F o u r
Sirius did a slow examination of April's state and attire. How many people had touched her since she started this job, he wondered. Did she let any of them go the whole nine yards? The thought made him angry. The fact that she'd lied to all of them made him even angrier. But Dumbledore's earlier demand not to comment on her earlier work made his mood mellow slightly. He hadn't seen her since the end of their sixth year when she and her twin had decided not to return to Hogwarts after their parent's death. Their parents had died earlier on that year but the twins had had no where to go. They'd turned down offers from Lily and the Marauder's for them to stay with them for they hadn't wanted to be a burden on anyone. So, at the end of that year they had left Hogwarts and moved to France with their older brother Nick and his wife Consuela.
Then little more than six months later, news of the "death" of April Merriwether had reached the school and shattered the world around him. He had kept in touch with April since they'd left school but hadn't had a chance to see her at all. Now a year and a half later she suddenly stormed back into his life and excuse him if he wasn't too sure how to deal with it.
April stirred in her bed, slowly waking again from the potion. She was freezing cold and brought a shaky hand to her forehead slowly to feel her forehead, which was burning hot. She didn't remember much from the last day, really only remembering the man in the black trench coat motioning for her to follow him out the door.
She opened her eyes slowly, the light too bright for her to deal with immediately. The glimpses she caught of the room made it look dark except for the single bright light next to her. She sensed someone next to her, only one person, and abruptly assumed she'd been drugged and beaten for she was sore everywhere. Her ribs hurt her the most and she ran a hand down one side, feeling a thick bandage there. Without another moment's hesitation, she bolted out of the bed, blinding fumbling for a wand that wasn't there.
"Oh no… my wand," she rubbed her eyes trying to clear the sleep from them so she could better navigate the room. Her vision was to be blurry though and she figured it was from whatever had been given to her as a drug. She caught the blurry figure of someone moving towards her and put her hands up defensively. "Stay the hell away from me. You didn't hurt them did you?" When no answer came, she repeated herself. "Did you?"
Sirius had made a move to grab her and get her back in bed before she hurt herself. She obviously didn't know where she was and it frightened him only a little to see the pure look of panic upon her flawless face. It was a look that he was unaccustomed to seeing there. He got a fist in the gut, nearly knocking the breath from him, when he made his first grab. She was just as strong as she'd been in school. Probably stronger when she was in full health, he snorted inwardly.
April had been forced to resort to Muggle defenses when her wand was no where in sight. But she was finally grabbed, if not almost gently, by the hips. She assumed the man was trying to keep her in one piece by not damaging her ribs further. He'd probably get more satisfaction killing her when she was whole. He had her arms around her back so that she couldn't move them. Instead, she did the best she could to fight him off, wiggling uncontrollably.
"Let go of me! What kind of drugs are these, everything's blurry…" She said the second part almost to herself though she knew the man could hear her. She felt herself weakening with each attempt she made to free herself. Because the man had her held by the wrists and around her waist, she could tell he was well built. "Just tell me if you hurt them and you can kill me, just leave them alone!"
Sirius frowned; strong enough to hold the struggling April still enough so that she couldn't hurt herself again. "April, god damnit hold still! No one's going to hurt anybody except you hurting yourself. Get a hold of yourself!"
The voice sounded distantly familiar but she couldn't quite place it. But the use of her name brought a chilling realization to her: whoever had caught her knew who she was, and therefore would know who everyone else was. Her pause in her struggle for freedom ended and she resumed her useless thrashing. "You leave my sister alone! Leave everyone alone!" She made another weak effort to free herself, trying to twist around quickly enough to throw him off balance. All it resulted in was her small cry of pain from her ribcage.
Sirius was just getting tired of this nonsense. Her painful cry sparked his anger, which he'd been trying to keep in check. "April Merriwether if you don't stop right now I am going to take a whip to your stubborn ass!" Quick as lightning, he swung her around to face him, still holding her wrists in one of his hands behind her back. "Look at me damnit, can't you tell who I am?"
The man was in close enough range for her vision to be only very minimally blurred and she looked up to him, a stubborn set in her jaw. "If you don't let go of me right now I swear-" She stopped quite suddenly, and went pale again. The abrupt change had Sirius worried that she might pass out again. "Oh dear," was her only reply.
Satisfied that she recognized him, he let that old smirk come into his face, brightening it for the first time since he'd arrived. Inside he was still fuming over her predicament, not so much as she'd lied. His smirk only represented the humor he was getting out of her reaction.
"Oh this is not good, you didn't see me." Noticing his grip had let up, she took a good few steps back from him, her hands up in front of her. "No… No you didn't see me…"
Sirius nodded. "Yes, yes I have. And so has everyone else, April. You should recognize this place. And if you'd sit down you can be reminded of what's gone on the past day. I personally would prefer that you lie down and get off your feet completely." He sounded concerned, making April pause again.
The throbbing in her temples was becoming worse, but her vision was getting clearer every minute. Of course, which each passing minute that the drug wore off, she felt a small dose of pain all throughout her body. As her mind cleared, she started remembering the past day without anyone telling her.
"Oh god, he cursed me. That man… He used the Crustaceous Curse on me. I wasn't even supposed to be there but Remus-"
When she stopped talking, Sirius prodded, also curious to know how Remus had gotten a hold of a "dead" woman. "Remus…"
"He sent me an owl?" Her brows narrowed in confusion as she thought that over. "It makes no sense though, I'm not even alive… Well of course, I'm alive but I'm not supposed to be. No…"
"April stop. Dumbledore explained everything to us. And you should know July's quite upset with you. Figured I'd let you know before you try talking to her. James, well he took it rather well. He thought that you'd be alive. After Dumbledore explained everything, he thought it was just like something you'd do. Lily seems a mite upset about all of this though more shocked not really angry. And Remus… Well I think he's just glad to have you back."
April bit her lip, she nodded at what Sirius told her, taking everything in a very adult manner. Sirius frowned not used to this side of her. There were many sides he didn't know. "But how did Remus know to even try and reach me?" Then it dawned on her. "He addressed the owl as 'Miss Merriwether'." She suddenly beamed. "It reached me too because it said Miss Merriwether!" Ignoring her rather unstable physical condition she jumped up in down in delight at her deduction.
Now that excited, jubilant side of April, Sirius knew. He grinned and laughed softly as she paced back and forth, a smile on her face, as she recounted how surprised she'd been when the owl had arrived. She continued right up until she'd arrived at The Leaky Cauldron and nearly lost her nerve. How she knew Dumbledore would have wanted to kill her for simply leaving her post without any reason.
Then she stopped and frowned, and Sirius watched as her face drained of the little color that had recovered. She looked sickly again and he took that moment to walk over to her.
He cupped her elbow in his hand, leading her to the bed. "Sit down, April. Now what's wrong?"
She barely registered sitting down. "I need to get away from here, it's not safe." She looked over and up at him with wide doe-eyed fear. "It won't be safe for any of you if I stay. Help me pack a bag, I need to leave as quickly as possible." She got to her feet and started looking for a bag to put some clothes in but jumped when Sirius's hand clamped on her arm. She looked up and to see his angry expression looming over her.
"You are not going anywhere, April." His tone was no-nonsense and he was glaring at her.
"Sirius you don't understand, he knows who I am."
"No, he knows you as whatever your alias was!"
"Alexis Stone!" She dismissed that.
"Whatever, you're not leaving! He's going straight to Azkaban and won't be able to harm you. You're not well enough to even leave this room, or have you not noticed your bandaged ribs, cut lip, and fever that's been giving you chills and sweats."
"Sirius you don't understand. I need to get away from here… I remember I was on the floor, I'd collapsed and he whispered in my ear."
That got his attention. "What did he say?"
"He said," She shivered as she recalled the memory. "He said, 'I know who you are April Merriwether, we all do.' So, you see why I can't stay? More will come for me, they know that I'm a spy, I'm not safe to be around!"
Sirius frowned. "Does Dumbledore know this?"
"He only knows that the man might know my real name. I didn't tell him what I just told you," she added quietly.
"Well why the hell not! No, don't answer that. April, you're safe here; trust me on this one, okay? The Minister of Magic was here himself," he grinned noting her exasperated expression. "Yes he has that effect on all of us. Anyway, he's made The Leaky Cauldron impossible to apparate or disapparate inside of and he has guards placed at all entrances and exits blocked with Ministry personnel who have been instructed not to let anybody inside or outside this place without approval from the Minister first. So you see, you're safe here. And you need to get better," he added when he noticed the pink blotches of color on her pale face.
"I just don't want to be the cause of any deaths, Sirius. It's been so hard not to keep in touch," she added almost whispering. "I've been living a lie and I'm telling myself that it's my job and I shouldn't feel guilty. But I should feel guilty and rightly so." She chided herself. She took a deep breath and sighed. "I hate feeling like this."
He smiled warmly. "You always have. You seem to have recovered from the curse well enough, save a few broken ribs."
"Which hurt like hell but I'm not complaining I don't want anymore drugs. It's only been I made sudden movements that it really hurts."
"Well I was told that every time you awoke from the sedatives they gave you, you shot up in bed and hurt yourself more." He grinned.
"Can I help it if I feel like my legs are clotting and won't be of any good any longer?" She asked wearily. Although the cold sweats had subsided all of the running around and struggling had made her feel a bit woozy.
"No, I guess I can't blame you for that." He admitted sheepishly. "Here," He stood up, motioning for her to stand as well. When she did, he pulled her bed covers down and helped her into bed, being careful not to hurt her any. "Why don't you get a little sleep?"
April smiled appreciatively and snuggled deep into the bed when he pulled the blankets up to her chin. She sighed in comfort. "That's much more comfortable. But I'm not really tired, I've slept an awful lot this past day."
Sirius sat down on the bed next to her. "That you have. And do me a favor Apes…" He said, but noticed her eyelids dropping and her body relaxing.
"Mm?" she asked, that be being her only reply.
"Get a change of clothes when you get the chance and energy to," But his advice was in vain for she'd already fallen asleep. Without even realizing what he was doing until it was done, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. He cursed himself for doing so; not thinking it was the time or place. He was still angry with her anyway for doing what she did. But he stood up and left her room, closing the door quietly behind him.