Part Eleven: "Too Easy... "


Sirius sat down in the wingbacked chair by the fireplace in his room and scowled. The scowl wasn't satisfactory to him, so he stood, went to the elaborate desk by the picture window, grabbed the chair by its spindly arms, and smashed it against the mantelpiece.

There. That felt much better.

He snarled and clenched his fists and started kicking the shattered splinters of the chair into the fireplace. The 'ping!' of the wood hitting the metal grate was also satisfying. "Reeeeeaaaaaargh!" He screamed a wordless, primal scream of frustration, and that made him feel best of all.

But he still felt like a looser piece of shit.

Kicking the grate itself for good measure, and ignoring it when the kick bent the metal double, Sirius flopped down into the wingback chair and resumed scowling.

The scream and the violence had made him feel better, but only marginally.

Sirius closed his eyes and saw Ana tangled in a liplock with his best friend on his own sofa. With a growl, Sirius rubbed his knuckles into his burning eyes. He wanted to scream, cry, and laugh all at the same time.

All his hope, gone, just like that.

Two months of careful steps, for nothing. A summer of trying to get to Ana, gone.

Not that he could blame Remus, which is what made it so funny.

Sirius had brought her into the house, and Remus was the one to finally break through Ana Oldwyn's acid-lined walls. He had tried, dammit, tried the whole time he was at her house and Ana had never so much as glanced at him fondly.

She had known Remus for three days and was already jumping him.

And how could Sirius possibly be mad at Remus?

Remus deserved happiness just as much as Sirius did – maybe more. Sirius'd had a hard seventeen years, but Remus' whole life had been one disappointment after another.

But could Sirius really just roll over and let Remus snog the girl he'd been after for a month?

There was a tentative knock at the door and a small female voice said, "Sirius?"

"Go away."

"Sirius, I want to talk to you."

"Go snog Moony some more." It sounded childish even to him. Well, he was feeling belligerent and pouty.

"Sirius!"

"Go away…"

There was a pause, then a defeated sigh from the other side of the door. Sirius listened carefully as the sound of footsteps signalled her decent back into the main hall, then he slumped and buried his face in his hands.

What an idiot, he thought to himself. Sirius Black, you're a grade A fucking moron. There was something between Remus and Ana, you knew there was. She sent him the letter. She was 'looking' at him in the graveyard. She ditched you in the middle of White fucking Chapel to run back here and shag him. She's only been doing what's right by you, and nothing more. She owed you for this - she was obligated to turn you, but now the obligation's over. She's done her part. You've been ditched.

He groaned and sank lower into the chair.

There was another knock at the door, a little louder, and the voice that spoke this time had a distinct growl underneath it. Werewolf. "Sirius?"

"Go away."

"Sirius, please, Anathema's very upset--"

"So go comfort her!"

"Sirius, let me explain, it wasn't--"

"--what it looked like?"

A sigh. "I'm coming in."

"No you're not!"

"Sirius!" Remus opened the door and walked in, then shut it behind him. "Quit being such a child and listen to me."

"Get out!"

Remus stalked over to the fireplace and glared down at Sirius, hands on his hips.

"Sirius."

"Go away."

"Look at me."

"No."

"Oh, for the love of--" Remus punched Sirius in the back of the head.

"Ow!" Sirius stood up abruptly and shoved Remus' shoulders. The Werewolf stumbled back, and immediately Sirius lunged at him, eyes red and fangs bared. He slammed into Remus hard, knocking him backwards. Sirius landed on top of his stomach and Remus' breath left his body in a painful grunt.

Sirius pinned Remus' wrists under his own knees and slammed his hands down on his shoulders.

"You knew!" he snarled in Remus' face. "You bloody knew that I liked her!"

"Sirius, please, calm down!" Remus shouted over the Vampire's snarling. "It was a mistake. It was that Vampire possessive thing. It wasn't us!"

Sirius stopped and sat back a little, resting his weight on Remus' knees so he wouldn't be able to get up. "What?"

"That... possessive thing that ... Ana was telling you about. It was that."

"You heard that?"

Remus closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm sorry." His brow furrowed and he frowned. "No, I'm not sorry 'cause goddamned it, Sirius, we are adults and Ana and I knew what would happen. We shouldn't have let it happen, but I'm not going to apologize for it. It was a mistake that won't be repeated."

"So you and Ana aren't...?"

Remus shook his head. "We're not. But... this is going to be difficult, Sirius, if we all stay here. Vampires and Werewolves were never meant to co-exist. One was supposed to control the other. Ana wants to control you, you want to control me, I want control of her, and it's all because of our god-damned inhuman instincts!"

Sirius blew his hair out of his eyes with a puff of breath and purposely let all of his weight rest on Remus' kneecaps.

"Ow! Gerrof!"

"Swear to me first, Moony, that you won't go after Ana anymore."

"What the... what the hell are we, in fifth year again?" Remus grunted, trying to gain enough leverage to shove Sirius off. "We're not fifteen, and Ana's not Dahlia Patil, and I didn't even snog her behind the greenhouses while you were in detention, anyway!"

"Ah-ha!" Sirius aimed a finger right between the Werewolf's eyes. "You remember! You are guilty!"

"I am not!" Remus yelled, his voice verging on shrill. He thumped his fists against the hardwood floor. "I was seeing Nance, then, anyway!"

Sirius paused and scratched his chin underneath his beard. "Oh, yeah."

"Get off me!" Remus finally snapped and jerked a knee up. Sirius' newly endowed Vampire speed was all that kept a 'very important part' of him from being very sore. He straddled Remus, a foot on either side of his shoulders, and glared down at him with his hands on his hips.

"Swear to me."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm not swearing, Padfoot. Anathema is almost three hundred years old. She is a big girl and she can make her own choices. She may just tell both of us sod off."

Sirius' scowl came back.

Remus lifted a hand. "Help me up, you silly twit."

Sirius grudgingly took Remus' hand and helped haul him to his feet. Remus remained upright for about three seconds before he began to sway, eyes squeezed shut. Sirius' anger evaporated instantly into concern as he wrapped a steadying arm around his best friend.

"Remus, you okay?"

Remus nodded slowly. "Chair, please..."

Sirius obligingly set him down in the wingbacked chair, then knelt of the floor beside him, wishing that he hadn't shattered the only other chair in the room. "Moony?"

Remus cracked an eyelid and smiled weakly. "Haven't slept enough. All this excitement."

"When was the last full moon?"

Remus chuckled. "You've actually lost track? While you were at Hogwarts with Ana."

"Jaysus, Remus, I'm sorry I forgot--"

Remus waved off his guilt. "No, no - you had concerns of your own to worry about. I got through it fine."

"But, just you and Kreatcher..."

"Molly and Arthur came by at dawn to let me out of the cage in the basement."

Sirius sat back on his heels and stared at his hands. "I should have been here..."

"I was fine," Remus insisted and leaned forward to rest his forehead against the crown of Sirius' head. "I just haven't caught up, yet. I've been sucking back coffee to stay awake in case you need anything. The blood I gave to Ana after you sucked her dry really did me in - I just need to sleep."

Sirius pulled back and looked up. "You gave blood to Ana?"

Remus allowed himself to flop backwards against the back of the chair. He said nothing.

"Remus, answer me - you gave blood to Ana? Why?"

"You took it all." He turned his head to watch the fire, and in the light of the flame, his bright blue eyes became tinged with wolf's amber. "You drained her dry and she had nothing left. I had no Muggle money for the butchers, so I ... there was a sharp knife in the kitchen and a good, big cup. That silver goblet Mundungus eyes each time he's here. She was fine, afterwards. You don't need to be worried about her."

"I'm not worried about her," Sirius insisted. "You really do need sleep, you idiot. Walking around like nothing's wrong when you have a few pints missing. Let me help you..." He stood and pulled Remus out of the chair and onto his feet, then gently helped him walk to his own bedroom down the hall.

"Sirius, you don't need to coddle me," Remus protested, even as he allowed his friend to pull off his slippers and tuck him under the covers. "I've done the full-moon thing on my own before."

"Not when you didn't have to," Sirius said, his voice low with an emotion Remus guessed was guilt. "Never once when I've been around."


Ana was glaring at the fireplace when Sirius came down the stairs. The curtains had been drawn tightly against the sitting room windows, but he guessed it was about eight-ish. She didn't turn to look at him and she didn't speak to him, not even when he plopped down onto the seat beside her.

"I spoke to Remus," he began slowly and could see the muscles in her back tensing up. "I'm sorry. I have no reason to be angry with you. You aren't my girlfriend and I have no right to get mad at you if you snog Remus. I can't say that I'm happy, but if that's what the two of you want, then you have my blessing."

"Sirius," Ana began. She started to turn around, but he reached out and put a finger over her lips.

"Let me finish." She levelled a dagger-filled stare at him, and he ignored it and went on: "I know it was probably the possessive thing. Vampires want to own, and werewolves want to dominate. Probably not the best thing to have three former-humans living in one house - like one of those bad reality shows we used to watch on your tell-a-vision. I want you to stay here with me and teach me about ... all this. And, if you end up going back to Little Whinging, that's fine, too... but... Ana... if you do, I want to go with you."

"But this is your house, Sirius."

"You're changing the subject." He smiled softly, the corners of his eyes crinkling up and a little flash of white teeth showing beneath his beard and moustache. "I said I want to go with you. Do you understand what I mean by that?"

"... yes."

Sirius leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. When she failed to kiss him back, he withdrew and met her eyes. "Then you would rather stay with Remus?"

Ana looked down at her hands, twisting in her lap, very obviously not meeting his eyes. "I don't know what I want. Maybe…before… but now you're my childe, Sirius. I have a responsibility..."

Sirius sighed and reached out and drew her against his side, so they were snuggling comfortably on the loveseat. "Is that the only reason?"

Ana shrugged and allowed herself to relax in his arms. This felt nice. Real nice. Just like the time she and Sirius had watched the sunset over her roof from under the tree in her back yard. But it also felt awkward - Ana had been here, with Remus, on this very couch, not half an hour ago.

"Tell you what - stay here for now, and be my Sire. Teach me what I need to know, and when you think I've got it down, you move back to Number Three Privet Drive and continue making Petunia Dursley's life a living Hell." She chuckled and he smiled. "I will be right there beside you, digging up her rose bushes and shitting on her lawn, if you'll let me be. If you would rather take Remus with you, then I'm sure he'd love to dig up the rose bushes and shit on her lawn on a full moon night, and I'll be okay with that. If you don't want either of us there, I can understand that, too."

"Sirius, I--"

"Don't decide now," he cut her off quickly. "Just... just stay like this with me. For a little while. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." Ana sighed and let her head rest against his chest. "Yeah, that's okay."

Sirius wanted to ask why she had let herself get so close to really dying while she was turning him, by letting him drink so much of her blood that Remus' was required to spill some of his own in order to revive her, but he didn't want to spoil the moment.

He had just gotten himself back into Ana's good graces – he was loathe to argue again so soon.


As promised, Albus Dumbledore, and Arthur and Molly Weasely arrived around ten to check on Sirius' progress. By this time Remus had awakened from his nap, and Sirius and Ana'd had an intense conversation about the difference between changing into a bat shape and being an Animagus.

"...not at all the same!" The three members of the Order heard Ana shouting from the kitchen as Kreacher let them in the front door. "It's not about magic or being able to transfigure oneself without a wand. It's something purely physical, something biological!"

"Oh, what do you know about transfiguring, anyway," came Sirius' snarly rejoinder. "You can barely levitate a feather with your wand."

"I know a few good curses, if you'd like a hands-on demonstration! Ever read a comic called 'Transmetropoliton'? Someone showed me a curse that works just like Spider's Bowel Disrupter Gun..."

"I hardly think we require a demonstration, Ms. Oldwyn," Albus cut in as he entered the kitchen, a sparkle in his eye when he saw Sirius and Ana facing off across the thick wooden table.

Ana immediately stood and slipped her wand back into the holder in her robes. (She had put them on when they had retreated to the kitchen - it was significantly cooler in there than by the fire).

"Er... hi, Albus."

"Hallo, my sweet," he said and swept over to her to kiss her cheek. Sirius pointedly looked away.

"I am glad to see that Mr. Black has his vigour and energy back."

"Thank you, headmaster," Sirius said, feeling only slightly guilty for being jealous of Albus Dumbledore. After all, it had been a very long time ago when he had actually been able to see Ana naked and ew he was not going to think that because Dumbledore was his headmaster and wrinkly and old and gross ew no.

Molly stepped forward to pinch Sirius' cheeks and slap his chest and do all the other embarrassing things that Moms did to make sure people were in tip-top shape. "You're looking much better, Sirius," she said with a smile as she finished her inspection. Then she turned to Ana. "Introduce me to your lady friend."

"Molly Weasely, Anathema Oldwyn," Sirius said obligingly and the two women shook hands.

"I'm Arthur's wife, dear. My, you're as pretty as Sirius says. Thank you so much for helping him. And for looking after our Harry."

"My honour, ma'am," Ana said and nodded. "Thank your daughter for leaving some robes here - I borrowed them without permission, I'm afraid."

"Oh, my, I didn't even notice. I'm sure Ginny won't mind."

Introductions done, the three humans tucked into a late snack and Remus came downstairs looking only slightly bed-rumpled to join them. Sirius and Ana indulged in some of the blood she had brought back from the butcher's, and all six stayed up until the wee hours of the morning trading old Hogwarts stories.

Ana even risked the belching-slugs curse to tell a particularly embarrassing story involving a young Albus Dumbledore who'd had too much firewhiskey, a broom, a Golden Snitch, and three dozen jars of pickles.

When the clock struck four, the three humans went on their way, satisfied that Sirius was well and that he'd made the right choice for himself.

The only thing left among them was to decide whether or not to invite Ana Oldwyn to join the Order of the Phoenix.

Ana was responsible enough to protect Harry when he was in her own house and help Sirius when she herself had harmed him, but would she be willing to fight just for the sake of Good, and not out of obligation?

Ana considered herself a Muggle, still – would she want to jump feet first into a Wizarding war?


Dorin sat in the far corner of the Leaky Cauldron, his hood pulled up over his head so his face was hidden in shadow. He was taking a short break from his night-time prowlings of Diagon Alley and its surrounding offshoots - so far, he'd had no luck. Diagon Alley was the only place in London to buy the supplies that any Witch could need, so it made sense that if he hung around here long enough, he was bound to find Anathema.

Eventually, everyone ran out of everything.

A hand placed a mug of something red and steaming down in front of him, and he raised his black, glittering eyes to human barkeep, Old Tom.

"I did not order this."

Tom smiled in a congenial sort of way. "I get your kind in here often enough to know. I don't mind at'tall, so longs as you don't make no trouble. It's on the house."

Dorin stared at the mug briefly. Then he pulled his hood back so as to afford the old innkeeper a warm, concerned smile and a sincere gaze. "You may be able to help me, then. I am looking for my ... progeny. I'm afraid we had a bit of a spat... entirely my fault." He sniffed dramatically and braced his elbows on the table top and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shuddered with barely repressed sobs. "She's about this tall, blackish hair, blue eyes... she took our dog with her, can you believe it? Like some sort of blues song. Big black mongrel." He sniffed again, wailing. "I love that dog!"

Tom placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I've seen her here. She was in here with a group of friends not long ago. She came in last week, actually. Had to dash off ... said she was looking for a friend. You?"

Dorin hiccoughed and nodded his head.

"Well, now, you just drink up, young man, and I'll do some asking around for you. We'll find your Lady Love."

"Thank you," Dorin burbled.

Old Tom left to back to his bar.

Dorin sat up and smiled, not a tear on his face.

"Too easy," he chuckled to himself, and downed the free blood in one go.

"Why is it always raining around here?" Kingsley Shaklebolt whinged as he pulled off his rain slicker, and dumped his umbrella in the stand by the front door. "Every damned time I've come by here in the last month, I get soaked!"

Tonks grinned back over her shoulder at him - "This is a house where two Vampires live. You really think they want a sunny day out there?"

Shaklebolt sighed. "I feel sorry for the neighbours. That old man with the cucumbers down the way looks more and more depressed each day. I think he may try to hang himself."

"Tonks! Kingsley!" Remus called from partway down the stairs. "Just in time for one of Molly's famous suppers." He kept a firm grip on the railing and carefully navigated the rest of the staircase. When he reached to bottom he graciously took Kingsley's offered arm of support, panting slightly.

"Almost the full moon?" the large man asked, concern in his gaze.

Remus nodded and smiled weakly. "Tonight. I have just enough time to have supper with you, then it's off to the basement with me. You'll have to have the meeting without me."

"What meeting?"

All three heads whipped around to find Ana standing in the doorway between the hallway and the dining room, a few meters back in the house. She came forward to help Kingsley with Remus.

"You look like shit, wolf-boy," she said as she pulled one of his arms around his shoulder. Remus chuckled weakly. "What meeting?"

"Ah, Arthur just wanted an impromptu Department meeting," Tonks said with a shrug. "Ministry stuff. So boring. I hate 'em and I wouldn't be here, but he bribed us with Molly's cooking."

Ana looked in the general direction of the ever-filling dining room. "Ah, I see. That's why all those people are here."

"Er, yeah."

The doorbell rang and seeing as Kreacher was busy in the kitchens, trying to keep Molly out of the late mistress' best china, Ana said, "I'll get it!" She passed Remus back to Shaklebolt, who packed them all into the dinning room.

When she opened the door she came face to face with a dour man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose. "Yes?" she said.

He 'harrumphed' and pushed past her. Stripping off his dripping black robes and flinging them at the hall tree, he glared at her. "You needn't keep the thundershower going if you don't plan on going outside. It's already past sunset."

Ana shrugged and chuckled at his efforts to tuck his slick black hair behind his ears. "It's not one of mine. Not Sirius' either. This one is genuine."

The man scowled even more, and stalked past her towards the dining room. As he rounded the corner she heard him snarl, "Here's the mutt's Wolfsbane Potion."

"Pleasant chap, eh?" she heard Sirius ask over her shoulder and suddenly felt his arms wrap around her waist.

Ana didn't allow herself to jump. "Where were you hiding?"

He motioned with his head to a door on the other side of the sitting room. "I was in the library, trying to avoid the smell of dinner. Eugh, makes me nauseous. When I heard the voice of our beloved Snivelleus, I had to come see him in all his soaked and miserable glory."

"That's Professor Snape?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"And here I always thought Harry was exaggerating how unpleasant he was in his letters."


The three weeks between Sirius' turning and this meeting of the Order had gone by quickly. Ana spent many evenings with Sirius honing his weather-summoning skills and his ability to control his bat-shape. The first time he attempted to take flight he had ended up rolling all the way down the main staircase, snout-first.

As promised, Sirius respected Ana's romantic space and never attempted to force her into a potentially awkward situation. Remus and Sirius forgave each other and to Ana's horror and amusement, duplicated some of their best pranks from Hogwarts on her.

There were, unavoidably, the odd spat which arose from the less-human characteristics in the three more-or-less-permanent residents of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, but inevitably they were solved, and usually with minimal shouting and furniture-breakage.

For the first time in sixteen years, Sirius Black was happy, healthy, and whole.

Harry owled them almost every day, and seemed to be doing well at Hogwarts. He had been named the Assistant Captain to the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The Educational Edicts imposed upon the school the year before had all been lifted, and Harry's life-time ban from Quidditch had been burned.

Ron, Ana was told, had really grown into his role as Keeper, and Ginny had stepped down from Seeker to Chaser.

No one had told Harry anything about Sirius' condition - only that Ana had solved the problem and that Sirius was fine now. They decided to tell Harry while he and his friends visited Sirius and Remus at Grimmauld Place for the Christmas Holidays. That way, Harry would be present and consolable.

They felt horrible lying to him, but it was better than the boy having a sort of nervous breakdown in the middle of the fall term. For once Harry was having a normal year at school, and they were determined to keep it that way.

Sirius was ecstatic that Harry would be coming to Grimmauld Place for Christmas - Harry had always stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays. Ana had agreed to stay at Grimmauld Place for that, or at least come back for it if she'd left already.

There was a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix tonight, which also, unfortunately, happened to correspond with the Full Moon. Ana had offered to spend the night in the basement with Remus when she had been told that the 'meeting' would just be a bunch of old Ministry busy-bodies getting together to gripe.

It suited most members of the Order just fine that she would be downstairs and out of the way. Albus intended to propose that she be included in the ranks of the secret army that was attempting to overthrow Voldemort's rising stranglehold on the Wizarding world... after everyone had filled their stomachs. He made a point of avoiding shop-talk during dinner. There was nothing less appetizing.

Albus thought Ana, with her singular talents, could be an asset. And while she had never firmly declared herself an agent of either the dark or the light, her affection for Sirius, Remus, Harry, and himself, would hopefully be enough for her to agree to step up.

After all, she hadn't hesitated when Grindelwald had been seen in the photograph beside the moustached dictator – the moment she had recognized the Dark Wizard, over sixty years ago now, she had warned Dumbledore.

For some members of the Order, this dinner was the first time they had seen the revived Sirius. Word had gotten out that he was no longer dead, of course, but only a few knew the truth of his escape from Beyond the Veil and his subsequent transformation into a Vampire.

During dinner, he let them speculate why he looked so healthy, breathing as little as possible to keep out the food smell, smiling and revealing nothing. By the time desert was served, Ana had already escorted Remus downstairs.

No one had seen the small black bat clinging to the back of Severus Snape's robe when he entered the house and tossed it at the hall tree. Not even Severus himself.