A/N: Another chapter, and I'm sorry if this one is also a bit too long, but I just couldn't find a suitable break point in it. But It's an important chapter since it gives the reasons for it all.

Thank you to Linac428 and Queen of the Fairys for their positive reviews. I'm glad you both like the story.

Now I do have a question for everyone. It's not terribly important to my story, but I was wondering who people would want to see Harry with? I've thought about leaving him alone, but with later chapters that's a depressing idea. Then I considered Hermione, Ginny even Draco (well I do like some slash...). I thought i would ask everyone their opinion, so e-mail me if you want, or write a review and mention which you'd prefer.

As always though, if you like this please review :)

Chapter 3

If the books had been even slightly correct, then I knew who Sirius Black was. He was Harry's godfather, had gone to Azkaban for a long time, escaped, and then been killed in a battle with some death eaters. I didn't know if the book had shown the correct feelings that Harry had for his godfather, but if it did then it was beyond my comprehension why Harry would choose him to bring back to life. Sure he had care about his godfather, but to choose him over your parents? With a once in a lifetime chance to bring a loved one back to life... My confusion must have shown on my face.

"Most people would choose to bring back their parents." Harry said quietly, a certain depressed edge to his voice. "I loved a lot of people who died, that's why this decision isn't based on that. It's based on a different need."

I found my hands reaching toward the clag a' bhàis on the table, and it was in my hands, smoothing over the wooden surface. I blinked at Harry and looked up at him strangely, curiousity shone in my eyes.

"A different need? Then you don't want to bring some one back from the dead for yourself?" This made me feel a little better at what I might have to do. I'm not behind the idea of bringing a loved one back from the dead. It can harm the person who asked more then letting the person stay dead. People need to let go... I had been quite worried that Harry was just emotional after the events I had read about in the book, and now was trying to find away to bring his friends back to life.

"No... though I'd lie if I said I wouldn't be happy to see Sirius back to life." At that point Harry glanced over at Cairn who was shuffling nervously at the topic of conversation. "Cairn why don't you go deal with that issue we were talking about before?" He suggested gently, and the older man immediately looked relieved.

"It was nice meeting you Miss Mackinnion." He took my hand and enthusiastically shook it in both of his.

"Please, Aine. Hearing that makes me think I'm still in class..." I placed my hand over Cairn's, and he flushed slightly before backing away. He nodded at Harry and quickly left the pub, heading out the back.

"Does the righteous Harry Potter have a servant...?" I asked, still looking after where Cairn had left. I brought my eyes back to the black haired man, an eyebrow raised at him in slight mocking. He smirked slightly at that question.

"Righteous?" He shook his head. "Cairn is a friend of mine. He's just a bit... enthusiastic when it comes to me." At my amused look he shrugged slightly. "I saved his life at one point, so he helps me out. And at the moment I need someone as loyal as him." He glanced at the door Cairn had gone through. "I asked him to leave to save him some discomfort. He gets nervous when I talk about bringing Sirius back to life. He doesn't like the idea of me treading where Voldemort would have gone..."

My hand was without me even knowing it, twirling the clag a' bhàis between my fingers even as I listened to Harry. The smooth wood slid over and under my fingers. I realized what I was doing though and placed the object I knew I shouldn't be touching back on the table, and gave my full attention to Harry, who was looking rather amused at what I had been doing.

"You were scared of that object when I first brought it out." He stated matter of factly. I shook my head, not exactly sure myself what I was doing.

"Apparently my fingers don't know that..." I looked at the slender cylinder on the table, confusion over my face. "I know exactly what it is... but I have to admit there's a part of me that's thrilled to see this. After all I am a scholar... But really it's dangerous." Even as I said this, my fingers started to twitch.

"Of course. That's understandable..." Harry was eyeing the clag a' bhàis with a strange look as well. "Things are dangerous because they draw you in..."

"Hmm..." I tapped my fingers on the table, a habit I was finding myself doing more and more. Only when I was nervous... it was quite telling to my mood that my fingers had hardly been still since I had gotten to my office today. "So Mr. Potter... What is this need that requires Sirius Black alive? I also assume it's the reason you were against asking a muggle for help."

"If I can call you Aine, then you certainly can call me Harry." Harry's smile was friendly, but he then got serious, and the smile slipped off his face. "Since you've read the books I don't need to go into much depth about Lord Voldemort. You know who he basically was, all about the horcruxes, and then my defeating him my final year at Hogwarts?" He left it to me to fill him in on what I knew or remembered. Not surprising since I wouldn't want to spend time telling my life story to someone.

"Yeah. There were seven horcruxes, you found them all, destroyed them and therefore defeated Voldemort. Simple as that." I shrugged, not really sure where any of this was going. Why exactly was it important for me to remember what happened in the books, something that for this Harry would have been about ten years ago. It was a good read... but then again it had been real. My fingers started tracing imaginary circles in the wood of the table even as my brain dealt with that latest revelation. All those fantastical, entertaining things I had read had happened to the man sitting across from me, watching me calmly. His life had been in danger so many times, and I had found it all great summer reading...

"Simple as that, eh?" The smile on his face was slightly bitter and I winced at it. As far as a book it had been simple, but I guess the actual events wouldn't have been. Simple enough for me to read about a boy locating a number of objects, and then facing down his arch nemesis, but I suppose in real life it would be a BIT more difficult.

"Sorry... It's just still a little hard for me to fully grasp that all the things I read happened. To you..." He just waved me off, and I continued on. "But I do remember the books well enough. So what does that have to do with my resurrecting Mr. Black?" At this Harry started to snicker softly.

"I think he'd be rather put out if a beautiful woman called him Mr. Black... makes him sound like an older teacher or something."

"Nothing wrong with being a teacher." I crossed my arms over my chest, and eyed Harry with a mixture of annoyance and anticipation. "Are you going to tell me the rest of the story or not?"

"Right... Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. "Well that was the end, for the books. Rowling might have written an eighth one though if she knew what I do now..." He frowned, his dark brows knit together. "There was one more horcrux we didn't know about. When I defeated Voldemort, all I did was return him to a state similar to what he had been in after he killed my parents. He's been regaining power over the last ten years."

"And you think Sirius Black is that important to a new fight?" I asked incredulous. I really didn't know if the books were correct in this aspect, but while Sirius had been a good wizard, if I needed to bring someone back to help fight Voldemort, it DEFINITELY would have been Dumbledore. That man could probably single handedly defeat the dark lord. I know I would have chosen him first for MY dodgeball team.

My incredulous question caused Harry's face to relax a bit, and his lips twitched slightly. He likely had understood my meaning, and was no doubt thinking that Sirius Black would have been a bit put out at my doubting his ability to help out. If I could go from what I had read, then he really was an egotistical bastard. In a good way of course...

"It has nothing to do with the ability to fight." The black haired man sitting across from me, continued to explain on after my question. "It has to do with the location of the last horcrux. Sirius is the only one who knows where it is."

The only person who knew where it was? Okay, well that was a good reason to resurrect someone from the dead I suppose. It would certainly make it easier to defeat the dark lord, and even if I wasn't a witch, I knew I didn't want that man around and gaining power. He didn't seem to like muggles too much. But there was something that didn't fit...

"Wait a second... He's the only one that knows? But if he had known he would have told you before he died? And if he didn't then how did you even find out about a last horcrux?" It didn't seem to fit what I knew about this story. There was no reason for Sirius Black to hold something THIS important from his godson, and there was no other way to explain how Harry now knew about this so long after his death.

"I don't think he knows what it is..." Harry even sounded confused at this point. I have to say hearing the hero of the story sound so uncertain isn't a great confidence booster. "But he knows where it is. We just need to ask him... get him to remember something about it."

I was once again twirling the clag a' bhàis in between my fingers as my brain was working this all out. Feeling the shiny wood over my skin was actually helping me think better. "How did you find out that he would know? Voldemort obviously wasn't that forth coming."

"Draco found out for me."

Well that wasn't surprising. At least the idea that he found out from Draco wasn't. In the last book the two had come to terms with each other, I suppose you could say. It had turned out that the Slytherin boy hadn't been that bad, just trying to live up to his family. It was a story similar to Sirius Black's. Not surprising, they were related.

"He found out from his father." Harry was continuing on with his explanation, which was good since I was about to ask how the basically good Draco had found out this juicy bit of information. His father was far more likely to know. After all the elder Malfoy had been a death eater, one of Voldemort's higher ranked ones I suppose you could say. If anyone was going to know he would have. But unlike his son, I hadn't gotten any inkling of a good side to this Malfoy from the books. But I suppose, as Harry had said, some things were different from what had actually happened.

"Was Lucius Malfoy good then?" I blinked, finding that a little hard to believe.

"No." Shaking his head, it was obvious that there was no room for doubt about the side Lucius Malfoy had been on. "He was a slimy bastard. But... I think perhaps, in the end he might have tried to redeem himself slightly. It couldn't make up for all the horrible things he had done, but it was an effort for his son I think. At least I hope so, for Draco's sake if nothing else." As Harry said this, his emerald eyes turned a little sad. "It was hard for me, with no parents. But at least they loved me, and stood for things that I did. For Draco... It was hard to be so different morally, and to have your parents disgusted with you because of that."

"I'm sure they loved him in their own way." I smiled and reached my hand out to pat Harry's. I found myself comforting someone I had only known for about an hour, but the look in his eyes was so depressing that I couldn't help myself. Maybe it's that maternal instinct all us women are supposed to have. The boy in front of me smiled warmly at my try to cheer him up. Boy? He was at most about two years younger then me. But it's hard to look at an older Harry Potter and not see the boy I had read about so many times. Even if that one wasn't the real Harry Potter, but a writer's fantasy. I pulled my hand back, and looked away from those warm green eyes. "Lucius Malfoy I'm sure loves his son. He just also happens to be an evil git." My lips twitched slightly, but didn't think it appropriate to smile then. "If Lucius Malfoy knows about the last horcrux, why don't you ask him where it is? There would be no need to throw your soul to the devil and resurrect Mr. Black."

I wasn't mistaken that the smile on Harry's face was hiding an urge to cry. His eyes were bright, with what I assumed were unshed tears. My maternal instinct must have snapped to the front again, because I found myself standing immediately to walk to the other side of the table. But when I stood up, Harry just shook his head and gestured for me to sit down again.

"I don't think Lucius would have known exactly where horcrux is. As it stood he told Draco about the existence of a last one, and that he had heard Voldemort say it had been stolen."

"What by Sirius?" I was getting confused again, since this still didn't explain why Sirius wouldn't have told Harry that he had stolen something from Voldemort.

"No..." Harry shook his head. "Lucius mentioned it had been another death eater, someone who had tried to leave, and who was killed by their master." Harry's fingers were now tapping on the wood of the table, and I had to wonder if I had infected him with my nervous habit. "The only one I know who matches that description is Regulus Black. Sirius is the only Black family member I could ask about it. So that is why I need to bring him back from the dead."

My eyes had now narrowed on Harry. I hated being the one to bring up small problems with his idea, since this was something important to him. Hell it was something important to everyone, but there were glaring mistakes that I couldn't just ignore. I was a scholar, a researcher, I couldn't ignore facts.

"You don't even know if Regulus would have told his brother anything. From what I had read in the book, they didn't have a good relationship. They hated each other. So I don't think it's likely that Sirius Black would have known anything about the last horcrux. It would be a better bet to bring Regulus back from the dead and ask him."

There was steel in Harry's eyes as I said this, obviously it wasn't a popular suggestion.

"Regulus was a death eater. I will not bring one of them back to life. There would be no guarantee that he wouldn't go back to Voldemort, or tell me the truth." His hand on the table had clenched into a fist. "It's Sirius or no one. He's my best chance to find out. The books didn't get this right. Sirius and his brother didn't get along, but Sirius still cared about his brother. He kept an eye on him at Hogwarts. I think he might know where Regulus might have hidden something."

The clag a' bhàis was flying swiftly between my fingers as my brain dealt with the unhappy idea that the future of the wizarding world, my world as well, was resting on the idea that a man might possibly know where something is. Might know where his brother, who hated him, might have hidden something. It was incredibly frustrating, but there was nothing I could say in the matter. This was Harry's fight not mine. I was just here to give some advice on a relic, and perform a ritual. If I chose to... I could say no I suppose. Refuse to bring Sirius Black back to life, after all I wasn't sure if it would really do as much good as Harry Potter wanted it to. The young raven haired man seemed to be grasping at straws. In my opinion he would be better off bringing Dumbledore back, and then the old man could help find the horcrux.

"It's the best chance I have to find it Aine. I have no idea where Regulus Black would have hidden anything."

"Bring Dumbledore back." I said finally airing my own thoughts. "The main was the greatest wizard wasn't he? Even if he doesn't know where the horcrux is, he'd be the best help in finding it. Not to mention in fighting Voldemort."

This caused Harry to go quiet. It seemed he had thought of this as well, his brows furrowed deep, his eyes dark green now.

"I had thought of it. You're right. But I need the person who has the best chance of finding the horcrux. Battling Voldemort isn't going to work. Not as long as that horcrux exists. Sirius is the only one who has any hope of knowing. And I might get lucky, he might even have seen it."

I snorted at this, thinking that luck wasn't something any one should be relying on in a situation like this, but I didn't say anything else. After all Harry Potter was the hero of this story, even if this wasn't a story any more. This was tried and true, real life. And I was now involved. I knew why he didn't want a muggle helping on this, it was extremely dangerous. The ritual and it's dangers aside, when Voldemort found out about this. I couldn't control this involuntary shudders that went down my back. Just what I needed the dark lord after me. I almost wished I had taken Mat up on his offer of a date...Almost.

"You're sure there isn't anything else you can find out from Lucius Malfoy?" I propped my head up on my hand, resting on the table. "What the horcrux is or anything? I don't want to raise someone from the dead unless I am sure it is the only way."

The sadness crept into Harry's eyes again and he shook his head. "There is nothing we can ask Lucius Malfoy. He's dead." I didn't see why this would cause Harry any distress, but he continued on. "He was heading to a trial, for his continued involvement with Lord Voldemort even while in Azkaban. On the way he met with... well a group of overly enthusiastic haters of Voldemort. I didn't like the man, but he was still Draco's father, and I don't think anyone deserves what he got. He was actually torn apart..." Harry shuddered, and my eyes widened. "They were all wizards and witches, but none of them even bothered with wands... I sometimes close my eyes and see it happen again. Poor Draco..." He trailed off, his eyes falling down to stare at the table. I had a suspicious feeling that they were bright again with unshed tears. I found myself holding my hand over his again, squeezing it gently.

"People get scared and do horrible things. I think you're not the only one who sees that when they close their eyes." Muggles it appeared weren't the only ones who did stupid things in mob settings. Nothing is worse then a crowd of people, you lose all your intelligence, your will to speak for yourself. You just go with the flow. And in situations like that, well the flow isn't somewhere you normally would go. Still the idea of ripping a man apart, even one who had done plenty of horrible things was leaving a horrible taste in my mouth.

"I think I need something to drink..." I said, a distasteful look on my face. Harry looked up at that, and there was nothing in his eyes anymore except surprise at my voice. I had the impression that he was just in his own little world. "I'll go get us both something. A story like that left a bad taste in my mouth..." He nodded, and slipped a few coins to me across the table. He didn't say anything, and I bit my lip at the blank expression. I had to control my urge to just give him a hug. Instead I stood up and walked to the bar, behind it stood a bald man, stooped whether from age or a hump on his back, I wasn't sure.

"And what does the pretty muggle want?" He asked, amusement just dripping from his words. I narrowed my eyes at him, and decided that I wasn't overly fond of the barkeep. I wasn't sure why Harry was discussing such important, and secret things with me when this man was in the room, and could over hear it all. But what did I really know about any of this, or them?

"Two firewhiskeys." I said, handing over the few galleons. I decided Harry and I could use a stronger drink, and this was the only one I could remember from the books. The amused expression grew bigger on the old man's face as I made my choice. He shook his head and retrieved a bottle of firewhiskey, quickly pouring two glasses for me. I restrained the urge to tell the man that his glasses could use a good cleaning. It was probably not the best way to deal with a wizard... He handed me back a fistful of strange coins, some silver and bronze. I had never seen their like, but I took them and thanked him, if perhaps a little ingenuous.

I deposited the glass of firewhiskey in front of Harry, as well as the coins, before taking my old seat across from him. He looked amused once again, no doubt about my choice of drink.

"We both looked like we could use a drink. And in this kind of pub I was quite sure I couldn't just order a shot of vodka." I took my glass and sipped it very carefully, and quickly put it down as my mouth started to burn. I coughed, and didn't look up since I was sure I could hear laughter coming from the old barkeep, and probably from Harry as well.

"It's strong stuff this." I looked up and saw him drinking it normally. At my look he just shrugged. "I've had it many times. It's your first time. Don't worry about it. I'm sure even old Tom over there would have coughed up a storm his first time." He jerked his thumb in the old man's direction.

I decided it was probably best to get back on track with the entire purpose of my sudden trip to England. Though best to also stay away from anymore talk about a torn apart Lucius Malfoy. At that thought I grabbed my glass and downed half of it, to Harry's surprise. And to my own I didn't cough at all.

"All right then. You want Sirius Black brought back to life. You've given good enough reasons I suppose, and you're paying for it, so I'll do it." I downed the other half of my firewhiskey after saying that. I knew I was agreeing against all the sane bones in my body. I knew that this ritual entailed blood, and as such was going in a direction that I didn't really want to go. I knew that I was going to go against any laws our world had, spiritual or not, bringing a dead person back to life. "But I need to warn you about something."

Harry had looked overjoyed at my acceptance, but now a wary look appeared in his eyes.

"This Sirius Black of yours, he fell through a gateway, a veil, correct?" I was verifying what I remembered of that fifth book. At his nod I continued. "I don't know how that will interact with this ritual. I don't think the creators of this relic, or the ritual itself, took a magic veil into account. So I can't guarantee success because of that. On top of that, you need to be prepared." I took a deep breath before what I was about to say.

"I'm always prepared." A small smile tugged at Harry's lips, and I couldn't help but think of him as a old eagle scout.

"Not for this you're not. You need to be prepared to kill... Sirius Black if what comes out... well if what comes out isn't right."

Apparently he wasn't prepared for this, hadn't even taken this into account. Not that this surprised me. Most people thought of the perfect idea of raising someone from the dead. Perfect body, perfect mind, all their memories intact. They never wanted to think of something going wrong. They certainly didn't want to think of a writhing mass of flesh, twitching as it tried to live, even knowing it shouldn't have. I blanched at my memories of what I had seen around the world. Certain tribes had tried resurrections, but almost always the result was something that no one in their right mind could call human anymore. Sometimes it was almost like a zombie movie, but usually it was just a twitch, a guttural moan, and then stillness. It was always the worst when they made sounds...

"If your godfather comes back to life, and his body isn't right..." I refrained from explaining in detail what that could mean, from the look on Harry's face he was doing a good job thinking up his own ideas. "If it's not right, he'll be in more pain. You'll have to end it for him. It won't be killing him really, just sending him back where he was. Can you promise me you'll do that? I won't do the ritual unless I know that is taken care of." I felt bad at the horrified look in Harry's eyes, but I stood firm on this. If I didn't it would just hurt Harry more in the long run. Seeing how unmoveable I was in this, Harry nodded dumbly, unsure of himself to speak.

"Fine then." I smiled slightly, trying to encourage Harry out of his terrified imagination. "Now, I need to go back home. There are some aspects of this ritual I want to make sure I have right, and I need to get some ingredients and other things." I tilted my head to look at Harry. "I hope you don't need to have this done right now. The preparation will take about two months. I'll be ready about the first week in August."

I was sure this wasn't exactly what Harry wanted to hear, no doubt he wanted to start right away, but seeing as how I was the only one who knew the ritual, there was no arguing with me on this. I knew best after all, and two months was better then never.

"That's fine." His voice didn't sound like it was but then I guess with an evil wizard gaining power by the day, two months was a long time to wait. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, much like the one Cairn had. "I'll send you back now by floo powder. In two months I'll have Cairn come pick you up again. Will you still be at your office then?"

I shook my head. I always avoided my office in the summer months, because there was a higher chance of running into Matt Caulder when I was there, and one can only come up with so many turn downs to dinner or a movie without becoming suspicious. I stuck my hands into the pocket of my pants, pulling out a piece of paper. Looking at it, it was just a receipt for dinner I had last night at a restaurant. I turned it over and used a pen also in my pocket to write my flat's address on. This I handed to Harry.

"That is the address of where I live. Don't worry though, it has a fireplace as well. Just don't come popping in until I'm ready." I wasn't exactly over eager at the idea of having strange people, men, being able to enter my apartment at anytime, but there was really no other way for it. At least I trusted Harry enough not to come willy nilly.

"I'll set up a temporary stop at your flat on the floo network, like I did with your office. They don't last longer then three months, so you won't have to worry past that." He smiled, and pushed the piece of paper into a pocket in his robes. "If you'll stand up in the fireplace I'll send you back."

I stood up, and moved into the fireplace, but then I noticed the clag a' bhàis was still firmly gripped in my hands. I handed it back to Harry with a sheepish grin. "I don't think I want to bring that back with me. It's not too safe with me." I wasn't sure if I meant this in terms of Voldemort, of from myself. It was certainly a valuable relic and I wasn't entirely sure I could trust myself around it.

The young wizard took it and deposited it into a pocket without a second glance at it. He didn't question my statement of it's safety.

"Now remember, state the exact address of your office in a clear voice. I don't want you getting lost." He paused and reached out, taking my hand, planted a feather light kiss on the top of it. "Thank you Aine."

I smiled, if a little shakily, and when he threw down the floo powder, I siad my address clearly like I had been taught. When the smoke cleared I was looking at my office once again. I took a few shaky steps out of the fireplace before falling into a chair. My brain running over everything that had just happened.

I knew my day was going to end weird...