A/N: I'm writing this one as it comes to me and in the spare moments I can find. (very few and in between lol. In writing this story it took me a few minutes to think of something I haven't already basically read with this couple lol
Chapter 2
Inlaid With Gold
En route to Number 24, Grimmauld Place, the pit of hell, Sirius had been forced to pause against the window of a closed shop. Coincidentally, the moon shone clearly enough that he was able to glimpse a cast of his reflection on the glassy surface. The sight that met his eyes was far different than he had expected.
Sirius could scarcely believe it when his heart started beating again. He wasn't aware of the fact it had stopped until it started pounding loudly in his ears. After this other things began to change. His surroundings blurred and then a sucking, pulling sensation jerked his body from one location to another. Much like Apparating, Sirius heard the faint pop and was confused to find himself not two blocks away from his family home.
His body hurt like hell, like Bella's curse had just struck him seconds ago. But the way he felt wasn't so much cursed induced, but the way he used to feel at Hogwarts. When he and James played Quidditch all weekend long, until their muscles simply refused to function properly for at least a day after.
He was fully clothed, thank Merlin, he thought, and remarkably, dressed in the same clothing he fell through the arch in.
Not that I have any problem with going starkers occasionally...
He had been running for a few minutes, but the journey seemed to take forever. Even with his wand, Sirius hadn't known what time he had been dropped down into and so marked possible Apparation off his to-do list. Technically he was top priority on the Ministry's most-wanted line up. Thus, his aching limbs and baited breath. He blamed his weariness from his age. Even Sirius admitted, only to himself of course, that he was no longer a strapping twenty-two.
But the face that looked back at him in the window of the Muggle shop, was not thirty-eight. "What the hell?" he murmured, bringing a hand to touch his smooth, stubble free cheek. Then he grinned and glanced up at the stars. Tipping his fingers to the heavens, he said, "Thanks mate. I'll do whatever you bloody want if you let me keep this face."
Shadows rushed past him, and his humor was immediately replaced by vigilance. Gray eyes wary, he gripped his wand and watched the homeless Muggles dart into a back alley across the street.
Keep moving Pads, you stupid git! You've got a job to do.
Running was easier after he realized he looked fifteen years younger than his former self. Dead or not, he was Sirius Black again, not some washed up drunk trying to drown his woes. He didn't pause to consider that the Veil had made him look younger for a distinct purpose...
Without a clue of exactly when the Veil had dropped him back to life, Sirius approached the wards masking his home with caution. For hours he simply watched. Covered in disillusionment charms, he was able to see Wizards coming and going. Yet one particular arrival caught his attention, above the others.
The ones who had left no less than an hour before had returned, this time, with a wide eyed brunette teenage Witch in their company. She clutched her satchel and eyed the gloomy home with tears in her eyes. Yet just when the tears threatened to escape her golden eyes, her determined chin squared and the bravery that made her a lioness resurfaced.
Sirius gasped as the door opened and his other self appeared.
Hermione gripped her bag and glanced at the silent streets around them. Sirius froze when her eyes lingered briefly over his hiding place. A line appeared between her brows and a pensive expression crossed her features. For one infinitely brief yet long moment, Sirius felt something shift inside him.
He was brought back to that moment, years ago...
She appeared like a Valkyrie, like a goddess come to rescue him atop the Hippogriff's back. His godson was with her, but Sirius knew it was her brilliance that had hatched this plan. James had never been the brains of their crew. That had been Remus, he thought with a twinge of regret.
But this Witch, this glorious, young child, held onto him in terror as they plummeted from the castle towers. And inexplicably, as he laughed and she screamed, Sirius knew he had never felt so alive...
The moment was broken when she tore her gaze from him and walked up the steps to Grimmauld Place. Sirius was shaken as he recalled the previous summer of his godson's 5th year. Hermione arrived first, earlier than the Weasley's and Harry. Since Voldemort's secret return, Muggles had been going missing again. All of them were in danger, Hermione most of all.
Sirius had always had a soft place for this Witch. He loved to aggravate and challenge her know-it-all sensibilities because they both craved the distraction. He hadn't been able to bring himself to tell Remus what happened those first few days, of the previous summer.
Now he wondered if he ever would have the chance.
Instantly he understood the Veil's purpose in bringing his ghost here. Harry was too shaken from the Diggory boy's death and the Order was going mad trying to focus their attentions everywhere and anywhere the Death Eaters might be striking next. Hermione was beyond this. She had seen through him from the start with her young, gold flecked eyes. He could no sooner go to himself and expect a drunken idiot to listen.
It was all about Hermione. Hermione was the one he needed to get through to. In an ironic twist of fate, Sirius realized that she was going to become his salvation once again. Only this time, he was determined to unveil all the secrets he had been hiding behind.
Review: Question 2: Would you keep your real feelings a secret, even if other people thought they were wrong?
