My first look in twelve years at my husband was a bit of a shock, to say the least. His face was gaunt, cheekbones figuring prominently. His hair was tangled and looked as though he had recently done a hatchet job cutting it. Strangely, though, he was wearing a set of his old shirt and trousers from years ago that I had kept in my closet. They were now ill-fitting and practically hung off his frame. He had cinched a belt tightly around his waist to make his trousers stay up. His beard and mustache were bushy and unkempt. Everything about his appearance revealed the extent of malnutrition he had been suffering. However, his eyes shone brightly as he watched me.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, wondering how he had come to be wearing those clothes. I couldn't take my eyes off him.

He finally found his voice. "The dog," he said hoarsely.

"The dog ... let you in?" I asked, not understanding.

He gave me the slightest smile, and replied gruffly, "I am the dog." He cleared his throat noisily.

I finally looked away, wondering if he had perhaps lost his mind after all, but not sure how to put that to him delicately.

He obviously could tell what I was thinking, so he said, "I am an animagus. I can turn myself into a dog."

I vaguely recalled animagi from one of the textbooks I had flipped through.

"Well, I, um, don't remember that about you. Was this something you learned in ... prison?" I said, still flummoxed that I was seeing him in front of me.

He looked away for a moment, then said, "Since I was a teenager in school at Hogwarts. I guess it never came up," he added uncomfortably.

As I tried to wrap my head around this rather inadequate statement, several other things were hitting me all at once. "You mean to tell me," I said slowly, "you've been here over two weeks as a dog but never bothered to let me know? You've been sleeping with me!"

He started to speak, but I interrupted. "NEVER CAME UP?? We were married, but it just...never came up?! Anything else I should know?"

He shifted nervously, but looked me in the eye and said, "No, I don't think so. To be fair, though, I never had the need to transform into a dog the whole time I was with you before. I honestly never thought much about it. And I stayed here without telling you because I was trying to protect you. I didn't want our son-" he gently emphasized the word "-to get in any trouble or have to keep secrets because of me."

I regarded him scornfully but didn't say anything. He had a good point.

Apparently a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he said, "I don't exactly remember you being a witch, either. You never shared that information with me." He gave me a look that said, Ha!

"Probably because I didn't know I was one!" I said defensively. "I never knew for sure until I met Dumbledore and that was when James got accepted into Hogwarts. Anyway, that's not how I planned for you to find out about our son. But I'm glad you got to see him before he left."

"So am I," he said, with a little smile. "Of course, I knew about him already."

"How did you-"

"I got all your letters," he replied before I could finish.

I gave him a blank look. "Letters?"

"Yes, darling, all those hundreds of letters you wrote me with pictures of you and James. I kept them all, of course. Unfortunately I've had to put most of the letters in a safe place, since I couldn't transport them all. Hopefully I'll get this...business over with soon and I can get back there to collect them."

"But...how did you get them? I didn't know where to send them!"

He told me all about the owls. "That was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen." He smiled tenderly at me. "The thought that you and our son might still believe in me..that kept me going."

I sobered when he said that, remembering my conversation with James. But I said nothing about it to Sirius.

Finally I realized we were both still standing. "Sirius, let's sit down," I said, gesturing toward the front room.

"More wine?" I asked.

"That would be lovely," he said politely. I went into the kitchen and opened another bottle, pouring some for us both, thinking what I really needed was a shot of tequila. I handed him a full glass and walked into the front room, closing the blinds so we wouldn't be seen by anyone passing by.

"So," I said, "Tell me everything." We both sat down on the couch.

As he relayed the whole story about his arrest and brutal transport to Azkaban, I buried my face in my hands, anguished about the sheer unfairness and horror of it all. He described his incarceration without emotion, how he had not communicated with me for fear I might be accused and, God forbid, sentenced as he had, and how much he had ached for me, but convincing himself that I had probably moved on.

By the time he finished, tears were streaming down my face, thinking about all the wasted years we had spent apart and what Azkaban had done to him. Finally he stopped speaking and took my hand, kissing it softly. I reached out and touched his face with my other hand, feeling the coarse beard and leathery skin. He had deep lines etched in his face from his experiences in prison and afterward and his skin was rather mottled. I didn't care. I continued to caress his face, studying his features at leisure for the first time. He watched me intently, unable to take his eyes off me.

"You were the last person to touch me like that," he said hoarsely. "Do you know, you are even more beautiful now than the first time I saw you." He cupped my face in his hands, and I leaned over to kiss him. He pulled back and I looked at him, hurt.

"I'm sorry...it's...well, I look awful and my teeth must be, um, rather unattractive, and I smell."

I smiled at him, shaking my head. "No... you are the most beautiful man I've ever seen," I said, something I had said repeatedly to him years before. Sirius laughed.

"Oh, right!" He looked disbelievingly at me.

"And I do have a wand if you want to use it on your teeth, though I don't have a clue what the spell is," I admitted.

"That's alright. I know it," he said. I got up to retrieve my wand, and brought it back to him, sitting down again.

"Lovely wand. What's it made with?" he asked, studying the intricate design.

"Dragon heartstring and maple," I answered, shrugging. Wand elements didn't mean much to me, but it worked fine.

Sirius pointed the wand at his face while I watched. "Os tergeo," he said softly, and the mottled brown decay on his teeth seemed to melt away.

"I'll have to remember that one for when I'm too lazy to brush my teeth," I remarked, smiling at him.

He grinned. "That's exactly why I learned it to begin with, back in school. James and I would use it whenever we were almost passed out from too much firewhisky. James said the wrong thing once and wound up with a pumpkin for a head." I laughed.

He bared his teeth at me. "Better?"

"Much!" I said. "Now..." I pointed at my own mouth.

"You want yours done, too?" he asked innocently.

"No, darling, I want a kiss. Now," I added.

He leaned closer. "So demanding! Alright, then."

Our mouths touched softly. His lips were dry and rough from being out of doors so long, but it was delicious. The kiss lasted only a few seconds, then we drew apart, temporarily lost for words.

Then he sat back and regarded me thoughtfully. "Do you know you have the most...interesting accent?"

"I do? I guess I do get a lot of curious looks from people who don't know me," I admitted. "Never thought much about it, though."

"Yes...I've only just figured it out. It's a direct cross between Dolly Parton and Princess Margaret." He sat back, unsmiling, but his eyes shone with humor.

I rolled my eyes. "You've got to be kidding! Well, my only hope is that I don't look like a cross between Dolly Parton and Princess Margaret; that would really be scary."

We both laughed, then eventually fell silent again.

Finally Sirius said, "It's a complete surprise, you being a witch. Why did you never tell me?" he asked quietly.

"I-well-" I began, not knowing where to start. "It's a bit of a long story."

He raised his eyebrows. "Well, I want to hear it all."