His school uniform--someone had removed his robes--was dry but stiff. Harry tugged at the sleeves a bit before noticing the cup of water beside the empty vial of sleep potion on the bedstand. He downed it in almost one gulp, surprised at how thirsty he was, then stood and went over to the window.
The young sun shimmered weakly over the new-fallen snow. Everything looked so pristine, so clean and perfect. Harry touched his fingertips to the glass, searching for any trace of red that had stained such pureness just the night before. As far as his eye could see, there was nothing but whiteness.
The lake was not so reassuring. Its mirror-smooth coating of ice was marred by a jagged, gaping hole in the center. Somewhere, far below that black water, Harry knew a dead woman was in the clutches of the giant squid.
With a shudder he turned away from the window.
"God, no! Stop it! Please, stop it, stop it, get away!"
The desperate, wild voice came from outside the ward, muffled and distant but no less startling for it. Harry flew to the door and ran out into the corridor.
"Remus! Look out! Get away from him, for the love of God, run, run...!"
Harry followed Sirius's voice anxiously, running as quietly as he could through the hospital wing until he came to a closed door in the section reserved for serious emergencies. His hand froze on the knob, knuckles turning white as bone, as a new voice came from inside.
"Black!" hissed quietly like a snake, but too feminine to be Snape. "Black, wake up!"
Harry's hand twisted, but the knob disappeared from under his hand. As he gaped, the bronze of the handle slowly twisted into a mouth. "You're not authorized to be here!" rapped the door quietly. "What's the password?"
"Let me in," demanded Harry breathlessly.
"Sorry, no can do. Orders are orders."
"You've got to!" said Harry hotly. "He's in trouble!"
"There's someone perfectly competent tending to him," replied the door primly.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Sirius's voice had risen to a shout. "Please, no! Run!" He sounded like a madman. "Remus!"
"Let me in, damn it!" growled Harry, drawing his wand and pointing it at the mouth--although what he was going to get out of threatening a door, he didn't know. "That's my godfather in there!"
"Oh, a relative, are you?" inquired the door, unperturbed. "Well, why didn't you say so before? Hm. I suppose I could allow you viewing privileges..."
A circular section of the door misted into fogged glass and then cleared, so that right at Harry's eyelevel there was a hole straight into the small room. Through it he could see Sirius, thrashing about on the bed, while Rysk held him down. She, too, had discarded of her robes. Harry could see the slender but prominent muscles that flowed beneath her arms. "Black! You're going to wake the entire damn school, wake up! You're dreaming!"
Sirius did not cease his incoherent ranting. Rysk's jaw worked, then she raised her arm and delivered an open-handed blow to Sirius's face.
Harry made an angry, choked sound in his throat and stepped forward to force the door open. His hand grabbed air. "Nuh-uh-uh-uh-uh," chided the door.
A muscle in Harry's cheek jumped. "Professor!" He pounded on the door. "Professor Harrison, let me in!"
Rysk whirled about, her eyes narrowing dangerously right at Harry, but she didn't seem to see him. "Who is it?" she snapped. Had Harry not been sick with anger and worry about his godfather he would have surely been cowed.
"It's me; it's Harry--let me in!"
Rysk's face loomed in the magical window before the door opened. Harry took a step back as she stared at him. "Come on in then, Potter," she said coolly after a moment, as if what was happening behind her was of no more consequence than a fly. Harry slipped past her and crossed the room to Sirius's side in two strides.
"No!" Black's body convulsed with this final shriek; Harry recoiled. Then Sirius's body went limp and his eyes snapped open, frightened and glazed, staring into Harry's face uncomprehendingly, chest heaving.
"You had a nightmare." Harry looked over his shoulder at Rysk's cold face.
"Wha...what..." Sirius's blank gaze flicked to Rysk as though he'd never seen the strange young witch in his life.
"Shh." Harry awkwardly took a hold of Sirius's hand and squeezed it gently. "It's all right now. It's okay. You're at Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts." Sirius blinked. His face was as gaunt and sunken as when Harry had first met him; what little weight he had gained was lost. Realization flashed across his godfather's face. "Dumbledore--I need to see Dumbledore, right now...!" He tried to sit up and cried out as he put weight on his injured arm. "Ah...!"
"You broke an arm and a leg, Pomfrey fused the bones last night, and she says you're in the worst state of exhaustion she's ever seen so lie back down," ordered Rysk in clipped tones, stepping forward swiftly and shoving Sirius back into the pillows.
"Let me up," rasped Black, fighting weakly, "You don't understand--I need to talk to Dumbledore...!"
"You need to eat!" exclaimed Harry. His hand had accidentally fallen on his godfather's stomach and found it caved in. "My God..."
"You idiots!" cried Sirius, "They've got Remus! They've got Remus!"
Rysk blinked. Her lips tightened grimly as she reached out and touched Black's forehead with the back of her hand. "Fever still isn't gone," she murmured.
Black shivered under her cold touch. "I'm not delirious, Rysk!" he spat.
Harry pushed past Rysk. "What do you mean?" he asked in a low, urgent voice. Something terribly important was pricking at the very edges of his memory. "Sirius, what are you talking about?"
Black looked torn. He opened his mouth as if to say something, shut it, and said firmly, "Get Dumbledore."
Harry swallowed at the terrible, tortured despair in Sirius's eyes. Before Rysk could stop him, he backed away and flew out of the room. Dashing through the hospital ward, he found the door and threw it open...
"Oof!"
"Harry?" Dumbledore's kind eyes looked down on him with a ghost of their usual twinkle.
"Headmaster!" Harry hastily disentangled himself from the old wizard and stumbled backwards. Dumbledore caught him by the shoulders. "Headmaster, he's up, he wants to see you...!"
****
Harry sat silently by Sirius as he reported to Dumbledore, visibly shaken but no longer frantic thanks to a calming potion.
"They have Remus, Dumble..." Black took a breath and stole a glance at Harry. "Headmaster."
Dumbledore nodded gravely, radiating calmness. "What happened?"
Sirius started to sit up, but Harry put a restraining arm across his chest. With a look of both frustration and hidden tenderness his godfather fell back onto the bed. "We...we...did you get my last letter?"
"I did, in October. You were trailing Voldemort's followers."
Harry stared hard at Black, who steadfastly avoided his eyes. He swallowed, licked his lips, and nodded. "Yes. We were trailing them. For a month, everything seemed to be fine. We were extremely careful. Voldemort himself we never got close to," Harry felt an invisible shudder run through Sirius's body, "but he had put...Pettigrew in charge of the main group."
The terrible fury, barely suppressed, that twisted Black's face at the mention of his one-time friend was almost tangible. Harry saw Professor 'Harrison' catch Dumbledore's eye for the briefest fraction of a second.
"We followed them, spied on them. They're preparing for something...for something...and we almost found out. They were talking about some...Initiation. The Initiation. Arabella figured that it must have been such and such night...God, I can't even remember the date." Sirius put a hand to his forehead. Harry bit his lip, feeling helpless. "A few days ago. We took up our posts. They gathered in a clearing in Ireland, small trees, clear, open sky...I decided..." Sirius's voice cracked. "I decided a few of us should hide in the surrounding foliage. To get a better look." He sounded absolutely disgusted with himself.
"Remus volunteered, along with Arabella." Sirius closed his eyes. "Something...something went wrong. A late Death Eater...walked right over where Remus was lying, he couldn't get out of the way..." A shuddering breath. "All hell broke loose."
There was a heavy silence. "Who have we lost?"
Black looked up suddenly at Rysk. "Who have we lost?" His voice was hoarse and edged. "THEY HAVE REMUS! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! WHAT ARE YOU SITTING THERE FOR, DO SOMETHING, DAMN IT!"
Sirius had thrown Harry's hand away and sat up as though lightening had struck him. His shoulder connected hard with Harry's cheek; he reeled backwards, one hand to his face. Black stared at Harry, looking dazed, looking shocked, then bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured tiredly. "Harry, I'm sorry."
"Sirius." Dumbledore's voice was gentle but urgent.
"Yes. Yes. Losses." Sirius didn't look up. "Everyone got out alive. We killed three of theirs." Vicious triumph flared in Black's voice but quickly died away. "I chased after them...the ones that took Remus. They got away, got me lost, sent two of their own to capture or kill me, I don't know which..." His next words were broken, strained and exhausted and hollow in their anger. "They have him alive. God, I wish he was dead. I wish he was dead."
