Disclaimer: All canon characters, scenery and plot references are the property of J.K. Rowling. I do not own or profit from this story in any way.
Rating: T for language
Summary: If you don't know what this story is about by now—I'm not entirely sure why you're still reading it, or these. It's basically the princess and the frog. Except for less kissing….and no frogs, or princesses. But there is an animal! Or I suppose there was….Yup…. The analogy stops there! Better luck next time!
Author's Note: My life has been pretty dramatic lately, but I won't make excuses, because I've had ample opportunity to write, I just sort of hit a wall with this story, which I am trying desperately to scale. When I had originally planned this out, it was going to be about 5 chapters of Sirius and Kate, a lot less story and a lot more fluff. And then Loren invented herself, and Hermione got involved, and now suddenly, the story has spun mildly out of control. I promise it hasn't been abandoned, I just haven't worked out the plot to its full potential yet, so there are some things that are subject to change I suppose.
Thanks so much for your patience! You readers and Reviewers are awesome.
I keep running around
Trying to find the ground
But my head is the stars
And me feet are in the sky
King of the world—First Aid Kit
When Kate and Loren followed Sirius through the fireplace to the secret-kept number 12 Grimmauld Place, they hadn't been sure quite what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this.
They entered a dimly lit study of a room, filled with dark furniture, leather couches, bookshelves and about two-dozen people. There were a few familiar faces, Kingsley, Tonks, Hermione. There was the tell-tale red headed sign of the Weasley family (which Kate was fairly certain made up half the room). There were a couple of Hogwarts Professors, and the sandy-haired man that Kate had met in the park who had told her that her dog was actually Sirius Black.
Kate, at least, had this advantage over Loren, who knew no one but Sirius, Hermione, Kate and Kingsley. Kate shot her grandmother a reassuring smile. The witch returned it with a thin one of her own.
Sirius's entrance had caught the attention of almost everyone in the room, Kate realized; and so had they. She guessed that this was not a room who was used to strangers in their midst. Judging by what little Sirius had told them, a secret organization that had discretely fought against Voldemort during both wars, she wouldn't trust outsiders either.
Still, being one of said outsiders, it was a little uncomfortable being under so much scrutiny. She was incredibly thankful that Hermione chose that moment to approach, and pulled both her and Loren into tight hugs, loudly proclaiming that she was 'glad that they'd made it.' It was a calculated move, sure, and Kate made a note to tease Hermione about her own Slytherin tendencies later, but she was grateful all the same.
Loren immediately launched into a discussion of something she'd read earlier about interdimensional parallelisms, which had Sirius and Kate exchanging a grin and an eye roll. And then, before she could even blink, Kate was nearly knocked over by blue haired Nymphadora Tonks, who had barreled into her side. "Katie!"
"Tonks!" Kate laughed, once she'd caught herself, turning to hug the girl tightly. She'd worked with the metamorphmagus in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as well, and the two girls had always gotten along, especially after they shared some extra-curricular activities during the second war which involved an underground movement that protected muggleborns when the Ministry went insane and ordered them to register.
They straightened up, laughing, and Kate caught sight of Sirius exchanging an amused glance with the sandy-haired man that had followed Tonks over. "How the hell have you been?" She asked.
"Good, good!" Kate was grinning, "It's been a while."
"Too long," Tonks looked her over, "You looked good."
"How the hell do you know my cousin?" Sirius, who was openly enjoying being the center of attention, laughed, slinging a casual arm over Kate's shoulder.
"You're cousins?" Kate asked incredulously, looking between Sirius and Tonks with a shake of her head.
"Funny, I was about to ask the same question," Tonks looked a little hesitant, aware the half the room was paying apt attention to their conversation. Her eyes settled on the sandy-haired man at her elbow. "Oh! Have you met my husband?"
"Yes actually," Kate grinned, shaking her head at how small the British Wizarding World seemed some times. "Well sort of," She offered the man a hand, "I'm Kate Lawrence."
"Remus Lupin," The man grinned, taking her hand and shaking it firmly, "Sorry about…" He waved a hand absently in the air, "Last time."
Kate laughed, "You mean when you told me that my dog was actually….this guy?" She shrugged Sirius's arm off her shoulder and sent him a pointed glance. Sirius grinned in response.
"Merlin, that was you?" Tonks covered her mouth to hide a giggle, "You're joking!"
"I'd say I was serious," Kate dead-panned, "But something tells me that he'd take full advantage of it."
"Ah, kitten," Sirius slung his arm back over her shoulders, "You know me so well."
When they finally all settled in, the group barely fit in the sitting room. They had brought in chairs from the kitchen, and study, and still, half of group was sitting on the floor. Hermione, Kate, Loren, Sirius and Kingsley all gathered together near the front of the room, and though Kate and Loren were tense, Sirius looked completely at ease. Hermione looked calm as well, though she kept alternating from scowling at Sirius, to her boyfriend, who had hardly left her alone since she'd confessed to knowing the strangers.
Kingsley called the meeting to order, introduced Kate and Loren, and then turned the floor over to them, to explain their story. Sirius shot Kate a reassuring smile before launching into the tale, unfolding everything to the group. Kate had to admit, that hearing it like this, it sounded fairly insane.
He listed in detail everything (with some help from the girls), from Kate's hasty adoption of Ozzie 'the grim,' to meeting Remus Lupin in the park. Loren detailed what happened when she stepped out of the veil, and began working with the ministry to discover why, to tracking down her children and grandchildren, which, other than an estranged daughter, resulted in her meeting Kate. Hermione talked about the research they'd been doing, and how wholly unhelpful the Ministry had been.
"There's a surprise," one of the red headed boys scoffed from the other side of the room. He was quickly silenced by a glare from Hermione.
Most importantly, they talked about the black, ghost-like figures that had haunted Loren and Sirius's dreams since leaving the veil. And how they were real. How Kate had been attacked in the kitchen, and how neither Sirius nor Loren had slept since.
Help, or at least, information came from a rather unlikely source. One of the redheads stood quickly. He was handsome, and Kate recognized him as a grown-up version of the boy that had been two years under her in Gryffindor. Scars now covered much of his face, and he wore a leather jacket and a dragon tooth earring, and a frown.
He introduced himself as Bill Weasley, explained that he was a curse breaker for the ministry of magic, and that he'd spent a fair bit of time in Egypt, where, there had apparently been a similar legend of the father of time.
"Egypt has its own version of the veil of death," He said in a serious tone. "They call it the pit, or the gate to the afterlife." He scrunched up his nose. "It's quite literally a hole in the ground, which seemingly has no bottom, in the annex of an unremarkable pyramid. And it's creepy as hell." He added, ignoring the reapproving glare a plump red headed woman shot him.
"Anyway, one of the most common curses and protections placed on tombs with Pharaohs or Royalty is one that causes death," Bill continued, "A final irony of dying in the tomb that you were looting, but these curses have been around for centuries. Some of them were meant to kill instantaneously, and rarer, though still quite effective is a curse whose hieroglyphs translate roughly as 'marked for death.'"
"This curse sounds a hell of a lot like what seems to be going on with the two of you," He explained with a scowl, glancing to Sirius and Loren. "Black specters, dreams, all of that leading to the cursed ended up in the pit; in an attempt to equal out the balance of death."
"So…" Loren said slowly, "You think that we're cursed?"
"A member of a team that worked closely with mine fell under this curse," Bill answered, "And the symptoms are similar enough for this to actually be a good thing." He nodded curtly to Loren.
"How?" Hermione asked.
"There's an amulet that should hypothetically shield you from the specters. The Ancient Egyptians invented it, and it took us curse-breakers an embarrassingly long time to recreate. I'm not saying it's a permanent solution, but it should be able to buy us some time until we can find one."
Kingsley cleared his throat, "And how long will it take for you to track down a set?"
"A few days at the most," Bill twisted his wand between his fingers, "I'll have to reach out to some of my old contacts in Egypt."
"Do," Kingsley said authoritatively, "Use whatever resources necessary." He turned back to the rest of the group, "We're going to need some pepper-up potions and a hell of a lot of coffee to try and keep Sirius and Loren up for as long as possible." He said, "When they do need to sleep, we'll rotate shifts guards on the doors, but no one in or out. Loren and Hermione will keep researching, and we'll go from there." He let out a deep breath. "Agreed?"
No one argued.
It was no surprise that the atmosphere in the room had changed dramatically. Before the meeting, it had been cheerful and lighthearted, with easy conversation, just old friends laughing and talking, cheerfully catching up without care.
Now, there was danger, a mission, and it was reflected quite obviously with low murmurs, whispers and an undeniable tension that seemed to fill the room. Everyone seemed effected by the change. That was, everyone except for Sirius.
The man seemed to be making a point that he wasn't going to be affected by this curse-or whatever it was that was affecting them. He was purposefully being overly boisterous, laughing and joking with a set of redheaded twins who wore matching grins.
But Kate knew better. And, she knew just how terrified that Sirius must be; she could see it in his eyes. And when, they somehow managed to get a minute alone together (miraculously), she quite literally saw him deflate.
Most of the order, save the nights guard, had dispersed, and Kate followed Sirius to the hallway behind the kitchen, where he sunk down to sit against one of the walls, taking a minute from himself, away from the chaos of everything else. He let out a breath, shoulders sagging, and smile fading instantly. Kate would have appreciated the fact that he felt comfortable enough to show how he was really feeling to her, if she wasn't so worried about him.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly. All in all, it was probably a fairly stupid question, but he smiled wryly at her and patted the hardwood floor next to him. She slid down the wall to sit next to him and took one of his hands in hers, lacing their fingers together.
"I'm tired," He admitted, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, and shooting another week smile in her direction as her meticulously studied her face. "I don't want you anywhere near me tonight Kitten," He told her firmly.
"Huh," She said, keeping her tone light. "And here I thought that you were trying to get me into your bed," She teased. "Don't you like me anymore?"
Sirius gave a low chuckle, "I think the problem is that I like you too much love," He brought her hand to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles. "Which will be a whole new can of worms, about commitment issues, troubled childhoods and a whole lot of other shit." He added gruffly, "A conversation, I'd quite honestly love to have, just as soon as we're safe."
"We'll have it," She assured him, "I mean—look at all of the people we've got fighting for us—how can we not come through this enough to have awkward conversations about relationships," She shot him a grin.
He chuckled again, "Looking forward to it," His eyes searched hers for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to find some sort of confirmation, and he slowly brought his free hand up to cup the back of her neck. And then, his lips crashed down on hers.
For being such a demanding motion, it was a surprisingly tender kiss. Somehow, it was everything that they had been robbed of, all of their fears and worries, channeled into this one motion. It all came down to this one moment, alone in the hallway together. The world seemed to shrink, and nothing else mattered but this moment, this kiss.
It was just Sirius, weaving his hand into her hair, their other hands still linked and heavy on her thigh. It was just the gentle caress of their lips moving together, and a fluttering in her chest as she pulled him closer. And then, after what felt like no time at all, but was actually probably several minutes, they broke apart, both breathing heavily.
Sirius took a deep breath, touched his forehead to hers, and then broke out into a grin. "I changed my mind love," He told her. "You can come to my room tonight if you want." He wagged his eyebrows at her.
Kate pulled away and smacked his arm, but was grinning too. "Git."
"Ah, but you like me, despite that," He beamed, some of his youthful exuberance returning.
"I'm still not sure why," Kate shook her head, leaning back against the wall.
"It's the charm and good looks," Sirius assured her confidently.
"And modesty, obviously," she shot back.
"Obviously," Sirius stood, and offered his hand to hers to pull her to her feet. "Come on, it's only a matter of time before someone comes looking for us, and it's been much too quiet to not be suspicious."
Kate ignored the knowing smirk on Loren's face as she said goodnight to the group near the fireplace in the study. Sirius had convinced her to go home and get some sleep (after a verbal sparring, and another heated kiss). After all, she did have to work the next day, despite the fact that she planned on informing her boss that she was taking some of her accrued vacation time, first thing when she got in.
She continued to ignore Loren and Hermione, who poorly hid grins when Sirius kissed her on the forehead when bidding her an official goodnight. Though, it was hard to ignore Loren when she hugged her goodnight, and whispered, "You and I are going to have a long conversation tomorrow, dear granddaughter," loud enough for Sirius to hear.
Despite all of this, Kate was still in a great mood when she flooed to the fireplace of her farmhouse. She got ready for bed with a smile on her face, floating from the bathroom to her bedroom and trying not to think about Sirius, and about their kiss. Merlin, she felt like she was 12 years old again. Things were too serious for her to be behaving like a love stuck teenager! But tonight, Sirius and Loren were safe. They were in good company at Grimmauld place, and they wouldn't be sleeping tonight. They wouldn't have any dreams or the specters, and tomorrow was another day.
There was no way that she could have known that the ghosts would haunt her dreams instead.
