A/N: Well I guess there was no reason for me to worry about it being a week before the next update. Had a bit of time to write some more surprisingly...

Thank you to everyone who is reviewing the story. It's quite gratifying, and useful at times as well. Everyone please continue to review and tell me what you think (good and bad) I like getting ideas as well. It's interesting to see what everyone else thinks should happen.

Ah on that idea... I've had some people ask me who Aine is going to end up with. Since there has been numerous indications that she likes both Severus and Sirius. What an interesting question... too bad that I'm not going to answer it of course. Heh. Aren't the boys fun though? I shall also continue to apologize though for my characterization, of Snape especially. Really I try and write him as close to IC as possible... But in these original stories sometimes it can be hard. So try not to kill me in case he does something OOC. :)

Chapter 23

One of the first situations I had to deal with was Madam Pince's apparent dislike of me on sight. Seeing as how she was the librarian, and I wanted to spend quite a lot of time in the place, her dislike for me had to change. In any normal library I wouldn't give a care whatsoever to whether or not I got along with the people who worked there, but this was certainly a different case. The books in this library weren't all the normal open-the-book-happily-read-then-put-it-away type. No if I picked the wrong one I could get attacked, or sucked into a story with lots of spiders.

If I were Sirius this would probably be no problem. He'd just saunter in, a rakish grin planted on his face. He's probably then promptly hit on the poor woman with some cheesy line like 'You look tired. It must be from running through my dreams all night'. Okay maybe not that cheesy but he'd be able to charm her into giving him whatever he needed, making her like him instantly. Say anything else about the man, but he had undeniable charm. Being female I might have some charm, but none that would work on the female librarian.

Hell even Severus could get what he wanted with no problems. He'd just breeze in, demand what he wanted, probably threaten a little, and he'd walk out in five seconds with everything he had asked for. It was unlikely anyone was going to stand in his way, not when he wanted something. It was close to my own personality, but I didn't think I would be intimidating at all to Madam Pince. One sentence sounding even slightly threatening and I'd probably have a toad's head.

Walking into the library, I was once again amazed at it's size. It wasn't even just the vast amount of space filled with books that gave me an excited little shiver, it was knowing that almost all of them were filled with things I didn't know about. It was a veritable cornucopia of information about and surrounding what I loved most. I felt like that kid in a candy store who can't decide where to go, and just ends up staring at all the things they want.

She must have had a sixth sense, because five seconds after I walked through the door, Madam Pince was upon me. Her face was pinched into a scowl at me, and I tried to smile to lighten her up. Suffice it to say she looked anything but lightened.

"Is there something I could help you with? Did you get lost?" The last question was said with a certain sense of sardonic humour.

"No. I meant to come here. This was the place I was the most excited about seeing. I love books. I don't normally see this many in one place. It must be really hard to keep track of them. But you probably do a wonderful job with it. It looks impeccable in here. Best looking library I've ever seen. Actually I want do some research as well, you couldn't possibly help me locate some books about spiritual connections resulting from spells and rituals could you?"

So charm and fear aside, it turns out that I had one ability that worked well with Madam Pince. Complete and total brown nosing. After dealing with students who treated the library as a place of exile to suffer while wasting their free time doing homework, she was surprised and rather happy to have someone who wanted to be here. Well I assumed she was happy, it was hard to tell behind her vulturelike appearance. But she helped me find some books, so that was a good enough sign.

I was led over to a section of books in the back. It was rather similar to what I was used to, which was a comfort in a way. Though the organization was based around things I didn't know. My hand reached out to take a random book off the shelf but a piercing voice stopped my hand just centimeters from touching the spine.

"Don't touch that!" Madame Pince's lips were pursed even closer together, and she didn't look too pleased with me. Apparently I was only allowed to touch the books she said I could. "Some of these books are dangerous. That is one of them."

With no flourish, and without me even seeing her pull it out, all of a sudden an old fashioned feather duster appeared in the older woman's hand. The handle was made out of a solid dark coloured wood, the feathers were grey and brown. With a small flick of her wrist, Madam Pince moved the feather duster. I thought it was a little odd for her to be dusting right then and there, and almost mentioned that I was still hoping to get some books. Good thing that I didn't say anything though, since that small flick of her wrist caused a few books to dance off the shelves, and float over to a nearby table.

"Your wand is your feather duster?" I must have sounded amused since I was given a rather stone cold look. "That's really rather practical. Good idea." I covered my first statement, and the look cooled a bit.

"These books are fine for you to touch. Don't touch anything else though." The vulture like face brooked no nonsense on this subject, so I just nodded along. "You do, and I really won't care what happens to you."

"What books are these?" I walked over to the table, gently trailing my fingers over the binding of the books. Dust covered a few of them still, showing that this was the first time they had been off the shelf in a long time. Age had yellowed the paper, and cracked the binding, and the titles on the covers were hard to read. Dark eyes followed the movements of my hands, judging me from what I was doing.

"A few books on ancient magic and rituals. You should find everything you need in those books." Walking away, the librarian left me alone with the 'safe' books on the table.

I poured over the books, reading each one carefully. And I knew from the first page of the first book that I opened, that Madam Pince had chosen these particular books for me because they were easy enough to understand for a muggle. There wasn't much about the wizarding world that would need explaining. These books were all about principles, theories behind some spells and rituals.

Even though I knew that Madam Pince most likely knew everything in these books, she wasn't entirely right. Everything I needed wasn't in these books. They were certainly interesting, and some had ideas that were worth looking into, but none even mentioned the clag a bhais, or any other object that could be used to bring the dead back to life. In fact the books were sorely lacking in anything related to resurrections. Could I really be surprised though? After all Madam Pince had retrieved these books from sections that any student could get to, and bringing the dead back to life was likely to be a taboo subject. My solution was likely not to come with any direct links to that wooden cylinder that so changed my life. If there had been a book on it, then Harry would have been able to find a wizard to deal with his problem. Instead he had come to me... My knowledge on it had been limited at best, and hadn't been found in books.

This lack of perfect information wasn't too bad though. While I wasn't finding out too much about mine and Sirius's problem, I was certainly learning plenty that I could use when I got back home. I could write a book on spiritual connections resulting from spells and rituals, there was certainly enough new information in these books. Of course I was likely going to not be allowed to do that...

"I wonder if Harry did put a spell on me..." I mused out loud, wondering once again if the young man with his messy hair had actually not trusted me. Draco I was certain didn't, so it was likely that he may have done it. Could someone tell when a spell had been placed upon them? Was there a tingle, or a glow, or was it just normal? I really should look into that.

As for my problem with Sirius, this was going to take more time then I would like it. And now there was a new problem that was going to pop up. How exactly I could get books on the subject matter I needed without looking suspicious? I couldn't very well just go up to Madam Pince and ask to see books on resurrections, or the clag a bhais , if she even knew what that was. That would be a large glaring sign to what I had done when one added Sirius and his sudden excursion back from the dead. So imperfect knowledge was going to have to do for the moment.

When it had finally gone dark, I felt a slight tug at the center of my being. It broke me out of the concentration of research. It was something new, something I hadn't experienced before but I still knew what it was exactly. Sirius wanted to get somewhere that wasn't within the 300 yards. Since it wasn't really that strong, he obviously wasn't desperate in what he wanted. It was almost like he was just reminding me that he was there. I was suddenly hungry.

"Madam Pince?" I walked over to her desk, carrying the books I had been reading. Now normally I would have put them back where they had come from, but I had the distinct feeling that it was probably safer for me not to. "These were quite helpful. I need to have some dinner now, but I didn't know what you wanted..." I shrugged the armload of books indicating I didn't know what to do with them.

She jabbed her finger at a corner of her desk, and I placed them there carefully. The top one though I picked up again.

"Would it be possible for me to borrow this one?" The aged red book was titled 'Spells and Rituals that Bind' by Allegra Montevich. It was the only one of the stack of books that I hadn't had a chance to read, and the title at least suggested that it would certainly be worth my time to peruse.

For quite a while all I got was a stare from the woman. Made me worried that I might be her dinner. But she brought out her feather duster, and made a pass over the book with it. I must have looked curious, since she answered my question without it even being asked.

"I put spells on the books to be sure no one ruins them. They're in my care."

"And you have to protect them. I understand. I once got right angry at some kids at school because they were destroying some books. It was just not right since they were ripping pages out, throwing the books around. The librarian was useless. Didn't even get them into trouble. I got back at them later though." I smirked, remembering the looks on those girls faces at the prank I had pulled on them. They certainly didn't think about ruining anymore books.

The story did much to bring the aged librarian over to my side. She actually looked somewhat fond of me as she handed the red covered book over to me.

"Madam Pince. It's time for dinner. Why don't you come down with me? I'd like to know a bit more about these books..." I gestured to the room behind me, encompassing all the thousands of books. In truth I might have been trying to butter the old woman up. Still I also did have respect for what she did and why she did it. She saw herself as the protector of these books, books that couldn't look after themselves (disregarding the books that could, like that monster book of monsters I had read about in that third book). It was certainly a hard put position, not with most children and adults, not caring about the books.

Her acceptance hadn't been something I expected, but she actually stood up after giving me a strange look. The look had made me quite certain she would scoff at my offer of friendship.

"If we don't get down in time we might have to sit next to Professor Vector. The woman only talks about numbers, and her cat."

I laughed softly, and followed the older woman out of the library, commenting on my own experience with people and their pets.

"I once knew this girl who kept a photo album of her cat..."