In the woods

The last thing he remembered was Harry's desperate voice, screaming his name as loud as he could, then everything went pitch black and as he opened his eyes there was no sign of his godson in the immediate vicinity. Sirius blinked once and tried to get a closer look at the face that was only a few inches away from him. A young man with white-blond hair and very pale skin leaned over him, shaking Sirius' shoulder.

"You're alright, Sir?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Sirius tried to focus on the familiar face. He didn't know the boy, but probably a relative, which he only hoped wasn't a Malfoy. Lucius had been at the Ministry, too, and the boy looked so damn alike that Sirius could barely resist punching him. Rubbing his burning eyes with clenched fists he sat up and glanced around. This place was definitely not the Ministry.

They were in the woods, light breaking through the green leaves and blinding Sirius, who turned back to the boy. His eyes had the same colour as the clouds, which weren't fully covering the sky but allowing the sun to tease Sirius. He completely forgot about that, as he looked in those light-grey eyes. The boy looked at him curious, frowned slightly and looked like he was about to scream: "Hey, you're Sirius Black!"

"Hey!" Seemed like Sirius was the author of this script. "I was talking to you. Are you alright or was I just interrupting your sunbath?"

Sirius snorted. "Oh, very amusing, kid."

The boy quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't know that you were trying to be rude. Apologize." He stood up and stretched his hand out to Sirius. "Do you like sitting in the dirt, old man?"

"What?" Sirius raised his hands and groaned, when he found them covered with nearly dried mud. "Damn."

"Get up," the boy ordered, grapping Sirius' wrist and pulling him up. "I thought you were dead, Sir."

"Seems like your right, when it comes to my legs," Sirius murmured, rubbing his tingling legs with his dirty hands. He realised too late that he spread the mud over his trousers. "Damn it."

The boy laughed. "Stupid", he said, earning a deadly glance of Sirius. "There's something in your face, too." He pointed so abruptly at Sirius that his eyes crossed.

"Yeah, that's called nose", Sirius answered. He leaned back as one of the pale hands reached for his face like he was some sort of attraction.

"Something Voldemort hadn't, right?" Soft fingers were stroking his cheeks and Sirius looked at him dubiously. "I've seen your wand," the boy explained.

"I don't think we're already that close." Sirius couldn't stop himself from saying something flirtatious. The boy was quite handsome and he hadn't seen someone this nice in a few years. But still he felt guilty. A couple of minutes ago he had been in the Ministry fighting against his cousin Bellatrix and after falling through that mysterious veil he found himself in an unnamed forest with a beautiful blond boy next to him. He had to find Harry. As soon as possible.

"Wait." Sirius took a step back. "You're saying his name? Voldemort's?"

The boy shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?" Sirius stared at him with wide eyes. "Certainly not everyone, but the most people do. Did you get something at the head?" He eyed Sirius suspiciously, smirking as the other man opened his mouth like a fish out of water. "The Dark Lord is dead for five years."

The next thing Sirius felt was the hard ground on which he laid outstretched, head aching like he had drunken much too much Firewhisky. He moaned. The last time he fainted was… well, he couldn't remember being unconscious ever before.

"Are you planning to do that again?" That handsome face from before appeared in front of Sirius and he blinked again. "You're alright, Sir? Hello?" Something poked him between the rips and Sirius was up on his feet as fast as he could.

"I'm fine," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "Stop poking me."

"I know who you are," the blond boy said. Sirius gulped hard. "You're a psycho, totally crazy. If you're telling me which mental institute you'd escaped –"

"What?!" Sirius interrupted. "No! I'm not crazy! I am Sirius Black!"

The boy stood still for a moment, staring at Sirius out of his cloudy eyes. "Well, that is certainly a sign that you're crazy," he said. "You're looking quite similar, but I'd rather said you'd be Stubby Boardman."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm not," he said. "But I enjoyed that article in The Quibbler, too." The boy looked puzzled and ready to run away. "Back to the topic. Voldemort is dead?"

"I thought the topic was if you're Sirius Black or not," the boy said. "Let me clean your face." He pointed his wand at Sirius and rolled his eyes, as Sirius did the same. "Fine. Do it yourself."

Sirius frowned. "You're not scared?"

That smirk was rather annoying. "Listen, Stubby –"

"Sirius," he corrected.

"Yes, whatever your wish is." The boy put his wand away and looked back to Sirius, who murmured a cleaning spell. "Voldemort is dead for five years, but Sirius Black," he coughed, "I mean you…" Sirius shook his head at the sarcastic tone and watched the boy as he came closer. "You're gone since 1996, nearly seven years."

Sirius' eyes widened and he felt like he was going to faint again, but slender hands grabbed his arms and held him in an upstanding position. "Seven… years?" He shook his head and stared down at the other man. "No… I was just… a few minutes ago…"

"You look slightly confused. Are you sure that everything is alright?"

"No! Of course not!" Sirius yelled. "I wake up and suddenly Voldemort is dead and seven years have past? That's a bad joke, isn't it? I can't believe that."

"I can't believe you're truly thinking that you're Sirius Black."

"Only because I truly am Sirius Black! Stupid kid! Stupid annoying kid! Don't you have a name or something?" He tried to calm down, but he had never been good in keeping his temper.

"I am no exception of most people, so yes, I do have a name," the boy sneered. "But I won't tell it a rude man I met in the woods."

Sirius sighed. "Alright, sorry. I shouldn't have been yelling at you," he said and grinned. "You must understand… I need to know, what has happened to me. And you're the only one who can help me, I suppose."

"You could ask that bird up there." The boy pointed at something behind Sirius, but he didn't turn around to take a look. He couldn't risk that the boy run away. First of all he had no clue where exactly he was and because the boy was already here and he was a wizard Sirius thought that he should accept his fate.

"I'm asking you." Sirius smiled, unsure if that would work. Women had always loved his smile, but the boy didn't seem impressed.

"Malfoy," he said, "Draco Malfoy."

Sirius moaned and the boy looked pleased. "That was vaguely perceptible."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "I think you need glasses if you haven't recognized this. You still think that you're Sirius Black? Then you should know my father, right?" Sirius nodded. "They're always saying that I look exactly like him."

"You don't," Sirius said and shook his head. "Whatever. You will help me, understand?"

"Well…" Draco smirked again and Sirius didn't like that expression. A family full of Slytherins. He probably jumped right in his death when he asked a Malfoy for help. Why did he that anyway? He could run away and find Harry. Yes, and risk that the Ministry would catch him and then he could sent Harry an owl from Azkaban, telling him he was back after letting him down when he had needed him the most.

"Come on, kid."

"Don't you dare, Stubby," Draco hissed. "I won't take orders from you. If you want me to help, than you should do what I am telling you. And for now… you need a bath." He screwed up his nose. "Who knows how long you've been laying here." He looked around. "Don't you forget throwing your bottles away, okay? We don't want to pollute the environment, right?"

Sirius was already regretting his decision. "You think that I'm drunk?"

Draco shrugged. "You're lying in the woods. You're weaving and –"

"I am sober!" Sirius yelled. "I woke up and didn't have a clue where I am – "

"Yes, that sounds like you've never touched a single Butterbeer," Draco snorted.

"Could you let me finish speaking?" Sirius asked. No matter how good the boy looked, he was an annoying little brat and Sirius would take the first chance to punch him.

As soon as he had found out what was going on here…

"You don't sound very believable, Stubby," Draco said and Sirius snorted. Hopefully that wouldn't be a permanent nickname. "You should work on that."

"Looks like you're quite gullible if you believe me so easily," he snapped back.

Draco blinked at him. "Do you want me to leave you here?"

"No!"

Quirking his head to the side Draco turned around and waved without looking at Sirius. "Follow me or leave it. I don't care."

Oh, of course he cared. That was all this Slytherin-thing. Pretending to be something they weren't. Pretending to be annoyed by something they truly loved. Sirius cleared his throat and wished he'd awaken a few minutes earlier, so Draco would have overseen him.