A/N: This chapter wasn't quite finished before I went on my vacation, so I thought I'd just take my computer and find some time to finish and post it. On my third day away I had some free time...and imagine my surprise when I found that (silly me!) I'd forgotten my power cord. The battery wasn't even fully charged, so I only had about an hour to work. I just got back home and put the finishing touches on the chapter, and now here it is. I'm leaving again for another vacation on the 23rd of this month...so let's hope I actually remember the power cord this time. It was one of those completelystupid moments I'm prone to having...
Chapter Twenty-One
Aside from the occasional shopping spree in the muggle world, the weeks after Sirius told Alex he had business were filled with mood swings...and not from her. She still hadn't figured out what exactly he had done when he left, but from the things he did say she assumed he had gone to see his mother. She knew that he hated his mother, so she understood if seeing her would make him upset. To add to his horrible mood, the news kept adding more and more heinous circumstances to her apparent abduction. They had told the public the general story, but had added a horrible twist to it.
Apparently, Sirius had first become obsessed with her while they were at Hogwarts – something Sirius himself told her was very true. What wasn't true was that he had followed her after she left and kidnaped her from her home. He then supposedly raped her repeatedly while he held her captive for over a month. Her brief escape when he was arrested only lasted for the month that he was actually in prison, because when he escaped he immediately began stalking her. He learned that she was carrying his child and abducted her from Saint Mungos, where she was ridding herself of the "death eater spawn."
The last part hurt both of them more than they thought possible. Alex had tried to remember everything exactly as it had happened, but all she could remember was fear and pain. Sirius refused to break through her mental wards to figure out exactly what had happened at Saint Mungos. He assured her that it didn't matter. No matter what had actually happened that she couldn't remember, she knew that she never wanted to get rid of the baby. The fact that the entire wizarding world – and probably the muggle one, too, since they were adding her case to his, and the muggles knew all about him – thought that she had gotten rid of their baby on purpose. They had told the world that the baby was a result of rape. While Alex tried to push it to the back of her mind and never think about it, Sirius thought about it all too often. She could always tell because he got quiet and blocked his thoughts from her, and when she finally broke through to him she was always nearly knocked down by a wave of fury.
He had spent the past few weeks working himself into a silent rage. The news that they were being searched for was another cause for discomfort, especially when it was reported that Mad-Eye Moody was declared well enough to be released from the hospital. Sirius knew that if anyone was capable of finding him it was Moody. He had told Alex what had happened on Privet Drive, and he assured her that Moody would definitely not be on his side anymore. Apart from being worried because Sirius was worried, she was really happy that at the very least she didn't have to put up with the great flapping moron anymore. They were both equally furious that no one at Hogwarts or even Mad-Eye himself thought it would be a good idea to tell anyone that Alex was with Sirius of her own free will. Sirius assured her that they just wanted to be able to convert her to their cause so they could use her power, so they were probably letting the lie circulate so that her reputation wouldn't be ruined and she wouldn't be thrown into Azkaban if they ever caught her.
The only time that Sirius was relaxed was when they were doing anything intimate, whether it be hugging or making love. As a result, Alex had even more of an incentive to jump him whenever she wanted. Everything went smoothly for the most part as they kept their balance between rage and bliss.
Of course, everything had to go to hell eventually. They were lying on the couch wrapped around each other when Sirius decided he wanted to know what horrible crimes he had supposedly committed that day, and turned the news on with a wave in the general direction of the wizarding wireless. They listened to the menial news for a few minutes before the daily block dedicated to what Sirius Black was up to came on. The droning voice of the reporter came through with the report:
Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch, came forward to declare that the leak from his department earlier this morning is indeed true. The department has found what they believe to be the whereabouts of Sirius Black. Aurors believe that his captive is with him at this location. Any information about what the Ministry plans to do and when they plan to attack is being withheld. The world can only hope that this is finally the end of Sirius Black. Mr. Crouch has said that if they find out who leaked this information to the media in the first place, that they will be punished accordingly. He encourages the person or persons to turn themselves in to him immediately if they want more leniency.
Alex lifted her head to look at Sirius. He was staring in shock at the wizarding wireless as if he could actually see the reporter. She found her voice after a few seconds, "Do you think they've really found us?"
He turned dark eyes to gaze at her, "I don't know. I can't believe that they would be stupid enough to have actually leaked this information where I could hear it, but, having been in the department for over a year, I know that it isn't impossible. At least we have fair warning."
"What are we going to do?" she pressed.
"As much as I like this place, I guess we'll have to move just in case. There are a few places that no one – not even Moody or Dumbledore – know about," he lifted her off of him as he sat up.
"Your family knows about every house you have, though. Don't they hate you enough to tell the Ministry?" Alex refused to relinquish her hold on his neck so he wouldn't be able to run away from the subject of his family like he usually did.
Finally, he gave up the glaring contest and sighed, "They wouldn't give up any of these places. There are too many dark artifacts and highly illegal things at them. They don't have a hope of pinning them all on me, so the whole family would get in trouble. They wouldn't want any of the collection confiscated anyway since it's taken centuries to make it and it's worth tons."
Alex didn't say anything further. She knew they had to move, and she would rather leave their lovely little cottage than have aurors descend on them. With another lingering kiss to comfort both of them, they went their separate ways to pack everything they wanted to take with them.
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Sirius cursed as he set down his bags in the living room. He had just remembered that he didn't have his signet ring. The ring identified him as the Master and that, along with his blood as proof of his identity as a Black, let him walk right through the wards. If they didn't want to get either blasted into bits by wards or eaten by any particularly vicious pets, he would have to have the ring to get into the property he was planning to go to next.
He felt Alex place a hand on his arm and turned around to see the question in her eyes. He smiled reassuringly, "I need to go get my ring so we can get through the wards at the next place. Finish packing and shrink everything while I'm gone and we can leave right when I get back...If I'm not back in ten minutes I want you to leave here. They might be watching and decide to 'rescue' you while I'm away."
"Where am I supposed to go?" Sirius felt another surge of pride for her. Not many people would agree to the situation without a fight.
"The spring," he answered shortly, "is safe because it doesn't even show up on the map."
She nodded, and he lifted her hand off of him so he could leave alone. Half a second later she changed her mind and he was shoved against the wall before he could even think to leave. He grinned at her show of strength as he was pressed further into the wall in a warning not to defy her. Alex yanked his head down – not that he put up a fight – and captured his mouth in a hard kiss. He wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer.
Being in danger made them all that more aware of each other. The possibility that one of them would get captured (or "rescued", as the case may be) by aurors made the desire to stay as close as possible rage up almost beyond control. Sirius knew, however, that he had to leave her alone one last time. Even if it was only for a few minutes, he still didn't want to do it. He allowed the kiss to go on for several more seconds before he worked up the will to push her away. Her unwillingness to release him from his place against the wall only made it that much harder for him.
"Love, please," his hold around her was probably sending mixed signals as he pleaded for her to let him go, "The sooner I leave the sooner I'll be back."
With one last kiss, she released him with a sigh, "Go before I change my mind."
He grinned at her and pushed away the urge to kiss her goodbye, as was their tradition. She'd taken care of it pretty well on her own, anyway. He settled for staring into her eyes as he disappeared.
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Alex sighed as Sirius disappeared. She hated being left behind, and she hated these circumstances even worse than being left behind. He could be going right into a trap for all either of them knew. She really had no choice but to accept that he knew what he was doing. He would do what he wanted no matter what she said to him. It was just the way he was.
She turned around and walked back into their bedroom to continue packing all of the new clothes she had amassed from their shopping sprees over the past weeks. It only took her a few minutes thanks to the help of magic, and she was back in the living room shrinking everything so it would fit in their pockets. A noise from the entranceway caused her to stop. Sirius never made noise.
She immediately tried to teleport away – knowing that Sirius had anti-apparation wards up – but she was unable to do it. Her eyes widened and her mind raced as she tried again with no luck. A stream of profanity was going through her mind as she realized what had happened. Dumbledore finally must have figured out how Sirius was able to get around Hogwarts, and now the aurors had put up anti-teleportation wards. Another noise came from the entranceway, and she backed slowly towards the kitchen.
Suddenly, a voice rang out, "Miss, are you here?" She didn't answer. "We're here to rescue you. We won't hurt you." She had reached the kitchen door, and looked around the doorframe carefully. "We know you're here somewhere. Come out and this will all be over."
Having seen no one in the kitchen, Alex immediately moved towards the kitchen door. The man kept pleading with her to come out, but she paid no heed. She reached the back door, and threw a look over her shoulder to make sure they hadn't followed her yet. Seeing no one, she turned back around to carefully open the door and peek outside to search for an escape route. Her hand had just touched the doorknob when someone grabbed her from behind.
She screamed as she struck out violently against her captor. An invisibility cloak fluttered to the side as she struggled.She had just managed to free herself from his grasp when aurors rushed in from both doors. She struck one after the other with the most horrible curses she could think of.
"Take her down!" was heard from behind her, and she resisted the urge to spin around and curse the man's balls off. It wouldn't do to turn her back on so many other people no matter how much she wanted to hurt her original captor.
She took down auror after auror, but the stream of them through the doors never stopped. For every one she took out, three more seemed ready to take his or her place. Still, she never stopped fighting even as they closed in around her further and further. As hands grabbed her from all directions, she knew that it was useless to fight under the current circumstances. Even as she hit the ground with numerous aurors pinning her down, she wrenched away enough to look at the man who had first grabbed her.
Upon finally looking at him, she froze. Alastor Moody. Would she never be rid of the man! She glared at him defiantly as he walked closer towards the mass of struggling bodies on the ground that were trying to keep her in place. Panic at being held down was threatening to overtake her, but she fought through it enough to be able to send a curse towards a certain part of Moody's anatomy. He managed to dodge out of the way just in time that the severing charm hit his leg instead of its intended target.
Moody cried out in pain as every man in attendance winced at the thought of what had almost happened. She found herself the object of glares from every direction as the men holding her tightened their grips and doubled their efforts so she couldn't try something like that again. Alex was just sorry that Moody had managed to dodge it, and that it hadn't been strong enough to at least take his leg off instead.
Moody soon recovered enough to continue his walk towards her. He knelt down beside her and met her glare with one of his own as he took her hand in his. Alex couldn't do anything about it since two aurors were holding her arm down. Her eyes widened as fingers closed around the ring Sirius had given her. She protested in rage as Moody removed it from her finger, but to no avail.
He examined it for a few seconds before tossing it to a man who was standing close to the door. Alex continued to protest even as Moody drowned her out with his own voice, "Well if that isn't proof enough that she's with him of her own free will then I don't know what is!"
The man who was now in possession of her ring brought it closer to his face to examine. He soon nodded in acknowledgment of what Moody had said and passed the ring on to a woman standing beside him, saying, "Tag it as evidence. Alex watched through narrowed eyes as the woman glanced at the ring and her eyes widened in surprise. Well, at least she could be glad that someone was admiring her ring even if it wasn't on her hand.
Her attention was drawn away as Moody's fingers returned to her hand. She stared in horror as he slid a very familiar ring onto her finger to replace Sirius's ring. He had the audacity to laugh at her horror as he said, "Dumbledore remembered what Black had said when he first brought you to Hogwarts. It was easy to get a confession out of Lupin as to which forest you had thrown this ring into, and summoning it back wasn't hard at all. Do you like it? I personally think it suits you much better than the engagement ring."
Alex felt even more fury well up inside of her at his blatant disrespect. She found herself doing what Sirius would have done in such a situation as she spat at him, "Fuck you!"
Moody glared back at her, "Black isn't enough to keep you occupied?"
Now he was calling her a whore! How dare he! Her reply was cut off by the voice of the man who had been tossed her ring, "If you are quite finished, Alastor, I think it would be prudent to get in place for when Black returns. I'm assuming he will return for the girl?"
"Yes, Crouch, I've told you time and time again: he's in love with the chit. Dumbledore just thinks that the worst people can be redeemed or he wouldn't have insisted that she was his captive," Moody rose to his feet and walked to stand beside the man who was apparently Crouch, head of the department if Alex remembered correctly.
Crouch ignored Moody's obvious contempt and moved back to the subject at hand. "The wards went up several minutes too late to keep him detained, but I suppose he'll be trying to get back in any minute now. Everyone into their positions, and be ready to fight. He won't go down easily," he warned the aurors in the room.
"We're just going to wait for him? He knows we're here! He'll rip us into bloody little pieces!" Moody exclaimed, "This is the worst plan possible for catching him, and it always has been ! We're lucky he left before the wards went up! If he had been here most of us would be dead and he'd be long gone! He knows how aurors operate! We can't trick him and we can't outsmart him going by the book!"
Crouch yelled at the aurors who had stopped to listen to move along as he spun around to face Moody, "When you're head of the department you can make the decisions! This is how we're doing it!" With that, he turned around and marched out the door.
"We're like rats in a cage!" Moody continued to protest even as Crouch stomped out the door.
"I'll say," came another voice from somewhere behind Alex. She sighed in relief at the sound of his voice as everyone else in the room tensed up. Most of the aurors had vacated the kitchen as they were told to go to their positions, but there were still several aurors charged with holding her down along with Moody and the woman who had been given her ring.
The grips the aurors had on her loosened in their shock and fear, and she was able to twist away enough to watch as both doors and the windows slammed closed. She looked on passively as several of the aurors holding her down hit the floor. Soon enough, the majority of the people still remaining let go of her of their own free will, and she was able to break away from the stubborn ones even in her powerless state. She immediately ripped the ring off of her finger, and was relieved to feel her power erupt full force again. She didn't know if she would be able to take more time being weak.
She didn't even worry about anyone else in the room as she immediately went after she woman trying frantically to open the door. She spun the woman around and shoved her into the door. "Give me my ring," she growled at the frightened woman.
The woman was shaking uncontrollably as she held out her hand. Alex snatched her ring out of the woman's filthy hand and proceeded to hit her with a curse that sent herfalling to the ground while she screamed. Alex turned around to watch the battle between Sirius and the remaining aurors. He had already taken down most of the ones who had been pinning her to the floor, and there were only three of them left. He was focusing most of his attention on Moody.
Alex could hear the other aurors trying to get in the doors, and there were a few of them also working on the windows, but whatever Sirius had done was very effective in keeping them out. She saw one of the aurors aim his wand at Sirius while he was busy dodging a curse from Moody, so she sent her own curse at the man. The stream of bright light caught Sirius's attention, and he turned briefly to glance at her.
His eyes widened, "Watch out!" Even as he was warning her, he was hit with spells from three different directions that sent him flying into the wall. Alex heeded his warning and spun around to see that the woman had regained her courage and was training her wand on her. Alex was beyond fed up with this whole ordeal, and sent an assortment of curses at the woman. She was satisfied when the woman fell into unconsciousness, and turned back around to see how Sirius was doing.
He was just picking himself up off the floor while fending off the three remaining aurors. The aurors outside the kitchen had apparently found something semi-effective at breaking through whatever Sirius had done to the doors and windows, since the door to the outside was slowly breaking opened. Sirius stopped playing around and took down the two other aurors as he faced off with Moody.
"Are you going to make me kill you?" he asked the old auror in a bored tone of voice.
Moody shot a succession of curses that Sirius easily deflected. Sirius quickly shot back curses of his own, and the duel began in earnest. The two men circled each other as they shot curse after curse. Alex watched in trepidation as the door continued to give way little by little. Movement on the floor caught her attention. One of the aurors had regained consciousness and was pointing his wand towards Sirius. Alex began to cry out a warning, but the stream of green light was already erupting from the auror's wand.
Both Sirius and Moody spun around at her shriek. Sirius's eyes widened just as he was hit with the curse. It sent him barreling across the room, and Alex watched him hit the wall and slide to the floor. It was only when she registered that he was screaming that she was able to stop the dread from welling up in her chest. He couldn't scream if he was dead. After the initial shock wore off, she was able to recall that the Killing Curse really shouldn't affect someone whose life was actually anchored in them since all it did was suck the life force out.
It obviously put him through a lot of pain as it tried to suck out something that was basically attached to him. His screams had even Moody and the other auror frozen in place as they watched him writhe around on the floor. Alex was halfway across the room before she even realized she was moving. She kneeled down beside him and ran her hands over him in an effort to comfort him. He had stopped screaming and was gasping for air as he muttered curses. Alex found that she had tears streaming down her face.
She only had a few seconds to hold him before he suddenly shoved her off forcefully. She hit the edge of the table hard. She felt her arm break under the strain and cried out as she finally came to rest on the floor. She rolled over to see Sirius struggling to his feet. Moody had finally snapped out of his stupor and had started casting curses towards Sirius again. Sirius, for his part, was managing to fend off most of the curses as he fought to stand.
Alex growled as she saw the young auror who had cast the Killing Curse in the first place aim his wand towards Sirius once again. She cast a curse at him instead, making all of the bones in his wand arm disappear. He spun around to face her as he dropped his wand. She cast another curse at him, but he rolled out of the way. Alex felt nothing but a compulsion to hurt him for hurting Sirius, and as he rolled closer to her to avoid the curse, she attacked him.
She cried out in pain as she forgot about her broken arm, but quickly regained composure and continued inflicting as much pain as she could on the auror. The man obviously didn't anticipate her enhanced strength, as he looked shocked that his attempts to shove her off him came to nothing. She kicked, hit, and scratched at the man. If nothing else, at least she was distracting the man from Sirius. She didn't know how the curse had affected his strength, but at any rate it would be easier for him to duel Moody if he didn't have to worry about anyone else.
She began to panic as the door gave way more. She could see the aurors through the crack. They had almost forced their way in. Sirius had noticed it, too. He knocked Moody down with one last curse. He watched to make sure the man wasn't moving, and then Alex felt the man underneath her stop struggling.
She shrieked and rolled away. "Sirius! Don't kill them when I'm touching them!" she chastised as he helped her to her feet.
He grinned sheepishly in apology, but Alex didn't hear what he said to her. She was focused on the movement behind him. Moody had managed to stand up again and was in the middle of saying an incantation.His wand was trained right onSirius's back, and Alex didn't think as she shoved him out of the way. She doubled over and clutched her stomach as the spell hit her.
She fell to her knees and brought her hands up to see blood. It was a severing charm. She didn't know if Moody was trying to get her back, or if it was just the only thing he could think of, and she didn't have time to think about it. Blood was pouring from her stomach, staining both her and the floor. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't react at all. She felt an arm come around her for support, and heard Sirius mutter a severing charm himself. She watched through the haze of pain she was in as Moody crumpled to the floor and screamed.
She didn't have time to figure out what the problem was as the world went dark.