Disclaimer: The characters that look familiar to you belong to J. K. Rowling. The ones you cannot find in any of her books are mine. I don't intend to make any money out of this. I'm just having some fun.
The Second War Begins
On Sunday, Sirius woke up quite late. He finally had slept well. No nightmares about falling into death nor of being chased by Dementors.
When he finished getting dressed, he went to the kitchen to pour himself some coffee. On his way there he saw Sandrine in the terrace, so he brought her another cup and sat himself on one of the chairs, enjoying the cool morning air.
"Good morning!" Sandrine greeted him with a smile from her position on the floor, she was prodding the earth of some flowerpots with a stick. "I see you've slept well tonight, you look much more rested."
Sirius nodded and then moved the cup he had brought for her so that she would notice.
"Ah! Thank you!" She said, and approached the table where the cup was lying. "You really read my mind, I was just thinking some coffee would be lovely." With a sigh, she took off her gardening gloves and sat on another chair next to Sirius.
"Any news?" the wizard asked. "Is Professor McGonagall still in St. Mungo's?
Sandrine nodded. "She's going back to Hogwarts today, though. Amanda came back late at night to have some rest - Sha-adi stayed at the hospital - and left again early this morning. She is going to wait until Auntie Minnie is discharged from hospital, then she'll accompany her to Hogwarts. We thought maybe it would be better if she talked directly with Albus Dumbledore. It will probably be faster."
"I see," Sirius commented thoughtfully. "So I might be leaving today, right?"
"Yes. Tomorrow at the very latest, I think."
"And what happens then? Sirius asked. Sandrine didn't seem to understand him, so he clarified: "I mean, we'll we meet again? Will I remember that I've been here or will you obliviate me?"
Sandrine smiled her admiration. "Very well, Mr. Black. I'm impressed! We won't exactly obliviate you, but you must certainly forget some things. You will remember us and you'll remember that you were killed and I saved you, but you won't remember how it felt when you fell through the Veil nor about my web. Only dead people can know those kind of things. It wouldn't be wise to have 'resurrected' people explaining what is there after death. Although you didn't reach your final destination, because I stopped you," she added, as an afterthought.
"And there are no words to express my gratitude for that, Sandrine. No words at all." The wizard said with a sad shake of his head.
Sandrine patted his arm to show him that she understood. There was a moment of silence, and then the ashanrii went on talking:
"I'd better start explaining all about the bond now. We don't know how soon you'll have to go, and I'd rather tell you before you leave. There isn't really much to say, anyway." She sighed, and then went on: "First of all, let me tell you that you're very welcome to come and visit us or even stay here for a while any time you want too, but as we never know how soon you're gonna feel the bond linking us, the sooner you are warned, the better."
Sirius thanked Sandrine for her kind invitation, but there was something in Sandrine's expression that made him ask if the bond would hurt any of them in some way.
"No," she answered, "the bond is not painful, but if I were to be in danger or much suffering, you'd probably feel it. It will be just a strange sensation that something is going on, and then, whatever you're doing or wherever you are, your thoughts will turn to me."
"If I feel that you are suffering or in danger, is there any way I can help you? Will I feel it if you..." Sirius stopped speaking awkwardly.
"Die?" Sandrine finished for him. "You will have the same sensation I've described before, and then you'll simply know that I'm dead, without knowing how or why, you'll just know. And no, thank you very much for you gallant offer, but you won't be able to help me if you feel than I'm in pain. I will be able to help you, though, if I sense that you need me." Sandrine explained, trying to smile and lighten the mood a bit.
"That's very unfair," Sirius complained. "So you can save me, but I cannot help you in return."
"Sirius, there's many ways of helping someone. We cannot know now what life has in store for us. Maybe you'll be able to help me in some way. I mean, if I'm being attacked and you're there, you can of course help me. What I meant is that, if I were in danger and you were, for instance, on holidays in Australia, you probably wouldn't reach me soon enough to be able to help me. The bond lets you know I'm suffering, but it doesn't let you know WHERE I am. You cannot just apparate by my side in a flash, do you understand?"
"And you'll be able to apparate by my side if I need you?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Sandrine responded. "But you must bear in mind that I don't need to be by your side to help you. I'm an ashanrii. My magic is much more powerful than the average witch's, even though I haven't use it for a very long time. If I were to feel that you're being attacked, let's say, for instance, that someone throws the Avada Kedavra curse at you, then I could interpose a shield between you and the curse, and you'll have time to react and defend yourself. Now, if you were unconscious, I'd be able to apparate by your side and defend you as well as I could. Of course, that I do my best doesn't mean that I will be able to win the battle against your enemy. We could both die."
"It's definitely not fair," Sirius commented dejectedly.
"It's not your fault, Sirius. Just take care of yourself so that you don't need my help too often, ok?" Sandrine said half-jokingly.
Sirius nodded once more. "Ok," he said.
"And then, we won't only be in contact when in danger," Sandrine went on animatedly. "I'll know it too, for instance, if you were to fall from you broom while playing at Quidditch, or if the Giant Squid at Hogwarts tried to drown you... and then I'll laugh myself sick, so, the bond really has its compensations." Sandrine explained, with an innocent look at Sirius.
Sirius, his mood finally improving thanks to Sandrine's joke, was going to retaliate, but Mich, who had approached them while they were talking, was laughing so hard that he couldn't make himself heard.
"Very funny!" Sirius commented playfully when Mich's laughter had subsided a bit.
"You need to be careful around my sister, Sirius," the boy warned him, "she can be very bad if she wants to."
Sandrine looked offended, her nose high in the air, and then gave Mich a playful shove, he had made the mistake of approaching her too much.
The three of them were still recovering from laughter, when the telephone rang.
"Oh, no! Must be from the hospital, I'll get it," Sandrine said, and went to pick up the phone.
The two men were still smiling broadly, when Sandrine's worried voice reached them.
"Oh, dear... Yes... Yes... Ok... It's on now, you can send it... Ok, I'll hang now then... Yes, I'll show it to Sirius, don't worry, we were speaking precisely when you called... Yes, I'll warn the others... I'll do that too, it's a good idea... Ok, see you later then... Good luck with Dumbledore... Bye!"
She hadn't yet hung the telephone when Mich and Sirius were already by her side, asking what was going on.
"It was Amanda," Sandrine said. "The Ministry of Magic has acknowledged Voldemort's return. It was in the 'Sunday Prophet' today. Amanda says everybody is talking about it at St. Mungo's. She's sending a copy of the article by fax."
Just then, the telephone rang again, but Sandrine didn't pick it up. The fax responded then, and the three of them waited with their hearts thundering in their breasts, trying to read the article upside-down as it came out of the machine. The words 'He Who Must Not Be Named Returns' where printed in bold capital letters at the beginning of the page. When the fax finished receiving data, Sandrine tore the page from the machine and turned it so that they could read it better.
"So... what now?" Asked Mich after reading the article.
"Now, we are at war," Sirius replied, his face deadly serious.
***
The rest of the morning went by in a flash. Sandrine and Mich had called the others so that they could read the article too. Soon all were preparing to leave and warn their friends. A war between wizards didn't necessarily affect the ashanriis, but last time Voldemort had tried to conquer the wizarding world he had allied with the enemies of the ashanriis and they had had to fight too. Sandrine knew that too well...
Her mother had died defending the Sand Castle from the attack of hundreds of werewolves, almost all of them transforming for the first time in the monsters they were. During the previous months, there had been lots of attacks on muggles by werewolves every full moon, but after the bite, the cursed muggles would disappear, whole families sometimes. Nobody knew where they went and nobody really searched for them. Ashanriis and wizards had more important matters in mind at the time. But that night, under the terrible full moon, the dansarines had known. It was too late. The castle had been taken. Three thousand nine hundred forty-seven dansarines died that night only at the Sand Castle's doors. Many thousands more all around France. Only a young girl had miraculously survived in the Castle: Sandrine.
Nobody could be sure, but after the killings, some old dansarines suspected that Voldemort had been behind the attacks. He didn't want to take over only the wizarding world, he wanted to conquer the whole magical world. The ashanriis couldn't ignore Voldemort's advances this time. They had to get ready for the imminent war.
They soon left, a small suitcase in one hand, just in case they couldn't return for the night. Sandrine hugged Sirius like a brother, her eyes shining with tears, her head not even reaching his chin.
"You'll probably be gone when I come back. Good luck, Sirius, and take care," she said. And then reached out to kiss his cheek, turned and left before Sirius could say a word.
Only Edvard remained in the flat with Sirius. He was going to be there just in case some friends had heard the news and tried to contact them before the others reached them. But the hours went by and Edvard and Sirius were still alone. Nobody had tried to contact them. Maybe the news hadn't reached the ashanriis yet.
None of them was in a talkative mood, which was strange enough, specially in Edvard's case, so after lunch, they just turned on the TV and tried to concentrate in a film. Sirius was more relaxed, specially when there were advertisements. He really loved them. There were a lot about cleaning products, and in them you could see muggle homes as dirty as if a horde of hippogriffs lived there. 'Merlin, were the muggles dirty!' Sirius marvelled. 'Will the Dursley's home be like that?' he wondered, worried about Harry's wellbeing.
Suddenly, they felt a strange change in the atmosphere, as if the temperature had gone up a few degrees in just a few seconds. Sirius was going to ask Edvard if he had noticed it too, but then he realised the other man was standing, his wand ready in his hand.
"What..." Sirius started to say, but was cut off immediately as a huge flame suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. It was completely red, and was growing very fast, the fire leaping at the furniture around it, that surprisingly enough didn't burn.
"It's ok," Edvard told him. "Just come here and do nothing."
Sirius obeyed him, but readied his wand all the same, just in case.
After a while, the flames started to extinguish, as if there was no air in the room that could nourish them, and then Sirius' eyes almost popped out of his face when he saw that, where the flames had been a moment ago, there were two kids standing. One of them must have been around ten years old, the other was much younger, maybe three or four. They had oriental features and looked absolutely terrified. Edvard was by their side at once, and embraced them lovingly.
"Yi, Gao! What's the matter, what's going on?"
The older kid spoke, with tears in his eyes now:
"Giants! They took us by surprise! We were at home. Mum is alone, she just had time enough to send us here. They will kill her, you have to help her!"
"Giants?" Edvard and Sirius were both shocked, but for different reasons.
"Giants in Belfast?" Sirius asked bewildered, looking out of the balcony, as if expecting a giant to appear out of nowhere any moment.
Edvard could have laughed when he saw the wizard's face if it weren't because the situation was anything but funny.
"No, not here," he said earnestly. "Listen, Sirius, I have to go. Look after the kids, they will behave very well, I'm sure of that. I have to go and find the girls. If the giants are attacking the fuocciri, they might be in danger too. Just don't leave the flat whatever happens. You are all safe here. Yamiko's fire will have activated the magical protections on the flat."
Edvard was as white as the wall, but he looked very determined too. After speaking to Sirius, he turned to the kids again:
"Yi, don't worry, everything will be ok. I'm going to look for your mamrais. Your mother will be fine. Just wait here and do everything my friend Sirius tells you and behave yourselves, ok?"
"But mum is alone!" The boy cried.
"I know, Yi, but your mother is the best fuocciri warrior there is. She will be ok. Your mamrais will help her, don't worry. Everything is gonna be ok."
Yi didn't look too convinced, but nodded all the same. Edvard was gone in a flash, and Sirius was suddenly standing there, with two kids whose mother was probably already dead and a feeling of emptiness in his stomach.
***
At around half past five, Sha-adi came running into the flat. She went straight for the kids, so Sirius supposed that Edvard had warned her at some point. The kids run to her open arms and started crying once more.
Sirius had never had much experience babysitting children, but he was quite proud of himself. He had been doing a good job so far, though Sha-adi might not realise it now that the kids were crying again. He had approached them cautiously when Edvard left, because he didn't want to scare them. He had just patted them briefly and then had taken them by the hand and brought them to the sofa where he had been sitting a moment ago. The TV was still on, but the kids didn't seem to care. They were too worried about their mother.
At the beginning there had been some tension in the air, and Sirius was so stressed, that he did the only thing he could think of: he turned into his animagus form. The children had stared at first, but the younger one's face had immediately lighted. Sirius could feel that he liked dogs a lot, and HE could be a very handsome dog if he wanted to. Slowly, Gao had approached the big black dog that had just appeared in front of them, under the close inspection on his older brother, who looked quite interested as well. When they had been both close enough to the enormous dog, they had patted him cautiously at first, but then the younger of the two had just thrown himself at Padfoot's neck and started laughing. The older one had smiled a bit at his brother's evident happiness, but had gone back to the sofa and just looked approvingly from there at Sirius' patient endurance of his little brother's tortures. When Padfoot couldn't stand any more the pain of having his tail almost ripped from his body, he turned again into a man, but the trick had been done: the small child had forgotten about the previous danger and her mother's terrible fate, and was still smiling at him.
Sirius had brought then the two boys to the kitchen and made them some hot milk and a sandwich. The small one ate it all, the older one just drank the milk. So Sirius started a small conversation with him, asking him his name, his age, her mother's name and some other questions. The more they talked, the more relaxed the child seemed to be, and after a while Sirius had even learned some interesting things. For instance, that this 'Yamiko' Edvard had mentioned was the mother of the two children, that 'mamrai' was the ashanrii term for 'godmother', and that the godmothers Edvard had talked about were none others than Sandrine and Amanda themselves. So now he knew that Edvard had gone in search of them, hoping that they could help Yamiko. Poor woman. All alone fighting Merlin knew how many giants by herself. She didn't stand a chance. She was probably already dead, but Sirius had tried to reassure the children, saying that her mother was a very good warrior and would be with them soon. At these words, Yi, the older child, had looked surprised and asked:
"Do you know my mother, Sir?"
Sirius had shifted guiltily in his chair at this. He had been caught in an downright lie. How could he know that Yi's mother was a very good warrior if he didn't know her? After a couple of seconds, he just muttered:
"Well, not really... But I've heard A LOT about her."
That was a huge lie as well, of course. He hadn't even heard her name before, but he hoped Yi would be satisfied with his answer. It seemed, though, today wasn't his lucky day, because Yi had opened his lips to ask another question. Just then Sirius' luck had changed all of a sudden, and Sha-adi had come running into the kitchen.
And now here they were. Sha-adi checking if the children were hurt and Sirius watching with contempt. If the children had been hurt, he would have healed them by now. What was Sha-adi thinking?
Just then Amanda came running into the flat. Gao immediately run to her and she knelt, her arms open.
"Mamrai Di!" The child shouted delighted, and put his tiny arms around Amanda's neck.
The girl kissed Gao and then Yi repeatedly, and then kissed Sha-adi too. For a moment, Sirius forgot all about Voldemort or anything else as he watched Amanda approach him and kiss him too. A silly smile appeared in Sirius' face, and he looked quite stupid for a while, until he shook himself out of his reverie and turned his attention to what Amanda was saying.
"Your mummy is ok, boys, mamrai Sandrine went to your house and she had already left." And without even breathing, Amanda turned to Sha-adi: "Take the children with you and go to Samako's house, Yamiko will probably be there. And be careful!" Sha-adi was going to complain, but Amanda didn't give her the chance. "I know some couples of giants are not an enemy worth of your abilities, Sha" she said, "but I don't need a demonstration either. Just try to contact the Sams and stay with them. I'll join you as soon as I can."
"What are you going to do, Amanda?" Sha-adi asked worried.
"I have to take Sirius to his friends. I should be with you soon enough." She said.
"Are we going to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, and stood immediately, ready to leave.
"No. The Headmaster thinks it wouldn't be wise. We are going to your parents house. He will be there."
Amanda helped Sha-adi get the boys ready for the trip, and the moment they closed the door, she turned his attention to Sirius.
"The Headmaster told me where to find your parents house. If you are ready, we could leave now."
"I am," was the only thing Sirius said.
"Ok, then," Amanda smiled, "let's go, Mr. Black," and taking Sirius' arm, they both left the flat and started walking down the street.
"How are we getting there? Are we going to apparate?" Sirius asked, he wondered why everybody had left the flat as if they were muggles instead of apparating or disapparating to wherever they were going.
"We are taking a shortcut through an astral door," she announced, as if she had been just talking about the weather.
"An astral door?" Sirius was so stunned that he stopped in his tracks.
Amanda, her arm still linked with Sirius', was forced to stop too, but then pulled his arm so that he would keep walking. They seemed to be headed for a park just across the street.
"Yes, ashanriis use them all of the time, it's much safer than apparating." She explained in a casual tone.
"Amanda, are you mad or do you really think I'm that silly? Or maybe both?" Sirius asked a little bit annoyed.
"None," she said in a firm voice. "I really mean what I say. An astral door is the best way of getting from one place to another, it's both safe and fast, and there's no danger at all if you know where you are going." And she went on walking very fast, pulling Sirius along. They were now surrounded by high green trees.
"Amanda," Sirius said exasperated, "astral doors are VERY dangerous. We could be trapped for eternity in a limbo if we cannot find the exit door."
Now it was Amanda's turn to stop walking mid-step. She let go of Sirius' arm, brought her hands to her hips and turned to look Sirius in the eye, an eyebrow raised and her nose lifted in mock offence. "You say that as if spending eternity with me was the worst thing that could happen to you," she said.
Sirius was so shocked that he just stood there, his mouth agape, his eyes round as saucers. Before he could react, Amanda smiled a very wicked smile and pushed him. Caught by surprise, he lost balance and fell backwards, realising too late that Amanda had pushed him right through the astral door.
*****
Thanks for the reviews!
Thanks all for reading and reviewing!
I'm afraid Chapter 7 is turning out to be a very tricky one. In it we finally reach the time when OotP ends, so from Chapter 8 I'll be more free to use Rowling's characters. Until now I've just had to try and arrange the plot in a way that would fit with the end of OotP, and I must admit it's been much more difficult than I thought it would be. That's why this chapter's title matches the last chapter's in OotP. I'm going on holidays next Sunday, so I'll try to update before leaving, but I cannot promise it, sorry! I'll be back next Thursday, though, so you won't have to wait long anyway.
Kady Rilla Wholi: No, it wasn't Edvard, but you were quite close. I'll explain about the book in a later chapter.
Topaz Waters: Thanks! I'll go back and fix chapters 1 and 2 when I come back next week. ;-) Yes, as you see, McGonagall's 'accident' was really the auror's attack when she tried to defend Hagrid.
amber eyed wolf: Thanks! I'm glad you like my girls. ;-)
Knight Samar: 'Ashanrii' is the ancient term that the first ashanriis used to describe themselves. In English it could be translated as 'fallen from the stars', or something like that. When they started to mix with muggles all over the world, they started to speak the languages of the muggles they lived with, so as not to attract attention to themselves. Some centuries afterwards, the ashanrii language died, but the ashanriis still use some ancient terms when they speak between themselves, like 'mamrai', in this chapter.
hermionegreen: Thanks! Amanda is a jilguerei, not a dansarine, so she hasn't a problem with werewolves, which doesn't mean that she likes them either. As she is a jilguerei, though, she cannot recognise werewolves straight away, so unless Moony tells her - which I doubt he will - she won't know that he is a werewolf. But you are right, Sandrine and Moony are bound to meet sooner or later, so let's hope everything turns out ok.
Kabbebalers: Here it is. I hope you liked it. ;-)
