Black Night Part Seven Rated R Narcissa/Rabastan, Narcissa/Lucius, Bellatrix/Severus

He opened his eyes in a darkened room, feeling his body throb with pain.

The light slowly came to his eyes and they flickered quickly around, landing on the figure of the distracted man on the floor beside his bed.

Sirius? he tried to say, but nothing came from his mouth. He tried again, Sirius? - but he was weak, and nothing seemed to be obeying his brain.

Finally, Sirius looked up, and took in a sharp, quick breath. "Remus?" he whispered, scrambling to his knees next to the bed and taking Remus' hand in his. "Oh, God, Remus. I'm sorry. If I'd have run. . .if you hadn't had to. . ." No. No, Sirius, no - and Sirius must have seen the dark flash in his eyes, because he stopped.

"You can't talk, can you?" There was something deep and sad in Sirius' eyes. Remus watched him, miserable and unable to make his head move back and forth. Frustrated, he blinked away what might have been tears or sweat or perhaps blood.

"No?" Sirius said softly, and Remus saw the look in his face, recognized it instantly - the holding back look, the look that said Sirius was trying not to cry, to apologize, to call him brother and speak so that he could not stop.

Remus focused, very hard, and felt his muscles obey him with difficulty. He squeezed Sirius' hand, and pain shot up his arm and into his neck and down his spine but he did not let go, did not allow himself to succumb to the pain. Tears sparked in Sirius' eyes; he saw them glinting in the dim light from the crack in the curtains, and Remus focused again, relaxing his now aching hand and forcing his mouth to listen to his brain, forcing himself to smile. It made his head pound, but the look on Sirius' face made it worth it.

"Well, I'll get Snape. We've got to get you to St. Mungo's." Sirius squeezed Remus' hand gently, stood, and after a moment strode from the room.

Blackness encompassed Remus again.

Snape was in Bellatrix's room, talking to her softly. Sirius knocked on the slightly ajar door, and the talking ceased very abruptly. He opened it - Snape was sitting on the bed next to Bella, one arm around her almost protectively.

"How is he?" Bellatrix asked immediately.

Sirius didn't hesitate. "He isn't good. He woke up, while I was in there. He couldn't talk, and he seemed to have a hard time moving at all - it looked like it took effort for him to smile -" He ignored Snape's mutter of, "How surprising." "And he really looked bad. I think we should take him to St. Mungo's."

"What about you?" Snape asked, looking at Bellatrix's face closely. "Don't say you're all right if you're really not. You're in no condition to fight, we'll have to get a Portkey so you won't have to if it comes to that."

Bella glared at him, but said grudgingly, "I. . .do you think we could have someone just look at it, see if it really needs more treatment? There's no way I'm staying behind, but. . ." Sirius noted with a pang of worry that, very uncharacteristically, she hadn't argued at the suggestion she shouldn't fight.

Snape nodded, still studying her, and Bella looked up at Sirius. "How about you?" she asked.

"It's not bad," he lied quickly. The truth was that his head was pounding and he felt weak - it had started to bleed again. It was quite bad. But if he was right, there would be time for him to get some sleep - there was no way they would leave Bella behind, so she'd have to be tended, which would probably take a couple hours. Maybe he could get something to eat, too. He felt hunger running through his body. But he wouldn't tell them that. "Regulus healed it a bit, anyway."

"Did he?" Snape said, not looking up. "It looks terrible."

"I don't need it to be looked at."

"Maybe they can judge that. We all have to go there anyway, Black."

Sirius nodded bitterly. "Fine," he sighed. "Fine. If you insist."

He started to turn. Colors swirled in his eyes, and blackness closed around him.

By the time he had woken, he was lying on a bed in St. Mungo's with bandanges wrapped around his head and three people sitting on his left.

He turned his head slowly - the next bed over was Remus, and then Bella - after all, their injuries all fit into the category "Spell Damage". In between his bed and Remus were a young man with very messy dark hair, another, shorter with mousy hair, and a young woman whose hair was bright red and pulled back into a complicated, twisting bun.

James was pacing, staring at the floor. Lily was watching him worridly. But Peter was sitting in a chair, twisting his hands in his lap and looking at Remus. After a moment, Peter's eyes darted over to Sirius' bed and he jumped out of his chair. Lily and James both followed him quickly over to Sirius' bedside.

"Are you all right, Sirius?" Peter demanded at once.

"Mmmph," said Sirius. "I'm fine. I just - what happened?"

"You fainted," Lily told him quietly. "Snape said something about you insisting you didn't need medical attention and then falling into a dead faint."

"He was smirking," Peter added distastefully. But Sirius was looking at James, who was being quite unusually silent, just staring at him.

There was a silence. "I'm all right, Prongs," Sirius said quietly. "I swear I'm all right. As a matter of fact -" With a forced grin, he slid his legs off the side of the bed and stood. He was obviously not meant to be a longer-term patient anyway, as he was not wearing a hospital gown or an identification tag. "I'm absolutely fine."

James' mouth tightened. His eyes were still worried, but he started to smile. "No one could keep you down for long, Padfoot."

Sirius didn't answer this time, but looked over at Remus. He took in a sharp breath; Remus did look better but the damage was more evident in this light. He was quite pale and breathing heavily. James spoke again, in a soft but heavy voice.

"The Healers said that he actually might be able to leave tomorrow. You haven't been here long, the medicine hasn't kicked in yet."

Sirius nodded, and tore his eyes away from Remus, looking over at his cousin's bed instead. She looked fine; Snape was sitting silently in a chair next to her, holding her hand. "She'll be fine. They said she could probably be released tomorrow morning," Lily said. "From what I hear, she seems to have developed a bit of a connection to Remus."

Sirius turned, looking at Lily in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She never used to care," Lily answered, more quietly. "She kept asking about him, demanding the Healers tell her whether he would be all right. Snape seemed right angry about it - he seems to be a bit jealous, I think."

Sirius was glad that she would be all right, but he felt his heart tighten in his chest and his muscles tense. Tomorrow morning, Lily had said. That was another day before they could look for Andry again.

Then again, he thought, perhaps not. He looked around the room carefully - Remus had just stirred slightly, and Peter and Lily were looking down at him. Sirius glanced at his friend's pale, sweaty face and felt a horrible rush of guilt again. He looked on - Snape and Bellatrix were currently occupying themselves, and he continued to look around.

James was looking right at him, staring fixedly. Sirius looked away, but he had only a second to study the wall fixedly before he felt a hand on his arm. He looked back reluctantly at James, and followed his friend out of the room to the hallway.

"What is it, Prongs?" he asked quietly. James was silent a moment.

"Bellatrix," he said abruptly, his voice quiet but sharp.

"What about her?"

"She's with Snape?"

"Yeah. What a choice."

"And from what I hear, Narcissa is with Lucius."

"Hardly a better choice on her part."

"Odd that the two of them would meet Lucius and Severus and start dating almost at the same time, don't you think?" James tones were impatient and cutting, he seemed angry. "I mean, Lucius is six years older than Narcissa, isn't he? He's twenty-three?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"And the two of them are both suspected Death Eaters, as we both know from training."

Sirius nodded a bit glumly, looking away from James' icy hazel glare, and then froze. His eyes darted back to James' face. His throat was suddenly dry, he felt as if he hadn't had water in days. He failed speech twice, and then said hoarsely, "Are you suggesting they. . ."

A bar of steel and understanding formed between hazel and dark blue, and Sirius pulled his eyes away.

"No," he said quietly. "No. I know you mean the best, James, but I can't believe that. You don't know the two of them - they like control, I don't think they'd ever settle for being under Voldemort. And. . ." And I can't believe Bella wouldn't have told me. And I think I would have seen it before. He couldn't finish.

"Sirius," James said, his voice softened now. "Remember when you tried to get in touch with them to see if they were all right after the London Incident in September?" There was a pause, and Sirius opened his mouth.

"How about after the Surrey attack?" A pause, to let it sink in. "The Betler killings?" Another pause. "The capture of Revellen Brown?" Another. "The siege on the Hufflepuff Refuge?"

"Lily wasn't at home after that when you tried to get in contact with her, but I don't see you accusing her of being a Death Eater."

He regretted it as soon as he said it - it had been a tip-of-the-tongue sort of thing, something you think but don't mean to say. Before he could apologize, James had snatched him by the front of his robes and shoved him against the wall, hard. His teeth were bared; the light in his eyes was furious and frustrated.

"Don't ever say that again," James hissed. "Don't you ever say anything like that again."

He released Sirius abruptly. Both of them were trembling.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said softly. "I'm sorry, and you know I didn't mean that. But you're wrong."

James stared at Sirius for a moment. "When this is over," he said quietly, "ask them. Promise me you'll ask them, Sirius."

Sirius hesitated a moment, but then, "I promise."

James nodded, moved over to the wall, and sank slowly to sit on the floor, his head buried in his knees for a moment. Sirius took a few steps over and sat down next to him.

Finally, after a long pause, James' muffled voice said, "Sirius, I've got to tell you something."

"What is it?"

For a while Sirius thought that James had changed his mind, or lost his nerve to say whatever it was that he was about to say. Then finally James raised his head, and his face was positively glowing. Surprised at this change in emotion, Sirius waited for it.

"Sirius, I think I - I mean, I think Lily and I - I think we could really work. I mean, you know, I think we - we're serious about it. I - she told me day before yesterday - she asked me if I wanted to get married eventually - she said she really loved me and - I mean, we're going to wait, obviously, I don't think either of us are ready, but - I think it's going to work, I think it's already working a lot better than at school." He was practically babbling. Sirius grinned, truly delighted, momentarily forgetting his troubles enough to be happy with James.

"That's awesome, Prongs! Er - are you going to tell her about the - er - the Animagus thing? I mean - later on?"

"Well, yeah, of course, I mean, if we're married, or even engaged, or maybe - I mean, not yet, but I'll tell her when it's the right time, early enough so that she won't be angry that I didn't tell her before, and I - well, you know, I'll have to explain being gone once a month to help Remus - oh God, it's almost the full moon, too - but I just - God, Padfoot, I'm just so IhappyI."

"Just remember," Sirius said, with a sudden wicked grin, "she works around magical animals, and someone will notice if the unicorns don't like her anymore."