HOLY CRAP! You guys are AMAZING! I am so overwhelmed with the amount of feedback I got on the last chapter! You guys really don't like cliff hangers, do you . A MASSIVE hug and plate of cookies to Archtech, only Black lover, Love. Fanfiction. 2020, J, Onesinglebird, Night-Storms, brit1010220, WinchesterDixonBros, NicIrv19, srosegarden, CrackHeadBlonde, x3sunnyday, The Slug Club, and Redphoenix001 for your amazing feedback and reviews! I honestly adore any and all feedback so thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to review!

Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

"Hello Adalyn."

Adalyn felt her blood run cold as she froze on the spot.

Every single day at the Auror academy, every ounce of field experience, every moment of Mad-Eye's constant lectures went out the window as all coherent thought left her head at the sight of the man she was once loved.

The man before her was not the roguishly handsome, well-built man with a cocky smirk that she once knew. This man was torn, tattered, worn down; both on the inside and the out. He was thin… so thin it was frightening. His eyes were sunken and dark… yet… warm? Soft even? She had expected to see a filthy prisoner before her, but not one that was looking at her the way he was. In her experience, the criminals she hunted behaved in one of two ways when confronted.

Fully deny and become over-active drama queens

The stereotypical muggle movie villain response. Laugh evilly, tell the Auror their whole evil plan, as well as see a crazy glint in the person's eyes, allowing you to easily gather that they are fully unhinged.

What she saw, was neither…

She had expected to see maliciousness and twisted glee in his smile, but the man in front of her was smiling at her warmly. He didn't look at her with that evil glint, or pleading innocence, instead he looked… exhausted.

This wasn't the evil maniac she had been hating for nearly 12 years. He was almost… ALMOST her Sirius….

Stop it. He betrayed you. He killed Lily, James, Peter…

The corner of Black's smile tugged up a little higher as he watched the complete shock register over her face.

"Sir…" she began to breathe before she stopped herself.

Control your emotions…

"Black," she said again, this time flatly and calmly.

She watched as Black took a small step forward, still pointing her own wand at her chest. He tilted his head at her ever-so-slightly, almost as if he were slightly amused by her behavior.

He didn't speak for a moment. Instead, his hallowed eyes searched her face, almost as if he were trying to take her all in.

"After all these years," Black said croakily, his voice still obviously trying to adapt to speaking again, "And you still look as beautiful as ever."

Adalyn's brain booted back up at those words. Fire surged through her veins, replacing the cold shock.

He was… Flirting with her? After what he did? The first thing he does is FLIRT WITH HER?

"What the fuck do you want?" she spat at him, her eyes flaring with anger.

Black's eyes widened slightly at her sudden change of tone and demeanor.

"What?" she asked as she confidently took a step forward, challenging him further, "You've come to kill me? Kill Harry? Finish off the Potter bloodline once in for all? Just like your old master wanted?"

He didn't speak. He just looked at her quizzically as his voice softened.

"All I ever wanted was to protect you. To protect Harry…"

Adalyn laughed bitterly, raising her voice and allowing her anger to escalate, hoping that Jones would hear.

"By what?! KILLING JAMES? KILLING LILLY? MURDERING PETER?"

Control it Adalyn… control it…

Her voice lowered dangerously as she felt the flood gates of her emotions trying to open. She tried her best to plug the damn, but it was going to break… soon.

"They trusted you," she said in a dangerous whisper, "I trusted you."

She watched Black swallow as if he were desperately trying to swallow the emotions rising up inside of him. Before they could reach his face, she watched him push them back down, putting on the infamous "Pureblood mask" in which the majority of the Sacred 28 engrained into their children at a young age. Left in its wake- a lack of any and all emotion, leaving a stoic emotionless shell any Pureblood fanatic would have been proud of.

Adalyn couldn't help but scoff at him.

"At least Walberga trained you well for something," she bit at him, "But I do suppose you were the one to make Mummy proud in the end, weren't you? After your whole 'I'm not like my family' scheme tricked us all?"

Adalyn watched with satisfaction as Black's face contorted in anger, eyes flashing dangerously at her words.

He always did have a short temper…

Use it…

Black took a breath, attempting to calm himself while Adalyn took the opportunity to creep towards the bookcase on her right.

If she could just get to her knife….

Black met her gaze, his voice dropping so low it was a near whisper.

"I didn't kill Peter…"

"BULLSHIT!" Adalyn roared back, creeping even more to the right, so she was in front of her destination, "I SAW THE SCENE BLACK! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES! THE BLOOD! THE BODIES…"

As she yelled, she watched a smile slowly come over Black's face.

Funny? He thought this was funny.

Maybe he really had lost it…

He chuckled at her slightly as he directed the wand at her chest once more, recentering his aim at her chest from her small movements.

"I know what you are doing, Ads," he told her as he took a step towards her, keeping enough distance between them so she couldn't strike. "You forget that I too completed Auror training along with the tricks Mad-Eye showed us for the Order. I know all your tricks."

Adalyn stared at him, cursing herself for not being more subtle.

her eyes darted towards the door.

"Your partner can't hear you," Black told her, "Silencing charms, muffliato, locking charms, the whole bit."

Shit.

There goes Plan A.

Adalyn took a breath, her eyes never leaving him.

Options Potter. What are your options?

Knife… get to your knife.

Black took another small step forward and Adalyn took the opportunity to step back, along the bookshelf, pressing her body into it so Black wouldn't notice her reaching to the false book for the knife she kept.

"Ah-ah," Black said as he stepped forward, pointing the wand at her a little more fiercely, "Away from the bookshelf."

She didn't move, not wanting to give up her last resort.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out her knife, smiling at her cockily, "I know where you keep your backups."

Adalyn clenched her jaw as Black grinned at her, knowing he had beaten her.

"Sit down in the armchair, Ads," he said gesturing to the armchair to her right against the wall.

"Why?"

"Sit down, Adalyn," Black told her firmly, growing frustrated with her. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but I will if you force me. I have to ensure that you and Harry stay safe."

"From what?" Adalyn bit back at him, "You are the one…"

"I'M NOT, ADY! SIT DOWN!" Black roared at her, sparks flying from the end of her wand.

They both stared at each other for a moment before slowly and defiantly, Adalyn took the three steps to cross to the armchair by the window. She looked at him once more before she sat in the chair, putting her hands down by her sides in the hope that she had randomly put a pin or something in the shorts of her pajamas.

"Hands on the arms of the chair," Black said as he watched her motions intently.

Adalyn glowered at him as she put her hands on the arms of the chair.

Weigh your options.

What was the rule she had memorized in hand to hand combat back in training? Yes, wait for the opportune moment.

Watch… wait for an opening…

"If you don't want to hurt me, then why are you here?" Adalyn asked him.

"You need to know the truth," Black told her in a calm, quiet voice, "You need to be warned."

"Of what?" Adalyn asked him, watching every moment closely, "You? I'm well aware of that, thanks."

"Pettigrew is alive," he told her.

"YOU KILLED PETER!"

"NO! HE'S ALIVE! HE FAKED…OOF!"

Adalyn took the brief moment that Black shut his eyes in anger at her words to lunge at him. She grabbed his wrist before he could fire a spell, directing the wand towards her nightstand instead. She shoved his wrist into the wall, forcing the wand to fly from his hand, landing a few feet away from him.

Before either one of them could lunge for it, Adalyn began aggressively throwing the kicks and punches she had been taught in hand to hand combat at the Auror academy. She grew frustrated as he was refusing to take an aggressive stance, but instead of throwing his own punches and kicks, he was merely deflecting her blows.

They had been through the academy together. He had always been far better than her at hand to hand combat… why was he just deflecting her?

"Ady! STOP!"

Adalyn kept going. Punching and kicking as hard as she could. She saw Black's face grow more and more frustrated until she made the stupid mistake of briefly ignoring his left hand. He threw her into the dresser, causing it to topple over and her to go down with it, granting him the moment to grab her wand and point it at her again.

Before she could get up, she heard him mutter the full body bind curse, forcing her to go stick straight and topple over again.

She heard Black sigh as he walked into her eye line, still pointing the wand at her.

"I'm sorry, Adalyn," he said as his eyes softened at her, "I didn't want to have to do that."

"Potter!" Jones' voice said from behind the door as he knocked, causing Black to jump slightly, looking at the door in a slight panic, "I forgot I need your signature as the senior officer on the report. I want to send it in now so we can get a few good hours of sleep."

Black looked at her before looking back at the door, hearing Jones knock once more.

"Potter!"

Making up his mind, Black turned, blasting the window open with a curse, causing a rain of shattered glass to fall in the room. Adalyn could barely see him cross quickly to the window, putting one leg out onto the ground outside. He paused, setting her wand down on the windowsill and looking at her.

If Adalyn could move, she would have felt her eyebrows furrow as she swore he gave her a longing look of sadness.

Black opened his mouth as if to tell her something but before he could, Jones pounded on the door once more.

"Potter! You okay in there? I'm coming in!"

Black looked at the door as he heard Jones try the handle of the door. He gave her one last look before disappearing out the window, leaving her wand on the windowsill.

She heard Jones try the handle again.

"You lock your door? What are you afraid I'll sneak in?"

Adalyn cursed herself as she heard footsteps and then the soft padding of paws becoming ever more distant, knowing Black had eluded them once more.

Why hadn't she practiced her wandless magic more?

Why hadn't she ever listened to Mad Eye Moody say that hand to hand would be her downfall?

Why hadn't she been humble enough not to just rely on spell work, dueling ability and wits?

She heard Jones mutter "Alohomora" outside the door as it swung open.

"Really?" she heard his cocky voice say as he heard him push the door open, "Not even a complex one…. MERLIN! POTTER!"

She heard him run over to her, checking the room briefly before he muttered the counter-curse, freeing her body from the bind.

"What in the hell…?" he began before she scrambled up from the ground, wincing as she felt her new bruises.

"Black!" she exclaimed, "It was Black."

"What? In your room?" Jones asked in shock.

"He jumped me," she told him as she ran to the window, grabbing her wand and looking out at the grounds, "He just left. Come on!"

She jumped out of the window, muttering 'Lumos' and began searching the ground for footprints.

Not seeing any she sprinted off in a random direction, praying that she was going the right way.

"Ady, we can't see anything!" Jones told her as he huffed behind her as he lit his wand, trying to peer around.

Adalyn slowed and stopped. It was true. The moon was nearly full, but it was covered by clouds on the cold fall night. It was nearly hopeless for them to see even 5 feet in front of them by wand light alone.

The Hogwarts grounds were massive. Searching them in this darkness with less than 5 feet of vision were impossible odds of finding a unicorn in this darkness was next to none, let alone a black dog Animagus.

"He can be anywhere," Jones breathed next to her as they both peered around aimlessly in the dark.

#$^* &#(* ()#* )(

Adalyn jiggled her leg anxiously as she sat at the large banquet table in the middle of the office, nursing a cup of coffee as she stared blankly into the flames of the fire.

They had attempted to search the grounds for another 2 hours before Jones had forced her to go inside. He had told her to get a few hours sleep, but she couldn't allow herself that luxury.

She should have taken Black. She should be taking him to the Dementors and Azkaban again.

But no…

She had been rusty. She had been stupid.

Why had she not checked the room before tossing her wand on the bed? Mad-Eye and Shacklebolt both would have had her head for such a rookie mistake.

Her hand-to-hand combat though… That had been shameful.

She had always been fair to mediocre at hand-to-hand combat. She much preferred spell work, dueling, and reading people- the things she excelled at. Mad-Eye Moody had always called her out for her poor hand-to-hand at both the Auror Academy and the Order training her had put her though. Sirius on the other hand had been one of the best in the class at it… he always had been.

If only she had put in more time…

She had let her guard down. She had let Harry down. Let Lily and James down…

She ran a tired hand through her hair as she replayed the night in her head, critiquing her performance.

"I didn't kill Peter… He's alive. He faked…"

Adalyn frowned as she replayed his words in her head.

She had seen the scene herself. He had blown a huge hole in the middle of the street. Blood and bodies were everywhere… Peter had been a pool of blood, fabric and a finger. His body had been blown into a thousand bloody pieces.

"Tell Potter I'm only after the rat…"

The rat…

Peter Pettigrew was dead. Black had to be out of his mind. She had spent nearly 6 months trying to convince herself that he had killed those she was closest with and betrayed them. It had taken her a year to accept it for her new reality. She had run through every single possibility, but only one was supported by the evidence.. the fact that Black had done it.

Hadn't he?

YES! HE DID! Do not go down this path again…

Before Adalyn could stop herself, she was setting her mug down on the table and standing up, pulling a thick file folder out of her desk, wandering back to her seat as she threw the file open.

SIRIUS ORION BLACK III – CRIMINAL FILE

Adalyn began flipping through the gruesome crime scene photos, the smell of blood coming back as she remembered the scene. She shook her head lightly, passing over the photos and looking for the criminalistic report and the witness statements; all report what she had known.

Pettigrew approached Black, yelling at him.

Muggle eye-witnesses report that he kept yelling about betraying a "Lily and James'.

After a few moments, the street was blown apart, 12 muggles were killed and Peter's body exploded, leaving only a finger, fragments of robe, and a lot of blood behind.

Her eyes skimmed the forensics, flipping through the pages wildly before a small section caught her eye.

Wand Report

Wandmaker: Olivander

In use: 10 years upon initial arrest

Wood: Blackthorn

Length: 12.5 inches

Core: Dragon Heart String

Last Spell Cast: Scorgify

Scorgify?

Adalyn stared at the file. This had to be a mistake. A cleaning spell was the last spell cast from that wand? He had blown an entire street to bits… killed 13 people… with a cleaning spell?

Magical law enforcement had been on scene within 2 minutes after the blast. All witnesses state was that Black stood there and laughed as if he were out of his mind. No other spell had been cast…

Unless…

No, do not do this Adalyn. You remember where this got you last time…

"Have you slept at all?"

Adalyn jumped at the voice, pulling out her wand and facing the source. Upon only finding a bleary-eyed Jones staring at her with his hands up in fake surrender she sighed and lowered her wand, muttering an apology to him.

"Geeze," he muttered as he came around the table to sit across from her, "Remind me to never surprise you."

He sat down and stared at her for a moment.

"You look like a pile of dragon dung, Potter."

"Yeah," she said bitterly as she looked back down at the file, "You've said that before."

"No," Jones said as he put his elbows on the table, leaning forward to get a better look at her, "I mean more than usual."

"Gee," Adalyn said looking up at him, "you sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"Did you sleep at all?"

Adalyn looked back down at the folder.

"No," she stated flatly, hearing Jones sigh.

"Punishing yourself with no sleep isn't going to fix anything," he told her quietly. "Black is good. Anyone could have missed it."

Adalyn opened her mouth to bite back at her partner before she frowned at him, an idea striking her.

"Jones, I need you to do me a favor."

"Yeah," Jones said instantly, shrugging as if they did this all the time, "What do you need?"

Adalyn closed the casefile and pushed it across the table at him.

"I need you to read this case file as if you have never even heard of the case before. As a complete outsider."

Jones looked down at the name on the folder and frowned.

"Potter, this is Black's file," he told her, "I've read it nearly a billion times now…"

"I know, I know," she said dismissively, "But I need fresh eyes on it. Black said something to me last night and I am starting to question…" she trailed off before taking a breath, "I just need an outside perspective."

Jones stared at her.

"He got to you last night, didn't he? He got in your head?"

Adalyn didn't respond. Instead she summoned another mug and poured a coffee for Jones out of her carafe and passed it to him.

"Please just read the file. With focus on the criminalistics and witness statements."

Jones stared at her for a moment longer before he opened the file, flipping through the pages as she had earlier.

They sat in silence for nearly ¾ of an hour; Jones flipping through pages, Adalyn staring into the fire again.

"Okay," Jones said shrugging once he had finished, "What is it about the file?"

"The wand report and the timeline," Adalyn told him.

Jones looked at her suspiciously before flipping through the file to the correct page. His eyes ran over the page before looking back up at her in confusion.

"So..?" he asked, "They list the typicals! Make, Core, length…"

"Last spell?" Adalynn said as she pointed to the page.

"Scorgify," Jones said non-chalantly.

"He blew a street apart, Jones!" Adalyn told him, "According to the witness statements, the street blew up, all Black did was laugh, and then less than 2 minutes later, magical law enforcement arrives on scene and arrests him. No other spell was cast. Yet, the last spell to be cast from this wand, from the guilty party, was a simple cleaning spell?"

Jones stared at her for a moment before looking back down at the file thoughtfully.

"Must be a mistake then," he said casually, "A malfunctioning quick-notes quill or something…"

Adalyn sighed in frustration, "It's what he said though…"

"What did he tell you?" Jones asked her.

Adalyn looked at him, almost ashamed of what she was about to tell him.

"He said… He said he didn't kill Peter Pettigrew."

Jones raised an eyebrow at her in surprise.

"And because he said that, in combination with a likely admin error, you now think he is innocent and all the charges against him are false?"

"No," Adalyn said as she ran a hand over her face in frustration with herself, "Honestly, I don't know what to think anymore…."

"You know what I think?" Jones asked her as he shut the file.

"Not particularly," Adalyn told him bluntly.

"I think you need sleep."

Adalyn sighed and leaned back in her chair in defeat.

"I can't sleep, Jones," she confessed, "I let that bastard get the jump on me. I made a rookie mistake and then couldn't get out of it because of my hand-to-hand combat skills." She scoffed at herself, "Mad-Eye said my mediocre to poor hand-to-hand would kick my arse someday when I couldn't rely on spell work and wit."

"Mad-Eye said that?" Jones asked, "I thought you were trained by Shacklebolt?"

"Yeah," Adalyn sighed, "Shacklebolt was the one that field trained me, but Mad-Eye ran the Academy at the time I went through it. I was never good enough for him. Top in nearly everything else… except FUCKING hand-to-hand combat."

Adalyn took a bitter sip of her coffee as she saw Jones watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"You know," he said after a moment, "My dad always told me that when you find one of your weaknesses, the only thing you can do is work at. Then keep working at it until it is one of your strengths." He paused and looked at her, a small smile on his face, "Let's make hand-to-hand one of your strengths then."

"What?" Adalyn said, looking up at him in confusion.

"Come on," he told her as he got up, taking his coffee with him, "Put on some exercise clothes."

"What?"

"Look, you say you are crap at hand-to-hand?" Jones asked as he looked at her in amusement, "You are in luck, because your partner was top of his class in hand-to-hand. My dad had me punching at age 6."

He stared at her look of surprise.

"Come on," he urged "We will get you more reps and practice. Plus, I think you will rather enjoy punching me."

He smirked at his own joke while she remained taken aback.

"You'll … help me?"

"You're my partner," he grinned, "Plus I doubt you got much practice in the middle of the woods by yourself." Jones began to walk towards his room smirking as he turned and looked at her, "The only way I'm going to get you to sleep is to tire you out and make you feel better about this whole thing. My options are this, or I shove you in a broom cupboard with Lupin… and I don't like being jealous."

Adalyn shot him a look over her shoulder as he smirked at her before disappearing in his room to change. She paused, looking back down at the table and feeling herself begin to grin.

Fucking git.

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