Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" and every one of its characters belong to JK Rowling! I own only this plot, and all the characters you don't recognize.

Summary: In the future, Voldemort is no longer the terrible threat that begins to loom over the horizon. How can the survivors of the war believe the truth they have been told - a truth that condemns someone they loved and honored? A story of love, faith, loyalty and the legacy somebody left behind ...

Note: Set in the future. The trio are all 21 years old, and I think some of this story might be A/U.

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Stained Legacy

Chapter Six: Broken Hero

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Hermione didn't faint, but she came very close to it.

Seeing her color drain right out of her face, and as she swayed unsteadily, the man moved forward quickly and wrapped strong arms around her, jerking her out of unconsciousness and bringing her back to reality. She stared into warm, deep black eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. His breath was shallow and soft, his eyes burning into hers intensely, and she saw regret, elation, and emotion in there.

"S-Sirius?" The name came out as a choked sob.

He swallowed hard; she saw the movement in his throat. "It's me, 'Mione."

"P-Polyjuice Po - Potion?"

"You, Harry and Ron used to call me Snuffles sometimes. Otherwise, it was Padfoot. I'm an Animagus as you can see, like James, Remus and Peter - who is dead, thank God. I was one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map."

That was proof enough, but she still couldn't believe it. Slowly, her hand trembling, she reached up to touch his jaw, hard and strong with the sexy roughness of a day's stubble. He was solid; the arms holding her tightly were real enough ... but how could this be? Something burst inside her, and she slipped her arms around his neck, lip quivering, and tilted her head up. Without hesitating, Sirius lowered his head to kiss her - softly at first, temptingly, and then hard and hungrily, three years of nothing bringing the deep longing and hunger they'd both felt bubbling to the surface.

When they broke apart, time had certainly gone by. Hermione was shaken with emotion - the kiss was just as mind-blowing as always. "It was you," She gasped softly, "You saved me; pulled me back, conjured the bandages and locked the door so that they wouldn't see you ... it was you."

"Yeah, damn it, that was me. What if I hadn't been there? What if - Merlin's beard, do you have any idea how hard that was for me? How hard it was for me to see what you were about to do ..." His voice cracked and he shook his head, "Damn it, Hermione, what do you think I'd have done if you'd gone through with what you did? I wasn't about to lose you!"

"But - you're - you're here. How?" She whispered, tears filling her eyes. Staring at him, a thirty-seven-year-old man who looked just as handsome and strong as always ... if a little saddened. How could this be possible? How could he be alive after everything they'd seen, gone through? How had he come back? Choking on her words, she asked him.

"I didn't come back," He confessed quietly after a long hesitation, releasing her and taking a small step backwards. "I was never dead."

Hermione stared, wrapping her arms around herself. "But I saw - "

"I think it's time I explained," Sirius said quietly, "I've been alive these past three years. The curse Voldemort threw at you was a cruel one - one meant to kill only a Muggle-born. It would only Stun a pureblood or Squib or even halfblood, and the moment I woke up again, deep in the shadows of the forests, I knew what the spell really had been. And I realized I was alive, and that you were too. At least, I hoped you were. I couldn't know what had happened after I'd - fallen." He shrugged sadly. "You all assumed Voldemort's army burnt my body, and that's why you never found it. But I disappeared; I fled from the scene, because I realized that my 'death' gave me the opportunity to do something with all my soul and energy - and that I had a better chance of success."

In amazed disbelief, Hermione mumbled, "What did you want to do?"

"Find the Sphere of Pagnon."

It seemed like cold ice flooded every part of Hermione. For so long she'd clung to the hope of his innocence, but now this - Sirius, who she thought she'd known so well, who had never once mentioned anything remotely linking to the Sphere of Pagnon - this was almost like a confession.

"Why?" She asked flatly.

"When I was sixteen, I was brooding in the library over something - and due to my reckless temper, I cursed a shelf. The books went scattering, and Madam Pince was so angry that she made me pick up and replace the books one by one - without the help of magic. While I was doing it, I came across this dusty old book that looked like no one had touched it in decades, and when it fell open, it opened to the page I left for you on the desk there."

She didn't respond. Sirius sighed, and continued, "Naturally, I was intrigued by the Sphere of Pagnon and was stunned by the immense power the book told of. I did a little more research, secretly, and found that the damned thing does indeed exist. That was when the implication struck me - that if I was able to find out about this incredible weapon, so could any ambitious minion determined to achieve greatness. A new Voldemort threatened, and so I decided to find the Sphere and restore it to safe hands before anyone else could."

Before she could reply to that, the sound of softly shuffling footsteps alerted them both to the fact that Sean, small and toddling in his baby blue pajamas with a Muggle favorite - Kermit the Frog - on them. He was clutching a very, very old teddy bear in his hands, and was looking curiously up at his mother and the rather familiar man she was with.

"Oh." He said, quite cheerfully despite the sleepiness in his voice, breaking the stunned silence in which the two adults stared at him. "Hi!"

Hermione shot a look at Sirius, and saw that he was staring at the little boy with a half-affectionate, half-bemued expression on his startled face. "Hi," he responded with that old rakish grin, which sent her heart stopping, as he crouched down to look the boy in the eye. Suddenly, he laughed. "Is that my old teddy bear?"

"Uh - yeah, we found it in the closet in your room at Grimmauld Place. I hope you don't mind." Hermione said quickly.

Sirius looked at her, smiling. "Of course I don't mind."

"If this is your teddy bear, then you must be Sirius," Sean said brightly, a little perplexity crossing over his features. "I'm Sean." He stuck out a little hand, and Sirius shook it with a surprised grin. "Mommy told me all about you. I always wanted to meet you, because you sounded so cool and did such cool things! But Mommy told me you were dead. I guess she made a mistake, huh?"

Hermione froze. The grin had faded off Sirius's face, and he stared from the little boy to Hermione, and when his eyes met hers, she felt like something was ripping apart in her heart to see that flash of hurt and betrayal. "Mommy?" He asked quietly. "You're - you're married?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. She didn't elaborate further.

Sean looked between them. "No, Mommy's not married!" He responded helpfully before Hermione could stop him. "I don't really remember my daddy, and I don't know where he is now, but my Mommy said he's a great guy."

Slowly, Sirius managed a smile again. "I'm sure he must be, Sean," He said quietly, ruffling the little boy's hair with obvious affection. Hermione's heart nearly broke. If only he hadn't - it was so - so like a picture - of what could have been ... Sean grinned, came over to kiss Hermione, and returned to his room to go back to sleep. Sirius looked at Hermione, and shrugged slightly. "I guess I shouldn't have expected that you wouldn't find someone else over these three years - I mean, just look at you - but I never thought ..."

"Sirius - "

"It's all right, 'Mione," He shrugged again, his voice almost indifferent but Hermione thought she detected a note of iron control in there. "You don't have to explain."

No, but he did.

"About this Sphere of Pagnon. You didn't tell anyone what you'd found out?" She asked skeptically, swiftly changing the subject and frowning at him, suddenly shaken and stunned again by the fact that he was alive and well. "Not even James or Remus?"

"No," Sirius said ruefully, raking his fingers through his short hair. A muscle - one of anger? - throbbed in his jaw. "I don't know why I kept it a secret - pride maybe, a secret life mission - and all the time we were fighting Voldemort, joining the Order, all that - I was still trying to track down the wretched weapon, and that was why I didn't let anyone find out I was still alive then. When I read the article, mentioned the Sphere of Pagnon, I came back to London."

Hermione swallowed hard, feeling like her heart was shattering all over again. He'd come back - because of a damned weapon? Not for Harry, not for Remus ... not for her. For a weapon. And everything she'd ever thought she'd known about him -

"Rather careless, wasn't it?" She said quietly, "To lose such a powerful weapon."

Sirius frowned. "Lose it? I never had it."

She ignored this, and turned away slightly, trying to make sure he couldn't see the pain that was threatening to break her down - again. "You shouldn't be here," She said flatly, closing her eyes to stop the tears from brimming there, "You have to go, Sirius. If anyone finds out that you're alive and that you were here - if the Ministry finds out - they'll take Sean away from me."

"Hold on." Sirius stared at her, his brow furrowing in surprise. "Why will the Ministry take Sean away from you if they find me here?"

Hermione couldn't believe him. "Because of Aberforth," she bit out.

"Aberforth?" He looked at her with complete perplexity. "What in hell do I have to do with Aberforth's death and murder?"

"You - " Hermione broke off, staring at him in confusion. If this was an act, it was highly convincing. "Sirius, they - they think you were the one who murdered Aberforth, and had the Sphere of Pagnon."

"WHAT?!"

"Hey, don't yell at me!" She snapped, suddenly angry. "I wasn't the damned eyewitness who said she saw you with Aberforth in the alley, mentioning the damned Sphere."

At those words, Sirius's incredulous expression suddenly changed to one of bitter knowledge. "Scarlett ..." He spat out.

"What about her?"

"She said she saw me? Heard my voice? That I was the one who killed Aberforth and gloated on about the power of the Sphere of Pagnon?" Sirius demanded, his eyes flashing with anger and bitterness, "Damn it, Hermione, don't you know better than that? She's lying!"

"Why would she lie? Why would she want to frame you?"

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes fell on the photo album on the couch. He moved towards it - his old photo album - and picked it up, flipping pictures until he came to one he wanted. "Here," he jabbed at a picture where he and James were smiling and waving, and a pretty girl was standing in the background with a green-haired boy. The look of adoration in her face as she stared at Sirius was obvious. "That's her. Scarlett Fetcherly."

"Who was she?"

"She and I went out a few times during my fifth and sixth year, but eventually I decided she was too spiteful and malicious for me, and broke it off. She was outraged - and a little crushed, I think. She swore revenge, cursed me with everything she had, and even tried some voodoo crap which nearly got me killed. Eventually, she found love in the arms of Donny Tyler - " He jabbed at the green-haired punk boy, " - but she never forgave me for rejecting her. She came to see me in Azkaban once too, you know," Sirius's mouth twisted wryly as he remembered, "Laughed and sneered at me, telling me how much I deserved to rot forever. Maybe - maybe she couldn't handle the thought of my being remembered as a hero, and came back here to stain my legacy - her final revenge."

"Or maybe, she framed you to protect the real killer." Hermione shrugged dully. "I don't know, Sirius, how can I tell if you're telling me the truth?"

He looked at her with emotion smouldering in black eyes. "Because I'm begging you to."

Hermione stared at him in dead silence. Her heart leaped, but at the same time, it sank with the knowledge that he could be lying. Even the story about Scarlett Fetcherly may be a fabrication, apart from the obvious that she did indeed adore him. After all, he'd kept his own secret of the Sphere hidden for so long, and deceived them all about his death for his own reasons ...

"Did you kill him?" She asked, point-blank.

He looked at her, and then his eyes softened and he walked forward to brush his finger across her cheek tenderly. "No." His voice shook with sincerity and emotion. "I would never have killed him. I never wanted the Sphere to access its power, 'Mione."

"Sirius ..." Hermione's voice choked on a breath, and she wanted to believe it so badly - she did believe it with all the love and loyalty in her heart. "I - I knew it couldn't have been you. We - we all tried to tell them - but they wouldn't listen - we tried - but I knew. I knew you weren't like that!" Tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them away and shook her head.

"And they've been calling me a hero," He said wryly. "I'm no hero."

She smiled slightly. "You still are, Sirius. Even if the curse failed, the fact that you were still willing to take the curse - to die - for me," her voice cracked, "Makes you a hero."

His eyes shadowed painfully. "I would never have let you die."

"You don't realize how many times I've wished you had let me die instead." Hermione swallowed. She forced herself to harden, and added quietly, "You should have told us, Sirius, told someone about the Sphere."

"Don't I wish I did?" He said bitterly. "But after I was 'dead' - it was too late to tell someone. I seized the opportunity to put an end to the new threat of evil. I went all over the world searching, because there were rumors in the evil circles that someone had gotten their hands on it. If I could turn back time, I might have revealed that I was alive and took Dumbledore and all of you into my confidence, but God help me, 'Mione, I went ahead and sacrificed everything I loved - all because I just wanted to protect the world from the disaster was coming, and fool that I was, I thought I could do it alone."

Hermione understood what he was saying at once. It was a result of being rather overshadowed by James, and then by the other members of the Order, that Sirius had felt the need to prove himself. But one thing she couldn't understand - one thing she could never understand - was him letting them believe all this time that he was dead, without realizing what he was putting them through.

As if he'd read her thought, which he probably had because he knew her so well, he murmured brokenly, "I made a mistake, 'Mione. But - but I need you to forgive me. Please forgive me for what I've done."

Maybe he wasn't a murderer or a new Dark Lord, but he had committed his crimes. She thought about the grief Remus had gone through, the hurt and loss all Sirius's friends and teammates had suffered. She remembered the laughter dying from the Weasley twins' and Ron's faces as they realized Sirius wasn't coming back, the anguish of Harry. And she remembered the fear, the pain, the guilt she'd suffered ... the endless guilt ... the searing pain that never stopped.

He could have stopped that.

But he'd been too damned intent on being noble and trying to save the world.

How could she forgive him for that?

"I can't." She whispered. He exhaled on a heavy, broken sigh, and then moved closer to her, tilting her chin up and making her look at him. She tried to break free of his grasp, almost half-heartedly, because suddenly flashes of memory came back to her and she wanted him with every fibre of her being. "Damn it, Sirius, let me go. What do you want from me?"

He was shaking slightly, his gaze intense as it raked her over, his eyes shadowed with regret and desire. "You - you know what I want, 'Mione," He growled softly.

"No." She refused, and then melted as he leaned down to kiss her again. A warm, slightly sad laugh bubbled from his throat at her easy surrender, and his tongue gently ran over her lips, making her open her mouth and let him in. His arms wound around her, one hand slipping under her shirt to brush her flat stomach, to tenderly run her fingers over the wound she'd inflicted on herself, the wound he'd help heal ...

Anguished, she broke away. "I realize we have to work together now, to remove the Sphere of Pagnon from evil hands." She said tonelessly. "But I - I can't forget what you've done. The pain we went through ... the guilt I felt - still feel - God, Sirius." She swallowed hard, and flattened her voice again. "You can sleep in one of the guy's rooms."

"'Mione - "

"Don't." She whispered. "I can't."

She risked another glance at him, and saw that his face was dark with hurt, but there was comprehension there, understanding of why she couldn't forgive him. He blamed himself too, she knew, but she couldn't help him there. With a sigh, she sat down on the couch, half-hoping he would retire to one of the bedrooms and leave her to her troubled, jumbled thoughts. The fact that he was alive was enough of a shock for one day ... with everything else on top of all that ...

Before either of them could speak or move further, however, there was a loud Crack! in the room. They both started violently, shaken out of their respective trances, and turned their heads to see Remus Lupin materialize out of thin air.

He saw Hermione first, evidently, and said, "Hey, 'Mione, how're you doing? I'm finally done there," His tone was full of disgust, "Glowworms. Glowworms," He repeated disgustedly, "That was what I went to investigate. The wizard's a wretched collector of GLOW - Merlin's beard."

The last, hoarse whisper came, of course, because Remus suddenly saw Sirius. He froze, staring at the face of a dead best friend, and Sirius, his eyes clouding over with emotion, managed, "Hey, Moony, old pal."

"Si - ?"

Remus couldn't finish, as at that very moment (ridiculously convenient timing, Hermione thought sardonically), A redhaired figure appeared in the room with a cracking noise. Ron had Apparated right on top of the coffee table, and he saw Sirius at once, stared with eyes bulging for exactly three seconds before he lost his balance, let out a shriek, and fell off the table.

It didn't stop there. Ron had fallen when another Crack signalled the arrival of Harry, who landed neatly on the couch beside Hermione, grinned at her with a few words of inquiry about how she'd been, cast Ron a resigned look, looked with concern at Remus, who seemed frozen in place, and then turned a smile on Sirius, before the smile froze as he recognized him.

His emotion was palpable. "Merlin's beard." He choked out.

"Join the club." Hermione muttered.


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