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Chapter Thirty-Eight: Love is a Smoke


"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet."

-William Shakespeare

The muffled cries from beside Sirius barely penetrated his dreams. In fact, it was only when there was a sudden whack to his chest that his mind registered the thrashing, crying, near hysterical woman lying beside him, her limbs thrashing and flailing around her.

Sirius's eyes snapped open and he groaned aloud at the impact Anna's fist had just made with his chest.

"Anna?" he mumbled wearily, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked beside him. Anna was lying limp on her back, her eyes closed tightly and her face screwed up in pain. This was a nightly occurrence. For the past week Sirius would wake to Anna's urgent cries and pleas. Sometimes, her words were clear and amidst incoherent mumblings he would hear a name, often his or Snape's, called out in a desperate prayer with the Dark Lord. She never spoke about her nightmares afterwards, as if by some bizarre twist she thought whatever happened in them would come true if she confided in Sirius.

"Anna, sweetie, wake up." Sirius reached out and gently rubbed her shoulder. "Anna? Ann, wake up."

Still, she tossed around mumbling under her breath. All of a sudden, her body went rigid and her breath came in short, ragged gasps. "SIRIUS!" she cried, agony and sorrow evident in her voice.

"Anna!" Sirius called urgently. "Anna, honey, wake up!"

She sat up with a gasp, her eyes wide and searching. "Sirius," she breathed before collapsing into his chest.

"Shh, darling, it's okay. You're here now… shhh… it was just a dream, honey…"

He continued mumbling his sweet nothings into Anna's cherry-brown hair until she had calmed down somewhat, her weeping subsiding into mere sobs.

"Fifth one this week," Sirius observed quietly. "You want to talk about it?"

She murmured softly under her breath for a moment, and stared resolutely at her hands.

"Ann, you can tell me," he prodded gently.

"You died," she whispered, not looking up to him.

"Oh, Anna." Sirius drew her to him, crushing her against his chest.

Anna wept quietly into Sirius's chest, and he deftly pulled her onto his lap, cradling her fragile body against his.

"Promise me you won't leave," came the sudden request.

He gazed at her sombrely for a moment. "I can't promise that, Anna."

Her shoulders shuddered with a racking sob. "I know," she sighed. "I just… keep dreaming about it. I don't know what I would do if you left."

Sirius nodded, gathering her up in his arms once more. His resolve was set. He had a letter to write.

…&&&…

Sirius leant back in his chair, having just sent off his letter with Remus' tawny owl, Kirke.

"So who's the letter to?" Kirke's owner asked casually.

"No one, Moony," Sirius replied with a sigh.

"No-one, huh? Sure took you a long time to write a letter to no-one," Remus smiled sardonically.

"Yeah, well, it was of a rather… sensitive nature."

"Oh?"

"Mmmm…" Sirius cracked a grin, desperate for a change of topic. "So Tonks is coming over today."

The effect was immediate. Remus' teacup shook, splattering the murky liquid all over his robes.

"Shit," the werewolf muttered under his breath. "That's bloody hot."

"Such language, my dear Professor Moony! What are we going to do with you?"

"Shut it, Black," the other man growled.

Sirius chuckled. "You seem to be turning into a regular klutz whenever my darling cousin is mentioned."

Remus stared across at Sirius indignantly. "I do not!"

"Sure, whatever," Sirius laughed as Remus cleaned his robes up with a wave of his wand.

They sat for a while in amiable silence for a while, reading the Daily Prophet, until Sirius sneakily glanced from his paper at the old werewolf opposite him, who was now handling a new, un-spilt cup of tea. "Tonks!"

The teacup rattled on the saucer. A drop of tea made its lazy way down the side of the porcelain cup. Remus glared.

…&&&…

"We have to hook Tonks and Remus up."

Anna rolled over on the bed, Sirius's hands sliding smoothly over her silky skin. "Sirius," she asked mockingly, her eyebrow raised, "did you just say 'hook up'?"

"Hey!" Sirius cried indignantly. "Just because I spent the last twelve years incarcerated doesn't mean I'm not in with the new phrases all these young whippersnappers use!"

She giggled behind her hand. Giggled. "Yeah, but Sirius, come on! 'Hook up' out of the mouth of a thirty-six year old is a bit mid-life crisis-esque, don't you think?"

"Hey, watch it, Miss. You happen to be lying in bed with that thirty-six year old. After hours of hot, passionate, extremely satisfying love-making, I might add."

"Alright, alright," she mumbled softly. "You made your point. Now, what were you saying about Remus and Tonks?"

"They so have the hots for each other. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Of course I've noticed. You'd have to be blind not to, especially an Empath. Geez, the sexual tension between the two is palpable." Anna sighed dramatically. "Ah, the female population of Hogwarts will be greatly disappointed."

"Why's that?"

She gave a sly smile. "Well, I have it on good authority that Professor Lupin was quite the heart throb in his days as a Hogwarts teacher. Apparently, he inspired quite a few young students to become more than a little interested in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Must be all that animal magnetism."

Sirius gave a great bark of laughter. "And you would've heard this from whom? Hermione and Ginny?"

Anna squirmed in the bed sheets. "No, not necessarily."

He laughed again. "It was!" Sirius cried gleefully. "Hermione and Ginny had crush on Remus! I have to tell him!"

He leapt out of the bed and rushed over to the door.

"Sirius, you've got no clothes on," Anna remarked dryly.

He looked down.

"Ah, right you are."

…&&&…

Black,

I received your letter concerning Anna's nightmares; this isn't something new to me, they have been a frequent occurrence since I took her in. However, that she is having them so often is of concern to me so and so I have enclosed a fortnights worth of Dreamless Sleep Potion as per your request. Please owl if she needs anymore.

The fact that you would've had to be in her bed to know of these nightmares is something I will attempt to ignore, no matter how much I want to rip your head off right now.

Severus Snape.

Sirius folded the letter carefully and placed it into the pocket of his robes.

"That was Nero, Severus's bird," Anna commented, as she watched the black raven take flight out the window. "What is he doing writing to you?"

Sirius cleared is throat and licked his parched lips. "Um… I wrote to him… asked him for some Dreamless Sleep Potion… for you." He gazed deep into Anna's eyes. "No one should have to watch the people they love die, dream or not."

Sirius looked down at his hands, anticipating an onslaught of fury from Anna. He mentally prepared his argument, on how he knew she could handle it but had only wanted to help.

But instead, Sirius felt a cool touch against his cheek, and looked up to see Anna standing over him, a small smile gracing her features.

"I love you," she whispered, almost inaudibly.

He stood up and captured her in his arms. "And I love you."

"I like that," she murmured.

"Like what?"

"That you love me."

"I like it too"

"Good."

A/N: Aawwww, ain't love grand? Review!