Three Guy's, Two Girl's, and a. . . .BABY?! By Animegirl

Disclaimer: NOT MINE! T-T

Dedication: To the very wonderful people who reviewed.

A/N: *beep* Hey! You've reached Animegirl, I'm not here right now, but please leave a message after the beep or series of beeps. Thanks!

Chapter 8: Memories

The corridor was dark. The only light was that of the moon streaming through a crack in the curtains. Sirius squinted into the dark trying to discern any object that he might trip over. Seeing nothing he moved cautiously forward.

At what he guessed to be halfway down the hall, Sirius spotted a small shiny something on the floor a few feet in front of him. He walked forward, knelt down, and picked up the small object. He tried to hold it toward the light in hopes of seeing what the thing was. It's too dark in here, damnit. he thought with a growl Where am I anyway? This doesn't look like James' house. . . .

[doesn't feel like it either.] a voice whispered in the back of his mind. Sirius shuddered and looked at his surroundings again. Looking behind him, he could still see the tiny sliver of light reflecting of the white paint on the walls. Looking ahead, all was dark. The carpet on the floor seemed to go on for a few feet more, before disappearing into a bleak and empty void.

For a split second Sirius considered turning back, back to his only point of light, before shaking his head and continuing toward the emptiness that stretched before him.

~*~Meanwhile-with Lily and James~*~

"James?" Lily asked, poking her husband.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think we should go wake Sirius up? He's been asleep for a long time now. . ."

"He was really tired Lils. I think we should let him sleep a while longer. If he isn't up by the time Suki, Harry, and Remus get back, then you can go wake him up." James replied, attempting to balance Marie on one knee, and a pile of scrolls on the other.

"Ok. . . .I just have a bad feeling. . . ." Lily muttered, walking to the door of the living room and looking up the stairway.

"I'm sure everything is fine, Lils. Could you take Marie? I've really got to finish these forms."

"Hm? Oh. Sure." Lily sighed and turned away from the door.

~*~ Back to Sirius~*~

So that's the end of the hallway? Another room? Sirius had been walking in the suffocating darkness for what felt like hours. The only way out of the hall appeared to be through the door in front of him. Well. . . .it can't be any worse than this place. . .

He reached for the handle, but the moment his fingers touched it, the entire hall lit up. Sirius spun around looking for anyone who may have turned on the lights. There was no one there and no where they could have gone so quickly.

The hall wasn't overly long, maybe ten yards, and was decorated with portraits of people that Sirius recognized, but couldn't name. Around the ceiling was a border of gold and silver leaves that came down and framed the door. Altogether, not a very frightening place.

Remembering that he had picked something up earlier, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. It was a watch. An antique watch. It was made of silver, tiny chip diamonds created a wave like pattern around the face, and a slender red satin ribbon had been threaded through a loop in the top.

This is. . .no. It couldn't be. . .She's been. . . Sirius shook his head and put the watch back in his pocket, then turned and reached for the handle again. But like before, the moment he touched it, it was like someone had come in and switched things around. The hall was dark again, but instead of the suffocating darkness of before, the windows lining the right side of the hall had been uncovered and moonlight streamed inside.

For a moment, everything was silent. Then, two dark haired boys, maybe nine years old, came sprinting down the hall toward him laughing excitedly. They stopped just short of the door, reached out, threw it open, and ran to the other side.

"Hey! Wait!" Sirius shouted after them, grabbing the door before it could close, and running into the room.

The room was large and brightly lit. The source of light was a beautiful crystal chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, the floor was made of white marble, and the chairs, made of cherry wood with white and gold satin cushions, had been pushed back against the walls. On the far side of the room, a giant set of double doors guarded the main entrance where guests would normally enter. To the left and right a set of stairs circled into the room and high glass windows paneled the walls.

The sound of glass breaking interrupted any further examination of his surroundings. Sirius ran to the staircase on the right, as the sound had come from that direction.

When he reached the top of the stairs, the two boys from before were standing maybe half a dozen feet away. Sirius was about to call out to them again when a woman in her late twenties/early thirties came racing up the opposite stair. Her black hair was half done up into a bun and she wore an elegant dark blue evening gown. A look of relief washed over her face as she spotted the two children, but quickly changed it to a mock glare as she got closer.

"And what was that?" the woman asked the boy nearest her.

"Nothing!" The boy answered, giving her a charming grin.

"Oh really? Then what's that?" she asked pointing to a rather large lump in the carpet.

"er. . . .it's freckles! You know how stupid that cat is." The boy answered again, beginning to look a little nervous.

"Well, I should move him then shouldn't I?" the woman said, starting to move toward the carpet.

"But Mrs. B! You'd get your dress covered in cat hair!" the second boy exclaimed, stepping up next to his companion.

"Don't worry Jim! It would only take a quick cleaning spell to fix that." Mrs. B answered, grinning and taking another step forward.

"But Mr. B is already impatient, he probably wouldn't be willing to wait for you to perform the spell." Jim reasoned.

"Yea!" piped up the first boy "Dad looked ready to scream fifteen minutes ago!"

"Your Da was ready to scream because you had taken all of his socks and dropped them into a bucket of purple dye, Seer." Mrs. B answered taking another step toward the delinquent duo.

"Exactly!" Seer exclaimed "Would you really want to aggravate him more?"

Mrs. B laughed and hugged both boys "Just make sure freckles isn't there when we get back, ok?"

"Yes Mum!" Both boys answered laughing and grinning.

"Erin! We're going to be late!" a masculine voice called from below.

"Coming Julian! We'll back around eleven, Seer, try not to break anything else, ok?" Erin said, kissing her son on the forehead.

"Of course Mum! Why would we break anything?" Seer asked, giving his mother the most innocent look he could conjure. (It wasn't really working though.)

Erin just laughed and finished putting her hair into a bun. "Seer, remember that Krys is sleeping in her room. Check on her every now and then, she's been having horrible nightmares lately and I-"

Sirius, who had been watching the entire exchange, felt his heart begin to race as the room was plunged into darkness. The woman and two boys were gone. The windows that had surrounded him were boarded up, and the once beautiful chandelier was shattered, the broken crystals scattered across the floor. Everything was covered in a deep layer of dust.

Leaning over the railing and looking down into the room, Sirius felt, rather than saw, the dark figure staring back up at him. He shuddered involuntarily as he pulled away and pressed his back against the wall.

The swish of a robe on the stairs told Sirius to get out of there, fast. He took off at a sprint to the stair on the far side, away from his nightmare. He ran down the stairs, taking them three at a time, and then ran full speed across the marble floor, slipping on broken shards of crystal. He reached the double doors, threw them open, and entered another hall. Like in the previous room, all the windows had been boarded up, however, the boards here had large cracks in them and allowed the moonlight to seep in. It was not the beautiful, shining moonlight that Sirius was used to, instead it was a sallow, sickly light, and it gave a gruesome, haunting shadow to anything it touched.

Sirius continued to run as fast as he could, ignoring the pain caused by tables, vases, and other decorative objects lining the halls as he tripped over them. He could feel the dark thing following him. Slowly, taking it's time, allowing him to gradually run out of energy.

Finally, the cluttered hall began to open up, more and more doors lined the walls. He guessed they must be bedrooms or social rooms (libraries, sitting rooms, ect.) or something along those lines. Useless. Coming around a corner, Sirius spotted a staircase, it was in the middle of the hall on his left. He made it to the stairs and collapsed against the rail, gasping for breath. Looking back the way he had come, he saw the shadowed figure come around the corner, walking slowly, so so slowly, toward him. Panic began to overtake his senses as he pushed away from the rail and half ran half tripped down the stairs. Stars exploded in his head as he went head over heels and bashed his head against the white marble floor.

Lamps flared to life illuminating the entrance hall, and the young girl standing in the middle of it. She stared at Sirius with fear shadowed eyes, but the fear wasn't directed at Sirius, it was more like the fear and helplessness that you see in the eyes of Azkaban prisoners. Sirius had never experienced the horrors of Azkaban, but he had seen the results. He glanced at the stairs, the specter stood waiting at the top, just out of reach of the lights.

"You see it to?"

Sirius jumped at the voice. "Y-yea. Where are we? What IS that?"

"You know where you are Sirius. And you know what that creature is." The girl replied in a soft, almost whispery, voice.

Sirius frowned. "Why would I say I don't know where I am if I do? And I most certainly don't know what that. . . .thing is. Who are you?"

The girl smiled sadly. "You are trying to forget this place. Trying not to remember what happened here. Trying to forget that thing and what it did. You know who I am as well. Though I am not how you remember me."

"That doesn't even-" before Sirius could finish the lights were again extinguished and the shadows returned. The girl started to cry as the specter made it's way down the stairway toward them. Sirius leaped to his feet, grabbed the little girl, and ran toward the exit. He grabbed the handle and yanked the door open so hard that it nearly came off it's hinges. If anything, being outside, under that moon, was worse than being inside. There was nothing to offer protection. Trees created monstrous, looming shadows that reached out to grab and suffocate anyone unwary enough to get too close.

Sirius raced around the side of the house until he came to a high stone wall, guarded by a tall, black metal gate. Shifting the girl around so that she was hanging off his back, Sirius jumped up, grabbed a hold of the upper part of the gate, and pulled himself over. They now stood in a large and extravagant garden. The flowers, once bright, cheerful, and full of life, hang dead, giving the garden a very haunted feel. The once bubbling fountain was over grown and full of stagnant water, and slimy, green ooze covered the ornately carved angel that had once been the pride of the garden.

"Do you know where you are, Sirius Black?" a cold, rasping voice startled Sirius out of his thoughts. The girl clinging to his back shivered and tried to make herself as invisible as possible. "Or do you intend to continue to suppress these memories? I will not allow you to get away from us."

A/N: *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*