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Harry tossed and turned all night. Images flew through his mind- the music box, the look on Sirius's face, the handwriting- and mixed into the strangest dream.
He was running through some woods- no, wait. He squinted to see better. He was flying through the woods, and beneath him ran a girl about fifteen or sixteen years old. She stopped in front of a large tree, gasping for breath, and Harry found himself stopping above her. The girl's head jerked around at the sound of angry voices and snapping branches, coming from the direction she had just left. Her eyes widened, and Harry could see they were a deep blue. He frowned: he had the distinct feeling he'd met her before; her posture, eyes, and curly brown hair tugged at a corner of his mind that he couldn't access.
More snapping came, but this time from behind the tree. A handsome stag pranced out and nuzzled her shoulder. She sighed in relief. "It's about time," she quipped, mounting the animal. The stag tossed its head in what Harry could only describe as indignation, and cantered off into the darkness.
The scene changed to the Gryffindor common room. The fire had burnt low, so only the embers glowed. A blonde lay asleep on one of the couches, but she shot upright at the sound of the painting opening. The brunette from the woods entered, accompanied by none other than Lily Evans.
"Do you know what time it is?" the blonde hissed. Closer examination revealed her to be Alice Longbottom, at age sixteen. Harry could barely hear his mother's reply.
"No, Al, we don't. But I'm pretty sure if we wait around we'll see the Marauders return from their monthly strolls."
Alice frowned in consternation. "You ran into them?"
The brunette headed up the tower stairs. "No, and I don't think we should rectify that. James will throw a fit if he finds out, and we're all too tired to hold our own against him."
Lily glanced over at Alice. "She's right," the red-head said. "Potter doesn't need to know about every Death Eater encounter. Besides, worrying him now will just make his hair turn grey, and we can't have that, now can we?"
Alice opened her mouth to protest, but muffled laughter reached their ears and she and Lily flew up the stairs as the painting swung ajar again.
Another scene change to an unknown room, and Harry was watching the brunette and his father face off in a heated argument. James was yelling, "Our primary focus must be keeping the world from being dominated!"
The brunette, who had been facing the window, whirled; her face pale with fury and the desperation that came with a deadly secret. "You still don't get it, do you?" she demanded, her voice louder than James's had been. "He's not after world domination! He never has been! He's after me! This whole war has been about me!" She rounded on James even harder. "Jolene, the Bones, Eric- it's all been because of me!" Tears rained down her face, but the blue eyes were set.
All the anger melted away from James as he reached towards her and pulled her into a protective embrace. She wept softly as he murmured to her, rocking her gently.
Harry felt himself be pulled away from the dream, but he wanted to stay, to know what was happening. Who was "he," and where had Harry seen that girl before? Ron's voice was waking him up, and he had no choice but to comply.
Sitting up in bed, he heard Ron say "Breakfast in five minutes!" the door shut and the room was silent again. Groaning, he put on his glasses and sat for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Then an idea hit him. "The album!" he exclaimed allowed, jumping out of bed and scrambling to retrieve his photo album of his parents. Flipping through page after page, he finally saw it: the picture of his parents' wedding that had Sirius laughing at the camera. And there, Harry's godfather's arm around her waist, was the brunette from the dreams.
She was smiling happily, dressed in a lavender gown that marked her as one of Lily's bridesmaids. Harry had never been to a wedding, but he knew enough to tell that she was the maid-of-honor, due to her position near the bride and groom. Harry gazed at the photo, more confused than ever. Why was she the maid-of-honor? Why was Sirius's arm around her waist? And who was she?
Closing the book with his finger to mark the page, Harry dashed downstairs towards the clatter coming from the dining room. Sirius's laughter could be heard, and Harry headed to him, dropping the book open before the last of the Blacks. "Who is she?" Harry demanded.
Silence fell over the room as everyone strained to see what was being shown. Sirius froze, his eyes locked on the brunette. "Where did you get this?" His voice was more hoarse than usual. Remus jumped in.
"That's the gift Hagrid gave you your first year, isn't it?" At Harry's puzzled look, he explained, "I sent him that picture."
Sirius nodded; he seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Harry watched him carefully. "Sirius? Who was she?"
"Why?"
Harry blinked. His godfather had always answered his questions, even if the answer was vague. Never had he responded so curtly. "I had... some really strange dreams last night. And she was in all of them."
Remus sat forward intently. "Do you remember what the dreams were of?"
He did, and he recited them like a child reciting a lesson. When he was finished, Remus turned to Sirius. "Memories," Remus whispered. They seemed to have forgotten about the rest of the rooms occupants as Sirius replied,
"Impossible."
"Theoretically, no. If the bond was strong enough..."
"There was no bond. An occasional 'She needs help' or 'He's in trouble,' but that's it."
"Godparents." Remus was not going give in.
Neither was Sirius. "I don't have it."
"She was always different from everyone else."
"I'm quite aware of that, Moody. That's why I was first attracted to her."
Ron leaned towards Harry and muttered, "Are you following this?" Before Harry could respond, Remus was speaking.
"She knew about that night."
"Again, impossible. She was in Italy, and she didn't return."
"Joey told me."
"Joey wouldn't have known- there was no contact between any of us. Dumbledore's orders, remember?"
"They never followed those orders, Padfoot. It would have been like us actually being obedient in school. They didn't hold with some of the Order's ideas."
"The Ministry released a record of all floo-branch uses between the time she went to Italy and that night." Sirius's voice shook slightly, but held its control.
"We didn't use floo powder in school; they had other ways to communicate, too."
"What's the purpose of this dialogue?" Harry hissed at Hermione who had come to stand behind Ron and him.
"Sirius doesn't believe someone knew about a certain night, and Lupin is trying to prove that they did," she hissed back.
"Ohhh," Harry and Ron chorused. They returned their attention to what was transpiring before them.
"So she knew. What does that prove?" Sirius challenged.
"The bond! She could be trying to tell him something!"
"They're talking about you now," Hermione informed Harry.
Harry interjected into the debate, "Who's trying to tell me something?"
Sirius stood up suddenly. "No one. Just a forgotten friend."
"One forgotten by you, or one who forgot?" Remus spoke softly.
Sirius's face twitched, and then froze. "It doesn't matter. She's dead now, right? It's time I forgot, too."
"She didn't forget, Sirius!" Everyone started at Mrs. Weasley's emphatic outburst.
"Then where was she?!" he yelled. "She wasn't there- at the house or Azkaban! Say what you want, I'm tired of making excuses for that family! James, Torri- they always had reasons! Always had lies! And I'm tired of it!" He stormed out of the room, leaving everyone in shock.
Ron piped up, "So, a dead girl is talking to Harry?" Hermione whacked him upside the head. "Hey!" Ron yelped.
Ignoring them, Harry focused on Remus. "What was that all about?" he questioned.
Remus sighed. "Let's go into the living room. It's more comfortable there."
"We don't have time, Remus," Mrs. Weasley spoke again. "The train to Hogwarts will be leaving in thirty minutes!"
Harry looked to Remus pleadingly. Remus rubbed his forehead, thought, and then said, "Okay. Alastor, Molly, and Arthur will get all you students to the train. I'll stay here and write a letter explaining everything, so you'll get it first thing tomorrow morning."
Before Harry could protest, Mrs. Weasley had taken over and herded everyone upstairs to fetch their things, downstairs to the car, and off to the station. As they were pulling out of the drive Harry realized he still hadn't said good-bye to Sirius. And once again no one noticed the green snake of smoke as it disappeared from around Harry's ankle.
Sirius watched them drive away. As the car turned the corner, a memory suddenly hit him:
Torri had been curled up on the couch, trying to catch a few more minutes of rest before the Ministry came to whisk her off to Italy for another two weeks of auror work. Sirius and she had been talking when she drifted off to sleep. Smiling at her peaceful form, he left the room to finish waxing his motorcycle. Time seemed to fly by before he realized he had been working for two hours. He ran back to the living room, but Torri was gone: when the Ministry came, she was never allowed any time for good-byes. And three days later, Sirius was thrown in Azkaban for the murder of 13 people.
The flashback ended, and Sirius grabbed his wand. He had never gotten to say good-bye to Torri, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake with Harry. There was a 'crack!' and he aparated away to the train station, where he transformed into the big black dog and dashed to Platform 9 ¾.
The train was about to leave, but he barked loudly and Harry's face poked out of one of the windows. "Snuffles!" the teenager yelled. Sirius ran along the train as it started up, still barking. "Bye!" Harry called. Sirius slowed down, content that he had been understood. Mr. Weasley came up to him.
"Come on, Snuffles. Let's go home."
Unknown again, the snake uncurled itself from around Sirius's paw and disappeared, only to reappear in one of the compartments on the train. A brunette with curly hair and blue eyes smiled at it. "Return!" she ordered, and the snake was transported to Harry's side again.