{Disclaimer:  The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books.  I, therefore, own no parts of this, save for the characters of Andromeda McGee and Wyvern, who are figments of my own imagination.}

Chapter 27

What Happens, Happens

**Trying to hold on / but didn't even know/Wasted it all just to/ Watch you go/ I kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart/ What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I tried so hard "In the End" Linkin Park**

Sirius didn't understand it.  Why she had gone and helped to make the Dark Lord invincible was beyond him.  She had no reasons to do so.  In fact, she had a large grudge against him in the first place, especially after what he did to her.  There was no logical explanation to it, none at all.  Then again, women in general were not the most logical creatures, Andy being no exception to the rule.  He could still not see a reason for it.  Unless she didn't do it…

No, that couldn't be it.  Snape said she made the potion.  However dastardly the Slytherin may be, he would not lie to the Head Master, especially about something as crucial as that.  Andy did make the potion and she knew exactly how to make the potion; that was what worried him the most.  She had made the Merlin's Potion before.  She could give anyone the ability to be unbeatable.  Voldemort had taken the potion.  It worked how it was supposed, though it was hard to tell since he was close to invincible to begin with.

She could have been under the Imperious Curse.  That might explain it, but Andy would fight that.  She had many times before.  It would have been a struggle to keep her controlled.  Her will was too strong to be dominated.  People had tried before and failed miserably.  It was a scary thing.  She was a fighter heart and soul and would keep going until she had no means left to carry on the battle.  She would rather kill herself trying to win, than let herself give into.  Andy was not the kind of person to fall easily for something like that.

Sirius leaned back in the cushy, over-stuffed chair, twining his fingers behind his head.  Neither of those would be easy answers to explain it.  If not them, then what would have turned her?  She could have been bribed…But what would have given her initiative to change sides?  Andy never wanted money.  She had lived with her brother on a very limited income and survived.  She even told him once that she never wanted more.  Power might have, but she wouldn't go for being the right hand of an evil overlord.  She had more moral values than that.  There was too much owed to the light side to turn her away from it.  Riches were out of the question.  She was enough of a tom-boy to not care for the frivolous jewels, large houses, gigantic swimming pools, or fancy cars of a pampered life.  Andy was too independent and self sufficient to want any of that.  She would have preferred a nice little cabin by a lake in the mountains with a hammock and a fully equipped laboratory in the basement.  She wouldn't have taken that as a bribe, or at least he didn't think so.  Who in their right mind would bribe someone with a small rustic log cabin?  Wouldn't they just give them the entire lake or the city that the lake belonged to or even the country that the city was located in?

Voldemort could have threatened to kill someone if she didn't agree to brew the potion, he supposed to himself.  He could have threatened to kill a quite few people.  Who was the main question.  Who did Voldemort know that Andy was close to?  There was only handful of people he could think of: Dumbledore, Remus, and himself.  They were the only people to have major contact with her since she regained her identity.  Dumbledore would be too hard to kill, so she wouldn't have fallen for that.  Both himself and Remus were at Hogwarts and therefore protected by Dumbledore and the charms that kept Hogwarts safe.  Andy was too smart to be bribed by that.  She knew they could fend for themselves.

He could have threatened to take her life if she didn't brew the potion.  That would make the most sense.  She had been tortured by being sentenced to Azkaban for sixteen years.  Her existence had been erased before and that was just for refusing once.  If she refused him again, she might have been brutally massacred, tortured, and never seen on the face of the earth again.  Yes, that would make the most sense of anything.  It had to be the only answer.  Voldemort had threatened to kill her if she didn't brew his potion.  Andy had agreed since she had just regained her life and did not want to leave what she had regained.

It still didn't make perfect sense.  Sirius could not see her creating the Merlin's Potion just for being threatened by death.  Andy was not a meek and mild person that followed orders.  She had her own plans with life.  But she had two choices!  She either brewed it or she didn't and he knew she did.  A light bulb lit in his mind.  She could have sabotaged it.  She could have found a way to make the potion so it wouldn't work but it looked like it did.  Andy would do something like that.  He knew she would.  That had to be the answer!  His mood fell, realizing what he would have to do next.  'Which means,' Sirius thought silently to himself, 'I was wrong to blame her in the first place.'

"I was wrong," he whispered softly to no one in particular.  "Oh, gods, Andy, I'm sorry.  I was a fool to doubt you.  I knew you better than that.  I knew you wouldn't have done something like that.  I found your reason, or at least I think I did.  Oh, gods, I'm so sorry."  He knew he would have to apologize to her in person eventually.  It would be difficult, for both her and him.  For all he knew, she wanted him dead.  It was a grim thought.  He hoped she would forgive him.  If she didn't, he didn't know what he would do.  She always forgave him when he made horrid mistakes.  It was her nature.  She would call him a stupid idiot and a few other words with the same meaning, but in the end she would forgive him.

A little voice of doubt spoke that she had changed.  The years in Azkaban had hardened her heart.  She spent so long without him; it didn't make a difference anymore.  Life went on, whether or not he was there.  She wouldn't care…

No!  No, she would care!  She would forgive him!  He told the little voice to shut up.  Andy didn't change.  She would never change how she was.  It was impossible.  Yes, he knew quite well she could be a complete bitch when she wanted to, but underneath was the uncertain, little girl that only wanted to be loved.  He only had to hope that the little girl had not vanished.  There was a chance it might have grown up, but that was slim.  She may be tough and self-confident on the outside, but inside everyone felt the need to be accepted.

Sirius shook his head.  He would have to talk with her.  Maybe not a face to face confrontation yet, but at least a note.  It would be easier to write her a letter than speak to her, especially after their last confrontation.  He knew it had been wrong to say those things to her, but at that moment, it had been how he felt.  Now that he had thought about it more, things were different.  He found a spare piece of parchment and began to compose a long letter apologizing for everything.

It took him a few hours to get everything perfect.  He took one last glance at everything he had written and sealed the parchment with a blot of wax inscribed with his signet.  Her named was penned on the front.  He would have to deliver it somehow.  Sirius wondered where she was now.  He opened the door to his room that connected to hers.  No one was there.  She wasn't in the class room either.  Maybe Remus would know where she was.  He might have at least a few more ideas.  Sirius knocked on the door to the defense room.

"Come in."

Sirius threw open the door, lop-sided grin on his face.  "Hey, Remus, do you know where Andy is?"

Remus gave him a strange look.  "Why?"

"I figured it out!  She didn't do it!"

"Oh, really?  And how did you come to that stunning conclusion?"

"I was thinking about it, actually.  The only thing that made any sense was that she sabotaged the potion."

"I'm impressed.  It only took you three months to figure out that she didn't do it when you have listened to her the first time and saved us all from the row between the two of you."

Sirius paused.  "You asked her?"

"I asked her the day after you completely exploded at her.  She was completely pissed at you, but I listened.  She did sabotage the potion."

"Oh.  So where is she?"

"I don't know.  I haven't seen her since breakfast.  She didn't tell me if she was going anywhere today."

"Do you have any ideas as to where she might be?"

"I'd check the library, some of the private labs in the dungeons, and maybe outside somewhere."

"Thanks, Remus."  Sirius raced out the door.

Remus chuckled to himself as his friend left.  Sirius could be as stubborn as a mule, but he was a smart mule and could figure things out.  Yes, it had taken him a few months to realize everything.  In the end, he had figured it out.  He could only hope that Andy would accept the apology.

Sirius jogged up to the library.  It was almost deserted, save for a few students working on long term projects that required a good amount of research.  Andy was no where to be seen.  He peered out the windows to the Quidditch pitch.  Ravenclaws were out practicing.  She wasn't there either.  The lake was uninhabited.  That left one last suggestion: the potions labs.  He had forgotten to check them when he looked in the classroom.  It was a good point; she had a large chance of being in one of them to experiment with potions and such.

The first two rooms were devoid of life.  The next one was slightly used, but no one graced the room with a presence.  Light spilled under the door from the fourth room.  Sirius gulped, hearing voices inside.  He knew this lab to be Snape's own.  That wasn't a good sign.  He cursed the slimy git of a Slytherin as he heard Andy's laughter from inside.  He leaned against the wall, listening to the conversation.

"McGee, that would not work," Snape's obviously darker toned voice spoke first.

"Why not?  Yarrow would obviously be the better choice than Witch Hazel.  It would stop the bleeding as well as keep the same astringent properties.  Witch Hazel only treats skin irritations."

"Yarrow would react with the bezoar.  Together they produce a rather large explosion."

"Not when combined in small amounts of the powdered form.  It only fizzes a little."

"I know that.  The Yarrow makes the Mugwort obsolete as well, so by adding it, it kills most of your potion's active ingredients."

"No, it doesn't," Sirius could hear the rustling of papers.  "See?  Take a look at this.  They used Yarrow in their potion and nothing horrible happened.  It worked just fine"

"They also changed half the ingredients."

"So? Diversity is good."

Sirius turned and walked away, letting the Potions adepts argue about what ever they were arguing about in the first place.  It was pointless to interrupt.  Snape would kill him on first glance and Andy would follow the suit as well.  Neither would be thrilled to see him.  He would have to find her alone.  It would be the only way to do it.

It had seemed simple to him at first.  All he had to do was find her, apologize about what he had done, and hope she would accept it.  Now things got more complicated.  Sirius turned the letter that he still held over and over in his hand as he walked back to his rooms.  He glanced to Andy's door, unlocked as it always was.  Getting an idea, he slipped inside and left the note on her pillow where he knew she would find it.  He went back to his own rooms to sleep, wishing with every stitch of his soul that she would forgive him for what he did to her.

{Author's Note:  That was the first chapter since chapter nine that was written completely on computer.  The rest were written long handed in my notebooks.  I honestly don't know where this chapter came from, but it was interesting doing something from Sirius's perspective. 

Anna Black:  I have no clue.  I honestly don't remember.  I think I knew at one point.  You have to understand that when this was written, I had gotten about four to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks.  I wasn't doing very well.  Those two weeks were spent at an acting camp doing Shakespeare.  So when your mind is concentrating on memorizing long lines is iambic pentameters, things get dry.  You are just going to have to wait, since I'm almost up to posting those ones and am too lazy to open the file and send them to you.

VMorticia:  I spent two weeks at an acting camp and we concentrated on Shakespeare for the entire time.  I got around four to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks straight.  The chapter involved Snape taking Andy away from Hogwarts on a motorcycle to a biker bar, wearing leather.  I stopped it there after some illicit dealings were done between Snape and another guy.  That was never finished and it made no sense at all, so as I typed it, I finished the chapter the way you have read it.  The reason Shakespeare caused me to do this is because I was not thinking straight when I wrote that part.  The reason I want to be flamed is because no one has honestly comes out and tells me that I suck majorly.  Everyone seems to like the story and that bothers me.  I think I'm just a wee bit paranoid, but that's just me.  I liked 26, it was fun just because I got to beat up Snape (Again)!

Hope you enjoyed it!  Peace, Love, and Duct (Duck) Tape, Nataly Ravenlock}