Talking to Himself

Another evening and another knock on the door.

'Come in,' Sirius said looking up from some third-year Hufflepuffs' essays.

The door opened and a man entered the office. He looked disturbingly similar to Sirius himself. Of course, his hair was shorter and his face looked much healthier, almost younger, but Sirius knew immidiately who it was.

'Good evening, Professor Schwarz,' the man said.

'Good evening.'

'My name is Sirius Black.' Aha! So he was right.

'How can I help you, Mr. Black?' Sirius desperately tried to keep his answers calm and casual, but it is really difficult when facing yourself and seeing someone you are not.

'I have come to discuss the progress my son, Procyon is making…' the Slytherin-Sirius said.

Oh, had he?

'Procyon is one of the best students in his year,' the Gryffindor replied 'It's Cassie you should be worrying about. If she wants to pass her O.W.L.s - '

'Cassiopia,' the Slytherin said in an annoyingly aristocratic sort of way 'is a lady. Defence against the Dark Arts is a manly subject. She does not need to be good at it.'

A lady, is she? Doesn't behave like one at school…

'In a war,' Sirius wouldn't give up 'even a lady needs to know how to defend herself. Otherwise pretty soon there wouldn't be any ladies left.'

Oh Merlin, that sounded like Moody. Constant vigiliance and all that…

'What are you talking about?' the father said in the same 'rudely polite' tone his daughter liked to use when talking to people she was supposed to respect, but didn't.

'The painful reality, what else?'

'Cassiopia is going to be just fine. She will be safe.'

'Mr. Black, you do know what war is. She is not going to be safe,' Sirius couldn't resist making that comment 'no matter whose side she is on.'

'What are you implying, Professor?'

'Only that I have noticed your opinion about certain things is quite different from mine,' Sirius replied.

'Quite different, indeed,' the Slytherin repeated 'Surprisingly different… Who would have thought…'

And with that he left the room.

The Gryffindor sat there for a few seconds, staring at the door, unsure wether his guest had been real or merely a figment of his imagination. Finally he decided that his Slytherin self had really been there a minute ago. And then he remembered what he had said. And he realised that it wasn't good. He had to tell Dumbledore.

XXX

But Dumbledore was not in his office. He was apparently not at the school at all and nobody seemed to know where he had gone. Sirius returned to his room and decided to talk to Regulus instead.

XXX

'Hey, Reg!' he called through the fireplace as his brother entered the living room.

'Hi,' Regulus said 'What's up?'

'We need to talk,' Sirius said 'Now. He was here,' he began to explain 'At Hogwarts, I mean. He knows who I am. He said he'd come to talk about - '

'Calm down, Sirius,' Regulus interrupted him 'What – Who are you talking about?'

'The other me,' Sirius replied 'He was here.'

'Wait a moment, will you?' Reg said 'I'll be right there.'

Sirius pulled his head out of the fireplace and waited. A few minutes later Reg appeared in the room.

'All right,' he said 'What's going on?'

'He was here,' Sirius repeated for what felt like the one hundred and first time 'I think he knows who I am.'

'Are you sure?' the younger brother finally understood 'How would he know?'

'No idea. He said he wanted to talk about the kids, but - '

'Well, parents do that sometimes. You can't be sure - '

'His excuse was stupid.'

Somebody knocked on the door again.

'You think it's him again?'

'I don't know. Why would he - ?'

The door opened. Procyon poked his head into the room.

'Padfoot,' he said and then looked around 'Oh, hi, Uncle Reg.'

'Come in,' Sirius invited.

'It's not some secret stuff or something?'

Sirius remembered how back at home he would always argue with Molly and Dumbledore about what Harry could and could not be told. 'He is too young for this,' Mrs. Weasley's voice said in his head. About Harry, who was three years older than Procyon. Sirius thought it was just fine.

'Well, kind of,' he said before reg could stop him 'but it's your secret too.'

'Really?' Procyon sounded excited. Kids like secrets and this must have sounded like an interesting one.

'Well…' Regulus didn't seem to want to tell him. Sirius did, though.

'Your father was here,' he said.

'You mean - ?'

'Yes, him,' Sirius replied before the boy could ask.

'What did he want?'

'Apparently he came to check what progress his children were making,' Regulus said.

'But the truth is,' Sirius added 'that he wanted to talk to me.'

'You mean… You think he knows who you are?' Procyon asked and then he suddenly remembered something 'Does it mean I can tell him - ?'

'Not yet, if you don't mind,' Sirius cut him off 'But, yes, I think he knows more than he should know…'

'But who could have told him?' Regulus wondered 'How did he find out?'

'No idea.'

'Who knows about you?' Regulus asked 'Apart from him, that is.'

'I only told people I trusted,' Sirius said (Had someone he trusted betrayed him?) 'The Order, Harry, Neville, Andromeda…'

'Anyone else?'

'Maybe Cassie or Orion worked it out?' Procyon suggested.

'No, I don't think they did,' Sirius said (And then heremembered Snape saying that Orion had been behaving strangely).

Then he suddenly remembered something else.

'That girl…' he muttered 'The Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood…'

'Luna?' Procyon said in disbelief.

'She came here a few days ago,' Sirius explained 'Almost worked everything out herself. Then she managed to make me tell her what she didn't know.'

'But Luna?' Procyon said 'She would never… she wouldn't… I know her, she's in the DA…'

'I heard her talk to someone when she left…'

'You think it was him?' Regulus asked.

'No. I'm sure it wasn't. Sounded like a student. I don't know what she told him, but maybe - '

'But Luna wouldn't - ' Procyon muttered.

'I once thought Wormtail wouldn't,' Sirius said darkly 'And you know where that got me.'

'Let's not jump to conclusions,' Reg said 'We don't know who did it.'

'Luna's friends with Neville,' Procyon pointed out as if it explained anything.

'If it is her,' Reg said 'It's really bad.'

XXX

'So, what's up?' Sirius asked when Reg had already left and the discussion was over.

'Not much,' Procyon replied. Compared to this everything sounded like not much 'I didn't get on the team,' the boy said 'They picked Ginny Weasley instead.'

'Oh…'

'Well, she is good,' Procyon said 'We'll probably win again.'

'But you wanted to play against Orion, right?'

'Well, it would have been fun.'

They spent the rest of the evening talking about Quidditch, but Sirius just couldn't forget all the other things that were bothering him. What was Malfoy up to? Was Orion helping him? How much did his counterpart know? How did he know? Where was Dumbledore when you needed him? And generally what the hell was going on here?