Disclaimer: I own only my plot and my character.

Chapter Twelve

Her cubicle looked exactly the same: posters of wanted wizards were strewn about, the prisoners gazing at her warily. A picture of Brynn and her sister was smiling back at her, their faces burned and their clothes revealing: it had been taken on vacation in the Australian Outback.
She looked around: Aurors were reading inter-departmental memos and talking to each other, each about a different wizard. A self-propelled paper airplane landed on her desk and opened, revealing a hunted man.

WANTED: You-Know-Who. Dead or Alive. Galleons upon Galleons to
 whoever catches him.

Brynn gazed, transfixed, on Voldemort's slit red eyes and nonexistent
nose.
"Catching up, are you?" a bitter voice asked from behind her, causing her to jump from her chair.
"Oh, hallo Tad," she said, relieved.
"Back, are you?" he asked.
"Just for summer."
"Oh. We've missed you," he said, finally smiling. Tad's demeanor was frequently off-putting to most at first, but after meeting him, one found him to be quite a lovely man. He was a middle-aged wizard who was still quite a good Auror. Brynn glanced at his Muggle tie that had been bewitched with his children's smiling and gurgling pictures.
"Is that Elaine?" Brynn gasped.
"Yes, she's really growing, isn't she?" he asked, smiling.
"Last time I saw her she was in diapers!" Brynn exclaimed, looking at the young redheaded witch in the photo.
"It's good to have you back, Brynn," Tad said, smiling and gripping her shoulder. "It will be good to have some experienced help around here." He leaned in closer. "All these newbies are terrible. Can't tell a dark wizard from a Squib. We'll be lucky to ever catch...er...Vold...er, You-Know- Who."
Brynn frowned as she looked at all the new faces. "Are you the only one left?"
He shook his head. "Well, we still have some of the old ones, but they're rarely here. You know the new ones; they just sit in the office all day, reading the new memos! I can't believe it! I'm about sick with frustration."
"That's terrible. Hasn't anyone addressed this at a meeting?"
Tad rolled his eyes and snorted. "Fudge has been attending the meetings. What a nutter. If I had a Galleon for every time I've had the urge to...well...hardly appropriate...well let's just say I really should have quite a bit of money."
Brynn laughed at Tad the way she used to. Before Oliver, before Sirius, before Draco. It felt good to be back the way she used to be.
"Care to walk to the meeting together?" he asked, offering his arm.
"Of course, daaaahling," she drawled.

The days were passing rapidly, and Brynn couldn't wait until she was able to actually leave the office and hunt a dark wizard. She finally had her chance three weeks into the job, when she and Tonks were to investigate a possible Death Eater meeting place.
They dressed in raven-colored robes, and as they neared the door they pulled their hoods over their eyes, shielding their faces. They'd disguised themselves as best they could, making their skin as white as skim milk and their hair as black as onyx. Brynn's eyes were a deep, dull black and Tonks had made hers a cutting blue.
Due to a tip-off, she and Tonks knew the password when it was asked, and they sauntered inside as if they owned the house. A dark shadow glided toward them, and as it neared it removed its shadowy hood, revealing a pale- skinned face that looked disdainfully at them.
"You are with the Dark Lord?" the man asked, his long, pointed nose glaring at them.
"We are," they said together.
"Reveal yourselves," he said.
Simultaneously, the girls drew the sleeves of their robes and revealed the Dark Mark that was semi-permanently tattooed in burning black ink. The wizard leaned over and inspected the marks, prodding them with his wand while murmuring an incantation. The girls tried not to squirm as a searing pain shot through their arms, and they prayed that the spell they had put on the marks would last.
It did, and finally they were given approval.
"The meeting begins in ten minutes. We're glad that you're early," the wizard informed them, walking toward what they assumed to be the meeting room. They followed, shooting each other condescending glances. It seemed fitting.
Death Eaters were gathered in a dark black room, which Brynn silently compared to Edgar Allan Poe's room in "The Masque of the Red Death," and she shivered next to Tonks. The meeting commenced, and everyone gave full attention to...
Oh no, Brynn silently whispered. Lucius Malfoy was standing at the end of the room, demanding everyone's full attention.
Brynn's slanted black eyes gazed haughtily at him, and he looked at her with interest. No no no.
"To begin," he said, still looking at her with mild interest. "We have gained information from unknown sources as to how to recover those lost behind the veil in the Department of Mysteries. We may now retrieve our lost friends who disappeared behind it."
Brynn's face remained calm as Lucius continued to stare at her. Did this mean Sirius would be able to return? She listened intently as Lucius described the method used to recover lost witches and wizards.
One wizard raised his hand.
"Yes, Lestrange?"
"Shall we retrieve those who are not ours?" he asked, a delightfully evil glint playing in his eyes as he fingered his wand longingly. "Perhaps give them a bit of a thrill before heaving them back into it?"
Lucius smiled a dreadful, wicked smile that sent chills to Brynn's soul. "Perhaps. That is a very, very amusing idea."
Bellatrix Lestrange raised her hand, wishing to speak.
"Yes? My dear sister-in-law," Lucius inquired.
"Shall we remove my dreadful cousin, Sirius Bloody Black, from beyond the veil?" she asked. "That would be terribly fun." A devilish grin spread across her face as she looked at Lucius.
"Another great idea from Bellatrix," he said. "We'll have these two ladies—" he pointed at Tonks and Brynn—"retrieve Sirius Black, and they shall bring him to these headquarters. Here we shall each have a turn to torture him in a manner that is fitting...maybe perhaps repay him for drawing attention from us by escaping from Azkaban."
After adjourning the meeting, Lucius approached Tonks and Brynn, never luring his gaze from Brynn's dark eyes.
"Are you ladies comfortable retrieving Sirius Black?" he asked, using his infamous Malfoy charm that had made Brynn desire...er...his son so badly.
"Quite comfortable," Brynn said, her gaze intent. I might as well play along.
 "Good," he said, smiling charmingly. "The next meeting is a week from tonight. It would be appreciated if Sirius were brought with you."
"Fine," Brynn responded, pretending to size him up.
"Until then," he said, bowing and taking her hand.
"Au revoir, homme charmant," she crooned.
She and Tonks appeared in the twilight outside the headquarters and Apparated to the Ministry of Magic Auror Headquarters, shedding their disguises with small Pop's and looking at each other. They immediately burst out laughing.
"We'd better file the paperwork," Tonks laughed.
As she and Brynn began walking to the back row of desks, Tonks began humming "Brynn likes to get off with Malfoy boys, Malfoy boys, Malfoy boys..."
Brynn shoved her, laughing so hard she could barely walk. "Stop it, Tonks!"
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you weren't having fun—you were seriously considering things back there!"
"No I wasn't!" Brynn cried, feigning innocence. "I was a perfect lady."
"You're going to give him BBS!" Tonks cried, practically pissing herself from laughing.
"I hate you...NYMPHADORA!" Brynn laughed.
Blue ball syndrome. Har-dee-har-har.
"Brynn likes giving the Malfoy boys bluuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee baallllllllsssssssssssssssssss......." she sang loudly.
"Tonks, shut the hell up!" Brynn yelled.
"Lucius and Brynn-a, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Tonks yelled.
"Enough!" a voice shouted, and they both turned. It was another Auror's picture, which had been snoring gently until all the yelling had commenced. "People are trying to sleep around here!"
"Right, sorry," Tonks said, turning to the paperwork. "Should we go to the Department of Mysteries now and get Sirius, or should we file the claim and then go to him?"
"I thought we could fill out the paperwork about the Death Eaters, get Sirius, then send the information for the roundup," Brynn replied.
"That sounds like the best idea," Tonks said. "Let's don the beloved costumes again."
After changing into their Death Eater costumes in a restroom, they emerged and headed for the Department of Mysteries. Because they were Aurors, they had rights to every department in the building, including passwords to all doors within the departments. Tonks pulled a list from her pocket, tapped it, and an intra-departmental list of passwords appeared.
"Crystal ball," she said, and the door to a dungeon opened, revealing the veil, which whispered softly to Brynn as they drew nearer.
Tonks carefully followed Lucius's instructions, repeating incantations and finally whispering "Accio, Sirius Black," into the tip of her wand, which magnified the sound once inside the veil.
Sirius, straggly and strangely vacant-looking, appeared swiftly through the veil. He gazed at them with fear, mostly because of their disguises, but after they had changed back to themselves his eyes registered utter joy.

"Tonks!" he exclaimed, hugging her.

He gazed at Brynn, amazed. "Brynna," he whispered.

Immediately Brynn was ashamed of everything she'd done since Sirius had gone, which was to say, she was ashamed at even the thought of what had occurred with Draco Malfoy. Her eyes welled with tears.

"Sirius."

They stared, transfixed, at each other until Tonks nudged Brynn. "We'd better go send the claim in. Let's change back."

They immediately donned their disguises and headed for the Auror Department, Sirius covered in an invisibility cloak. After the paperwork had been sent to an on-duty Auror team, Tonks and Brynn changed back to their normal selves and began leading Sirius to his house at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. It was no longer the headquarters for the Order, but it was still accessible only via Albus Dumbledore.

Brynn retrieved the small piece of paper from her robe pocket, muttered the spell, and Sirius's house appeared. After ushering him inside and past his mother's portrait, they led him to the large downstairs kitchen, where he was finally able to remove the cloak.

Tonks, looking as if she'd like to do anything but, offered to leave and return in the morning with Dumbledore. Sirius and Brynn bid her farewell as she Apparated from the kitchen.

Sirius stared at Brynn.

Brynn stared at Sirius.

Finally, they embraced, and Brynn clawed his back, crying hysterically. His hold grew tighter, suffocating her, until finally they stepped back and surveyed each other. His hair, which Brynn had trimmed just prior to his disappearance beyond the veil, was now unruly and desperately in need of trimming and washing. He had been wearing new robes the day he'd gone, and now they were ripped and desperately in need of patching. Though, Brynn thought, It would be quite easier to just throw them out. But his face was no longer gaunt and drawn. He looked much like the Sirius she had grown up with—handsome, with a nice healthy face and body. His cutting green eyes were bloodshot from crying, and his body was trembling from the sobs. He was absolutely gorgeous, and at the moment she couldn't even place what Draco Malfoy looked like.

"I've missed you," he said.