A/N: Normally I'd put a little more time between chapters, but I've actually got a good headstart on this story and have a few chapters all locked and set. So here's another..

I had two new reviews.

InuAngelZ, well really you're just a sweetheart. I'm glad you like Aine.

IlikeChicken: I think perhaps I see why anonymous reviews get disabled. heh. This review made no sense to me. Marysue? And her entire name is spelt correctly...

This brings up a little point, that I think some people are getting confused by. Aine isn't a made up name. It's celtic. It means joy. I shall be the first to admit I love odd names. Which is one reason I adore Harry Potter because JK Rowling comes up with such nice names, from astronomy, mythology and history and they all have meanings for their characters. Sirius is my all time favourite. Perhaps I'll make my kids life hell and name him Sirius. :)

Anyway, please as always review. I sometimes feel like a beggar asking.. Maybe a bribe would work? I'll give you a cookie... Or maybe not.

Chapter 9

I swung my legs over the side of the bed quickly, wincing at the immediate negative response my body gave me. Being quite the doctor I was used to, Draco shook his head at the sudden movements, trying to push me back into bed.

"You're certainly not fit enough to get out of bed."

At my angry glare, and my insistence to get up, he gave up. That was the Draco I was used to. If you were going to be stupid enough to ignore him, he wasn't about to stop you. Normally I would be more then happy to stay in bed, I enjoyed my sleep, and I was perfectly aware of the pain my body was in at this moment in time. The problem was that I had been out for three weeks, meaning that it was now almost September, and I had classes to teach. My family was likely panicked, wondering where I was. Just what I didn't need to come home to, a police search for my dead body...

I tried to stand up, but my legs proved to be mutinous against my thoughts because they buckled under me, sending me back onto the bed. I ignored Draco's triumphant look, and tried again with the same results. A growl started low in my throat at the blonde's continued gloating.

"No need to get angry. I told you that you weren't healthy enough yet." He tried to push me back, to lie down, but I shook off his hands. There was no amusement in his eyes now. "Personally I wouldn't care if you got up and collapsed, opening your wound and bleeding to death. But I can't let that happen because Harry would care. So I have to care." He sounded almost petulant, like a child who just found out his beloved parent was getting remarried to a harridan, and would have to pretend to like the woman. The thought made me smirk at his predicament. The poor Malfoy probably had to put up with quite a lot being involved with Potter the Saint. It brought a renewed wonder about their relationship to my eyes. The thought of asking how they had got together came to my lips again, but the annoyance in Draco's eyes stated quite clearly he was unlikely to answer any question from me. Especially any on a personal level.

Of course there was also the issue of having to get home, to my responsibilities, my family. I tried once again to stand up again, but a voice from the door stopped me short.

"Aine! You're awake." I looked up, seeing an overjoyed Harry flying into the room, his shaggy bangs flying into his eyes, only to be pushed back with out a thought, the sight of the scar on his forehead made my own arm burn slightly. His joyous expression though turned to concern when he noticed me trying to get up, and Draco looking like hell frozen over. "You can't leave."

This little statement didn't sit well with me. I was two years older then both these men. Granted they were wizards, and could likely do anything they wanted to me. And in Draco's case at least I didn't doubt he would love to do something particularly nasty to me at this moment in time. But I still didn't like being told what I could and could not do. I was a modern woman, even if I was a muggle, and we didn't let men tell us what to do. I started to open my mouth to say just this when my brain registered the worry that had underlined Harry's voice. Something wasn't right.

And instantly the memories of my nightmares poured into my vision, the fluttering veil and Harry's agonized voice, causing my right hand to clutch at the sheets around me tighter even as my left hand dug into Draco's arm, causing him to wince slightly. Had I failed after all?

"Glad to see the hand still has the rudimentary functions." His voice was cold, but I could hear a small tremor of concern under the surface as he pried my hand off his arm.

"What happened at the Ministry?" I asked, my voice quiet, waiting to hear the horrors that had unfolded after I had blacked out.

The two men looked at each other, their eyes speaking even while they were not. They were deciding without voice what I should be told, and how. In the end it looked like Harry had won the silent argument, because Draco looked away, a small displeased grimace on his features.

"We got interrupted at the end. You had already blacked out though... so perhaps it wasn't an interruption. Either way we had no chance to think about who it was. We had to get out immediately. When Draco came running in, and you collapsed I was so certain that the ritual had failed, that Sirius was still lost to me behind the veil." His voice spoke the exhaustion he must have felt, the feelings of failure. My face must have mirrored those feelings of failure because there was a sudden change in Harry's demeanor, a bright smile burst out. "You did a good job Aine. It worked."

I blinked at him in confusion, all I could think of were the failed resurrections I had witnessed, Harry's agonized scream, the heaviness of my body, the interruption. None of that came together for a positive end result in my mind. All I could think of was that they were lying to me, hiding the truth.

"But you screamed... I thought it was because I had failed. Or that I had brought something else back."

He looked slightly amused, like he was looking at a child who didn't know better.

"That was when I thought that your collapse was worse then just blacking out, and that the ritual had failed, or that Voldemort was at the door. But only a moment later that veil fluttered slightly, and Sirius fell through." There was a genuinely amazed expression on Harry's face, like he was still expecting to wake from a dream, to find that this had all failed, that Sirius was still dead. "Because we didn't know who was coming, Draco and I quickly apparated the two of you out. And you've been out ever since. I've been worried."

"So I've been told." I looked sideways at Draco, who was sitting unconcerned on the edge of the bed. I pushed myself off the bed, and finally my legs stayed underneath me, if perhaps a bit too shaky for my liking.

Harry took a step forward, frowning at my standing. The other one though stayed seated beside me, obviously letting Harry do the concerned thing. He had tried to get me to stay in bed, and wasn't about to miss me fall flat on my face when I tried to walk.

"Aine. You really can't leave."

Now I was starting to get annoyed with the black haired man standing in front of me, looking ready to catch me if I decided I couldn't stay up. Just because he was Harry Potter didn't mean he could dictate to me whether I could leave or not. I had made a promise to the two men that I would conduct a successful resurrection, and if they were to be believed I had done just that. That was the promise I had made, my promise to help avenge Cairn. With that out of the way there was nothing that was keeping me here in England. On the other hand I was needed back in America. I had a job at a University to teach students. I didn't delude myself into thinking that my classes were the most important ones they were going to take. Or even the most enjoyable. But I did remember what my parents had always taught me. That one should always live up to one's responsibilities. So across the ocean were a lot of kids who were waiting for me teach them about proper Japanese funeral rites, about Celtic warriors, and everything else in between. Not to mention my job was on the line.

And of course there was my family, who would have started to panic by now. While they were used to me going out of the country over the summer, I always told them where I was going. I had of course left a message that I was going to England, but that was only for a few days. It was possible they had assumed I had stayed longer, but with the start of school and my continued absence, they were going to start to worry if they hadn't already.

"You just said it worked. Your Sirius Black is alive, and since you looked pleased I shall assume he's healthy and fine. Or is there something wrong with him?" I tried to look at him with all the pride and authority I could muster. It was slightly difficult though, my legs were visibly shaking, I was dressed only in a sheet that was being clutched by a precariously weak hand. I was pale from the effort of just standing.

"No, Sirius is fine and..."

His statement was interrupted though by a new voice coming from the doorway, low and amused, causing shivers to go down my spine like fingers caressing.

"He is fine and wondering why you have a sick and naked woman standing in the middle of my bedroom?"

My hand clenched the sheet even tighter around me, shielding my nudity from the stranger standing in the doorway. His eyes looked me over with concern, noting the uncertainty of my stance, though he looked amused at my desperate hold on the sheets. Unlike Draco's course over my body, this wasn't in the least bit clinical. I felt my whole body get hotter, a blush likely spreading over every inch of skin.

This was Sirius Black? This was the man I had read about, the one I had risked my questionably existing soul for? The one who I know bore a scar in testament?

I had thought Draco was an adonis, complete perfection come to life, his face sharp planes and sculpted features. But the older man lounging in the doorway giving the aforementioned adonis a sharp look for letting a sick girl out of bed, he was all my personal sexual fantasies come to life.

There was raven black hair long, clubbed back at his neck giving the appearance of a short cut, only a small amount of gray at his temples. His eyes were flashing steel at this moment, a look of anger crossing the room to the blonde mediwizard who was shrugging unconcerned with the look he was getting. When they turned back on me though, the eyes softened, a silver as they looked at me. The face they were set it was strong, the cheeks high, the nose proud. It was a very good face, one I expected to see in movies, even if he looked a little worse for wear. But after being dead that was to be expected. He carried himself with confidence, like his cousin, except instead of the elegant bearing, it was a lazy, comfortable feeling that he exuded, resting against the door jam. I didn't doubt that the clothes he was wearing weren't his to begin with, but he seemed completely comfortable in them. Unlike Draco who used clothing for the appearance of confidence, this man instead made the clothes fit him instead. But it wasn't the second hand material that drew my eye, instead it was the promise of what was under them.

I flushed at my train of thought. This was Sirius Black. And I was attracted to him. A groan passed my throat.

This was not what I wanted at all.