Forcing Entrances

I was on alert as soon as I opened the front door. I'm not really sure why, it's not like I was expecting him to pounce on me, but I was trying to look in eight directions at once and thus couldn't actually see anything. I shouldn't have worried.

Nothing happened until I got about halfway across the yard. I dropped to my knees and felt a jet of something electric blue graze my left ear. Of course. He had been hiding behind the door.

"Impressive," he called out. "Either luck or intuition, be honest."

"I'm putting my money on luck," I called back, now facing him, but still in a half-crouching position.

"Lesson One, then. You don't avoid these things by luck," Sirius laughed, floating a glowing blue orb above his hand.

"Well yes, I understand that it is a horrible strategy and unreliable as heck, but it comes in handy sometimes."

He appeared to be playing catch with the thing, except it always stopped an inch from his fingers. "You misunderstand-most combative magic negates luck. Fortunately, your intuition, though latent, it quite strong."

I must admit that made me rather skeptical. "So you're saying I dodged that ..."

"Energy bolt."

"Yes, thank you, energy bolt because something subconsciously told me to get out of its way?"

"Close enough."

"I don't believe it."

"Care to test?"

I didn't have time to respond before he launched the ball in his hand at me, along with a few more oddly shaped bits of energy. I think I managed to duck out of the way of two of them, but the rest all hit, and left annoying patches of tingling flesh behind. "Ha! See? It was luck."

"If it was anything but your intuitive powers, you wouldn't have been able to dodge even those two."

"Well at least give me back my wand so I can protect myself." It's a wonder I didn't think to ask for it before now.

"If you had a wand, it wouldn't be physical training, now would it?" He smirked, and I scowled. "I'll start just shooting very low level energy at you, while you attempt to dodge."

I groaned but got to my feet. I actually managed to dodge about half of the next batch. I just couldn't move quickly enough for the others. He paused, and I assumed further instructions and a third set were coming. Suddenly he whipped out his wand and put a blinding charm on me.

"That is so not fair. You can't block charms, or dodge them!"

I heard his voice laughing somewhere behind me. "You weren't supposed to dodge it. You are relying on your eyes too much. Eyes can deceive you, much easier than the other senses can. I'm not taking the charm off until you can successfully dodge without the use of your eyes. You have ten seconds to take in everything you can and adjust yourself accordingly before I shoot."

He started counting down was all the way to four before I realized what he was doing. If I oriented myself towards the sound of his voice, I would at least be facing the right direction to dodge.

I was hit with three in a row, ducked one that I could hear, and tripped over a chicken. "Stupid things, always underfoot." I picked myself back up, but I was disoriented without the sound of Sirius's voice.

After the first two, I figured out where he was coming from. I was getting better, and I could usually sense where the energy was close enough to get out of the way. I had gotten past ten straight without getting hit when he paused again. "Can I have my vision back now? This is really annoying."

I sat down, allowing my body a minute to stop tingling. Once I was feeling normal again and had caught my breath, I stood up. I was immediately hit by a silent blast in the leg. I yelped in pain but the sound didn't come. Suddenly I realized he had put sound blocks on me. I was going to have to rely totally on instinct.

I caught on quicker that time. After about two dozen I wasn't getting hit anymore. Once I had gone for twelve straight dodges he took the silencers off, so I could be sure I wasn't just jumping around for no reason. He took the blinder off too, and I had to blink a few times before the white faded. I was stumbling a bit, because the world had a major glare, and he came and caught me under my arms and propped me up against his side. "Don't wander off before you can see properly. I don't want you hurting yourself in case I didn't remove the charm right."

It took me a minute to catch my breath, and I had to look around and wait even longer for all the colors of things to arrange themselves properly, but I was all right. I think he was about to introduce the next part when I interrupted him.

"Wait. You haven't answered anything. Just one question before we get started again, please?"

"Fine, but it will be quick."

I bit my lower lip, trying to think of what to ask. Finally I gave in. "Why are you here?"

He sat down on the porch. "That one will take a while. I'll tell you later, but find a nice short one for now."

"Oh fine. How did you get here?"

I turned my head for a minute and when I looked back there was an enormous black dog in his place. It came at least up to my waist, and probably weighed twice as much as I do. It came and started rubbing up against my side, pushing me against the railing. "Sirius?"

He barked twice in response. "You're an Animagus?" he nodded his shaggy head, then changed back while I watched. "I guess that means you're unregistered, or else it wouldn't have worked as a disguise. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are. And I'll tell you that story, but later. For now, how big is your property?"

"It's pretty large. I'd guess five or ten acres. Mum and Dad wanted us to have a lot of room to run around in, and it makes it easier to hide magic."

He nodded. "Follow me." He stepped back into the yard, transformed, and took off at a run. It took me a minute to catch on, then I bolted off the porch and tore after him.

On four legs, he was much faster than me. We must have gone all the way around and through the property five times. Every few minutes, he would be almost out of view, then he would turn sharply and run off in a completely different direction, leaving me to dash around and scramble through the underbrush to his new path. I was exhausted by the time he finally stopped on the porch, panting heavily. I didn't stop quickly enough, tripped over him in my attempt not to crash into the house, and slammed down onto the wooden porch.

I was tired enough that I didn't even bother getting up. I moved an arm under my head, and lay there panting with my legs across his back.

He caught his breath again sooner than I did. He slowly scooted out from under my legs, and came and nudged my hand. I rolled over and leaned up against the house, and he came and sprawled himself across my lap.

I gave in and petted him, stroking and digging his long fur. For all the tangled mess it was in, he has very soft fur, and it was very relaxing. I realized after a bit though that, considering how much I was already sweating, having a large furry black dog on my lap wasn't helping. And I could really use a shower. I put my hands against the ground and pushed, in a fruitless attempt to get up.

"That's it," I said, addressing Sirius the dog on my lap, "I'm getting up now, so you are just going to have to get up too."

He looked at me piercingly, with a challenge in his eyes. If I was going to get up I was going to have to wrestle him to the ground to do it. And there was about as much chance of Snape making himself a love potion as me being able to do that.

I hate odds. I shifted my legs a bit, and rolled over hard. The momentum, with some force on his part added I'm sure, sent us tumbling across the porch, ending with him pinned beneath me at the edge of the steps. "Ha, I win!" I started to get up, and he gave once last push and rolled us over down the stairs. Even for wood with padding charms, it was rather painful, and the roll ended up with me pinned beneath him and trapped against the side of the bottom step. He gave a wide doggy grin, licked my face, and changed back. "Not this time, you don't!" He laughed.

It took both of us a surprising amount of time to realize what a compromising position we were in. When he did, he immediately stood up, brushed himself off and offered me a hand. I took it and allowed myself to be pulled to my feet, trying to hide my blush with my other hand. He released and looked deep into my eyes for a moment before smiling and waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Well, that was certainly fun, now wasn't it?"

That was a little much for me. I scowled, grunted something not worth repeating, and tackled him. We tumbled across the lawn, both attempting to stop above. He won, of course, and when we finally stopped rolling he had hold of both my arms and was straddling me, kneeling across my waist. "You were saying, Ginevra?"

"Okay, okay, you win, but you can't exactly say it was a fair fight!" I panted.

"That's a little much for the two-time challenger to complain about, need I say?" He laughed. It's so not fair.

"Why do you always get to be right?" Oops. Hadn't meant to say that out loud.

He didn't even pause. "How come no one told me about this special ordinance? Merlin, things would be a lot easier if everyone else believed that! I think we'll just continue that rule. 'The Ministry of Magic today released a controversial new regulation, proclaiming the correctness of Sirius Black in all matters, especially those pertaining to his devilish good looks.' Wouldn't you love to see that in the Daily Prophet? Well, no, I suspect you wouldn't, but it's a lovely thought."

I wasn't used to keeping up with anyone else going that quickly. "Would you mind, you know..."

"Not babbling? Sounding less astonishingly self-assured? It'll be a stretch, but I suppose not."

"Well, actually, I was going to say getting off, but both of those sound nice as well."

"I'll wait while you decide."

This was getting annoying. I tried rocking back and forth, attempting to roll us over, which ended like most badly thought out plans. With him laughing at me. If there is one thing I hate about a guy, it's this kind of power trip. I scowled at him threateningly, and he stood up, laughing harder, and offered a hand down to me.

I got up on my own, brushed past him, and stomped upstairs to take a shower.

Twenty minutes later I came back downstairs in knee-length cutoffs and a t-shirt, and followed the clattering into the kitchen. Sirius had prepared a full lunch, which was spread across the table. Two kinds of sandwiches, fruit salad, a pitcher of pink lemonade, and a tray covered with what appeared to be slices of cheesecake. I stopped at the doorway.

"Well, this certainly isn't what I was expecting."

He turned around. "I hope I did it right. I haven't had to apologize to a girl your age for about twenty years." I hadn't intended to let him off easily, but he's got a grin that is beyond the mortal powers of a girl to resist.

I walked over to his side without cracking a smile, which I consider a major accomplishment, eyed the table carefully, and wrapped him in a hug. He laughed, partially in relief, and hugged me back. After a moment we released and he took my hand. "Will the fair maiden consent to dining with the kitchen servant?"

"Well, by the looks of it the humble kitchen servant appears acceptably repentant. I'd love to," I laughed, taking a seat. He served me like a gentleman, then sat down himself, and we both dug in. I waited until I had finished my first sandwich to begin the conversation again.

"Would you mind giving me my wand back? I mean, I trust you, but I am feeling really vulnerable without it."

"Glad you asked. If you didn't remember that I really wouldn't have taught you anything." He took it out of the pocket of his robes, twirled it in his fingers a moment, then tossed it back. I caught it, but tucked it back into my pocket quickly.

"So will you tell me what you're doing here? I mean, I think I deserve that answer at least."

"You really aren't one to stay distracted, are you? All right, I'll tell you. As you obviously know, I am a fugitive from the law. Ignoring the fact that I am innocent, like our Ministry has chosen to, they are attempting to get me at the very least into the maximum security area of Azkaban, at the most some form of torture before sucking out my soul. Your parents are among the ten or so people who believe I am not a murderer, and the least conspicuous. I am supposed to stay here for at least a month helping Dumbledore."

"How come they didn't tell me you were going to be here?"

"How should I know? Probably security reasons, given that I am supposed to be hiding. They didn't tell me you were going to be here either."

"That seems a little stranger. You'd think they'd warn you that you were hiding in an occupied house. Why didn't they send you to the Grangers', so you could be with Harry?"

"Well, you see, I'm also on the run from the Muggle law, and Hermione's parents don't exactly know of my innocence, much less my relation to Harry."

"Still, it seems kind of weird that they'd send you to hide out with me for a few months. Almost wonder if they were expecting this to happen."

"Expecting what?"

"You to help me out some." That was followed by a rather long, silent pause.

"What do you feel like doing for the afternoon? I'm not really that familiar with this place," Sirius finally broke in.

"Well, I didn't really have any plans for the day. Feel up to a rousing game of chess?"

He laughed and continued working his way through the pile of sandwiches. "I was never very good at wizards' chess. I fear my attention span was a little too short to ever figure it out well."

"Oh good! Finally, someone I can beat. You have no idea how rare that is!" I just couldn't help wanting to beat him at something.

"You know, you aren't saying much for yourself."

"No one ever does. I'm not the popular one, or the friendly one, or the quidditch star, or even the smart or talented or good looking one. I'm just the girl."

"Are you so sure about that? That there is really nothing special about you?"

"Yes."

"I could teach you something special, if you like, but you'd have to keep it a secret. Could you keep a secret like that about yourself?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to keep my own secrets?"

"I don't know. I knew a girl once who wouldn't breathe a word of anyone else's secrets but couldn't keep her own if her life depended on it." I looked at him a little bizarrely, but waved it off.

"I can keep secrets. Really."

"Promise? Because if we go through with it, this could get both of us in a world of trouble. What would you be willing to do to keep it?"

"Huh?"

"Well I don't suspect this is the kind of thing anyone would torture you for, but sometimes kids make each other do pretty embarrassing things if they won't share secrets."

"Really? I suppose I've never really been in the situation..."

"Oh sure, as if they aren't still playing the midnight games of Strip Truth or Dare in the Gryffindor common room."

"If they are, they aren't telling me about it."

"Harry hasn't mentioned it, but he seemed to already know what I meant when I was telling him the stories. But you still aren't answering the question."

"All right, fine. I would-" I paused a moment to think. "I would kiss Draco Malfoy on the lips to keep a secret."

"If it were any other female, I wouldn't think it would be much kissing Draco Malfoy on the lips. Most males either. He looks like he'd be a good kisser."

That was enough to make me look at him rather quizzically. It's not the sort of thing you expect grown males to say. "Yes, so you don't need to ask. It's not like I want to sleep with him though."

"I never would have guessed, you-"

"Seem a little more masculine than you'd expect? I swing both ways. But it really doesn't matter." By this time we had worked our way to the dessert, and I was feeling rather stuffed.

"Can we just chill the cheesecake, go to the den, and have you actually tell me this secret?" It was starting to bother me, not knowing what it was.

"Fine, fine, I suppose I can trust you." He put a charm over the last plate and followed me to the den, when we sat, facing each other, on the couch. He looked around, perhaps making absolutely sure that no one could hear us, then leaned over and whispered something very quickly in my ear. It took me a minute to work out.

"You'd do that, really? But isn't it dangerous?"

"You'd be supervised by an experienced adult, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose, but isn't it illegal?"

"Only if you're found out. And if you're careful, and know how to keep your mouth shut, I don't see how you could be. Besides, it's about the best self-defense imaginable. I couldn't count the number of times it's saved my life." He shrugged. "But if you don't want to, I understand."

"No, no, I do, it's just that-" I sighed, "this will be terribly complicated, won't it?"

"One of the most complicated there is, and that's if everything goes perfectly."

A/N: I am ending the chapter there, and it is for a good part because I'm evil. Bwa ha ha ha ha. One hundred points to anyone who guesses the obvious secret here (meaning identifying it is obvious, I should hope the other side of the cliff is not) mostly because I'm working on foreshadowing and I'm not sure how good I am at it. This chapter took me longer than any of the others to write, but there were a lot of important things that had to happen, and I had a guest over, so couldn't do any writing at all. Much love goes out to JobeyRD/Green Eyed Lady, who is my critic, encourager, and assistant warden of plotbunnies (without whom, the idea for this story never would have happened). If you guys think that Sirius's explanation was totally not worth the wait, let me know. There is a little more to it than that, if the readers are interested.

Anyway, I've cleaned up the first four chapters of this, and I'm finally writing the fifth one (and intend to continue).