Authors Notes: Hey everyone! Chapter 4 is here already! I have to say I'm very pleased with the way things are turning out. ^_^ I just hope that everyone's ready for all the twists and turns I have in store! ^_^

Beautiful Pain

Chapter 4:

The Celtic Pentacle

Sirius stared at his godson with a look of pained disbelief. He was all but crumbling before his eyes and he would still not let Sirius get within three feet of him…or anyone else for that matter. Although he seemed to be more insistent on Sirius, out of all of them, to staying back. The world might as well have twisted about on its axis. That would have made more sense than this.

Sirius could absolutely not even begin to fathom what was going through Harry's mind to make him act this way. The others around him must have been in much of the same state for they too were shell-shocked at this sudden turn of events to do so much as Accio the sword away from Harry.

Somewhere in the background the Aurors that weren't staring blankly at the weakened Gryffindor had finally managed to get Snape under control. Even without his magic, the man was a holy terror when he was angry. It was Dumbledore himself, the only person in this 'mad house' who wasn't shocked beyond reason or busily worried about containing Snape, who administered the Veritaserum to Severus. He may not have known exactly what was going on, but he knew they could not wait for answers.

After a brief struggle from the stubborn Slytherin, there was some remarkable coughing, gagging and other such strained commotion before the potion took affect. Then all Snape could do was to glare half-heartedly at the Headmaster with full knowledge that he could keep nothing from him for the next hour or so.

"Now then," Dumbledore began slowly, "would you please explain to everyone exactly what is going on here?"

He wasn't yelling, Dumbledore rarely did, but his tone was not mean to be argued with. Snape simply looked up at him silently for a moment, almost as though he was trying to fight the potion (a feat he should know was entirely impossible) before a slow smile smeared itself across his face. Shortly after that his shoulders began to tremble and then he released the most sickening shrill laughter that proceeded to echo throughout the cheerless cavern of a room.

That got everyone's attention. Even Sirius turned his gaze away from his struggling godson if only in the hopes of ascertaining an explanation from the pathetic excuse for a human being. It was several minutes later that Snape finally managed to calm himself enough to dish out the crushing blow.

"How far you have underestimated me! It doesn't take even a fool to realize I've been found out, but how, I wonder, could you even fathom my being unprepared for that?"

Ron, who was among the small circle trying to reason with Harry, burst out, "Because you used all your magic for that bloody necklace! Dumbledore told us!"

Snape seemed only to gain more humor at this comment. "Yes, indeed, I did, but not without safeguards. I knew the risk I took when I poured my magic into my creation and I was not about to have myself undone even by the likes of you! Did none of you even think to look at the necklace?!" Snape paused to sneer at the occupants of the room who had, as he had thought, been too preoccupied with himself or Harry to care about the now useless Slave Necklace.

With an arrogant smirk a little too much resembling that of Malfoy's, Severus continued in a lecture like fashion, "The Dark Mark emblem, the central power point of the Necklace, was not made of metal but glass. Hollow glass to be specific. It's an ingenious little modification on my part. You see I filled it with a potion and prepared a special charm so that, if this should every happen, the potion would flow straight into Potter's bloodstream."

"There's not a single potion you can come up with that we can't find a cure for!" cried Hermione, ever confident of her immense intellect.

"I really do wish you luck Ms. Granger. I had hope this last part to be a surprise, but since that is not my choice, I'll have to settle for the expressions on your face. The potion, you see, was my own creation. So complex I doubt I'd ever have the strength to repeat it. Once it entered Potter's bloodstream it filled every pore in his body with poison ---a very special kind of poison. It's highly fatal to everyone but Potter. Just the slightest touch of his skin and I imagine imminent death in a matter of seconds."

No one, not even Dumbledore had foreseen such a turn of events. Severus may never have been the kindest of men, but one thing was for certain, he was one of the best potion makers in the world. If he had managed to outdo himself with this potion there was no telling when or even if it could ever be removed.

As the fear, dread, and flat out unfairness of everything that ever seemed to happen to them washed over Sirius, he turned again to face his Godson who was, at the moment, leaning heavily on the sword he'd been brandishing fiercely only moments before. With much effort Harry managed to lift his head and gaze unfocused and unsteadily at Sirius, still in horrible shape from his previous injuries. Through ragged, labored breaths he just managed to whisper, "I only wanted to protect you…." before crumpling to the floor in a heap.

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If anyone had thought Sirius's most frightening form was Padfoot they were sorely corrected during the course of that morning. It had taken Remus, Ron, Hermione, and two other Aurors just to hold him back after Harry fell to the ground. He'd yelled out repeatedly that he didn't care and that they couldn't hold him back before falling to his knees in defeat and allowed Madam Pomfrey to levitate Harry to a special closed off room in the hospital wing.

Even in his silent defeat he was a terror to come near. His very aura seemed to bristle threateningly and frightfully at everyone who dared occupy the same room. Everyone around him, whether they knew him or not, felt for him and the air of grief was nearly palpable around him. Many tried but none could move him from Harry's side. After the last attempt to move him, an older female Auror took pity on him and let him stay, but not before casting a fiercely impenetrable force field spell around Harry, just in case Sirius's emotions overtook him again.

And so hours passed and Sirius could still be found sitting unhappily on a chair ---as close to Harry as the force field would allow ---and the rest of their companions were scattered around Hogwarts looking for a cure to this hellish potion, or dealing with Snape's imprisonment. The Potions master was sent straight to Azkaban without trial. Sirius remembered the place all too well. Even after all his years in Azkaban Sirius had never looked as broken as he did at that moment, watching over Harry. For the first time in his life he was being forced to face up to a situation that was quite possibly hopeless. Naturally, he felt responsible for the entire mess; if he'd just waited before he'd lunged himself at Snape maybe they'd have been able to free Harry without ever having to deal with that unholy poison.

Sirius looked down and dejected traced the arm he'd nearly lost in Voldermort's last battle, a nervous habit he came to develop. A tortured whisper echoed around the near empty room, "My recklessness cost me a heck of a lot more than an arm…Merlin if I could fix this whole mess by hacking the thing off I'd rip it apart right now…"

"Don't say that Sirius…" Sirius's head snapped up, eyes wide, and he took in the frail image of his newly awakened godson, "the last thing we need is more bloodshed…."

Sirius's face softened with immense sadness. "Harry…." he raised his hand to comfort Harry as he saw small glittering beads begin to form at the edge of his eyes ---when it came into contact with the force field around him, giving his hand a little shock. He pulled his hand away quickly but his eyes never left Harry's.

A small, sad, and empty smile curled on his godson's lips as the glittering beads began to slide down his cheeks. "It's better this way Sirius…I may never be able to touch you again, but it's enough to know that you're safe…that you care so much…."

Sirius felt a stinging sensation on his own eyes, blurring his vision. His eyes slipped closed to the pain of reality, forcing a single glittering teardrop to caress his cheek. After everything he'd been through Harry was still trying to comfort him. It was too much. Standing slowly Sirius opened his eyes and offered a small smile that held no joy in it. "You'd better get some rest Harry…." he spoke softly and turned to leave without waiting for a reply.

As he saw the door close after Sirius, Harry also felt something small and wet land on the back of his hand. Still quite unable to move much to avoid over straining his injuries he just managed to lift his hand to see the liquid of Sirius's tear smoked and burned into nothingness right before his eyes; more manifested proof of his helplessness. Even though he hardly had the strength for it, Harry rolled over into a fetal position, sobbing and wailing into his pillow for all he was worth.

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Sirius stormed through the castle with a serious do-not-mess-with-me air about him. Everyone that was unlucky enough to be in his path did an immediate about face upon seeing him or in some cases, dived to the side to avoid being trampled as he suddenly turned into their path. Young, old --- it didn't matter; Sirius was not stopping for anyone. He was a man on a mission.

He rounded another corner and was in the process of blazing past the library when Remus, who was part of the group researching potions, had the unpleasant experience of being shoved forcefully back into Hermione and Ron. Hermione huffed indignantly, staring up at Sirius's retreating form from their awkward heap on the floor due to the unexpected collision. Ron opened his mouth to shout something after him when Remus cut him off, "Don't. He's suffering, probably more than any of us…. Just let him grieve in the only way he knows how."

"By inflicting physical pain on others? Oh, that will help immensely I'm sure," Hermione retorted bitterly as she got to her feet but made no other comments after Sirius and was not reprimanded for her curt statement by her two companions. Everyone was feeling the weight of grief on their shoulders now and it was not the time for petty arguments.

It was not long before Sirius stormed his way into the dungeons and all but shredded the door to what had been Snape's personal quarters. Ministry officials had placed heavy magical locks on the door so that the room could be examined for clues and important evidence on a later date. Apparently that was too long to wait for Sirius and the magic spells themselves seemed to understand that with the weak resistance he faced in disarming them.

"Alright you bastard!" Sirius bellowed to the empty room. "You bloody got us into this, you impossible bugger, now you're going to get us out! With that Sirius proceeded to enthusiastically demolish everything and anything he saw in Snape's quarters. He screamed, shouted, howled, growled, clawed, and all but ripped the fabric of space in the modest three-room suite. It was only many hours later, a few of them spent as Padfoot, when Sirius found himself lying on the floor, amongst the confetti that used to be Snape's possessions, exhausted from his exertion and more miserable than before. For the first five hours he'd searched the site for anything that might be useful to Harry. When he'd found nothing he morphed into Padfoot and had proceeded to take out his frustration on Snape's rooms.

"Bastard," he mumbled weakly shoving his fist against the nearest wall and nearly smashed his face against the floor when the wall gave way a little. Sirius managed to look up just in time to see one of the stones in the wall slide outwards like a drawer. Scrambling quickly to his feet Sirius peered over the edge of the apparently hollow secret drawer. Inside, on a black velvet pillow, lay a very odd looking talisman. It was circular, about the size of a muggle silver dollar, but as he picked it up by the black leather band he discovered it was far heavier. On closer examination he saw it held some sort of odd carving on it… like a five pointed star surrounded by vines. He'd seen that symbol somewhere before… it was a magic symbol… a very ancient magic symbol. This…this could be the key to everything. He turned to bolt out of the room when, upon crossing the threshold, he crashed into the same elder Auror woman who'd allowed him to stay with Harry that morning…shit. Sirius opened his mouth to explain but she held up her hand and cut him off.

"Save it. I believe you have something to show Dumbledore?" Sirius nodded a little dumbstruck. How long had she been standing in the doorway? "Follow me then. We'd best assemble everyone in the Headmaster's office. Better than repeating the news nine odd times." With another short nod to Sirius she turned on her heel and the two of them headed down the hall.

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Roughly half an hour after Sirius's shocking little discovery everyone was once again assembled in Dumbledore's office. Only this time it was Sirius they came to listen to. It didn't take long for Sirius to explain how he'd gone to Snape's room to blow off some steam and ended up trashing the place instead, out of frustration. The reprimands for that, however, were short lived. Once Sirius brandished his find the room fell into a strained silence.

Sirius looked expectantly from one face to another hoping someone, anyone, would be able to tell him what the talisman was. Much to his disappointment, no one spoke out, not even Hermione. As whatever hopefulness he'd been able to glean from his discovery began to fade from him, Dumbledore took it upon himself to break the silence.

"If you would, Sirius, be so kind as to leave the talisman with me and the others I assure you we will look into it right away."

Sirius opened his mouth in protest, "But-"

Dumbledore cut him off, "You, however, should get some rest. You've had a very…" Dumbledore paused to cough discretely, "… trying day. I believe you are very much in need of a long rest.

A million protests died on Sirius's lips as he looked at Dumbledore with a very unreadable expression. Without a word he turned around and left the room. Everyone watching him go were under no delusions that he was headed for his rooms. "Remus…" Dumbledore started in his usual, knowing tone.

"I'm on it," the werewolf replied, slipping silently out of the room without another word.

"Now then," Dumbledore began again, bringing everyone's attention back from the previous occupants of the room, "I think the rest of us should get to work."

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The owlery door creaked open and soft footsteps padded their way over to a large bay window where Sirius sat huddled against the wall --- staring blankly at the moonlit grounds below. When he felt the cushion dip as Remus made himself comfortable, he braced himself for a lecture, a speech, something that he knew he just couldn't handle at this point in time…but none came….Instead there was just the silence he wanted, and the comforting presence of his best friend, which he really needed right then. Sirius looked up a little questioningly at Remus but his friend only smiled warmly and took his hand in his. Sirius smiled gratefully and relaxed as much as he could in the comfortable silence that only the closest of friends could share until the first hints of dawn feathered the eastern sky.

It was only then that the owlery door opened once more to reveal none other than a tired but relieved looking Headmaster. He made his way into the room chuckling at how quickly his former students perked up, so much like their canine forms even as humans. He waited dramatically before saying at last, "I have some good news."

"Spit it out then!" Sirius nearly growled but there was no real anger in his voice, only hope.

Dumbledore smiled calmly before holding out the talisman that Sirius had found by its black leather strap before speaking again. "We searched every book in my personal library down to the very oldest one before we found it. In a book that had been in my family for five hundred years there was a small article about just such a talisman as this one. It's called a Celtic Pentacle and the earliest Aurors in Ireland were known to have used it to draw out the most complex curses known to man. Tragically, a dark wizard in the area destroyed all save one. This must be the remaining one, and unless my information is incorrect it should be able to draw the curse out of Harry and trap it within itself."

Dumbledore paused to watch the immense relief and joy spread over his two former students before continuing. "The Auror's wanted to try it right away but I informed them that you would be most displeased if you weren't allowed to do the honors yourself, Sirius."

"Damn right!" Sirius yelled enthusiastically, jumping from his seat, grabbing the talisman, and rushing out of the room in a blur. The other two watched him go for a moment, fond smiles on their faces before the silence was broken again.

"Shall we?" Dumbledore asked turning back to Remus.

Remus gave a little snort of laughter, "I don't think he'd notice a resurrection of Voldermort at this moment, but yes, let's join him. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

They both smiled again before taking a quicker route to the infirmary to catch up with Sirius.

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"Alright now," said Madam Pomfrey fifteen minutes later, "I don't care how excited you all might be, I will not overwhelm Harry when he is still in such a fragile state. Only and I repeat only Sirius is allowed inside this room, no matter what happens. Got it?"

There was a slur of "Yes Ma'am" among Harry's friends that had assembled outside the door to his room. If he had not been so preoccupied, Sirius would've snickered at how much it resembled being lectured by McGonagall in his old school days.

With a small nod Madam Pomfrey turned to him and said, "Then I suggest you get to it Sirius." With a wide grin Sirius walked into Harry's isolated hospital room, closing the door behind him, well aware that everyone outside was pressing their faces against the small window behind him. That thought quickly faded as he approached Harry's now force field free hospital bed.

Careful not to let his emotions get the best of him Sirius knelt down besides Harry's sleeping form. He was curled up in the fetal position and it looked like he'd cried himself to sleep. "Harry…." Sirius whispered just barely resisting the urge to gather his godson in his arms.

It had been no more than a whisper but Harry stirred anyway, rolling onto his back before blinking into consciousness and turning his empty gaze on his godfather. Sirius suppressed a shiver of uneasiness at the look and instead launched right into an explanation, holding the talisman out for Harry to see the whole time.

"We've found a way to help you Harry," he started. When he got no response he continued onward. "I… um… kind of lost my temper in Snape's old quarters yesterday and stumbled across this," he paused and gestured to the talisman. "To make a long story short, Dumbledore said it can help; it can draw the potion out of you and we can put this all behind us. All you need to do is hold it for a few seconds." Sirius finished his little speech holding out the talisman, fully expecting Harry to reach out and grab it. But instead he only stared up at it with the same empty expression on his face, as though he didn't believe anything would be all right again.

"Harry…" Sirius mumbled bringing his godson's eyes back to his own. The connection between them with that look was beyond words. Sirius knew the question lingering behind those haunted emerald eyes. "I'm tired of being hunted. Do I even have a reason to go on after this?"

"Harry…" Sirius mumbled again easing to his knees by his godson's bed, still holing out the talisman, "…please… don't give up on life… on me." Harry continued staring at Sirius and after a few endless heartbeats he saw a flash of life behind his eyes and, very slowly, Harry turned his hand so his palm was facing up. Sirius breathed a small, "Thank you…" before letting the talisman fall into Harry's hand.

The instant he felt the mental connect with his hand, Harry gripped it tightly, waiting for something to happen. Within a few seconds he felt an odd warm tingling sensation was over him… It was…like having a bath almost… from the inside out…. With a brief look at his hand Harry saw little spots of light flowing through his skin. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the warm feeling pulled out of him, bringing with it the icy coldness of Snape's hellish potion. He looked up at Sirius with one last, deep sigh, before slipping into sweet oblivion, this time, with the hope of something more resting at the back of his mind.

Sirius barely gave notice to the talisman as it fell to the floor. Instead he rushed forward, near weeping with happiness, to embrace his godson. Almost immediately, however, he noticed that something was wrong. Harry was still asleep, but the moment Sirius touched his he winced and tried to writhe away. Sirius pulled back with a slightly hurt expression on his face. "Harry…" he said quietly for what he felt must have been the umpteenth time that day.

"Give him time," a soft, understanding voice came from the doorway. Sirius turned his head, hurt expression still evident on it, to see Madam Pomfrey in the threshold of the room, wand out, ready to start actually healing a patient she'd been unable to touch from the first day of his residence.

"He's had a tough road to travel and his healing had only just begun. He'll need you to be understanding and be there for him, even if he can't be the friendliest person in the world," she added further.

Sirius turned back to Harry and watched his fitful, exhausted sleep. Yes, their struggle was far from over, but even as he admitted this to himself a small, genuine smile found it's way to his lips. "Don't worry," he said softly, more to Harry than Madam Pomfrey, "I'll always be there for him. Always." As if to prove his point Sirius backed away from Harry to allow Madam Pomfrey to start her work, only to take a seat on the chair placed against the opposite wall, obviously not planning on leaving anytime soon. Madam Pomfrey smiled understandingly and, for once, did not ask him to leave.

Sirius sat and watched her cast healing charms on Harry, watched as Harry winced every time she touched him, and all the while he thought, "I'll always be there for you, Harry, and I'll help you through this, you'll see. We'll fight off all the old ghosts…together."

To be continued….

Authors Notes: Oh boy the angst keeps coming doesn't it? LoL Well, I hope everyone's enjoying themselves so far. Don't worry there will be some fluff soon, I never write angst without a big dose of fluffiness to smooth things over. But for now just be patient. Everything will fall into place at the right time. ^_^

Redrum: LOL ^_^ Because I'm evil and I love to torture my poor innocent readers. :) I hope you liked this chapter. Don't worry, when I wrote that scene I was trying to get it across without actually saying it, but I'll deal with it straight out in later chapters. ^_^

Moon Fairy2: LoL ^_^ Thank you. Yes I was trying to make it very emotional, I'm glad it worked. Don't worry I'll update as often as I can. ^_^

Crimson Wings: *Evil laugh* :) Yes I do love to end as many chapters as possible at the worst possible cliff hangers. I find it keeps them coming back for more. ^_^ LoL I promise I'll try to update at least once a week… until September… then it might be a bit of a wait between chapters. Hehehe

Blame school, not me. ^_^ LoL Thank You again for such and enthusiastic review. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic. That's a good thing cause we could be here for a while. I think this will be a very long fic. LoL

^_^ Glad to know my work is appreciated so much. ^_^