AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since so many of you have asked, "Occulto Verum" is Latin for "hidden truth". "Castra" means "temporary". :-)
Occulto Verum - Part 6
She drove for almost two hours, following the impatient, low-flying owl. He brought her far from civilization, away from the paved roads and, eventually, away from any roads at all. They eventually reached a heavily wooded area, but she hadn't driven very far into the trees before they became so thick that she had to leave her car where it was and continue on foot.
The forest was thick, very thick, and the foliage so dense that soon everything around her grew quite dark. She was no longer able to gauge the passage of time by the sun, which only shone a very little bit through the cracks in the leaves, but it eventually seemed to her that she had been walking for several hours.
Yet still, Archemides flew on. The forest grew wilder still, and she had to scale small streams and forge her own path. The afternoon had turned into evening by the time the owl brought her to her destination, which was a clearing that contained a very small log cabin.
Sirius was leaning against the front door, dressed no longer in Muggle clothes, but plain, black robes. His arms were folded across his chest, and he was shaking his head, but he was smiling.
"Well, we can't say I didn't try," he said.
Exhausted though she was from her long journey, Mathilde flew to him, threw her arms around him and nearly knocked him to the ground.
"I'm not leaving," she said.
Sirius didn't answer. He wrapped his arms tightly around her ribcage, lifted her up off the ground, and carried her into the cabin.
The sun shining on her face awoke Mathilde the next morning. She blinked, glanced around the room, and suddenly remembered where she was.
The joy of this realization was coupled with the most glorious, refreshing feeling a night's sleep had ever given her body, and she could not repress a deep sigh of contentment. She stretched her limbs as far as she could, deliciously ridding herself of the lingering muscle cramps that remained from all she walking she'd done yesterday.
She couldn't remember the last time her life had seemed so exciting. She knew there was mortal danger in her path, but nothing could spoil her mood right now. Thinking of the previous night, she decided she didn't regret anything she'd done the previous day, least of all deciding to bring herself here, into the danger. In fact, she'd rather be here than anywhere else in world, she realized, and she didn't give a damn about any of the consequences, as long as she was with Sirius.
However, she discovered as she pulled the thick covers away from her face and turned over onto her left side, she was not with Sirius right now; the space beside her was empty. She frowned in annoyance.
Ah well, she thought, I'm in his house, so he can't hide from me forever.
But before she had much time to muse over the question of Sirius's whereabouts, she received an answer in the form of the welcoming smells of breakfast being fixed downstairs.
Although the cabin appeared from the outside to be only a little bigger than the large master bedroom Mathilde had spent the night in, it was, like many wizard buildings, a lot more than it appeared to be. The second story also held a roomy guest room and a bathroom, and the downstairs consisted of a living room, dining room, and a large kitchen equipped with a breakfast nook.
It was into this kitchen that Mathilde bounded happily a few minutes later, dressed in Sirius's bathrobe.
Sirius was standing at the stove, his back to her. She came up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Good morning," she whispered.
Sirius had obviously been unaware of her presence until she touched him, because he started slightly as she did so, and turned quite abruptly to face her. She was laughing at him.
"Sorry," he said, "I guess I'm used to being alone."
"Did you forget I was here?"she asked.
Sirius smiled. "Of course not. I mean, it's not the sort of thing a guy forgets too easily, is it? The fact that he's got a gorgeous woman sleeping in his bed, I mean."
She elbowed him hard in the ribs, and tried to slip away from him, but he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her fast. She squirmed in his grasp, trying to tickle him and thus make possible her escape, but he managed to ward off her frenzied efforts by retaliating, and the end result was that they both fell to their knees, laughing so hard they could scarcely breathe.
They simply sat there for a moment, panting, their laughter dying as a great calm suddenly settled over them. The expression on Sirius's face had melted into a serene smile, but there was sadness in his eyes. He reached out to Mathilde, and gently stroked the soft down of her cheek.
"You are heaven sent to me, Mathilde," he uttered, "I can't remember the last time I laughed like that."
He removed his hand, and his eyes drifted away from hers, to the floor. "A lot's changed in our world, now. We're all the prisoners of our own fear, our own sorrow...we only steal moments of happiness, these days." A dark cloud seemed to pass over his face.
A moment passed. She was just about to reach out to him, put her arms around him, but he stood up before she had a chance.
"Well, can't let this burn," he said brightly as he returned to what he had cooking on the stove.
Mathilde was still kneeling on the floor, so he didn't see her shake her head at him.
"I don't have to let you stay here, you know," he said to her as they ate their breakfast.
Mathilde resolutely buttered a kipper at him, but said nothing.
"Just thought you should know that," he added with a shrug.
"Please," she said, rolling her eyes at him, "I am a grown woman, you know. I can make decisions for myself."
"I'm not questioning your judgment," he said defensively, "It's just that...well, it's only natural for me to be more concerned about your safety than you are, isn't it? I mean...you can make your decisions, and I can make my mine, and I'm telling you that I'm not going to allow you to be here when Voldemort comes."
She set her knife down and looked him in the face, her eyes boring through him determinedly.
"The reason I came," she said slowly, deliberately, "is to be here with you when that happens."
"You won't have a chance with him, and I might," he said, standing up and sounding slightly annoyed, "I want you to use this when he comes." He was pointing to, but not touching, a small wood-framed clock on the mantel of the dining-room fireplace. "It's a portkey. It'll take you home. Please," he added, as he noticed that her expression was as obstinate as ever, "I'll need you to send word to Dumbledore and Lily and James."
She sighed and her shoulders sank. "All right," she agreed, "but only because of that."
He left her alone the next night, though unwillingly. He told her to run for the portkey at the slightest sign of anything strange, and she told him she was smart enough to figure that out already, for heaven's sake. She would probably be safe there anyway, though; Voldemort wasn't interested in her at all, and would only care about him once he held the key to discovering James and Lily, and he wouldn't until after tonight.
Mathilde wanted to go, but didn't persue the matter at all. As much as she wanted to see James and Lily again, she knew how much danger there would be in bringing her to them when she couldn't apparate, and knew that they wouldn't be in much of a mood for a social call, anyway.
She took advantage of the opportunity to explore Sirius's well-stocked library (another surprise the tiny cabin held in store) and discovered that it contained not only the usual vast array of spell books, but quite a respectable collection of Muggle classics as well. She found a book of Charms, and brushed up on some of the ones she'd forgotten as well as teaching herself a few new simple ones, surprised to find that they now came more easily to her than they ever had.
And so several hours passed without her noticing how late it had become, but when she finally did, she began to worry. Should it really take this long to perform a charm?
But before she had much time to worry, she heard the front door open and slam shut. Certain that Sirius wouldn't think to look for her in the library, she came out to greet him.
He was sitting hunched over in a hefty armchair in the front room. He looked extremely grim and very tired. She stood there watching him for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice her until she came over to him and sat on the arm of the chair.
He looked up at her, giving her a wan smile, "Hello," he said, "I apparated outside the front door. I didn't want to startle you."
She lay her hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong?" she asked softly.
He sighed. His eyes were no longer watching her, but staring forward aimlessly.
"I couldn't do it," he said quietly, shaking his head, "I failed them."