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Sirius Trouble
By: Bethany and Fleur
Rated: PG
Chapter 4 - Realizations and Memories
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	A swirling mist covered the grounds of the Burrow the morning of 
August 9th. The clock beside Ron's bed read six eighteen a.m. when 
Harry jolted awake, sitting straight up in bed, breathing hard. Eyes 
wide, it took a moment for him to realize where he was. Upon 
remembering, he buried his face in his hands, rubbing his palms across 
his face vigorously, stopping to trace the lightening bolt shaped scar 
on his forehead that was burning slightly.
	His burning scar was bad enough, but he also had the remainders 
of a nightmare lingering in his sleep-congested brain. Groaning, he 
reached for his glasses, placing them on his face so that the room 
could come into clearer focus. Just beyond the horizon the sky was 
turning a pale pink, making a lovely picture as the sun slowly made its 
way up.
	While Harry was quite used to dreams, especially ones of 
Voldemort, it still caused a cold sweat to break out on his face. Even 
worse, this dream had been different than the many preceding it; yet 
the same one he had the night before. In it, Voldemort had lured Sirius 
into a trap, putting his godfather at terrible risk. As much as Harry 
wanted to believe that Sirius was in no present danger, the lack of 
information from Remus was unsettling. Hermione insisted that surely 
Remus was busy, and that was why he hadn't responded to Harry's letter. 
But to Harry it was just another piece of a larger puzzle that all 
pointed to his godfather being in trouble.
	Harry quietly pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, 
careful not to wake Ron up as he scribbled what he could remember of 
his dream. There had been a cemetery, and a house near by with a Dark 
Mark hovering above it. The scene had quickly changed to that of a duel 
between Sirius and three men in black hooded robes: Death Eaters. One 
of them was a short man with a metal hand where a real one should have 
been, a wizard by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Harry still felt a 
boiling hate erupt in his chest at the thought. They had captured 
Sirius.
	And then the scene changed a final time, and Harry found himself 
alone at the end of a corridor. His heart pounding madly, he brought 
his wand out and whispered, "Lumos!" At the end of the tunnel 
was a room, and while Harry had yet to get to it before waking up, the 
fear he felt in his body and mind was enough to make him shiver.
	Harry glanced down at the parchment in his hand, scanning the 
writing to see if anything else would come to him. It didn't. Instead 
he started trying to piece together a time line that might help him to 
find Sirius.

	July 30th: Sirius showed up at the Dursley's to rescue him and 
then left to join back up with Remus.

	July 31st: Remus says that Sirius came back to his house safely, 
then sends the letter containing the box his mother had made.

	August 1st: Letter to Sirius is sent but returned seven days 
later...

	August 8th: The newspaper clipping placing Sirius in Godric's 
Hollow the night before arrives.

	Harry leaned back, staring at the stretched time line. It made no 
sense; up until August 8th, everything seemed almost…normal. It was 
then that the nightmares began, it was then that Hedwig had returned 
with his letter, it was then he had sent a letter to Remus to which he 
still had no reply.
	Frustrated, Harry let go of the parchment and it sprang back into 
a light roll. Throwing it in his trunk with his quill, he got to his 
feet and looked out the window. The sky was a variety of pastel colors 
now, none of which looked right to Harry. Shouldn't it be dark and 
foreboding? Shouldn't the weather mirror how he felt? It would feel 
more appropriate for it to be pouring rain with the occasional crack of 
thunder rolling across the land.
	Ron gave a loud snore, turned over, and buried his face deeper in 
his covers. For a moment Harry felt a pang of envy; obviously Ron had 
no nightmares of Voldemort to keep him awake at night. Climbing over 
the cot that he slept on, Harry quietly opened the door and went into 
the hall beyond, leaving Ron to sleep.
	He crept down the stairs, pushing his fingers through his hair 
distractedly as he descended the many steps. As he walked pictures 
smiled or waved at him, though many only snored lightly. He ignored 
them all, thinking only of his nightmare. Perhaps he was thinking a 
little too hard, for it wasn't long before he felt a body collide with 
his own.
	"Ow!" a small voice said from under him.
	Harry backed up, rubbing his chest and adjusting his glasses. He 
had knocked head long into Ginny, who was giving him a strange look. 
"Harry," she said finally, "what's wrong?"
	Harry stared at her a minute before he suddenly realized that it 
must have been her chin, or forehead, that hit his chest. "Sorry for-
um, running into you," he said dumbly, not sure if he wanted to answer 
her question.
	He had to give it to her, she looked a lot like her mother in 
that next second with her hands on her hips and her brown eyes boring 
into his green ones. "What's wrong?" she repeated, this time more 
firmly.
	Harry slowly brought his hand down from his chest, unable to 
break away the eye contact he had with the youngest Weasley. He opened 
his mouth but nothing came out, making him look a lot like a fish out 
of water. Giving up, he closed it. Ginny sighed, finally breaking the 
stare. "Never mind, you don't have to say. I know there's tons I don't 
know about, I can just add this to the list, hmm?"
	Harry bit his bottom lip, still unable to find words that didn't 
sound extremely stupid. And then suddenly, as if a dam had broken in 
his mind, he grabbed her arm and lead her down the rest of the stairs 
and into the kitchen.
	They sat at the table, Harry sitting across from Ginny, the 
latter looking quite startled at the abrupt change in her companion's 
attitude. She gave him a puzzled look, but said nothing. Finally Harry 
managed to find his voice…the problem was, only when he started, he 
found he couldn't quite stop. He began with; "In third year.." And told 
her everything, from Professor Lupin being a werewolf, to his father 
being an animagus, to Sirius breaking out of Azkaban to get to the not-
quite-dead Peter. He went on to explain about the tasks, Barty Crouch 
Jr., his guilt about Cedric Diggory, and then the dreams he had been 
having about Sirius. Finally he ended, nearly a half hour later, by 
banging his head on the scrubbed wooden table.
	A ringing silence followed his story, in which time Harry found 
he couldn't quite catch his breath properly. A voice in the back of his 
mind was asking him if hadn't just done something incredibly daft, and 
Harry couldn't help but agree. He waited for Ginny to say something - 
anything - but all was silent. Finally he gathered his courage and 
looked up. What he saw startled him.
	Ginny was crying.
	A few tears had slipped down her cheek that she wiped at when he 
glanced up at her. Biting her bottom lip, she reached out and gripped 
Harry's arm firmly. "Oh Merlin, Harry...I-I didn't even think..."
	"That was the idea," Harry said lamely, shaking his head. "Not 
many people know what happened from then on. And--" Harry stopped, 
eyebrows knitted in confusion. "I can't believe I just told you 
everything and it didn't seem to bother me at all." When Ginny gave him 
a look of pure puzzlement, he continued. "I could barely get that all 
out when I told Dumbledore."
	Ginny flushed slightly, but held his gaze. And oddly, a sense of 
comfort blanketed Harry. It was much like the feeling that he had on 
his birthday. He was struck by a sudden thought. "Ginny, did you--on my 
birthday, that is, did you see...?"
	Ginny nodded, chewing on her bottom lip once more. "I'm sorry 
Harry. I didn't mean to, but I heard someone talking and peeked in--" 
She gripped his arm a bit tighter. "That was your Mum?"
	"Yeah," Harry replied, thinking back to the small wooden box in 
his truck. "That was her." He shook his head, as if trying to clear 
away the thought by doing so, and once more found his gaze penetrating 
Ginny's. "Thank you."
	There was a rumble from above then that sounded suspiciously like 
a heard of elephants-or Weasleys- descending the stairs. Ginny's eyes 
flickered up and she stood, leaning her head towards Harry's. 
"Anytime," she whispered before planting her soft lips on his forehead. 
Harry closed his eyes briefly as she lingered there, then pulled away. 
When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

			*	*

	After breakfast Harry, Ron and Hermione once again took up their 
post at the garden wall overlooking the Burrow. Harry told them an 
abbreviated story of what happened, skipping over the part of bumping 
into Ginny, telling Ginny everything, and the kiss that Ginny gave him. 
He didn't quite think Ron would be the right person to tell that to, 
especially the fact that he liked it.
	Instead he waited with baited breath for their reactions. They 
were very similar to what he had pictured in his mind. Ron looked 
downright scared about his scar hurting, and Hermione had whispered "Oh 
no, Sirius! But your dreams Harry..." and clasped her hands over her 
mouth.
	"Come true? Are real?" Harry supplied helpfully. Ron nearly 
toppled off the wall.
	"We have to do something!" Ron said after he had regained his 
balance. He'd put on brave face that was lined with determination. "Did 
you hear back from Remus yet?"
	"No," Harry mumbled, shoulders sagging.
	"Don't be dense, Ron," Hermione said, as if she hadn't heard his 
last question. "We can't do anything. We've been lucky so far, I don't 
think we should test it again. We have to tell--"
	"Who?" Ron said testily, looking rather irritable that Hermione 
hadn't stood up and yelled 'CHARGE!' as if she was leading them into 
battle. "We tell my Mum and she won't let us out of her sight until 
we're legal. If we tell Dad we'll get a lecture on letting grown up 
wizards and witches take care of it. And no, Hermione," Ron said 
suddenly, giving her an intense glare. "We aren't going straight to 
Dumbledore."
	"What we need," Harry interjected, more to stop the oncoming 
battle than anything else, "is more information. I wrote out a time 
line, trying to figure out what's going on. But without a reply from 
Remus, it's--"
	"Hopeless," Ron completed. 
	Hermione looked thoughtful. Harry hoped she was coming up with a 
good plan, he couldn't take much more of not knowing.
	"Look, if we don't hear back from Remus in the next couple of 
days, we'll--"
	Both Ron and Harry were looking at Hermione, expecting something 
great. She sagged her shoulders. "I don't know, I just don't. But we 
can't go running off to Remus' to ask him."
	But as they lapsed into silence, Harry couldn't help thinking 
that should be exactly what they do.

			*	*

	Remus awoke rather early and lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. 
The room at Arabella's, in which he was now taking refuge, was small, 
but rather cozy. It was decorated in light, cheerful colors, with a 
lightly stained wardrobe on the wall opposite of the bed. The hand 
knitted blanket laying over him was a variety of colors, but he 
remembered fondly that Arabella always liked odd things.
	In fact, remembering things about Arabella had been about all he 
could do when he wasn't in her presence. He was flooded with things 
that he had repressed, flashes of memories that were best forgotten.

***
	"Shhhhhh!" Arabella giggled as she made the noise, trying to 
glare at her boyfriend for being entirely too loud. "We're going to get 
caught, you prat!"
	"Might be worth it," Remus said mildly, grabbing her by the waist 
and bringing her to him. He tried to put his lips on hers, but she 
moved out of his reach and scrambled up the remaining steps that lead 
to Gryffindor tower.
	Remus, smiling to himself, followed closely at her heels. By the 
time he had reached the landing, she already had the portrait open and 
Remus tried not to look too guilty as the Fat Lady eyed him.
	Arabella was waiting on the other side, her curls bouncing 
slightly as she looked around at the empty room quickly. Remus grabbed 
her yet again, and this time she didn't protest. Instead she latched 
her arms around his neck securely as he brought his lips to hers.
	And they could have stayed that way for a while, except for the 
giggling that was coming from near the fire place. Both ignored it, 
until it got slightly louder and was soon followed by "James, quit 
it!" in the unmistakable voice of Lily Evans.
	A smile on his lips, Remus broke their kiss and glanced over his 
frowning girlfriend's shoulder to see a flash of red hair. "Oooh, 
ignore them," Arabella said sulkily, trying to get his attention again. 
But it was too late, he was heading further into the room.
	She tugged on his arm, and he turned, giving her a lopsided smile 
and bringing his wand out. "Just a second, love," he said and tiptoed 
up behind the unsuspecting couple.
	"Potter! Evans! What do you think you're doing?!" Remus bellowed 
in a voice that sounded so much like McGonagall that even Arabella was 
looking around in astonishment.
	James leapt off the sofa, followed quickly by Lily, who was 
compulsively straightening her hair. James was red-faced and either mad 
or embarrassed, Remus couldn't tell which. But when he realized it was 
not their Head of House, but his friend, he brought his own wand out 
and hexed Remus.
	"I always thought he was the level-headed one," muttered Lily.

***

	These memories, of himself and Arabella when they were young, and 
very much in love, also came at a price. They were intertwined with 
memories of Lily and James as well, of their years at Hogwarts when the 
battle looming outside the walls was drowned out. He remember the 
feeling that because they were the cleverest students Hogwarts had seen 
in many years the war that effected everyone couldn't possibly touch 
them.
	How wrong they were. How foolish to believe so much in their own 
abilities. It wasn't until seventh year, when James' parents had been 
brutally murdered that the threat became real. Was Peter passing 
information then? Remus thought to himself, digested for not having 
seen his one time friend for what he was. Is that how James' parents 
were found?
	These thoughts weren't ones he wanted to get tangled up in, and 
certainly not this early in the morning. So instead of staying in bed, 
he got up and quietly stole to the bathroom to shower. Once he was 
dressed, he headed for the kitchen, all thoughts on a steaming hot mug 
of coffee.
	Instead he was greeted with Arabella, and a very different one at 
that. He hadn't seen her this way in many years. She was tousled haired 
and pale from just getting out of bed. To his amusement, she still wore 
those muggle pajama pants and t-shirts she was always so fond of, 
including a pair of house shoes that looked suspiciously like cats. She 
yawned loudly as he walked in, making a slight whiny noise in her 
throat that caused him to smile despite himself.
	"Good morning," he said as he entered the kitchen, going to the 
counter in search of a mug.
	She started slightly, nearly dropping her mug, before giving him 
a reproachful glare. "What's good about it?" she grumbled, her face 
half hidden by the rather large mug of coffee she had to her lips.
	Remus said nothing, past experiences reminding him that it was 
best not to talk to her until she had downed her third cup. She had 
never been a morning person, and time hadn't stomped that out of her 
one bit. Trying his best to hide his smile of amusement at her intense 
glare, he poured his own coffee and made his way to the table. 
	Arabella joined him a moment later, still drinking deeply from 
her mug. She sat cross-legged in the chair, looking at nothing 
particular. "Accio!" she suddenly mumbled, giving her wand a small 
flick. The coffee pot came flying over to the table where she caught 
it, and poured herself and Remus more. "Have you written to Harry 
yet?" she asked suddenly.
	"No," Remus responded.
	Arabella frowned, setting her cup down and leaning forward. 
"Remus, you have to."
	"I know."
	An uneasy silence pierced the room. "Have you heard from Sirius?"
	"No."
	She sighed, giving Remus a stern look that he ignored. "You have 
to tell that poor boy something. He must be going crazy with worry for 
you and Sirius by now."
	"Me?" Remus looked honestly surprised.
	Arabella rolled her eyes disdainfully. "Yes, you. From what 
you've told me he formed quite an attachment to you when you taught at 
Hogwarts. Harry has no family, Remus, you know that. Finally, you and 
Sirius were thrown into his life, and it's like he finally has a small 
part of his parents back."
	Remus stared at the table during this speech, wondering what 
James and Lily would say if they could see him now. Scared to talk to 
their son, even though he knew how much Harry worried about his 
godfather. Scared to talk to Arabella, knowing how much he still loved 
her. He realized that fear was consuming him, but all he could do was 
shut it away and hope it didn't hinder his goals. If he closed his 
eyes, he could practically see Lily scolding him like she used to do 
the Marauders many years ago.
	Arabella stood up, snapping Remus out of his thoughts. As he 
watched her wash up the few dishes in the sink by hand, he felt a 
burning sensation in the back of his throat. Would it be possible to 
undo so many of the wrongs that had been done?
	Hesitantly he got to his feet and walked up behind her. Trying to 
calm the thumping of his rapidly beating heart, he slid his arms around 
her waist, making her gasp. "I'm sorry Bella," he mumbled, sitting his 
chin atop her head so that the smell of her hair flooded his senses. 
"I'm sorry for everything I have ever done to hurt you."
	He felt her tense up slightly, her hands gripping the counter 
edge. "Don't Remus..." she said in a slightly pleading voice. "The past 
is said and done."
	"But it still hurts. At least it hurts me," he whispered back.
	Arabella caught herself between wanting to run and wanting to 
turn around to face him. Her chest ached physically and she felt the 
familiar sting of tears in her eyes. "It took so long to get over you; 
please don't make me do it again."
	Remus breathed in deeply, running his hands down her arms and 
unclenching them from the counter so he could turn her around. Placing 
his finger under her chin, he tilted her head up to look at him. There 
were tears shining in her beautiful blue eyes, and he knew 
instinctively that he didn't want them there any longer. The years 
between them seemed to vanish in a split second. It was like they were 
back in Hogwarts, and had had nothing more than a disagreement. Remus 
quickly closed the gap between their lips. It felt like the first time 
he kissed her-and the last.
	When he finally pulled away, for more of a lack of oxygen than 
actually wanting to, Arabella was crying hard. She stared him in the 
eyes for a long time and then laid her head on his chest as her arms 
snaked around his body.
	"I thought I'd never feel your arms around me again," she mumbled 
after a long moment.
	Remus gently placed his lips in her hair. "You won't ever have to 
wonder again, if you don't want to. I'm done running from my past, I 
have to face up to it and move on."
	"Does that mean you're going to write to Harry?"
	Remus chuckled lightly. He would almost agree to anything right 
now. "Alright. But if I do, will you give me another chance?"
	"I would have given you one anyway, you prat."

--End Chapter 4.

I know this chapter is extremely weird, not too much happening and is 
shorter than the other chapters. But it's where we stopped, sorry about 
that ;) I've stared at the end of this chapter for what seems like 
hours, and I just can't write anything that works for me. So with the 
fresh outlook of a whole new chapter, we'll get going again. And the 
next chapter is bound to be a little more action-filled.

Standard disclaimer here: we don't own Harry Potter.

Thanks to our reviewers! *huggles*

Read? Review! Please!!
<3 Bethany & Fleur
06.01.03