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Chapter Ten: Back to Black

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.

Emily Dickinson

Sirius paced the small room with anxious ferocity. Anna sat curled up on the couch, her eyes glinting with amusement as he watched the frustrated man carve tracks in her carpet.

"Why do you only pace eight steps?"

The soft voice startled Sirius out of his reverie. "What?"

"You walk eight steps and then turn. You never walk over eight. Why?"

Sirius thought for a moment, his brow furrowed. "That's how big my cell was. I guess it's just engraved in my brain. Habit."

"Break it."

Sirius grinned. He walked eight steps to the right, pausing melodramatically, his leg poised to take the ninth step. He put his foot down. "There we go."

There was a small crack! as Remus Lupin Apparated into the living room. "Evening," he said merrily as he gave Sirius a short, tight hug. "Remus Lupin," he said, holding his hand out to Anna.

"Anna Fair. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, although we already met the other night. But you were out cold then, so it was sort of a one-sided conversation."

Anna chuckled. "Well, should we get going?"

"I suppose. I've been given a Portkey to get us to London." He turned to Sirius. "We haven't actually been inside the house yet, we wanted you there for that in case we get any surprises. Moody is waiting for us there, and Dumbledore will be there as well."

Sirius nodded. "Let's go then. Are you ready Anna?"

The young woman looked wistfully around her house, locking it all away in the deepest recesses of her mind. "I'm ready." Sirius moved to pick up her trunk as she took hold of her owl, Helena's, cage. "Let's go."

Remus held out an old fork. "Here, touch this." Sirius moved forward to place his index finger on the fork, Anna doing the same beside him. "Three... two... one..." Sirius felt the familiar jerk behind his navel and suddenly he was standing on unkempt grass in the middle of a square. Looking around, Sirius saw that many of the all-too-familiar houses had sunk deep into disrepair. After helping Anna off of the ground, he, Anna and Remus walked over to number 12 Grimmauld Place, where a shadowy figure awaited.

"Moody. Good to see you." Remus extended his hand, which was firmly shaken by the ex-Auror.

"Lupin."

"This is Anna Fair," Remus said, gesturing to Anna.

"Nice to meet you Miss Fair."

"Nice to meet you, too," Anna smiled warmly.

Moody turned both eyes searchingly to Sirius. "Black," he said, nodding curtly.

"Moody."

Moody's face broke out into a smile, serving to make his face even more deformed that usual. He clapped Sirius hard on the back and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Good to see you, Sirius my boy, good to see you. I never wanted to believe that you had done it. Didn't think you had it in you. I must say, I was mighty relieved when Dumbledore told me the whole story."

Sirius grinned, ecstatic that someone believed him, more so that it was someone who had been a great mentor and friend to him during his own Auror training. "Speaking of Dumbledore, shouldn't he be here?"

"He'll be coming up soon. He's got some business to do before he comes down. Thought we might as well have a go and get inside." They all trudged up the front path towards the front door of the derelict house.

"DON'T!" Sirius shouted, as Moody made to open the door. They all paused, waiting for a explanation for his outburst. "It'll only open for a Black. If you had of touched that... I don't even want to think what would've happened. Geez, Moody, getting lax in your old age."

Moody grumbled at him, stepping back from the door. Sirius took out his wand and ran it smoothly down the length of the door. "Castitudo ab adoleo," he spat. The door creaked open.

"What was that?" Anna asked in a timid voice. "Purity of blood?" she translated.

Sirius growled. "Yep. They thought 'Toujours Pur' would be a little too obvious. That's my family for you."

"Don't worry, mine's not much better." She gave him a cheeky smile and winked at him. They entered the house. A damp, rotting smell reached their noses.

"It's dark in here," Lupin remarked.

"Really?" Sirius said dryly. "I hadn't noticed."

Anna was the one who finally had the sense to mutter 'Lumos' and shed some light on the situation, quite literally. They were in a long, gloomy hallway that was lined with age-blackened paintings and cobwebs. "Euugghhh..." she muttered. "Looks like this place hasn't been cleaned in years."

Sirius pointed down the entrance hallway, where a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains hung. "Moody, you see that portrait down there?"

"Yeah. The one with the old woman in the black cap?"

"Yeah. What's she doing?"

"Sleeping."

"Good. Don't wake her up, I don't want her to know that I'm here."

"Who is she?" Anna asked curiously.

"My mother."

"Oh."

A/N: Okay, something Siriusly weird is happening to my computer. Heh. Seriously though, I was looking over this story as it's posted on and it's totally weird, heaps of grammar and italics and lots of these funky things () are left out. Anyone have any idea why??? Anyway, hoped you liked this chapter, I know it ended a little abruptly but the next one should be up soon... Review!