Hi all! I'm so sorry that this chapter is so late! I know it's shorter than some of the others, but it was either post as is or wait at least another week, and you people don't deserve to be kept waiting. Do you know what I was stuck on for so long? Describing what Sirius Black looks like! Isn't that pathetic?

Oh yeah, I don't own anything.


Cedric straightened up, breathing heavily and relieved to feel solid ground under his feet again. He was shocked to find that it was broad daylight. Luthien appeared to have landed them on the sidewalk of a somewhat busy street, right outside a large house. On it was painted the number 13. To his left was a house with the number 14 painted on it. To the other side was a house with the number 11 painted on it. Where's Number 12?

"Wh-where are we?" he asked Luthien, letting go of her hand.

"Not so loud!" said Luthien, who was looking around. "The non-magical children have only just gone to school." She began walking toward the space between Number 11 and Number 13.

"Muggles?!" said Cedric in a hissing whisper.

"Hush!" said she. "This is Grimmauld Place, a Muggle street."

"I thought - " began Cedric, before remembering to be quiet. He finished the question in his mind. I thought we were going to the old Black family home. Do they really live in a Muggle neighborhood?

Yes, they do, came the reply. Did I not say I was bringing you to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place? Why do you think you cannot see it yet?

Cedric gaped at her, then at the small gap between the house marked "11" and the house marked "13." Then he moved up beside her. The moment he had drawn level with her, a worn-looking door appeared in between the two houses, which in turn seemed to draw away to either side to make room for the house rapidly appearing between them.

It was not a cheerful sight. The walls and windows of the tall building were dirty and grimy. The stone steps leading up to the front door were uneven. The paint on the door itself was falling off in places. The knocker seemed to be made of silver, and was shaped into a twisted serpent.

Luthien walked right up the steps to the front door, and raised her left hand. A series of loud clicking sounds proceeded from inside, accompanied by what sounded like the clattering of a chain. The door creaked open, and Luthien moved aside.

"Inside with you!" she said to Cedric, and Cedric, feeling as if he was going into the dungeons for Potions with Professor Snape, hurried up the steps and into the dark hallway. Luthien came in behind him and shut the door, and there was total blackness.

"Do not go anywhere yet, Cedric," came Luthien's voice. "Let me turn on the lights first."

There were lights?

Without warning, over a dozen gas lamps flickered to life along the walls, revealing a long, cheerless corridor with peeling wallpaper and a threadbare carpet. Old portraits that Cedric supposed were members of the Black family hung on the walls.

"Sirius?" called Luthien. "It is I, Luthien, and I have brought a guest with me."

A few seconds passed; then Cedric heard footsteps from somewhere in the house and Sirius Black himself appeared in the hallway. He was tall and gaunt; his clothes hung rather loosely on him. He must once have been rather striking, but his features were now sunken and hollow, and his dark hair was shot with premature grey. A faint smell of drink hung about him. The man looked, in all honesty, scarcely better than he had looked in the picture in the Daily Prophet when he had broken out of Azkaban.

He is not a murderer, Cedric reminded himself. There's nothing to be afraid of.

Sirius blinked at Cedric. "Who's this?" he asked, presumably addressing Luthien. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he looks an awful lot like that boy who got murdered last year by Voldemort."

Cedric flinched. He couldn't help it. "I, er, I am," he said. "Cedric Diggory, I mean - I know it's hard to believe, but I - I died and sort of came back." He trailed off lamely, knowing how ludicrous it sounded.

"Precisely," said Luthien smoothly. "That Umbridge woman is after him now, and he needs a place to hide. He's of age, and is to be made part of the Order."

"Really now." Sirius gave Cedric a long look, and not necessarily a friendly one. "And where have you been all this time that the blasted Ministry's been taking shots at Harry for saying that Voldemort's back?"

"Sirius, that is enough," Luthien's tone held a hint of warning. "Do not blame Cedric for your godson's suffering; you know as well as do I that he brings half of it upon himself, the way he talks back to that woman."

Sirius Black is Harry Potter's godfather?

"Oh, I see, his suffering is all his fault, has nothing to do with Umbridge and the Ministry and Snivellus teaching him Occlumency - "

Luthien's eyes flashed fire. Sirius became silent at once, and even took a step back. A braver man than he (and there weren't many of those, as Cedric would discover) would have quailed under the glare that the beautiful Elf-woman was giving him. Cedric was looking from one to the other. The whole thing had escalated so quickly that he had had no time to get a word in edgewise.

"Sirius," said Luthien after an intense moment during which Sirius withered a little and Cedric fiddled with his wand. "Cedric is, like yourself, a fugitive and a member of the Order who needs to remain hidden here." (Cedric himself stifled a sigh at these words; he already felt the gloom of the house descending on him.) "Do not terrorize him. I have already said to you all that I am going to say on the subject of Severus, and will not repeat myself. Understood?"

"Perfectly," said Sirius.

"Good," said Luthien. "I must go." And with a soft crack, she vanished, and the gloomy hall seemed even gloomier.

Sirius turned and looked at Cedric with a more friendly eye. "So we're housemates, eh?" he said. "Or housebound inmates, more like. Are you hungry?"


For those of you who don't know the Harry Potter universe: Sirius may seem a bit of a jerk, but he's kind of depressed because he's all cooped up in the house while almost everyone else in the Order is out and about doing things. Sirius is very much a front-lines-action sort of man, and doesn't take well to being cooped up. As for Harry vs. Umbridge and Sirius vs. Severus-Snivellus (that is, Professor Snape), details on both rivalries may be found in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There's just too much involved to do justice to it here without retelling half the book.

By the way, I posted a new oneshot yesterday! It's another side of my Avenger of Blood universe, and involves the Mighty Ducks. Hop on over and check it out!

As always, I love reviews. They're what keep me going when I can't write what Sirius Black looks like. *shakes head* Well, along with my blessedly annoying younger sister hounding me every day.