Well, hello there!
I thought that since I'd been so lax in updating, I would give you yet another chapter double quick!
It's going to be all Sirius in this, since I've seen some of you clamouring in the reviews :-)
Bear in mind, there is a lot to cover and the chapters seem to get longer as I write, so there story will proceed slow at first but I promise you, I will do my best not to disappoint; this is not going to be a melodramatic soap opera but a full-fledged of redemption and healing!
Enjoy!
It was during the darkest part of the night when all was silent and even Nature seemed to be holding her breath that the dog opened it's eyes, gently stirred and slipped out of the arms of the sleeping Regulus to trot out of the cave before transforming into his true form. Sirius shook himself over in a manner that was curious for his human form although one that would befit him as a dog and then realized what he was doing. Snorting, he pulled out his wand and cast a Muffliato at the cave's entrance before looking up at the sky. It was dark and cloudy with not a star in sight, though the waxing gibbous moon occasionally peeked out from behind it's dark curtain. He strode over to flat rock by the side of the cliff that faced the direction away from the cave's entrance and sat down on it, stretching his legs before he called out softly, "Kreacher, I want you here. NOW."
There was a loud crack and the house elf appeared, bowing low.
"Master summoned; what does he require?"
Sirius waved his wand, Accioing a rock thatlay fifty paces away, identical to the one he was sitting on and set it in front of him.
"Sit" he commanded, gesturing at the rock.
Dobby sat and looked at him silently, doing his best to keep a neutral face. His eyes held an enigmatic emotion, though, one that a Muggle who'd known about the magical world would wear on seeing a centaur and it was enough to annoy Sirius.
"What are you goggling at?" he demanded. "Yeah, it's me; alive and kicking. I think you'd figured it out after you saw your favourite Master" he jerked his head in the direction of the cave.
"Forgive me, sir" Kreacher mumbled. "It's just that Master came back so different."
Sirius stared, "What'd you mean different? Wait, hang on; I do feel different. I feel vigorous, healthy, am faster than I was, feel much stronger and the magic seems to be bubbling in me like champagne. What in Merlin's name has coming back to life done to me?"
Kreacher stared, open-mouthed, "Master has not had a look at himself yet?"
Sirius stomped, frustrated, "Kreacher, you'd better give me a straight answer instead of asking more bloody questions!" the last bit was snarled out.
"Look in the lake, sir" Kreacher urged, seemingly unmindful of his rage. "Look at your reflection!"
Sirius turned on his heel and stomped towards the lake and reaching it's edge, he peered into it, casting his wandlight. The face staring back contorted in shock as Sirius let out a yelp of amazement, for staring back was indeed his own face, just the one that would have belonged to a nineteen year old version of him. He looked on, slacked jawed as he took in his appearance; the shorter hair he sported in his youth, the aristocratic face long before Azkaban had rendered it gaunt and sunken, the bright gray eyes shining with a light that had been extinguished years ago on that fateful Halloween night and the smooth, unblemished skin, full of colour and the vigour of life, so unlike the pale and drained complexion he had sported from his escape to his last days. He reached out and touched his face; it was real without doubt.
He stood up and walked back as if in a daze, slumping on his seat and turning to Kreacher, unable to keep the wonder out of his voice "I'm…young. Young and alive."
Kreacher's face softened "Kreacher hopes Master is happy; it was a surprise, sir. To see the Masters alive and both young…it was beyond anything Kreacher could ever expect."
"Yes, indeed" Sirius muttured, barely audible, still lost in contemplation of the magnitude of the revelation. "This is some really powerful magic; Harry may have survived the Killing Curse due to his mother's sacrifice, but what happened to us?" He stood up, unable to contain himself and walked a few paces, looking at the sky. Several things were coursing through his head; he and his brother had come back to life, he was de-aged, years had passed since he died, Kreacher's story…
A thought raced through his mind like a current and he swung around on Kreacher, "You were telling Regulus that the Wizarding World was unsafe again. He was about to question you further before you side-tracked him from it; what is going on out there, Kreacher? And I want to hear the full truth" he said authoritatively, pinning the elf with the famed Black stare, unconsciously mirroring his long dead father.
Kreacher quailed, "I'll tell you everything, sir! Kreacher did not wish to distress Master Regulus anymore; he wished the young Master had never asked!"
"Well then, out with it" Sirius demanded, settling down again. "I want all the details, so leave nothing out."
"Well sir, Kreacher has already told you about the New Minister for Magic, Hermoine Granger. She introduced many laws that were aimed at reforming what she deemed to be biased practices against Muggle-borns, Muggles, Half-Bloods, Squibs and magical creatures, especially house-elves. The thing is, it brought about a huge change in the once deeply conservative Wizarding World, sir. The most noticeable thing is that there are much fewer Pure-Bloods since the Second Wizarding War because the Daily Prophet ran lots of pieces on Blood Purism, effectively shaming Pure-Bloods and bullying them into giving up what were considered to be privileges. For instance, if a Pure-Blood family gains a Half-Blood member, the patriarchs are legally required to bequeath a fixed sum to them in their will, irrespective of whether they consider them family or not, else the Ministry will step in and evaluate themselves how much is to be given, all of which will be deducted from the family treasury. It even caused outraged among Pure-Bloods who were opposed to the Dark Lord, sir. Of course, there were riots by several of the Darker wizards who opposed them, many of who were well off when the Ministry fell all those years ago."
"To add to that, there are anti-hate laws now; anyone who speaks what may be regarded to be in favour of Blood-Purism and the Dark Arts may be pulled up by Magical Law Enforcement and slapped with hefty fines. In certain cases, the Auror office got involved and a full criminal trial was held; it was the son of a Warlock on the Wizengamot who was the accused and he got sentenced to Azkaban for it!"
Sirius felt strangely and hideously uneasy at this; even if he disapproved of Blood Purism, what Kreacher was describing was totalitarianism not unlike the sort which the Ministry had exercised in the wake of Voldemort's return.
"How have those opposed to these revisions responded?" he asked anxiously.
"There has been a huge uproar in the Ministry, sir", Kreacher said. "Many of the veteran employees took it very badly and it doesn't help that the economy's been in a slump too. Minister Granger is proving to be a headstrong and rigid woman and she's alienated many of her professional associates. But it's the Dark Wizards which have been more belligerent in their opposition, sir. Already, three mass-murders have taken place; one of a Muggle family, one of a Muggle-born wizard, his Pure-Blood wife and three children and that of a young Half-Blood witch and her four siblings. She was still attending school and was an orphaned and the children were taken care of by an aunt. They were crucified to the walls and someone burned…His Mark on the walls" he croaked in terror.
Sirius felt the hairs on his neck stand up with horror "They cast the Dark Mark on the walls?!"
Kreacher nodded, "That's not all, sir. Azkaban has long since gotten rid of Dementors and they were all contained for a long time, only now there have been sightings and unconfirmed reports of an attack. There have been some goblin related unrests and the woods are full of werewolves too, although a werewolf attack has not yet happened, sir, not as far as Kreacher knows. The Ministry is divided nowadays; a lot of wizards want the Minister to repeal the new laws and resign while many of the younger ones support her. Master Harry himself is not too pleased with the way things are going, though he is Hermoine Granger's friend. He believes that she is delving into things that are best left untouched and frankly, he is right, sir, seeing as it's drawn out former supporters of the Dark Lord."
Sirius rubbed his fingers against his temples, his head whirling. It seemed as if everything was upside down now; he had died fighting for who he believed were the champions of justice, only now they were the ones astray, with the remnants of the of the old foe still at large and active.
"You said Rodolphus Lestrange had escaped from prison. Is he still at large?" he asked.
"Yes, sir" Kreacher answered. "He is the only one, though; most of the old Death Eaters are in Azkaban and some have died."
He nodded, "I'll keep that in mind. I'll be calling on you to give more news later, anyway. Enough of this for now. There's this one other thing; you'd said Harry was apprehended while trying to contact me the day I died. If I remember correctly, Snape had informed us that Harry was convinced I was being held by Voldemort-" he paused to take in the elf quiver at the name he still dreaded. "He saw me being tortured for information. Now Harry is no fool; he would not have gone to the Ministry unless he received some concrete proof that I was in danger. This means he spoke to someone and there were only two people in the house that day, one of them being me and I was upstairs, tending to Buckbeak's mysterious injury" he eyed Kreacher darkly. "The only other soul in the house was you."
Kreacher began tremble, eyes wide with fear and begin to tear up. Sirius spoke in a low tone, "You told Harry I had gone to the Ministry, didn't you?"
In one fluid motion, the elf sunk to his knees and began bashing his head on the ground, bawling like a baby. Sirius wrenched him upright and picked him up by the straps of his apron, holding his frail form up in the air as he would a doll.
"Now, enough of that Kreacher", he warned. "Tell me why you did it and who put you up to it. And tell me the truth; all of it."
It took a while to get Kreacher to calm down before he managed to relate between sobs how he had left after Christmas by maliciously interpreting Sirius's rage-driven and poorly worded demand to "get out" and had gone to the Malfoys and passed information to them which Voldemort used to lure Harry to the Ministry, only that Sirius himself was to be kept out but that ended in failure and his death. He set Kreacher down after his tale was over and walked to the lake where he stood in silence, staring out into the darkness. Kreacher crawled to him and clung to his leg with frail fingers, still sobbing.
"Forgive me, sir; Kreacher has done much wrong to Master…Oh, how it would break Mistress's heart…" he wailed, Sirius barely registering anything. The reference to his mother snapped him out of his reverie, however and he let out a bark of laughter.
"THAT old hag would have rejoiced her blood traitor died. I've always hated her since childhood. It's funny, though; I can't remember anything since before I was seven. I've always disliked Mother and Father from that age, though there seems to have been no real reason why. It's Regulus I cared for alone, but somehow, there was always this side of him that used to worry me, a very secretive, silent and despairing one. What are you goggling at THIS time?" he demanded.
Kreacher shook himself, "Nothing, sir. He just finds it strange Master doesn't recall the past at all."
This time, however, Sirius totally failed to notice the tell-tale signs of Kreacher's secrecy, failing to extract the very secret of his past that would change it all in the months to come, so engrossed in his own thoughts and emotions he was. He paced to his seat restlessly and then back to the lake, his mind firing off thoughts like a machine gun.
"How and why were the two of us brought back to life and by whom? Nothing makes sense and the world's still crazy and dangerous…I can't face Regulus yet; MERLIN-DAMN-IT!" he picked up a rock and flung it at the calm water with all his might, causing a mighty splash and sinking to his knees. "Why?"
He felt the elf's gentle hand on his shoulder and Kreacher spoke to him in the kindest voice he had ever used for him, "Why do you hide from Master Regulus, sir?"
Sirius sighed, "It's…complicated, Kreacher. You know, I've always believed that if I hadn't left home, perhaps he would not have died so young and attempting something like he did all alone. He even met me a last time before he took his Mark and tried to get me to leave the country and start a new life away from the War, even if I was opposed to Voldemort. We quarreled and I pulled my wand out in anger. I'd never seen him so shattered in that moment and he left saying that perhaps it had been four years too late for us. Two weeks later, he was dead and there was no body for me to mourn over. We argued till the end and even after all that, all the years I spent in Azkaban, I didn't spare a thought for him in my despair; it was all just Lily and James, not my baby brother, my flesh and blood…" he clenched his fists.
Kreacher gently touched his face and turned it to face him, "Sir, Master Regulus loves you very much. In the Cave, one of the last things he told me was to never tell anyone in the family what had happened, especially you because he was afraid of the retribution the Dark Lord would exact on the family if he found out what happened. Even after all this time, he still misses you so much, it's as if his heart shatters into smaller pieces every time your name comes up. Please sir, it's not too late; tell him you feel the same. Sir, Kreacher has tended to both the young masters since they were infants in his arms" he choked, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Kreacher is old, sir; he remembers when their cries echoed through the house and when he fed them, bathed them, changed their clothes and diapers, cleaned after them and played with them. Kreacher misses how happy the family was, sir; the tragedies that have befallen the House of Black have aged Kreacher more than the passing of the years."
Sirius swallowed, blinking rapidly as he struggled to hold back the rising flood in.
"Kreacher, we are not the children you once helped raise anymore. I sometimes wish it were so again, just so that happiness would return, but for me it would be a blind happiness, an ignorant one" he said as he took in the despair on the elf's face. "I need time, Kreacher. I wanted to be prepared for what I have to say to him and I'm not strong enough to do it yet."
Kreacher sniffed and rubbed his eyes, "I hope that time comes soon, sir; Kreacher's one wish is to see the brothers reconciled before he dies."
Sirius held Kreacher's hands in his own, greatly distressed and moved by this, "Now don't you go talking about dying, you big old bat. Besides, you'll be the longest lived house elf, the rate you're going", he said in a tone between a sob and a laugh. "Kreacher, there's no need to mention the truth of my death to Regulus. He loves you too much and I always want it to be that way, no matter what."
Kreacher threw his arms around him, sobbing into his chest, even as he reeled in shock. He slowly put his arms around the elf and hugged him back softly, holding that heaving old retainer of his family to his chest, savouring the warmth and love that he'd never believed possible for him. He knelt there, locked in embrace for a several moments before gently disengaging.
"You ought to get going now. It'll be dawn soon and if I'm not wrong, they're up and about early."
Kreacher nodded and dabbed his tears with his apron before smiling.
"Thank you, Master Sirius. Kreacher is whole once again and can be a proud servant of the House of Black again."
"Yeah, yeah, get going you, you old bat", Sirius said smiling. "Hey Kreacher, how's Harry been? Since the War ended and apart from the mess of the past few months, I mean?"
"Master Harry has been good, sir" Kreacher answered. "He married the Weasley's daughter and had three children, the eldest named after Master Harry's father and you, sir."
Sirius felt a gush of affection for his godson at this. "I see…I'll ask you more later; now go!"
Kreacher bowed deeply and said, "Good night, Master" before Disapparating.
"Good night, Kreacher", Sirius softly whispered into the nothing before turning to look at the sky, lost in a sea of his emotions.
Well, there you have it; Sirius is a big softie under that devil-may-care attitude he hides under.
I just tried to tell some of it from Kreacher's perspective too; I've always personally felt that he may have regretted causing his Master's death by passing information, seeing as he failed to serve the House of Black and instead doomed it.
Many unspoken things have to be spoken yet before we can progress...
Stay with me; REVIEWS APPRECIATED!
