Disclaimer: All things of HP belong to JK Rowling. All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon. Look What You've Done is by Jet. Go Aussie music, go!
A/N: Rushed update, so sorry I can't list all of you like usual (exams no time for anything) but HUGE thanks to those who reviewed Unchained Melody. All feedback was treasured & appreciated. R&R again!
CHAPTER TWENTY
Look What You've Done
James slung an arm about his best friend's shoulders, grinning like a loon. Sirius arched an eyebrow and finished straightening his tie as best he could around James' arm.
"Ok, Prongs. Hand over the drugs and nobody gets hurt."
James shook his head, still grinning madly. "No drugs, Padfoot, I'm just enjoying the power trip."
"Huh?"
"We're going to have a little talk, mate," James explained, slapping Sirius heartily on the back.
"Yeah? What about?"
"About you making sure you treat that so-called sister of mine right. We all know what you two have been up to, Wormtail was bright red when we came in that morning after your birthday. Remus had to close the hangings. Look, mate, you're my best friend and all that, but the same goes for you as everyone else. If you hurt her, I'll be forced to hit you, alright?"
But Sirius just shook his head, a smile fixing on his face. "Never happen, mate."
"Better not," James muttered before turning to look for his school bag. "Moony, have you got the map? If we're lucky we might actually get to finish it before dinner."
Remus held up a large square of folded parchment and slid it into the cover of his Arithmancy textbook for safe-keeping. "Got it. Now come on, I want to have at least five minutes to eat breakfast this morning."
"Someone's the hungry little wolfy today," Sirius taunted as they headed towards the door, Remus growling playfully at him. They paused in the doorway to look back. "Hurry up, Wormtail, would you?"
Peter scurried after his friends, still trying to juggle his bag whilst pulling his robes on and straightening his tie. They all made it to breakfast with about fifteen minutes to spare, much to the delight of Remus, who was busy pouring pumpkin juice into four clean goblets and refilling Dawn and Isabel's drinks. Isabel thanked him with a good morning kiss, but Dawn was too busy giving Sirius the same treatment to notice.
Lily sighed noisily and tapped Dawn's shoulder. "Dawn? Dawn?"
Dawn ignored her, finding that kissing Sirius was a greater priority than whatever Lily wanted to tell her. Lily's tapping slowly became more persistent. "Dawn, Sirius, give it a rest! McGonagall's about two seconds away from taking points."
Dawn and Sirius reluctantly broke apart. From the Head table, McGonagall was fixing a thunderous glare on the pair of them. Sirius grinned as Dawn blushed and hastily reverted her attention to her plate. She took a bite and made a face.
"My eggs have gone cold."
"I wonder how that happened," Lily intoned with a roll of her eyes.
They all finished their meal and gathered their belongings ready for the first class. They passed the day without too much drama, not counting the extra two foot essay Peter was assigned in Transfiguration or the plague of mice that surfaced throughout the belongings of the Slytherins. Or the bat bogey hex James had been delivered by Lily for his comments regarding certain aspects of her figure (even Dawn had agreed he deserved that one).
After the final class of the day, Peter reluctantly headed back to the dorm alone to work on the essay McGonagall had assigned him in a temper when he'd failed to make any progress at all in class that day. Remus, James and Sirius, the latter two not being entirely comfortable with announcing their destination where they could be so easily overheard, slipped off to the Library in the hopes of completing the Marauder's Map, as they had taken to calling it.
Dawn, meanwhile, was bound for Professor McGonagall's office and her Careers Advice meeting. The multitude of garishly coloured pamphlets advertising the future had been scattered around the Common Room all weekend, and all Dawn's friends had met with their Head of House earlier in the day. James, Lily and Sirius had all returned beaming with pride following their interviews, each having been told they possessed the necessary qualities and grades to become Aurors. Dawn had been proud of all of them and also a little in awe. James' Dad was an Auror and everyone knew it was the toughest job in the Wizarding world. Isabel had been pleased to learn about all the NEWT standard classes she would need for a future in medical healing that were all well within her capabilities.
But Remus had been downright horrified to learn he had all the makings of a future Hogwarts Professor. Dawn felt bad for him. He'd confided in her that he would love to be an Auror, too, she knew it was more than smart enough for it, but the Ministry would never have a werewolf in its employ. Peter had just sighed, told her he was destined to work in the Chocolate Frog Factory forever, and helped himself to another serving of mashed potato. Dawn wasn't sure if he was kidding or not. She rapped a couple of times on the wooden door before her.
"Come in," Professor McGonagall called. "Have a seat, Miss Summers, and tell me if you have any ideas on what career you might like once you leave Hogwarts."
Dawn dropped her bag and took the offered seat. She shrugged a little apologetically. "I'm really not sure," she admitted.
McGonagall rested her quill on her open ledger and looked across the table, assessing Dawn. "Well I suppose you are at a bit of a disadvantage, having not been acquainted with the ways of our world for long at all. Perhaps if you had some broad ideas, I could help you narrow them into a few appropriate potential careers?"
Dawn opened her mouth, then hesitated. Should she? There was one idea she'd always had in the back of her mind, something she'd always sort of wanted to do. Something that made Buffy drop whatever she was holding and choke on her own spit if she even alluded to it. The Professor raised her eyebrows a little impatiently. She'd been planning lives for fifteen year-olds since nine o'clock that morning.
"I want to help people," Dawn said.
McGonagall gave a crisp, pleased nod. "A magical healer, perhaps? You could earn an internship at St Mungo's Hospital," she suggested.
Dawn considered it briefly, then shook her head. She wasn't changing bed pans for anything, even if there were spells to take care of all that. "No, I don't want to look after people when they've already been hurt. I want to stop them from getting hurt."
McGonagall paused, studying Dawn with redoubled intensity. Dawn shifted a little, but did not look down. Finally, the Professor took out an unassuming black pamphlet that hadn't been in the Common Room stack and handed it to Dawn. She read the heading in glossy red ink, rich as blood. 'Ministry of Magic: Auror'. Her startled gaze flew back to that of the woman sitting behind the desk.
"An Auror?" Dawn blurted. "Do you really think I could?"
"It's a difficult job, Miss Summers, very few people have the capacity for it. I make no promises, but with a lot of work, I believe you just might meet the set standards," McGonagall said sternly, but with encouragement in her eyes.
Dawn nodded, eyes wide. "What do I need to do?"
Completely businesslike once more, the Professor skimmed a few sheets of parchment quickly. Dawn caught a glimpse of her own name before the reports were whipped out of sight. "You'll need to take a variety of classes at NEWT level starting next year, and achieve either 'Exceeds Expectations' or 'Outstanding' in all of them. Your Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts grades thus far pose no problem at all, and your Potions work is consistently strong. Your Charms work, on the other hand, will need to improve a bit. I would suggest you focus a bit more of your study time on that subject before OWLs and I have confidence in you to achieve the fitting results."
Dawn almost smiled and then almost grimaced. As pleased as she was to hear that she really did have the potential to do something worthwhile with her life, the thought of any more Charms work just about drove her to tears. In the end, she settled for an attentive nod. "And after that? If I get the grades, I mean?"
"It's a long road. Even if, after you graduate from Hogwarts, you are accepted into the Auror training program," McGonagall warned. "There are more physical, intellectual and psychological tests to undergo and a gruelling training period after that."
"I could do it," Dawn said, and she believed it.
McGonagall offered a small smile.
"Knock, knock," Dawn called, popping her head into the Marauder's dorm. Peter jumped and dropped his quill. A stray splatter of ink darkened his nose and cheeks.
"Sorry," Dawn said, grinning sheepishly and letting herself fully into the room. "Where is everyone?"
"I don't know. Everybody just sort of disappeared after classes," Peter offered.
"Oh," Dawn frowned. She'd been hoping Sirius would be here and they could spend a little quality time together before dinner. She shrugged it off a split second later, brightening up. "So whatcha doing?"
Peter gave a grimace. "That Transfiguration essay. You know, it's not easy writing an essay when you can't even master the spell," he confided.
Feeling generous, Dawn grinned. "You want me to give you a hand?"
The watery eyes lit up in the somewhat pointed face and Peter nodded eagerly. Dawn didn't notice the way his chubby cheeks turned pink when she hoisted herself up to sit next to him on the bed, she was too busy reaching for the much-scribbled-on parchment resting on his textbook.
"Ok, this isn't so bad for an outline," Dawn commented after skimming the parchment.
"Outline?" Peter squeaked, horrified. "That's my whole essay."
Dawn's head snapped up at that, her eyes fixing sharply on the face of the boy next to her. She tried to bite her tongue, but nothing could hold back the giggles that bubbled out of her.
A sour look crossed Peter's face. "I didn't think it was that bad," he muttered.
Hastily choking back her mirth, Dawn shook her head. "No, it's not that, Peter. It's just, um, you have ink on your face."
"Oh."
"Here," Dawn offered, reaching over. The pink of Peter's cheeks deepened into full-blown red and he shivered as Dawn laid her fingers gently on his face and wiped the smattering of ink away.
The colourless eyes widened at the unfamiliar sensation of a feminine touch, and Dawn's own eyes widened. Things clicked into place in her head with suddenly painful clarity. She snatched her hand back as if it had been burnt, mentally berating herself for not picking up on the signals Peter was sending before now. The way he blushed when she spoke, shivered at any innocent or accidental contact with her, ignored it when she and Sirius got all couple-y, the way he'd almost stopped breathing when she'd danced with him ... He'd gone and developed a crush on her.
"All gone," Dawn said, casually shifting to put a few more inches between them.
"What?" Peter breathed. Then he remembered the ink. "Oh, thanks."
"So how about this essay," Dawn pressed on, hiding behind the businesslike tone her voice had adopted. "Like I said, it's a good start, but you've just got to put a little more into it."
"Like how?" Peter asked, leaning in close to read over Dawn's shoulder.
She tensed. A worried little whimper escaped her lips and she hastily shoved his parchment over so he could see without getting any closer to her.
"Just explain why. I mean, it's all well and good to tell McGonagall that learning the theory behind a spell is completely useless in mastering it, but I don't think she's gonna agree with that one unless you prove it," Dawn said wryly. In her experience, it didn't go over too well when you told a teacher they were full of it.
Peter nodded, hanging raptly on Dawn's every word. "So how do I prove it?"
"You're going to need some books for starters. You just find some examples that back up what you want to say," Dawn shrugged, making to scoot off the bed and escape. "Anyway, I just realised there's something I've got to take care of. But good luck with it." She forced an overly cheery smile.
Peter stared at her. She looked away, but felt the gaze still locked onto her, suddenly more intense than she'd ever believed he could manage. "Dawn?"
Reluctantly, she looked at him and before she could stop it he'd leaned over and tried to claim her lips in a clumsy kiss. Dawn froze in horror, unsure of how to react. Then her instincts made a long overdue appearance.
"Mmm!" She gave a muffled squeal. She pushed him back, staring at him through betrayed eyes.
"What the hell is going on here!?"
Voldemort slid his long, lean body into his seat. He'd heard a couple of his younger Death Eaters joke that it was a cross between a throne and an execution chair and had decided he quite liked that description. Of course, he'd still punished the Death Eaters for their insolence with a long round of Cruciatus curses. The Dark Lord picked up the leaves of parchment from the small table beside his seat and scanned the information at his leisure.
The uncommonly thin eyebrows rose at the new piece of vital information and Voldemort idly considered that perhaps Lestrange and Malfoy were not entirely useless, after all.
So the Key might be human.
Or some form of animal perhaps. Hey now knew it was not simply energy, but 'living' energy. It was definite progress, in any event, narrowing the possibilities significantly. Voldemort had been becoming inclined to think Malfoy was never going to uncover any information. He'd probably even considered stealing the old fool Dumbledore's key chain and trying the keys in every lock at Hogwarts until he found a key that didn't fit anything else. Voldemort allowed himself a moment to chuckle inwardly at the thought before beginning to turn possibilities over in his mind. There had been no news of any new animals popping up at Hogwarts this year, even the half-giant oaf hadn't acquired so much as a flesh-eating chicken as far as anyone could tell.
So that left only people to consider as possible candidates. Well the snot-nosed, insipid little first years were new and there was a new Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Voldemort discarded both possibilities at once. There were new first years and Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors every year. No, there had only been one unexpected arrival at the school this year: Dawn Summers.
But what of the little Mudblood, Voldemort mused. By all accounts she was just that- another filthy little piece of trash, and apparently quite weak and pathetic for the most part. A fifteen year-old girl, nothing more. Malfoy had told him the story; he'd been able to seize her as easily as if she were a snotty tissue to be disposed of. Summers hadn't shown any potential of great power to free herself, only the interference of the Gryffindor blood-traitors had prevented Malfoy from having his way with her. She hadn't been able to do a thing to stop him, she just didn't have the power. And yet...
"Rabastan!" Voldemort bellowed.
A minute later, the door thudded open and a figure came bursting through, trying to both scurry towards the high chair and bow at the same time. "You summoned me, Lord?" Rabastan panted.
Voldemort did not bother to answer the question. "You are to contact Malfoy at once, he is to resume his task of keeping an eye on Dawn Summers. Discreetly of course, I would have a hard time keeping a straight face if those blood-traitors made such a mess of his again."
Rabastan inclined his head. "Yes, my Lord. May I ask why the Mudblood should be watched?"
"You may," Voldemort replied coolly. "I have reason to believe she may have some connection to my Key."
"What the hell is going on here!?"
Dawn and Peter scrambled off the bed and whipped around to face the door. It was open and framing the figures of three shell-shocked boys. Remus' mouth was hanging open in disbelief and James looked slightly sick, as if he'd just been forced to run his hand through Snape's greasy hair or something. But it was the look on Sirius' face that frightened Dawn the most; an expression of Godlike fury and eyes sharpened into ice-blue daggers. She trembled, a little bit afraid of his wrath.
"Well?" Sirius snapped when nobody moved or spoke. "I still want to know what one of my supposed best friend's lips were doing all over my girlfriend's." He stalked into the room, barely allowing James and Remus a second to follow before slamming the door violently.
Dawn jumped at the gunshot-like crack of the door crashing into the jamb. "Sirius," she managed, taking a step towards him and then thinking better of it.
Sirius glared at her, challenging her to justify everything he'd just seen. At the tears glistening in her eyes, though, he softened just a little towards her; he'd seen enough to know Dawn had neither expected or welcomed the kiss, he shouldn't be angry with her. Then Peter made the fatal mistake of shifting uncomfortably and drawing attention to himself. Sirius' senses all honed in on the quaking boy and like a hunting dog, he went dangerously still.
"You," he said in a frightful growl. Peter recoiled in fear. "You son of a bitch! This is how you treat your friends- sleazing onto their girlfriends behind their backs?"
He broke off and looked away, too incensed to speak, too disgusted to bother meeting Peter's gaze. Sirius stared at the glass water goblet on Remus' bedside table; it exploded from the sheer force of the young wizard's temper. Dawn gave a strangled squeal.
"Please don't do this," she whispered. The Marauders had been together, best friends through thick and thin since day one at Hogwarts. One awful moment shouldn't be enough to jeopardize all that. Her lower lip trembled violently, she couldn't hold back the flood.
Remus and James had stood dumbly by, trying to remain uninvolved and knowing if they did get involved they were risking a much bigger fight than the one they already had on their hands. But seeing Dawn start to cry was enough for James. It was a pretty simple philosophy he'd adopted really, not difficult to understand in the least. If you hurt Dawn, you got hit. Peter understood that as well as the next Marauder, and Dawn's eyes were showing James a lot of hurting. He went white with fury.
"What were you thinking?" he bellowed. The rest of the room froze, even Sirius was watching in awe as James worked himself into a rage. "Wormtail, you damned idiotic rat, why couldn't you just keep your dirty hands to yourself, huh? Look what you've done! To Dawn! To Sirius! To bloody all of us! You've ruined everything."
Peter looked on the verge of tears, he trembled before James, at the mercy of the Marauder he'd always looked up to the most. He didn't know what had come over him, he'd only wanted to have Dawn to himself for just one moment. He knew it was wrong, knew Dawn would never be his, but he'd needed to kiss her just once. Just to pretend that the girl he loved was his. Why was it that he was always denied his moment?
"I'm ... I'm ... s-s-s..." he stuttered, clasping his hands before him to beg.
The gesture only seemed to infuriate James and Sirius further, they could all hear the deeps growls issuing from Sirius' throat. Beyond control, James' fist flew back to make good on his promise to belt anyone who dared cause his sister pain and a frightened tear slipped down Peter's cheek. He wasn't sure what he was more afraid of: having James break his nose or losing him as a friend and protector. A scream tore from Dawn's throat, shocking some life back into Remus as James' fist came barrelling forwards.
"Prongs! James!" Remus swooped in to catch James' arm, struggling to restrain his momentum and stop the punch from following through. James struggled a moment, before he realised who he was fighting and the tension in his muscles slackened. Still with a cautionary grip on James' arm, Remus turned to Peter.
"It might be best if you just cleared out for a while, Peter," he said evenly. "Give everybody a chance to cool off."
Peter fled for his life. James tried to jerk his arm free, but Remus held firm. "Calm down," he hissed and nodded towards Dawn. "You're not helping."
Dawn was standing there, sniffling and studying her shoes like a chastised child. "I'm sorry," she said to Sirius without looking at him. She was too afraid of what she would see. "I didn't mean to let that happen."
There was a prolonged beat of silence, the a gruff sigh. "I know," Sirius said. "It wasn't your fault. It was that bastard little rat!"
"Don't," Dawn said, snapping her gaze up to his.
Another lightning bolt of anger echoed across Sirius' face. "What- you defending him now?"
"Padfoot," Remus warned in a low tone. James still looked ready to knock someone out on Dawn's behalf.
"No, I'm not!" Dawn burst out. "Just don't ... Don't make this worse than it already is. Please?"
The way James and Sirius took to alternately ignoring Peter's existence and cursing it frightened Dawn. They did it with such ease, so completely and so unwilling to negotiate over it with anyone. Peter sat alone in classes and at meals, miserable and not even game enough to look at the Marauders. The rumour network had generated at least a dozen theories on why the famous four had cast one of their own out, but since none of the Gryffindors were talking about it, nobody had even got close to the truth.
Dawn hadn't felt so wretched about something since before Christmas, no matter how often Remus promised her otherwise she still blamed herself. If she hadn't been too afraid to handle the situation the moment she realised Peter had developed feelings for her, he would never have had the chance to kiss her. Even Remus had all but abandoned Peter. He'd talk to him when they were alone as warmly and as normally as he could, but when James and Sirius were about, as always Remus followed their lead and ignored Peter completely.
"Pettigrew, back to your regular seat this instant," McGonagall ordered, stalking into her Transfiguration room and spotting the little lump of a boy trying to disappear beneath the desk in the far back corner. She turned and began writing up the instructions for the day's lesson on the blackboard, using her wand.
Peter gulped. Dawn was rummaging in her bag for a new quill and his empty seat lay in wait beside her. Remus was studiously avoiding the whole scene but Sirius and James were shooting forbidding glares at him. Peter didn't dare approach.
"Today please, Mr Pettigrew," the Professor snapped upon turning around and seeing that her directive had gone unheeded.
Peter slowly gathered his things and, as if he was walking the green mile like in the movie Dawn had told him about, marched over and took his usual seat. He fiddled nervously with his wand, trying to look anywhere but at the girl in the seat next to him.
Dawn took a deep breath. "Hi," she whispered, twisting her chain with the silver cross around her fingers.
"Dawn!" Sirius barked over his shoulder. What was she doing, being nice to the traitorous git who'd tried to kiss her behind his back? Dawn held his gaze a little defiantly and just waited until he turned around again.
"How are you?" she tried again. She heard Sirius' growls from the desk in front, but he didn't turn around and she didn't pay him any mind.
Peter glanced nervously at the two seats in front of him before he replied in barely a whisper. "I'm ok, I guess. How are you?"
"I'm good," Dawn said with an awkward smile. It was only a strained, semi-normal conversation, but it was a start. Maybe with a lot of effort she could get the other boys to start acting semi-normal as well, and then getting things back to normal would only be a matter of time.
They turned their attention to the lesson and copied down the notes before moving on to the spell itself. Dawn turned her tortoise into a hare easily, but Peter struggled to get anything beyond a puffy tail and some half-hearted floppy ears. Dawn considered making an offer to help, but the memory of what had happened the last time she'd tried to tutor him in Transfiguration reminded her how dangerous such a simple offer could be. Instead she busied herself with the task of turning her hare's fur different colours and pretended not to notice how badly Peter was faring.
The bell rang. Sirius seized Dawn's hand and hauled her out of the room before she or Peter could exchange another word. They emerged into the corridor and Dawn tugged her arm free of Sirius' grip, scowling.
"Didn't mean to hurt you," he almost apologised.
"You didn't and that's not the point," Dawn said quietly. "You and Peter have been friends for five years, Sirius. Would you really rather be pushing me out of rooms for the rest of your life than risk having me speak to him?"
Sirius shot her his 'innocent little boy' look. "Maybe."
Dawn sighed. She wasn't going to get anywhere with him now. That look was as infallible as Willow's resolve face. James joined them and they dawdled up towards Divination, taking as long as possible. Dawn had been opposed to the practice at first, but the boys had been quick to point out that she was too gifted not to get an 'Outstanding' OWL, and it had been apparent since the first day of third year that neither of them stood a chance for anything above a 'Poor'.
Almost fifteen minutes later they were just strolling leisurely into the room, much to the annoyance of Professor Damus.
"Where have you three been?" she asked, flicking a long strand of straggly crimson hair over her shoulder.
"You're the Seer," Sirius pointed out. "Why don't you tell us?"
James snickered loudly. Dawn didn't look quite so amused. Damus blinked serenely, as if it was taking a while to filter through to her that she'd been insulted. Then she stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence. Those without the Gift should not make fun of powers they do not understand," she said, her usually dreamy voice taking on a haughty edge. "After all, when you gaze into the depths of a crystal ball, what do you See?"
Sirius appeared to be considering the question for a moment, Dawn cringed and braced herself for the answer. James' eyes gleamed in anticipation.
"Mostly, I see fog," Sirius announced, drawing a round of snorts and giggles. He promptly lost Gryffindor another five points and the distinctly annoyed look Dawn was shooting at him made him reconsider making another comeback. Damus herself was staring at Dawn, obviously trying to understand what someone so in tune with aspects of Divination could see in someone so hopelessly Mundane as Sirius Black.
"Dawn?"
"Mmm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Oh, ha ha. I was actually being serious."
"Well I was sort of counting on you being Sirius."
Sirius growled and playfully nipped at Dawn's neck, like a dog might to regain attention for himself. Dawn giggled and tangled her hand in his hair, idly massaging his scalp. They were lounging around in the Marauders' dorm, just hanging out while Remus flipped through his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook and James was hastily scribbling out a week's worth of homework assignments. Peter had taken to hiding in the Library behind the shelves until Madam Pince came to chase him out at the nine o'clock curfew. Dawn's laughter passed within a moment, Sirius was looking at her quite seriously.
"Why did you talk to Peter the other day? In Transfiguration? And I saw you say hello to him this morning. What're you playing at, Kitten?" he asked.
Dawn shook her head, searching for words to explain. "I'm not 'playing at' anything, Sirius. You know as well as I do that you can't keep ignoring Peter forever, eventually you're all going to have to make up. Why not just do it?"
"But he mmumph-kengh mimmphed-" Dawn's hand clamping firmly over Sirius' mouth made it difficult for him to finish his sentence.
"I know. I was there, remember?" she said, and the statement settled Sirius enough so that she could take her hand away. "Look, he messed up big time. People do that sometimes. I mean, in Sunnydale we used to judge how big our screw-ups were on the basis of whether it caused a major or just a minor apocalypse. I'd say Peter knows what a mess he's made of everything and he's probably really sorry about it too. We should give him a second chance."
Sirius glanced away. Damned gentle, heartfelt lectures.
"The lady has a point, Padfoot," Remus called across the room without glancing up from his page. "Are you hearing this, Prongs?"
James grunted.
Dawn propped herself up on Sirius' mound of pillows so she could better see all three boys in the room. "Maybe you should all listen to this, then."
Remus closed his book, James tossed his quill aside and Sirius pushed himself up to sit beside her. Dawn stared at each boy in turn, making sure she had their full attention before she spoke. She only wanted to say this once.
"How long have you four boys been friends, huh?"
"That doesn't mean anything," James argued. "It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me!" Dawn leaned forwards, tensing up. "I don't want to be the reason such a strong friendship breaks up. I don't want that on my head!"
She got up and left then, giving them some time to think about what she'd said. She stalked downstairs, across the Common Room, and no sooner than she had disappeared up the girls' stairs did the portrait swing open, admitting a grim and grieved looking Professor McGonagall.
McGonagall marched upstairs and paused a moment to collect her wits. She knocked sharply. It was Remus who answered. A little thrown, he stepped back wordlessly to let her into the dorm. James and Sirius shared equally surprised glances. The Professor stopped by Sirius' bed and looked down at him with a gentler expression than he knew she could muster. It immediately iced dread through his whole body.
"Your mother has sent for you, Mr Black. You and your brother are needed at home at once," she said, sounding like she had a slight head cold.
Sirius stood up slowly. "Why?"
McGonagall shot a glance towards James and Remus hovering nearby, clearly wanting to deliver her news in private. Sirius glanced at his friends and shrugged. "I'd tell them anyway."
"Very well," McGonagall sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Sirius. Your father was killed this morning."
James and Remus both made soft sounds of sorrow, not for the fact that Mr Black was gone but for the fact that, despised or not, Sirius had just lost his father. There would be no chance for reconciliation now, no opportunities for Sirius to earn his father's pride. Sirius himself betrayed no emotion at all, refusing to even react to the blow.
"How?" he asked, eerily calm like the stillness of the air before a hurricane.
"There was a raid west of London, a skirmish broke out between the Aurors and some Death Eaters on the premises at the time."
"No prizes for guessing who my father was hanging out with," Sirius said, and there were tears in his eyes now. The first tiny droplets of a storm that would eventually have to rage out its course.
"There was no Dark Mark on his arm," McGonagall promised quietly.
James laid a hand on Sirius' shoulder, then yanked him into a rugged, brotherly hug. When he was released Remus gave him the same treatment. McGonagall set Remus the task of packing a bag to send along after Sirius and whisked Sirius himself off to Dumbledore's office where Regulus was already waiting.
Sirius stared into his younger brother's gaze, grey rimmed with red and still watering. For once there was no betrayed scowl marring his features, Sirius squeezed his eyes shut tight and hugged Regulus to him for a minute. The younger boy did not pull back right away.
"Sirius, Regulus, I'm truly sorry for your loss," Dumbledore intoned softly. The boys looked up at him. "I have a Port-Key authorised for you, it will activate as soon as you both touch it and take you straight to your mother."
Sirius nodded. "Do I have time to write a quick note, Professor? I didn't get to say goodbye to Dawn," he said.
Regulus looked away, but said nothing as Dumbledore silently offered Sirius a seat at his desk and some parchment and a quill appeared for him to use. Sirius sat, seized the quill and hesitated for the longest time. What was he supposed to write?
Only after Regulus' third impatient huff did Sirius begin to scribble. A minute later, he blew on the ink once to be sure it was dry and folded to parchment to jot 'Dawn' on the front. He gave it to the Headmaster, who promised to have a House-Elf take it to Dawn right away and handed a shiny silver kettle to Regulus. Sirius took a deep breath, blinked a few times to relieve the prickling behind his eyes, and reached out for the Port-Key to take him away.
Kitten,
Sorry I had to go so suddenly- Prongs and Moony can tell you where I am. I don't know when I'll be back. I'll miss you. And I'm thinking about what you said earlier before, too.
Love, Sirius
Dawn stared dumbly at the note Locky had brought to her, embarrassingly while she was in the shower. A white towel was wrapped loosely about her and the ends of her hair dripped all over the parchment, making the paw print at the bottom run. She jumped up and was halfway to the door before she realised she hadn't got dressed ... And she'd left her towel behind, too.
She ran back to her things and threw some clothes on. Slipping back into the boys' dorm, she spotted James and Remus sprawled on the rug and looking sombre. Dawn went and sat with them.
"Where did he go?" she asked.
James glanced at the soggy note still clutched between her fingers. "He wrote you, then? He had to go to his family's house, Kitten. His Dad was killed by Aurors this morning; he was with a group of Death Eaters."
Dawn gasped and closed her eyes. "Oh God. Sirius," she murmured, suddenly almost crawling out of her skin with the need to be holding him tight. James just moved over so she could rest her head on his shoulder. He didn't even seem to mind that the water still streaming from her hair was drenching his clothes along with hers.
Almost a week passed with no word from Sirius. Dawn wrote him a dozen letters but did not dare to send them to the Black family home. She could just imagine the fit Mrs Black would throw if any of them fell into her hands. She'd be worse than Spike that time his tv blew up right before 'Passions'. A day before the funeral of Mr Black, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black disappeared from the Slytherin table and two days after, the four students returned to the school together.
Dawn watched from a distance as the single carriage trundled up the long drive and halted outside the castle steps. The two sets of Black siblings piled out, Sirius standing a little apart from the rest. Regulus' eyes were rimmed with red again, but Sirius' were dry. Narcissa and Bellatrix each put a protective arm around Regulus, enveloping him on both sides. The three walked through the double doors without a backward glance, leaving Sirius to head in alone.
He stepped into the place he truly considered his home, feeling able to breathe again. He'd almost forgotten hoe difficult it was to breathe the air at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Dawn was standing there in the empty Entrance Hall, waiting for him.
He smiled tiredly. "Hey baby."
In a quick rush of steps she was right with him, holding him tight. She squeezed so tight it actually hurt him, but Sirius didn't say anything. He didn't want her letting go. Dawn started kissing him all over his face. Sirius just closed his eyes and let her heal him however she wanted.
"I'm sorry," she breathed between kisses. "I missed you, write you so many letters ... Are you ok?"
"I am now," he said.
It was a long time before they moved out of the Entrance Hall. Dawn offered to stop by the Kitchens and pick Sirius up a late meal, but for once he wasn't hungry. They walked up to Gryffindor tower slowly, Sirius murmuring bits and pieces about his week when he felt like it, walking in silence when he didn't. The other three boys were waiting expectantly for Sirius when he and Dawn stepped into the dorm; his bag had arrived from the Hogwarts Express a little while earlier.
James and Remus came over at once, Peter hovered uncertainly in the background. James had stopped being quite so cold to him while Sirius was away, but Peter knew it still wasn't all right with them. He watched James and Remus each hug Sirius briefly and he realised how much he really wanted it to be all right with them again.
Remus and James separated, leaving Peter and Sirius standing face to face. Peter trembled a little, but there was no hostility, no threat in Sirius' eyes. Just tiredness. He seemed to be waiting for Peter to speak.
"I'm ... s-s-so sorry, Padfoot," Peter stammered, pleading. "About y-your f-father and- and everything! I d-didn't mean ... I'll never ... please believe me ... Please, I w-want you to be my friend again, c-can you forgive m-me?"
Sirius continued to stare in silence. Then, slowly, he extended his hand to accept the apology and call a truce. He couldn't see Dawn, she was standing a bit behind him, but he could feel the pride rolling off her in waves to bring him warmth. Peter grabbed the offered hand, sealing the bargain and putting the whole mess behind them without another word. After a moment, they let go. Sirius arched an eyebrow at Peter.
"Come here, Wormtail, you big git," he said affectionately, yanking the startled boy into a rough hug and waiting for the others to join them.
Dawn borrowed another oversized shirt from James and, a few minutes after the others had disappeared behind their bed curtains she slid into Sirius' bed. He let her arrange them comfortably together so she was stretched out and cradling his head against her chest. She absently smoothed his hair down in soothing movements.
"Are you sure you'll be ok?" she asked, craning her neck to kiss the top of his head.
"Yeah, Kitten. I'll be fine now that I'm home," Sirius murmured, beginning to fiddle with Dawn's buttons.
"I'm sorry I didn't send any of those letters. I wrote them, but I didn't send any because I didn't want to cause you problems with your family."
Sirius, busily enjoying the fact that he'd managed to pull quite a few of Dawn's buttons apart while she'd been speaking, didn't seem overly upset. "I know, baby. I wish I'd taken Hector with me so I could write to you," he said, and placed a kiss between the folds of her nightshirt.
Dawn bit back a giggle as his lips tickled sensitive skin. "I'm proud of you," she said softly.
Sirius grinned cheekily. "Am I impressing you with my ability to unfasten buttons?"
"Would you stop messing around?" she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm trying to be all concerned and comforting here."
Sirius kissed her chest again. "I happen to be finding you very comforting right now. But why are you proud of me?" With a superhuman effort, he turned his face up to hers.
Dawn glanced in the direction of Peter's bed. "For proving you could be a bigger man and forgive someone when they make a mistake."
He shrugged, moving both their bodies simply because they were so close together. "What you said made a lot of sense when I had that much time to think about it. But I don't have any other competition for you that I should be worried about, do I?" he asked, regarding her with mock-shrewdness.
"Only Romulus Lupin," Dawn replied with a giggle.
"Great," Sirius snorted. "My major competition is a bloody six year old."
"He's almost seven," Dawn joked, as if that made all the difference. "And he sends me love letters."
"Well I'll be putting a right stop to that, won't I?"
Dawn pouted. "But I like getting love letters."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sirius grinned, stretching up for a kiss.
It didn't take Sirius long to catch up on all the work he'd missed. Remus and Dawn had made more notes in all his classes than he'd taken all year, Remus had organised all his assignments to that he had only to put the points into complete sentences and Dawn had even made up a stack of dreams for his undernourished Dream Journal.
A few days after his return, Dawn was surprised to find Hector tapping at the window to the girls' dorm while they were all getting dressed. As she opened the window to let him in, she remembered her and Sirius' little conversation about love letters and her stomach fluttered in anticipation. Hector perched on the end of her bed, Dawn gave him a quick pat and a bit of water from the goblet on her bedside table before she took the parchment from his foot.
She opened and read the letter, which was really more of a short note. She wasn't sure if she should laugh or blush. While she was staring at the words, Isabel came to skim them over her shoulder. The blond burst out laughing.
"That's so 'Sirius'. Only he could make something like that seem sweet."
Dawn gave up and smiled, reading the words again.
I remember feeling like you were everything to me. The first time was perfection, do you wonder about the second taste as much as I do?
A.N: Questions? Comments? Free computer parts? (my monitor exploded the other day)
Anoron
