It was five hours later, and Sirius was exhausted. For almost two hours, doctors and nurses had been gathered round his bedside, poking him and prodding him, taking readings from all the machines, and asking him personal questions. Remus and Tonks had been thrown out of the room as soon as Doctor Brownlow entered, and he hadn't seen them since, though he suspected they had gone to fetch Eva Cleansweep.

There was a knock on the door. Sirius looked up, and saw Arthur Weasley peering through the glass window, a look of excitement on his face.

'Come in!' Sirius called, and Arthur burst in, gazing around in ecstasy at all the Muggle machines.

'Sirius, you're so lucky!' He cried, rushing over to the heart monitor. He studied it closely for several seconds, then asked 'can I...d'you think I could press some of these buttons?'

Sirius grinned. 'Not unless you want a whole load of Muggle healers coming in here, expecting to see me dying or something. Congratulations, by the way!'

'Oh!' Arthur looked flustered, 'thank you, it's wonderful news, isn't it? I've already abolished Umbridge's policies about not employing werewolves, warlocks, centaurs or vampires, so Remus can legally get work again. And of course, your name's been cleared. And I've promoted a few old friends, so I've been quite busy! But forget all that-how are you? I heard all about it from Remus.'

'I'm fine', Sirius replied airily, ignoring the fact that as he spoke, horrible pains were shooting up and down his legs, 'I want to get out of here as soon as possible though. These doctors don't have a clue what they're doing. I need a healer.'

'You can hardly blame them', Arthur said reasonably, 'I mean, how often to they get a patient who's had the Cruciatus Curse performed on them, eh? Don't worry, we'll come up with something.'

'I heard about Percy', Sirius was anxious to change the subject, feeling both angry and embarrassed that the curse had nearly killed him. 'I'm sorry, Arthur, but he's got a screw loose.'

Arthur sighed sadly. 'I just hope he'll see sense before it's too late', he responded miserably, 'this ridiculous fight will be the death of Molly. She was always so proud of Percy-Prefect, Head Boy, top OWLS, top NEWTS, good job, excellent prospects...who would have thought it! I always thought it'd be Charlie, or Fred or George who'd be the troublesome ones.'

'Percy makes Fred and George look like saints', Sirius remarked grimly, 'by the way, when are you going to let them join the Order?'

Arthur rolled his eyes. 'I don't see why they shouldn't join now! They're big enough and bold enough, that's for sure. They can handle the responsible of running a business all by themselves, I'm positive they could do well in the Order.'

'So what's the problem?' Sirius asked curiously.

'What do you think?' Arthur scratched his chin and leaned back in his chair. 'Molly.'

'Tell that woman to lighten up!' Sirius growled, 'she's a wonderful mother and a great friend, but she takes life too seriously, and treats all the kids like they're five year olds! Ginny's the youngest, and she's fifteen!'

'I suppose', Arthur sighed heavily again. 'Did Harry tell you Ginny has a boyfriend?'

'No! Who?'

'Some lad called Dean Thomas. His parents are Muggles. He's in Harry's year. Molly's fuming, because she so badly wanted Harry to be Ginny's first boyfriend. I think she wanted them to get married, too.'

Both men burst out laughing.

'How's everything going with the Order?' Sirius asked, 'has Dumbledore handed out any new assignments?'

Arthur shrugged. 'Not really. He asked me to send some HitWizards round to the Malfoy Mansion and search it thoroughly. There's a team over there now. Snape's doing his usual spy work and a few of the others are following known Death Eaters who haven't been captured.'

'I met Draco Malfoy the other day', Sirius said, wrinkling his nose, 'he's an odious little creep if ever there was one. I didn't get the impression he knew about his father yet.'

Arthur grinned widely. 'I delivered the news to Narcissa personally, three mornings ago. She got such a shock when my head appeared in her fireplace! Dumbledore probably broke it gently to Draco.'

'Not too gently, I hope', Sirius grunted.

Suddenly, there was a tiny beep, and Arthur burst out laughing.

'What?' Sirius asked, surprised.

'Oh, I'm sorry Sirius', he replied breathlessly, still chuckling, 'I have a little device sewn into my robes-sort of like a portable Muggle hellyphone. My HitWizards have the number, and they just punch it into their hellyphones if they want me. It beeps then vibrates! Makes me laugh, unfortunately. But I'd better go...they must be having a spot of bother at the Malfoy's.'

'I wish I could come too', Sirius responded wistfully.

He saw a look of pity on Arthur's face. Sirius did not want to be pitied. 'Ignore me', he said chirpily, plastering a fake smile on his face, 'go on, disapparate, and hurry! You'll have to tell me exactly what happened later.'

Arthur smiled. 'Of course I will. Good chatting to you, Sirius. I'll see you when you get home!' And with a small POP, he vanished.

***************

Arthur had only been gone a short time when a woman suddenly apparated at the foot of his bed.

'It's like people are trying to rub my nose in it!' He said grumpily, before taking in exactly who it was that was standing in front of him: The woman was tall and slim, with dark hair and eyes. She was sallow-skinned, with rosy cheeks, and at that moment, she was wearing a cheeky smile.

'Sirius Black, as I live and breathe', she said softly, smiling at him. 'It's a long time since I saw you last-conscious, that is.'

'Eva', he greeted her politely. He wanted to find out whether she was planning on teasing him, before he showed any signs of affection.

'You look better', she remarked, 'the wanted posters made you look positively ugly.'

'That's what starvation, despair and Dementors can do to you', Sirius replied sarcastically.

Eva snorted. 'Same old Sirius.' She shook her head in mock despair.

'Will you just do whatever you're here to do and leave me in peace?' Sirius asked cantankerously.

Eva threw her hands up and sighed exaggeratedly. 'All right, all right!' Making sure that nobody was watching through the window, she pulled out her wand, and began to make all sorts of complicated symbols in the air over Sirius. He watched her intently; she was every bit as beautiful as she had been all those years ago.

'You married?' He asked abruptly, covering up his eagerness with a scowl.

Eva put her head to one side and smiled coyly at him. 'No. I was engaged though. Left the man at the altar.'

'Really? Who was the man?' Sirius asked interestedly.

'Amos Diggory. Poor chap, his son died a year ago around now.'

Sirius' jaw dropped. 'Amos? You nearly married AMOS? He was a Hufflepuff, and six yars ahead of us!'

'I met him at the Ministry. I worked there for a while', Eva replied defensively, 'what's it to you anyway?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Nothing. I was just wondering.'

Eva's expression softened. 'No need to ask you what you've been up to since we last met', she said.

Sirius sighed. 'Azkaban took away some of the best years of my life.' He said sadly.

Eva sat down on the bed. 'What was it like?' She asked quietly.

Sirius shuddered. 'Dark. Damp. Hopeless. Every day, the Dementors would chuck a bowl of gruel into the cell early in the morning. There wouldn't be anything else until past midnight, when they gave us a bottle of water and some stale bread and mouldy cheese. But the food was the least of it. Day and night merged into one long, hellish night. All around me, I could hear people losing their minds, screaming and begging for mercy. But Dementors don't know what mercy is.'

All the time he was speaking, Sirius was unaware that Eva was edging closer to him. 'It sounds awful!' She breathed, looking horrified. 'How did you escape?'

'If I told you, I'd have to kill you', Sirius joked. He leaned forward so that his head almost touched Eva's.

'Some things never change', she whispered, smiling wryly.

Then she kissed him.

'Ahem', said a familiar voice. Sirius jerked away, and saw Remus standing in the doorway, grinning annoyingly. Eva went bright red, and leapt to her feet.

'Sorry to interrupt you', Remus said, 'but Harry is here.'

'Harry!' Sirius tried to collect his thoughts, watching Eva out of the corner of his eye.

'Umm...Sirius is a lot better, but I'd like him to stop by St Mungo's as soon as possible', Eva blurted out, 'is that the time? I'd better leave. Sirius...thank you for...' Eva trailed off into silence, smiling at Sirius.

'Yeah, er, thank you too', he replied, waving. She waved back, then disappeared with a pop.

'Can I let the boy in now?' Remus hissed.

'Yeah, yeah, definitely', Sirius said absently, gazing at the spot where Eva had stood. Remus tut-tutted, then leaned out of the door and called Harry's name.

'Harry! Great to see you again!' Sirius cried enthusiastically.

Harry grinned at his godfather, but Sirius felt immediately that something was wrong. 'Is everything okay Sirius?' Harry asked, in a strange voice.

'Yeah, I'll be out of here in no time.' Sirius glanced meaningfully at Remus, who took the hint.

'Well, I'm gonna go find Tonks. Have fun, you two!' And with that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

'What's up Harry?' Sirius asked at once.

Harry didn't reply for several minutes. When he did, he stared steadily at the floor. 'I had a dream.'

'What was it?' Sirius asked anxiously, 'you didn't see Voldemort again, did you?'

'No. I WAS Voldemort.' Harry still wouldn't look at Sirius.

'And...' Sirius faltered. His heart skipped a beat. Please, he thought, don't let him know! He can't have found out that way! 'And what happened?'

'Peter was there', Harry finally looked at Sirius, hurt, fear and distress in his eyes. 'Peter was telling Voldemort that...that you're weak.'

'Well Peter could hardly pretend he beat me at a fair fight!' Sirius tried to laugh it off. Harry didn't even smile. 'even Voldemort must know how bad he is at spells!'

To Sirius' surprise, Harry changed the subject. 'What really happened when you fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries?' He asked abruptly, very plae all of a sudden.

'Nothing', Sirius lied, 'nothing! Why do you ask?'

'Because', Harry replied, looking at Sirius as though willing him to laugh and tell Harry the whole thing was a mix-up of some kind, 'because Peter said you lost your magic and Voldemort says it happened when you fell through the archway. He says you did it for me.'

Sirius gazed at his godson, lost for words.

'Is it true?' Harry asked, swallowing hard. 'Is it true that you died and gave up your magic for me?'

And Sirius nodded.