Author's Note: I know it's been a while, but I've really enjoyed writing this chapter. Hopefully you enjoy reading it just as much. Reviews are nice!

Dedication: To new readers FeenixFyre, Eirdaru, Jocelynn and ShapedLikeStars. Welcome to the bunch!

Disclaimer: Canon characters are obviosly not mine. The original characters on the other hand...

Thirty-Five: Anything But The Truth*

Sirius was experiencing the uncomfortable feeling you get when the two people in front of you are both looking furious. At you. On second thought however, Mary's expression was torn between confusion and just sheer annoyance. The look on Remus's face on the other hand seemed close to being absolutely murderous. "You've said nothing?" he said, his voice dangerously low.

"Well, I..."

"Nothing at all?"

"... No."

"Why the hell not?"

"I hadn't really gotten around to that part yet."

Remus looked like he could not believe his ears. "You're serious."

Deciding now was not the time for making the obvious joke at hand, he nodded solemnly. "Pretty much, yeah."

In the meantime, Mary had stepped up closer so she was now standing right next to them. "Excuse me-"

"-Pretty much, yeah?" Remus echoed incredulously, cutting her off and pretty much ignoring her existence all together.

"Look Moony," Sirius said eventually, realizing he had no choice but coming clean. "I kind of hoped... Truthfully, I do remember what you said about Mary earlier, but I thought this would change once you would actually see her." Noticing the look on his friends face, he shrugged and grinned rather manically. "Guess not, eh?"

"Sirius, of all things you've done..."

"-Oh, come on, you bloody sour old prat! Can't you just get over yourself?"

"Hello," Mary tried again after loudly clearing her throat, a sheer note of annoyance notable in her voice now, too, "Don't talk about me like I'm not present in this hall. I am standing right here."

For the first time that evening, Remus really acknowledged her presence by turning towards her. He shot her a single look of contempt before turning his attention back to Sirius. "Yes, I can see that you are here and no, Sirius, I cannot just get over myself. You should have passed on the message I gave you."

"What message?" Mary asked hotly.

Remus arched his eyebrows at Sirius, clearly expecting him to fill her accordingly after all. "OK Mary, listen," he started reluctantly. "Remus has some issues about-" Wrong choice of words.

"-Issues?" his friend exploded. "I wouldn't exactly calling her running off an "issue". I said you could tell her that the Mary I knew disappeared into thin air on the same night James and Lily were murdered and that as fas I'm concerned, she is still dead to me!"

Sirius literally cringed for three reasons. One, the hurt and shocked look on Mary's face was telling him he had made a big mistake by not preparing her for this rendez-vous from hell. Two, he could not believe his normally utter polite and reserved friend would say something this nasty in front of her and he was now seriously contemplating to hex him into oblivion. And last but not least, the third reason, which was making Remus cringe as well and actually caused Mary to shriek in fear, was the sudden rushing sound of opening curtains behind them, followed by the familiar horrifying screams his dear old mother.

"Filthy half-breeds! Horrible excuses of wizards the lot of you are! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers!"

Sirius pushed Mary aside rather roughly in order to follow Remus, who had already marched towards Mrs. Blacks portrait on the wall and was attempting to tug the moth-eaten velvet curtains over the screeching and drooling old woman to shut her up, but this was easier said than done and Sirius's last move had made her take notice of Mary. The sight of a Muggle-born witch living in the house of her honorable forefathers was infuriating her even more. Mrs. Blacks eyes started to roll in their sockets and the yellowing skin on her face seemed close to coming off.

"Youuuuuu! Filthy Mudblood! You and that good-for-nothing bloodtraitoring son of mine poisoned our bloodline with those brats of yours! Scum, scum! I curse the day you were born, curse you all!"

Thankfully, at that moment, with a mighty effort from both Sirius and Remus, they managed to close the curtains of his mothers cursed portrait, making her thundering shrieks die almost instantly and leaving nothing but an echoing silence, until Tonks appeared on the other side of the hall and broke the silence. "Err- was that...?"

"My dearest mother, yes," Sirius said, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead.

"Ah, we wondered in the kitchen," a grinning Tonks replied, completely oblivious of the rather tense atmosphere between the others. "Good thing you guys managed to shut her up faster than last time, eh? Hi Remus," she said, turning to the grim man standing behind her cousin, "glad you're here. Arthur says he could really use your help with something."

"Right," Remus nodded after a moment of silence. "I'm coming."

Tonks nodded and walked back to the kitchen. Sirius waited until she had disappeared around the corner before he turned back to his friend. "Remus, this isn't over. We still need to..."

Remus shook his head. "I don't need to do anything. Mary is back in the Order, and that is fine, but I could not care less about it."

He tried to stop him, but his friend was already pushing past him to stride into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Sirius briefly closed his eyes before turning back to see how Mary was doing. She was still standing in the middle of the hall, arms crossed over her chest and her eyes fixed on the curtains of the cursed painting. He felt more sorry for her than he could say, and he knew he was to blame once again. He should not have kept her in the dark about Remus, but he honestly thought that his friend would lighten up once he saw her. Mary appeared to be in some kind of remote trance, and Sirius hesitantly walked up to her. "Love, I-"

"-Your mother. How in Merlin's name did she... get up there?"

He shrugged moodily. "I wasn't kidding when I said the Banshee is still haunting me. She must have used the strongest Permanent Sticking Charm possible to make something like this happen, because although we tried to remove it repeatedly, the thing just won't come off."

Mary's eyes were still fixed on the canvas. "She scared the hell out of me."

"Don't worry, she cannot do anything but yell. And if we are quietly enough in here, she won't even realize her house is full of wizards and witches she considers inferior to her own kin."

She finally took her focus of the portrait. The dismayed look on her face broke his heart. "Sirius..."

"I know, I should have said something. I'm so sorry, love."

"I'm trying to understand him. Why -"

There was a cracking sound and the familiar rebounding sounds of a wooden leg bounced on the marble floor. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Mad-Eye Moody had just apparated into the middle of Grimmauld Place. The old Auror walked up to them and thoroughly screened Mary up and down with his magic eye. "Well Woods, here's hoping you haven't lost your touch while you were abroad. As I remember, you used to be an excellent dueller. Welcome back."

He firmly shook her hand, nodded curtly at Sirius and waisted not another second to make his way to the kitchen, not really giving Mary a chance to say anything in return. "I would like to say he looks well," she said quietly, frowning as she listened to the welcoming noises of the people in the kitchen, "But he's gained quite the collection of new scars while I was away. Is he still working as an Auror?"

Sirius could not help but grin. "No. The Ministry thought the stress of the job got to him over the years, but he's still as brilliant as he used to be. Just a tad more mad."

"Hmm."

Crack! Crack!

Two new people had arrived to attend tonights Order meeting. The tall and dark man solemnly shook Mary's hand and introduced himself as Kingsley Shacklebolt, while the short black-haired witch called Hestia Jones smiled at her warmly and offered to share a cup of tea later that night and get to know each other better. So far according to Sirius, the only person not welcoming Mary back with open arms was the one person she would have expected to be over the moon. When Kingsley and Hestia were finally out of their hearing range, Mary ran a hand through her hair and tried to smile. "They seem nice."

"Kingsley's a fine bloke. One of the best Aurors out there. I don't talk to Hestia that often, though."

"But what about Remus? I have never seen him like this before."

Sirius wished he was able to console her like back in the old days, but in all honesty, he did not know how. Remus was not about to welcome her back in his life anytime soon, he had made that very clear. "I... We'll figure something out, okay? For the time being, I think it's best if you leave him alone."

"How can he blame me for what happened? How? Does he know the whole story, that Dumbledore practically forced me to leave town? It was not a voluntary leave of absence."

"I know that, you don't have to convince me of anything."

She blew her hair out of her face, starting to look annoyed again. "But he's making me feel bad! I don't have any regrets, not anymore." She straightened her back proudly, her eyes shimmering indignantly. "And I will be damned if he thinks he can make me feel guilty."

Sirius was about to say she was making him proud and give her a passionate kiss in the process, when...

POP!

He had trouble suppressing a groan. They were continuously being interrupted by Order members arriving for the meeting. Obviously the hall of Grimmauld Place was not the best place to have this type of conversation, but the look on Mary's face told him that the last arrival was no ordinary one. "Albus."

Dumbledore was approaching them with a familiar twinkle in his eyes. "Mary." He stepped up to them and took her hands warmly in his own. "I am glad to see your journey back has gone according to plan. It is good to see you again after all those years."

It was a subtle change, and Sirius thought he was the only one who noticed it because he knew her so well, but Mary's initially appeared somewhat intimidated in the presence of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. She only seemed to be thrown off for about a second before she regained her composure by shaking back her hair and shooting him a defiant look. "I suppose this is the point where I go: 'I told you so'."

Sirius did not have to guess twice that she was referring to him being sent to Azkaban as an innocent man. To his credit, Dumbledore chuckled. "Right you are, Mary. Right you are. But like I have told Sirius more than once, everything happens for a reason. Also, wise men do not make mistakes often but when they do, the consequences tend to be much more severe."

She exchanged a look with Sirius. They knew who they were both thinking about. Their best friends James and Lily, who were unlucky enough to be killed by Voldemort as a result of one of those major mistakes.

"However," the Headmaster continued, "Some things cannot be broken. For example, your love is what torn you apart and what brought you back together. Against all odds, the two of you managed to find your way back to each other eventually. Love is the most powerful magic known to men, never forget that."

Sirius blinked. This little "Make love not war"-speech was rendering both him and Mary speechless. Meanwhile, Dumbledore was taking of his traveling cloak and using his wand to transport to and hang it from the hallstand Tonks had run into three times over the past week. "It is about time to commence our meeting," Dumbledore announced, looking at them meaningfully.

"We'll be right there," Sirius said after a pause.

They watched the Headmaster calmly head towards the kitchen and disappear around the corner in silence. After a slight pause, Mary spoke up hesitantly: "Back in the 60's, do you think he was wearing beads and flowers in his hair and humming to Aquarius?**"

Sirius snorted. Somewhere along the road he had forgotten how much Mary could make him laugh. "Actually, I have been wondering about his little cryptic love comments more often lately."

"Why?"

"You know the last time I relived a memory when you were still in Brazil? I told Dumbledore about that one night, and he made some big speech about big loves and the marks of it literally sinking into the earth."

Mary looked like she was not quite following him and he smiled. "Don't worry. I had the same look on my face when I first heard about it. The reason I could retrieve the memory of our first kiss by myself is basically because the remains are still there in the field."

"In the ground?" She arched an eyebrow. "Gosh, I'm flattered."

"Mare, all it means is that we're soulmates."

Now she was shaking her head, laughing, before leaning up on her toes and cupping his left cheek with her hand. "Like I needed Dumbledore to tell us. I've known that for years!" She gave him a kiss and took his hand. "Let's get this meeting over, shall we?"

When they entered the kitchen, it was already pretty cramped with people. There were only a few spare chairs left. Sirius strongly considered to take the two seats next to Remus – just to bug his friend – but Mary was already heading over the corner where Arthur was just conjuring another seat next to him and Molly. Dumbledore opened the meeting by welcoming them all and explaining what they would be discussing tonight: how to transport Harry safely from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place without the Death Eaters or the Ministry noticing.

The Headmaster also took a moment to publicly introduce Mary to the rest of the Order. He described her occupation, relationship to Sirius and her role in the first Order of the Phoenix. When he got to mentioning her departure to Roberto's ranch in Brazil, Remus was rolling his eyes and studiously focusing his gaze on the ceiling. However, the other Order members were intrigued by this mysterious refuge. "How long have you lived there?" Tonks asked.

"A long time. Over twelve years," Mary replied. " I never considered leaving until now."

"Where in Brazil can this place be found?" Dedalus Diggle asked, looking interested.

"I... don't know."

The wizard frowned. "How can you not know?"

"I don't anymore," Mary clarified. "Nor does Sirius. Or Erin and Oliver. Security is everything to the leader. The location is only known to the people living there. Once you leave, you can never go back. Roberto modifies your memory irreversibly so you don't remember where it is."

"Makes more sense than you might think," Mad-Eye Moody nodded grimly, his magical eye spinning and taking in everyone at the table in turns. "Constant vigilance is what counts. No one can be trusted. Not in these times."

A tense silence followed and Mary coughed. "Er well, all I can say is that it's indeed very beautiful up there. Sunny, too. I'm sorry I cannot be any more engaging."

"That's quite alright, love," Molly said kindly and patted her arm. "Now Albus, on to Harry- that Dementor attack in Little Whinging?"

As the other Order members started discussing the severity of the situation and how lucky Harry was to get himself and his cousin Dudley out of there alive, Mary looked completely lost and Sirius leaned over. "Harry and his cousin were attacked by two Dementors a few nights back", he whispered into her ear. "He drove them off with an exquisite Patronus Charm, or so I've been told."

"How did the Ministry react?" Mary whispered back.

Sirius breathed out angrily through his nose. The fact that the Ministry was trying to get Harry expelled from Hogwarts was making his blood boil. "They should have awarded him with an Order of Merlin but instead, he has to attend a disciplinary hearing where they will decide whether he gets expelled from school or not."

"But that's ridiculous! If he was attacked... Surely-"

"Shhh!" Molly shot them a disapproving look and they quickly turned their attention back to the meeting.

"Moments after the attack, I arrived at the Ministry to do some damage control," Dumbledore was saying, "and both Arthur and Sirius sent Harry owls to ensure he would not leave the house. It could have been disastrous if he had left the Dursleys that night... However, he is still safe, but the time has come to bring him here."

"About time too," Tonks said. "Harry's been locked up there all Summer. Poor kid."

"Question is," Remus said, "How do we get him out of there without being detected?"

"I don't think that's possible no matter how we do it," Kingsley said. "They will know. But as long as we get him out of there fast enough, we might just make it."

"What about Apparition?" Sirius suggested. "Apparate into the house. Grab Harry. And Disapparate straight to Grimmauld Place. Explain later and the whole thing can be done in less than a minute."

"That would work if the Death Eaters weren't following our every move," Kingsley replied. "To have multiple Order members apparate and disapparate to and from the same location in a few seconds is highly suspicious. No, we need something less... conspicuous."

"What about brooms?" Tonks prompted. "Still fast and less obvious."

"Harry is a good flyer," Remus nodded in agreement.

"And he has about the fastest broom in the world," Sirius added. When their eyes met, both men grinned at each other before realizing their fight earlier that evening and looking away.

But no one else in the room seemed to notice. Dumbledore was folding his hands in a thoughtful manner. "That could work. We would need about eight or nine volunteers. Good flyers, who are capable of moving fast and scanning their environment as well as looking after Harry."

"I could use a good flight. Sign me up!" Tonks cried enthusiastically.

"Me too." Remus said.

Sirius would have liked nothing more than volunteering for the job, but he knew Dumbledore would not let him. So instead, he was forced to watch others go in his stead. Mad-Eye Moody was downing his glass of mead before landing it on the wooden table with a thud. "Albus, we might be in need of fierce duellers, so we should use as many Aurors as we can. I will go, and... Shacklebolt?" When Kingsley nodded solemnly, Moody's magical eye zoomed around the room. "Diggle"

"I would be honoured."

"What about you, Jones?"

"Of course, if you'll have me," Hestia nodded.

"Right," Moody nodded. "We might be in need of another few. I will contact Vance and Doge in the morning."

Beside Sirius, Mary was clearing her throat. "I'll go too if that's okay."

The other people at the table turned their attention to her, as well as Sirius, who was staring at her in disbelief. Mary, on a broom?

"But you're a terrible flyer," Remus worded exactly what he was thinking.

Mary's eyes flickered dangerously, but she steadied her gaze on Remus. "I used to be," she replied firmly, "but I happen to have a son who's quite talented at flying and he taught me some tricks."

"But Mary, you've only just got here," Arthur said nicely. "There will be plenty of work to come. You don't have to-"

"-Oh, but I don't mind." She looked at Moody. "I can do this."

After another moment, the Auror nodded gruffly. "It never hurts to bring a Healer along on such a mission. If something happens on the way..."

"He has a point. Anything could happen, really," Kingsley nodded, smiling kindly at Mary, who smiled back gratefully at the unexpected support.

There was some approving murmuring around the room (with the exception of Sirius and Remus, who were both looking rather unhappy about this situation) before Dumbledore shot Mary one last look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright." He nodded briefly and went on to discuss the details of the mission. What time they would leave and how they would enter the Dursley residence without making Harry use out of school magic for a second time in a week. Sirius however was no longer paying attention. He was not pleased at all that Mary was going on an Order mission so soon. The old fear of something bad happening to her, a feeling he had not experienced since the first war, was hitting him with full force. He could not get his head around why she wanted to do this so badly. Why could she not just stay here and hang around Grimmauld Place with him?

Later that night, long after the meeting ended and the rest of the Order members had gone home, Sirius was showing Mary around his bedroom on the first floor. The clothes from her suitcase were currently folding themselves and finding a place in the closet near the back of the room. Mary was standing in front of the wall with her arms crossed while attentively studying the non-moving Muggle posters of girls in bikinis on the wall. "Tasteful," she noted teasingly, arching an eyebrow as she turned towards him.

Sirius put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I only did that to annoy my parents."

She snorted. "I bet that worked."

"To be honest, I have no idea. They never bothered to get up in this room while I lived here."

Her eyes softened and Sirius could detect a familiar note of pity. Even after all those years, he could not take it. He turned away from that gaze and took off his shirt and pants. As he was tossing them carelessly on a chair in the corner, Mary said: "You really should eat better, Sirius. I know you've lived in a cave last year, but there is plenty of food here. The time for starving is over, you know."

Sirius walked over to the kingsize four-poster bed and flopped down on it. "I know, I'm trying. My body is used to surviving on very little since Azkaban. It's harder to gain weight than losing it."

"I'm sure many women are envying you for your metabolism," Mary replied dryly as she headed over to her trunk. She crouched down and searched the content with her wand until she retrieved a wooden box. She returned to the bed and kneeled on the mattress, opened the box and got out a flask of blue-coloured potion.

Sirius recognized it at once and recoiled. "No, not that shit again!"

"It will make you gain back the weight you lost last year faster than Molly's cooking could ever do. Come on, one draft a day for a month and you will be back to the old Sirius."

After a moment of hesitation, he took the flask from her, uncorked the bloody thing and downed its contents in one go. The sudden soapy and fizzing bitterness in his mouth made him cringe. "Urrrrgh."

He tossed the flask to the back of the room, where it landed right on the pile of his clothes on the chair.

Mary stroke a lock of hair from his face. "A kiss to make it better?" she was saying softly.

He need not to be told twice. He reached for her face and pulled her down gently. Soon all their remaining clothes went flying across the room and they were getting lost in each other. Sirius felt almost ludicrously happy about having her back in his bed, right here in England where they both belonged. Albus Dumbledore may sometimes be somewhat out of there with his speeches, but he was right about the importance of them finding their way back to each other. He was loving her more than ever, and the bubbly feeling was filling up his heart completely. He wanted things to stay like this forever.

Afterwards, with their legs still intertwined, they were both slowly catching their breath. Sirius had his arms around Mary and her head was resting on his chest. He was stroking her hair in peaceful silence until-

"Aren't you wondering why I want to go on tomorrow's mission so badly?"

"Well, now that you're bringing it up, I am a little lost about that."

"It was Lily."

"What?"

"An agreement between me and Lily," she clarified quietly.

Sirius frowned. "You mean, she came to you in a nightly vision or something?"

"No." Mary turned her head slightly so she could look him in the eye. "A promise made when she was still alive. Concerning Harry."

Now he was starting to feel kind of intrigued. "What kind of promise?"

She sighed and for a moment, her mind seemed to be miles away. Probably somewhere around 1981, Sirius reckoned. He gently squeezed her shoulder. "Mare?"

"Do you remember that afternoon when they had to go into hiding and we helped them pack up their things? When we were upstairs, Lily told me about a vision she had in which James and she were killed. She was so worried, Sirius. It breaks my heart again just thinking about it. She said that although I was not Harry's godmother, her son would be in good hands with us if anything happened to them. So in that cold and empty bedroom, surrounded by all the boxes, she made me promise to take care of him if I could."

"And you..."

"Of course I did! But with everything that happened that night and me having to leave the country so suddenly, I was never able to live up to that promise. But now I can."

"I see."

"That's why I feel so strongly that I should be doing this. Please understand."

Sirius wanted nothing more than keeping her safe and wished he could contradict her story with a single powerful counter argument, but found this was simply impossible. He knew exactly why she had to go and be a part of Harry's rescuing mission. It was the same reason he had left Mary and his children behind in that safe refuge in Brazil last year. That no matter both their friends were long gone, a promise was still a promise. And that is is never too late to honour the promises you made.

- End of Update -

* Song from the title: Anything But The Truth by Jack Johnson.

** In case you didn't know: Aquarius is the opening song of the ultimate 60's hippie musical Hair. "When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars..." Haha!