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Sirius stared at his reflection in the mirror over the sink and rubbed a hand over his face. He looked ragged and they had only been travelling for a few hours, nothing compared to the journey he was facing. Snape had managed to find a fairly decent motel for them to stay in, even if it wasn't on the high end of the Queen's list of places to stay, and Sirius was perfectly happy with the warm bed and clean bathroom.

He stared into the mirror again and sighed. Why hadn't it occurred to him to bring a razor on their trip? Out of everything he'd shoved into his magically expanded backpack there wasn't a single razor. He supposed he could magically shave, there had to be some kind of spell that would do it, but he wasn't about to point his wand at his face and say something like, 'razor blade' until he was sure it would work.

He sighed again, then turned on the water and splashed some over his face. A moment later he turned and pressed a fluffy towel against his skin. Still pressing the towel against his neck, Sirius turned toward the bedroom area and glanced out at Cassandra. She was sitting on one of the beds, watching in amusement as Snape flicked the television set off and on. She was running a brush through her long hair, pulling it over her thin shoulders and brushing out the knots.

"Snape found a new toy?" Sirius asked, entering the room.

Cassandra glanced up at him and smiled. Snape, on the other hand, didn't look so happy when he whirled around and dropped his hand from the television. He scowled at Sirius, then turned and went to the door that connect his room to theirs. Without another word he stomped into his room and slammed the door.

Sirius opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment to Cassandra when the door opened again and he found Snape's black eyes glaring at him.

"If you put a hand on my daughter while I'm in the next room, I'll kill you," he growled, his eyes gleaming happily.

Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Snape, you're taking this role playing thing a little too seriously. If you just want an excuse to kill me, you'll be happy to know that I don't think you even need one. Murder me in my sleep, go ahead, see what happens."

Snape just glared at him for a moment longer, then slammed the door again.

"Honestly," Sirius muttered, attempting to sound disdainful. Cassandra just laughed, so he jumped onto the bed and flopped down next to her. "Are you laughing at me?"

She shrugged and continued to brush her hair. Sirius frowned slightly, then followed her movements with his eyes, noticing for the first time how really sick she looked when she wasn't smiling. Azkaban still haunted her eyes, he would see the demons floating behind the pale grey, their effects evident in her greying hair and thin form. She was far from old, yet the prison had taken its toll on her, much like it had done to him. Sirius wondered if his eyes still looked that gaunt and frightening.

"Cass?" he asked gently.

She put the brush down on the beside table and stared at it for a long moment. "I took things like brushing my hair for granted before I went to Azkaban," she said softly. "I didn't realize how much would be taken away from me."

Sirius nodded. "I know how that is."

"The dementors are always . . ." she trailed off, struggling to find the words. "They're always here with me. I can always feel their cold hands on my neck and it makes me realize that I didn't earn my freedom. Nothing has been proven yet."

"That's what we're doing," Sirius said. "We're getting Remus back so we can prove your innocence."

Cassandra stared at him. "That relies on me, though," she said. "What if I can't find him?"

"Don't think that," Sirius said. "You saw something on the train."

Cassandra broke their steady gaze and stared down at her hands.

"Cass, you can't keep secrets from us during this time."

"I know," she whispered, "but it hurts. Some of it has nothing to do with Remus. I can't control what I see."

"You can tell me," Sirius said. "I'm about the only friend you've got right now."

Cassandra sighed. "From here we have to take a plane to Naples, Italy. I don't know how I know, but I do. From there . . . I don't know anything yet, but things become clearer the closer we get to our destination. Naples is next."

Sirius studied her for a moment. "You said it hurts. What hurts?"

She just shook her head. "I get flashes of things . . . James mostly, sometimes Peter." Her face hardened when she said his name and her hands clenched. "I don't really believe that it's James, but I know Peter's a traitor. That coward. I hate him." She sighed and relaxed slightly. "I just keep remembering times when things seemed so perfect. Then I see Peter doing things to people, trembling as he follows his master's orders and I realize that he was probably doing it the entire time we were friends." She shook her head. "Remus and I watched our lives fall apart around us because of him."

Sirius snorted softly. "You two weren't the only ones."

She glanced at him. "He made us doubt you."

"He made me doubt myself."

"Lily and James were dead, Harry was with Hagrid, Peter was dead, you were the murderer of all three. We struggled with that, I wanted to hate you and I couldn't."

"Why?" Sirius asked.

Cassandra caught his eye. "Because I knew. And that made me dangerous."

Understanding dawned on Sirius. "The Ministry knew too, didn't they?"

Cassandra nodded. "I think so. When I went to the Head of the Ministry with my suspicions he nearly pushed me out of his office. They couldn't find a reason to put me away until Remus went missing . . . though I'm not sure of the reason by that point. You had already escaped, people knew about Peter and what had really happened. Still . . . they wanted to cover their tracks I guess, make sure no one knew that they had known the truth."

Sirius laughed bitterly. "So they locked you in Azkaban so that you couldn't tell anyone. That's disgusting."

"I got over it," Cassandra said. "I'm not taking on the Ministry, not with what they've already done to me."

"But when we find Remus that will prove that you didn't do anything," Sirius protested.

Cassandra nodded. "And that's where it has to end. I don't care about justice or anything, I just want to get back to my life."

"You lost six months because of them," Sirius said.

"I know, but I don't want to deal with it anymore."

"Remus won't let you just forget about it."

"Remus will have to understand," she said softly.

Sirius fell silent, then leaned back against the headboard and stared at the wall. Cassandra settled down beside him, then picked up the remote control and began to flip through channels.

"You said you remember how things used to be?" Sirius asked quietly.

Cassandra switched off the television and looked up at him. "Constantly."

"Describe what you see."

She looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Pick something you saw recently," he said, "and tell me about it. I don't remember those things as well as I would have liked."

Cassandra smiled slightly, then leaned against him and closed her eyes. "The most recent was the Yule Ball in your seventh year."

Sirius nodded and grinned. "Ah yes, the last Yule Ball of our time there."

"Everything was perfect," Cassandra began. "You, James, Remus and Peter looked so good in your dress robes and Lily and I had bought new ones just for that ball. Her were silver and perfectly gorgeous on her . . . of course, Lily never realized just how beautiful she was. Mine were-"

"Green," Sirius said, "I remember that. Lily went nuts over them and insisted you wear green to her wedding."

Cassandra nodded. "She thought they looked perfect on me. I thought they looked pretty nice myself."

"They did," Sirius said.

"Thank you."

"Don't tell Remmie, I said that," he said with a grin.

Cassandra nudged him, then continued her story. "It was just a magical night. The Great Hall was beautiful. Dumbledore had bewitched the sky so that snow fell, just touching our skin before it melted from sight and there was mistletoe practically everywhere. You have to give that man credit; he made the students awfully happy."

"He still does," Sirius said.

"James and Lily kissed under practically every bunch of mistletoe," she continued. "You kept trying to push me and Remus under a certain area, as I recall. It was a good thing we didn't end up under there, Sirius, I remember what happened when Severus and Lucius walked under it together."

"On their way to do something foul, no doubt," Sirius added.

Cassandra grinned. "They were stuck there for hours until Dumbledore made you take the charm off the mistletoe."

"One kiss," Sirius said. "That's all the charm required to be broken."

Cassandra laughed. "That's asking a lot, Sirius." She fell silent, still smiling, then sighed. "I remember dancing with . . . everyone. James and you and, of course, Remus. When I remember things like the ball . . . that's when I miss him the most. I can almost feel him, his hands on my waist, his breath tickling my face." She smiled. "He certainly wasn't much taller than me, was he?"

Sirius shook his head, smiling fondly.

"I miss little things," she said softly.

"About Remus?"

"About life. Certainly about Remus as well, but mostly just how I lived in school. Your friendship, for one. I took you and Lily for granted, most certainly. One day you were both there and then the next both of you were gone. I missed the sun, I missed reading a book. I missed the simple task of making myself a meal. I missed having arms around me as I sleep."

Sirius sighed. "You're depressing me."

"Sorry."

"So, off to Naples?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Cassandra glanced at him and nodded. "We'll book a flight tomorrow."

"You think Snape will like that? A flight?"

Cassandra grinned. "He'll have to deal with it, won't he?"

Sirius smiled and settled back against the wall again, quite content to just sit there, remembering things that had come and gone, things that had made him happy. With Cassandra leaning against him, he couldn't remember a time when he'd felt so safe and content. Life hadn't been fun since escaping Azkaban, but for the first time he felt as if he was doing something worthwhile. It gave him direction, something Sirius Black sorely needed.


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