A/N: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - The story of this book will soon changed from "Sirius Black: The Real Hero" to "Harry Potter: A Marauder's Tale". Reasons for the change are several and, as many of you would agree with me, the former title doesn't really make sense anymore (plus I like the sound of this one waayyy better).

Celeste38: I soooo look forward to know what you thought of this chap cos I think it answers several of your questions. :) :D Can't wait to read your next reviewww! =)

Follows & Faves: For those of you who are still sticking with this story (and me), I just want to say MANY THANKS for not giving up on this story... You guys are the BEST! (it would also be great if I know WHAT you guys think of this story, so please R&R :))


Chapter 49: The Sword of Gryffindor


Day 5: 25 DECEMBER, 1976
MINISTER'S CABIN, MINISTRY OF MAGIC
10:32 PM

The hullabaloo that ensued behind the thick, wooden, double-doors was putting her on edge as she waited for yet another frantic caller to come crashing into her fireplace and report YET another incident that is bringing London to its knees. Biting the edge of her quill, she thought back to the hour when Auror Randax had blasted into her house's fireplace and announced the return of the Dark Lord. She remembered just how gobsmacked she had been and how her carefully laid out plan was crumbling like a house of cards right in front of her eyes...

Everything after that had been a blur; she didn't even know how Orpheus had managed to intimate so many officials so quickly because, before she knew it, the Ministry was teeming with perplexed-looking Magic Officials and Aurors and Goblins... even clerks!

She closed her eyes to control the anger mounting inside of her... Orpheus had warned her multiple times to NOT count on a Death Eater's promise, but she had taken the chance anyway. She had taken the chance with immense confidence and formed a 'Truce' with the Dark Side under very SPECIFIC conditions and hence, whatever is happening right now SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING AT ALL!

"Orpheus!" she barked.

The door to her side burst open and in stumbled her frazzled-looking, toothless (and completely USELESS!) assistant carrying a heap of letters in his hands. Still struggling under the weight of the hundred or so parchments, he approached the Minister's desk, strewing the floor with Howlers.

"Yes, Madam Bagnold!" he squeaked. "A-a-at your service, Minister..."

"What is all this?!"

"Oh er... L-letters, Minister. Letters and a couple of Howlers about how the... the M-Ministry isn't doing anything about the... the Dark Lord situation," he gulped in a ton of air as if getting these words out itself was a Herculean task. "There appears to be riots and... and uprisings all over London, Minister. The general public are r-r-r-ising up against the D-dark forces. Houses are burning down to the ground, children dying, b-b-bloodshed everywhere... We're drowning..." he whimpered, as a cold sweat trickled down the side of his face.

Bagnold's breaths got heavier as the full weight of the situation finally fell on her. At this rate, she could be replaced as Minister for Magic in the blink of an eye! Shakily tucking her hair behind her ear, she spoke in her most calm voice. "Did you send the notice out?!"

"Yes, Minister! The c-c-council invite has indeed been sent out to all the delegates! More than an hour ago, actually! I-i-it's been scheduled to take place at midnight today... D-D-D-Dumbledore's invite was d-declined, but Milliputh, Diggle, Knatchbull, Traviss, Bones, Mormonte, Nigellus, Spartha and... and... oh, and Malfoy and Bagshot h-h-h-have... have..." he stopped mid-sentence.

Bagnold looked she was about to explode any second!

"Not THAT, you idiot, did you owl BLACK?!" she screamed right into Orpheus's face.

Orpheus almost melted on the spot in fear. "Yes, Minister..." he said, as his knees wobbled uncontrollably. "And she s-s-sent this back..." he said, and pulled out a tiny circular parchment and handed it over to the Minister.

Before she even opened the parchment, she knew she was not going to like what she was about to see. Already enraged beyond measure, she ripped it open and gasped; there, hissing back at her, was the drawing of the ugly head of the snake, curled up to form the Dark Mark. It was almost as if the snake was mocking her.

"NOOOO!" she screamed and before she could control herself, she had pulled her wand out and blasted the the piece of parchment with curses and hexes as if that was going to make it all go away. "This can't be HAPPENING!" she screamed again and threw yet another blasted curse at the walls as her frustrations peaked.

CRACK! came a sound that froze her in place.

Silence.

"...One does not disrespect the Dark Mark so blatantly..." said a cool voice from behind Bagnold. "If they wished to live at least!" it added, a little more fiercely this time.

Bagnold did not need to turn around to know who it was. She squared her shoulders and spoke slowly despite the pent up anger rising up inside of her. "The Ministry had great respect for the Dark Mark," she rasped, her eyebrows raised ominously in her face, "but that was only because the Lord kept to the Code. Of. The Truce!" she hissed and turned around to look upon the ugly face of Bellatrix Black.

Bellatrix grinned, baring her ghastly front teeth that looked like fangs. "And now the terms have changed!" Bellatrix chimed in her irritatingly chirpy voice. "It's time the Ministry bowed down to the Lord!"

"The terms are NON-NEGOTIABLE!" Bagnold screamed and took swift steps towards Bellatrix to tower above her. "The Truce was formed ONLY to eliminate Williams so that the clans of Light and the Dark won't be threatened in ANY WAY! The Truce was ONLY TO ELIMINATE OUR COMMON ENEMY!" she screamed, making her face turn a deep shade of red. "At NO point, however, was the Ministry going 'aid' the Lord in his rise to power, neither was it going to BOW DOWN to his troops!" she said, glaring wickedly at Bellatrix's stone cold face. "Yes! The Lord IS and will ALWAYS be an enemy of the confederation! Our war," she said pointing at herself and Bellatrix, "was NEVER going to end because of the Truce..." she hissed at the slowly hardening face of her adversary.

Though Bellatrix was only all of seventeen years old, something about her made her seem much, much older... She was never a child—she was born a woman; a woman who thirsted for power, who longed to be led. Taking a step closer towards Bagnold, she spoke in her most 'take-it-or-leave-it' voice. "The way I see it, you have one of two choices, Minister. You could either go back to pretending to run this rotting empire of yours and hold on to your precious position, or open your doors for the Death Eaters to rule the wizarding world right from here inside this room!" she whispered and broke into a wicked smile. "Also, aren't you a half-blood...?" she whispered, sending out her most ominous threat ever. Bagnold's eyes widened in shock as Bellatrix smirked as if to confirm that her threat to Bagnold's own life was real. "Take your pick, missy..." she smiled and licked her lips maliciously.

She was about to turn around and disapparate when Bagnold spoke again.

"Why were you in the Department of Mysteries earlier today...?" Her voice shook violently, much to her own disgust.

"To kill Harry Potter..." were the words that came out her mouth.

"Who?!" Bagnold demanded, feeling sheer disgust and hate for the girl in front of her.

"Nobody..." Balltrix sang, twirling her hair between her fingers. "Anyway, since he couldn't get out of that blasted Veil quickly enough, I chased my unborn nephew into the depths of hell itself until he finally... DIED!" she cackled with and disapparated before Bagnold could even process what she had said.

DAY 5: DECEMBER 25, 1976
SEEPWOOD FOREST, OAKENSLEY COUNTRY / THE VEIL
011:05 PM

It felt like all his emotions had just evaporated away as he stood staring into the cold, almost lifeless face of Draco. Draco lay motionless at the bottom of the forest bed, swimming in the pool of water, as moonlight glistened on his face. And even as Harry watched him from the 'other side' with a only thin filament of matter separating him from his 'actual world', his mind raced, adamant about coming to terms with the reality just yet.

Was he really...? But... Draco was living and breathing and running away and be being brave just a second ago... How could he just give up now...? WHY did he have to come so far and... and just go away so quickly... To go away forever, without even a grand exit... That's what he is, isn't he? A big show-off who always needs to turn heads wherever he went! Why did he jump out of character RIGHT when he needed to be that git that he always was...? And... And, why does this all feel like it's my fault—again?

This can't be happening... It cannot... It shouldn't... How could he have let this happen...?! Where did he go wrong...?

His mind kept shooting questions at him but he was too numb to even move a finger.

"Harry?" said a soft voice beside him, but he wasn't ready to respond just yet. He was back to where he had started ALL OVER AGAIN. The fight, the fear, the struggle, the pain, the guilt—the whole schmear! His head swam a little but his eyes never left Draco...

Sirius and Harry were still on the 'other side' or the 'in-between' watching their world through reflections. Where there's water, where there's a mirror, where's there even a tiny drop of dew on a blade of grass, there exist two alternative worlds: the 'real world' where people are living and breathing and running and dreaming. And then there was the 'in-between' where there's neither light or darkness, neither life nor death. In other words, it's rather better to be DEAD than to barely exist and watch your close ones hurt and suffer right in front of your eyes and you not being able to do jack about it!

"I want to get out of here..." Harry finally spoke, looking desperately into Sirius's helpless face. "You were right. I should never come here," he whispered, his voice coming out in rags. "This was a mistake, I... How could I... I need to get out, Sirius... Help me?" he begged.

Sirius didn't say anything and just stared on helplessly at his godson's face. The pain that Sirius was going through as he watched Harry suffer internally was almost inexplicable. Harry may be a lot older now and much closer to his own age, but to Sirius he will always be that scared little boy without a mum or dad, alone and helpless with no one to lean on. And to think he grew up in that dump of a place with people who weren't his 'real' family for most of his childhood! A painful lump rose up in his throat but he shook it off; he cannot afford to get emotional, not now. He had to be strong for Harry now more than ever. It almost felt like Sirius was finally given a chance to fulfill his duty as a godfather...

"I won't let you down, Harry, I can't..." he said, barely managing to keep a steady voice. "Do you trust me?" he asked, looking into harry's lifeless face.

Harry nodded robotically, bereft of all emotions.

Smiling sadly to himself, Sirius put his hand out. "Then come with me..."

DAY 5: DECEMBER 25, 1976
DUMBLEDORE'S OFFICE, HOGWARTS
011:05 PM

He was lying on the couch, counting his final minutes in this realm.

"All good things come to an end, don't they, Fawkes?" he muttered tiredly, despite being fully aware that bedlam was breaking loose outside his door in his castle right this second. Students had already started receiving letters from all over the country, informing them of the death of friends and relatives. Parents where stricken with fear and begged their children to remain locked in their dorms, for 'no place on the planet was safer than Hogwarts'. On the contrary, though, the students INSIDE Hogwarts knew that this piece of fact was not true because, for Hogwarts to be the safest place of earth, they needed Dumbledore, and he was nowhere to be seen. And Dumbledore knew fully well that the situation will soon snowball out of control as the time for War draws near but somehow he was at peace as his mind wandered off to Ron. As long as Ron was out there, alive and kicking butt, he had nothing to fear...

"At the end it is Ron to the rescue! Who would've thought, eh Fawkes?" he chuckled lightly, and immediately ended up having a fit of cough that burned the insides of throat and lungs. He didn't expect his end to come so quickly... Hell, now he would never be able to see Harry come to Hogwarts as that innocent eleven-year-old boy looking up at the castle in awe. For a fleeting second his eyes burned with tears. "This is how it should be..." he coughed to himself, determined to cut himself of all feelings and attachments. "You knew the game and took the gamble. It is showtime now..." he whispered, hoping and praying that his heart would forgive him for doing this to himself. "Let it all go..." he murmured as the pain in his chest finally eased a little.

Fawkes, Dumbledore suddenly noticed, was (most uncharacteristically) not paying him any attention and kept pecking at his feet as if in a state of agitation.

"What's the matter, Fawkes?"

Fawkes cawed loudly and shook his head. He seemed very fidgety and mildly uncomfortable. "Need to be somewhere, dear boy?" Dumbledore asked, knowing immediately well that something important needed Fawkes's attention. "Go on, then. Do what you have to do, but don't be late, Fawkes." He smiled.

DAY 5: DECEMBER 25, 1976
THE GREAT HALL, HOGWARTS
011:05 PM

"...but... but I have NOTHING to do with him...!" he had pleaded. "Please, please, please you have got to believe me... I'm not on his side! Professor...!" he had screamed, begging to be believed, but McGonagall had merely slammed the gates on his face wearing an uncomfortably pained, yet determined expression. And for a fleeting second he had glanced in their direction. The sheer helplessness that hung in those dirty green orbs that stared back at them will haunt them all forever as they reluctantly turned their backs on him.

They called themselves "James's Army" and they wreaked havoc wherever they went.

They were still in Hogwarts, but it no longer felt like the inside of a 'school' where children went to learn Magic; it was like the inside of a refugee camp! After Lucius was caught in the Room of Requirement, a frenzy broke out in the school when the Gryffindor boys had sounded the alarm and alerted McGonagall, their Deputy Headmistress and active Order member. And McGonagall, being the rockstar that she was, had ensured that she had personally visited every professor's dorm chamber and caused a storm by declaring an ambush search mission of ALL the students in every House to find more 'undercover' Death Eaters. 'We need to fight this war inside-out!' she had roared and locked Lucius up in one of the rooms in the Astronomy Tower where he would neither be able to disapparate out of nor use magic to escape, leaving Sirius feeling both pumped and nervous, because this mission suddenly seemed both right AND wrong all at the same...

And now, here they were, 'fighting the War inside-out' by checking every student, every teacher and every elf—even the half-giant (Hagrid). The noise in the hall was deafening. Everyone had to yell at each other to make themselves be heard as students from every House frantically thronged the Great Hall, terrified of being caught or even 'suspected' to be on the Dark Side, while the newly recruited Auror members combed through the student population most meticulously.

The most interesting part of it all, however, was the expression on the students' faces that Sirius checked and interrogated. One thing was clear: they hated him. They HATED the fact that they were being suspected and checked in this fashion and they hated the fact that these were the same boys and girls that they had admired and adored even until two HOURS ago.

This had to stop. This madness has GOT to stop!

Sirius looked deep into the blank, blue-green eyes of the young fourth-year student from his House, nervousness almost choking him. "You do know that we're on the side of the 'good' and that... and that all this," Sirius said, gesturing to the chaos that ensued behind him, "is only so that we're doubly sure there are no threats INSIDE the school itself, don't you?" he asked, saying a silent prayer to himself.

The boy smirked. "And I suppose you want to hear good news now, don't you, Black?" said Lovegood, his face oozing with fearlessness. Sirius's stomach did an uncomfortable jolt as the words crashed into him in waves. "The Seer had called today 'The Long Night,'" Lovegood continued.

"Goddammit..." Sirius muttered and threw his hands up in the air in total frustration before he could even stop himself.

The whole school knew that this kid was a special kind of looney pants and it ought to take a special kind of SKILL to land oneself in this situation as Sirius has done to himself right now. Sirius was about to stop the guy and dismiss him off before he spoke again. "They had predicted that the Christmas of '76 will be the longest day in Wizarding history. No one would sleep as every man, woman and child would await their own death on this day... An epic battle would break out shortly after the stroke of the midnight hour..." he continued speaking as if in a state of trance, making it that much more painful for Sirius to endure this verbal torture from this... this... Oh dear god!

"Yes, yes, thank you, thank you, very much for being so patient with us, Lovegood, you have done well... You're clear, you may go... NEXT!" he roared, as a timid-looking second-year girl hurriedly stepped forward from behind Lovegood.

"You're not understanding how big this is, Black. Forces from the past... the present... AND the future will converge to fight a common enemy... tonight," Lovegood spoke, as if he hadn't heard a word of what Sirius had said, and right that second, Sirius stopped what he was doing and slowly turned towards starry-eyed face of his junior. "And to fight HIM, you're going to need an army... But looking at how you're treating your own allies," he said jerking towards the hue and cry behind him, "Continue on at this rate and I doubt that you will have a handful of people fighting for your cause..." he said, and his words struck Sirius like pins and needles to this throat. He froze in place and gawked in the young boy's direction, mutely demanding for an explanation. "You're going to need every students' support in this War, Black, and yet, here you are, making us all feel scared and inferior to you lot," he said, this time gesturing towards the other aggressive Aurors who were nearly terrorizing everyone around them. "So when the Night does fall, and when He does arrive, how are you going to fight him off?"

Sirius's mind had never been so alive and fired up as it was now as he processed every word that Lovegood uttered.

"There are some blibbering humdingers near your pocket, by the way," Lovegood said, cutting into Sirius's thoughts.

"Some what?"

"They go after danger, these little creatures, you know. You might want to check what that danger is inside your pocket..." And with that, he was off, to sit by his only other friend at the Gryffindor table.

Baffled beyond words, Sirius quickly shoved his hands into his pockets to find the Marauder's Map. A ripple of shock struck him as he thought of all possible dangers that could be crawling up the castle. With a shaky hand, he ripped the map open and scanned through it even as his heart raced in his chest. Whether deliberately otherwise, his eyes refused to scan the little nook and crannies of the map and continued to be satisfied at the fact that ALL the students were right where they have to be: in the Great Hall. ALL the students were right here! There is nothing to be afraid of, is there? he asked himself even as three tiny little dots caught his attention at the edge of the map moving towards the castle.

Lovegood was right: Danger indeed was here for ALL three names on these little dots were incredibly important to Sirius in particular.

A shudder ran down his spine. Without thinking, he sprang up on his feet and dashed towards the other end of the hall where Isabella was sitting behind her own interrogator's desk. She looked up startled beyond belief at the speed at which Sirius was approaching her and was about to open her mouth to ask what was going on, but Sirius didn't have time. He grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her towards the entrance of the Great Hall, running at break-neck speed.

On his way out, however, Sirius miraculously found time to yell out a, "Mate, we have a Code Red situation! Hold the fort down here while we deal with this shit!" to a startled James, but James didn't need telling twice. With an eager thumbs-up in his direction, Sirius was convinced that the students were in safe hands [Ron grabbed a tattered old and crumpled hat on his way out with Hermione at his heels].

"Sirius, where are we GOING?!" Isabella asked, her tone a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. Ron and Hermione hurtled noiselessly after them as well.

"Third floor corridor..." Sirius panted but didn't stop running, Isabella's hand held tightly in his.

"Why?"

"Just shut up!" he snapped back.

Nervously glancing down at the map, Sirius led Isabella up the winding staircase to the third floor corridor. They were getting close!

"Get your wand out, Izzy!" he yelled and let go of her hand as he sped past her like a bullet, beckoning to her to follow him. Sensing the urgency in his voice, Isabella got down to business too and fired after him. The two were running like maniacs now as the third floor corridor drew closer and closer to them. And just as they were about to hit the landing of the corridor, the hump on the statue of the one-eyed witch flew open and three people, two twelve-year old children and one fifteen-year old boy, jumped out, waiting to make a dash for it.

Isabella froze in shock at the sight in front of her but Sirius didn't care. With a final spurt of adrenaline, he bulleted his way towards the three intruders and jumped up on the oldest boy, making him crash to the floor. Still struggling under Sirius, Regulus tried to wrench himself from his brother's death grip, but Sirius was too strong for him.

"What are you DOING here?!" Sirius bellowed, pinning his brother to the ground by his throat. Anger and resentment shot up to his face, making him angry enough to kill his brother right here!

"Sirius, le.. let go of me, I... I have to tell you so..."

"NO! Answer me first..."

"Sirius, it's IMPORTANT..."

"Sirius, let him go, let him gooo!" came a shrill voice from his side, but he ignored her.

"What do you want now, Regulus? Haven't you done ENOUGH?! Why are you here?! ANSWER ME!"

"Izzy, TELL him!" the girl screamed at Isabella from under her embrace. Isabella, though, was merely dazed beyond expression as she held on to the little girl as if shielding her from the jaws of Death itself.

"Why is she here?" Sirius asked a now red-almost-to-the-point-of-choking-to-death Regulus. "What the fuck is Angie doing here?!" he asked, strangling him even more now. "And WHY does the map say that that BOY is SEVERUS SNAPE?!" Sirius yelled, heaving out his wand and pointing it at the innocent face of the young boy standing next to him.

Isabella seemed to have been shaken awake as well as she heard Snape's name and quickly yanked out her own wand as determination washed down her face.

"Yes, very impressive," the boy spoke, sounding oddly far too mature for his age. "You live up to your House's expectations alright, but sadly you're overdoing it, Black," he drawled on with a bored expression, making Sirius and Isabella twist their wands into shooting positions even more. "Now, before you choke your own brother to death, I'd like to declare my allegiance; I am on YOUR side..." the little boy smiled humourlessly, locking eyes with Sirius.

"Why should I believe you?" Sirius muttered, making him sound more dangerous than ever.

"Because if not for me, your brother and her sister would be long dead by now..." he uttered simply and smirked coldly. "Oh and... this may come as a shock, but, both your parents... are... are dead," he sighed. "I couldn't protect them. I tried to, but then if I had revealed my true identity, I risked losing Regulus and little Angela here," the boy said.

"What did you just say?!" Isabella snapped at him.

Snape's hair was finally starting to change from pale brown to jet black now. "It's tragic, I know," he replied, completely devoid of emotion. "Pull yourself together though, we cannot afford to fall apart now..."

"No, STOP IT! What... What are you saying, Snape?!" Isabella demanded, even as waves and waves of shock crashed into her. Sirius, on the other hand, was too shocked to process what Severus had just said.

"Angie, wh-what is he saying...?" Isabella's voice was shook uncontrollably despite her brave attempts to act strong.

"Bad people came to our town, Izzy," said Angela, her face tear-stained. "Black, hooded people came and killed everyone and burned everything... They came to our house as well and killed both mum and dad right in front of my eyes..." she sniffed, but her face was emotionless as if the shock had still not worn off.

"WHAT?!" Isabella yelped as she stared down at her sister. "No, no, no, no, this can't be happening, this is not happening, please tell me this is not actually happening..." she whimpered, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "They can't be gone, it's not true, it's not... they haven't done a THING, why are they dead?!" she cried out, completely breaking down now.

"Izzy, don't, I'm here, I'm still here, I'll take care of you," said Angela, sounding a lot older for her age.

Isabella sniffed apologetically. "Honestly, how did you survive?" she asked.

"I don't know... I was so angry..." she said as fresh set of tears poured down her cheeks. "I was SO angry that they took mum and dad away from me and... I don't know, something came over me and I... I screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed so much that... Everything around me started to break and shatter and... and I wanted to do bad things to the men too and I... I did..." she wept and looked up helplessly at her big sister. "I made them hurt... I wanted to stop but I couldn't... I had no control over anything as I continued to scream and make them suffer until they finally bled to death..." she whispered as a shudder ran down her spine. "I am such a bad person..." she cried.

"Of course not, silly..."

"But I AM! I am a HORRIBLE human being, I am dangerous!" she cried and hugged her sister tight. "Please don't leave me alone, Izzy, I am scared..."

Isabella's stared disbelievingly towards Severus for answers as tears pooled around her corners of her eyes. "How's this possible? She's not a witch..."

He hesitated at first and shifted uncomfortably before responding. "No, but she's a partial Obscurus..." he said, making both Sirius and Isabella gape blankly at him this time. "Her Magic had been suppressed inside of her for too long and... and is gushing out all at once now... most uncontrollably," he said only to make Isabella feel more awestruck. "But, she... She's powerful," Snape added quickly. "She's mighty powerful, she's almost gold..." he spoke, even as his features slowly remodified to look like his old self again.

Sirius jumped up to his feet, his face still marred with disbelief at what he had just heard.

"Alright, fine, moving on..." he spoke trying to keep his voice as emotionless as possible even though his hands shook uncontrollably.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Regulus yelled, sounding shocked beyond belief.

"Not now, Regulus," he said, brushing his brother aside.

"Sirius, honestly, you JUST heard about your parents..."

"No, Izzy, there's no time for that!" he snapped back a little more harshly than he had intended. "There's no time to cry about the dead, because we have things to do! We still have a War coming, we are going to lose MORE people if we lose focus NOW, so can we please just not... I need you, Izzy... I can't do this without you..." he croaked out, almost begging her to see the light. "Right now more than ever..." he whimpered, fighting back his sorrow. "So... Can we please not do this right now?" he said, his voice shaking from suppressed emotions. "Please walk with me till the end, we have to do this together, we're the Cursed Pair, for god's sake!" he spluttered out. He bit his lip stop himself from having a complete meltdown.

For a split second Isabella and Sirius stared on helplessly at each other, sharing identical emotions and feelings, both having lost their parents on the same day. Swallowing down her own grief, Isabella nodded and surprised even Sirius when she spoke up. "Alright, fine. You're right, now's not the time to... to miss your mum 'cause we have a war to fight," she sniffed, as several buckets of water rolled down from her eyes.

"Blimey, Izzy, that is NOT what I'm saying..."

"No, you're right..." she sniffed again as she picked up her wand one more time and wiped her face. "No, you're right, we need to focus. Regulus, take Angela to a safe place and both of you remain hidden until we come and find you. If any of James's boys find you, they'd stop at NOTHING until you're locked up!"

Turning towards Severus she said, "Snape, you and I need to figure out how to flip our worlds back to what it was!" her voice still coming in rags. "As per the note, this 'well-wisher' person seems to know what to do to turn our worlds upside down again, and that means we need to get this done before Voldemort gets here! And you," she said turning towards Sirius, "I need you for moral support, so you're coming with US!" she declared.

[Behind the pillar where Ron and Hermione stood hidden in the shadows, a glint of light suddenly lit up the place for a split second and the noise that followed it sounded more like a silver scraping through a rocky surface. Ron smirked as he looked down at the tattered hat and saw the edge of a brilliant sword sticking out through the fabric: the Sword of Gryffindor has finally arrived—again...]