Story Notes

Hi and happy Monday everyone... here we are then, chapter 14, and I'm finally settled on the number of chapters now, there are two more to come, one's already written and so I only have one left to write... I can't believe the story is nearly finished!

And may I just say, the comments, reviews, and kudos we have received so far on this story have been AMAZING... Thank you all so very much!

Thank you to Champagneandliterature, my wonderful alpha/beta. All of your help is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, no warnings are needed on this chapter, I hope you like it. See you next time!

Bring Me To Life

One hour and a full bottle of firewhisky split between them all later, Hermione looked up from their long overdue catch-up at the sound of the kitchen floo. "Who's that?" she asked in alarm.

Harry's eyes grew huge. "There's only one person not in this room who has direct floo access-"

"Anyone in?" Remus Lupin's voice called.

Sirius abruptly broke off from the conversation he had been having with Theo to dart his eyes around the room. He suddenly looked terrified. The blood drained from his face as he gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in. "Did you tell him you were planning to do this ritual?"

"Kind of-" Harry said urgently, "but he went nuts at me for even considering it. And, that was before it escalated into the life hook part as well…. He's going to go mad!"

"Best get ready for a telling off then!" Sirius laughed nervously as Harry adjusted his glasses.

"Hello….. Anyone about?" The footsteps grew louder as Remus stomped up the stairs. "I don't want to disturb you. It's just you said that the floo was always open and you'd ward it if you didn't want visitors. I just have a weird feeling about somethi….."

"We're in here, Remus." Hermione glanced at Sirius and was shocked to see tears forming in his eyes as she opened the door with her wand. Remus' footsteps froze at the sound of Sirius' voice. There was a pause, a double beat of strained and absolute silence, then Remus appeared slowly in the doorway.

He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, which Hermione supposed, he thought he had. He stopped dead again and clutched at his heart. His wide eyes travelled away from Sirius to make a slow pass around the room, then snapped back to Sirius as a myriad of intense emotions passed over his face. "No!" he exclaimed suddenly, backing up a step. "It can't be you. It just can't. I told you not to…..Harry? What on earth have you all done?"

"I promise you, it can be me," Sirius said gently. He took a step forward then stopped with a frown as Remus took an identical step back.

"No," Remus said vehemently, shaking his head as everyone in the room stared apprehensively at him. "No. It's not…. I can't be seeing you now. I'm not seeing you…. You're not just standing here like this…..because…. I can't…. Sirius, it can't be you. It just can't."

"Why can't it be me, Moony?" Sirius's voice was soft as he wiped away a tear. "Harry told you what they were planning to do."

Remus took several deep breaths. He appeared to be fighting a losing battle with his composure. He took half a step further into the room and stopped again. "It can't be you, Padfoot, because you came back into my life once after I'd thought I'd lost you forever, and the veil took you away from me again. I can't…" he paused as his voice broke, "I can't be seeing you now because I won't survive losing you again."

"You won't lose me again, Remus. I'm not going anywhere away from you ever again. I've been so stupid. I've spent my whole life denying my feelings for you. I've watched over you through the veil for seven years and I've seen how you feel about me too."

"What are you saying?" Remus pushed his hand through the back of his hair in a familiar gesture of agitation that Hermione hadn't seen for a very long time. Her heart ached with how much she had missed Remus.

"I'm saying Moony, that I'm here. Harry and the others brought me back like they said they would, and I'm here on my, what is this, my third chance at having the life I've always wanted. I'm not going to fuck around and waste any more time. I love you. I have always loved you."

Remus' gasp was audible. "I love you too, Sirius. I've always loved you too. But you know as well as I do that we can't-"

"No!" Sirius shouted, and Hermione jumped. "Don't you dare give me any more of that bullshit. I know what you are, and you know what I am. I've never given a flying fuck about any of that anyway, Remus, and you should know it. In fact, if you don't know that by now, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought."

"You've called me an idiot over this quite a few times over the years," Remus said weakly, stepping further into the room and gripping the back of the sofa for support.

"Exactly. So it's about time you stopped being one. Don't you think?" Sirius's eyes were blazing with a lifetime of suppressed passion as Remus finally looked up to meet them.

Hermione gasped as she saw the change that slowly came over Remus. Rather than faltering under the heat of Sirius's intense stare, he suddenly stood up straighter, and his presence in the room seemed to increase tenfold. Sirius quirked a brow in response, and Remus's eyes changed from soft hazel to a brilliant, pure amber. "You don't know what you're asking of me."

"Yes, I do," Sirius retorted. "I know exactly what I'm asking of you, so quit trying to intimidate me. It won't work the way you think it will. Years, Moony. Fucking years I've watched you. Watched you and loved you. I know you, and I know that right now you want me too. You're not a coward. Come and get me."

"This is what you want, is it?" Remus let loose a very wolflike, feral growl. Hermione swallowed nervously. She wasn't afraid of Remus, but still, she had never seen him behave in this way, and it was a little unnerving. "Because you don't just get me, Sirius, you get the wolf too. And for you, there's no going back from that. I got round things with Dora because the wolf knew she wasn't his mate, but you, you're different. My wolf has wanted you since the day we first met."

Sirius's breathing was unsteady, but everything else about him stood firm despite the raw power that Remus was suddenly exuding, the power that had many people in the room looking alarmed. Sirius just grinned. "Bring it the fuck on, then."

Remus crossed the room in three strides and took hold of Sirius by the shoulders. Sirius just stared heatedly back at him, and after a beat, they both leaned forwards and kissed each other at the same time.

Hermione choked back a sob as she watched the two men kiss each other with a passion that threatened to scorch the entire room to cinders. Harry shifted in his seat beside her, and she gripped his arm, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of them.

When Sirius and Remus finally let each other go, they stepped back, both looking dazed. "Well, Moony, how was that for starters?" Sirius asked, licking his lips and grinning.

Remus took a moment to reply. At first, his eyes were blazing amber, but each time he blinked, the amber receded somewhat, and eventually, they were back to soft hazel. "That was perfect, Pads. Just perfect." Remus said quietly. "But, it's changed things. It changed me. I can't go back to how things were before, and you, you're in a world of trouble now."

"No one is going back to how things were before, Remus. And I thought you knew, a world of trouble is my very favorite place to be. I don't think we need to worry about telling other people now either, do we?" He gestured around the room, and Remus did a rather comical double-take. It was as if he had only just noticed that they had shared their first, deeply intense kiss in front of a roomful of people.

"Oh." Remus rumpled his hair again and blushed deeply. "Uh… yeah. Hi. Sorry about that, umm sometimes I-."

"Don't apologize," Harry said weakly, "I'm just so pleased for you both. I wish you'd done that years ago."

"You're giving us your blessing, are you then, Harry?" Remus asked as he regained his composure, posture, and demeanor, turning back into what they fondly referred to as "Professor" mode.

"I already gave it. In fact, where's my wand-" Hermione looked around for it, but Harry just eyed Draco as he offered his- "Expecto Patronum!" The huge silver stag burst into the room as if Harry had cast it from his own wand, and strutted playfully around. Then it lowered its head, staring at Sirius and Remus expectantly.

"Oh, my Gods!" Hermione squealed quietly. "I've just realized something! You used Draco's wand during the war, Harry, didn't you? It worked for you when none of the others we found would. Do you think, even then, that the wand recognized you? Do you think it knew you and Draco would somehow end up bonded like-"

"I like to think so," Harry said as the stag returned to him, and Draco looked at it and then his wand in surprise.

"What do you reckon Prongs?" Sirius asked, his voice thick with emotion as he called the Patronus to him. He brushed his fingers through its misty silver vapor. "Do you approve of Moony and me together?" The stag stepped closer to the pair of them and appeared to nudge Remus closer to Sirius. "I'll take that as a yes, shall I?" Sirius leaned over and kissed Remus again, and the stag pawed the ground with a front foot then tossed its head vigorously before dissipating into a cloud of silvery mist.

"Yeah, you both just got my Dad's blessing," Harry said quietly as Hermione wiped her eyes on Ron's handkerchief yet again. "I reckon my mum would think it's about bloody time too."

"Come on, Pads," Remus took Sirius's hand as he nodded his appreciation at Harry. "Let's finish this catch-up in private at mine, shall we?"

"Do you mind Harry?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head and grinned through his tears. "Go. I'm well looked after here." He gestured to Draco and Hermione, "just, just come back tomorrow. Please. Don't stay away," Harry said quietly.

Sirius paused to put his hands on his Godson's shoulders. "I'm here to stay now, Harry. You brought me back, and I will always come back for you. Plus, Remus is a shit cook. We'll be needing breakfast in the morning." Sirius smiled as he leaned in and whispered quietly so that only Harry could hear, "we're a family. You, me, Remus, Hermione, and even Draco. And I know you're all bonded now, but I need to have a long, Godfatherly conversation with them about their intentions." Harry paled at his words, and Sirius chuckled. They met each other's eyes again, and Harry nodded. Sirius ruffled his hair, then raised a hand to say goodbye as he followed Remus out of the room.

For a long time, the silence that followed their departure was broken only by muffled sniffles as everyone tried to process what had been a very long and emotional day.

"Come on, love," Theo said eventually. "Let's get going, shall we?" Daphne nodded as she stood up, with Blaise and Ron following.

"I think you three need some time alone together," Blaise said. "I'll pop by tomorrow as well to tie up any loose ends from our little, uh, adventure tonight."

"Night, then," Theo grinned, turning to the room at large. "I think we can count tonight as a bit of a win all round. Don't you?"

True to their word Sirius and Remus came back to Grimmauld Place the next morning. Hermione stopped in the kitchen doorway to laugh at the sight of Sirius bouncing around the kitchen and singing enthusiastically to the radio as he cooked breakfast.

Remus looked up from the table where he'd been sitting reading the Daily Prophet to give her a broad smile of his own. "Good morning Hermione!"

Sirius spun around with a spatula still in his hand and grinned. He crossed the room in three bounds and hugged her tightly. "Draco, good morning to you too! How are you both on this beautiful, fine spring day?"

"Very well, thank you," Hermione said, laughing as Draco stepped into the room beside her.

"Is he always this cheerful in the mornings?" Draco asked, wrapping his arms around Hermione from behind and hugging her as Sirius released her to descend upon Harry instead.

"I'm turning over a new leaf. It's a new chance at life after all. Hello, my very favorite Godson. Moony, can you flip the bacon before it burns?" Sirius pulled Harry into a hug, and they both held onto each other for a long time.

When they finally parted, both of them looked rather emotional. Harry moved Sirius' shirt collar slightly to one side with a frown. "What's this?" he asked, sounding alarmed.

"Ummm," Sirius rubbed a hand over the raised scar and pulled his collar back as he turned away, his grey eyes flashing with mischief, "might be a werewolf claim mark."

"What?!" Draco's eyes bulged as he stared at Sirius and then Remus in alarm. Sirius turned back to the stove, took the spatula from Remus, and waved it airily before kissing Remus soundly on the lips. "Don't look at him like that, Draco. I told him to do it, several times in fact. And fuck, if I'd known how it felt, I'd have hassled him to do it a lot sooner too."

"But!" Harry exclaimed as Hermione turned and looked at Remus properly for the first time. She was surprised to see that he looked about ten years younger than usual, despite his obvious, present worry over how everyone would react. His face appeared more youthful, his skin was brighter, and his eyes, usually a dull, rather flat hazel, were now glistening with amber flecks as they danced brightly in the sunlight.

"That's a mate claim mark?" Hermione asked, tugging Sirius's top aside and examining the small bite mark herself, "as in, you bit him, Remus? But?"

"And you called us idiots for doing a similar thing yesterday!" Harry laughed as Hermione stroked her finger over the raised scar. "I think there's a muggle saying, something about pots and kettles that fits rather well here!"

"Is there?" Draco asked, pulling a chair out at the table and alternated between looking confused and concerned.

"There is." Harry started making coffee as Sirius stood still, letting Hermione examine the mark. "So you don't need a full moon to do this?"

Remus shook his head. "No. I can mark my mate any time I so choose. It's harmless for both of us. It just means that Sirius has committed to me and me to him."

"Do you want some Dittany to put on it?" Hermione blinked in surprise and forced herself to stop caressing Sirius's neck, wondering why she felt so strangely drawn to the mark.

"Come here, love." Draco took her hand and guided her away as she still looked unsettled. "What's wrong?"

"It doesn't need Dittany or silver on it," Sirius said, starting to crack eggs into the pan as he flashed another grin at Remus. "I'm not infected with lycanthropy. It's merely a claim. I'm his, that's all, and you're reacting to it, Hermione, I'd guess because you blood bonded with Draco yesterday. Draco has my family's blood in his veins, too, remember? Plus, he and I are also bonded now, via the life hook.

Hermione blinked again and looked down at her palm. The crescent moon shaped scar was raised and prominent, exactly as Sirius' bite scar was. It seemed that they were all linked together in some way now.

"What about Theo?" she asked suddenly.

"What about him?" Harry frowned, setting mugs down on the table.

"Is he connected to us as well? And Blaise and Daphne?"

Remus looked at her levelly for a moment. Hermione had the feeling he was assessing whether he thought she could cope with his answer. "They won't be directly bonded to you and Harry, but in a way, we are all connected now. Theo acted as the centrepin of everything yesterday. He pushed Draco through the veil to hook Sirius out, but was held back safely by Blaise and Daphne. They are all connected to each other, to Sirius, and yourselves by your parts in the ritual. Sirius and I are bonded and you three are bonded. Therefore we are all interconnected. A ritual like the one you all performed has long reaching consequences."

Sirius laughed at their stunned faces. "Oh, relax, it's not really such a big deal, you were all friends beforehand anyway. Did you get cleaned up, Draco? I must say you and Theo looked positively alarming last night when you were both still covered in blood!"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'm clean. Did you, uh, did you tell…. Professor Lupin, everything we did in the ritual?"

Remus looked up sharply. "It's Remus to you too, Draco. We're family now, after all." He held out his hand, and Draco shook it without missing a beat. "And I must apologize for not thanking you for your part in the ritual last night. I was rather shocked, to say the least, and my manners were not all they could have been."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "I told him everything, including your use of the blood ritual kit and its origins. Once he'd calmed down, he admitted it was brilliant work. "The pinnacle of stupidity but brilliant all the same," I believe were the actual words he used."

"Oh. right." Harry laughed. "Well, thanks for that, Remus."

"But," Sirius turned and started to hand out plates, "no more okay? I need you to promise me. I need all three of you to promise that you'll leave the Dark Magic well alone in the future. I can't begin to understand the risk that you all took, and I mean, okay, it paid off this time, and I'm very grateful to you all, but no more."

"I promise," Hermione said easily, taking the plate he passed her. "Thank you. I wasn't comfortable with it, I'd already decided that on my own."

"Yeah, me too," Harry admitted, digging hungrily into his breakfast. "On this occasion, it was worth it. Unless I could somehow bring Mum and Dad back with it, nothing would make me touch it again."

"Good," Remus said quietly. "What about you, Draco?"

"I wouldn't necessarily go that far again," he said, accepting his plate, "thanks, but I won't completely close it off either. It's my heritage, my upbringing-"

"Mine too," Sirius said quietly, "don't forget we have a similar heritage."

Draco stared at him for a moment. "Yeah. I suppose we do. But you rejected yours from a young age, I didn't. The dark side of things fascinated me. It still does, only now I know to use it for good rather than evil."

Sirius nodded, leaning back in his chair and pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Speaking of heritage, Harry, I love what you've done with this house, by the way, but please, please, tell me, the framed burn hole in the tapestry is still there?"

Harry laughed as he nodded. "It is."

Sirius eyed Draco's look of confusion and laughed. "When I left home at sixteen, my mother burned me off of the Black family tapestry. When I returned to this house years later, I put a large frame around the burn hole. A bright red and gold frame, just to piss her off."

"We couldn't bring ourselves to get rid of that," Hermione admitted, "in fact, there are a few different frames there now too. You'll have to have a look. But wait, haven't you already seen it? I thought you were floating around the house a lot, and I need to ask, Sirius, did you block me from reading Harry's diary that day? And was it your presence I used to feel in this house so much?"

Sirius nodded, looking saddened again. "Yes. I did block you, and I'm sorry for that, Hermione. I didn't know what was going on with you three then. All I knew was that Harry used to sit by my bed and write when he was sad or angry. I just assumed he wanted the diary kept private. And yes, I hung around this house most of the time, but only in certain rooms, the ones I'd spent a lot of time in previously. I couldn't get into the tapestry room, so I couldn't see what you'd done."

Remus smiled sadly. "Did you visit me?" he asked, focusing hard on his scrambled eggs and avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Of course I did, you fool! I watched you, and Harry, and Hermione, and I watched James and Lily on the other side. I spent the rest of the time dodging the screwed up pieces of parchment that your daft partner kept lobbing through the arch, Hermione."

"What?!" she asked, startled. Then she laughed as she remembered how Blaise had tested and demonstrated his theory by throwing crumpled up pieces of parchment through the veil. She remembered him telling her that he'd done it loads of times already.

"So could you see us all the time?" Harry asked, looking rather alarmed.

"Yes. Whenever I wanted to see you, I could." Sirius sighed, "I stayed out of most things even though sometimes it was tempting to interfere. There were a couple of times I stepped in, though. Once was blocking Hermione from reading the diary and once was to stun that guy you went home with Harry." He broke off and gave Harry a meaningful look. "Stick to getting you buzz from bungee jumps in the future, will you please?"

Sirius looked haunted as Harry stared determinedly at the table. "None of you can possibly know just how close the different realms are and how easy it is to pass messages to and fro. Your Grandfather, Draco, has disowned your father, just so you know. Abraxus is very proud of you. James and Lily are also beyond proud of you Harry. They were both frantic that night. All I could do was use my energy to knock the bastard out. Where the fuck was your wand, huh?!"

"Easy Pads." Remus put his hand on Sirius' arm, and Sirius closed his eyes, inhaling slowly through his nose as he visibly calmed.

"I know, alright?" Harry squeezed his own eyes shut and banged his fist on the table. Hermione jumped as the resounding bang caused the knives and forks to clatter. "I know I've made some stupid decisions, I'm dealing with it."

"Is this the guy you wrote about in your diary?" Hermione asked and assumed from Harry's lack of response that it was.

"You're not on your own to deal with the shit you're going through anymore," Sirius said, closing his hand over Harry's still clenched fist, "you've got all of us around you now."

Harry sighed heavily and nodded, finally opening his eyes as Draco took his other hand.

"So where else could you go then, Sirius?" Hermione asked, curiosity getting the better of her, "I mean, you could visit here, Lupin Cottage, Azkaban, and Hogwarts. Was there anywhere else?"

Sirius gave Harry one more pointed look, then having driven his point home, he released his hand and allowed the subject to change. "You've just listed the main ones, but I could go anywhere that my energy remained. I guess my previous energy worked like mini windows for me, but if I didn't use them regularly, they kind of dried up, and I got shut out. I used to be able to visit the Shrieking Shack, but I got locked out of there after I hadn't visited it for about a year. I made sure to keep everywhere else open after that. Hogwarts was a strong one, of course, but you didn't look in the right place there."

"We did," Draco said, "we looked in the common room, and your old dormitory-"

"Did you look in Dumbledore's old office?" Sirius queried with a mischievous look.

"No. Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "I spent quite a lot of time in detention there with James when we were at Hogwarts, plus there's a major vortex portal there."

"There's a what?!" Hermione squealed, "why? how?"

"Because Dumbledore had figured out the vortex enough to make one," Sirius said grimly. "Unfortunately, no one quite knew how he did it, though, and he died before he told anyone except Snape. Dumbledore knew I wasn't dead, and he was trying to figure out how to bring me back, but he never looked beyond light magic. He was too afraid of looking at what you three did. I think one of you once made a throwaway comment about the energy detectors and why he had so many of them at Hogwarts?"

"That was me!" Hermione breathed, staring at Sirius, transfixed.

"Well, he had them there to monitor the energy levels around the school. He told Snape his theories shortly before he died, Snape was meant to tell you that I could be brought back, Harry, but of course, Dumbledore always trusted Snape a little too much. Snape never got over his grudge against me and therefore took the secret to his own grave."

Instead of looking put out by this, Sirius grinned. "Snape always was an arse. The bad feelings between us were mutual. Dumbledore also made the portal for another reason. His sister Ariana is the only person I've ever known who can move freely between realms. She's dead, truly dead, but the spell that Grindelwald hit her with, and, yes, it was him that did it, purposefully to hurt Albus, lets her spirit wander freely-"

Sirius paused at the chorus of gasps in the room. "Ariana's not tied to any one realm. That's how she led Neville and the rest of Dumbledore's army from the Hog's Head into Hogwarts and back so many times when they were hiding out in your seventh year. She and I became friends, and she can pass messages between the different realms. Dumbledore wishes you all well, too, by the way. He says you should forgive yourself for everything that happened in your sixth year, Draco. He says he's never held any of what happened that year against you."

Draco blinked, and Hermione finally put the forkful of toast that had been frozen in mid-air for so long into her mouth. It seemed that she and Blaise had only scratched the tip of the iceberg when it came to understanding the veil and the mysterious portals it connected to.

"So," Sirius surmised, gazing around the room and clearly loving the way everyone was hanging on his words, "with Dumbledore dead, Snape not disclosing his secret, Ariana choosing not to visit the realm of the living, and Voldemort killing Grindelwald, who cursed Ariana in the first place, the secrets of the veil and it's vortex portals were looking to be forgotten."

Hermione glanced at Harry who looked shell-shocked as Sirius finally stood up to start collecting their empty plates. "That is, until now."