"I trust, Wormtail, that the plan has been set forward?" Lord Voldemort hissed, studying Peter Pettigrew with a deadly glare.
"Y-yes My Lord," Pettigrew said, unable to ignore the odd feeling of guilt in his gut, but he knew that in order to survive, he must ignore it. "I ate dinner with Sirius, and while he was not looking, I slipped the potion into his drink."
"Severus!" The Dark Lords voice lashed out like a whip. The former stepped out of the shadows, and bowed slightly in acknowledgement. "I know you are an excellent potion maker, are you quite sure it will work?"
"Yes my Lord, the potion will rapidly induce thoughts of suicide and depression, and hopefully Black will have done something to get himself killed by now." There was too much pleasure in the man's voice, and it made Peter squirm some more. But he must not show his discomfort, he once again reminded himself.
"Good."
The flames licked the walls of Sirius Black's sitting room, turning the wall paper an unpleasant shade of grey-green. Smoke was filling the tiny room rapidly, and Sirius sat in the farthest corner of the room, still untouched by his fire, vanishing the smoke at random intervals. But he did nothing to stop the flames from approaching.
Whenever something he saw made him think of Chasidy, he set it on fire, but it did not seem to be enough to relinquish the hold greif had on his heart. I just squeezed tighter and tighter, until all he could do was scream and scream.
From across the road, James Potter heard the screams. He knew that pain, the agony a broken heart can create, but he also saw the flames. He noticed them just as a window exploded from the heat.
Muggles were starting to notice the house, as Sirius had not yet completed his protection charms yet. Quickly, James disillusioned himself and ran into the house, in fear for his friends life.
The only room that seemed to be ablaze was the sitting room, and as soon as James Potter entered, he breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Sirius alive, but he was also stunned to see him creating the fire himself.
"Sirius!" he bellowed, running across the room. He had stopped screaming, and was making rasping noises that sounded like a cross between panting and crying. "What the bloody hell are you doing?" he asked, as he extinguished the end of his robes which had caught on fire.
"Every thing reminds me of…. Her." The word was forced, and James sighed in exasperation and concern. "We need to get you some help. Come on Pads."
The fire was quickly spreading throughout the spacious room, but James managed to vanish more smoke, carry Sirius in a fireman's lift, and carry him out of the room and out onto the road.
He damned the anit-apparating spells on the place, because that meant that he would have to disapparate in front of at least six muggles. But he would let the ministry deal with the modifying of memories, he had to get Sirius home.
Once clear of the back door, and outside of the property boundry, he spun on the spot, disapparating.
One muggle couldn't believe their eyes, and swore to everyone who would listen that they were ghosts from a fire in the same area years and years ago. But another man, waiting in the shadows, frowned, knowing that his master would be very displeased indeed.
~*~*~*~
Chasidy had never really liked coffee, but Mindy had offered it to her while she floo'ed Professor Dumbledore. One thing that had shocked the both of them was Dumbledore coming in contact with them yesterday, after days of attempting to track down Chasidy.
"Chas," Mindy called, pulling her head out of the emerald flames. She had quickly picked up on the familiar nickname. "Dumbledore would like a word with you."
Chasidy wished that she could travel by floo, but there have been stories about pregnant woman and a type of splinching, where they leave the fetus behind, because the fetus did not ask to travel to the same location.
Ignoring the violent kicks her daughter was delivering, she stuck her head in the fire and saw the only slightly familiar view of Dumbledore's office.
"Ms. Lithmen," he began, crouching by the fire, his deep purple robes shimmering in the moonlight. It was dark there, and it was an odd feeling, seeing the dark, but feeling the sunlight warm the rest of her body where it resided in New York. "I believe we are going to attempt an extraction now, as it seems the Death Eaters are utterly unaware of your whereabouts.
Chasidy beamed. "I can go back to Sirius!?" she cried, but her smiled slowly fell from her face when he saw the look on the professors face.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Black is currently under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Potter. He seems to have been given a potion that induces depression, and Lily is trying her hardest to find an antidote, but we only have one theory as to what might help."
The old Professor didn't dare describe the situation in which Sirius Black had found himself just days ago. There was nothing left of his house.
"What? Can I do anything to help?"
"Well, that is why you need to return home. I know you have not agreed with me that your staying in New York is the safest thing for you now, I believe that you are needed back at home. Sirius Black has suffered recent heart break, and I think it is time you right some wrongs that you had to create by necessity." He bowed his head in acknowledgement that it had not been Chasidy's fault.
"So you think…." She trailed off, trying to find her words. "What has Sirius done?" she inquired suddenly, "you would not be asking my help, if Sirius hadn't gone and done something idiotic you wouldn't be asking my help." She narrowed her eyes at her old professor, but inside she was insane with worry over Sirius.
Dumbeldore seemed to ponder whether or not to tell her the truth, then he finally spoke. "He sat in his sitting room and set fire to all the things that reminded him of you."
"When are you coming to get me?" she demanded, trying to remember what time it was. A clock on Dumbledore's wall indicated that it was 9:23pm, but she couldn't think strait enough to calculate what time it was in New York.
"One hour."
*~*~*~*
Lily paced back and forth outside of the room in which Sirius lay, having a whispered argument with her husband. "Do we warn him, or let her explain?" she agonized, wanting to lessen the shock for Sirius, but scared of what it would do to him without proof.
James grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Let Chasidy explain, they both deserve it to each other.
Lily barely seemed to hear him. "I mean, who slipped him the potion? They were obviously trying to make him kill himself, but why? I thought Voldemort wanted Sirius on his side?"
"Maybe he's given up, and could you please stick to one topic? Chasidy will be here in less then ten minutes, at least go put on some tea or something." James tried to rationalize while leading his wife down the stairs. She looked over her shoulder at the closed door of their guest room.
They both froze at the knock on the door.
Lily practically jumped the last seven steps, ripped open their back door, and pulled a nearly seven month pregnant Chasidy into a fierce hug. Chasidy indulged her for only a moment, then pulled away. There was a fierce determinedness to her voice when she asked, "Where is he?"
"The door directly across from the stairs," James said, hoping beyond hope that this would help snap his friend out of the depressed state he was currently in.
She left immediately.
"Are you sure this will work?" James heard Lily asked, and turned around, only just realizing that Dumbledore stood in the doorway. Mad Eye was in their back yard, his magic eye going in all different directions. He merely nodded his head, while the former replied to Lily's question.
"I believe, that a shock of great joy will do just the trick."
"Sirius?" Chasidy whispered, pushing open the door to reveal a dark room, with a man sitting hunched up on a bed in the corner. He barely moved his head. "Honey, it's me," Chasidy whispered, moving closer. Finally, he looked up at her, and stared.
She was scared of his reaction. They tell her that he was in agony when she left, but proceeding that had been anger. She was scared whether that anger would be taken out on her.
"Chasidy?" he whispered, his voice was hoarse from lack of use over the past few days, and from the bright light of the full moon (poor Mooney) she watched his eyes eat her face up, then travel down her body. They widened at the sight of her stomach.
"I never lost the baby Sirius." She said quietly, taking a tentative step closer to him, both of her arms wrapped around her stomach protectively, like he would harm it.
He turned his head to the side, and his eyes avoided hers. "I thought it wasn't mine." She barely heard his words, but the agony and anger in them were enough to drive a stake through her heart.
"I lied."
Then she was crying, and through her tears she told him everything that Voldemort had made her do: how she lied to him, and disillusioned her stomach and claimed the baby was dead. Her trip to the Americas and how she nearly lost the child. It seemed impossible that all this had taken place over a week and a half, but here they were. Soon, his tears mingled with hers.
She had no recollection of joining him on the bed, but they both gripped the other as close as possible. "So… I have a child?" Sirius whispered, looking down at her stomach. Their foreheads had been touching, so when he looked down, so did she. Gently, she took his hand in hers and laid it on her stomach. Almost immediately the baby kicked Sirius' hand, and although his face looked exhauseted and worn and sad, a bright smile spread across his face. "This is Hope," she said softly.
Later, as she lay awake, held by a sleeping Sirius whose hands were splayed across her stomach, she realized that those three words could be construed in a different way then as referring to their child.
This was hope, their family being brought back together, their friends down stairs, who had long ago been joined by Alice Brennan and Frank Longbottom, were hope. As long as they had each other, they had hope.