June 19, 1989
Callie felt the moor materialize around her as her body stretched out of the contortion of apparition. Her knees gave out and she collapsed to the ground. The scenery around her seemed to spin with her head and stomach. Her vision blurred and darkened. Stones pressed into her flesh through her torn and charred shirt.
She had to get up. She had to.
She pushed herself to sit up and get her bearings. Stars flickered down at her from a cloudless sky as the crescent moon grinned. Grey-green bathed in silver light stretched as far as she could see. The satchel around her shoulders pulled her down, as if trying to drag her into the earth. Blood made the dirt under her right side damp.
She had to get somewhere safe. Every Death Eater in the country would be looking for her, and if they found her, she didn't think she'd stand a chance like this.
She took a deep breath. She bit her lip as her breath caught with the sting of ribs grinding against torn muscle. Her left hand grasped her right side. Blood seeped between her fingers.
She had to get somewhere safe.
She pictured the little cottage where she'd stayed for the last few months, and prepared to make the jump. She stopped, changing her mind. Peter and his mother would be put in danger. She couldn't do that to them.
Another little building crossed her mind. A smallish, messy little shack in a forest. She'd be safe there, at least for the night, and almost definitely alone. She thought she remembered Sirius saying he'd abandoned it ages ago. And anyway, it didn't matter. He wouldn't be there. She could treat her wounds, get a couple hours' sleep, and then get the package to Dumbledore for disposal. It was certainly better and safer than staying out in the open moor.
Her mind made up, she clenched her teeth and apparated to just outside the place. Her body tipped forward, but she balanced herself again before falling. She kept her hand firmly pressed to the open gash. With staggering steps, she made her way through the barrier of stinging spells and up to the locked door. Callie held her wand between her teeth while her free hand dug the rusty key from her pocket and turned it in the lock. Sending a silent thanks to Sirius for insisting she keep the key to his safe house, she tumbled inside and leaned against the door to close it.
The smell of dusty parchment greeted her. Light from the pensive danced in the corner, setting an eerie tone. Faces of Death Eaters still stared from the walls, but old notes had been replaced with new ones, and the maze of magical string connecting thoughts had changed.
A wave of sadness washed over her. She missed Sirius desperately.
Or maybe it was just the blood loss and pain.
With a wave of her wand, Callie lit a few candles. She stumbled to the kitchen and leaned heavily against the counter. She didn't dare drop the satchel, so she carried it with her. Nausea struck her and she closed her eyes until it passed. She couldn't look at the wound; she'd learned early on her quest that she'd vomit if she saw her own bones. Her stomach was embarrassingly weak. All the same, she needed to stop the bleeding.
A lock clicked. She froze.
Had they found her? Already? Through the oceans of spells protecting this place?
Her grip hardened around her wand. She could get in a few spells before passing out, right?
The door swung open and closed again. The soft footsteps stopped two feet from the door. From her position, she couldn't see who it was. The steps resumed, heading her way. She pointed the wand toward the door, a nasty curse on her tip of her tongue.
Sirius stopped in shock when he saw her. He scanned her, taking in the blood seeping from her side, her torn clothes, and the burn marks peppering her skin in less than a second.
Her wand hand fell to her side when she registered he wasn't a threat. She opened her mouth to apologize for intruding. Her vision darkened again and she tipped headfirst toward the tiled floor.
Sirius darted and caught her as she fell. He tried to steady her, but quickly realized she was too weak to stand, and picked her up. He carried her gently to the couch. Parchment and books scattered as he cleared them before laying her down.
He swore. "What happened?" he demanded, but she barely heard it.
The world was slipping away. She felt like she was drowning, being pulled under the surface of some nameless abyss.
He muttered a spell and forced her awake. The pain, dulled temporarily by delirium, returned in waves. She uttered a strangled cry of pain. His hand pressed an already-soaked cloth to her wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. Sirius gently cupped her cheek with his free hand and spoke to her in an attempt to encourage her.
"Listen to me, Callie, stay awake." She heard the stress in Sirius' voice. "I know it hurts, love, but you've got to bear with me, okay?"
She forced her eyes to focus, and turned her head slightly to look at Sirius. He met her gaze. She couldn't even tell the smile he gave was forced. Relief filled her, temporarily dulling the pain again.
"There she is," he said, and grinned. "Are you going to be okay?"
"How-how bad is it?" Her voice was choked, dry.
He glanced at the wound again. His grin faltered. He looked back at her. "It's not bad." She knew he was lying, but she appreciated it. "Why don't we get you to St Mungo's just to be sure, though?"
Callie shook her head. "I can't. They'll find me."
He saw her fear. His eyes flashed to the wound, then back at her. He hesitated. "Okay. I'll fix you up. It'll be painful, though. Can you handle it?" His certainty diminished with every word.
She nodded.
"Okay." He examined the wound through the rips in her shirt. His brow was furrowed in concentration. Callie had rarely seen him so focused, and it scared her a little. His eyes found hers again, and he gave her an apologetic smile. "I need to get this off you."
She blushed, but nodded. He guided her hand back to the wound and told her to keep pressure. First, he pulled the satchel from around her and set it on the floor beside the sofa. Her fingers curled around the strap, refusing to let go despite his scolding. Next, his fingers quickly undid the buttons of her shirt and pulled it off gently. He pushed her undershirt up to below her chest, exposing the gaping wound.
His hand right hand took over at her side, letting her rest. Taking his wand again, he pointed it in the general direction of the kitchen. "Accio, potions." A collection of vials of varying sizes flew into the room and set themselves down by his feet. Still holding the cloth to her side, he hunted through the collection until he found the right one. "It tastes like crap, but it'll help with the pain," he explained. He pressed it to her free hand and searched for another potion.
Callie felt the pain ebb away into a dull ache. No longer kept awake by the assault on her torn nerves, she felt the darkness call her again. It clutched at her mind, pulling her into darkness. Sirius faded in and out of vision.
"Hey!" he snapped, startling her partially awake. "Stay with me!"
He set another vile to her lips and poured it into her mouth, forcing her to choke it down. It was thick and vile. She coughed, but eventually the contents slid down her throat. The world came back into focus. Before she knew it, she couldn't fall asleep even if she wanted to. She was hyper aware of everything – the odor of her blood mixed with the smell of the little-used shack, Sirius' hand pressed firmly to her side, the couch underneath her. Everything but the slackened pain in her side screamed for her attention.
"What did you give me?" she demanded.
"The first one dull the pain, the other one keeps you awake," he explained. "I ran out of the one that slows bleeding. Sorry about that."
His eyes focused on the slash in her flesh. He gripped his wand and muttered a spell. She felt her muscle begin to stitch itself together again, but it stopped. He tried another one. Same result. The last one seemed to work a little better, but the wound still wasn't closing.
"What in Merlin's name did you get yourself into, Potter?" he scolded. His brow was knit together. She knew that look. She probably wasn't going to make it. A sick sensation settled in her stomach with the revelation.
She wasn't going to make it.
He looked at her again and saw the look in her eyes. A bloody hand cupped her cheek again and his eyes bored into hers. "Stop that right now," he ordered. "You're going to be fine."
She swallows hard, trying to stop the panic rising in her chest. "Sirius… I need you to do something for me."
He shook his head and turned back to the wound. "Do it yourself later." He filed through the potions and handed her another one. "Drink this. It'll buy us some time."
She obeyed wordlessly. It tasted metallic: a Blood Replenishing potion. She coughed again, nearly spitting it out, before swallowing it. She felt a little stronger for it.
Callie smiled a little and joked, "Not trying to slip me Amortentia, I hope."
He smirked and flashed her a grin. "Like I need to." She laughed. He tried another spell to no avail. "Seriously, though, what did this?"
"A dragon."
He smirked. "A dragon? Really, you have all the fun."
She returned the smile. "I was working, Black; it wasn't for fun."
"Sure." He grinned at her, and looked back at the wound. He tried one final spell. It closed partially, but still bled. "Well… I guess I'll have to stitch it."
Callie froze. "You? You're going to stitch my side closed with your bare hands?"
"And needle and thread, but yeah. Do you have a better suggestion, because I'd love to hear it?"
She didn't. He conjured a needle and thread. Assuring her he'd sewn something at least once, Sirius took a breath and threaded the needle through her skin. She didn't feel much, and wasn't sure if she preferred that to knowing what he was doing. Callie tried to look once, but nearly vomited, so she settled for looking at the ceiling.
"I should have given you something to make you relax," Sirius said after the fourth command to loosen up.
"You did," Callie reminded. "And then you promptly woke me back up."
He chuckled, making another stitch. Slowly, the lips of her wound sealed closed. It would leave a rather nasty scar, but she said it didn't really matter. She wasn't dating anyone, and it wasn't like he'd see it even if she was. That made Sirius laugh, and he very nearly screwed the whole thing up. After a while, the gash was closed. It still leaked blood, but it wasn't pouring anymore, and both agreed that was an improvement. Sirius made her sit up so he could bandage it. He summoned a spool of gauze and a roll of thin cloth to wrap around her waist to keep the bandage secure.
Callie watched him mess with the gauze, calculating how much she needed. She smiled a little. "Sirius, I'm really sorry about this. I didn't think you'd be here; I was going to take care of it myself and shuffle on."
"I'm glad I came, then. You'd have dropped dead in a couple hours. Can you imagine how traumatizing it would be for me to come here weeks later and find a rotting corpse, probably unrecognizable at that point? I'd never get the smell out of this place."
It was a joke, but his cocksure grin wasn't reflected in his eyes. And Callie could just detect an underlying note of pain in his tone. Like that was one of his worst fears. Was he really that worried about her?
"Well, thanks to you, I'll muddle through." She smiled a little. "What are you even doing here? Are you working on a case?"
"Always. I'm trying to find some idiot that's been impersonating my dear old cousin, Mrs. Lestrange." Callie looked away, cheeks burning. Sirius glanced up and saw her expression. "Merlin's pants, don't tell me you're it!"
Callie nodded guiltily. He laughed and shook his head. "Lovely. Now I have to frame someone to cover up for you. But anyway, that's not why I'm here." He cut off a length of gauze at last, folded it a few times, and pressed it to the jagged, swollen line on her side. "I set up a spell that warns me if anyone crosses the spell barrier outside. I had no idea it was you, of course, but I thought I'd better check it out, and sure enough! My perfect instincts were right once again." Sirius started to unwind the sheet of cloth. "So what's in the bag?"
Callie smirked. "You know that's classified."
He looked up at her without raising his head and grinned. "My ex-partner shows up after ten months with a gaping wound in her side, bleeding all over my safe house. And I, without hesitation, patch her up expertly. And I'm also going to have to come up with an elaborate scheme to prove someone else has been impersonating Bellatrix Lestrange to do Godric knows what to keep my ex-partner out of the spotlight." He smirked wickedly. "I think I deserve some answers, no?"
Callie hesitated. He was right; he did deserve answers after all this. She sighed deeply. "It's a Horcrux," she answered.
"Which one?"
"A cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. It was in the Lestrange vault. That's why I've been parading around as Bellatrix."
He smirked slowly, a malicious ice creeping through his eyes. "So you have her wand?"
"Yes, of course. It's in the bag."
Sirius grinned, and picked up the bag. He drew out the curved wand belonging to his cousin and regarded it for a moment. Without ceremony, he snapped it in two.
Callie rolled her eyes. "Was that as satisfying as you'd hoped?"
"More than." He went back to fixing her up. "Carry on."
"There was a dragon guarding the vault. It nicked me as I ran past."
Sirius scoffed. "'Nicked?' This is more than a friendly little nick, love."
"Well, it cut a guard in two with one swipe, so yeah. For a dragon, that's a graze."
He shook his head. "So you're carrying a Horcrux. Can we just destroy it now?"
"No. You need something coated in Basilisk venom to destroy it. Dumbledore's taking care of that for me."
"Sword of Gryffindor?"
"Yeah, he…" Callie stopped and looked at him. "Wait, how did you know that?"
Sirius smirked. He pushed himself off the floor and sat on the edge of the couch, facing her. "James and I spent enough detentions in Dumbledore's office. The sword and I are old friends."
He took the end of the roll of cloth and held it against her side. A wave of heat swept through Callie, suddenly realizing how close he was. Her face burned. Sirius reached around her, carefully wrapping the bandage around her torso. He wrapped it around a few times, coming closer to pass the cloth between his hands behind her back, then withdrawing again to do the same in front of her. Callie briefly wondered what on earth he gave her to make her respond like this to such a simple action. The second potion he'd forced her to drink made her hyper aware of his every gesture. It was very nearly maddening.
The fifth pass he made behind her, she lost control.
"I missed you."
Sirius stopped. She realized what she said and blushed deeper, wishing the floor would just swallow her up. He didn't move for a full ten seconds, so long she began to get concerned. She nearly panicked when he drew closer.
"I missed you, too."
His voice was a whisper. Soft, almost seductive. She shivered. His hand touched the skin of her back, and her breath caught.
"Callie," he said, not quite a whisper anymore, but far too low to be considered professional, "why do you always tremble when I get close to you?"
She didn't have an answer. And she didn't want to answer. She swallowed roughly, hardly daring to move, much less speak.
She felt him sigh when she didn't answer. His breath tickled the skin of her neck, and she very nearly whimpered. What he would have done if she'd made a sound, she wasn't sure. She was as scared to find out as she was curious. Every story she'd ever heard about him being a stupid, insensitive playboy at Hogwarts and into his twenties flooded her mind. She remembered those days he'd taken off work to be with Marlene. Was he still with her? She hadn't heard from either of them in ten months. They could be married, for all she knew.
The horror of that thought gave her the strength she needed. Callie pulled away. Their eyes met, and for a moment she knew she'd made a terrible mistake. The way he looked at her made her blood run like lava. His usual mask of carefully concealed emotion was gone, leaving some dangerous mix in his eyes. Something like desire, longing, and sadness rolled into one.
She swallows again, and bit her lip in nervousness. With a tremendous effort, she tore her eyes away from his. The spell between them was broken, but Sirius still hesitated before pulling farther away. She looked everywhere but at him as his hands deftly tied off the ends of the bandage around her, making sure it was tight enough against the stitched-up wound.
"You're still pretty scraped up," he said. "Do you want me to-"
"No," Callie interrupted. "I've got it. Thanks."
He merely nodded. "How do you feel?"
She felt hot, exposed, and very uncomfortable, but she said, "Better, now that I'm not bleeding out anymore." She managed a small smile. "Thank you, Sirius."
Sirius shrugged like it was no big deal. "Can't have you dying on me, now can I? I promised James I'd keep you safe, and I'd rather avoid his wrath if I can help it."
At the mention of her brother, Callie felt a weight settle in her stomach. He'd promised James… She felt so stupid.
"I really need to get that to Dumbledore tonight," she said. "Every moment I waste, they're closer to finding it and getting it back."
"They won't find you here," Sirius assured. He paused, rather awkwardly. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm okay. I'm just tired, really. I guess I'll get a few hours' sleep, then get out of your hair."
"No rush." Sirius stood and stretched. He yawned wide, almost like a puppy. The thought made Callie smile a little. "I'll give you something to help you sleep. Those potions will be wearing off soon." He gathered the vials one by one until finding a mild sleeping potion, and handed to her.
She took it and gave it an experimental sniff. Trying to regain some ease between them, she smirked and joked, "How do I know for sure you're not slipping me Amortentia?"
He returned her smile, but he wasn't joking when he replied, "I told you: I don't have to." He took the empty vial from her. "Get some sleep."
The potion worked in moments. She was barely aware when he pulled a blanket over her, and didn't feel his fingers brush over her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her last thought before the unknown gripped her was how screwed she was.