AN: Welcome to the next installment of Black Prospects. I am sorry that it took so long to post again, but unfortunately, with the taking of two AP courses and Drivers Education, not to mention work and everything else, I have been quite busy. This is for you. I meant to post many more times than I actually got to. I have revised this chapter at least three times. This is the final version. I'm sorry for no romance yet. But there will be soon, I promise. It just seems inappropriate for this part in the story. But the way, if you find the plotline in this story, I seriously will award you something. Because I've lost it after the fifth chapter…
Chapter Nineteen: Fateful Downfalls
She would have recognized that mat of hair anywhere. Even though it was cut short, it would never get rid of the black mat it once was.
Sirius Black looked up at her, rubbing his stomach pointedly. "Thanks," he wheezed, glaring up at her.
"What are you doing here?" she said in a whisper, trying to keep her voice down but the surprise was all the same. "You're supposed to be on the run...elsewhere..."
"Shut up," he said, standing. "You are Emilia Black, right? You match his description..." He shook off his robes, and cracked his knuckles. "I finally found you, though. Dumbledore was very worried." He looked away.
"Oh," she said meekly, trying to read his face. What the hell was he doing here? This is the snake pit for him. It's worst than a tour of the Ministry of Magic...
"Did Dumbledore explain my...position...to you?" he asked slowly, trying to keep an apt awareness of his surroundings. She noticed that his eyes were dark, a deep brown, but they held this gaze that reminded her much of her father's victims, and those that were stuck in Azkaban too long....
"Yes. He said that you are innocent. And that you're one to be trusted. But, still, what are you doing here? This castle is crawling with Death Eaters! The Dark Lord is in the Slytherin Common Room as I speak!"
"I know," he said darkly, turning at her. Sirius was looking at her with an odd expression. Emilia realized she was shivering and her hands were shaking. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine but...how did he...know...how did he get to you?" she sputtered, ignoring his last comment. If he's been to Dumbledore...would he know whether or not he was in the Hufflepuff Common Room? The longer she stood here, the longer those Gryffindors were in danger.
"He sent an owl to me from his office. Right after the Yule Ball, I heard." He paused, and stared. "Are you sure you're fine? You've got a cut, on your head—" he brush a finger across the gash on her temple, which she did not notice was throbbing until now, "and bruises...were you in a fight? There are finger marks on under your chin..."
She raised her hand and grasped her neck, and realized that was from Malfoy, earlier. "I said I was fine," she replied irritably. She did not need someone to point out to her how tired and hurt she felt. She needed to find Dumbledore. "Where is he?"
"Dumbledore?" She nodded at him. "He's in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Why?" he asked.
"I have twenty Gryffindors for him," she said, leaning back against the wall. It was very quiet up here. It was slightly eerie, but calming all the same. She closed her eyes and paused for a moment. She needed rest...sleep...exhaustion was tingling at every nerve in her body, her adrenaline washing away...
"Emilia, don't fall asleep standing there," Sirius said, shaking her newly aching shoulder. She tried hard not to flinch. "The Gryffindors, eh?" he laughed a bit. "How did you manage that?"
"Fred and George Weasley," she said, opening one bleary eye. "You going to show me to the Hufflepuff Common Room so I can talk to Dumbledore, or what?"
"Fine," he replied. "This way." He started to walk down the corridor cautiously.
She was right behind him, trying to keep her footsteps light on the hardwood floor. "Is Harry all right?" she asked, knowing through Dumbledore that Sirius was closer to Harry and would know how he was.
"He's fine. He's resting in the Hufflepuff Dormitories. You know, you look like you could use a bit of rest yourself. When was the last time you slept?"
"Not since yesterday. Or, actually," she paused, "perhaps it's been more than that. I don't remember how long ago it was." She sighed softly, and hung her head. "God, I wish for a two hour nap, even." Emilia was quiet for a moment, and was beginning to become anxious again. This was taking too long.
"When was the last time you were in the Dormitory?" she asked quietly as they rounded another corner. "And how far is it?"
"I was in it about an hour ago, when Harry and Dumbledore raced in. I had been moving through the corridors—in the walls—to see if I couldn't find Dumbledore myself. He said that you helped him to escape. But you weren't behind him...so he sent me off to look for you and McGonagall. But I've yet to find her." Sirius paused. "It's only past this corner, now."
Pushing open the wall, Sirius went in and Emilia followed. "As I'm sure you've noticed, the pictures have all fled, and the only way into the Dormitories is the way used by teachers."
"Yes," Emilia replied. A little light popped on in her head. "You must know every passage in this school," she said in awe, glancing about her.
"Almost," he said, and she could tell even in the dark he was grinning. "We're here." He pushed open the wall, and it opened to the Common Room. Emilia's fist impression was that, everyone was gone. Only two people remained in the room, excluding the heap of people still sitting near the entrance. They must all be asleep, she thought.
Her first impression of the exterior of the Hufflepuff Common Room was that it was airy. Open windows were breezing in, the freezing air moving in. It had yet to rain, but the thunder and lightning were still at it. The room was illuminated by a distant flash, and she saw that it was decorated with an light touch. A pale yellow fabric hung from the windows and the tapestry was a gorgeous gold. Black leather chairs and a small couch were positioned in front of the hearth, and a fire crackled softly behind grates. Marble topped tables were around the room, with books and vases of flowers on them. The stone walls only seemed to accent the room, a light sandy colored stone.
Dumbledore was right there, sitting, and Severus was still talking to him. When they entered, both of them looked up and gave surprised faces. Then they stood, and Dumbledore's face pulled into a smile, while Severus's face was full of mounting dislike, glancing from Sirius to herself.
Emilia gave a worried glance at Severus, who looked like he wanted to spit fire. "Um, we've got Gryffindors waiting to come in here," she said to Dumbledore. "They're in one of the Charms classroom. Do you want me to bring them in here? I figured they'd be safest with you."
Dumbledore glanced at her with an anxious look himself. He must have noticed the cuts and bruises, she thought. He wore the same look Sirius'd had. "Yes, please, bring them in here," he said finally. "That is the best thing for now." Emilia looked at him, and his smile had washed away. He had a look of sadness on his face. Severus, on the other hand, couldn't keep his outburst in.
"What is he doing here?" he said suddenly, pointing at Sirius Black.
"He's helping," Emilia replied angrily, clenching her fists. Turning to Dumbledore, she said, "I will go get them, Professor. They all need sleep, and I think the Weasleys may need medical attention."
Dumbledore's face softened. "Sirius, please go with her and make sure that everyone is okay."
"Yes sir," he said, and turned to Emilia. "Come on," Sirius spoke softly, and Emilia nodded. Glancing back, Severus was shooting sparks from his eyes. He was very angry. Emilia tried to ignore the paining in her stomach. She turned away and went out the passage, looking for Death Eaters. Seeing no one, they crept back to the Charms classroom.
"What was wrong?" she asked. "They seemed very preoccupied."
"I sensed something like that too," Sirius replied, looking around a corner. Edging along the wall, Emilia heard something behind her. Turning around, she saw a rampaging Malfoy.
"Oh shit!" she whispered. Tugging on Sirius's black robe, she pointed to the figure barely visible. "Malfoy!"
Sirius gave a grim look at him. "This isn't good..." he whispered. Grabbing her hand, he turned to look at her and she seemed to get a sense of the danger that he was in. He dragged her down the hall and to the left. "Come on!" he said, running a little faster. Emilia started to become slower, and she couldn't keep up with him. He was now dragging her behind him, and they passed the corridors to the Charms rooms.
Whipping her around the corner, she bumped into the wall and Sirius leaned over her, looking around the corner. He still was gripping her hand, tightly.
"Anyone?" she whispered anxiously.
"No," he said. "They mustn't have seen us." He backed up and looked at her. "You okay?"
Emilia realized she was very scared, her entire body trembling. She was afraid of Malfoy. She knew that if he found her, he would kill her on the spot—or worse. And they were lurking near Dumbledore's hideout, as well...
"What happened?" he asked cautiously. "Something—where the Gryffindors were—something happened there, didn't it? Harry only told me that they were captured by Malfoy and his gang...but he said mostly it was a conversation between you two..."
Emilia felt her eyes start to water. She wished that he would look away. "Sirius, it's a long story...I really can't explain it..."
His hand touched her cheek, and she felt her face begin to feel warm. "What did he do to you, Emilia?" Sirius asked. His touch felt so warm, and so welcoming...Emilia felt the tears fall down her cheek. It wasn't Malfoy. It was Severus. He couldn't...he felt better than this...Emilia bit her tongue to hold back a sob. God, he was so angry with her when she went into that dormitory. But that's what she wanted right? It pained her yet again to know that something she wanted was so far unattainable...once more.
Damn Sirius for being a womanizer...she thought. She knew him for the last three years of her schooling at Hogwarts, because Severus and Sirius were both in the same year. And in that short space of knowing him, by name only, Emilia was amazed that day after day, people would say how great Sirius Black was, and the change of his girlfriends with the change of the tide. That was the only reason she knew who he was. That, and the newspapers.
She turned her head away from him. "It's not Malfoy," she said with a sigh. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. She could feel a sob wanting to explode from her. She wished he wouldn't stand so close to her...
Voices grew louder as their troop of Death Eaters grew closer. Pushing her hands out, and getting his warm, soft skin from hers, she said irritably, "We need to hurry. They are getting closer." She wiped away her tear and turned away, hiding her face.
Sirius looked at her, then scowled. Stepping back, he murmured, "Where's the classroom?"
"This way—" she said, and was interrupted by a loud sound. Someone had blown up a wall nearby. Her face started to go pale...she could feel the blood drain from her face. "What are they doing?" she whispered tersely. She dared to look around the corner, to see what was coming.
He said something quietly.
"What?" she snapped. Emilia looked up and saw his smooth face harden.
"We should probably go now," he replied shortly. Oh great, now he's pissed at her too. What luck she held.
She led the way to the classroom, treading lightly on the floor, should the approaching Death Eaters hear. When they reached the classroom door, she turned around quickly and Sirius bumped into her. "What?"
She held up her hand. "They don't know that you are innocent. They might recognize you."
He smiled. "I don't look really much like I did a year ago, do I?" There was a playful look on his face, even at this time of danger.
"No...you do look a lot better," she said carefully, not looking at him. If anything, that was a lie. He looked absolutely gorgeous compared to what he was a year ago.
"Then...where were you going with this?" he asked, crossing his arms. A cold gesture, something like Severus would do.
"I think I should call you by a different name, you know?" he nodded. "Then how about..." she paused, trying to think of a name to cover up Sirius. She picked the name that she adored the most. "Edward?"
He nodded in agreement. Then Emilia remembered something. "Wait, before we go in," she said, leaning against the wall, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he said, putting on hand on the wall, and leaning against it.
"How come you're here?"
"Well," he said slowly, "Dumbledore wanted a meeting with me, after the Yule Ball. He wanted to address something. Something about, that he felt something had changed in the school...but, when I got there, I saw many cloaked figures around the outside of the school. Using the entrance from Honeydukes—" Emilia wondered how he got in without getting caught, "—I came up to Dumbledore's office quickly. I told him what the outside looked like, and he said 'It was as I feared.' Hogwarts was under an attack. So he sent me to fetch the other teachers, and somehow Dumbledore must've gotten captured along the way, because he wasn't where he said he would be. He asked me to meet him in front of the Hufflepuff dormitories when I got done, but there was a Death Eater already there...I assumed the worst, and set off to look for him. But when I got down to the most likely place—the Slytherin Common Room—it was all in an uproar, because Dumbledore had escaped."
"And that's when you found him..." she trailed off. "That puts the arrangement of events in perspective." Dumbledore had gone to the Hufflepuff Dormitories like he'd arranged to do, and Sirius had just followed him there. Curious, they must've passed when he went to the Dormitory. It was the same route, assuming that he used the one near the Slytherin Common Room entrance. She sighed. Maybe she'd already gotten out before he had gone in. That means he'd have met with Severus...
"Did you talk to Severus?" she asked. Then she immediately wished she'd said "Snape" instead.
He gave her a disgusted look. "Hmm...that idiot man...I only saw him, but I didn't talk to him...he looked severely pissed at something—or someone—" he paused. "Was it you he was mad at?"
"Yeah," she said quickly. Her stomach sank. Oh, how this entire thing hurt...she wanted everything to go back to normal. But what was normal?
"You ready to go in?" he asked, after a moment of silence.
"Yes," she said, and unlocked the door.