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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I still remember my first encounter with Sirius Black. It was almost 20 years ago. We were both 15, serving detention at Hogwarts; Sirius for charming the toilets to burst with water whenever Filch's saggy old arse touched the seat; myself for laughing after witnessing Filch storming from the staff bathroom dripping from head to toe./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"We were in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, scraping Super-Stick chewing gum from the under side of the desks. No wands allowed of course./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I remember he was humming absent-mindedly, and also incredibly out of tune - I can't remember which song it was. Probably because it would have been unrecognisable; Sirius always did have a knack of butchering a good song./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I'd asked him to shut the hell up as he was making my ears bleed. He'd smirked and told me it was probably because I had to listen to my own miserable whinging every day. That smug smirk he wore on his stupidly gorgeous face was enough to make my insides crawl with disgust back then. Now I'd give anything to see it again./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"Despite being natural enemies - him being a Gryffindor, myself a Slytherin - we had never so much as exchanged an insult; I tended to keep myself out of the petty arguments that my fellow housemates found themselves in. But Sirius Black was everything I had been brought up to hate - despite having never spoken to him, I disliked him by default. The constant of my family and fellow housemates had poisoned my impressionable mind into believing Sirius was a filthy blood traitor, no better than a mudblood./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I remember calling him an arsehole and throwing the piece of chewing gum that I'd successfully prised off the desk above me at his head. He'd said that he would rather be an arsehole than a Slytherin./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""You seem to forget your entire family are Slytherins, Black. Don't think for one second I believe your bullshit 'I love muggleborns' act. You're one of us on the inside, no matter how much you surround yourself with red and gold." I had replied. Sirius had scowled at this and turned away./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Oh I seem to have hit a nerve." I had muttered, not quietly enough for him to miss./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Not at all, it just frustrates me that traditional purebloods like yourself are so narrow minded that you think you're superior to everyone else. I would rather be a muggleborn than a pretentious idiot. Hopefully one day, instead of joining the death eaters and being forced into an arranged marriage with another thick headed pureblood, you will open your eyes and realise how truly stupid the lot of you are." He'd retorted. I remember it word for word. After all, I had replayed the conversation in my mind a hundred times later that night./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I'd snorted at this, but I remember feeling a sinking sensation in my stomach. It turns out he was the one who had hit a nerve. /p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"-/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I was jolted from my daydream by my husband entering the kitchen loudly. I'd been washing up manually, making sure I took the longest possible time to avoid being in his presence. The bubbles previously skimming the top of the water in the sink had long since burst./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Adhara, have you seen today's Daily Prophet?" Rabastan questioned./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""No darling." I replied absent-mindedly, my mind still trying to play catch-up to the present day./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"Rabastan dropped the paper on the counter next to me so that I could read it without having to dry my hands. I glanced down and jolted at the sight of the headline on the front page./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"'ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN!' was printed in bold text above a picture of him. There he was. Sirius./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I felt the blood rushing from my face; my heart was pounding against my chest making it hard to breath, but I didn't let the mask that I had worn for our entire marriage slip./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""He's escaped?" I asked after a minute of Rabastan waiting for a reaction./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Apparently so." I caught him roll his eyes as he made his way over to the dining table. I exhaled in relief and turned back to finish scrubbing the last of the pots./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Does it say how he escaped?" I asked quickly./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""No, nobody knows how he managed it. Nobody's ever escaped Azkaban before." he answered. "Why aren't you using magic?"/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Oh, no reason... Have there been any sightings?" I bit my lip in anticipation./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""No not as of yet."/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I placed the last pan on the side to let the excess water drip off and grabbed a towel from the counter to dry my hands. I needed to keep myself busy so as to not appear fidgety. I'd been completely caught off guard. I wasn't prepared for this! I responded. I decided to change the conversation so as to not give myself away. "What are you planning on doing today?"/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I busied my hands again by pouring Rabastan a mug of coffee from the pot I had made earlier, ready for when he came downstairs./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""Lucius and I are visiting the Minister shortly for a meeting - we need to discuss the Goblin Rights Legislation. They're getting far too contemptuous for my liking. " Rabastan muttered absent-mindedly as he continued to flick through the paper that he had taken with him. I placed the mug of coffee in front of my husband, careful not to spill any on the marble surface of our table, and sat down opposite him./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"Silence ensued as Rabastan continued to read the paper. My hands clasped my own mug of coffee as I tried to stop my leg from jumping up and down in a nervous twitch. My mind was racing; how did he get out after all this time? Where was he? Would he come and find me?/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"The scrape of a chair being pushed back jolted me from my thoughts as Rabastan stood to leave./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;""I should be going, Lucius will be expecting me at any moment. I'll be home around six, make sure dinner's ready."/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I nodded as my stomach lurched when he leant over me to say goodbye - twelve years of marriage and I was still disgusted by my husband. He kissed me roughly on the lips, his stubble scratching at my delicate skin./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"I closed my eyes tightly and let my mind drift to my happy place - the place I always thought of when I had to endure my marital duties. I found myself in a secret passageway inside Hogwarts behind the portrait of Truvania the Two Toed Witch, my eyes still closed but this time out of passion. Tender lips kissing me softly, his tongue running along my bottom lip, his hands running up my thighs slowly./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"-/p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"Rabastan had left over half an hour ago. I hadn't stopped pacing the house in all that time, trying to sort my scattered thoughts. I'd scanned over the newspaper article at least eight times trying to find any clue of his whereabouts./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"My hands ran through my hair nervously as I walked back and forth. What day was it today? Wednesday? Yes, good. Before I could change my mind I ran to the hallway to grab my coat and handbag, kicking on the first pair of shoes that I could find. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and turned on the spot, disapparating from my lonely house to Godrics Hollow. I had to find Remus./p
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p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"A/N: Feb 2016 - Rewrite/p
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