Part 8 Live Free or Die
By Admiral Albia

A/n; Well, I know that this idea's been done before, but the main part isn't Sirius getting freed here.. it's what happens afterwards... and I can practically guarantee that that bit's original. As you may have guessed, Sirius has a choice between living free... or dying. But Harry and co. have to make it for him...

Disclaimer; I own nothing except Sirius' pets and the words Cargen and Copin. Happy? Oh yes, and I also own this **** painting... "I'm not letting you into your secret room now!" The words Puffskein and Crup belong to J.K. Rowling too; it's in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them which was released for Comic Relief.

Changing;
[][][] means the POV is changing; probably from Sirius in the first person to third person or vice-versa.
/\/\/\ means the scene or time is changing...

Chapter 8; Kill or Cure
"-don't know why you had to wait for a day, we could've had him cured by now..."
"Oh, James, stop moaning at me, you saw me trying, I was just too tired to stay on..." Lily flew up to Harry.
"Don't worry, they're always like this."
"I noticed. Um, why do you all ride sidesaddle?"
"Because when we learned to fly the cushioning spells weren't nearly so good," Remus called from his argument with James, "and I'm sure you can imagine what flying with a stick up your groin feels like..." Harry winced. "Exactly."
"There's Hogwarts!" James called pointing downwards. "Now, let's just hope we're not, ooh, say, a day too late..."
"I refuse to rise to that one. You know perfectly well that I always feel ill after a transformation..."

/\/\/\
"Oh, good, you found them!" Dumbledore beamed as the four dashed up to the hospital wing. "Unfortunately, Sirius is in crisis. Not too late to save, but... well, we seem to have an obstruction." They peeped round the door, and gasped.
Animals were crammed into the room, animals from every walk of life. Several hundred owls were sitting around; Harry could see Hedwig, Pig and Remus' owl, Gyna. Fawkes was sitting on the bed-post, and as they watched Milton flew over to land on a unicorn's back. There were some centaurs, and some merpeople, and a tawny owl with a green envelope clutched in its claws, which Remus informed Harry was Sirius' Boggart. There were some humans in the room, too, but they were crammed into a corner by the multitude of creatures; and in any case, half of them were busy fighting off their own worst nightmares - Ron was practically covered with spiders, which Hermione and Ginny were trying frantically to pick off him. They were sort of succeeding, but the spiders only scuttled up the wall and spun webs in front of Ron's face. Harry had the distinct impression that they knew he was scared and were teasing him. Suddenly, Remus grabbed him and spun him round.
"Harry, listen. We have to get the animals out of the room. Without Sirius, Tkaa is the leader. Tkaa is the snake. Do you understand me? We have to get the snake out of the room." Harry nodded, and stepped into the crowd of mainly magical beasts.
"Um, Tkaa?" The snake's head appeared from somewhere around Sirius' chest.
Yes?
"We have somebody here who might be able to cure him... could you let us get through, please?"
Of course. Tkaa stared at the animals. Let the humans through, peeps, they might be able to help. The crowd parted instantaneously, leaving Harry feeling rather embarrassed and Lily and James staring at him in a mixture of horror and fascination.
"I'll explain later," Remus murmured, before steering them to the front. "What do they have to do?"
"Perform finite incantum together," Dumbledore said. They stared at him.
Then Lily said; "That's all?"
"Yes, that is all."
"OK," James produced his wand. "Tips touching?"
"Of course."
"Right. On three, Lily? One. Two. Three -"
[][][] Sirius' POV
I was dying, and I knew it. Though nobody else was aware of me, I was conscious... I knew, in a very hazy, dream-like way, what was going on. I knew that Milton had just landed on Binary, I knew that Tkaa was talking to somebody. I knew, too, that I'd reached out without knowing it to my friends, my animal friends, and I knew that they were there. I knew, because I felt their sorrow.
"Right. On three, Lily? One. Two. Three -" A voice. A human voice, not particularly important. But... familiar? It didn't matter. I was sinking down, down into blackness, into the almost welcoming unconsciousness that was death, that was...
"Finite incantum!"
I opened my eyes. And the room erupted with cheers, with whinnies, with phoenix song, with hoots and with Bria's unmistakeable piercing whistle. She's still a baby; too young to speak to me like the others do. The exhaustion was gone, the room swam into focus for the first time in days. And then I saw exactly who the owner of that seemingly familiar voice was..."
/\/\/
[][][] Third Person
"Oh, bugger, he's fainted!"
"Well, it's not every day you get dragged away from death's door by a couple of people who you've thought dead themselves for years, is it?"
"Oh really? And what do you know about it, Moony? It could be an extremely common occurrence for all you know!"
"It isn't." Firenze, the centaur Harry had met in first year, said from behind them.
"Harry, you're back!" Ron and Hermione had finally caught up with things. "Where were you?"
"Finding us," James said with a cheery grin. Ron stopped dead.
"Are you... I mean, I thought you were... is he your dad?" He asked Harry, finally giving in. Harry grinned and nodded.
"Yes, this is Harry's father," Dumbledore said with a smile from behind James, "And the woman who is currently having a fight with Madam Pomfrey over who has the most experience in waking up a fainted person is his mother. Ah, Lily's won. I think I had better go and explain this to Sirius. Mr Weasley?"
"Yes?" said Mr Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George and Ron, all at once. A/n; Percy isn't there, he's at work. Duh.>
"Ah. I meant the twins, actually. My apologies, I will remember to specify next time. Misters Fred and George Weasley?"
"Yes?"
"Would you be so kind as to go down to the kitchens - I am sure you know the way - and bring a hot meal up here? Sirius will be starving, he hasn't eaten for two days."
/\/\/
A/n; I can hear you all partying out there, don't be mean, invite me in ;-) But this story ain't over yet! I have one more chapter to write, then I'll do two (possibly three) sequels... don't groan out there! Between them, these three or four (probably four, come to think of it) stories will make up one lovely long, rambling tale... and, well, you all want to see Peter's reaction to James and Lily's reappearance, don't you? eg>
REVIEW PLEASE!!! I NEED REVIEWS!
Constructive criticism much appreciated.
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