Chapter 8: Message in a mirror
Buckbeak landed softly on the rock-laden cliff above Hogsmead village. Sirius carefully dis mounted the hippogriff, and stroked his beak in thanks. Ebony hurriedly slid off the end of Buckbeak's wing causing her to land clumsily on the hard stone below.
She soon picked herself up and stared around, her eyes widening like a child in a candy store. She sprinted to the edge of the cliff and plopped down on her stomach watching the last star disappear from the sky. Sirius laughed as he followed her.
"And what are you laughing at?" Ebony asked as she herself let out a slight giggle.
"You" Sirius answered. She smiled lightly at him, as he sat down beside her on a large boulder.
"You'll be able to see the village soon." He leaned over and whispered to her.
"What does it look like?" She asked anxiously straining her eyes beyond the rocks.
"Wait. You'll see." He said. She looked up at him sulkily
"Sirius. You know how I hate waiting."
He leaned closer to her
"And you know how I love torturing you." He almost whispered with a playful smile
"Mr. Black, are you trying to seduce me?" She pretended to be offended but her smile gave her away.
"That depends. Can you be seduced?" He asked moving still closer to her
"Not by the likes of you." She said in a feigned dignified manner, and turned away from him. But, Sirius was pleased to note that a blush had appeared in her cheeks.
He looked out to see the sky turning a light purple colour. The sun would soon be rising from behind the hills to the east.
"Very quiet up here isn't it?" Ebony asked tossing a few stones down the side of the cliff.
"A bit." Sirius admitted. It did seem rather silent, especially at dawn. In fact, one would have to look at the buildings of the village bellow to see even the faintest hint of human civilization. The sun was beginning to show now, slowly creeping up behind the farther hills.
"It must've been lonely, up here." Ebony said pensively.
Sirius stared at her and then back out at the hills. The truth was that he remembered times when he was extremely lonely inside the cave with only Buckbeak for company. However, as he looked at Ebony's curious face, which had very suddenly been radiated by the rising sun, he felt the need to appear brave.
"It wasn't extremely horrible." He answered indifferently. "Harry and Ron and Hermione did come to the cave once. And I was always transforming into snuffles and going down to the village for food scraps."
It wasn't until he said this that he realised that the sun had now almost completely risen. The light of the sun brought a new danger. Villagers were beginning to awaken and go about the town. The light would reveal any one who was standing on the cliff. Immediately he willed himself to transform into a large black dog. Ebony stayed facing the sun and jumped slightly when Sirius pranced up behind her. She had never seen him transform before. He licked her cheek to ease her fears. She gave a slight laugh, scratched his ear and soon went back to starring into the hills.
"You know Sirius, your right, this is the loveliest spot I've ever seen." She said in barely more than a whisper as she placed her hand over his paw. Her hand was warm. Strange, considering how long she had been shut up in a chilled, drafty mansion. Sirius had a fleeting desire to change back into a man.
There was a few minuets silence. It was so quiet Sirius was sure anyone would be able to hear a pin drop on the stones. Perhaps that was why both he and Ebony turned their heads when a faint clinking noise sounded from just below them.
"What's that?" Ebony whispered listening intently as the clinking slowly grew louder.
In answer Sirius trotted further to the edge and looked down off the cliff to the path bellow. When he got there he could see a head of sleek blonde hair connected to an overcoat and a pair of black boots clinking against the stones on the path making their way up towards the cliff. Sirius turned to Ebony and clicked his head in the direction of the cave. She picked her self up and hurried to the black cave while Sirius followed at her heels. Once inside, neither of them could see anything but the faint form of Buckbeak, who out of habit had taken refuge there upon arrival. There was no way of seeing weather the man had reached the cliff or not, but Sirius was sure he would be able to hear anything. Realizing there was no point in his disguise any longer, he transformed into himself, causing Ebony to give a slight jump once again.
He listened for a long while. The clicking noise had stopped. Now the only sound he could hear was Ebony shallow breathing from a corner near him. Soon the clicking resumed again, but this time he was sure it was coming from another side of the cliff. It was a few moments before that clicking stopped too. Sirius had a suspicious feeling that two men were standing directly outside the entrance to the cave.
"Your sure no one saw?" The first man asked. Sirius's stomach gave a sudden jolt. He remembered that voice far too well. And if he was correct, as he was certain he was, it would not be the first time he had run across Lucious Malfoy on one of his outings.
"No." The other man answered. His was a voice Sirius did not know. "None of them dare to suspect anyone."
"Of course. None of them think there is anything to be suspicious of. Let us hope it remains so." Malfoy drawled.
"Why did you want to meet with me, and here of all places?" The second voice asked quickly.
"I thought it best to meet in the most unlikely of spots. The dark lord grows impatient. What have you found out about the girl?" At these words Sirius moved closer to Ebony. How could they have possibly even known she existed? With all the precautions placed around the house he was sure no one would have been able to know what went on there at all. Unless.
"I know very little more than the elf has told us." Sirius had a sudden urge to kick something. Of course! Why hadn't he taken Kreatcher's strange absence during the holidays seriously?
"She still has not gained full memory. I have a feeling that Dumbledore has grown suspicious of her."
"We can not act on simple inclination! She is essential to the plan. Potter's dreams have included her for over five months, If we are to put our intentions into action tonight-"
Malfoy stopped in mid sentence. Sirius realised too late why. He had been so shocked at the mention of Harry's dreams that he had not heard a rock he had been clutching on the side of the cave fall to the ground with an echoing crash.
Ebony gave an audible gasp. Sirius put his hand over her mouth to silence her, but the damage had already been done. He could hear the clicking of Malfoy's boots slowly walking in the direction of the cave. The only chance they had now was to run for it.
"There's a passage on the other side of the cave that leads back to the cliff. Take Buckbeak through there. I'll be right behind you." Sirius whispered quickly.
"But." Ebony began to protest. He could hear Malfoy coming nearer to the entrance of the cave.
"Hurry!" Sirius said a little too loudly. Ebony grabbed Buckbeak by the collar and led him at a brisk pace to the other side of the cave Sirius saw them disappear through a lightened tunnel on the other side. He looked back to see Malfoy's blonde hair emerging quickly at the first entrance to the cave before he followed them to the passage at a run. Sirius could hear the quick clicking of Malfoy's feet following him all the way to the other end of the passage. When he reached the other end of the tunnel, Ebony pulled him up to the cliff. They both mounted the hippogriff just before Malfoy reached up through the tunnel.
"Go!" Sirius yelled. Buckbeak took off as quickly as he possibly could. Sirius looked back to the cliff to see Malfoy throwing jinxes in their direction all in a failed attempt to bring them back down.
"Now do you believe me?" Ebony asked him sharply once they were safely in the air. Sirius didn't answer. She was stubborn but so was he. And he would rather die than admit that she was right.
"Who were those men?" She asked in reply to his silence
"Death eaters." Sirius replied.
"Then how did they know about Harry's dreams and me and."
"The poor oppressed house elf sold us out!" He answered bitterly. To his amazement she made no reply.
"I'll have to tell the others as soon as we get back. And I need to speak to Harry if I can. If their plotting something to do with him we've got to find out what it is and counter it." Neither of them spoke for the rest of the journey. There was only one thing on Sirius's mind. He had to tell Harry. He was completely uncertain of how to reach him. All the floo networks were being watched by the ministry, he couldn't go to Hogwarts himself. Even as snuffles he was sure to be caught.
It was probably near five thirty or six o'clock in the afternoon when they finally landed back at the house. They had little time if any to get in contact with the rest of the order.
"Ebony, Remus left an owl in the down stairs cellar in case I needed to get a hold of him. Find it quickly and bring it back up here." Ebony nodded silently. As she turned to leave the room, however she stopped at the mirror.
"What's HE doing here?" She asked turning to Sirius. He moved from the window to see the mirror clearly. When he looked inside he was met with the unpleasant sallow face of Severus Snape starring up at him.
"What's happened? Is Harry all right?" He asked sharply of Snape who sneered at him.
"Potter is perfectly healthy. In fact, he seems to be labouring under the delusion that it is you who are in grave danger." Snape said cooly.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked through clenched teeth.
"Potter was in Umbridge's office saying that she," Snape stopped to stare at Ebony and then continued. "had taken you to the department of ministrys where the weapon was hidden. He is convinced that you are at this moment being tortured by the dark lord himself. But seeing as you are both here one can not help but question Potter's mental state."
"You were the one who stopped giving him lessons!" Sirius bellowed. He suddenly felt a rage burning inside him that had felt only once before, that was when he was prepared to commit murder.
"But I was not the one who insisted on keeping a spy in headquarters was I?" Said Snape coldly. He fixed Ebony with another glare that, Sirius noted with rage, took in much more than her face.
He moved protectively in front of her, in an attempt to block her from Snape's view. As he did so, Sirius realised that Ebony looked as murderous as he felt.
"She is not a spy!" He said putting a protective sort of arm around her waist.
A sneer played on Snapes lips.
"How quaint." He said softly. "Can it possibly be that romance has blosomed on the filthiest spot on earth?"
"That's it!"Sirius yelled moving forward. This time it was Ebony's turn to hold him back. To Sirius's surprise she was smiling as she pulled him away from the mirror.
"And what would it be to you if it had?" She asked of Snape. Before he could retort Ebony yawned.
"Well, if you two don't mind I am rather tired, and I'm sure you have very pressing matters to discuss so I'll head off to bed." She began to move across the room. But before she left, she stopped directly in front of Sirius and kissed him.
It was quite possibly the most intoxicating thing he had ever felt in his life. The warmth he remembered from feeling her hand seemed to course through his entire body as he began to return her kiss with twice as much ardor.
The only thing that was keeping him from deepening this particular kiss was the fact that his godson's life was in danger. This, he reminded himself, was certainly not the time to fall in love. Still, it was with immense disappointment that he eventually pulled himself away from her mouth
"Good night Sirius" She said smiling as she also pulled away.
"Professor." She added nodding curtly in the direction of the mirror. Sirius found that he had trouble keeping a straight face as he saw the look Snape wore as he watched Ebony leave the room. It was a comic mixture of confusion and disgust mixed with the smallest hint of envy.
"Well, was there anything else professor?" Sirius asked encouraged by Ebony's move.
Snape glared at him for a moment but seemed unable to speak. Soon with one last dark sneer he left the mirror. Suddenly remembering the owl, Sirius headed down stairs to the cellar.
He almost hated himself for feeling so light hearted at a time when there was so much at stake. He tried as hard as he could to keep his mind on the order and Harry, but found that it kept wandering up to the attic where Ebony lay asleep.
He couldn't really remember the last time he had felt this way, but he knew it must have been a good 16 years since he had kissed any one and at least that long since he had fallen in love. As he sent the owl out the bottom window carrying the note for Remus, he felt, even though his Godson's life was hanging in the balance, the happiest he had ever been in his entire life.