Disclaimer: All things you recognize from the seven Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling. I am merely borrowing for my own entertainment and do not earn anything for writing this story.

A/N: This is a record! Two chapters in two days! It won't be a common occurrence, I don't think, but never mind that now.

Please enjoy! I hope you think this is okay, because personally, I don't think I did as good a job with Sirius as I did with Lily. Let me know what you think by reviewing, please, if you have time.

Thanks a lot for reading!

110.5.2.

About the Chapter

Genre: Angst/Drama

Time at Beginning of Chapter: The day of Sirius Black's death

Main Characters: Sirius Black

Tags: Understanding!Buckbeak, EmotionallyTired!Sirius, Stressed!Sirius

Sirius Black: Quicker and Easier Than Falling Asleep

Sirius cursed Kreacher as he tended to Buckbeak's injury. It wasn't very grave or serious, but it still had to be seen to, or it could risk getting infected, and then there would be trouble.

He focused on the task at hand, and dressed the small wound with more gentleness and care than most would credit him. Sirius had grown rather fond of the hippogriff during the past nearly two years, and said hippogriff had also gotten to know and respect Sirius.

Buckbeak and Sirius had gotten to know each other rather well, during the time they were on the run. Sirius grew fond of Buckbeak and no longer felt slightly intimidated by him, and the hippogriff was the only who realized Sirius was tired, emotionally. Azkaban had put a strain on him, an emotional one, even though he hadn't lost his mind, unlike some people. And the few years with Harry hadn't helped either, as they were way too eventful and dangerous, causing him endless worry and stress for his godson's well-being. Hating and taunting Snape was the only outlet for his stress, for he had always taunted Snape, but if he had suddenly begun taking his worry-caused irritability and restlessness out on everyone he came across, they—meaning Remus—would have realized something was wrong with him and tried to reassure him when they—Remus—realized why he had the need to relive stress, when it would be just useless and annoying, because who were they—Remus—kidding? His godson was Harry Potter, the greatest enemy of Lord Voldemort (according to said person), so of course his life was always in danger, and it was no use telling him, Sirius, otherwise. So he had restrained himself and only taunted Snape, who was the only person he could feel really feel a bit alive around now, simply because of the fact he could taunt him and let go of his stress and worry for a few moments. It was hard, but Sirius refused to let himself feel tired much because he had to stay strong for his godson, and that meant not getting discovered he had stress problems and making his godson feel concern for him when he heard about it, which he would from an Order member or another, as Harry had enough trouble on his plate already.

Buckbeak understood that. Nowadays, Sirius only poured his heart out to the hippogriff, who couldn't tell anyone what he told him and who was a surprisingly comforting presence. He certainly wouldn't have talked to an animal about his feelings and most secret thoughts before Azkaban, but now he just needed someone to listen to him and understand (which Buckbeak really was very good at), and Buckbeak was the only one who truly did, the only one who wouldn't judge him for what he said—the only one who wouldn't tell him "Harry will be fine" or "You're thinking too much" if he spoke about his worry for Harry's safety and the fact he stressed over it.

Sighing, Sirius brought himself out of his melancholy thoughts and turned to Buckbeak, smiling slightly at the clever hippogriff, who nudged him gently.

About thirty minutes after Buckbeak had received his injury, loud exclamations of "Severus!" and "Snape!" brought Sirius dashing eagerly from Buckbeak's room and to the dining room, where Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, and Moody had gathered.

Remus and Moody were nearest to Snape—Sirius scowled at the man as he joined them—and Sirius guessed they were the ones who had shouted out.

"Snape," said Sirius, glaring. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" He was secretly pleased Snape was here—now he could feel something other than stress and concern again, however temporarily.

Snape sneered at him. "I came to inform you that I believe your godson has run off to danger."

"Danger?" barked Sirius, alarmed and instantly alert. "What do you mean, danger? Make sense, Snape!"

"Sirius." Remus left his place near Snape had placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Calm down, let Severus speak."

Snape glared at Remus, probably for calling him "Severus," before he continued, "Potter has likely received a fake vision from the Dark Lord, including you, Black, being held captive in the Department of Mysteries. I believe he has run off to 'save you.'"

Sirius paled at what that could mean—probably Voldemort was attempting to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries and by the sound of it, had succeeded. "We'll go help at once," said Remus, his calming hand still resting on Sirius's shoulder, barely blocking Sirius's alarm and panic.

"All of you, except for Black," warned Snape.

Sirius felt indignant and slightly humiliated. "What? Why?" he demanded, furious. "This is my godson we're talking about, Snape!" His godson was in danger, and Snape expected him to stay here when he could help?

"I'm well aware of that, Black," replied Snape coolly. "But your name hasn't been cleared yet, so it would be unwise for you to leave. Stay and inform Dumbledore of the happenings."

Sirius bristled. This was Harry, his godson, they were talking about here! He didn't care if the Ministry caught him if it meant Harry would be safe! And Kreacher could easily tell Dumbledore what was happening! There was no need for him to stay behind and wait while his godson was in danger!

He said as much, and in the end, Snape agreed extremely reluctantly for him to tell Kreacher to "catch Dumbledore up on things," as he ordered the house-elf after calling for him.

In five minutes, they—he, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and Moody—were at the Department of Mysteries and Snape had gone back to Hogwarts, and moments later, Sirius burst into the middle of a battle along with the other four, just in time to see Lucius Malfoy jump forward, preparing to take the recording of the prophecy from Harry.

The moment they entered, Malfoy turned and raised his wand, opening his mouth to curse them, but Tonks was faster and had already aimed a Stunning Spell at him.

Sirius didn't wait another moment to see if it hit. He began to mutter jinxes, hexes, and curses under his breath as he skipped from step to step, down to the sunken floor. The other four did the same, and the five of them rained spells upon the Death Eaters, whose attention had been taken off of Harry and his friends, much to Sirius's relief, and onto them.

Sirius jumped down the last couple of stairs, turning and firing off a curse at a random Death Eater. Said Death Eater spun around, and a moment later, they were dueling.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sirius suddenly realized someone had grabbed Harry, choking him—but he was stuck in the middle of a duel, and couldn't possibly turn his back on his opponent—Sirius swallowed, darting a glance at his godson, who must be having trouble breathing by now, and prepared to dash at the bastard strangling his godson—and then out of nowhere, a boy who looked rather like Alice Longbottom lunged at the Death Eater strangling Harry.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, and flashed the boy—Neville Longbottom, he realized—a grateful look that he didn't see, turning his complete attention back to the duel, and followed after his opponent who was slowly backing away in the direction of Harry and Neville.

A moment later, the Death Eater was dashing away, unfortunately also in the direction of Harry and Neville, shooting spells at Sirius as he ran, and Sirius shot after him as well, thankful that Harry and Neville had gotten out of the way as they stopped running and began to duel properly again.

Then, a voice shouted, "Accio Proph—," and Sirius, realizing what was happening, hurtled away from the Death Eater he had been dueling and rammed the person who had shouted—Dolohov—hard into the shoulder, sending him flying and earning himself a slightly bruised shoulder as he did so.

Sirius gave Harry a quick, concerned look, and having satisfied himself Harry had received no serious injury—yet—and that the prophecy was still in Harry's hands, though he was barely clinging onto it, Sirius went after Dolohov, and a moment later, they were dueling again.

The heat of a spell brushed past him, and Sirius fired off another series of spells at Dolohov and the space near him. Their wands were mere blurs, they were casting so fast; spells were flying everywhere, neither of them was aiming properly any longer; sparks were flying from their wand tips, their emotions so great that they affected their wands.

Dolohov drew back his wand and began to make a slashing movement, at the same time as Harry's voice yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Dolohov's limbs snapped together, and he fell backwards, landing with a crash on his back.

Despite his worry for Harry's safety, Sirius felt a surge of pride for his godson. "Nice one!" he yelled at him, and joined him and Neville, forcing him to duck as two Stunning Spells flew at them. "Now I want you to get out of—"

He cut himself off as a jet of green light narrowly missed himself, and both he and Harry ducked again. He looked across the room, where Tonks fell from halfway up the stone steps and her limp body toppled from one stone seat to another.

"Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville, and run!" ordered Sirius, and dashed to meet Bellatrix without looking to see if Harry obeyed.

Sirius did not see Harry for the next few moments, too focused on his duel with Bellatrix.

But suddenly, Remus had appeared and shouted, "Harry, round up the others and GO!" Before he could look and see why Harry was still there, Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere, and his attention was brought back to his duel with Bellatrix.

He and Bellatrix snarled at each other, and Sirius felt a great hatred rise in him, one much greater than his hate for Snape ever had been, one as great as his hate for his cruel parents, as he fired off spell after spell, some bordering on Dark—being a Black did have its benefits, after all.

Sirius ducked a jet of red light from Bellatrix that he couldn't identify, and laughed. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled tauntingly at her—another person who could make him feel alive.

Then a second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

He had barely stopped laughing when it hit him, and his eyes widened with shock, a feeling of fear and surprise appearing within him: fear of death, but more fear for what was going to happen to Harry; surprise about his death. And he wished with all of his heart, his being, Harry would live much longer than him.

He felt his body curve into an arc and he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch, thinking, "Stay safe, Harry. Take care of him for me, Remus."

And then there was only blackness and tiredness, a great tiredness that had been ignored during his last few years in Azkaban, his few eventful years with Harry—a great emotional tiredness that made him physically tired—and then Sirius Black was truly dead, having succumbed into a deep, never-ending sleep of emotional exhaustion when he was dying, and would soon be waking up feeling emotionally and physically healthy again and join James Potter and Lily Potter.

A/N: Please note that some of the dialogue was taking directly from JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35.