I'm baaaaack. I've been home from Italy for a couple weeks now, but everything has been so hectic with shopping for college that I couldn't find time to write. Thank you all so much for your reviews on the last chapter. You might want to skim the last few chapters, since I was barely able to remember what had happened myself since the last update…
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"I know you're here."
Sirius jumped. There was no one else in the room; to whom was Moody speaking? Sirius glanced under the table to see if there was perhaps someone hiding.
"Sirius."
Alright, Moody was talking to him after all. How?
"Are you wondering how I know you're here, Sirius?"
He couldn't help himself from nodding and responding. "Moody! I'm so glad you can see me! Why didn't you say anything before?" Sirius ran over to the old auror, but the good eye did not fix on the ghost, nor did the magical eye stop rolling in its socket.
"I can't see you, of course, Sirius. I can't hear you either, and I don't even know if you can hear me. But this eye of mine tells me there is one soul in this house that is not accounted for. I don't see you, but I do see that there is someone in this room besides myself."
How did you know it was me, Sirius questioned silently.
"How do I know it is you? Elementary. Any member of the Order who died knowing the location of this house could theoretically return as a spirit. Several did, at first, though of course only I knew it. But it would not have been vigilant to have invisible spectators at our meetings, even if they were in our confidences before their deaths. I sealed the house, then, against all invisible entities. But I could not seal it against any member of the Black family, as their ancestry in this soil is far stronger than ours. This was not a problem, since no Black knew the new location of their house. Except you."
Except me… That was all well and good, Sirius thought, but he still could not communicate with his friends. Then again, Moody would tell everyone that he was here, and then Harry could come by and keep him up-to-date. It would not be much different from his previous house arrest, except now not only couldn't he leave, but he couldn't speak either. Better than nothing.
"I am not going to tell the others that you were here, Sirius."
What?!
"I want you to leave. I don't want you to come back here, I don't want you to go to Little Whinging, I especially don't want you to go to Hogwarts. Go back where ever it is you came from."
This was not shaping out the way Sirius expected.
"I am saying this for your own good, Sirius. Once you decide to stay here and not move on with your death, it's final. And I would be ashamed if a brave man like you skipped out on the last great adventure."
Adventure! Sirius scoffed. If only Moody knew what it was like, he would not care to stay dead either.
"I know a lot of things, but I don't know about death. So when I die, I am not going to return to the life that I have already fully explored. Death is far more interesting. But perhaps you are not looking for adventure. Perhaps you were lonely in death. Get over it. We are all going to die one of these days. Myself, and Remus, and Harry, and even Dumbledore. And then who will be left for you to haunt? If you don't move on, you will be left behind."
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More to come soon! I'm going to try to get back to my old rhythm of this and finish it up. Sorry I kept y'all waiting, folks. Comments would help me know that I've held on to my readers.