Chapter Twenty
A/N: Any recognisable dialogue is from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince film. I don't own them.
Sirius ducked behind a rock as a curse flew his way. His hand gripped his wand and the other hand pressed tightly on top of a wound. It wasn't deep but it was bleeding a lot. "Fucking Death Eaters," he growled and stood up, flinging a curse in their direction. He hit one Death Eater square in his chest and sent him flying. This gave Sirius time to throw another at the second Death Eater. The Death Eater deflected it but Sirius threw another one. Then another and another. He won. He gave a groan as he turned and ran away. Damn this. He was going home to his family. He was not risking his life any more. He gripped his wand and made his way to his secret hiding place to get cleaned up.
May stood in the Burrow kitchen doorway and looked out at the outside open space. Her hands cupped her stomach, where her baby kicked restlessly. Molly gave her an estimate of being due in March. May didn't care at this point. She just wanted her husband home. For months, she had heard nothing from him. She even asked Albus and he said the same. Not one person from the Order had heard from Sirius. They were fearing the worse. "Hey." Harry stood next to her and they both looked outside. "He's alive. I know he is."
"I hope so," sighed May, rubbing her stomach in slow circles. "Come on. Let's go and eat." She turned away from the outside and walked into the warmth of the kitchen.
Harry followed her into the kitchen. He could see that his aunt was having a hard time without Sirius. He silently vowed that he would look after her and his cousins if anything does happen to Sirius. May could look after herself and her children but Harry wanted to make sure she was happy. It had been a year since they had gotten to know each other properly. He learnt more about his parents. She also gave him photographs of other family members and more of his mother and father. He watched her through Christmas dinner and she was distracted with looking after Thomas, who was giggling when Fred made faces at him. He turned to look at Remus, who was smiling as he spoke with Tonks. Harry was glad to see him happy once again.
Christmas dinner was over and Harry finally was able to talk to Remus about his thoughts about Malfoy. Tonks, Mr Weasley and May joined in the conversation. May sat next to her nephew and listened to his story about Draco Malfoy. Remus was a bit unsure about it. "Voldemort has chosen Draco Malfoy for a mission?"
"I know it sounds mad." Harry tried to fight his opinion.
"Has it occurred to you, Harry, that Snape was simply pretending to offer Draco help so he could find out what he was up to?"
Harry paused for a moment. "That's not what it sounded like."
"Perhaps Harry is right, Remus. I mean to make an Unbreakable Vow -" Tonks tried to fight Harry's corner and also try to reason with Remus.
Remus cut across her, "it comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgement. Dumbledore trusts Snape, therefore I do."
Harry pushed his glasses up his nose. "Dumbledore can make mistakes. He said so himself."
"You're blinded by hatred." Remus argued with Harry.
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are!" Remus shouted at the 16 year old.
"Remus." May spoke quietly, warning him to not lose his temper. It was a full moon the night before.
He looked up at May, who shook her head slightly. "People are disappearing, Harry, daily. We place our trust in a handful of people." He looked back at May, who stood up, picking Thomas up off the floor. The pain of the First Wizarding War was still in her heart. Especially when she thought Sirius had been a traitor. Nobody trusted anybody. Even those close to them. Remus continued on. "If we start fighting amongst ourselves, we're doomed."
Harry caught Tonks' eye. She just shook her head and her hand. Harry did not carry on. Remus had made up his mind and said nothing else. She stood up and followed after May. Remus soon followed his girlfriend. May sat at the bottom of the stairs with Thomas asleep in her arms. "Moony. Can you see where Harry is going with this?"
"Oh, not you as well." He sighed and sat next to her.
May sighed and handed him Thomas, when Remus offered. "I can see your point. But Harry seems to be certain about this."
"I know, May. To me, it seems Harry is going against Dumbledore's judgement, just because of James' hatred for Snape has imprinted onto Harry. Also Sirius' hatred for him." He rocked Thomas in his arms. "Surely, you can see that."
"I can." She nodded and sighed heavily. "Can you put him to bed? I have to help Molly." Heaving herself to her feet and walking away.
Tonks seated herself in May's place, next to Remus. She waited until May was away from them. "Bloody hell. I've never seen her so down. She's usually laughing. I remember when she and Sirius used to look after me. She always seemed to be happy and laughing."
"It's Sirius." Remus sighed as he rocked Thomas. "She was like this when James died and Sirius left her. I just hope he comes home soon. He doesn't know about the baby." The two of them stood up and walked up the stairs together. They moved into the guest bedroom, where May was staying with Thomas and Cecilia. Remus placed the boy in the cot and the two of them left in silence. "Come on. Let's go. We can stay in Grimmauld Place, if you don't want to go home."
Sirius finally reached England. He was still being followed. He went to the first place he knew was safe and the nearest: Grimmauld Place. He gave a heavy sigh as he locked the door. He was nearly home. He would be with his family very soon. Merlin, he missed them so much. Just a quick wash and he would go to Godric's Hollow. He would go home.
"Food first." He mumbled to himself as he walked down into the kitchen. He was just about to walk into the pantry when he caught sight of a letter on the table. He trudged up to it and sat down before he opened it.
"Dear Sirius. I don't know where you are but I wrote this letter to tell you where we are. There is an exact letter at the manor. We're all at the Burrow. Molly and Arthur insisted we stay with them for the holidays. They didn't want me alone with two children and with another on the way. Yes, I'm pregnant again. I was going to tell you but you left. You idiot. Just come to the Burrow. Spend Christmas and New Year with us. I wrote this letter in the hope that you come home alive and before Christmas. Merlin, I miss you. Come home to us, my love.
All my love.
Your wife."
Sirius folded the letter and abandoned the idea of food and a shower. He placed the letter in his jacket pocket and ran out of the house. May was pregnant and he didn't know. It was late but he was going to find them no matter what the time was. He was such an ass. He left them when they needed him the most. "I'm coming, May. I'm coming, kids."
"I'm scared, George." Cecilia spoke softly. The two of them were sitting alone in front of the fire. Fred was busy writing business letters. Everyone else was being lazy from the amount of food they had eaten.
He wrapped his arm around her and held her close. "Me too." He kissed the top of her head as they stared into the fire. "Hopefully, it will be over soon."
She turned in his arms and gave him a small smile. "I hope so." The two of them were sitting on the floor with a blanket over their legs. He bent his head down and gave her a small kiss.
"Cecilia Potter!" Remus scolded her.
She quickly pulled away from George and stood up. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Are you going?"
"Yes. Come here. Give us a hug." He chuckled and held his arms open to her. "Don't worry about your dad. He'll come home soon."
"I hope so. For Mum's sake." She mumbled in his arms before pulling away from him.
"Me too, kid." He kissed her cheek and moved around her. "I'll see you on New Year's."
Tonks hugged the teenager. "I'm making him come to the dinner. He grumbled."
"No change there." Cecilia giggled and rolled her eyes at her adoptive dad.
The couple walked away and followed Molly and Arthur to the door. "It was delicious, Molly. Really." Tonks complimented the cooking.
"Are you sure you won't stay?" Molly asked. Thinking of Remus and Tonks' safety.
"No, we should go." She looked over at Remus and lowered her voice. "The first night of the cycle's always the worst." Remus was ignoring them. He was staring out into the darkness.
"Remus?" Arthur noticed the tension in Remus' stance.
"Sweetheart." Tonks stepped closer and looked in the same direction. They all had the feeling that they were being watched.
"Remus, Tonks, stay." May begged them. "Just stay."
"No, May. We best go." Tonks shook her head.
May was just about to argue once again when a roar of fire surrounded the house. A figure appeared. "Bellatrix," she growled. The memory of the woman attacking her husband still fresh in her mind. They all pulled out their wands and stepped forward.
"No, May!" Molly held her back.
Harry pushed his way through them. "NO! Harry!" They shouted after the boy, who ran after Bellatrix, who soon disappeared.
"May, stay!" Molly held her back as everyone including Ginny. "Get the children out of the house." The two women turned into the house. "Fred! George! Get outside now!"
May ran up the stairs and lifted Thomas from his cot. "Sorry, my darling." She wrapped his blanket around him and rushed down the stairs. Thomas cried in her arms as she rushed outside. Everyone was outside. She wrapped her arm around Cecilia's shoulder. "Stay close."
George stood close by. "How the hell did they find us?" His wand held out in front of him.
Cecilia stepped away from her mother to hold her own wand in front of her. They could hear curses in the distance. "I'm scared, Mum."
"I know love." She whispered softly as she wrapped the blanket around Thomas more. She held him tightly when Bellatrix appeared. "Stupefy!" May shouted but she deflected it.
"Give me the boy!" She glared at May. "Your husband is dead! Give us the Black heir!"
"NO!" May shouted and held Thomas tighter to her.
Bellatrix turned her wand towards Cecilia. "Well, we'll just take his first-born."
"NO!" George roared and stepped in front of Cecilia.
Bellatrix flourished her wand and the party flew backwards. May clutched at her son, to protect him from the fall and from the evil woman. She took one step towards May when George aimed a curse towards her and she stopped moving. She gave an evil grin and disapparated. Not before she shot a fire curse at the Burrow. The top floors exploded with roaring fire.
May, Molly, Cecilia, George, Fred and Ron all got to their feet. May held her son close, who was screaming in fear. "Molly!" Shouted Arthur as he reappeared from reeds. He wrapped his arm around his wife as they watched the building burn.
"May!" A voice screamed in the distance.
She turned and gasped at the sight of Sirius running towards her. "Sirius!" She held Thomas close and met Sirius halfway. They met with a passionate kiss. His finger entwined in her hair and her arm wrapped around him. "You're here." She laughed nervously when they parted from their kiss. "You're here."
"I'm here." He kissed her once again before he held her and their son once again. "Cee?"
"Daddy!" Cecilia ran to him and joined his mother in her father's arms.
A/N: Again, sorry for the slow updates. I'm back in work and I have a couple of hours a day to write without falling asleep. :( Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. PLUS! 9 reviews away from 100! WOW! Can't wait to hit the mark!
Responses from chapter Nineteen:
Guest: As you can see nothing happened to Sirius. Hooray! :D I'm happy that this is your favourite story.
Lalina92: He's home! Hooray!
Warewolf-princess558750: He's home for Christmas. Sort of. :) Don't punch him. Hahahhaa!
Morgan: Thank you. :) I'm glad you liked it!
Padfootette: I'll try and update this story as quick as I can. :)
CharlotteBlackwood: I don't think they'll have ten kids. But there maybe more. MAYBE! I haven't decided yet! The duck will be more likely. :P
Harryginny9: Thank you. I'm glad you did love it!