CHAPTER TWENTY: PLEASE REMEMBER ME

Seven months later (July 8th, 2009)

The small group of people walked home in the warm July night air. It was a little past 2 a.m., and all of them were tired from the long hours they'd spent dancing, and then the three mile walk home that was only half-completed. The only thing that kept them going was the adrenaline and the promise of a nice warm bed to fall into when they reached home. Remus and Tonks led the group, arm in arm, Sirius and Michelle following. She was seven months pregnant, and so far, under Harry and Hermione's coaching, had managed to take good care of herself and her unborn child. Sirius was counting the days until he'd be a father again, and was anxious to be a part of this baby's life. He smiled over his shoulder at his daughter, who was walking silently a comfortable distance from Harry. Harry had been casting Hermione sideward glances all night. All the while they'd been at the dancing club, she hadn't allowed him a dance. Not a single spin around the floor. She'd instead been absorbed in a classically good-looking man who worked in Muggle Relations in the Ministry. This guy had been tall, clean-cut, had a long face and what seemed to Harry to be an even longer nose. His teeth were sparkling white and he had lips that parted into a winning smile at the slightest prompt. Watching him twirl Hermione around the hardwood to a variety of songs had been a terrible thing for Harry, only made marginally better by the fact that he was watching them over the shoulder of a very attractive honey-of-a-blonde who was too absorbed in running her hands all over Harry to notice that he was paying her no attention.

He looked over at her then, the moonlight casting shadows across one part of her face. Her full brown hair shown under the dim streetlights, her eyes glinted. Harry looked ahead to see the two couples walking ahead, both beaming each other. Harry chuckled as he wondered whether Remus and Tonks would remember this in the morning. Hermione smiled to herself when she heard Harry laugh and realized what he was laughing about.

All were making their way down a deserted alley when Hermione felt herself develop chicken skin. Her Auror senses kicked in. Harry was touching shoulders with her instantly, Remus seemed to sober at once, drew his wand, grabbed Tonks roughly, and pulled her back toward Harry and Hermione. Sirius had already forced Michelle into a crouching position where his body and the legs of the others would block anything coming towards her. Michelle had her wand at the ready under Sirius's arm. Every one of the six people were braced and ready for action when the first spell was sent their way from a shadowed corner. The fight had begun.

When the dust cleared, there were seven Death Eaters Stunned on the concrete, and four heaving Aurors standing over them. Remus's eye was blackened and swollen shut, he had bruises sprouting from both cheeks, and a nasty gash just above his ankle that was bleeding profusely. Tonks looked like she had sustained a concussion, for she was ghostly pale and not able to stand or see straight through the pain. Hermione's wrist was snapped, her nose bleeding. A slash on the top of her head had matted her hair with blood. Harry's face was scraped from the instant when a spell had shattered his glasses, sending glass skidding down his face, which was now almost unrecognizable through all the blood and shards of glass still sunk deeply into his skin. That left.

"Where's my dad?" Hermione asked, fearing the worst. "Where's Michelle?"

Michelle emerged from behind a dumpster, coming across as spooked but seemingly physically unharmed. "I'm fine," she said as Remus hobbled to her side. "Where is Sirius?" Fear was painfully evident in her voice.

Harry moved silently away from the group and set off down the alley way a little further. He didn't want to believe his guess at where Sirius had gone, but what he saw next forced him to. Sirius lay sprawled on the pavement, badly beaten and no longer losing blood. He was gone again. Harry heard Hermione shuffle to his side, and was prepared to catch her as she fell to the ground, not bothering to stifle the sobs.

Sirius struggled against his bonds as he was carted off down the street. A large Death Eater had him slung over his shoulder, with four others following in his wake. Sirius had been tied and gagged. He finally managed to work the gag loose, spit it out, and bit his captor as hard as he possibly could on the back of the neck. The Death Eater howled in pain and threw Sirius unceremoniously onto the ground. Sirius did his best to try to get out of the binds, but was forced to roll when the Death Eater attempted to squash the life out of him by throwing his heavy body on top of Sirius's lean one. All he could think of was getting back to his girlfriend and his daughters. He achieved momentary freedom when he worked the ropes around his ankles loose and set out at a break-neck run. He was tackled once again by another Death Eater and tumbled to the ground wrestling with him. His head was forced down hard to the pavement. He felt his nose break, and then was blanketed in blackness.

Hermione stared down at her father's lifeless body, spread out in front of her. She was still crying, but couldn't have been heard over the commotion being made by Michelle. Harry, as seemed to be his favorite habit, was at Hermione's side, strong arms holding her. She gazed into his face and found he was tearing up, as well. She framed his face with her palms, and smiled through her tears. "You didn't cry like this last time." she whispered. He put his hand over hers on his cheek. "I did, you just didn't see it. Nobody saw it." Hermione threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, him squeezing her to him tightly, not able to comfort himself, much less her.

"Well, hey, how's the sperm donor of the century doing?" Sirius sneered at the man standing in front of him. Voldemort glared at his son. How could something produced by himself and a fine-blooded woman turn out like this? He reared back and put a well-placed strike into Sirius's nose. Sirius felt it shatter again from the blow and blood begin to pour down his face and into the collar of his shirt.

"Tell me, Dad, why I am I here?"

"Because it's easier to control distraught minds, especially daughters mourning their apparently dead fathers."

"How would she think I'm dead if there's no body?"

"There is a body. One of my numbers betrayed me, and now has your appearance. Your daughter won't know the difference."

I wouldn't put it past her to figure it out, Sirius thought wryly. She's closer to me than that. "Why am I not dead?"

"There's no sense in killing you quite yet. I've got more for you to come."

"Damn."