The Department of Mysteries Revisited: A Sirius Point of View

By Trace

Part Three

Sirius clawed his way to consciousness to the sound of pounding. He opened his eyes and realized that the pounding was in his head. He groaned loudly.

"It's been a long time, Sirius."

His bleary eyes focused on the owner of the voice. She regarded him solemnly from a chair across the dimly lit room. The woman was petite, with long chestnut curls framing her cat's eyes. She wore black robes, and strangely, bright blue sandals. Sirius noticed that her toenails were each painted a different color. She held his wand in her hand, and Sirius knew her name as well as his own, Sarah Finn.

Oh that's just great, thought Sirius. After surviving Voldemort, the dementors and Bellatrix, when Death finally came for him, she sported multicolored toes. "You vanished me," he croaked.

"I'm very good at that, if you remember," Sarah replied brightly. "Sorry about the headache. I overdid the vanishing spell a little. I'm afraid you've been out cold…uh...for a few days."

She got up from the chair, and Sirius found himself growling in the back of his throat. He ignored his pounding head and stood defiantly to face her. "Is this where you kill me, or do you hand me over to the ministry, like a good little Auror?" he sneered.

In a blink she had stepped up to Sirius and hit him with a full-arm slap. Hard. He had forgotten about her tendency to do that. Her eyes blazed. "Yes, I had nothing better to do, so I decided to save you from the Veil of Death so I could kill you at my leisure." They glared at one another angrily. "I ought to kill you," she finally muttered, "and I haven't been an Auror for fourteen years. Not since my idiot fiancé was imprisoned for murder," she finished with a frown.

Bitterness crept into Sirius' voice. "Oh, did I ruin your career at the ministry? I guess they didn't want Aurors who were connected to mass murderers, right? But I would have thought your monthly petitions to have me given the Dementor's Kiss would have done the trick."

"My what?" she demanded, looking outraged.

"Crouch's cronies loved telling me how diligent you were about petitioning the Wizengamot to have me given The Kiss immediately."

Sarah's eyes nearly shot sparks at that. "And you believed them?" She drew back her arm for another slap, but Sirius ducked. "I PETITIONED EVERY MONTH FOR YOUR RELEASE!" she shouted, then took a deep, calming breath before continuing. "But they wouldn't listen to me. That's why I…well I quit the ministry."

Sirius felt his heart give a painful double thump before racing on at double speed. "You did?"

Sarah gave him a withering look, "I knew you'd never betray James," she said, then after a pause, "or Lily. But I was off on a mission when they took you, and they wouldn't let me see you after I'd returned, so I never got the chance to ask you what really—"

And she still didn't get the chance to ask, since she was interrupted when Sirius chose that moment to kiss her.

The instant their lips touched, memories started to flood through Sirius. Happy memories he'd thought long lost to the Dementors were suddenly replaying themselves in his mind. He remembered that afternoon, many years before when he'd spent the O.W.L. written examination period for Defense Against the Dark Arts pretending he didn't notice that Lily Evans' pretty friend, Sarah, was sitting behind him.

Memories

"I'm going to be an Auror, Black. What do you think about that?" Sarah had asked, a challenge in her voice.

"You, an Auror?" he'd said, smirking. "You're insane, Finn."

"You should have seen her during our practical exam," Lily had gushed. "She vanished Professor Stern from the exam room and made him reappear in the girls' bathroom."

Sirius almost barked with laughter at that, and he gave Sarah a grudging grin that caused a passing Ravenclaw fourth-year to sigh loudly. "Did you really?"

She'd nodded, laughing. "Mind you, Professor Stern was not pleased, but I got an Outstanding grade anyway. And a ministry wizard recruited me because of it."

Memories

There was the time she'd gotten revenge on him for bewitching her books so they shouted swear words anytime a teacher was within earshot. It was on a Hogsmeade visit, and he'd been hanging around Zonko's, twirling his wand idly and looking cool for her benefit. She had calmly walked up to him, grinned at James, Remus and Peter and then hexed his wand. His so-called friends were too busy laughing to help him, so he'd had to chase his floating wand down the main street of Hogsmeade. He'd been so angry after he'd finally retrieved his wand, that he had stalked up to Sarah and kissed her right there in front of everyone.

Memories

He remembered the time, over Christmas break in their last year at school, that he'd fooled the anti-boy charm and gained access to the girls' dormitory by transforming into a dog. "Padfoot!" Sarah had gasped, followed by giggles.

Memories

How happy they were when their best friends, James and Lily had gotten married. And how thrilled James and Lily were when he'd given Sarah that promise ring…

Sirius' head snapped up and he grabbed Sarah's left hand. The ring gleamed brightly on her finger. "You still have it," he said quietly, wonder lighting his face.

She was breathing hard and shaking, but she nodded. "That's how I knew you were in trouble in the ministry," she said.

Before giving it to her fifteen years earlier, Sirius had bewitched the ring so that she could see him in it whenever she wanted. It had seemed like a hopelessly romantic gesture at the time, but it may have saved his life in the Department of Mysteries. "If you could see me this whole time, and believed I was innocent, why did you never come to me?" he asked, and cursed the quaver that crept into his voice.

"Because I've been tailed by ministry witches night and day since your escape. If I'd come, I would've led them right to you. But I figured that if you were going to be reckless enough to duel with Bellatrix in the middle of the Ministry of Magic, then I needn't be so discreet anymore either."

"Sirius!" Harry Potter's voice had suddenly issued from somewhere inside Sirius' pocket. Again, this time louder, "Sirius Black!"

Sarah gasped, flicked Sirius' wand and said, "Accio mirror!" A small mirror flew from Sirius' pocket and into Sarah's waiting hand.

"That's Harry. I gave him the mirror in case he needs to talk to me," Sirius said, making a grab for the mirror. But Sarah fended off Sirius, dropped the mirror to the floor and smashed it with her foot.

"What'd you do that for?" Sirius yelled, his face getting a little red.

Sarah didn't flinch. "Because right now, everyone thinks you're dead, including Harry. Yes," she said at the stunned look on his face, "I heard the terrible news from Dumbledore himself. No one saw me vanish you from the Death Chamber, so no one besides you and me knows that you're alive. And that is an advantage I mean to keep."

"But, couldn't we just tell Harry…?"

"No," she said sadly, "if you want to help Harry, you must remain 'dead' for a while." Sarah reached up to stroke Sirius' glowering face. "I promise you that in the end, you and I will be the last surprise Voldemort ever gets."

Sirius smiled slowly and looked into her cat's eyes. He realized that for the first time in over fourteen years he felt like he belonged, like he was home. His smile turned into a devilish grin. "So, what shall we do while I'm dead?"

"Padfoot!" Sarah squealed in surprise, and then there were giggles.