Fudge let out a squeal reminiscent of a dying pig and a frightened mouse.
"Leave," Keayalnea's voice was civil ice, "now. I do not recommend you return for quite some time."
With that, he hurried from the attic of the Gryffindor common rooms.
"I will send someone to find Sirius," Albus turned towards the door.
"They may not have to look far," Keayalnea levitated Sinia's unconscious body with a sweep of her hand. "He would know her screams."
"Is there nothing we can do?"
"You are not in a position to decide these things Albus, and I am stretching my authority as it is. Get Sirius, and send Cornelius away. Now."
"You presume to control me?" Albus chuckled lightly.
"I presume you do not wish Sinia or the Minister of Magic dead on school grounds today. Nothing more."
"Very well." He stepped out of the portrait hole, pleasantly surprised to see Remus hurrying toward him. He shut the portrait without looking behind him.
"Remus," he silenced the younger man as Remus attempted to speak. "I need you to go find Sirius. And it is critically important that you do so with all possible speed."
Remus shut his mouth, glaring angrily at his former headmaster, before spinning on his heel and walking away. Albus sighed- Remus wasn't happy, but he'd do as asked without questions. His ears caught a rustle behind him.
"Severus, outside of my pleasant shock to see you this high above ground, I'm afraid you will try something rash, and I must warn you against it. He will be under the sanctuary of a higher power than the Minister or myself during his stay. And I would not try her temper."
With that, he left the potions master to his own thoughts.
***
Keayalnea was struggling. Not so much with Sinia's weight- the girl was skinny as a rail, and besides, if Keayalnea couldn't levitate one of her charges, she had no right to call herself the Zenith of SphynxFyre. No, angling around corners, furniture, doors, and down stairs were the difficult parts. She pushed the portrait open, levitating Sinia through, and closed it as she continued toward the infirmary. Her mind was several steps ahead of her current situation when the voice stopped her.
"You look like you could use some assistance."
She turned to face him, face tense, eyebrow raised. She shook her hair out of her face, and he suddenly had a vision of that face, torn to ribbons, bleeding, bruised, and brutally defiant.
He'd seen her somewhere before.
"If I needed your help, I would have asked for it." She spat. "Or are you really such a fucking dumbass as to waste perfectly good chivalry on me, idiot?"
"Well, excuse me then, miss. But I am not an idiot." His voice dripped sarcasm as much as hers, just as venomous, but his voice was low, the words hissed and dangerous.
"Excuse me then," she grinned, vindictively. "For not being an idiot, you are quite stupid."
"Watch your bounds, miss. I'd hate to leave you a crying mess on the floor. Heaven knows what might find you."
A peal of laughter escaped her, and she tossed her hair. "Well, Severus, whatever it is that finds me, I would hope it won't be you. For if you are not an idiot, and if you are not stupid, you are quite the ass."
With that, she turned on her heel and continued her trek to the infirmary.
***
Remus was walking down the entrance hall when he spotted the dog, but not before the dog spotted him. Sirius barreled towards him at a breakneck pace, transforming midleap, and pinning a shocked Remus against the wall, growling low in his throat the entire time.
"WHERE'S SINIA?!" he was loud enough to wake the dead. "WHERE'S MY FUCKING WIFE?!"
"I don't know, Sirius." Remus would never remember how he had managed to stay civil. "Dumbledore just sent me to find you." Realization dawned on his face. "Wait… you. Why did you shred the Fat Lady's portrait?"
"She wouldn't let me in- I didn't know the password. But I had to get in, Remus, I had to!" he stepped back from the shorter man. "Sinia was up there. She was screaming her lungs out. She's hurt somewhere, again…" he turned away, blinking back tears. "Remus, where is she?"
"The infirmary by now, though I doubt that will help her much," Dumbledore's voice sang through the air behind them. Sirius spun, backing against the wall defensively. Albus chuckled. "You are under Keayalnea's protection for the time being, Sirius. Hurry." Albus's voice was edged with an anger that Sirius had never heard before, almost as though he resented Keayalnea's presence.
Sirius, however, was too busy running up the stairs to pay attention.
***
He stopped at the doorway, suddenly, hanging off the frame. Keayalnea glanced up at him as she continued to wash the blood off of Sinia's face and arms.
"It won't kill her if you sit, and it would make this easier to explain."
He did as she asked, pulling up a chair next to the bed. Hearing a sloshing sound below him, he looked down, quickly withdrawing his foot from the puddle of blood on the floor.
"She's stopped bleeding," Keayalnea interjected, noting he'd opened his mouth. "Fudge snuck an onyx blade into the grounds, and he attacked her with it. I'm here to fulfill her duties while she's indisposed."
"What happened?"
I expected better from you. No one knows, save her and Fudge. The question is in the onyx."
"What about it?"
"Onyx is the only element that can severely wound a sorceress. These are not in my power to heal- there is only one person who can, and he is predisposed for a week at least."
"Madam Pomfrey…"
"Wizard medicine will not work on sorcery wounds. Nothing and no one here knows the remedies she needs."
"So what can we do?"
"You are her Savior, therefore you are the only one who can make a decision in this matter. I do not know if she could survive the week's wait. Her temperature will rise, she will grow delirious, and the sores will break open at intervals. They will blister and the skin will burn away. Shortly afterward that flesh will become infected and rot. It is a painful process. So you have three options- we can end her life now, leave her here and pray for Tiyrn's early return, or we can attempt to save her using the resources we have available. Which may kill her."
"Could we not just owl Tiyrn for instructions?"
"Not in his present situation, no. As calloused as this will seem to you, in your biased state, her life is not worth enough to risk his, when she may already be past saving. Come find me when you've made your decision." She turned to leave, then stopped, as though forgetting something. "You are under my protection during your stay here, and should she die, it would remain that way. You understand the implications."
He nodded solemnly.
"Don't parade your immunity- the fewer notice your presence, the better. I'll give you your privacy." With that, she left.
Sirius sat for a moment, contemplating. If Sinia died, he would be free. Such a cost for such a desired thing. He looked at the pale, wasted figure on the bed. Her skin had sallowed, the nicks and gashes on her face having darkened to a blackish, rotted purple, circled by an inflamed reddish- pink area. He ran his hands down her arms, surveying the damage, and meticulously avoiding the pained sores. A small whimper escaped her, and he looked up into her eyes- panic-stricken, but the same old grey. He reached to take her uninjured hand into his own, squeezing lightly.
"What happened to you, babydoll?"
"Fudge tried to bully me into giving you up. I owled him, and he didn't like my information."
"What was it?"
"Fudge can only return you to Azkaban, so long as I am alive. He tried to remove that obstacle, but he didn't think that Keayalnea has powers to override him in the event of my death."
He nodded. "I'm not going back to Azkaban." There was a harsh note in her voice that she had never expected to hear again.
"Then kill me. Keayalnea despises you, but she'd protect you to spite Fudge."
"You know that isn't a valid option."
"You may not have the option. The last time onyx was used on a sorceress was twelve years ago- Keayalnea was attacked three days after me, and the sores were still raw when she got me out of Azkaban." The fear was plain on her face.
"Tiyrn will be here in a week. She doesn't think you'll last that long."
"Not surprising. Death and taxes aside, what options do we have?"
"Sit and do nothing, or sit and try to fix it."
"Neither is a good option."
"No," he hung his head, staring out the window. "What should I do?"
"If you want me to hold on, I'll try. The rest is up to you."
He chuckled quietly, squeezing her hand. "Why did you never tell me it went through?"
"What? … oh." Realization dawned on her face. "There was never really a good moment. Besides, I can't keep you out of Azkaban."
"I wasn't worried about that- I remember the stipulations." He smiled at her, genuinely, if subdued. "It's just a piece of good news." He pulled the blanket up, noticing her shiver. "So after twelve years, love, do I still have to buy your underwear?" he arched one eyebrow, his mischievous grin inches from her face.
"Yes," she craned her neck to kiss him. "You do."
"I would hope that after all this time, woman, you would have learned how to walk into a lingerie store, select items of an appropriate size, hand the cashier money, and leave," the sarcasm was dripping, blunted by his crooked smile. "Not that a wanted fugitive would have to do so for you."
"I like the stuff you get me," she smiled meekly.
"And I like getting it. Almost as much as I like seeing you in it." He shifted his weight onto his forearms, resting his upper body over hers, foreheads touching. "But it would be nice to be surprised once in a while."
"I never got the chance to. Besides, you'd get jealous."
"Probably," he brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. "Probably. You rest, I'll be back later."
"All right," she smiled, turning her head to sleep.
"Hey," he nipped her ear to get her attention. "You realize that when you're well, you have twelve years of modeling to make up for?"
That brought a genuine laugh out of her.