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Chapter 20: Every beat of my Heart
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The grass was long and moist leaving small spherical droplets of water on his shaggy black coat as Padfoot, wet nose to the ground, hurried through the darkened paddock searching.
For what? The canine was unsure. But he longed for it, a deep ache in the very centre of his being.
A flash of aubergine material floated pass causing Padfoot's black ears to perk as the scent of cigar smoke and cherries lingered in the air.
Gripped by a sudden instinct to make chase, Padfoot bounded forward, nose once again close to the ground as he desperately fought to keep the trail. The air was growing murky, somewhat of a grey fuzz and Padfoot found it increasingly difficult to place one paw in front of the other.
Somewhere in the distance he could make out two voices talking about food…a restaurant of sorts.
A loud clatter nearby caused Sirius to jolt back into consciousness. The ground was hard beneath him, the grimy ceiling looking down at him from above was an eerie black expanse. For a split second the blood in his veins turned to ice as he was succumbed by memories of Azkaban.
Then, ever so slowly his heartbeat slowed, and a flickering of a small flame across the room materialized on the wall beside him. There were no flames in Azkaban.
Everything there was wet and cold. It also didn't have voices.
Sitting up slowly, pain ripping through his body, Sirius recognized the Auror holding cells for those either awaiting trial or transportation to Azkaban.
As the events of the morning came flooding back Sirius was on his feet in an instant, wincing at the forgotten slashes on the soles of his feet, the small grains of glass digging further into his flesh.
Turning his grey eyes to the two Aurors on duty, neither of which had noticed him, absorbed in their own conversation, Sirius cleared his throat, hiding the smirk that fought to escape as the Aurors jumped.
This was going to be fun.
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Melanie was walking slowly down the corridors of Hogwarts, a large tome in her arms that she'd checked out of the library a few minutes earlier. Wandering past the hospital wing a loud pop made her shriek and drop the book to the floor with a loud thud, the hard cover narrowly missing her toes.
Stunned at first at having the Boy-who-lived apparate right beside her she didn't notice the person in his arms until he turned towards her. She felt her heart skip a beat at the all too familiar curls covering Hermione's face.
"Hey," Harry said, gently but urgently, "What's your name?"
"Melanie," she whispered, slightly in shock.
"Okay Melanie, do you know where Professor Lupin's chambers are?"
Melanie nodded.
"I need you to do me a big favour, can you go and get him for me please? And if he isn't there to go and get Professor Dumbledore."
Melanie nodded and set her face into an expression of rigid determination and took off down the hall as Harry turned into the hospital wing. The heavy tome stayed, now quiet, in its landing place on the floor.
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Small blue eyes started up at a plain white ceiling; there were no lines or cracks, just a plain white canvas of Nothing. No colourful mobile, no hanging snitches or brooms.
White.
Rolling herself over Elizabeth grabbed the bars of her 'crib' and pulled herself up until her head hit something with a soft 'thud'.
Apparently the ceiling was a lot closer than normal.
Falling softly back down onto her behind, Elizabeth brought her hands up to her head as tears began to pool, her small silver bracelet still in place around her wrist.
"Mummy Ow!" she called, into the whiteness.
No Reply.
"Da-ad-dy Ow-ww," she tried, slowly breaking down into sobs, her blue eyes searching the empty room as identical tears trickled down her cheeks.
No Mummy or Daddy were in sight.
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"I can not believe you talked me into doing this."
Draco frowned down at Hermione whom he was supporting as they made their way swiftly through the corridors of Hogwarts.
An hour before, Draco had been with Remus, Tonks and Ginny when a first year with a message from Harry had sent the group to the hospital wing. Sirius and Elizabeth were gone. Harry had Hermione.
Between then and the present moment in time, in which Hermione chose to stumble slightly, Draco had been left alone with an unconscious witch as the others sought Dumbledore. Hermione had proceeded to wake up, take a while to regain her bearings, before coercing the blonde into helping her to the ministry.
He was now regretting his decision to help her before Madame Pomfrey returned from the dungeons, gone off in search of a required potion after being unable to contact Professor Snape. Hermione's dislocated shoulder had been healed, but it still obviously pained her to put much weight on her right ankle and she held her left arm tightly against her chest.
"Hermione, we need to stop," Draco announced, slowing down slightly.
"What?" desperation crept into Hermione's voice, "No, I need to get to Sirius, to Elizabeth, she needs me…"
"Hermione, you're injured and still obviously in pain, at least let me heal what I can."
Hermione glared at the blonde and pulled herself out of his arms.
"If you won't help me, I'll go alone." Hermione whispered harshly and started slowly down the corridor, visibly trying not to wince when she took each step.
Draco followed slowly behind, "You don't have a wand," he pointed out to the older witch, who along with not having a wand had only the clothes she had on from the morning and no shoes.
"I'll be fine." She replied stubbornly, placing one agonizing foot in front of the other.
Draco considered momentarily that stunning the woman walking in front of him may not be the worst decision he would ever make, then again he'd seen Hermione angry before.
Sighing in defeat Draco stepped up to the struggling witch and again began to help her out of the school, the evening sun setting in the distance.
Hermione fought back her tears as the realization that she had never been apart from Elizabeth for this long before hit her.
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The scene in Dumbledore's office may have been amusing to a passer by as the aging headmaster sat in his chair listening to the multitude of voices coming from the three normally calm people in front of him. Harry was pacing backwards and forwards, ever so slowly wearing a hole into Dumbledore's prized rug. Tonks seemed undecided whether or not to sit or stand and chose between the two at her pleasure. Two new streaks of vivid red had appeared through the front of her long black hair, of which the witch was apparently unaware. Remus was sitting next to his fiancée and was attempting to somehow come up with a course of action, something that wasn't going entirely too well to plan when he kept getting interrupted by Tonks and Harry. Ginny was sitting quietly, her hazel eyes deep in thought.
"Look!" Remus said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the other two, "We are wasting time here, both of you just stop!"
Harry paused midway through another pace, gaping at the normally placid werewolf. Tonks raised one dark eyebrow before sinking back into her chair from where she had just risen. Dumbledore, god damned those blue eyes, looked slightly amused and nodded at Remus to continue as Harry reluctantly took the spare seat on his other side.
"Tonks," Remus started, "You need to go to the Ministry and see if you can find out where Sirius is. Harry, you need to get Draco from the hospital wing and go to the Ministry, both of you can try to use any sort of influence you have there to find out what in Merlin's name has happened and where Elizabeth might be." Remus paused as Harry nodded before turning to Ginny, "Go to St Mungos, if Sirius or Elizabeth have been hurt they may have taken them there." Remus turned again and glanced at Dumbledore, "The Minister?" he asked, not entirely comfortable with telling the headmaster what to do.
Dumbledore smiled slightly and nodded, "I will go and talk to Tomkinson, hopefully the man has some sort of sense left."
"What about you?" Tonks asked Remus, "What are you going to be doing?"
"I'll stay with Hermione for now, the last thing we need is for a Werewolf to be running around the Ministry trying to find out things he shouldn't be."
Dumbledore nodded and handed a portkey to Ginny that would take her to St Mungos and one to Tonks to take to the Ministry. Once the witches were on their way Harry and Remus stood to head for the hospital wing.
Opening the door Harry found himself with an armful of school nurse who seemed rather panicked.
Ignoring the startled look from the messy haired Auror –in-training Madame Pomfrey untangled herself from Harry's arms and heading straight for Dumbledore.
"She's gone, I went to get some potion to stem infections because I couldn't find Severus and I came back and the bed was empty. I looked everywhere headmaster but I can't find her, she shouldn't be walking around like this…"
"Wait," Remus interrupted frowning slightly, "Who's gone?"
Madame Pomfrey turned to the Werewolf, "Hermione."
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Hermione stepped into the Ministry, not caring at the present time if she was swamped by Aurors. But none came, in fact the Ministry itself seemed to be lacking somewhat in the familiar red robed employees.
With Draco beside her Hermione started towards the elevators, once inside she pressed the button that would take her to the Minister.
"I thought we were going to find Sirius?" Draco asked, as the small lights indicated the changing floor levels.
"I need to do this first." Hermione said, not taking her eyes off the door, leaning slightly more on the solid built wizard beside her, the weight of her recent lost bearing down.
A few minutes of elevator music the doors opened and Hermione stepped into the small corridor leading to the Minister for Magic's office and headed for the large wooden doors at the end.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath Hermione detached herself from Draco and opened one of the doors before stepping into the room.
The witch at the desk looked up and gasped in shock at the other witch standing in front of her. Still clad in her jeans and blue singlet from the morning her clothing had numerous blood stains on it while a nasty bruise formed on the side of her face where the official had punched her.
The assistant's eyes darting once more to the barefoot witch before she stood and scurried into the adjourning office. Hermione, not waiting for an invitation followed, her broken arm still clutched to her chest as Draco cautiously trailed behind.
"Ahh Mrs. Black, how can I help you?" The Minister had a cheerful expression on his face as he chose to blatantly ignore the state Hermione was in.
Hermione limped slowly up to the desk, her chocolate eyes darting to the two Officials flanking the Minister, the silence in the room was almost unbearable as Draco followed.
"How can you help me?" Hermione asked, her voice low and even, "How about telling me where my husband is and what in Merlin's name you have done with my one year old daughter!"
"Now, now Mrs. Black, I'm sure once we get you to St Mungos and get you cleaned up we can discuss this matter."
Hermione glared, and Draco found himself wishing the muggle saying 'if looks could kill' was literal.
"I will ask again. Where are they?" Hermione was clenching her jaw in an effort to control her anger as the Minister glanced warily at her hands for a sign of her wand.
"I am not a liberty to discu…"
Hermione slammed her good fist down onto the desk, her blazing eyes and wild hair giving her a Medusa like appearance, "YOU KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER AND ARRESTED MY HUSBAND ON FALSE TERMS, TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!"
"I can not and will not, now please calm down or I will have you forcefully removed."
Now it was Draco's turn to narrow his eyes and step forward, positioning himself beside Hermione, his wand in his hand but still at his side.
"Mister Malfoy, it would do you good not to get yourself into anymore trouble." The Minister warned.
"Then tell us where they are."
"No."
"You son of a bitch," Hermione growled, "You are no better than Voldemort, you sick twisted sorry excuse for a man."
The Minister blanched slightly at the mention of the now defeated Dark Lord, but regained his composure quickly. "My dear, petty insults will get you nowhere."
"You have no right in taking a child from her parents." Draco said calmly, fighting back the urge to hit the man in front of him.
"I have every right to do as I please, it was better for everyone that the child be taken into custody."
Hermione's eyes flashed and the Minister found himself flying over his high-backed leather chair and onto the floor, aubergine robes riding up and covering his face.
Hermione looked up from the sight and glared at the Officials who now had their wands trailing on the two standing in front of the desk.
Red faced and spluttering the Minister got to his feet and forcefully pushed his chair out of the way.
"I should have you up for assault."
"It will be more than assault if you don't hurry up and tell me what I need to know!"
"Hermione, I somehow don't think that would be the wisest decision you could make."
Hermione and Draco spun around at the sound of Dumbledore's voice, the Minister cowered back slightly before a satisfied expression appeared on his face which was immediately wiped off when Hermione turned back and sent him a look of pure rage before turning and limping back out the door.
As she pulled up alongside the grey-haired wizard he placed his hand gently on her arm. Murmuring a small thank you Hermione continued on her way, her arm no longer clutched to her chest.
Draco sent Dumbledore a look of mixed guilt and thankfulness as he followed Hermione out of the room.
Left alone with the Minister Dumbledore stepped forward and took a seat.
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Sirius was growing frustrated, locked behind the bars of the small cell. With no wand and general lack of a decent appearance the two Aurors assigned to watch him were not helping his situation at all. He had now lost track of how many times he'd said this single sentence out loud.
"Look, I understand you're doing your job but if you could just floo someone and find out if my wife is okay…"
"Mr Black, just sit down and be quiet…"
"JUST TELL ME WHAT IN MERLINS NAME IS GOING ON!" he shouted as, for the umpteenth time since he had woken he lost his temper.
"Mister Black! You are a prisoner here, start acting like one!"
Sirius opened his mouth to retort but closed it when a warm feeling rushed through his veins.
"Hermione," he breathed, his body relaxing slightly, his firm grip on the bars in front of him slackening.
The Aurors looked at each other in confusion before being alerted to voices in the other room.
"Look just tell us where he is!"
Sirius recognized the young Malfoy's voice and fleetingly wondered where Harry was.
All other thoughts were pushed aside when the far door opened and Hermione limped through, a look of pure determination set in her features.
"Hermione," he whispered again, just loud enough for her to hear it.
As she turned towards him her calm façade crumbled. "Sirius" she breathed, moving swiftly over to the bars.
Sirius reached through and cupped Hermione's face in his hands as warm tears meandered down her cheeks.
"Open the door," Hermione chocked out to the guards flanking her, her own hands shaking the bars slightly.
"Its okay, shhh," Sirius whispered, as he felt a tremor scour through his wife.
"O-open the door!" Hermione repeated desperate to be in Sirius arms.
The Auror who had followed her in complied and Sirius stepped back with the force of Hermione hitting him. Wrapping his arms around her tightly he breathed in her scent as they both sunk to their knees, tears now forming in Sirius' soft grey eyes.
"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered, trembling uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
Sirius frowned slightly, his hands tangling in her curls as he attempted to alleviate her shakes, vaguely aware that the door to the cell had been re-locked.
"What are you sorry for?" he asked quietly, interrupting her tirade.
"I let her go," Hermione whispered, burying her face in Sirius' neck. "I let her go…I promised…I let her go…I let her go…I let her go."
Sirius fell back off his knees and leant against the bed, pulling Hermione closer and gently rocking her as she sobbed hysterically. "It's not your fault," he assured, but Hermione wasn't listening.
"I shouldn't have let her go…"
Sirius pushed Hermione away from him and forced her to look into his grey eyes, "Listen to me, it's not your fault, you hear? It's not your fault."
Hermione nodded, tears streaming down her face. Sirius blinked back his own as he pulled her back in towards him as she struggled to take in each breath. He had never, in his long years of knowing Hermione, seen her as distraught as this. And it rocked him to the bone.
"It's not your f-fault," he repeated, resuming the gentle sway as he tried to stay strong for Hermione.
Outside the bars Draco looked away, shocked at the burning sensation in his own grey eyes. Stepping out into the corridor to regain his composure he sent one more look of distaste to the Aurors in the room before walking swiftly off, his training robes from the morning billowing out behind him. He had done all he could for Hermione for the time being and his mind immediately switched to Elizabeth. Entering the elevator he pushed the button for the main floor. He had an old friend to visit.
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Ginny sighed in resignation, she was getting nowhere, with only a trainee clearance she couldn't get access to any of the hospitals records and had yet to find a senior member of the staff willing to help the young redhead.
Stepping up to the fireplace Ginny grabbed a handful of floo powder; she had done all she could here as she flooed to the ministry to locate Harry.
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Tonks left her old office, her team still being faithful had told her that a number of the younger teams had left earlier that morning with two teams of blue robed Ministry Officials. Word was that one person had been taken into custody and was currently in the Auror barracks awaiting trial.
Stepping into the area that held the holding cells Tonks marched past the guards at the main entrance, she may be suspended but at this point in time she didn't care, nor did she heed the calls to stop.
Striding into the room containing the cells Tonks did a double take at the sight in front of her.
Both were similarly clad in jeans, shirts and bare feet with their own share of dark red streaks on clothing and flesh. Sirius was now sitting on the small bed, red eyed with old tear tracks down his cheeks and Hermione's head in his lap, the witch having cried herself to sleep as Sirius stroked his hand through her long curls.
Frowning Tonks stepped up to the side of the cell closest to her cousin, "Sirius, what…how? Hermione was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts."
Sirius' lips twitched slightly, "Would you have stayed put?"
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Remus, after being told to check the hospital wing again by Dumbledore stopped outside the large doors to pick up a discarded book at the door. Frowning at the students' general lack of responsibility he tucked the book under his arm and moved to enter the hospital wing before something niggling at the back of his mind made him hesitate.
Turning on his heel he made his way down into the dungeons.
Instinct made him want to find out where in Merlin's name Snape had got to.
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Daily Prophet May 20th 2000
Prophecy child, Elizabeth Rosalyn Black found!
In breaking news the Minister has given a press release stating that the Ministry now has Elizabeth Black, the child from the prophecy, in its care. It has also been released that not only does the Ministry have Sirius Black but also his wife, Hermione Black in custody.
In relation to this incident, though unclear if it is for the taking of Elizabeth or the arrest of her father, who along with his wife contributed greatly in the defeat of he-who-must-not-be-name, hundreds of Ministry employees, from low paid office jobs to high ranking officials have gone on strike protesting this course of action by the Minister. This strike has also included hundreds of Aurors, many of whom are claiming Black was wrongly arrested.
For more information on the strike turn to page two.
For more information on the prophecy turn to page five.