Standard Disclaimer: I do not, have not and will never own Harry Potter. However, I do own Alexiel and her tendency to shoot things when she's irritated.

Chapter VI

Sirius Black was not a happy person. There were many things contributing to his lack of happiness. The first being that he had been forcibly evicted from his bed less then fifteen minutes ago. Second was the fact that upon said eviction, he had been wearing only a pair of ragged boxers and hadn't even been given time to put on a robe before being dragged—by his hair!—downstairs. Third, and more importantly, upon arriving downstairs he had promptly been tied to a kitchen chair. But most important of all, there was currently a madwoman with scissors hovering uncomfortably close to his head.

And his best friend and godson were laughing at him.

Sirius whimpered as the scissors snipped again and another long strand of his hair fell to the floor. Harry muffled a laugh and Sirius whipped his head around to glare at him. This earned him a sharp smack on the back of his head from Alexiel. "Ouch! Bloody hell, woman! Why are you abusing me?"

"If you'd hold still, I wouldn't have to." Alexiel retorted.

Sirius scowled. "This is cruel and unusual punishment, y'know. I didn't ask for a haircut. I don't want a haircut!"

"Well you're getting one anyway, aren't you?" Alexiel hacked off another strand of tangled hair. "You look like a bloody barbarian."

"Maybe I want to look like a barbarian." Sirius shot back. He glared at Harry and Remus. "I can't believe you two are letting her do this to me. Some friends you are."

"It had to be done, Padfoot." Remus said. "Your hair was beginning to look like a bird's nest."

"Was not." Sirius denied automatically.

"It did look pretty bad." Harry said.

"Fine. It looked bad." Sirius grumbled. "But did you have to tie me to the bloody chair?"

Alexiel snorted. "Considering the last time Lily tried to give you a haircut you ran screaming like a little girl and it took us half an hour to catch you...?"

"I had forgotten about that." Remus smirked. "He did scream like a girl, didn't he?"

"Why are you picking on me?" Sirius whined.

"Because you're an easy target. And it's fun." Alexiel gave his hair a few final snips and stepped back. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Remus banished the ropes holding Sirius and conjured a mirror. Sirius grabbed the mirror and examined his hair. It was now barely chin-length and slightly shaggy. He tugged at one of the front strands and scowled. "It's too short."

Alexiel matched his scowl with one of her own. "Keep complaining and I'll shave you bald. Now go put some bloody clothes on so we can leave."

"Where're we going?" Harry asked.

"Shopping."

"Ha!" Sirius laughed triumphantly. "I can't go. I'll get arrested."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that." Alexiel smirked. "I've a disguise for you."

"Bugger." Sirius sighed.

"How are you going to disguise him?" Harry wondered.

Alexiel reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pillbox and a bag of what looked like blonde hair. She set both on the table and removed a tiny purple pill from the box and a single hair from the bag. The other three watched curiously as she wrapped the hair around the pill, where it was absorbed completely. Handing the pill to Sirius, she smirked. "Eat that."

Sirius eyed it doubtfully. "I don't think I want to..."

"It won't kill you."

Sirius sighed and took the pill from her, popping it into his mouth and swallowing before he could have second thoughts. For several seconds nothing happened, then Sirius began to change. He shrunk about two inches and he went from thin to merely lean. His hair shortened even more and turned blonde while his eyes went pale blue and his skin gained the tan of someone who spent a lot of time outside. Remus' eyes widened. "It's Polyjuice?"

"In a handy pill form and without the foul taste." Alexiel said. "Someone in R&D cooked it up in her spare time. It's concentrated so that it lasts about an hour. As long as you keep taking the pills on time, you can stay in disguise indefinitely."

"Neat." Harry picked up one of the capsules and examined it curiously. "I wish we'd had these in second year."

"What were you doing with Polyjuice in second year?" Remus asked.

"Er—we, Ron and I that is, wanted to look like Crabbe and Goyle so we could question Malfoy..." Harry explained.

"Why do I have so many scars?" Sirius asked. "Who exactly did you get that hair from, Alexiel?"

Alexiel shrugged. "An acquaintance owed me a favor. And I wasn't aware that he had so many scars. I knew about the knife wound in the back and a couple of the bullet wounds because I was there when they happened, but that's it."

"I...see." Sirius said.

"Good. Now, if you'll be so kind as to go get ready so we can leave?"

"Right." Sirius turned and left the kitchen, muttering as he went. "I hate shopping..."


Despite Alexiel's determination to leave immediately, it was another two hours before the quartet managed to floo to the Leaky Cauldron. Alexiel had made the mistake of informing Sirius and Remus that along with some basic necessities needed around the Manor, they, and Harry, were also getting new clothes. This led to a long and loud argument in which the two Marauders declared they would not accept charity, to which Alexiel replied that she would be damned if she would allow them to wander around her house looking so bloody ragged and they would damned well take advantage of her generosity or they would find themselves sleeping outside from that point on. It was eventually decided that new wardrobes would be something like a sign of gratitude for sticking around to help keep an eye on Harry. Harry wisely stayed out of the argument.

After they finally reached the Leaky Cauldron, there was a side trip to Gringott's where Alexiel made a hefty withdrawal and, for some odd reason, demanded Harry have a new vault key made. From there, she dragged them into muggle London, going from store to store until she was satisfied they would all be well clothed. They had a late lunch and a short rest at the Leaky Cauldron before they headed back into Diagon Alley. Their first stop was actually in Knockturn Alley, at a store called simply 'The Wand Shop.' Sirius had been absolutely gleeful to finally acquire a new wand from the disinterested owner of the shop. However, there had been an odd moment when Alexiel had gotten a peculiar look on her face after Sirius bitterly asked "What trial?" after she'd made a casual comment on his old wand being snapped after his trial.

Next had been an obscure pet shop, where Alexiel procured some sort of two-tailed cat called a Cait Sidhe and, strangely enough, a puffskein. Arrangements were made to pick up the cat later, but Alexiel opted to carry around the puffskein ("I'm calling him Bob."). After some teasing from Sirius about Bob and a judicious application of a silencing charm by Remus, the four headed for the Apothecary. Or at least, Alexiel, Remus and Harry had. Sirius had mysteriously disappeared once he realized their destination. After ten minutes of watching the two adults muse over jars of Belladonna and unidentifiable creature parts, Harry decided his time would be better spent looking for the missing Marauder and said as much to his godmother. She gave him an unreadable stare and simply told him to be careful.

Harry quickly departed from the foul-smelling store and began wandering the Alley. If he were convict-on-the-run-in-disguise, where would he be? Harry eyed the Quality Quidditch sign and snorted to himself. That seemed as likely a place as any to start looking. He crossed the Alley and had almost reached the door when several loud cracks further down caught his attention. He nearly ignored them, until people started screaming.

Faster then thought, he snatched his wand from his back pocket and whirled in the direction of the disturbance. His throat went dry as he recognized the black robes and white masks adorning the large group that shoppers were fleeing from. Feeling distinctly sick, he ducked into the Quidditch shop and pressed his back to the door, his thoughts racing. What should he do? What could he do? There were so many of them! He was jarred from his thoughts as someone seized his shoulders and gave him a little shake.

"Harry! What's going on?"

After a second of confusion, Harry recognized Sirius. "Death Eaters."

"What?" Sirius froze, staring blankly out the window for a moment before releasing the young wizard and pulling out his own wand. "Stay in here."

Before Harry could object, Sirius had pushed him away from the door and rushed out. Harry watched him go, torn with indecision. Stay where it's safe, or go fight? "Bugger it."

Wand in hand, the Boy-Who-Lived darted out the door.

Back at the Apothecary, Alexiel stood to one side of the door, preparing to face the Death Eaters. There was no indecision for her, only the cold calmness she fell into before a fight. It was like an empty field of cold white snow in her head. She glanced at Remus, standing at the other side of the door, and noticed his hands were shaking though his face was calm. She wondered with detachment if it was from nervousness or if the wolf inside him sensed the coming battle. "Ready?"

He nodded and she flung the door open. They burst into the sunlight, firing off spells. Alexiel sent a blasting curse toward a trio of Death Eaters standing over some unfortunate soul. It hit one of them dead on and grazed another. The third managed to get off a killing curse before a stunner hit him from behind. Alexiel conjured a column of marble, which crumbled under the curse. A banishing charm sent the stone fragments flying back to the Death Eater. He dived aside and managed to fall into the path of a Crucio from one of his fellows. Before the other Death Eater could halt the curse, she hit them both with particularly nasty and powerful multiple severing charms.

"Alexiel!"

Harry nearly barreled into her and she reached out to steady him, a scowl forming on her face. "What the fuck are you doing out here? Are you insane?"

"I want to help!" Harry protested.

"Shit." Alexiel jerked them both out of the path of a bright orange spell. "You stay close to me, understand? And don't do anything stupid. Where's Sirius?"

"I will. He was by Flourish & Blotts a minute ago." Harry said.

"Wonderful." Alexiel muttered. She let out a growl as she realized several Death Eaters were closing in on them. Shoving Harry behind her, she switched her wand to her left hand and focused her magic on her right. She swept her hand in an arc, magic streaming from her fingertips in a long, thin whip that sliced through the advancing Death Eaters like knife. Harry let out a strangled gasp from behind her. Alexiel shoved her wand into her back pocket and seized his wrist, dragging him along as she moved toward the bookstore, cutting through anyone wearing a mask stupid enough to get in her way. Halfway there she banished the whip and summoned a shield to block a bludgeoning curse.

Harry sent a stunner at the caster. "If you can do that, why do you use a wand?"

"Convenience." Alexiel said and flung a deep red ball of magic at a Death Eater firing spells from behind a pile of cauldrons. Harry missed the effect of the spell as he was occupied sending a barrage of hexes and curses at a rather persistent Death Eater, but from the scream it caused it must have been nasty. "But let's save the wandless magic lesson for later, shall we?"

Several more cracks filled the air, signaling the arrival of the Aurors. Alexiel spotted the distinctive robes and resumed pulling her ward toward Flourish & Blotts. "We need to find Sirius and Remus."

"There!" Harry pointed ahead where Sirius was dueling a laughing Death Eater. Remus was at his back, holding off another. Harry and Alexiel made their way toward the Marauders, firing off spells and summoning shields to block those sent at them. Alexiel swore vividly as a severing curse brushed past her from behind, leaving a deep gash on her arm in it's wake. Harry glanced back, worried. "Are you ok?"

"Hurts like a bitch, but I'll live." Alexiel replied calmly, turning and drawing her Berretta from its disillusioned holster with her uninjured arm. She shot the offending Death Eater in the chest with a muffled pop. "Of course, I'm now a little irritated because I was hoping to get out of this unscathed. Guess I'll just have to play dirty. You might want to stay on my right, as my aim is a little shaky with my left hand."

"Uh, right." Just a little frightened, Harry stepped warily to her right and the two continued onward. They saw more Death Eaters had joined the fray with Sirius and Remus and Alexiel began picking them off when she had a clear shot. They reached the two Marauders just as they finished off the Death Eaters facing them. At that moment, the remaining Death Eaters seemed to notice the appearance of the Aurors and the ones who were able Apparated away. Sirius looked from the gun in Alexiel's hand to the Death Eaters it had felled.

"I want one of those."

"And I want to go home." Alexiel said.

"Wait, where's Bob?" Harry asked.

"I left him in the Apothecary." Alexiel said. "If one of you would go get him, I'll go fetch my cat and we can leave."

Remus sighed. "I believe that will have to wait. It seems we've been noticed."

Following the werewolf's gaze, they saw several Aurors bearing down on them. Alexiel sighed.

"Well my friends, it appears this day is about to get much longer."


Well, there's chapter six. Finally. I was all set to apologize profusely for the long wait, but then I realized it's only been ten days and that's really not that long. I still apologize, just not profusely. I probably would have had this chapter written sooner, but real life has a way of sneaking up behind you and kicking you repeatedly in the ribs. Then it points and laughs. It didn't help that I'm incredibly unsatisfied with the way things are moving so far. I mean, five bloody chapters for one day? That's ridiculous. Though I'm not planning on rewriting everything (yet), I am going to make an effort to speed things up after chapter seven at the latest.

Er, one more thing, when I was re-reading/skimming through OotP a few days ago, I found a mention of Sirius having a wand when they were cleaning Grimmauld Place. I thought his was confiscated? I'm so confused...

As always, thank you dear reviewers, I thrive on praise.