This chapter's a lot of dialogue, basically Sirius catching up with everything that has happened. I'm not certain where I'm going from here, I only had up to Sirius' return planned in my head properly but I have some ideas where to go from here so hopefully it should be okay! The only problem is that I start my AS levels in about 2 weeks so my updates will be less often starting next week. Sorry!
Thanks to:
Surrealique
Darla56 – update when you can, I'm still reading despite my lack of reviewing – sorry!
Always krissy
Draco-FutureBF
Carmleinak
SPASH Panther
Erak – I agree, they should redecorate but for Sirius I think it's the memories as much as the decorations.
Anne-Marie
Vampy the chosen one
ScruffyWes – hmm I don't think bill was pissed, more just shocked. He may be jealous in the future though I think. As for Hermione, I think she has to play the role of grounder for Ron and harry. She's the most sensible and so sometimes has to say stuff that they don't want to hear.
Hestia
Charmedfanatic3000
Dreamer Child – ah what a nice review!
Lexinator
Miz – lol if they irk you then I'm happy to say that this won't be much of a focus on them, more of a focus on Buffy and Sirius through the year.
Blondi gurl
Renna
Silver Warrior
Sabia – I'm not sure what you mean about my punctuation, can you let me know what parts you think are wrong? As for being my beta, thanks but no thanks. I'd prefer to keep writing the way I do, my schedule is too random to work with another person. As for the chapter, I think the guy never thought Buffy would actually beat him. I think that Buffy was depressed enough as well, deep down she had the hope that Sirius would come back and so she didn't fall too deep into the despair. Thanks for the review.
Chapter 22 – Conversations With Dead People
Buffy and
Sirius lay spooned together as the sun finally left the horizon and let the
stars shine out. Buffy was saturated with love; she kissed Sirius and nestled
into his chest.
"We should really go downstairs," she
said half heartedly.
"We really should," Sirius agreed,
equally half heartedly. "I owe it to everyone."
"It's warm here," Buffy said sleepily
and Sirius chuckled, nuzzling her ear. He took one of her hands and began to
absently play with the promise ring around her finger.
"You kept this?" he asked, kissing the
tips of all her fingers and Buffy nodded.
"I nearly gave up on it," she admitted.
"But I kept it; I didn't want to lose it." He kissed it and Buffy sighed
contentedly. Sirius grinned and stretched.
"Get up lazy bones," he said, trying to
push her off of the bed. She giggled and reluctantly got up and dressed, jeans
and a strap top. Sirius put on one of the fresh sets of robes that Buffy hadn't
been able to remove from his wardrobe.
"You nervous?" Buffy asked as they
walked down the stairs, hand in hand. Sirius grinned and nodded.
"A little," he admitted. "It's weird
being dead." Buffy nodded and they reached the kitchen. She ushered Sirius
forward and gingerly he pushed the door open and walked down the three steps
into the basement kitchen.
Molly,
Arthur, the twins, Bill, Charlie, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Remus, Giles and
Moody sat around the table, not talking, all deep in thought. When Sirius
opened the door, all their heads snapped up to stare at him. Sirius' eyes moved
to Harry who was staring at his godfather as if he hadn't known he was back.
"Alright Harry," Sirius said nervously.
Harry stood up and took a few shaky steps towards Sirius and then they hugged.
As they hugged the others in the room seemed to relax and all stood up.
"How are you feeling?" Harry asked
Sirius worriedly. Sirius shrugged.
"Not bad," he said, shooting an amused glance
at Buffy. "I guess I owe you a thank you."
"Not really," Harry said with a shrug.
"Buffy was the one who killed the man to get you back."
You helped," Buffy said loyally. "He
would've smushed me if it hadn't been for those curses." Harry grinned.
"Do you remember it?" Harry asked
seriously, turning back to Sirius.
"I did," Sirius said after a pause. "But
it's going. It's like something doesn't want me to remember what it was like. I
know it was bad and it hurt but I can't remember how or why. It's weird."
"But better right?" Harry asked, raising his
eyebrows. Sirius nodded.
"Whatever happened there I know I don't
want to remember it," he said vehemently. "I just want to get on with my life
now. The way I see it, going to Hell was a minor interruption. I wasn't dead,
just stuck in a dimension I couldn't leave. But now I'm back." Harry beamed and
moved out of the way so that others could welcome Sirius back. Remus moved
forward automatically.
"It's good to have you back Padfoot," he
said, worn face crinkling in a deep smile. Buffy was sure she could see tears
in the older looking man's eyes as he greeted his best friend. He moved over to
Buffy and she winced as his gaze fell on her.
"I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I
should've told you. I just thought you'd try and stop me."
"I would've done," Remus replied with a
smile. "What you did was very dangerous and very foolish. And I want to thank
you. You did what none of us had the strength to do." Buffy beamed and hugged
him impulsively.
"I tried to stop Harry from coming
through," she said, feeling it was important to explain this. "He said he
wouldn't but he followed me through."
"James would've done the same for
Sirius," Remus said, looking fondly over at Harry who was laughing with Sirius
at a joke the twins had just told. "In the end it may be what saves us all."
Buffy nodded pensively, also watching Harry.
"He's really something isn't he?" she
commented.
"He is," Remus affirmed. "I just wonder
what."
Buffy
wandered back over to Sirius and he put an arm around her shoulders and she
slid hers around his waist. Giles came forward and shook his hand profusely.
"Good to see you," he said with a wide
grin. "It's not been the same without you." Sirius grinned good naturedly.
"Thank you Rupert," he said simply. "For
doing the spell to get us out and for taking care of Buffy for me."
"She took care of herself," Giles said,
smiling at Buffy. "I didn't want to let her go but in the end she convinced me,
as she always does. This time it wasn't with force thankfully." Buffy grinned.
"How's Sunnydale?" Sirius asked.
"Quiet," Giles replied thoughtfully. "We
think the demons are finally getting the message and avoiding the hellmouth."
"And everyone else?" Sirius asked as
Buffy rested her head contentedly against his shoulder. "Faith, Xander, Willow,
Oz, Anya? How are they all?"
"Good," Buffy confirmed. "Faith's still
the same as always, Willow's doing the last year of college thing with Oz
still, and she's getting wicked good at the Wicca tricks. And Xander, well he's
gonna have some big news soon." Buffy glanced at Giles, not sure whether he
knew about what Xander was going to do.
"Yes, hopefully we should have a wedding to
attend soon," Giles said, winking at Buffy who grinned.
"Good luck to him," Sirius said happily.
"He and Anya are going to be happy, I'm sure."
The group all sat down again around the table. Buffy sat down next to Sirius
and took him hand, linking her fingers with his.
"So what's been going on?" Sirius asked
expectantly. "What happened the moment after I fell through?" Moody, Remus and
Harry shared glances, apparently deciding who would speak. Harry began to talk.
"Well, after you fell through the fight
continued," Harry said in a steady voice and everyone listened intently. With
the exception of Buffy, no one had Harry talk about this time in depth. "The prophecy
was smashed but the other death eaters were rounded up. Bellatrix Lestrange ran
and I followed her, up and out, into the Atrium. She taunted me, about you and
I tried to do the Cruciatus curse on her." Hermione gasped but Harry just
swallowed hard and continued. "It didn't work and then I told her about the
prophecy and Voldemort came."
"Voldemort was in the Ministry?" Sirius
asked astounded and Harry nodded.
"He was going to kill me but Dumbledore came," Harry explained. "They fought for a while and then Voldemort possessed me. He took over my body and it hurt so much, more pain than I've ever felt in my life, more than the Cruciatus even. He tried to get Dumbledore to kill me so he could get Voldemort too. And I wanted him to; I wanted the pain to stop because it was so bad. But then he left, took Bellatrix and fled. But not before the entire Ministry saw him." Sirius' jaw dropped.
"So they all know?" he asked eagerly. "They
know Voldemort is back? Have I been exonerated?"
"Unfortunately not," Charlie cut in.
"They still think you're rallying the Death Eaters. Fudge is in trouble though;
he's onto Dumbledore every second. There's word that the Council wants to
replace him." Sirius slumped in his seat and Buffy squeezed his hand
reassuringly.
"I hope they find a suitable replacement if
they do," he said vehemently.
"They want Dumbledore for the job
obviously." Moody growled. "But he won't take it, not if I know Dumbledore. He
won't leave Hogwarts, especially not now."
"What's' been happening with Voldemort
and the Order?" Sirius asked, now looking to Moody and Remus. "Is there any
more information?" Molly shot a warning glance at Remus.
"We'll save this for the meeting," Remus
said and Fred and George groaned audibly. "Dumbledore called one in a few days.
We owled him to tell him what had happened."
"How are the recruitments going?" Sirius
asked and Fred and George perked up again.
"Well only one new member in the last
few months," Remus said, pretending to consider with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Oh who?" Sirius asked absently.
"A slayer," Remus replied casually and
Sirius turned to look at Buffy.
"You joined the Order?" he asked in surprise
and she nodded, beaming.
"Dumbledore invited me," she replied
nonchalantly. "Thought it'd be kinda neat." Sirius chuckled and kissed the top
of her head.
"Neat indeed," he said amused. "What did you
think of the Order?"
"I didn't really get most of what they
were talking about," Buffy admitted. "And I haven't really done anything much
except kill a few vamps in London. But the people were really nice. Except for
Snape, I don't like him." She grimaced and Sirius laughed.
"Me neither," he said and Buffy
chuckled.
"Neither did Xander," she added. "On
account of him cursing me." Sirius' face darkened.
"Snape cursed you?" he stated furiously.
"I'll kill him!" He stood up, scowling but Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled
him down to his seat.
"Relax silly," she said, squeezing his
hand. "I already smashed him into a wall once and so did Xander. Let it go."
Sirius still scowled but he stayed seated.
"Harry got his OWL results," Buffy said
brightly and Sirius looked at Harry interestedly.
"How'd you get on?" he asked and Harry
recited his results. Sirius beamed at him.
"You did fantastically!" he said proudly. "That's amazing Harry, I'm proud of you. Your parents would've been too." Harry grinned and Buffy did too, knowing what it meant to Harry to have family.
"I was going to get him a present," Buffy
said, catching Harry's eye. "But there was a problem and we never got round to
it."
"You mean you went to Diagon Alley with
the key to my vault?" Sirius asked in mock-horror. "Do I have any money left?"
Buffy giggled and slapped him on the arm.
"I didn't spend any of it actually," she
said, sticking her tongue out at him. Everyone round the table laughed.
"What are you going to do next year?"
Sirius asked, turning back to Harry.
"Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology,
Potions," Harry replied, grimacing as he thought of advanced potions with
Snape. "And Defence Against the Dark Arts." Sirius nodded.
"That was your best subject," he said
thoughtfully. "I always liked it myself. Know what you want to do afterwards?"
Harry shrugged.
"If the Ministry gets better then maybe
an Auror," he said carefully. "But I don't know if I'll get good enough
results."
"You've got the gall for it laddie,"
Moody growled. "I'd help you out; train you up if you wanted."
"Yeah, that'd be great," Harry said
eagerly. "I just hope we've got a decent teacher for Defence Against the Dark
Arts this year. I don't know how much further we can take the DA, I don't think
I could do NEWT level."
"You could," Hermione interjected. "Some
of those spells we did last year were NEWT level." Harry shrugged.
"The word from the Ministry is that Fudge
is more afraid of Voldemort than Dumbledore now," Bill put in. "He's likely to
put in a teacher that'll train you lot, he wants everyone to be vigilant. At
least he's got something right."
"I hope Dumbledore can find someone,"
Ginny added. "Then we won't even have to have a Ministry teacher."
"Unlikely," interjected Ron. "Who would
want that job? It's cursed." He threw a look at Lupin who shrugged helplessly.
"It certainly appears that way," he said
with a wry smile. "At least Professor Umbridge won't be returning." Ron, Harry,
Hermione and Ginny all beamed.
"Last we heard she was in St Mungo's,"
Fred commented with a wicked grin. "Taking some time to rehabilitate herself.
Of course we sent her a few gifts to aid her recovery." He and George shared conspiratorial
looks.
"I hope it wasn't anything unsavoury,"
Molly said loudly and the twins put on innocent expressions.
"Of course not mother," George said,
carefully arranging a blank expression. "You know us."
"Yes," Molly said sternly. "I do." They all
laughed and even Molly couldn't help but smile.
"Bed," she said a few minutes later and
all of the kids groaned. "It's late and you've not got long before school."
"But Sirius just got back," Ron
interjected but his mother pointed to the door firmly and they filed out.
"Night Sirius," Harry called and Sirius
answered in kind. The door shut behind them and Molly stood up and made them
all coffee.
"He looks happy," Sirius commented, idly
fiddling with Buffy's hair as she rested against him.
"He wasn't," Remus said, frowning. "He
had a rough time after you died. Did you listen to what he said?" Sirius nodded
grimly.
"The unforgivable on Bellatrix
Lestrange," he said, wincing. "Not good. Still Dumbledore trusts him." Giles
looked at him in confusion.
"I don't understand," he said, also
frowning. "What do you mean about trust?"
"You know what they say about power,"
Moody said in his gravely voice. "That it requires a lot of discipline,
mentally, to keep it in check. To stop the holder abusing it."
"You don't think Harry would abuse his power?" Buffy said incredulously. "But he's a good kid, he wouldn't do that."
"Loss has strange affects on people," Remus
said, an odd expression on his face. "It causes anger which leads to hatred.
That's the route Voldemort chose."
"But Harry's the one destined to bring
down Voldemort," Buffy argued. "To do an end to evil."
"To do an end to Voldemort's evil,"
Moody clarified. "The kid's powerful, he doesn't know it but you can feel it."
Buffy nodded, she could sense the power when she was near Harry. In this house,
around all these magical people, her senses were constantly tingling but she
felt a surge of power when she was around Harry.
"Harry has already lost his parents," Remus
said slowly. "I saw the anger when he thought Sirius was to blame. He would've
killed him. And he watched Cedric Diggory die, an innocent boy who had never
hurt anyone and he learnt how unfair life and death are. And then he saw Sirius
die and he tried to use an unforgivable. These won't be the end of the deaths,
there will be more, there always is."
"People are worried Harry might lose
it," Buffy clarified. "Tip over the edge and stop feeling because it hurts too
much." Remus nodded, still frowning.
"I have faith in him," Sirius said
comfortably. "I know my godson and I see in him Lily and James."
"No one here doubts Harry," Remus said
gently. "Dumbledore especially has the utmost faith in him."
"But you have to be on alert," Giles
said clearly and Moody nodded, leaning back in his chair.
"He saved Pettigrew," Buffy said
thoughtfully. "He saved him when we would've killed him. He chose that." She
sipped her coffee and winced as it scalded her tongue.
"Exactly," Remus said, taking a ginger
newt. "And that's why we fight."
"I like Harry," Buffy said reflectively. "He's real. No fronting."
"He's a dear," Molly agreed. "And he likes you. You were the one that reached him." Sirius glanced at Buffy.
"Harry was pretty messed up for a while,"
Buffy explained. "But we had a talk and we figured it out. He was mad at
Dumbledore, mad at you, mad at Snape. But really he was just mad at himself; he
just didn't quite get that. He blamed himself for what happened."
"Poor kid," Sirius said, shaking his
head. "It wasn't his fault. I warned him about war, about the deaths. I guess
he just didn't see it coming. I didn't either. Thanks for helping him."
"It was like Faith," Buffy replied
shrugging. "Do you remember?" Sirius nodded, remembering how they had faced off
to one another.
"He asked me to hate him," Buffy said
gravely. "Yelled at me to. Just like Faith yelled at me to kill her. That was
what got me." Sirius nodded.
"Faith, the other slayer?" Arthur asked and
Buffy nodded.
"She went over the edge a while ago,"
she explained. "We were out patrolling and she accidentally killed a civilian
because she thought he was a demon."
"It's happened before to Slayers," Giles
clarified. "Normally an enquiry is made into the death and the Watchers Council
assess whether it was an accident. But Faith was completely unable to come to
terms with what she did. Which is how Buffy ended up in Azkaban." They all
looked wide eyed at Buffy.
"But she gets it now," Buffy added. "She made mistakes and she's sorry. She can't make them right but she can put them behind her and not make them again. She's my sister now, one of my best friends. People can come back from the edge, it's possible." She yawned widely.
"I'm gonna
go to bed," she announced standing up. Sirius stood up too with the same
intention.
They left the kitchen together and just
as they started up the stairs, Buffy heard her name and turned around.
Giles stood behind her.
"I wanted to say that I'm going to go
back. I'll pack up my things now and head back to Sunnydale. It's daytime there
now," he said, a gentle smile on his face. "I did what I came to do; I think my
place is back in Sunnydale for now." Buffy frowned.
"Can't you stay?" she asked but he shook
his head.
"I stayed because you needed me," Giles
said softly. "But you don't anymore. This is something you've got to do on your
own for now."
"Come back with the Scoobies soon,"
Buffy pleaded. "I want you all to visit."
"When the kids are back at school,"
Giles agreed with a grin. "I know the others are eager to come back." Buffy
smiled.
"I'm gonna miss you," she said sadly.
"Thank you Giles. I owe you my life."
"You don't owe me anything," Giles said
quietly. "I did what I did because I care about you Buffy. I'll always do
everything in my power to keep you happy." Buffy hugged him tightly.
"Goodbye Giles," Buffy said tenderly.
"Give my love to the others." He nodded and she continued her ascent of the
stairs.
"Where did you go?" Sirius asked when
she reached the room.
"Giles is going," she explained. "He's
leaving now and he was just saying goodbye." Sirius' face fell.
"It would've been good to have him
around," he said disappointedly. "I missed that lot." Buffy smiled.
"That's good because I told Giles I
wanted them all to come and stay when the kids have gone back to school," she
said and Sirius chuckled.
"I'll look forward to it," he said,
coming forward to put his arms round her waist. He kissed her long and
languorously.
"How strange is it that I can be in Hell
this morning and with you this evening?" he murmured sleepily. Buffy grinned
lopsidedly.
"Very weird," she agreed, pulling him
closer to her.
