Title: Blood Will Tell
Author: jm
Fandom: Harry Potter, with a vague crossover with the Death Gate Cycle books in the beginning (only in the beginning)
Codes: SB/RL, HP, SS, various other canon and original characters. AU. Features vampire!Sirius.
Rating: It is whatever passes for R these days. This is due to semi-explicit (usually mild) sexual situations, brief incidences of fantasy violence and gore, and mentions of off screen killing.
Disclaimer: This is an amateur not-for-profit fan work based upon the universe and characters created by J.K. Rowling--which are owned by her, her various publishers, and Warner Bros. Long may she write! The Death Gate Cycle books were penned by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I only borrow the barest ideas from those books, which aren't mine either.
Summary: After three years, Sirius returns from beyond the veil, only to be turned into a vampire without his consent. Now he and Remus are left to cope with the consequences.
Notes: This spontaneous work-in-progress is being written because I was craving vampire Sirius stories recently and could not find fan fiction for it anywhere, particularly of the Sirius/Remus variety. So, I'm writing this purely for my own amusement, sans any serious plot. If anyone else enjoys it also, fabulous! If anyone else is inspired to write their own vampire Sirius fan fiction—even better!
Beta(s): I hope later on at some point. Volunteers gladly accepted.
Feedback: Constructive comments and criticism absolutely welcome; in fact, craved. Or, the random one-liner. I'm not picky. I love feedback!
"This living hand, now warm and capable of earnest grasping,
Would if it were cold and in the icy silence of the tomb
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights—
That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again"
--John Keats
Prologue.
A traveler from the far fractured future—where the world as we know it has been sundered into four equal parts, and contains magic very different from that in use now—entered a cell in Azkaban prison. At first glance, this man appeared unremarkable in every way. Plain mousy brown hair, brown eyes, wearing the most basic, functional, plain clothing imaginable; of average height and build… The man's pale skin appeared perfectly nondescript from what little could be observed peeping out from his clothing, which covered nearly every inch of his body, leaving only his hands below the wrists and his face uncovered. Even the man's neck had a covering of cloth wound around it.
This forgettable appearance suited the man just fine. He cultivated it. Blending in was a skill he highly prized. His orders were to not draw attention to himself in each of the worlds he visited, and to find a person at each destination who would promote as much chaos as possible in that world. The best choice for this chaos fomenter was a person who was intelligent, resourceful, strong, determined, and likely to stick around for quite a while. The man, known as Haplo in another place and time, chose the most celebrated and dangerous prisoner in Azkaban prison—Sirius Black.
Sirius Black caught Haplo's eye for quite a few reasons. Haplo quickly discovered that in this world, the wizards appeared to be using a slightly different sort of magic than what he had noticed the ordinary magicians of his world used. He had been told (and observed for himself) that humans were only capable of so much with the limited skills they possessed. But this human, who lacked the odd prop of a wooden stick that the humans of this place favored, still had the aura of strong magic about him. This wizard, Sirius Black, existed in this cruel jail overseen by the most foul, loathsome, magic-dampening creatures Haplo had ever encountered (and that was saying something, considering the Labyrinth he had grown up in), and yet still held the ability to cast powerful magic while others around him quickly went insane and died.
Yes, this person would serve Haplo's purpose most excellently. The man Sirius Black appeared to want to escape his prison (sending his world into an uproar), protect some boy, overthrow the local magical government and fight some powerful dark wizard who was attempting a takeover of his own. All of these things were deliciously chaotic. In this man Haplo sensed the power, passion, and drive necessary for his tasks. It looked likely that this Sirius would succeed. Haplo didn't concern himself with this world's problems. He never took sides, and thus could care less whether the wizard Black would in actuality succeed. The only thing that mattered was that his chosen one cause as much chaos as possible for as long as he possibly could.
If Haplo were being honest with himself, he would have to admit that all of the survival skills and power this human possessed did not interest him nearly as much as the fact that this human wizard was a shape shifter—rare and intriguing in and of itself—and with a canine form in particular. Haplo himself had endured numerous hardships to escape his own deadly prison. At the very end, when freedom was almost within his grasp, he was attacked by several fierce monsters of the Labyrinth. Haplo thought that he would surely die, and it was a bitter thought, after coming so close to his freedom, but he was determined to die fighting. To his absolute surprise, a black dog appeared, badly wounded, and fought valiantly beside him, despite the fact that the dog must have been in considerable pain, and that the hopeless battle was draining what little life the dog had left, out of him.
Haplo was surprised by such loyalty and courage in the dog, especially since the dog was being harmed, rather than benefiting from its own actions. In the end, thanks to the dog, they were both finally freed from the Labyrinth's deadly clutches. Haplo discovered a keen intelligence shining from the dog's eyes, and the animal remained absolutely loyal to him wherever they went. The animal was extremely useful, and was, in fact, currently part of the reason Haplo made it into the prison undetected in the first place.
Now, Haplo was confronted with a larger, shaggier version of Dog, with the same fierce intelligence shining out of its gray, rather than brown, eyes. Haplo was not a sentimental man, but someone had to be chosen to bring chaos to this world. So, it might as well be this Dog Man who reminded him of his own loyal companion. Haplo would give to Dog Man some of his own advanced magic—just enough to give Dog Man the nudge he needed to escape. Certainly Dog Man appeared capable of it on his own, but he was taking too long for Haplo's liking.
So the Dog Man came to be inscribed with the same magic runes that covered nearly every inch of Haplo's skin underneath all of Haplo's clothing. These tattoos focused Haplo's own powerful, foreign magic throughout his body. The Dog Man, of course, did not receive nearly as many tattoos on his body as Haplo had on his own. There just wasn't time. Besides, no matter how special Dog Man was, he was still just a common human, after all, and therefore rather beneath Haplo's own advanced abilities.
Yet Haplo was quite impressed when Dog Man did not flinch in the slightest as Haplo carved the magic into his skin. Unconsciously, Haplo was really looking forward to the time when he could leave this world and travel on through the Death Gate to another place. Dog Man, whether he would admit it to himself or not, made Haplo distinctly…uneasy.
About four years passed in the Dog Man's world. Time ran differently for Haplo in his other plane of existence. He soon nearly forgot all about Dog Man. When Haplo had left Dog Man, he expected never to see him again. Haplo was busy developing troubles, and a conscience, of his own. Morals were proving to be damn inconvenient.
Fortunately, as it turned out for Haplo's own world, and quite by accident, the runes that became a part of Sirius Black would end up giving Sirius the ability to travel through the Death Gate, unlike any other human before him. In fact, the magic that was carved into the Dog Man drew Sirius straight to Haplo. Haplo was at first rather annoyed that his chaos bringer hadn't stayed put in his own world. However, Haplo came to be very thankful indeed when Sirius Black helped save Haplo's world from its own Dark Lord.
Therefore it came as no surprise that when the Dog Man asked for Haplo's assistance in getting back through the Death Gate to Sirius' own world, Haplo was glad to point him in the right direction. So it was that three years after Sirius Black fell through the veil in the Death Room of the Department of Mysteries, and one year after Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort, Sirius Black returned home. Harry Potter was very shortly to celebrate his nineteenth birthday, and it would be a birthday that he would never forget.
End Prologue.
July 1999. Present day.
Remus Lupin and Harry Potter currently formed the outer edges to a Sirius Black sandwich. Harry lay curled around his godfather in the large, soft bed. One of Harry's arms was around Sirius' neck; hand lying on the artery there, while Harry's other hand clutched one of Sirius' wrists, fingertips resting at the steadily throbbing pulse. Remus lay on Sirius' other side, his body pressed as close as humanly possible to his beloved Sirius, with his head positioned directly above the deep beating of Sirius' heart.
No matter how many times Sirius tried to reassure them that he was not planning on going anywhere, Remus and Harry, after witnessing what they thought was Sirius' death, were now extremely reluctant to let Sirius out of their sight for even a moment. This resulted in their keeping very close to him, even while they all slept. Without quite realizing it, Harry and Remus found it rather impossible to sleep unless they could feel for themselves that blood still pumped through his veins, and breath still passed from his lips. Sirius, although he understood it completely, was by turns finding it both deeply touching and a touch bothersome.
The next morning, Sirius woke a bit stiff and sweaty from lying in the same position for so long. Sirius tried to carefully stretch out his body without waking either of the two people currently sleeping basically all over him. This proved to be an impossible task. Sirius was only partially successful.
"Mmmph. Sirius," Harry murmured sleepily and snuggled closer to Sirius.
Remus burrowed into Sirius' neck and spoke quietly with a voice hoarse from sleep, "Wake, love?"
"Yes," Sirius answered, "and I'm hungry. How about I make us some breakfast?"
This was apparently the right thing to say, for Harry woke at once. "Breakfast! Yes! You know, Sirius, you're a pretty good cook. I never would have figured, especially since you're a pureblood. Remus only makes tea and toast!" Harry said.
Sirius laughed. "Well, what did you think I lived off of after I got my own place at seventeen? Sunday lunch at the Potters' only goes so far, Harry. I either had to learn to cook, or starve. It's simple, really. Cooking is a bit like Potions. I never had any trouble in Potions," Sirius said.
"And I did," Remus commented. "Potions was my worst subject, next to Herbology. Besides, I have two doting parents who have always been willing to serve up a home cooked meal whenever I've stopped by. During the years after, ah, before I started teaching at Hogwarts, many of my muggle jobs involved a free cooked meal as part of the payment. The pubs always served up a bit of something to the customers, and they were happy to be able to pay me less in exchange for food. Then there was that nice old Pakistani newsagent I worked for who introduced me to the joys of muggle television serials and fish and chips for a pound. Food in an instant, Harry! Quite the wonderful thing for the wizard who is awkward in the kitchen," Remus said with a rueful smile.
Harry looked dubious. "I'd rather Sirius make something, thanks," Harry said.
"Oh, let's eat out instead. Somewhere nice. Padfoot shouldn't have to cook," Remus said.
"Fine. I'll let you two work out where we're going to go. I have to use the toilet," Sirius remarked, getting up out of bed and heading into the bathroom. As he closed the door, he could hear them coming up to the door to talk to him through it. He shook his head with a wry smile. It appeared that 'personal space' was going to be a nonexistent concept for awhile yet.
"There's that new curry place, Padfoot, it's quite close by," Remus called through the door.
"Yeah, that smelled pretty good, when we walked by yesterday," Harry remarked. "Then we could go to that new Quidditch shop, they've got loads of new stuff in. I really want to show you the latest model broomstick, Sirius," Harry said enthusiastically, his voice coming through only slightly muffled.
"Better than your Firebolt then, Harry?" Sirius asked, teasing him.
"Well, of course I still have that," Harry hastily assured him.
"I should hope so," Remus said. "He went to quite a lot of trouble to get it to you, Harry, and that thing cost a fortune." Having had very little money for most of his life, Remus wasn't able to disregard cost as easily as Sirius and Harry. Still, now that Remus had plenty of money, he couldn't resist the urge to want to spoil Sirius a bit. Most of Sirius' life had been horrible and filled with little to be happy about, so that Remus' first impulse was to try to spend every moment making it up to Sirius. Remus was afraid that Sirius felt the same way when it came to Harry.
"There's that fancy muggle clothing shop on the high street as well. I want to stop in there and buy you some things, Sirius. Make you look like less of an escaped convict and more of a human," Remus said lightly.
The sound of running water signaled that Sirius was washing his hands. "I don't care where either of you want to go. Just getting to walk about as a free man is enough for me. Hope you don't mind my taking some time to kip out in the sun. It was always twilight in that…other place," Sirius said, his voice darkening when he mentioned his time beyond the veil. He stepped out of the bathroom.
"'Course not. Old people need their sleep," Harry joked.
"You never speak of your period…away, Sirius. Was it really that…awful?" Remus asked, cautiously.
"Yes," Sirius replied, shortly. "Sorry, but I don't want to talk about it. Perhaps someday I'll change my mind. But I doubt it."
An uncomfortable silence followed. The atmosphere in the room became tense, and Harry quickly tried to change the subject. "You would have been declared innocent sooner if we hadn't been so stupid and had actually remembered—"
"Your wand," Remus finished Harry's statement. "They kept everything from your arrest in those, those damned vaults at the Ministry," Remus said, his voice shaking with suppressed emotion. He continued speaking, each word filled with guilt and pain, "All that time, if we had only tried to help you, instead of shutting you up in this miserable house of horrors…"
"Everything, everything we needed, your wand, our memories, all the evidence was already there, and we were too self-absorbed to see. We didn't even need that filthy rat, Wormtail," Harry said.
"Although it was certainly satisfying when we did finally catch him, later," Remus said grimly.
"He got what was coming to him, the rotten bastard. I only wish it had been worse," Harry said, clenching his fists.
"Yes," Remus agreed.
Sirius sighed. "Look, we've already been over this. It's done; it's in the past. There's no use beating yourselves up over it now. I'd rather focus on more pleasant things," Sirius said.
"Like the fact that we don't need Grimmauld Place any longer," Remus said. "I'm only sorry you had to come back here at all, Sirius. I've just been so used to staying here. At first, after you had left, this mausoleum was all I had. Also, during the war, it was useful, of course. But now we can get rid of this house whenever you'd like."
"We could burn it down," Harry said gleefully.
"What do you mean, it was all you had?" Sirius questioned. "There was plenty in my vault. Not to mention all the Black family fortune as well," Sirius said.
"I'll even go fetch the matches," Harry said with relish.
"I don't think that will be necessary, Harry," Remus said mildly. "You recall we told you that Dumbledore wouldn't have you declared dead, Sirius? That meant your will couldn't come into play, naturally."
"But I wasn't dead!" Sirius said.
"We didn't know that, though. Still, there wasn't really any proof. No…no body, or anything," Harry said.
"It served his purposes to keep you alive and at large, even if in name only," Remus said bitterly. "That way there was no chance for Narcissa to contest your will."
"So what did you live off of then?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"I still think we ought to torch the place," Harry said petulantly.
"Harry," Remus admonished reproachfully. "I sold most of the contents of this and your other houses, at least the ones in Britain. Mundungus helped with the more…dodgy items. I made sure to sell the contents of your father's wine cellar personally, however. I felt it would have been too tempting for him to sample the wares beforehand. They fetched a great deal of money, and careful investing has increased it all further," Remus said.
"Of course," Sirius said darkly. "My father always did have excellent taste."
"Why can't we just burn it to the ground? It'd be more satisfying," Harry complained.
"Because we ought to get everything we can out of the cursed place. One can never be too rich, or too thin," Remus quipped feebly, trying to lighten the mood. The sadness remained clearly visible in his eyes, however. "Still, it's entirely up to Padfoot what we do," Remus said.
"We'll sell it, and most of the other houses. I have a few properties abroad to unload as well. We should all get a fresh start," Sirius said decisively.
"Together," Harry declared. Sirius and Remus smiled.
"Definitely," Sirius said. "Then we can get that place you were wanting in the country, Harry."
"Perhaps we could purchase a place in town as well?" Remus questioned.
"Yes. We could have another home somewhere warm, too," Sirius said with a grin. "They ought to all have lots and lots of large windows, to let in the sunshine," Sirius said.
"We could start looking today! A house for my early birthday present!" Harry said excitedly. "It's my turn in the bathroom, by the way," Harry said offhandedly, heading in that direction.
"As if getting your godfather back wasn't enough," Remus said.
"Well, that really was all that I wanted, but now that I've got him back, I can be as greedy as I like," Harry said, coming over to Sirius and embracing him fiercely.
"You don't know how glad I am to be back," Sirius said.
Harry then kissed Sirius on the cheek and grabbed some clothes. "Hurry up and get ready, you two. I want to leave as soon as possible," he said, disappearing into the bathroom.
Sirius quickly grabbed random things out of the wardrobe for them to wear and tossed the clothes on the bed. As Sirius yanked off his nightshirt, Remus came up to him and pulled him close. "I know we only have a few moments, but I need to hold you without Harry in the room. I just need to touch you—God, so badly it hurts," Remus said desperately, wrapping an arm tightly around Sirius while caressing Sirius' chest with his other hand.
"Hey, it's all right, Remus. You have me. I promise," Sirius said, lightly brushing Remus' cheek. "It seems like you both need to touch me constantly. I understand. You both make excellent heaters at night," Sirius said with a laugh.
"Ah, you noticed that, then," Remus said, embarrassed. "Sorry, love. I'll open a window tonight. I just wish…"
"Yes?" Sirius asked.
"Well, I'd really like to be alone with you, sometimes. I know Harry needs you too, in his own way, but…" Remus said, gazing at Sirius earnestly, still holding him close.
"Harry's just making up for all those times when he couldn't climb into his parents' bed at night," Sirius said. "It will pass," Sirius reassured him. Sirius rubbed his hands down Remus' back gently.
"Yes, but…I love you, Sirius. I love you so, so much. And oh, God, I missed you. I need you, Sirius," Remus said.
"Feeling a bit randy, Mr. Moony?" Sirius inquired archly.
"I didn't mean just that, Padfoot, but yes, I'd love to have a chance to be intimate with you. It's rather impossible with Harry about every moment, however," Remus replied. "It's been over three years! You can hardly blame me for wanting to be with my gorgeous lover, can you?"
"Not really gorgeous any longer," Sirius said quietly.
"Yes, yes you are, Padfoot, and don't you dare think any differently," Remus said, still staring up at Sirius' face. Their noses were practically touching. They were sharing the same breath.
Sirius swallowed nervously. "You mean there wasn't anyone while I was…away? I mean, I know I wasn't with anyone, but I hardly dared to think that you…" Sirius trailed off.
"Oh Sirius, of course there wasn't another person! You've quite spoiled me for anyone else. I've only ever loved you that way, just you. During Azkaban, there were two others I had relations with, but it meant nothing. I was foolishly trying to forget you. I couldn't. I don't ever want to forget you," Remus said, holding Sirius' face lovingly.
"But this last time we were separated, you thought I was dead," Sirius said painfully.
"Yes," Remus responded, and he appeared to be holding back tears now. "Yet just because I thought you had died, doesn't mean I had stopped loving you. I'm yours, always," Remus said. He parted his lips slightly in invitation.
Sirius didn't need any more encouragement. He moved in for a passionate, open-mouthed kiss. Unfortunately, just as they were getting started, Harry walked back into the room. "Ugh, grownups kissing," Harry said. Sirius hastily broke off the kiss. Remus sighed.
"Technically, a young man in this very room who is nearly nineteen at this very moment certainly qualifies for the 'grownup' category himself," Sirius said.
"Although he doesn't seem to be acting his age," Remus said carefully, attempting to keep any hint of resentment at the interruption out of his voice.
"Huh. Well, you guys don't have time for snogging, anyway. You're not even dressed properly. Get a move on. I'll be downstairs, waiting," Harry said impatiently. He ran off.
"Right. Right," Remus said flatly. Reluctantly he moved away from Sirius and quickly started to change his clothing, keeping his eyes averted from watching Sirius do the same thing. There was too much temptation there.
"Soon, Moony, I promise. There are always showers," Sirius said encouragingly.
"And I want a Quidditch pitch in the back garden," Harry called up the stairs.
"Quidditch pitch?" Sirius smiled.
"Wonderful," Remus said, shaking his head.
Note: Sorry for the additional Author's Notes. I normally don't do stuff like this. But the story header at the beginning was getting long enough, plus, I realized some things only after I started writing this.
First of all, this is my first multi-chaptered fic. I don't tend to write long things, but I have the feeling that this may carry on for a while. Also, although I really want quite badly to get straight to the 'Sirius turns into a vampire' stuff, after I began this story, well, let's just say I know now that there has to be some set-up first. I even ended up doing a great deal of research into blood, blood donations, and various other medical things relating to blood, just so I could be more accurate and realistic when the time comes. It probably seems a bit silly for me to have pages of handwritten notes on medical stuff when vampires are fictional creatures, but there it is.
Plus, when I called my mom in England, I even asked her to Brit pick a bit for me. She informed me that the English don't have TV dinners as we know it in America. That made me change some things. I wanted very much to not only attempt accurate British slang (although I'm sure I failed), but to also use proper British spelling. For example, I do know that it is supposed to be spelled 'gaol', instead of 'jail' in England. However, I could not be confident that I would catch everything on my own. So, I tried to set Microsoft Word to UK spelling, but it wouldn't cooperate. Therefore, I decided it would have to be all or nothing in the spelling department for now. Forgive this ignorant American, please.
And did I mention how much I would cherish any reviews? I did? Well, sorry for being so shameless. begs anyway