the next and they returned later on."

I stared at him. "You’re kidding, right? I mean…wow, them being wizards and all, I don’t suppose they could have disapparated, could they? Oh no! That would have been the simple solution. Forgive me for being so ridiculously stupid."

"Where would they have gone?" he growled, obviously not amused by my sarcasm.

"Home? The zoo? The toilet? I don’t know, Moody, I wasn’t there!"

He practically howled in frustration. "Exactly! No one knows where they could possibly have gone!"

"Why does it matter?!?"

"Because," he said, between clenched teeth, "every single person that left the site bears the mark of Voldemort!"

I stared at him, the light dawning (finally). "You think he summoned them?"

Moody looked thoughtful. "It’s possible. I just thought it was strange. Six once-accused Death Eaters all disapparating at the same time?"

"It is strange," I said slowly. "But why are you telling me this? The way you were talking, I thought someone had died!"

"It could happen," he muttered sardonically.

"That’s really cheerful," I snapped. "But could you please keep your incredibly morbid thoughts to yourself? I don’t want to hear them right now, thanks anyway."

"Hold on one second." Moody’s head disappeared and I rolled my eyes. For Heaven’s sake…"Okay, I’m back. You’d best get back here. We need to talk about that Potential you’ve been shadowing…something fishy going on there…but-"

"Oh, that reminds me," I interrupted. "I have to tell you about-"

"Would you just get back here?" And then he was gone.

I looked up at Carine (who was trying not to laugh) helplessly.

"You’d better go," she said, smirking. "I don’t think anything major’s going to happen tonight."

I nodded. "I’ll see you tomorrow then."

She handed me my book. "Don’t forget this. Symbols."

I made a face. "Good night." I sighed heavily as I disapparated. I was really getting quite good at it.

*****

Moody was nowhere to be found when I arrived back at the house. I hauled that stupid book onto the platform and closed my eyes.

I landed on the cushion and was immediately helped off by a young wizard I didn’t know. The first thing that struck me was that there was actually light in there. The next thing I realized was that the room had more people in it than it usually did.

"Lass? That you?"

"No, it’s the tooth fairy," I muttered. "What’s going on?"

"We’re discussing," he said, nodding, as if it should have been obvious who all the people were. "How was your day, by the way? I didn’t see you this afternoon."

I looked away. "Oh well…I apparated straight there after…oh yes, that reminds me. That Potential you had me shadowing-"

"No need to worry," he said, sounding quite cheerful. "Stupid Death Eater…she’s dead."

The book slipped out of my hands and landed with a loud thud. The loud chattering in the room halted and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. "What?" I was shocked. She couldn’t be dead. I’d just talked to her that afternoon.

He smiled, his disfigured nose seeming even more prominent. "Yeah…they found her body in the copying room. She was strangled, apparently."

I stared at him in horror. "But-but, Moody," I gasped out, "she wasn’t-she wasn’t a Death Eater!"

"’Course she was! That’s probably why-"

"She wasn’t a Death Eater!" I snapped again, this time with more anger.

"She was working undercover," he said witheringly.

"So am I!" I exploded. "Does that mean I should get killed too?!? I spoke to her this afternoon. I’m telling you, she wasn’t a Death Eater!"

The silence in the room was even louder than before and even Moody paused. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I’m-"

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"Yes, I’m-"

"You have to be completely positive!" he barked. "You have to know for sure!"

"I am bloody sure!" I yelled back at him. "Her name wasn’t Tatiana Kent, it was Giuliana LaForder and she was working as an Independent!"

He ran one gnarled hand worriedly over his chin before glancing behind him. "Who found her body, Collins?"

Chelsea Collins, a tall, skinny witch in her mid-forties shrugged. "Her boss, I think. It could have been the janitor. I’m not sure."

"Find out," he snapped. "And I want the background statistics on every single person who had access to that building."

I stared at him. "Moody, it isn’t the Unspeakables! Any person walking down the street can get in there."

He looked at me sharply. "She’s right…see if any wards have been penetrated in the past forty-eight hours in the Unspeakable Department. A copy of whatever the murderers were after is probably there. Check every single guard at the Ministry for Memory Charms but do not attempt to break it if you suspect one has been used." People were scurrying all over the place, following his instructions. I nearly snorted. It was quite obvious that half the people were either really terrified of him or respected him in some way that couldn’t be measured. "And where the hell is Fletcher?!?"

I edged away from him slightly. Good Lord…he didn’t half have a loud voice! Blasting my eardrums…

"He should be here by now!" someone called out before disappearing.

Moody pursed his lips. "Damn that son of a bitch. He always-"

"What do I always do?" Fletcher stepped gracefully of the cushion, yawning. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not much, except that the undercover wasn’t a Death Eater."

Fletcher’s eyes flew open and his hands dropped to his sides. "Independent?" he asked in a low tone.

Moody shot me a sideways glance. "We’re positive."

Fletcher responded with some curses so vulgar, I was sure he’d created them himself. "Do we know what she was stationed there for?"

They both looked at me. I frowned, trying to remember. "She was working with a man called Thomas. Thomas…oh damnit…Thomas Andrews! They were trying to find the passwords to the Ministry files."

Mundungus Fletcher narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Any ideas as to why?" he inquired.

"They wanted to know the names of every magical person in Britain and the – er – the Order they belong to."

Moody’s eyes lit up and he punched Fletcher hard in the shoulder. "That’s it! They were searching for the Elite Seven, I bet you anything!!!"

This was starting to seem like something out of a ‘B’ movie. The Elite Seven…what an absolutely stupid name.

Fletcher rubbed his shoulder and glared at Moody in complete irritation. "The Elite Seven are dead, you blithering idiot," he muttered.

Moody was so excited that he didn’t even try to hex him. "Not all of them and no one else knows that except us!" he crowed.

I stared at them both, trying to make sense of what they were saying. "Who the heck are the Elite Seven?"

Moody cackled. "They were seven of the greatest witches and wizards of all time!"

"They’re dead," Fletcher muttered. "So, get on with it and tell the damn story!"

He was sadly ignored. "The Aurors believed that those seven could bring about Voldemort’s downfall."

"And they were wrong," Fletcher cut in.

Once again, he was ignored. "They were so powerful…so very bloody powerful…almost insane to imagine that much power in one person. Why, I remember when-"

"Voldemort somehow found out about them and went on a mad killing rampage," Fletcher interrupted. "Killed half the wizarding population, half the muggle population and the

Seven got in the way."

"Oh, Mundungus!" Moody exclaimed, nearly hopping in glee. "You tell it in such a deadpan manner! They deserve to be remembered. And besides…he did not kill half the wizarding population! Your estimation is terrible."

I choked back a laugh at the expression on Fletcher’s face. He looked like nothing would bring him more pleasure than to put Moody’s face through a brick wall.

"Anyway," Fletcher said, grinding his teeth, "the only one still alive is Albus Dumbledore and a fat lot of good that would do anyone."

Moody slapped him on the back, almost jovially. "You’re forgetting one very important thing," he said in a sing-song voice.

"And that would be…?"

"No one knows Dumbledore belonged to that Order."

I don’t think even he could have mistaken the roll of my eyes for anything else. "Do you think everyone else living in this world doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together?"

He paused. "What?"

Fletcher was the one to roll his eyes this time. "She means," he said, irritated, "that it’s obvious to anyone who has half a wit that Dumbledore was involved in some sort of strange Order. And seeing that Voldemort knows about the Elite Seven, I think it’s safe to say that he also knew who was the head of the bloody organization."

Moody frowned, obviously stumped and I hid a smile. "Oh yeah…just kidding. In any case, you’ve been pulled off that Ministry mission," he said, directing his statement at me before turning and limping off.

I stared incredulously after him before whirling on Fletcher and glaring at him. "I started that whole thing! At least let me finish the damn investigation!"

He smirked cheerfully. "Can’t."

"Can’t or won’t?" I asked suspiciously.

He paused. "Both."

I groaned in frustration. "Why can’t I just-"

Fletcher drew himself up to his full height, which really wasn’t necessary, seeing that he towered over me anyway. "You can’t," he said importantly, "because I said so."

And that was that.

I wasn’t in a particularly good mood after that. I was now reduced to apparating to Dover and searching through musty old books that often acted as if possessed. And all my hard work had been for nothing. There was still the business of that note I had found - Moody seemed to have dismissed it completely. I, however, wanted to know who had written and what they had meant by it. And the only way I could do that was to defy the instructions I had been given and go on doing it my way.

At least, that was my plan until Fletcher called me over.

"Walsh, I’ve got an assignment for you."

I nearly cried. "What is it?"

"Now, now…don’t look at me like that! It’s nothing too terrifying, I promise you," he snorted with laughter. I looked at him pointedly. "Yes, yes," he said hastily, "of course.

You’ll be working with a partner this time. Haven’t found one for you yet, but give me some time and I’ll work something out."

I sighed patiently. "That’s all good and well, Fletcher…but what am I going to be doing?"

He shuffled his feet slightly. "Finding Potential’s hideouts and well, ‘borrowing’ some of their files."

I stared at him incredulously. "How is that any less dangerous than finishing the investigation I was already on?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I got the distinct impression that he was silently counting to ten and I took a step backwards. "Walsh," he said in measured tones, "Moody has written everything you told him about that assignment down. We’re combing it for clues right now, hoping we can find something. Your job is over. Now, I’m in charge and I’m telling you that you’re going to follow this new assignment. Or else."

"Or else what?"

"Just, or else!" he barked.

I raised an eyebrow. "All right, all right! Keep your hair on!"

"My hair," he said between gritted teeth, "is just fine. But you – you’re annoying me! So shut up and go away!"

I watched him stalk away with my jaw on the floor. ‘Temper, temper…’

*****

My new assignment would go into effect in just two short hours. Between that, working at the hospital and reading ‘the books’, I realized that I would be incredibly, busy.

And I was sort of looking forward to it. I loved being busy. It gave me time to forget what I was thinking about. I could force myself to concentrate on what I was doing and I wouldn’t think about anything else until the task was completed. Most of the time.

The meeting had lasted an incredibly long time, resulting in an extreme lack of sleep (for me). I had finally given up and fallen asleep against the wall, only to be awoken five minutes later by Moody, telling me to "go up to bed."

I trudged up the stairs, falling into my bed fully clothed, only to be shaken violently a few hours later.

"Lass?"

"Moody?" I mumbled, still half asleep. "Do you want something?"

"Get up. You have to get to work."

I lifted my head only to slam it right back into my pillow. "Tell Fletcher I’m sick. No, better yet, tell him I died and am currently buried in a cemetery in Madagascar."

"Do you want any engraving on your headstone?"

I processed this information and then sat up. "That was your cue to leave," I said, literally pulling myself out of bed and trying, in vain, to smooth the wrinkles out of my clothes.

He eyed me critically. "What did you do? Sleep in those robes?"

I shot him a half-hearted glare and nearly tripped over the edge of the carpet. "Shut up. Where am I supposed to go?"

"Aren’t you going to change first?"

"For what?" I yawned, my eyelids starting to close.

"You look like you got hit by a bus," he pointed out.

Taking a glance at the mirror, I could see what he meant. My hair was tangled and strongly resembled a bird’s nest, my eyes were drooping and I had bags under them, my skin was pale and I looked like I’d been put through the washing machine and tossed casually into the drier. "Do I have time to take a shower?"

He smirked. "Got you up half an hour early," he said, obviously very proud of himself. "Figured you might need to actually brush your hair."

"Oh, get out," I muttered, yawning again. I turned around and started pawing through my closet in search of something to wear. I heard the door close and Moody chuckling to himself all the way down the hall. ‘What a weird little man.’

I dragged myself down to the kitchen fifteen minutes later, still sleepy but more awake than before.

"Coffee’s in the pot." Moody was reading the paper with a very grim expression.

I poured some and sipped it. "What’s wrong?"

"Another wizard disappeared. Don’t know where or when…just that he’s gone. Fudge hasn’t said anything about it. Refuses to comment. Bloody git," he said in disgust.

I dropped half the contents of the sugar bowl into my mug. "Where am I supposed to be this morning?" I asked, dropping into a chair.

He fumbled in the pocket of his robes and drew out a piece of rumpled scrap of parchment. "Here."

"Where is this place?" I asked quizzically, as I examined the tiny hand-drawn map.

"Does it look like my assignment to you?"

I glanced at him. "Someone’s grouchy," I muttered, getting up. "I’ll…see you later."

"Have a nice day," he snapped as I closed the front door behind me.

*****

‘This isn’t happening. Someone tell me this isn’t happening.’

I was standing in a small dingy room with Mundungus Fletcher barking last minute instructions at me, the air was hot, the blinds were drawn… and all I could do was stare at the person who was going to be working with me.

"-got that?"

I jumped. "Yes, I uh…have that."

"Then get going. I’m not sure how their schedule works so you’ll have to do some observing before you break in. And please, for the love of God, be careful. We don’t have time to scrape your bodies off any walls. Oh and one more thing – there’s something happening in Diagon Alley today, so if you could apparate there whenever you’re done, I would most sincerely appreciate it." He directed the last part at me.

And then he was gone, leaving me in there with him. With Sirius Black. And a very awkward silence.

"You all right with this?" Sirius’ voice was low and rough and edged with tiredness.

"Yes. Why shouldn’t I be?" I sounded more defensive than I’d intended and he winced, obviously trying not to. If I hadn’t looked for the slight tightening of his jaw, I would have missed it.

"I didn’t mean it like that."

I just nodded, forcing myself to calm down. "How are we going to do this?"

He stared at me, his eyes wide. "Sorry?"

I very nearly laughed. Nearly. Of all the perverted…"I meant," I said carefully, "how are we going to work this out. This, being the assignment." ‘Stop looking at me like that. Don’t you know that everytime you look at me like that, I can’t think straight?’

Perhaps he was reading my mind, or perhaps it just showed in my face, but he looked away abruptly and turned towards the miniscule window. "Well, we have to know their schedule first…so that’ll take some time. Then we have to plan our strategy…so that’ll take some more time. And you’re busy doing that other stuff…so that’ll take some more time." He paused. "You know, I really have no idea."

I stifled a giggle, immediately berating myself for acting so immature. "So…um, how should we start?"

He turned around and the look in his eyes made me shiver involuntarily. I felt like I was sixteen years old again. "You go to Dover," he said slowly, "and stay there for a while. We don’t want anyone to suspect why you don’t have the Ministry job anymore. I’ll try and find out as much as I can about this little cult Voldemort seems to have going on."

"I can help, you know," I said mildly. "You don’t have to do all the work alone."

He took a step closer to me. "I know," he said softly. "But this is so much safer…for you."

"I won’t get myself killed."

"At least this way…I’m sure," he mumbled hoarsely.

I closed my eyes as his fingers brushed past my cheek. "Oh God, I’ve missed you so much," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

I felt him freeze and looked up, my heart beating so loudly I was sure he would hear it. His face remained impassive but his eyes were almost pleading with me. "Did-did you get my letter?"

I nodded, afraid that if I opened my mouth one more time, everything I had ever felt would come pouring out.

He swallowed visibly. "I’m…I’m so sorry."

I had so much to say; I wanted to tell him that it didn’t matter, that I didn’t care, that I just wanted him to hold me again, but I couldn’t utter a single word. He stepped even closer so that our noses were nearly touching. ‘He’s going to kiss me,’ I thought, absolutely terrified. ‘He’s going to kiss me and I won’t be able to push him away.’

"Will the two of you please get going?!?"

Sirius pulled away from me and the moment vanished. I glared daggers at Mundungus Fletcher, wondering exactly how one person could be so maddeningly annoying.

Sirius ran a hand through his dark hair and laughed nervously. "We were just-"

"I know what you two were just doing. And I, quite frankly, don’t care. Just get started." He spun around and slammed the door shut.

Sirius glanced at me. "Um-"

"I should go," I said hurriedly, feeling my face start to heat up.

Sirius looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it. "I’ll see you later?"

I just nodded, pulling out my wand and disapparating as soon as I set foot outside.

*****

I leaned back against the wall of Flourish and Botts. I was quite sure that I had an absolutely ridiculous look on my face but…oh wow…Sirius Black had almost kissed me. ‘Never let him that close again. It can’t be like before. Don’t let him close to you.’

Pushing off the wall, I stepped into the path of a tall, skinny teenaged boy with white-blond hair. "Sorry," I apologized before my eyes widened in recognition. It was a much younger version of-

The boy’s father stepped up, pulling his son out of the way. "What’s going on here, Draco?"

The boy – Draco – glared at me, his sneer the exact replica of his father’s. "She walked into me."

The man grunted, scowling at me. "Perhaps," he said coldly, "you should watch where you step next time."

"I said I was sorry," I said quietly, not wanting to start a fight in the middle of a street. "It was an accident."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Accidents happen," he said snidely. "Just be sure they don’t keep happening."

"I won’t be following you around, bumping into you, if that’s what you mean," I snapped.

The elder Malfoy took a threatening step toward me. "Don’t patronize me," he snarled. I could see his hand sliding into his pocket and his wand came partially into view. And that was not supposed to be a double entendre.

"Even you aren’t stupid enough to hurt me in the middle of a public street," I snapped in irritation. "Or has Voldemort given you new orders now? You obviously can’t think without him doing it for you," I finished quietly, not wanting his son to hear me.

There was a moment of complete silence and his eyes looked me up and down before he backed away, dropping his wand back into his pocket. "I remember you," he said slowly before glancing at Draco. "Go get your books, boy. I’ll be one second." Draco looked like he was going to protest but thought better of it and disappeared into Flourish and Botts.

Lucius Malfoy shot me an indifferent look. "Walsh, isn’t it? I thought you were dead."

"I’m not."

"I do hope you’ve gotten a proper job now. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?" He was speaking as casually as if he were merely commenting on the weather.

Two could play that game. "Yes, Malfoy. Why, the last time I saw you was the night Voldemort disappeared. And you’re still the same sniveling little bastard you always were. Why the Ministry let you off is quite beyond me."

"They couldn’t prove anything," he growled, his calm mask disappearing.

I smirked at him. "If you say so. Do have a nice day, won’t you, Mr. Malfoy?" I started past him when he reached out and held my right forearm in an iron grip.

"Where are you going?"

"Why is it your business?" I retorted.

He looked past my shoulder, fixing his eyes on his son. "It isn’t," he said tightly.

I stared at the ground, biting my lip. "Mr. Malfoy, maybe you should take a good look at the company you keep."

There was a long silence.

"Don’t interfere," he said quietly and I heard the catch in his voice. "Don’t interfere and you won’t get hurt."

I shook him off. "Since when do you care?"

He let go immediately and a cold look appeared in his eyes. "Don’t say I didn’t warn you." He swept majestically in the direction of the book store, his black cloak billowing behind him.

I rolled my eyes and started off in the other direction, when someone called my name.

"Aria! Lass? Lass, would you stop walking so fast?!?"

I spun around. "Moody?"

He sighed heavily. "Yes, Lassie…now, what colour is the sky? I’ve only be calling you for the past five minutes."

"Why are you down here?"

"Didn’t Mundungus mention it? Figures…he’s always had his head in the clouds. Dumbledore wanted a whole bunch of Aurors down here today. Something important, I imagine." Was it my imagine or did he smirk at me? "I’m just finishing that investigation up with about that girl who died. You don’t suppose it could have been accidental, do you?"

"Moody, she was strangled. Unless she strangled herself and then locked the cupboard door, I fail to see how it could have been accidental."

He smiled wryly. "I know. Just thought…oh well. Anyway, what were you and Malfoy talking about?"

"Just catching up," I said tightly.

Moody regarded me for a second. "You should stay away from him. If anyone is dangerous, it’s him. I’m not kidding, Lass."

"I know. And I can take care of myself, you know."

"Fine, fine," he waved me off. "How are those symbols going, by the way?"

I rolled my eyes and made a face. "That book is never-ending. I can’t see how they’re important."

Moody shrugged good-naturedly. "I don’t know either. I’ve never been one for research. If you need to get your questions answered, you’d best ask Arabella."

"Figg?"

"She’s not here today…she’ll probably be dropping by later. Said something about having some more insight into the books and whatnot. Oh look! There’s Arthur!" And before I could protest, he had grabbed my arm and was pulling me over to where a red-headed man was standing, quite obviously looking for someone.

"Alastor," the man I assumed was Arthur greeted.

"Arthur, how have you been?"

He sighed. "Busy. The Ministry’s keeping me busy and what, with trying to gather-" he shut up abruptly when he noticed me.

Moody chuckled. "This is Aria Walsh, Arthur."

Arthur stared at me. "It’s nice to meet you."

Hesitantly, I stepped forward and shook his hand quickly. "Likewise."

Moody glanced around. "Is Molly here?"

He chuckled. "Oh yes, I was just looking for her actually. She’s helping the kids get ready for school."

"You’ve got two graduating this year, haven’t you?"

Arthur looked incredibly proud and I felt something tug at my heart. "That’s right. Few more years and I won’t be making this trip anymore." He glanced at me. "You went to Hogwarts?"

I smiled the false smile that I had grown so accustomed to. "A long time ago, yes."

"Aria’s just moved back to England," Moody butted in. "Working with us, you know."

Arthur’s face visibly relaxed and he smiled again. "Oh, you’re one of the Auror’s here today? That’s good. The planning that’s gone into today… unbelievable. Dumbledore had to make sure there would be Aurors within every five feet!"

I frowned. "What do you-"

"Hi Dad!" A young girl chirped, as she ran ahead of her mother and threw her arms around Arthur’s waist.

"Ginny, you remember Alastor Moody." The look on Ginny’s face was priceless. A cross between absolute terror and a very fake smile. "And this is Aria Walsh." She smiled at me, showing off her slightly crooked teeth. "Where’s your mother?"

Ginny snorted. "Fred and George," she said, by way of explanation.

Arthur groaned good-naturedly. "School hasn’t even started yet."

"Well…they’re off blowing something up. As usual. And Ron found-"

"GINNY!!!" A red-headed boy hollered from down the street. "Mum wants to know-"

I have absolutely no idea what their mother wanted to know because I was trying desperately to keep the shock off my face. Harry Potter was coming down the street, following the red-headed boy (who liked a miniature Percy Weasley…minus the glasses. And the superior look) and arguing with a girl, whose long, curly hair kept hitting him in the eye.

Moody reached out and patted my arm gently, as if afraid I was about to turn on him. "Easy, Lass."

I turned to glare at him accusingly. "You knew!" I hissed in a low undertone. "How could you not tell me this? Do you lot try and keep secrets from me? First Sir-"

He slapped his hand over my mouth. "Keep your voice down," he warned. "There aren’t many people called that, you know."

"Because it’s a ridiculous name!" I hissed before he shot me a disapproving look. I sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine, fine. I love the damn name, there are you happy?"

"Not really. But it’s a start. Molly! How are you?" he half-yelled down the street.

I groaned silently and turned back to the conversation. ‘He looks just like you, James. But he reminds me of Lily.’ It was in the way he smiled and the way he kept flicking the girl's curls out of his face.

There was a horrible feeling in my stomach – like I’d just been punched. I missed them both so much.

I refocused on the conversation. Arthur and Moody were talking in quiet undertones and the three teenagers were coming closer and closer. "I have to go," I burst out. "Away. Now. It was nice meeting you, Arthur!" I must have looked like I had a mental problem; I spun around and scurried away like an oversized reptile. I could practically see Moody’s ‘irritated’ face, but at that moment in time, I was beyond caring.

It was too much. Everything was just too much. First taking up real Auror responsibilities, seeing Remus again, seeing Sirius again…nearly kissing Sirius again - ‘Dear Lord, what was I thinking?’ - and then seeing Harry? I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t ready. Not yet.

*****

"What are you doing?"

I jumped, nearly throwing over the entire bookcase. Remus looked mildly surprised. "Nothing…I’m not doing anything." I shoved the book back onto the table and straightened up.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Erm, I don’t suppose you’ve seen Dumbledore here today, have you?"

I shook my head.

He regarded me closely for a second before sighing heavily. "All right…what’s wrong?"

"Huh?"

"What’s wrong?" he repeated. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened. And what are you talking about? Why are you asking?"

He snorted. "Look, you can’t lie to me. I know something’s wrong. So, what is it?"

I crossed my arms defensively. "Nothing!"

He cleared his throat and raised his left eyebrow.

"Nothing. As usual, I’m getting worked up over absolutely nothing and feeling like my heart is under so much strain, it’s going to explode. It’s nothing out of the ordinary so it doesn’t matter."

He cracked a smile. "Overwhelming, isn’t it?"

I snorted, my arms still crossed. "Yes. It is."

"Have you talked to Sirius?"

"No!" I exploded. "My life does not revolve around Sirius Black! Why does everyone keep assuming that it does?!? Why can’t you just accept that I-"

Remus grabbed me, hauling me after him. "Would you keep your voice down?"

"NO!" I snapped again. "I’m sick and tired of keeping my voice down! I hate being quiet! I hate sneaking around! And I hate being so confused about a bloody criminal! I am not in love with him, so there!" I finished defiantly.

I don’t think I can even begin to mention the absolute silence that followed this statement. The eyes of every single person in that store were on me. Any other time, I’m sure I’d have been flattered. Now, I was plainly embarrassed.

Remus looked slightly stunned and I didn’t blame him. Here he was, trying to make me feel better and I’d just bitten his head off. And all because I was in a bad and rather grouchy mood.

Moody was standing in the corner with Arthur Weasley and four children that quite obviously belonged to him and the plump, red-headed woman to his right. And they were also all staring at me.

Ginny Weasley let out the tiniest giggle and immediately smothered it when she saw the expression on her mother’s face.

I glanced at Remus, who was giving me a sympathetic look but appeared to be forcing the laughter back.

‘Prat,’ I thought. ‘Won’t even help me out of a very embarrassing moment.’

"Um…just kidding?" I ventured weakly.

I received a few other strange looks before the level of noise gradually rose again and people returned to what they’d been doing. I sighed heavily and leaned against Remus’ arm.

"You are such a pig."

He snorted with laughter. "I can’t even believe your level of stupidity sometimes, Ri. You can be really…dumb."

"Shut up. You kept badgering me to tell you and I did!"

He shrugged and picked up a book with a picture of a very large Grim on it. "Looks a bit like Padfoot, wouldn’t you say?" he said in a quiet undertone.

"No, I wouldn’t say."

He opened his mouth to reply when-

"Professor Lupin!" The girl with the curly hair who had been walking next to Harry before, was pushing through the crowd of people.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Professor? That’s really cute, Reems. Taught them how to sneak out of their dorms without getting caught, did you?"

"Shut up."

I stifled a giggle and made my way towards the door. "I’ll just be going."

"Professor, how are you?"

"Just fine, Hermione," he greeted the bushy-haired girl. "And yourself?"

She smiled. "I’m so excited for the school year to start! Our book list is so much more concise this year! I do hope we actually learn something in our Defence class though."

This statement was so absolutely Remus that I nearly died laughing. I could see that he was about to motion to me so I slipped outside. I leaned against it and sighed heavily when I saw him start to be surrounded by his old students.

He cuffed me lightly on the shoulder before pulling me into a gentle kiss, broken only when James whipped another apple at Sirius’ head.

"Ah, Walsh, good to see you out here. I thought you and erm…him would be locked in that stupid little room still-"

"Yes, thank you, Fletcher," I interrupted. "Oh and by the way, you didn’t tell me Harry Potter was here. Really nice of you to mention it. But I’m sure it just slipped your mind. Or something."

Fletcher at least had the grace to look sheepish. "I figured you might not come if I did," he explained, with much gesturing of his hands. "Stress and all that. Anyway, you’re just the person I’m looking for."

"Oh hell, now what?" I moaned.

His mouth set in a firm line. "Carine needs you down in Dover. There was an attack in a little village off the coast."

I pulled out my wand. "Can I go now? Or should I wait until Harry’s left?"

Fletcher looked torn. "You should go. I think we should be able to manage here if we need to. I’ll see you later."

"Tell Moody I’ve gone to Dover, will you?"

He nodded, looking like he was going to say something else. "Erm…take care of yourself."

"Didn’t know you cared," I muttered. Although it was nice having people caring, it was starting to get a little irritating.

"It’s not just me," he said darkly, turning and walking away.

What the hell did that mean?

*****

The hospital was a mass of bloodied bodies. Every inch of the ward was covered with people: some screaming, some lying deathly still. It was, quite honestly, one of the most horrifying scenes I had ever come across.

I had no idea where to start; I wanted to help all the people, but I knew it wasn’t possible. They didn’t have much time and I didn’t know what to do.

Carine must have noticed my inability to cope with what was going on around me, because she started barking orders and I followed them immediately, glad that I didn’t have to think.

After that, I don’t remember much. I know that I felt so physically drained afterwards, that I thought I was going to pass out. But I forced myself to keep going. I needed to help those people. I had to.

In the early hours of the morning, the noise in the ward had lessened and most were sleeping peacefully. Or as peacefully as could be expected.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and made my way unsteadily towards the office at the back.

"What time is it?"

I glanced to my right, wearily. "Kasen, you should be asleep."

He smiled. "I’m really not that tired."

I stared at his grey eyes. ‘Cold,’ I mused. ‘Like…ice. Sharp slivers of ice.’

"Everyone all right?"

It took me a moment to register what he was asking. "Not everyone." I bit my tongue the second the words left my lips. ‘Yes, worry the poor man, why don’t you?’

He smiled vaguely. "Are they asleep?"

I shivered involuntarily. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me – as if he could see something I couldn’t. "Most of them."

"Why aren’t you?"

His question caught me off-guard. "What?"

"It’s late, isn’t it? Why aren’t you asleep yet?"

I paused before answering. "I would have thought that was obvious."

His smile widened, although his eyes remained fixed on something I couldn’t see. "Not everything’s as obvious as it seems." He blinked but his eyes didn’t refocus.

Slightly alarmed, I took a huge step away from the bed. "That’s…um…good. Well, I’m going to go now."

"Always running," he mumbled, closing his eyes. "Why don’t you talk to me? You never stay long enough to talk to me. No one can run forever. And when there’s no where left to hide…"

I never found out what happened when there was no where left to hide, because Kasen’s eyes rolled back into his head and his entire body went rigid. I grasped him by the shoulders, trying to stop his arms from flailing around but only succeeded in getting smacked in the face. I pulled out my wand and muttered, "Stupefy."

Immediately, his movements halted and he sagged against the bed, almost looking lost in the white linen. Tentatively, I reached out, pressing two fingers against his throat. Well, he was alive in any case. I rubbed my eyes, as the exhaustion I’d felt before came creeping up on me again.

"What are you doing?!?"

I glanced up. "Kasen was having a seizure."

Carine’s eyes widened. "Did you stun him?"

"Obviously," I muttered grouchily.

"It won’t hold him for long…oh Christ…I had hoped that…well, I thought he was recovering."

"What’s wrong with him, Carine?"

"I’ve told you before, I don’t know!" She looked on the verge of tears and I could see that she was as tired as I was.

"Was it a curse, a hex, a potion…what was it?"

"I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost as if his entire being is getting attacked. I can’t fix something I don’t understand!"

I sighed, irritated by her lack of self-control. True, she was as tired as I was, but honestly. "All right. Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow." I whirled around and stormed out before she could reply.

As I made my way down to the kitchens, I had to fight to keep my balance. The stairs twisted and moved (God knows why) and the steps kept shifting into awkward footings.

I shoved open the door and threw myself into a chair, resting my head on the tabletop. Just as my eyes closed, I was vaguely aware of a tiny figure standing in the doorway, swathed in flannel pajamas with tiny sheep printed across them.

"Ilana?"

She surveyed me for a second before sitting down in the chair next to me. "Hello."

"What are you doing down here?" I asked, stifling a yawn.

She paused. "I am…thinking. I do not like it when everything is quiet."

I smiled. She spoke in that quiet way that children do when they want to make sure you completely understand what they are trying to say. "Do you want anything?"

She shook her head, trying to stifle a yawn. "My Carine is busy helping Kasen."

I looked at her quickly. Was that the tiniest slice of jealousy? "With what?" I asked carefully.

Ilana shrugged. "He was hurting," she said softly. "My Carine had to help him. I do not like him," she muttered, as an afterthought. "He is…not a nice man."

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "I get all prickly when I talk to him. I do not like him." She yawned again.

Chuckling to myself at her child-like truthfulness, I scooped her up into my arms and started out of the kitchen. "I think it’s time for you to sleep."

She leaned her head against my shoulder. "My Carine usually tucks me into bed, you know," she murmured sleepily. "But she is busy now."

I set her down at the door to her room and she hopped into bed. I pulled the quilt over her, smiling as she yawned again. "Goodnight, Ilana."

She muttered something I didn’t quite hear and rolled over onto her side. I made my way to the door, flicking the lights off as I did so.

"No! Turn them back on!"

I jumped. Her voice was slightly frantic – almost desperate. Tentatively, I made my way back to her and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don’t like the dark," she whimpered tearfully. "There are things I can’t see in the dark."

On instinct, I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me. Oh, I knew what it felt like to be scared of what you couldn’t see. "Sweetheart, don’t cry…it’s okay…it’s not dark."

"It is," she whispered. "It’s so dark. I hate it!"

I stroked her hair, rocking her back and forth gently. "Ilana…I’m going to turn off the light, okay?"

She whimpered so I pulled her closer to me and whispered, "Nox." We were instantly plunged into pitch blackness. A thin stream of moonlight fell through the blinds covering the windows. "See? No matter where you look in the world, there will always be a little bit of light."

Ilana seemed to weigh this information carefully before saying. "Anywhere in the world? Even in a cave?"

"Even in a cave. There’ll always be the light coming from the entrance, won’t there?"

When I didn’t receive a reply, I laid her back gently and pulled the covers up to her chin. On impulse, I dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead before I left the room.

*****

"You’re insane."

Sirius didn’t even looked fazed. "It makes perfect sense…we’ve got their schedule…we just have to get in, get the files and get out. Simple as pie."

I couldn’t believe Sirius had been working on this assignment for nearly two weeks and all he’d managed to come up with was that. "Of course it is," I replied sarcastically. "Until we get caught, of course."

He shrugged, adjusting the plans in front of him. "We won’t get caught. It’s really very simple. We get in through here and take off the hexes on this window. We don’t even have to go looking for the right room…by my calculations, this should be it."

"Yes, and we know how reliable those are. The bloody building is filled to the point of over-flowing with hexes that will literally detach your head from your shoulders and you want to waltz right in, get what we need and waltz right back out again?!? That is so stupid, I can’t even begin to pick it apart."

He sighed, pushing his hair out of his eyes melodramatically. "I swear, this will be the safest, easiest escapade in the entire world! There’s no way it could possibly go wrong."

"Unless your arm gets ripped off and beats you to death," I retorted.

Sirius rolled his eyes and glanced back at the blue prints on the table. "There’s no way it can go wrong! It just isn’t possible. We can walk unharmed until we’re a foot and a half from the edge of the brick. We climb-"

"How do you reckon we’re going to climb if we can’t touch the stupid brick, genius?"

Sirius rolled his eyes heavenward once more. "Do I have to tell you everything? We’ll disable that portion of the spell and then climb up. Can I go on now?"

I waved my hand, indicating that I didn’t care either way.

"We’ll then disable the next hex and climb in the window-"

"And which one of us will be hanging off the edge of the roof while they remove the hex?"

He looked at me patiently. "We’ll summon a broom before we do that part. Then we climb in the window. Any questions about that one?"

I made a face at him.

"The files are in that room. We have exactly thirteen minutes to find them before there’s a guard change, give or take a few seconds in either direction."

"That’s all very good and well," I said finally, not being able to find any flaws in his theory, "but what happens when we want to get out?"

He paused. "Uh yes…well…that’s a little more complicated then getting in."

I rolled my eyes. "I should have known."

"It’s not that much more difficult," he said hurriedly. "We just can’t go back out the window."

I stared at him. "Okay…"

"By my calculations…we, er, have to use the side door. In the cellar. At least, we can before the guard change happens. After that…well, you know…"

Silence.

"This is absolutely ridiculous."

"Aw, come on," he said in a wheedling tone. "I’ve spent a really long time working on this."

"Yes, remind me to never let you do it again."

He pouted, looking very much like a three year old child. "This could be our only chance…they’re having a meeting tomorrow…that’s when they’ll be out of the house. It’ll be much safer."

"Safer than what? Walking blindfolded off a cliff?"

He sighed but I could see a smile threatening to fall over his shadowed face. "Just trust me."

"Sirius, we’re going to get caught. Again."

"Who cares? Snape deserves it this time."

I jerked his arm back. "What has Severus ever done to you?"

"He’s a prat, Aria," Sirius answered, sounding agitated.

I sighed. "Can’t the two of you just leave it alone? You don’t have to try and make him hate you, you know."

"Of course I know. But it’s so much more fun when he does. Now are you coming or not?"

"You want me to go traipsing through the Forbidden Forest just so you can find some dumb herbs to put into his potion? Wow, what a plan."

"Are you scared?" he teased.

"Yes, I’m bloody scared! There’s all sorts of…things in there."

He snorted. "Just trust me, all right?"

No sooner had the memory come then it faded back into the deep recesses of my mind, giving way to another.

"I am not getting on that…that thing!"

"Ri, please? You won’t fall, I swear!"

"Can’t you get James to ride with you?"

"I don’t want to ride my motorcycle with James," Sirius retorted. "I want to ride with you. And that didn’t come out the way I meant it, although I wouldn’t complain if you said yes but that’s not what I’m asking right now."

I would have laughed at his perversion if I hadn’t been scared to death of his bike. "Sirius, please…I don’t want to."

"I won’t drop you, Ri…come on, please?"

I shook my head slowly. "I hate heights, Sirius-"

"Just trust me, Ri."

"So, are we set?"

I blinked, staring at him. "What? Oh…fine. Fine, but if we get caught, I’ll feed you to Remus next full moon."

He choked on his own laughter. "I’ll make a mental note for us not to get caught then."

Slowly, our laughter died away and as Sirius stared at me with that intense gaze of his, I could feel my face getting hot and the strange fluttering in my stomach was even more pronounced.

"Do you want to stay for a while?" he asked hesitantly.

I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn’t force the words out.

"You don’t have to," he said hurriedly, obviously taking my silence to mean, ‘no’. "I just thought that-"

"Just for a little while," I interrupted, against my better judgement. ‘No escaping now…’

His mouth shut with an audible snap and another long silence settled around us.

"So what’ve you been up to?"

Slowly, I raised my eyes so that I was staring straight into his. "Are these the kind of conversations we’re going to be having forever?" I asked, more to myself than to him.

He bit his lip, embarrassed. "I’m sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I am. Sorry, I mean."

"For what?"

He glared at me, exasperated. "I’m trying to apologize!"

"I don’t want your apologies," I said, struggling to keep my voice even. "I just want to forget that it ever happened."

He stared at me, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. "That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard."

"I’m sure it runs a close second to your ‘great’ plan."

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"No. Yes. No. Maybe."

"I don’t want to fight with you, Ri."

"Then stop acting as if nothing’s changed!" I snapped. "You can’t just fall back into our old routine, you know. It won’t work like that. You can’t just make the plans and expect me to follow them without any reasoning."

"What do you have to reason?" he asked incredulously. "Do you think I’m going to try and murder you or something?"

I flinched involuntarily at his choice of words.

He stared at me in horror. "That’s it, isn’t it?" he said, his voice catching. "You think I’m going to turn around and kill you."

"I don’t think that," I began weakly. "I-"

"Yes, you do." He turned away from me, crossing his arms and staring out the window.

I dropped my head into my hands. "Sirius…I’m sorry."

"Aren’t we all?"

It suddenly struck me that he wasn’t the same person that he’d been before Azkaban. I mean, I’d already known that he had changed but I hadn’t realized just how much. The Sirius I had known before, the Sirius who had been my best friend, the Sirius I had fallen in love with, would never have said anything so heart-breaking. "I didn’t mean that and you know it," I started again, quietly. "This is just…it’s weird. And…difficult."

"Don’t you think I know that?" he snapped angrily. "Don’t you think I know how hard this is for you? It’s not exactly a walk in the park for me either! But…you know…you know that I would never do anything to hurt you. Ri, you know that. You know me."

I refused to meet his eyes. "I know," I muttered. "I just don’t know if I can handle all of this."

He glared at me and I could sense that I was starting to tick him off. "Look," he growled, "no one ever said that handling it would be easy, but you’d better bloody well handle it or you’re going to get yourself killed."

"I don’t see why you care! You’re the one that gets to escape while I’m left time and again to clear up your messes!" I shot back, the words leaving my mouth before I could think twice.

The colour drained from his face and he took a step backwards as if I’d just slapped him. "You’re never going to let it go, are you? You’re going to keep throwing this back in my face and no amount of apologizing is going to stop you."

We were both standing, facing each other and I could see the anger and hurt in his eyes. "I should go," I muttered, knowing that I sounded rude.

He turned away again. "Fine, go."

I paused in the doorway, fighting to find the right words but they wouldn’t come to me. As I made my way to the front door, I saw Remus standing in the doorway to the kitchen. It hadn’t occurred to me how loud Sirius and I had been talking and only now did I realize that Remus had heard every single word. I tugged open the front door and met his eyes. He shook his head sadly, effectively telling me that I was a complete idiot for not living for the moment and for not seizing the day and all of the same rubbish that I already knew. I slammed the door behind me. I hadn’t needed either of them for fourteen years. Why the hell did I need them now?

*****

I trudged through the cemetery, glaring at the crescent moon and searching for that name on the grave markings. And then I found it. I stood staring at it for a moment, unmistakable anger welling up inside me until it broke.

"Damn you, Peter," I swore out loud. "I know he isn’t lying. I know he isn’t! He doesn’t lie. Not to me. How could you take them all away from me? How could you take him away from me?" My voice, which had been so loud only moments ago, was quiet now. "I swear to you, Wormtail, if I ever find you, I will make you suffer. Like the rest of us have.

I swear it on my soul."

I stood a few more moments over his grave. His shallow, empty grave. I gave his grave stone a vicious kick before turning and storming back out to the street.

*****

"Lass…Lass, what are you doing?"

"Standing on my head and singing the national anthem," I muttered sarcastically, as the thread once again failed to slip through the eye of the needle. "What does it look like?"

Moody looked slightly surprised. "Something bothering you?"

I broke the grey thread before tossing the needle onto the floor and cursing in annoyance. "I can’t thread this bloody needle," I whined pathetically, ignoring his question.

His magical eye revolved towards the thread before he limped over to it, picked it up and threaded it perfectly through the needle before handing it back to me with a flourish.

"Thanks," I muttered insincerely, snatching it back from him and hemming the bottom of my robes in a horrible, uneven line.

He stood watching me for a while before dropping down beside me. "Who the hell taught you to sew, Lass?"

I watched him unpick my crude stitches before starting his own and it was as if every ounce of anger I had ever felt was bubbling to the top. "I can do it on my own!" I snapped childishly. "I don’t need you to do it for me!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Lass, I’m doing a better job of it than you were. Just let me finish it, all right?"

I glared at him. "Oh, do whatever the hell you want. It’s not like I care, is it?"

He kept his eyes trained on the light-coloured fabric as he asked, "Can I ask what has you in this horrendous mood?"

I laughed bitterly, picking at the edge of my nail. "Sirius Black. It’s always Sirius. Even when we were kids, it was always him driving me crazy."

"Why do you let him get to you?" Moody questioned, frowning slightly as the needle poked him.

I paused. "I don’t know! If I knew, I wouldn’t do it, would I?!? Everything he says just absolutely ticks me off. I can’t believe one person could be so incredibly dumb. He has no common sense!"

"Why?"

"He never thinks about the consequences. He just rushes in without thinking about what could happen and I’m sick of it!"

"How can you be sick of it?" he inquired reasonably. "You haven’t seen him in-"

"Fourteen years, yes, stop reminding me. I know. But, God, you’d have thought he’d grow up just a little bit! No, that’s not what I meant," I added, after a moment’s thought. "I just want him to…understand how dangerous this is. I want him to get it through his thick skull that he can’t just keep acting on impulse."

"You’re being selfish."

I stared at Moody, incredulously silent.

His eyes – both of them – met mine. "You just want to make sure that he won’t unexpectedly leave you. Again."

"So?" I said defensively. "What’s wrong with that?"

"You tell me."

"Stop speaking in riddles!" I practically howled in frustration. "Just tell me what-"

"I most certainly will not," he said, setting my robes in my right hand and the needle in my left. "It’s for you to figure out, although I strongly suspect you already know it. Do you want anything to eat for dinner? I was thinking sandwiches but if you know of anything better…"

I stared at him, open-mouthed.

"I’m thinking ham but I think we have some turkey too…any preferences?"

"Uh, ham," I muttered, confused at his change in topic.

"Good…don’t know how long that turkey’s been there. Lettuce?"

I nodded.

He pulled himself up and started for the door. "I don’t mean to be rude, Lassie, you know that. But really, you’re the one complicating the issues, not anyone else."

I gazed after him thoughtfully. ‘It isn’t that easy…it can’t be that easy.’ Even more disturbing was the conclusion I came to, that wasn’t really a conclusion at all. ‘Why not?’

*****

"Are you cold?" Sirius’ voice broke through my thoughts and I was suddenly very aware of the extreme drop in temperature that had occurred the second we’d set foot on these boundaries.

"I’m fine," I muttered. Then, in a louder voice, "What exactly are we looking for here, anyway?"

He glanced at me, a half-smile appearing on his face. "There are some names and plans located in the office I told you about. Dumbledore thinks they’re going to be important at some point and it would be advantageous if we had them."

I nodded slowly, pulling my light cloak around me as the wind increased. "Bloody hell…what kind of spells have they got on this place?"

He shook his head grimly. "Something we have no clue about. Perhaps they’re new or perhaps they’re so old, we don’t know about them. Either way, can you imagine if he gets the strength to summon one of these? He could throw the entire world into utter chaos."

"Is he that strong already?"

Sirius sighed, raking one hand through his dark hair. "I have no idea. There have been attacks that have his style all over them…but for the most part, he’s staying quiet and out of everyone’s hair. God knows how long that’s going to last though."

"Have you seen him?"

"Who? Voldemort? Nah…his Death Eaters are keeping him closely guarded, I suspect."

"I meant P– nevermind."

Sirius looked at me curiously but I wouldn’t meet his gaze. We continued on in complete silence until we reached the building. It was huge and looked extremely out of place against the foggy green countryside. He pulled out his wand and took a tentative step towards the red brick.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked doubtfully.

He shrugged, taking another step and then stopping dead. "I don’t think I should go any further."

I nodded to his back, stepping up so that I was level with him. "Do you need me to help-"

"I can manage," he interrupted, almost automatically.

I bit my lip, feeling half amused and half annoyed. Couldn’t he ever just accept help whether he needed it or not?

I could hear him muttering in a steady undertone; strange Latin words fell from his lips and he frowned in concentration.

I held my breath, praying that nothing negative would happen. After what seemed like hours (and in the cold, perhaps it was), Sirius’ eyes refocused and he sighed in relief. "I think that’s it."

"You think?" I echoed.

He smirked sheepishly. "It’s the best I can do. We’re going to have to climb to the roof though…you can’t summon down here."

I shot him a dubious look, tilting my head back and straining to see the top of the building. "It’s really high."

Thin cords of rope shot out of the end of his rope, flying upwards and hooking onto something at the top of the building. He tugged on them and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Ready?"

"I don’t know if-"

He cut me off, practically lifting me up and placing my hands on the rope. "Climb," he ordered.

I sighed in a resigned manner and proceeded to do just that. I climbed. And I climbed. And I climbed. And I climbed. I was freezing by the time we reached the roof; it had started to rain and tiny droplets of water had frozen in my hair and on my robes. I had long since lost feeling in my fingers and my ears felt as if they were about to crumble off.

Sirius hopped up beside me. He looked quite unruffled, as if scaling tall buildings in freezing rain was completely normal for him. He glanced around at the surrounding landscape. I would have been surprised if he could see a thing. It was dim and foggy and despite the fact that the rain wasn’t heavy, there was definitely a light drizzle, which was freezing the second it hit anything solid. "Accio ugly-broom," he said, his voice sounding very loud in the night.

There was a soft whirring noise and the broomstick flew right into his hands. I could see what he meant when he called it ugly. It had seen better days, none of which included this one.

Sirius hopped on and then watched me expectantly. "Well?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Well…what?"

"Are you getting on?"

I stared at him in horror. "Isn’t it enough that you got me to climb all the way up here? Now you want me to get on that ruddy broom as well? You’re mad!"

I could see the laughter behind his eyes. "I know you hate heights, Ri…but for the love of God…get on the freaking broom. NOW."

"Okay," I squeaked, climbing on unsteadily and gripping his waist as tightly as I dared. If he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t say anything. The broom wobbled and I nearly shrieked, burying my head in Sirius’ back. "Please don’t drop me," I whimpered. If there was one thing I was terrified of, it was heights.

We hovered outside a window and I worked up the courage to look inside. It was, quite frankly, a mess. Papers littered the expensive desk and the floor was covered with books. I hadn’t even realized Sirius was opening the window until it sprang outwards, nearly knocking me off the broom. Sirius reached behind with one arm to steady me. "We have to climb off the broom," he said quietly, looking at his watch anxiously. "If everything’s going right, we should be able to step right inside." He twisted around and I suddenly realized just how close we were sitting. His face was just centimetres from mine and I could see myself in his eyes. I jerked backwards. "I’ll go first, shall I?" I questioned cheerily, before reaching out with one hand, grabbing the top of the window and sliding inside the little office.

I was immediately by the warmth in the room. I sighed in relief, as I took more steps into the room.

"This place is a frigging tip," Sirius mumbled, tripping over some books and nearly falling over.

"Think it was planned that way?" I asked worriedly. If the Death Eaters had been expecting us, they would no doubt have put hexes all over the room.

Sirius looked at me sharply. "They can’t have known," he said, shaking his head.

We both stood still for a moment, hoping that the room wouldn’t suddenly explode.

"Nine minutes," he muttered to himself. "Ri, you take the desk, I’ll check the cupboards over there."

I sat in the chair and started pawing through the papers that littered the top of the desk, the floor surrounding it and the half-open drawers. "Don’t suppose you could tell me what I’m looking for, could you?"

Sirius poked his head out from behind a huge plant. "Plans," he said, as if I should have known. "If you think it’s interesting, we need it."

"Oh, well then," I muttered under my breath.

The Eagle flies at midnight on a broom- headed one stack of papers. I snorted. If it was a code, it was dumb. I shoved the papers to the side and picked up another stack. Unfortunately, I did not experience the same joy looking through the rest. They looked like heating bills to me and no amount of charming would show otherwise.

I looked up to see Sirius towering over me. "We’ve got to get out of here," he hissed. "One minute…we’re cutting it too close."

"Just give me another sec," I mumbled, opening the one desk drawer I hadn’t yet had a chance to search through. I was in the middle of using every single ‘opening’ charm I knew (all in conjunction with tiny explosion charms) and he was troubling me.

Sirius shifted impatiently. "Ri, just leave it!"

My mouth had dropped open and I didn’t hear him. Dear God…these were files on every single Ministry Official. Their vital statistics, their family, their background, even what type of wood their wand was made out of.

"RI!"

I got up and shoved the papers under Sirius’ nose. He nearly toppled out of the window as his eyes followed the text. "Oh hell!"

I shushed him, pushing the papers into his bag. He tried to help me and we succeeded in emptying the bag all over the floor. He swore loudly. I shushed him again as we started picking the papers back up.

"Someone’s coming!" he hissed, his eyes widening.

I looked up abruptly. "Are you sure?"

He nodded affirmatively, looking slightly (but only slightly!) worried. "Pretty sure. We have twenty seconds to get out of here."

I got up quickly, tugging on his robes. "Get up, get up, get up! We have to go! They’re going to find us and-"

Sirius pressed his hand firmly over my mouth. "Calm down," he advised. "And we can’t get out of here."

I pulled away in horror. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, walking over and inspecting the cupboards again. "I told you…we can’t get out of this window."

I closed my eyes and silently counted to fifteen. "I’m going to kill you," I stated, glaring at him.

He smirked, but I caught him glance at the door nervously. "We just have to hide."

"Oh yes, of course, Sirius! Now why didn’t I think of that? Oh yes…maybe it’s because there’s nowhere to hide in this bloody office!" I didn’t realize that my voice was that loud until Sirius leapt at me, pushing me against the wall and slamming his hand over my mouth.

"You have got to stop screeching like that," he said quietly. And for anyone who thinks this was remotely romantic, it wasn’t. My head had smacked off the wall and Sirius was inadvertently suffocating me.

I shoved him away impatiently. "Fine. Where are we going to hide?"

We both jumped as someone rattled the handle of the door. Without any thinking, Sirius grabbed my arm and we fell into a rather small closet. Almost immediately afterwards, I could hear voices where we had been only moments before.

"-thought I heard someone."

"Who would be stupid enough to come in here?"

"…you’re right…find…window’s open…"

I leaned forward to hear more when Sirius’ arms encircled my waist protectively and pulled me back. He shuffled back slightly, pulling me with him. I was suddenly very aware of him: his breath on the back of my neck and his scent – that same, unique, Sirius scent.

One side of the cupboard swung open and a hand reached inside. "Is it still cold outside, Bram?"

"I have no idea. Why don’t you just bring your coat anyway?" I frowned. Familiar…very familiar.

Sirius’ arms tightened around me as a black coat was slid off a hanger and pulled out of the wardrobe. I held my breath as the person put their coat on.

"Tell me you’re not wearing that!"

"And what’s wrong with it?"

"It’s ugly," his friend, Bram, answered. "For Heaven’s sake, it’s got holes in it!"

There was a great sigh and then the hand was once more searching through the coats.

‘We’re going to get caught. Oh my god, we’re going to die!’

Perhaps it was luck or perhaps fate had finally decided to give us a break but whatever the reason, the hand stopped two inches before brushing my throat.

"This one all right?"

"It’ll do."

There was shuffling, the cupboard door was slammed, more shuffling and then the door of the room was closed.

I sighed in relief, absent-mindedly relaxing against Sirius’ chest. Neither of us spoke for a good two minutes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice low.

I nodded slowly, even though I wasn’t facing him and he couldn’t see me. "We should go," I murmured, not meaning it in the least.

Sirius sighed heavily, blowing strands of my hair off my neck and sending shivers up my spine. "Yeah."

I disentangled myself from his arms and pushed open the cupboard. "We should go," I repeated. I turned away but not before I caught the look of longing in his tortured eyes.

I leaned down and started picking up the rest of the papers we had scattered on the floor. Sirius started towards the door. "Um…we have to go out the front door," he said, staring straight ahead. "Are you ready?"

I straightened up and handed him the rest of the files. He took them wordlessly and opened the door.

As soon as we stepped into the hallway, I was struck by how dark it was.

"Damnit…haven’t these people ever heard of lights?" I muttered, as I crashed into a wall.

"Shh," he whispered. "I don’t know how empty this place is."

I stopped. "Hold on a second…you don’t know if we’re the only ones here and we’re just going to walk out the front door?!?"

Sirius looked mildly amused in the dim light. "Something like that. Besides…Moody was the one who suggested it."

I snorted. "Oh, well then. He must know what he’s talking about."

"Shh! He’s been an Auror for a long time; I thought he’d know what the best escape was." He glanced at me. "We were going to go out from the cellar, but the guards have already finished their change."

I rolled my eyes. "Sirius, I don’t think that-" I stopped suddenly. Rustling – just around the corner. I reached out and seized Sirius’ arm. "Wait," I whispered sharply. We both pressed ourselves against the cold brick wall and I closed my eyes.

The rustling stopped and when we peered cautiously around the corner, there was no one there.

"There’s no one there," Sirius muttered. "Let’s go. The door’s right down the stairs. I can see it from here."

"Are you sure?" I murmured. "I’m sure I heard something…"

"Probably the wind," he said, brushing it off.

We hurried down the stairs, being careful to stay in the shadows as best we could and we were standing in the front foyer when a piercing alarm went off. I froze. Sirius grabbed my arm. "Come on!" he shouted over the noise. "Keep going!"

I shook myself mentally and reached for the front door. There was shouting and footsteps behind me and all I wanted to do was open that blasted door and leave.

The door wouldn’t budge.

Sirius and I exchanged panicked looks. "Do something!"

His jaw dropped. "What do you want me to do?"

I was about to answer his question when a flash of red light splashed past me, missing my head by an inch. It was quickly joined by more beams of light, most coming a lot closer than the first.

"This is the stupidest idea you have ever had," I seethed to Sirius, from where we were crouched on the ground behind a huge stone gargoyle.

"Oh, shut up. We were doing fine until you set the alarm off."

"I did no such thing! If you hadn’t run off down the stairs, we wouldn’t be in this mess."

"So, this is my fault?"

"Yes!" I snapped, as a particularly well-placed curse cracked the gargoyle in two.

On instinct, we both dropped to our stomachs, rolling out of the way. Sirius stared from the wizards to me in desperation. "Can you hold them off for five minutes?"

I sighed, wincing as a window shattered and glass rained onto me. "How many of them are there?"

Sirius frowned. "Ten…give or take."

"Skill Level?"

"You’re pretty evenly matched," he said grimly.

I cursed. "All right…five minutes, Sirius. I can only hold them for so long."

He pushed himself to his feet. "Hopefully you won’t even have to hold them that long." Before I could ask him what he meant, he’d thrown himself halfway across the hall into a very dark corner.

I sighed, standing up and crouching slightly. If it was even possible, the beams of light increased, hurting my eyes. I blocked them as best I could, but there were simply too many wizards to counter-attack. ‘Come on, Sirius…do something!’

"Praefotis!"

I leapt backwards but I wasn’t fast enough. I dropped to my knees, struggling to breathe. The Praefoco curse is one of those torture curses that should be an Unforgivable but isn’t. It simulates the feeling of drowning: suffocating, really, on the very air that you need to breathe. There’s physically nothing wrong with you; your mind just gets the impression that there’s no longer any air in the environment.

The curses ceased and I could hear bitter laughter, voices that I couldn’t concentrate properly on. And the curses started flying again.

I tried to force air into my lungs but nothing happened. My eyes were starting to water and I was starting to feel horribly dizzy. There was a huge explosion behind me but it barely registered. I tried to move out of the line of the wand that was trained on me but I couldn’t.

Someone grabbed the back of my robes and I was vaguely aware of being lifted into their arms and carried outside.

"It’s all right, Ri." Sirius. Oh God, Sirius. Relief flooded through me. His grip on my body tightened and he started running even faster. The air was freezing but the imaginary hand that had been wrapped around my throat was slowly starting to loosen up.

I don’t know how long or how far Sirius ran but eventually, he stopped and laid me on the ground, turning me carefully on my side. I gasped for air, taking in huge gulps until the awful shuddering feeling was gone.

I turned onto my back, staring up at the sky.

"Are you all right?" He looked awful. Tired and sweaty and very, very weak.

"What happened to you?" I asked, attempting to sit up. Sirius caught me before I slammed my head back onto a rock.

"It took a lot more than I thought it would to open those doors." That frightening look was in his eyes again. The tortured, painful one. But I didn’t know what was causing it this time.

I don’t know what possessed me to do what I did. I don’t know if I was scared, if I wanted reassurance, if I wanted to take his pain away from him or if I simply experienced a moment of temporary insanity but whatever the reason, the fact remains that I threw my arms around his shoulders and hugged him as tight as I could.

And after a few moments, he relented and hugged me back.

*****

Moody pounced on me the second I led Sirius (the dog) into the house.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?!?"

"It’s a long story," I replied wearily, rubbing my eyes. I glanced down at the huge dog sitting patiently on the carpet. "Sirius, you can change back now."

"I thought you’d been killed!" Moody continued ranting, following me into the kitchen where I pulled a bag of ice out of the freezer, wrapped it in a towel and tossed it at Sirius.

"We nearly were," I mumbled, pulling up the sleeve of my robes to see a large gash on my forearm. I made a face, deciding to use the Muggle approach and pour disinfectant onto a bandage and apply it to my arm.

Moody stopped abruptly, reaching over to inspect my arm. "How did that happen?"

"Ouch," I muttered. "I told you. We nearly got killed."

The expression on his face changed from annoyance to concern. "How many were there?"

"Started with about ten," Sirius interrupted. "There were near twenty when we got away."

"How can there have been so many?" Moody asked, his brow furrowing. "It was supposed to be a quiet night."

Sirius shook his head. "I really don’t know. Something went wrong."

"You don’t say," I said, more to myself than to him.

"They used the Praefoco curse."

I turned to glare at Sirius as Moody turned to glare at me.

"Why didn’t you say something?" Moody snapped. "That can have nasty side effects, you know. I should get-"

"I don’t need you to get anything," I interrupted. "I’m fine. It wasn’t for very long."

Moody didn’t looked convinced at all but to his credit, he let it slide. "Can’t you just fix that?" he asked, after a short pause, staring in disgust at my arm.

I leaned against the sink, wishing the room would stop spinning. "I’m too dizzy," I mumbled.

"After-effects? That’s what’s got you, isn’t it? Black, you’d better help me get her upstairs. She’s liable to pass out at any moment."

"I am not going to pass out," I protested. However, I didn’t protest when Sirius swung me into his arms and carried me up the stairs. Oh God, I was so tired. Every single muscle in my body was exhausted and aching.

Sirius set me down on the bed and helped me take my shoes off. I flopped back against the covers. Sirius hovered in the doorway. "Where are your pajamas?"

I barely raised my arm to gesture to the chest of drawers in the corner. "Middle."

Five seconds later, he dropped the clothes across my stomach. "Come on, get up, Ri," he coaxed. "You’ve got to get dressed."

"I can’t," I moaned. "I just want to sleep."

"Your robes are wet and you’re soaking the quilt," he pointed out. "Just change your clothes and then you can sleep." He watched me struggle to sit up for another five minutes before snorting with laughter and helping me up. He slapped me lightly across the face. "Ri, stop that."

I batted him away and started to unbutton my robes before looking up at him. "Sirius, turn around."

"You’re not going to play this game again, are you? I’ve seen-"

"I know what you’ve seen. So turn around."

"There’s nothing to-"

"Sirius, thank you, I can change my own clothes. Why don’t you go and get me some water?"

He flashed me a huge smile before turning and walking out, mumbling something to himself that sounded suspiciously like, ‘prude.’

"And I’ll have you know I heard that!" I shouted.

"What did I say?" he yelled back innocently.

I rolled my eyes, pulling off my wet clothes sluggishly. Bloody hell…this reminded me of the time I’d gotten mononucleosis. I’d been twenty-five with no money, no job and nowhere to live. I pulled the covers up to my chin and sighed in contentment. Oh, if only I didn’t have to move, or speak, or think ever again…

Dimly, I heard the floorboards creak. I knew someone was standing over me but I couldn’t open my eyes. They moved closer and I just knew it was Sirius. He set something on the bedside table and stood watching me. I barely opened my eyes. "Sirius?" I mumbled, slurring my words slightly.

"Go to sleep," he said quietly.

I was jerked back into reality when I felt his fingers trace my lips. He must have realized what he was doing because he stopped as soon as I moved. I heard him sigh and then the lightest kiss was dropped on my forehead.

"You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen."

The funny thing is that I don’t know if I dreamt those words or not.