...

In my dreams I'll always see you
Soar above the sky
In my heart there'll always be a place
For you for all my life
I'll keep a part of you with me
And everywhere I am
There you'll be
And everywhere I am
There you'll be

The minister rang a bell and seconds later a house elf had entered the room. “Please take Miss Potter outside,” Bagnold said without looking up.
Rachel slowly followed the house elf, her eyes downcast. “Black,” she mumbled. “Sirius …”

But Sirius was far, far away.

She swayed and tumbled to the floor, her eyes falling closed, exhaustion overwhelming her.
But her soul was light with happiness, even as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Sirius was back.

Rachel knew that what she was doing was wrong, selfish, egoistical and completely inexcusable, but she just couldn’t help herself.
She knew that she should have just left the Shrieking Shack and gone back to the Order, even if it meant she might never see Sirius again. She knew it would have been the right thing to just leave and not get Sirius into any more danger than he was in anyway.
But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

Rachel shot up in bed from a nervous sleep, her eyes moving towards the door.
It was almost a year after Sirius had escaped from Azkaban. A year of which she had spent more than half at Dorcas’, worrying herself senseless, without news, without anything happening.
And now, someone was knocking at her door in the middle of the night.
“Rachel, please open the door – it’s Albus Dumbledore.”

“Why won’t you answer? I’ll tell you something, Sirius. I love you. I do. I love you just like I’ve always loved you. And I don’t know what the matter is with you. But I’m not giving up on you.”
He stared at her, his face hard, controlled.
“Rachel, I want you to leave”, he said finally.
“Not before you look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love me.”

The door of Number 12 was ripped open before she even had the time to knock. There stood Sirius, his body tensed up, his face pale with worry and anger, the reason for which she couldn’t explain.

She whimpered. “He is not dead,” she croaked. “He can’t be … he is my Sirius … my Sirius…”
“He fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries,” she heard Remus said, his voice full of sadness. “No one survives that.”
The veil …

“Look at it this way – we’ll be back at Hogwarts tomorrow …” Ron said, trying to sound soothing.
“Yeah right. That’s even worse. They’re following me around everywhere!”
Ron couldn’t hide a grin.
“That’s not funny!” Harry snapped.

Neville looked exasperated. His lips were pressed together as he whirled around to face the students, who, Rachel realized, were following him.
“Leave me alone!” he yelled angrily, “I am not giving out autographs! That idiot Malfoy lied!”
Whistles from the group. A Hufflepuff girl managed to get through to Neville and Rachel heard her ask him to sign her bra in a breathy voice.

James still seemed to be lost in memories. “We’re Animagi, do you know that?” he said absentmindedly. “Did it for Moony ... to be with him on the full moons. That was when we started calling us by our nicknames – Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Crookshanks.”
Rachel’s head snapped up. “Crookshanks?”

She just stared at Sirius, praying that maybe, they did still have a chance. A small, tiny flicker of hope she was clinging to.
Regulus dragged them through the hall until they had reached the portrait of Mrs Black. He pushed the curtains aside in a swift motion.
“Scum! Blood-traitors!”