A Moment Like This

A Moment Like This

By: Serenity Emrys

Editor:

Chapter 8

"What?! A Demon Lord?" Harry asked.

"How do you know that 'mione?" Ron asked as he looked at the seal carefully.

"After I learned about the Realm, I've been doing some light reading." Hermione replied, showing them both the 'light' reading, which was a big fat book. "I wanted to know more about the Realm and its residents. Interesting enough, the demons and Demon Lords that reside in it were originally Elves that live there. Instead of using Light magic, they practiced the Dark Arts and eventually, they were adapted into it and humans began to call them demons due to their use of dark magic. The true demons are locked away in a different dimension/world like the Realm of Eternal Sleep. There were lists of some of the Demon Lords in the book and their seal. The particular seal of this book belongs to no other than Demon Lord Ranaef. In the book it said that he's one of the most powerful Demon Lords in the Realm and specializes in ancient spells, and he's about hmm…500 years old I believe and quite young looking." Hermione opened her 'light' reading book and showed the boys the picture of Demon Lord Ranaef.

"Blimey! The bloke looks like he's in his early 20s!" Ron gasped as he saw the picture.

"He does look really young." Harry commented. Harry observed the picture more carefully, and as he did, he saw the wisdom and power (a lot of power) behind the Demon Lord's eyes. "Hermione, do you mind if I borrow this book after you're done?"

"Of course! I'm almost done with it!" Hermione answered excitedly. She was quite excited by the prospect of Harry being willing to read such book on his own accord.

"So, if this book belongs to Lord Ranaef, why is it here?" Ron asked as he took out a chocolate frog from his pocket.

"I don't know Ron, but this book might solve most of the mysteries about the Guardian and her duty and the things relating to the Guardianship." Hermione answered as she carefully opened the book to the first page. The pages were filled with impressive, elegant writing and pictures.

The trio huddled together to read the book together, and when they did the book enlarged itself so it would be easier for the three of them to read together. The three of them were a bit surprised, but shrugged their shoulders.

In Serenity's Closet….

Sirius was sitting on the soft white carpeted floor in Serenity's closet. A closet would be an understatement, more likely a very large room. The closet was very spacious and luxurious (imagine Princes Diaries II Mia's walk in closet but bigger and grander). The clothes were color coordinated and neatly hung on the hangers. There were small dressers with mirrors on one side, each filled with jewels and accessories, and there were hundreds of velvet and silk covered boxes in various shapes and sixes on the floor beneath the clothes as well as on top of the shelves.

He placed several boxes around him and started to search through them. Sirius opened a golden box with hieroglyphics imprinted on the sides of the box. Inside was a very beautiful Egyptian dress, and Sirius grinned at the memory as he touched the soft material carefully. He closed the box and opened several others. One of the boxes was Gryffindor red with touch of gold on the rims of the box. He opened it and it contained hundreds of letters and notes. He opened one and it was from their Hogwarts days. All the letters and notes that she had received in her life were in the box. Sirius then saw a white envelope addressed to Serenity from Lily and James Potter. He opened the letter carefully and saw it was the letters that were sent to Sirius from Lily and James about switching Secret Keepers.

'So it was you Serenity. You always get me out of trouble somehow' Sirius thought. He paused to look through some of the notes as well, before laughing a little. 'Its like her to keep all these too.'

Sirius went through more boxes. Some contained hats, shoes, costumes, dresses, and as he went through, he noticed a very big drawer in the jewelry stand area. The drawer was very elaborate and had a keyhole with a heart around it. He tried to open it, but it was locked. The keyhole looked familiar and he took out the necklace that he was wearing. The pendant was actually a key; Serenity had given it to him years ago in their Hogwarts days. Sirius took the key and placed it in the keyhole and it was a perfect fit. He turned the key and opened the drawer and inside was decorated in black cushiony silky material.

Inside was a silver locket, a small box made of velvet, a teddy bear, a comb encrusted with jewels, and several roses (which were still fresh and pristine and each had a white silk ribbon with gold trim tied around it). These were all gifts he had given to Serenity – she had kept every rose he'd given her for every Valentine' Day. Sirius grabbed the small box and opened it; it was the wedding ring. He had proposed to her with that ring a month after Harry was born.

He carefully closed the box and placed it back. He reached for the locket that he'd given her. It was very similar to his pocket watch, but with clock in it and it was heart shape. On the back of the locket was an engraving 'To my light and love' It played the song that she played when they first met and had a picture of him standing behind her with his arms around her.

Back to our dear Golden Trio:

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were very absorbed in the book. There was an abundance of information (along with some very exquisite pictures and illustrations) about the passing down of the Guardianship, the places in which the Guardian resides at in the Realm, the rules that the Guardian followed, the Emryia Amora plant, the staff, the residents, and the origins of the Guardian. However, the specific fact of what the Guardian guarded was unknown. It wasn't stated in the book.

"Harry, can you believe this? This is amazing. I can't believe I never knew about the Guardian!" Hermione exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah, pretty amazing." Harry smiled softly. As he'd read the book, he felt pity, no sadness, for the Guardian. He thought he had it bad being the Chosen One, but the Guardian had it much worse. She had a greater responsibility; it was an honor yet a great burden. He had a new respect for the Guardians.

"You know, mom always told me some of the tales about the Guardian, but never like this. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm kind of glad that I read this book." Ron commented.

"I know! The knowledge that she must have must be incredible. All the things that she had to learn! You know, if people knew more about the Guardian, I think it would be beneficial to the Wizarding World. She has extensive knowledge about magic and the healing capabilities of the Guardian's residence in the Realm! I think we should take this book and-" Hermione continued rambling until she was cut off by Harry.

"Hermione, no. We can't do that. If people knew about this, I'm sure they could use this for a good purpose, but what about the people with the wrong intentions? They could use this to take advantage or gain more power, like Voldemort. I think there's a reason why all this information was kept away and removed from the Wizarding world.," said Harry as he shook his head in disagreement.

The guardianship was created when the Realm was created thousands of years ago. When the Realm was created the Elves had to lock the demons away and to keep peace within the country, the Guardianship was established. It was a young, beautiful sorceress who had sealed the demons away in another Realm, that was given the Guardianship to. She was very powerful and in order to keep the demons sealed and prevent it from being opened, she had to protect it. Therefore, the Guardian Realm was created, and as she stayed in the area, she developed great healing knowledge and provided sanctuary to those who sought it out. Her responsibility grew as time passed by and powerful ancient spells were created to bind the Guardians to their duties and punish them if they did not complete their duties. The sorceress had a long life, but still she was mortal. She married a man she loved, and she and her husband and the Elven and Demon (the dark magic users) Lords agreed that the Guardianship should be passed from mother to daughter. It was better that way and it allowed the sons to carry on other responsibilities for their families.

The book was absolutely fascinating and alluring. Each page was filled with information and pictures. There was a picture of the first Guardian, and she was truly beautiful and glowed with power and wisdom behind her beautiful bright violet eyes.

Back to the others….

Snape and Lady Iris had finished the potion and were carefully bringing it to Serenity. Serenity was giving off a black aura and her knuckles were turning white from gripping the sheets too hard from the pain she was enduring. Albus carefully helped Serenity sit up and helped her drink the potion. However, due to the amount of pain she was going through it was very difficult for her to swallow it.

"Albus, she has to drink all of this potion." said Lady Iris as she held the glass with the potion in it.

"I could use an IV to insert the potion directly into her bloodstream, but it's quite dangerous to place too many IV needles into her. She already has two, which is quite dangerous enough, and she needs these two to maintain the little energy that she has left. There is another method, I could insert a tube down her esophagus, but that is also too dangerous right now. Her body is too stressed out and in constant pain." Endy explained with a grim expression on his face.

"Severus, please hand me the spoon and Lady Iris, please give me the potion." Albus asked as he propped up the pillows for Serenity. Albus carefully fed Serenity the potion spoonful after spoonful. It was a very long process and tedious, but it was better than before. There was only another couple of spoonfuls left, but even the spoon method began to fail.

Sirius quickly exited the closet as he heard Serenity violently coughing and sat next to her on her bed. Sirius grabbed the glass out of Albus's hands, and he drank the remainder of the potion, well just holding it in his mouth. Sirius carefully held Serenity and kissed her. Thankfully, her mouth was slightly opened as she was crying out from the pain. Sirius quickly released the potion from his mouth and let it go into her mouth and down her throat.

"That would be another way to feed her." Endy commented as he turned around wanting to give his precious niece some privacy.

After making sure the potion was gone from his mouth, Sirius gagged and coughed.

"What the hell did you put in the potion? No wonder, she couldn't drink it. It's bitter and disgusting!" Sirius commented as he drank a glass of water to wash the taste from his mouth.

Then there was a bright flash of light, and Serenity's body began to glow. Her color was slowly coming back and her face went from pain to peaceful.

"The source of the illness is gone, but we still have to deal with the psyche problem. Since her health is returning back to normal, she should have more strength to endure it. We can use that time to find a way to completely cure her of it." said Endy as he checked Serenity's condition.

"Lord Ranaef will be visiting here." Lady Iris commented. "He informed me that he found a spell that could help with the psyche problem."

"Serenity will have to take her vitamins again." Endy sighed as he packed his tools.

"But…she hates taking those…just like Poppy's awful gruel!" Sirius commented.

"Just like my awful gruel heh?!" Poppy gritted through her teeth.

"What I meant was Poppy…" Sirius backed off, trying to think of an excuse. "Anything that is…err…nutritious it tastes awful."

"You are right about nutritious. That gruel has everything the body needs!" Poppy's voice became a little lighter.

Sirius sighed inwardly as the rest of the people in the room held their laughter.

"You are right….Sirius. She does hate the vitamins that I give her." Endy sighed as he took out a huge glass jar (like the size of those big plaster buckets you buy at Home Depot) filled with tablets that were shapes of stars, circles, bears, triangles, and hearts, out of his bag. The tablets were pretty, but they were about the size of a bottle cap.

"Endy, your vitamins are pretty looking, but they are big and taste like nothing which is quite awful." Lady Iris commented. She too had taken the vitamins before.

"Well, she'll have to take them, and this is the amount that she needs to take this semester. She has to take about 5 pills a day. She lost too much nutrition and energy during her illness. The potions through the IV barely helped her."

"All we can do right now is make sure that she'll wake up soon and agree to take the vitamins peacefully. After all, she's an adult now. She knows what's good for her." said Endy as he sat down by the coffee table.

Albus felt that the reaction from Serenity wouldn't be peaceful. He just hoped it wouldn't get violent.

After a couple of hours, Serenity groaned and everyone quickly turned around and gathered around her. Serenity slowly opened her eyes. Sirius face grew bright and he immediately rushed to hug her. Serenity smiled and returned his hug, and she smiled as she looked at each person and then when she saw Uncle Endy holding up the gigantic jar of those vitamins, her face turned as if she saw the most disgusting food in the world, like when kids see Brussels sprout on their plates.

"Serenity, what's wrong?" Sirius asked her immediately after he felt her twitch.

"It..it's…th-the…vi-vita-vitamins..." said Serenity in a stuttering voice with a hint of fear.

:MEANWHILE:

Hermione, Harry, and Ron quickly gathered the books and placed them in their respective places. This took quite a while, as they had taken a lot of books from their shelves. Hermione quickly shrunk the Guardian book and placed it in her pocket.

"Let's go check if Miss Serenity is awake now." Hermione suggested as she checked the time. "The potion should have been finished and she should be waking up soon, I think."

The group rushed to Serenity's room and when they opened the door, they heard an argument.

"I know you hate these my little Serenity, but you'll have to take them. All of them." Endy replied with a hopeful smile.

"No!" Serenity refused like a little child.

"Serenity, you have to take these." Endy stated with a worried voice.

"No!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron entered Serenity's room and saw the unbelievable scene.

"Sev-Professor Snape, what's going on?" Hermione asked.

"Serenity hates Lord Endymion's vitamins and she has to take them in order to help her health. That's the amount that she has to take this upcoming semester." Severus explained in a quiet voice and pointed to the giant jar.

"Now, now Serenity. You have to take these." Albus tried to get her to agree. "It's only 5 a day."

"NOO!" Serenity refused once again, hiding under Sirius's chest. At her angry refusal, Albus's eyes gleamed with a small tear and he walked over to Fawkes, who was roosting on the perch provided by the house elves.. "Oh Fawkes! My little grandbaby hates me!" Fawkes's head dropped down a bit. He loved his master, but sometimes he was a little too dramatic when it was something Serenity related.

"Sweety, you have to take these." Lady Iris tried to coax her. There were small sweatdrops around her, this was going to be quite dramatic. "Grandma will bake you her special cookies."

"NO!"

"Serenity, stop acting like a child and just take these bloody damn vitamins or I'll shove it down your throat myself!" Severus yelled at her, frustrated and annoyed at her behavior.

"NO! I BLOODY HELL DON'T WANT TO TAKE THOSE DAMN VITAMINS! THEY TASTE LIKE SHIT! IF YOU LIKE IT SO MUCH SEVERUS SNAPE, YOU FUCKING TAKE THOSE FUCKING DAMN VITAMINS YOURSELF! YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" Serenity yelled at him back.

Lord Endymion went to his mother's embrace and it seemed like he was crying but he wasn't.

"Mother…she hates me….my darling little niece hates me…and she talks like a sailor…."

"Come now Endy, she doesn't mean all that." Lady Iris tried to calm him down. Goodness, her family was quite dramatic.

The three teens couldn't believe what they were seeing. No one, absolutely no one talked to Professor Snape that way, and they didn't know Miss Serenity could talk like a sailor. Severus didn't reply. He was a bit shocked at Serenity's reply.

"Now, now love. I'm glad you are yelling at the git, but you have to take these. It's good for you." Sirius tried to calm her down and rubbed her back.

Serenity snuggled into his embrace and shook her head.

"No…I don't want to take them. They're awful." Serenity cried.

"But darling please? For me?" Sirius pleaded, lifting her chin with his hands. "I'll think of a different way you could eat them or you could eat Poppy's gruel."

"The gruel?" Serenity twitched. If there was something Serenity disliked more than medicine, it was Poppy's gruel. "I'll take the vitamins Uncle, Grandpa, and Grandma."

Endy and Albus turned around and smiled. Lady Iris and Sirius sighed, those two were completely wrapped around her finger. Actually, even her father was the same way and he was too sometimes…ok well all the time.

"Miss Serenity, are you feeling better now?" Hermione asked.

"Oh hello Hermione! Harry! Ron!" Serenity smiled and greeted them. "You guys can call me Serenity. Harry! Come here and give me a hug!"

Harry didn't know how to respond to her sudden change of emotions, but he went to her and hugged her anyway. When he hugged her, he had the feeling that he'd done this before sometime, a long time ago when he was little.

"Harry, there was something I didn't tell you the day I told you I was your godfather." Sirius informed him.

"What is it Sirius?" Harry asked as he broke off the hug.

"Serenity is your Godmother." Sirius smiled.

"My…my godmother?" Harry asked with his eyes wide open.

"Serenity was named godmother just in case something happened to me." Sirius informed him.

"I see." Harry replied. 'Great, that's another thing they didn't tell me.' He sighed inwardly as he thought about all the things that the adults hadn't told him before.

"All right now, everyone get out! Serenity needs to rest." said Poppy as she pushed everyone out of the room, except for Inu who growled at her when she tried to make him move. "Lord Endymion, you might want to recheck her for her health. Albus, don't you forget about your monthly checkup. I didn't forget. I expect you to come see me first thing tomorrow morning!"

Albus hated going to the checkups. He was fine, healthy as a horse. He was quite stubborn when it came to going to hospitals and taking medicines. Oh gee, I wonder where Serenity got her stubbornness.

Lord Endy happily placed the giant jar of vitamins on Serenity's coffee table and took out his stethoscope and wand to check Serenity's current health.

"I'll see you later love." Sirius kissed her cheek. "I'll sneak in later as soon as Poppy is gone." Sirius whispered the last part and gave her a quick wink.

"Serenity, make sure you take those vitamins. I need to check up on the Realm again. I'll see you in a couple of days sweetie." Lady Iris kissed her on the cheek, hugged her and then left via a Floo fire.

"Your body seems to be returning to its healthy state. You'll be fine by tomorrow morning. I'll give the vitamins to Elle, so that she'll make sure you are taking these. I'll come back in a couple of days and check up on you again." Lord Endy smiled and gave her a hug. He petted Inu, gave him a treat and left through the Floo. Elle was Serenity's house elf, she went wherever Serenity went, except for the Realms. When Serenity was attending Hogwarts, Elle had been at Hogwarts. When Serenity was in the Realms for the past several years, she'd ordered Elle to serve Severus while she was gone.

"Albus, you didn't go to Poppy's monthly check ups?" Severus smirked. He needed to get some steam out. He was quite angry with Serenity's behavior and this was the perfect opportunity to release some of that anger. "You know she makes it more terrible the longer you wait. I'm sure she'll tell the house elves to restrain your sugar intake."

Albus laughed nervously as they sat down in the living room sofas. Albus quickly grabbed a quill and parchment and wrote something and gave it to Fawkes. Albus whispered something to him and Fawkes took off with the folded parchment in his claws.

"Severus, what are you doing in here with Hermione!" Lady Eileen scolded him as she came in with Hermione's parents and Remus. "It's the day before the wedding, you are not allowed to see the bride!"

Severus pinched his temples with annoyance. Today was not his day, first it was Serenity and now his mother in front of all these people, especially in front of that damned Black, Lupin, and the Golden Trio.

"Mother, why is Lupin with you?" Severus asked.

"Sirius! Glad to have you back here buddy!" Remus shouted and the two men gave each other the manly hugs.

"I'm back for good. You don't seem surprised that Serenity is back." Sirius asked him with a brow raised.

"Oh, about that. Albus told me, well he told everyone at the Order before your meeting with Fudge. I meant to come see you and Serenity, but I was on a mission." Remus replied.

"It's all right. Serenity's all better now. I understand. Don't sweat it Moony." Sirius smiled with a pat of the back. "Nice to see you again Lady Eileen." Sirius greeted her. He may not like Severus, but he respected Severus's mother.

"Nice to see you too Sirius." Lady Eileen greeted him back. "Glad to have you back with us." Lady Eileen knew about the horrible treatment that her son received, but they were only children, although they still argued as adults. "Don't look at me like that Severus. Hermione, go to your room for the night, I believe Miss Weasley is waiting for you. She will help you get ready in the morning. I'll see both you tomorrow at the wedding. Don't be late. I'm going to visit Serenity and return to the Snape Manor. All of you have a good night."

Hermione quickly left so that she wouldn't get scolded any further from her future mother-in-law. She seemed like a very nice lady, but somehow she knew the lady would be even scarier than Severus if she got angry.

"Severus, congratulations on your nuptials." Remus congratulated him.

Severus just nodded and left the corridor with his billowing robes.

"How does he do that?" Sirius asked quietly, and everyone replied with a shrug. "Now, why don't we all have a drink together?"

"Cool!" Ron replied with an excitement.

"You boys will drink butterbeer, us men will drink Fire whiskeys." Sirius smirked as he led them to his room.

The boys made themselves comfortable in the sofa and Sirius and Remus brought the drinks and snacks.

"This feels like old times Padfoot." Remus smiled as he poured the drinks and passed it around.

"It sure does." Sirius smiled as he laid back on the sofa.

"Sirius, what are you going to do now that you're free?" Harry asked. "Oh yeah, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet didn't hear of your arrival yet."

"Fudge is keeping it down. I think he plans on announcing it next week. I'm sure we'll know it soon as its announced. What I will be doing, you will know soon enough. By the way, did you guys get your school letters yet?"

"No not yet. I think its coming in next Monday." Harry replied as he drank down some butterbeer. He had asked the Headmaster about it.

"We'll go to Diagon Alley on Tuesday to get your supplies. You should come along Rem," Sirius offered.

"Not that day. I can't. Its…it's that day." Remus replied quietly.

"It's not full moon next week." said Ron as he drank down his butterbeer and stuffed his mouth with snacks.

"Is it already Rem? You want me to come with you?" Sirius asked with concern. He knew what that day was. He couldn't believe he forgotten about it. It was the death anniversary of Yuri.

Yuri had been Remus's fiancé. She was the girl with the pure white hair in the pictures from Sirius's room.

"No it's fine. I can handle it. Its been over 15 years already." Remus smiled softly as he reached for the necklace underneath his robes.

Unintentionally, to lighten up the mood, Ron began to choke on his food.

"Ron, mate. Take it easy!" Harry laughed as he helped Ron.

Hours went by and Remus and the boys went to bed. Sirius left the room quietly, going into stealth mode and sneaking into Serenity's room.

Serenity seemed to be asleep in her bed. He crept into her room and saw that Inu was sleeping in his usual bed in the corner. Inu smelled Sirius and opened his eyes. Sirius placed a finger on his lips, and Inu blinked and went back to sleep where a dreamland of infinite doggy treats and toys awaited him. Sirius sat on the bed next to Serenity and held her hand.

Serenity felt the bed tilt a bit and sleepily opened her eyes, smiling. She patted the area next to her to motion him to sleep there. Sirius smiled and changed into a white shirt and pajama pants and lay next to her. Serenity snuggled against him and went back to sleep.

Sirius smiled as he watched Serenity sleep. He was glad that she was out of the danger, at least for now.

"I'm glad that you're here, next to me, breathing and sleeping. I thought this day would be impossible when you were gone all those years ago. I'm blessed to have you here." Sirius whispered as he drifted off to sleep. "I wish that Remus could be with Yuri again. He misses her, I can see it in his eyes. I feel guilty that I have you here and Remus doesn't have her anymore." Sirius was almost to his dreamland, an inch away and then he heard a soft murmur.

"Yuri's….alive…sleeping…"