So anyone reading my other fic "Strongest Kind of Magic" will know that I hated Sirius dying :( So this is another in which he didn't die. Takes place after the war has been won. From Isabelle's point of view, I am planning that every other chapter will be a memory she has and then the next will be present day sort of thing and so on. Hope you enjoy, please read and review :) xxx

"Isabelle? Isabelle Brooke?"

I was sitting at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron when the familiar voice called me from behind. Turning, my eyes narrowed before my gaze settled upon the man who had spoken, upon which they widened.
"Sirius!" I grinned broadly and was rewarded when he returned this grin with one of his own. Ignoring the butterflies that stirred in my stomach, I gestured for him to take the seat next to me, which he did. I waited until he had ordered his butterbeer before talking again.
"How have you been?"
"Is there any need to ask?" He rolled his eyes, but his tone of voice was light, and I was glad of that.
"No, I suppose not." I laughed in kind. The newspapers had been full of stories either about him or involving him over the past many years, a lot of which I had been disinclined to believe.

Firstly, there had been the dreadful tale of how he was convicted for having betrayed James and Lily Potter and then killing Peter Pettigrew and eleven innocent muggles; that was one story I could not let myself believe. James and Sirius had been the best of friends throughout school along with Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, and whilst I had worked out that Sirius was under a lot of pressure from his family, who supported Voldemort, he never gave in so I was not inclined to believe that he would have done such a terrible thing.

Then, twelve years later, he had been the first ever person to escape from the Azkaban Prison and the papers were constantly reminding us to watch out for him. He was running free for the best part of two years before there was a dreadful incident at the Ministry of Magic in which he was almost killed by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. By some stroke of luck, he survived; people say it is because no matter how much you mean it, a killing curse is far harder to carry out on one who shares your blood and Bellatrix had simply become too used to flicking her wand and saying the words for it to do more than severely weaken him.

He had been mentioned a lot in the papers throughout the war, too. His Godson was Harry Potter, and so once the papers had learned that Sirius was innocent, they were constantly hounding him for his opinion. When Harry did not return to Hogwarts for his seventh year, reporters and Death Eaters alike were trying to find Sirius, believing that he would have knowledge of where Harry and his friends were. Whether he did or not, I was unsure, for if he did he had refused to say anything on the matter. That was the Sirius I knew; loyal to the end.

"So how are you?" He asked, drawing me from my brief reverie. I smiled, nodding slightly.
"Can't complain." I shrugged. He looked at me, silently asking me to expand on what I had said, and I laughed lightly. "My work was pretty demanding over the last few years, but things are quite quiet now." As an Auror, I had been heavily involved during the war against Voldemort. After learning that Sirius was Harry's Godfather, I admit I had high hopes that I would see him at some point but, alas, I did not; there were far too many people involved for you to really find anyone you wanted to see.
"Not married yet then?"
I shook my head.
"No, but as I said my work was pretty demanding. It didn't really leave much time for anything else."
Sirius nodded, thoughtfully. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but before he could, a tall man with short brown hair came up and stood behind him, grinning at me and looking questioningly at Sirius.
"Sirius, this is Blake Ellfrost. Blake, this is Sirius Black." I introduced the two men as Sirius turned around. I bit my lip, realising that, after I saw Sirius, I had completely forgotten I was supposed to be meeting Blake here. "Do you mind if we catch up properly another time, Sirius?" I asked apologetically, and I saw him glance from Blake to me and back again, clearly putting two and two together and coming up with four. He turned back to me again and smiled, although I'm sure it looked a little forced… maybe that was just wishful thinking? I chided myself for thinking this as he nodded.
"Of course. It was good to see you again Isabelle. I'll send you an owl sometime?"
"Soon." I smiled, hoping he could see how sorry I was that our reunion had to be cut short. He stood up, vacating the seat so that Blake could sit down, and turned away, leaving the bar. I watched him go, certain that he was somewhat disgruntled although I could not really understand why.
"So, I'm ten minutes late and I find you talking to some other guy in my absence?" Blake grinned, although I knew him well enough by now to know he was a bit put out. I laughed to put him at ease.
"He's an old friend from school. I haven't seen him in years." Ok, so calling Sirius a friend from school may be stretching the truth a little, but then calling him an acquaintance didn't seem right either. My answer was good enough for Blake, though, who started talking about something that had happened at his work earlier that day. I nodded along, muttering the occasional "yeah" and laughing when he did, but my thoughts were somewhere else entirely. With a certain black haired wizard, to be precise.