Disclaimer: Well I'm up to chapter fourteen without being sued so that must mean my disclaimers to this point are sufficient...oh yeah, not mine.

HAPPY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS!!!

Chapter Fourteen: Mirror Mirror

Ella couldn't believe how tired she was. She had practically been asleep for over a month and yet all she could think about was the next time she would be able to close her eyes and rest. Her friends and the Marauders had stayed most of the night, making sure she had caught up with all the latest gossip, including the newfound closeness of Lily and James. Although she hated to think it, all she wished was that her visitors would leave quite soon to go to their own beds in Gryffindor tower. Luckily, Madame Pomfrey saved her from exhibiting such rudeness as she emerged from her office with a scowl on her face, ready to push everyone out the door.

"What are you all still doing here, it's half ten at night! My patients need some rest and you are disturbing the peace, not to mention you are out after curfew! Be gone with you!"

No one was game enough to argue that Ella and Sirius were the only two patients in the hospital wing, therefore they were hardly disturbing others but they knew Madame Pomfrey was a force to be reckoned with and obliged. Once Madame Pomfrey was satisfied that the students were leaving, she turned back toward her office. Ella was surprised to see that James still lingered; not to stay by Sirius' side, but to talk to her. He sat in a chair between the two occupied beds.

"I'm really sorry for seeming so…glum. It's really great that you've woken, and I'm glad to see you're doing so well. It's just that – "

"Don't worry. If it was my best friend lying there, I'd be pretty glum too," Ella replied, trying to be comforting. She wasn't sure how successful she was at the task as she was still rather tired, but she wanted to help James any way she could. They sat in silence for a while, James sometimes looking over his shoulder to where his best friend lay.

"Um, I was wondering if you could do me a favour. It's not big or anything, I mean you wont really have to do anything, considering you're probably still feeling like shit, but if you could I would really appreciate it."

James was expecting Ella to say no. After all, they didn't really know each other that well. He was pleasantly surprised with her answer.

"Yeah sure."

"Oh, great. Thanks." There was a pause again.

"So, what did you want me to do?"

"Oh right," James said, feeling slightly foolish. He picked up the mirror which lay on the bedside cabinet between Ella and Sirius' beds.

"If Sirius wakes up or shows any changes or –" James couldn't bring himself to put the words 'Sirius' and 'die' in the same sentence, as if saying the words out loud may make them come true. Instead, he explained what he would like Ella to do. He handed her the mirror.

"This mirror, there are two of them and if you say the name of the person who has the other one, their reflection will appear and you can talk with them. I have the other one, this one is Sirius'. I carry it with me all the time, so if anything happens to Sirius, could you just make sure to tell me straight away? It doesn't matter what time of day, or how little the change is, I'd really like to know. Pomfrey's pretty good at keeping us informed, but if there's a chance that…well I just want to be able to get here as quick as I can."

Ella looked at James, almost not believing that he was the same person so willing to break rules and play practical jokes on passers by.

"So I just say your name into it and you'll appear?"

"Once I answer you, yeah."

"No problem then," Ella reassured with a smile. "So, you and Lily ey?" she added, more for her own benefit of knowing all the gossip than for a lighter conversation topic to make James feel better.

"Yeah, me and Lily," he answered. It was the first time she saw him smile genuinely since entering the room so many hours ago.

"How did it happen?"

"I don't really know. I don't think we're even anything yet, but we've certainly shared a lot, and I think I may have finally have her convinced that I'm not as bad as she thought I was. Makes me think Sirius isn't waking up, just so he could get me and Lily together." Ella laughed.

"Well it does sound like something Sirius would do."

Ella wasn't sure where this comment came from. She barely knew Sirius and yet she knew that the words she had spoken were true. She thought back to their detention where they were discussing Lily and James and concluded that she must have figured out more about his character than she thought. This niggling feeling was not overly troublesome, as all she could think of right now was trying not to fall asleep while James was still sitting there. James saw Ella try to stifle a yawn and shot up out of his seat.

"Fuck," James quickly covered his mouth, not meaning to swear in front of Ella so blatantly, "shit, sorry, didn't mean to swear, all I meant was sorry for keeping you up. You must be exhausted."

"Actually I am," Ella replied chuckling.

"Sorry. Goodnight," James said as he started to walk away. He then addressed the unconscious Sirius, "Now Padfoot, that young lady over there is a nice girl, I don't want you corrupting her so keep your unconscious hands to yourself! And if you're faking this whole thing I am going to kick you extremely hard in a place which was only intended to be treated nicely!"

Sirius remained still.

"That was a pretty big threat. I'm sure if he was faking he would have woken up straight away," Ella commented.

"Ah, it was worth a shot," James replied then gave a wave as he exited the hospital wing.

Ella couldn't understand why she couldn't sleep. James had left more than three hours ago and despite the fact that she was utterly exhausted, her mind would not switch off. She was at the very emotional stage of exhaustion where angry outbursts of whispered swearing were common, and crying seemed the only appealing option. She could feel the tears welling, but quickly dabbed at her eyes when she looked over to Sirius' bed. Unconscious or not, she would not cry in front of company. She continued staring at him and without realising it, got up out of her bed and sat in the visitor's chair facing Sirius.

He looked very different. His hair had grown well past his shoulders and lay unkempt about his head; very different to his usual pristine style. His skin was waxy and his face seemed very drawn in. Not for the first time was Ella tempted to see her own reflection, and her hands twitched for the mirror which James had leant her but she figured she wouldn't be able to handle what she saw. She distracted herself by looking at Sirius' closed eyes, focussing on the long, dark lashes that any girl would kill for. He looked devoid of life. Everything about his positioning seemed to scream death. Ella assumed Madame Pomfrey simply positioned them neatly when they were brought into the hospital wing but seeing Sirius lying on his back, head slightly propped up and his hands resting above the covers, one on top of the other, eerily reminded Ella of how someone was placed in their coffin. Suddenly hit with the realisation that her family and friends would have thought the same about her, Ella needed something to lighten her mood.

"Remember that conversation we had in detention about James and Lily? Well it appears Lily has, to use your words and not mine, taken that pole out of her arse because I don't know if you realised but they seem to be getting quite cosy. James thinks your faking just so they can get together, which I'm sure he is happy about. Happy about him and Lily getting along, not you being in a coma of course."

She didn't know why she kept talking. Perhaps it was to tire her out so she could finally sleep. Perhaps it was because Sirius needed some contact with life in order to come back. Perhaps it was because, for some strange reason, Ella had felt extremely downhearted since she woke and needed something to occupy herself so she could distract herself from how she felt. It was as though there was an unbearable weight in her stomach; something akin to suffering a great loss. She assumed this was a normal reaction to coming out of an extended coma, but she still didn't like it.

Having run out of gossip to tell Sirius about, Ella resorted to rifling through the many gifts which were piled on the table at the end of the bed. Almost every gift was accompanied by a little note from his well-wishers. Ella decided it might be nice to go through and read the cards out to Sirius. Although this action was to stem her curiosity at who had been sending Sirius gifts and to cure her boredom, she reasoned it would be alright to pry into Sirius' personal collection as she was reading each card on behalf of Sirius himself. This is what she told herself anyway, so as not to feel as nosy as she was.

"Okay, you have a lovely box of chocolates here, empty by the way. I'm sure your friends wanted to help you as much as mine did. The card reads: Dear Sirius, hope you get well soon, lots of love, Jacinta Mendelson. P.S. have you heard of the muggle story Snow White? Okay, so we know you at least got a kiss from Miss Mendelson then," Ella said with a smile as she picked up the next gift which was an extremely cute fluffy teddy bear.

"Cutesy fluffy teddy bear here, curtesy of…well I can't understand the writing," Ella said, but attempted to read the card out anyway, "Hate you moke appalling recreation, your fiend, Moccasin? Well that can't be right, unless this person really doesn't like you."

Ella got out her wand and prodded the card to perform a neatness charm on the writing.

"Oh, okay. It is supposed to read: Hope you make a full recovery, your friend, Monica. Well that is much more pleasant wouldn't you agree? Okay, the next gift is yet again, another box of chocolates…and apparently your friends will eat any chocolates except the Turkish delights. Who the hell sends chocolates to someone in a coma? Of course everyone else is going to eat them, because it's not like we can eat them in our sleep now can we. According to this card, a group of girls, second year I would guess, sent you these ones, and they have been rather kind to write a poem for you as well. The sheer corniness of this poem may just be enough to wake you up by the way."

Although you have had detention,

Too many times to mention,

This time you didn't come back,

Our gorgeous Sirius Black,

Although you are asleep,

I still wish you were mine to keep,

It is your face that we all miss,

We hope when you wake, we will all get a kiss

"They only miss your face? Doesn't say much about your personality then does it? I think it's a safe bet that you got at least three more kisses right there. This next present is a beautiful ensemble of flowers, chocolates and yet another lovely teddy bear. This card is rather long, so here goes: Dear Sirius (sexy muffin)…I'm not sure I want to read on, but I will anyway… you have no idea how hard it has been seeing you like this. I miss everything about you, from your piercing grey stare to your stupid barking laugh. I feel as though you have left me and the only thing that keeps me going is that I know it wasn't your choice. I want you to come back soon so I can wrap my arms around you and have your body close to mine again. Love you, miss you. Love your Miranda. Well there you have it Mr. Black, your girlfriend wants you to come back so she can jump you, if that doesn't bring you out of a coma, I don't know what will!"

Ella yawned and realised she may just be able to get back to sleep. She rose from the chair to return to her bed, calling out a 'goodnight' to the unconscious boy in the bed next to hers before falling asleep as her head hit the pillow.

Ella woke as the sun spilled orange light into the hospital wing. She assumed it was morning until she realised the sun was on the wrong side of the room. She almost panicked as she realised she had slept through an entire day. She had slept through enough; how much more time would she lose if she continued to oversleep? Her panic subsided slightly as she heard a smooth female voice coming from the bed next to her. She looked over to see Miranda with tears in her eyes as she looked at her boyfriend's face. Her hand was grasping his above the covers.

"I really miss you, and you can't understand how lonely I've been," Ella heard her say, "I really just need you to come back or to…I just need to be able to make a decision. You can't keep me hanging on like this; I need to get on with my life, whether that is with you or with someone else. I just can't keep playing this waiting game. I need to know if you're going to be here for me."

Ella felt that she was intruding on an extremely personal moment, therefore she pretended to still be asleep but continued to pay attention and watch from her half closed eyes. She saw Miranda hold Sirius' hand up to her face as tears stained her cheeks. It was a very moving moment. Ella could see Miranda's lips moving but her words were too quiet to distinguish. As Miranda placed Sirius' hand back onto the covers and made to pull away, Sirius made a hacking sound. Miranda stood there stunned while Ella shot to a seated position in her bed. Sirius had now turned over and was gasping for breath, coughing over the side of the bed.

"Oh my god, Sirius!" Miranda screamed and jumped beside him on the bed to pat his back as he coughed. As happened with Ella, Sirius appeared to be coughing up a strange powdery dust which, Ella knew, was the source of his breathlessness. Madame Pomfrey had already rushed to Sirius' bedside and was feeding him the same potion which Ella had taken the day before. Sirius was also refused food for four hours, much to his disgust.

Ella was so transfixed that, until now, she had forgotten to call for James. She quickly snatched the mirror off the bedside table and yelled James' name. She barely had time to recognise her own reflection, when it changed into the face of James Potter.

"Ella! What, what is it?" James asked urgently.

"Sirius is awake," Ella replied. James' next utterance was not to Ella but apparently to everyone sitting around him, Ella assumed, at the dinner table.

"Remus! Peter! Sirius is back, quick come on! Oh for fucks sake Peter, you can have dessert another night, we'll go to the kitchens just come on!" And with that, James' face disappeared from the mirror.

Sirius felt as though his lungs were burning. Not only had he felt as though he had coughed up sandpaper, but the potion Madame Pomfrey insisted on him taking was not pleasant, and now he also had a teary girlfriend to console. While he had been smothered in kisses once he came to, he was now required to stroke his girlfriend's hair, hold her hand and tell her everything would be alright. Just then, James and his entourage came bursting into the room. Miranda was almost flung out of the way as James went to hug his best friend.

"You wanker! We thought you'd gone and carked it on us! I bet you waited the extra couple of days just to piss me off ey?"

Sirius couldn't explain why, but it was a huge relief to see James. It was as though it had been James in the coma, not him.

"Lay off James. I just wanted a bit of a sleep in, was that too much to ask?"

"Sleep in? You missed a whole month of classes mate, not to mention Christmas," Remus added. Remus then approached Sirius and gave him a manly hug, quite a bit less desperate than James' had been.

"Since when are you one to sleep in anyway?"

"Not that you would know Moony, but some of us need our beauty sleep."

"Well if that's what you look like after a month's beauty sleep, then I hate to remember what you looked like before," James chided. For the first time since waking, Sirius thought about his appearance. No proper food or daylight or, anything for that matter, after a month clearly would have taken its toll. His hand flew to his beloved hair.

"Fuck, I could put my hair in bunches it's that long! I must look like Bella!" He said, a slight note of panic to his voice.

"Don't be ridiculous Sirius. You're much more feminine!"

"He's just come out of a coma, for Christ sake. Give him a rest!" Miranda interrupted, whether she was annoyed at the lack of attention being payed to her or whether she was genuinely looking after Sirius' wellbeing was unsure.

"It's okay babe. They're just joking around."

"Yeah but you've just come out of a coma, they should go easy on you!"

"You know that's just how we operate, let 'em be yeah?" Sirius soothed as Miranda's pout slowly disappeared.

"Okay, I'll let it go this time. Just for you," Miranda replied and was quickly pecked Sirius on the lips to prove she was no longer annoyed. There was a bout of eye rolling throughout the room and Peter pretended he was going to be sick. Ella couldn't help but laugh inwardly at their interaction, and knowing that the atmosphere was slightly awkward now, she chose this point to speak up.

"Did you want your mirror back now James?" she asked. James turned around, startled. Clearly he had forgotten she was there.

"Oh yeah! Thanks for that, you're a gem, I owe you one. If you ever need anyone to be pranked or help with homework or something, I'd be happy to help!"

Sirius looked at James and Ella suspiciously.

"Ah, is there something you two aren't telling me?"

"What me and James? No. But you should ask him about Lily."

"What?" Sirius said in a shocked high pitched voice. Peter jumped as the resulting noise was rather loud.

"You and Lily are getting it on?" Sirius continued excitedly. Ella had to hand it to the guy, after she woke, she hardly had any energy to talk, let alone show any form of enthusiasm.

"Define getting it on," James replied with a smirk.

"Oxford dictionary defines getting it on as dating, going out, hanky panky, courting, getting down and dirty, fu-"

"Okay I think we get the picture," interrupted Remus.

"Well in that case, no we are not getting it on. But we've been talking a lot and she doesn't think I'm a wanker anymore so that's got to be good."

"Got to be good? Mate, you've achieved the impossible!"

"Excuse me, you are talking about one of my friends here," Ella now interrupted. Sirius looked over to her and grinned.

"Yeah but you have to admit, that pole was firmly wedged." Ella simply rolled her eyes at him. Seeing Ella do this, for some reason, made Sirius' smile even bigger. Sirius turned back to his friends.

"How long has it been? I'm starving!"

It had been a week since Sirius and Ella had been out of the hospital wing. Despite Sirius' chipper mood on the day he woke, he had been steadily going downhill ever since. Like Ella, he could not shake an ever increasing sense of carrying a huge weight in his stomach. He sat silently at the dinner table each day, listening to his friends talking and mucking around while never really getting involved in anything. Even Miranda failed to improve his mood with numerous visits to broom closets and late night deep and meaningfuls. Sirius figured his mood would improve when he was allowed to play quidditch again. Madame Pomfrey had forbade any activities which put Sirius or Ella at risk of head trauma, as their bodies had been through a huge shock already and needed to avoid further injury.

Ella's days were filled with maintaining a façade of cheerfulness, as she was always so adept at. Her life had returned to normal; passing notes in class, gossiping during her free hours, listening to Ebony's mammoth rants about Jeremy. Ella's major concern was sleep. Although she was constantly tired, she was afraid to go to bed each night, for she feared that if she slept, she would slip back into a coma and miss out on so much more.

Ever since they awoke, those close to Sirius and Ella had been watching them closely, convinced that they both had been changed by what had happened and that only time would heal whatever they both were feeling after being cut off from the world for so long. Despite how isolated and inexplicitly downhearted both Ella and Sirius felt, one morning at the Gryffindor table improved both their moods. The house elves had prepared pancakes for breakfast, and as Ella piled her plate high with a huge grin on her face, she suddenly felt a rush of happiness. A few seats down, Sirius' friends were staring at him in awe as he piled his own plate high, laughing and joking while making sure to pay particular attention to his doting girlfriend. After everything they had tried, nobody expected pancakes had the power to cure all ails.

A/N: Okay...hopefully this chapter wasn't boring, but it just had to be done to make the rest of the story flow a bit better. As for Sirius coming back, lets just say that he was looking through the mirror in limbo at the time Miranda was talking to him and decided he should go back...in other words he figured he could find happiness for a while if he went back...interesting no? lol. Okay so the next chapter will kick off their time in the past!!! Let it all begin again lol. Any questions? Anybody?

Thank you SO MUCH for the reviews! last chapter received the most reviews for a chapter i have ever recorded so you are all just little diamonds and gems!!! I really appreciate your input/theories/opinions etc etc etc so would love if you could continue reviewing! Most of you got the bonus points for my last questions: Ebony is Ella's best friend and Sirius didn't come back because he was still in limbo trying to figure out if it was worth it to go back! Thanks again!!!