What if Esme was a vampire now? A voice whispered in Lorelei’s mind. What could you do then, but kill her? No one would blame you.

No, she told herself. She’s still alive. You have to die to become a vampire.

A true vampire, maybe, the voice went on. But you never died, and yet you changed… Became something ELSE. Something much more dangerous. What if she’s only a blood doll, like you were? Would it be safe to let her run loose? Her only hope of curing herself would be to kill you and then Brohm. How long would it take for that to occur to her? How long would it take for her to act on it?

Lorelei grabbed that thought in a mental fist and squeezed it until its eyes popped out. She couldn't think about that right now. Too many things were uncertain. They hadn't given her time to examine her sister. The officials had almost ignored Lorelei when she had confronted them about it. They hadn't cared about whether Esme had been altered by the vampires, only that she had been contained. They hadn't even seemed concerned about the presence of such a large number of vampires so close.

It was maddening to Lorelei. Professor Dormire had intervened before her frustration got the better of her. He had sent her to wait in her own chambers until he could have a chance to find out what was going on. The idea that they might tell HIM something and not her made her teeth grind, but Lorelei had recognized a cooler head when she saw it and had gone back to her room.

A soothing tonic was already on the table waiting for her, but she ignored it to pace the room. Sirius was still in dog form. He had followed her and North back rather than be caught out on his own. He stayed as Padfoot so no one would expect him to say anything. He didn't trust himself to speak yet.

The close call was still sinking in. He honestly didn't know which would be worse, being caught by vampires or the Ministry. He'd come dangerously close to both that night, and he knew it. His luck had held, but he was still shaken. He could have been captured as easily as Esme had been. If that had happened, he would be in Azkaban right now, if he hadn't already been Kissed. He felt his hackles bristle and tingle at that thought.

He got up and set his paws on the table to lap a drink out of Lorelei's tonic. Just a taste, he told himself, to settle his nerves and stop the bristling. She wouldn't have even noticed if the ever-protective North hadn't growled at him. Well, it wasn't as if she was drinking it!

The tonic tasted somewhat like pears, and it took the edge off his panic. he took a deep breath and then shifted back to human form. Nervousness fluttered moth-like in his heart, so he took another sip.

"They can't be serious," Lorelei fumed. She had been waiting for him to shift so she could vent at someone.

"I can," he said, the tonic relaxing him enough to joke." She glared at him. Or at least he assumed she did. Her dark glasses were still on.

"Were you listening at all?" she snapped.

"To some of it," he admitted. "I missed some of it with the adrenaline screaming at me."

"And what could've upset YOU so?"

"Azkaban."

"Oh..." She pushed her glasses up to look at him more gently. "I should've realized. You can't be seen can you? With all the sneaking around we've had to do, I had forgotten that you have to hide from everyone."

"I hadn't." He sat down and met her red eyes with his own. "What do we do now?"

"Oh, NOW you want a plan?" She sat down on the other side of the table and sighed. "I'll have to hear what Professor Dormire found before I can decide on anything. All they would tell me, is that some Head Minister would arrive soon and then maybe they could tell me more."

"Psh. If they send Fudge, don't expect any help from him."

"I can't believe they didn't care about the vampires." Her voice fell to a surly grumble. Sirius almost smiled.

"Vampires move more freely here than they seem to do in your country," he told her. "And The House of Nalicus has been known to entertain strange guests. The least of which was my own family. It was well-known that the old Lord Nalicus had several colleagues among all sorts of people. And I use the word 'peopls' loosely."

"Brohm is back," Lorelei said. She his her face in her hands. "He's HERE. I had thought him left safely behind me. As safely as he could ever be." Her breath caught and he was afraid she might cry.

"Here." He slid the tonic over the table to her. "Have a sip. You'll feel better." She took it her hands and brought it in range of her mouth, but didn't drink.

"What could he have done to Esme? Who knows how long she was under his power? Long enough for him to have done something! He could've done ANYthing..."

"She only had the one bite," Sirius said. "She was warm, she was breathing, her heart was beating. She remembered both of us and could talk sensibly. I didn't smell a Bind. Whatever was done to her can be put right."

Lorelei shuddered, and took a sip from the glass. Sirius had wondered if she would drink after him. Maybe it was just a sign of how upset she really was. But that was what the tonic was before. After a few moments, some of the tension left her shoulders.

"I don't even know what I'm going to tell the family," she said softly.

"Will they be glad to see her again?"

"of course! Even when we thought that... that it had been deliberate... they wanted her back. So did I, really. As much as I hated her, I wanted her there to hate... That sounds crazy doesn't it?"

"Just keep drinking." He tried to smile. "You'll need to keep your head if they trot Fudge out to talk to you."

"No." She pushed the cup back to the middle of the table. "If they're going to annoy me, I want to be sure they recognize it when it happens."

Sirius actually chuckled at that. They sat in silence for a long while after. Then, a knock on the door sent Sirius back to Padfoot and under the table to sit beside North. Lorelei answered the door and found Dormire there.

"They're ready to see you, ma'am," he said. She nodded, and stepped out. North was on her heels and Padfoot followed too. They went down the hall to another room that was guarded by a pair of Aurors. The two swallows of tonic couldn't keep off the stab of panic that Padfoot felt at that sight. Would they notice him? Could they tell he was an animagus?

He crowded close to North in the hopes that the white dog would attract the most attention. I'm just a shadow, he thought desperately at them. Look at the fluffy white dog, not the perfectly normal black dog next to him. Just two dogs... One all shiny, one sort of blending in with the background... Don't even look twice. And they didn't.

They didn't pay the two dogs any attention at all. He and North were allowed to follow Lorelei through the door. He almost had time to relax before he heard her gasp.