"SLYTHERIN"

The table on the farthest left burst into applause at the sorting hat's shout. I stumbled from the stool and walked towards what was to be my house at Hogwarts for the next seven years. As I looked at the emerald green ties and badges that adorned my seniors' uniforms, I felt a sudden sense of pride. I belonged here, in the house of ambition, determination, and resourcefulness, and I was going to make it proud.

"Reducio" I said calmly and the trunk full of my clothes shrank to the size of a pack of cards. Tucking it into my pocket, I walked to the fireplace. It was a sham, since there was absolutely no need to light a fire in a tropical country like India. The green flames soared as I threw a fistful of floo powder and stepped into the grate.

"Auror Bagla. How lovely to see you again" said the Indian Minister of Magic, as I brushed the soot off my clothes.

"What's up, Minister?" I asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs and getting comfortable. Being the youngest Head of the Auror office did have some privileges, if 33 was young. The older Ministry officials were more likely to let you get away with decisions that were, by popular belief, deemed as rash.

The Minister took off his spectacles and held them carefully, before letting them dangle from his neck.

"This is rather awkward. I am trying to frame it as delicately as possible. You might have a conflict of interest but we need to capture him and quickly. The whole world is on the lookout for him. The British Ministry have begged for our cooperation. I'm putting you in charge because you're the best auror we have" he said, sighing towards the end.

"Capture whom? Why would I have a conflict of interest?" I asked incredulously, though my heart was beating out a samba, already suspecting the worst.

Now the Minister looked at me curiously.

"You mean you haven't heard?" he asked.

"Heard what?" I whispered.

"Sirius Black. He escaped from Azkaban this morning" he said with a deadpan look.

The first year at Hogwarts had passed in a blissful haze. For the first time in my life, I was genuinely happy. Excelling at academics was a given, considering they were so interesting. My favourite subject by far was Charms, though Professor Flitwick had not been amused when I had made him zoom across the class instead of the feather I was supposed to be levitating. What was worse was, my partner had burst into loud guffaws, not stopping even when the Professor gave us double detentions. That was the first time I talked to Sirius Black. The next time was in the first Quidditch lesson when I threw the Quaffle right between his outstretched arms, straight into the goal post. It was my turn to guffaw.

As green leaves turned to gold, we became friends. Him with his gang of marauders strutting through the castle as if they owned it; me with my friends Lily and Severus, keeping a low profile, learning as much as we could. Lily, though in Gryffindor, was Severus' best friend and eventually became mine too.

As we entered the second year, I was selected as a new Chaser for the Slytherin Quidditch team. James Potter was to be the new Gryffindor seeker. As if the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin wasn't at its peak already. In the very first match, Slytherin managed to slaughter Gryffindor, courtesy its excellent chasers, in spite of James Potter snatching away the snitch just as the Slytherin seeker's hand was about to grasp it. The match was exhilarating and it brought about a change. Form being a girl who was barely known by anyone except a few people in my year, I became somewhat of a celebrity, thanks to the 10 goals I had managed to put past the Gryffindor Keeper. Being the only girl on the Slytherin Quidditch team and being their best chaser gave a sudden boost to my popularity.

I paced in my study, hardly knowing what to think. Azkaban was the most heavily guarded wizarding prison in existence. Someone who had been imprisoned for as long as 12 years was been sure to lose his mind. And yet, Sirius had not only managed to survive with his cognitive facilities intact, according to Minister Fudge at least, but he had also managed to escape the confines of the dank prison, being the very first person to do so!

I still remembered that fateful night from thirteen years ago when all our lives had changed so drastically. Things had happened so fast; first the Potters' being killed, Lord Voldemort disappearing, Harry, the little one surviving, hailed as a beacon of hope by the wizarding world and finally, that horrible confrontation between Peter and Sirius, the death of thirteen muggles and Peter being blasted into smithereens. It was the stuff of nightmares. Sirius had been sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban almost immediately. Nobody doubted his guilt, irrespective of whether they knew him or not, including myself. It was surprising how I felt absolutely nothing when he was escorted to Azkaban back then, but my mind simply failed to reconcile the mass-murderer with the vivacious boy I had gone to Hogwarts with.

Meanwhile, the deaths of Lily and James had left behind a pain that had intensified every time I had thought of them. I had wept for my beautiful, redheaded friend and her family, who had their whole lives snatched away from them by a single curse and for little Harry who would never know just how wonderful his parents had been. With a heavy heart, I had packed my bags and come back to India to focus on my career and I had been here ever since.

When they say opposites attract, they certainly know what they're talking about. Not only did I find his nonchalance and carelessly good looks extremely attractive, but it was obvious over the years that he was equally drawn to me. To nobody's surprise, he asked me out in our fourth year and I eagerly accepted. What followed was a whirlwind romance, fuelled by the hormones raging in our veins. It all sailed smoothly till that one fateful day when everything went to hell.

Our OWLs had finally ended and I stepped out of the exam hall, massaging my cramped fingers, looking forward to a few peaceful hours by the lake with Sirius. Of course, he had finished writing much earlier and had almost run out of the hall after handing in his paper. I looked about, trying to find him when I saw a small group of people standing in a circle, jeering at someone in the centre. I ran towards them, sure that Sirius would be somewhere among them. What I saw, however, made my jaw drop in horror.

Severus was dangling 10 feet above the ground, being levitated by none other than James and Sirius. He tried to gather his robes which had fallen at his face, exposing his skinny legs. The bile rose in my throat and I was about to yell at the jeering boys to get away from Severus but Lily got there first. I watched the furious exchange between her and James and then Severus crashed to the floor. I ran to help him up, but what he said stopped me in my tracks.

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her" he snarled at Lily and I watched helplessly as the friendship between two of my best friends shattered forever. Unwilling to stay and watch anymore, I fled to the dungeons, ignoring Sirius' hurried footsteps as he ran behind me.

"Babe, wait!" he said, grabbing my arm and swinging me around so I faced him.

I looked at his face, looked at what he had become and wondered why I had ever thought there was anything more to him than the bullying crony he was. I couldn't erase the image of him gloating as Severus' robes fell over his head. I felt sick to my very core for having loved a person who derived so much pleasure from utterly humiliating someone helpless.

He pulled me towards him and tried to kiss me and I pushed him away with a strength that surprised him. Then, before he could say anything else, I slapped him hard and left for my common room.

I never spoke to him again.

I wondered how he looked like and what he was doing now that he was no longer in Azkaban. As far as I knew, he had no master to serve, no family and no friends to go to. He had been imprisoned without a trial with so many others and had never been heard of again until now. Thirteen years down the line, my anger had faded and for the first time in my life, I gave him a benefit of doubt. What if he had been innocent after all? James and Sirius had been as thick as thieves in school. Sirius had been the Best Man at James and Lily's wedding and I had been the Maid of Honour. It was a day I would never forget, largely because of the extremely awkward customary dance between us.

I had never seen him after that, making sure I visited little Harry only when his godfather wasn't around. My Auror training had taken up most of my time anyway and I had not been an active member of the Order, mainly only bringing them information from the Ministry when they needed it. Because of this, I had been largely uninformed about the Potters' plan to go into hiding and to make Sirius their secret-keeper. After I had found out, there had been no reason to doubt the popular version of the incident. Sirius had betrayed James and Lily and sold them to Lord Voldemort. Thirteen years later, however, my gut feeling started to kick in and I didn't try to ignore it like I had back then.

I felt his gaze boring into me, my resolve to not look at him weakening as the song played on. His hands were gentle on my waist but his touch burned through the dark green lace of my dress. I kept my eyes fixed on the corsage pinned to his breast pocket, glad about the height difference for once. My hands trembled as they rested on his lapels as I regretted agreeing to be Lily's Maid of Honour for the hundredth time that evening.

More than ever, I hated the effect my dance partner still had over me, how he could make my heart race even three years after I had last spoken to him. Why did everything have to go pear-shaped where he was concerned? Why had I fallen for him at all? It would've been so much better if I had fallen for someone kind and gentle like Remus, or maybe even Sirius' brother Regulus. But no, he had paved his way into my heart and then shattered it. Or maybe it was I who had been absolutely blind to what he had always been, and my illusions had shattered the day Lily and Severus' friendship did.

"The song is over, Salonee" he said softly, startling me out of reverie. "Unless you want to dance to one more?" he asked hopefully. I jumped back from him, finally looking at him, expecting smugness or his usual cocky grin but only finding a deep sadness. I almost caved then, wanting nothing more than to bury myself in his arms but restrained myself with difficulty and turned away, leaving the dance floor and with it, any shred of attachment I still had for Sirius Black.

Almost a year had passed since I received the news of Sirius' escape from Azkaban. By now, I had thought things over rationally and genuinely considered the possibility that he had been imprisoned wrongly. However, there was nothing for me to do, since it was very unlikely that he would contact me after all these years. I was soon proved wrong when he turned up at my doorstep on a wet July evening. Drenched to the bone and straggly matted long hair plastered to his gaunt face, I almost didn't recognise him. But then he grinned and I found myself grinning back.

Three hours and several mugs of tea later, I sat back in my armchair, amazed. My instinct had been correct after all. He had never betrayed James and Lily. It had been Pettigrew all along. I paled when he told me about how he had been sentenced to the Dementor's kiss and how Harry and his friend had saved him and help escape with the huge grey hippogriff currently asleep on my bed.

I felt an overwhelming rush of protectiveness towards him and before I could think too much about it, I threw my arms around him and held him close, his bony arms hugging me back fiercely. The tears would come, for what he had had to endure for twelve years but right now, I only wanted to make sure he was safe, the boy who had claimed my heart at the age of fifteen and had never really given it back.

xxxxxxx

I put up a hand to protect my eyes from the glare of the Goan sun. The beach was lovely; the warm white sand pleasant between my toes and the palm trees a lovely green against the clear blue sky. It felt glorious to sunbathe like this, without a care in the world, the sun rays tingling my skin.

"Finally found one!" shouted Sirius as he walked towards me with what looked like a large red macaw perched on his shoulder. I laughed and he grinned back, handing me the letter and the small cake box as he coaxed the bird to hold out his leg. I attached the two items carefully and hoped they would reach Harry largely intact. Sirius stood a few feet away with his arm extended to let the bird take off and I nodded appreciatively, taking in his lean figure in beach shorts, no longer gaunt and malnourished but healthy and happy. I smiled at him as he joined me, stealing a sip from my cocktail and winking at me.

A/n : I hope you liked it, Sal :)