Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews all. Enjoy the chapter :) Also, Sirius is coming.
Summary: A continuation of Complexities of the Heart,
Things Between People
By katemary77
Chapter Eight:
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
- Longing, Matthew Arnold
Anna was hovering on the edge of waking and sleep, trying desperately to delay the moment that she would wake completely. She was tired, so tired, yet everyday she managed to face the sun with a smile and a laugh. She hated pretending like that, but knew in her heart of hearts that for Remus and Harry to get over Sirius' death, she needed to have the appearance of doing the same, no matter how hard it was.
Clinging to the last tentacles of sleep, Anna let out a frustrated sigh when a cool hand on her face woke her. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see dove grey eyes staring down at her.
"Sirius."
He smiled and nodded, his hand caressing her cheek.
"But you died."
"No, I didn't," he answered, his gravely voice sending a shiver down Anna's spine. "I'm right here."
As if to prove it, he moved forward and ducked his head to meet Anna's lips with a searing kiss. She scrunched her fingers up in his shirt and pulled him closer - as close as he could get to her - and opened her lips underneath his mouth. He was hot and smooth and setting her on fire, just like she imagined him; just like she remembered him.
"I love you, I love you," she murmured, pressing the words into him with kisses, "Don't ever leave me."
But he was already gone, vanished from her entirely. She raised a hand to her lips. They were cold.
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When she awoke it was with a gasp and his name caught in her throat. Anna ran a hand through her hair and sighed, wiping at the few tears which had leaked from her eyes.
"I hate this," she mumbled and then ripped the covers of her bed and dressed hurriedly, as if the forceful, angry movements would wipe away her sadness. She stormed (quietly, though, because it was early and people were still sleeping) downstairs into the kitchen and with a swift jerk of her wand conjured a cup of steaming, strong coffee. She knew she should calm down, drink some tea, maybe meditate a bit, but for the moment Anna was happy to stew in her anger at what the world had thrown at her these last few months.
Her inner tirade was interrupted, however, by the morning owl that regularly delivered the Daily Prophet. Taking the newspaper, she payed the bird and opened up the spread. The headline hit her like a sucker punch to the gut.
SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT!
Peter Pettigrew alive and guilty!
Three days ago He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked the Wizarding prison Azkaban and released into our world some of his most dangerous criminals. It has now been confirmed, however, that one of those dangerous criminals apprehended during the fighting is none other than Peter Pettigrew; a man considered a hero in the Wizarding community and thought dead by all. When found, Pettigrew was taken into custody by the Ministry and an investigation led by Amelia Bones was put underway. The results of this investigation are now being made public.
By use of Veritaserum, it has been uncovered that it was Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius Black, who murdered thirteen people on November 1st, 1981. Since that date, Pettigrew has been in hiding, laying in wait for his true master – He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named – to return.
Further inquiry into the imprisonment of Sirius Black later revealed that Black had been arrested and gaoled without any form of an official (or informal) trial being held and was thus incarcerated at Azkaban for twelve years, an innocent man. This has caused absolute uproar in the Ministry of Magic and a formal inspection of all judicial matters presided over by the late Bartemious Crouch is now underway.
Unfortunately, it seems that this unearthing is too late for Sirius Black who, according to Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, was killed only a few short months ago during the infamous attack on the Ministry of Magic in which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself was present. Black, Dumbledore claims, was there defending his godson, Harry Potter, from harm and was killed in doing so.
"My condolences go out to the friends and family of Sirius Black," said the interim Madame of Magic, Amelia Bones, "Black has been completely exonerated and restitution will be given to his estate for his time served as an innocent man. This whole affair is no doubt terrifically upsetting to all involved, especially considering the late-coming of this acquittal."
Peter Pettigrew now stands to serve a sentence for mass murder, conspiracy to commit murder, being an unregistered animagus, aiding and abetting a wanted criminal and finally for his affiliation with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
It was too much. With this, Anna had reached the end of her tether and began crying, head bent over the table with her forehead resting in her hand.
This was how Remus found her a few minutes later, crying quietly and without fuss into her coffee cup. He moved toward her and pulled her up out of her chair and into a hug. She leant into him, grateful for a friend, but she couldn't stop herself from wishing that it was another man's embrace.
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"Careful, Hermione!"
The bushy-haired teen laughed and cried; "Just in time!"
It was a week after the Prophet article about Wormtail and Sirius and the residents of Grimmauld Place were gathered in the airy sun room, playing an improvised game of ball. The rules were a little different though, as this game of ball didn't allow the players to use their hands. Instead, they would use wandless magic to send the ball to one another; Anna and Remus maintained it was a good way to practise and it was also pretty fun.
Carefully hovering the ball in front of her, Hermione asked, "Favourite book?" and sent the ball towards Remus.
"A Tale of Two Cities," he answered.
"How British," Anna commented with a smirk.
To make the game a little more interesting, the group had decided to ask a question with each pass of the ball.
"Middle name," Remus asked as he hovered the ball over to Anna.
"Josephine," she said and sent it, a little speedily, to Harry. "Would you rather… take a bath in a tub of baked beans or jelly?"
Everyone laughed.
"What flavour is the jelly?" Harry asked, stopping the ball with Quidditch-honed reflexes.
"Um… raspberry."
"I think I'd go with the jelly then," Harry decided.
"Really?" Hermione queried.
Harry nodded, "Think about it. If you had to take a bath covered in baked beans you'd end up smelling like tomato sauce… but if you took a bath in jelly it'd be more like raspberry flavoured sugar."
"Sound reasoning, Harry," Remus said sagely.
Just as Harry was passing the ball to Ron, a question on his lips, there was a loud crash downstairs.
Ron rolled his eyes; "Ten sickles says that's Tonks."
"I wouldn't take that bet," Anna laughed, just as Tonks' slightly exasperated voice came floating up the stairs.
"Sorry! That bloody umbrella stand is always in the way!"
Ron and Harry snickered, shooting furtive glances at each other.
"You didn't!" Hermione hissed, "That's so mean!" But she was smiling.
"What's so mean?" Tonks asked from the doorway. Her hair was fire-engine red today.
"Nothing," five voices chorused back.
Tonks raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"How about we set up for the Order meeting?" Anna suggested and soon they were all busy downstairs, setting out chairs in the kitchen. Harry was directing a chair into place using just his mind. Wandless magic was becoming easier and easier; it seemed that once he tapped into it, anything was possible. "Very good, Harry," Anna commented from where she was directing chairs, with a wand. "Why don't you try two at once?"
Harry nodded and grinned when two chairs rose smoothly from the messy pile they were in and settled with a clunk on the kitchen floor. He was rewarded with a smile from Anna.
"So what's on the agenda tonight?" the young Gryffindor asked. Now that Harry was able to attend Order meetings, Anna and Remus felt no reluctance in discussing matters in front of the three students; they knew that Harry would just tell Ron and Hermione everything anyway, even though they weren't allowed in the meetings.
"Well, as we decided last week, it's time the Order stopped biding its time," Remus answered, "I think tonight we're going to discuss various plans of attack, that sort of thing."
"And have you found out anything about McArthur or Tibbons that can get them out of the Wizengamot?" Harry asked Tonks.
"Well, it's been hard to have any spare time at all, what with cleaning up after Azkaban," the Auror answered, "But I think we've got enough to get rid of Tibbons."
"Yeah?"
"Well, we have enough to threaten him into silence and if he doesn't comply, enough to put him in gaol. That will strip him of his seat in the Wizengamot."
"Do you think you'll be able to get a majority vote then?" Hermione asked.
"I'd say so," Remus said, "But we have to do this all very quickly; we don't want to give Voldemort time to find another pawn within the Ministry."
"And Amelia Bones will become Madame of Magic, officially?" Ron inquired.
"Probably," the werewolf replied, "She's the best for the job."
"It won't be long now," Anna said quietly.
"Until what?"
Anna locked eyes with Harry as she answered him; "Until this war starts for real. Voldemort made the first move with Azkaban; it won't take long for a follow-up."
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When Harry entered the kitchen with Ron and Hermione a few days later, he started and quickly fished his wand out of his pocket when he saw an unfamiliar blonde woman flipping pancakes at the stove.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
The woman turned and rolled her eyes.
"Harry, put your wand away."
"Anna?" Hermione asked.
She nodded. Her mouth and the basic shape of her face was the same, but her hair was light blonde and furiously curly, her eyes slightly wider and blue instead of brown and her nose had been lengthened and narrowed.
"What's with the disguise?" Ron questioned as they sat down at the kitchen table.
"Your Hogwarts letters are coming today; Remus, Tonks and I are going to take you three to Diagon Alley for your things."
"Excellent!" Harry exclaimed. He'd be glad to get out of Grimmauld Place, if only for the day. Hermione, however, had gone extremely pale.
"Hogwarts letters," she muttered, "But that means O.W.L results are coming! Anna, why didn't you tell me!" she cried.
"Because if I had you'd have been thinking of nothing else the last few days," Anna replied. "You probably would've torn all your hair out in anxiety."
Ron muffled his laugh behind his hand.
"Oh Merlin, here they come!" Hermione shrieked, pointing at the window. Waving her wand, Anna opened the window and allowed the three official-looking owls to enter. Catching the envelope before it dropped in his breakfast, Harry felt his stomach drop. He didn't want to know what he'd gotten! He knew his results would be terrible.
"On three, Harry?" Ron said quietly, looking over at Hermione who was already tearing into the letter, hyperventilating slightly as she did.
"Okay… One, two, three!"
It wasn't as bad as it could've been. In fact, it wasn't too bad at all.
"How'd you do?" Ron asked.
"I failed Divination and History of Magic - no surprises there," he answered, "But I got an A in Astronomy, Es in Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures and Charms and Os in Potions and DADA."
"An O in Potions! Good job, Harry," Ron replied. "But now you're stuck with Snape for another two years."
"What about you, Ron?"
"I failed Divination and Astronomy, got As in Care of Magical Creatures and Charms, and Es in everything else."
Harry nodded; "Well done." Both boys turned to Hermione, who was staring blankly at the page. "Well?" Harry asked her hesitantly.
She looked up at them; "I did okay." Weakly, she held the parchment out to them. Ron took it and held it where both he and Harry could read it. Ron snorted.
"Just 'okay'? Hermione, you got ten Os!"
"Yes, but just an Exceeds Expectations in Defense," she mumbled.
"Cheer up, Hermione!" Anna said, "They're excellent results! In fact, I'd wager they're the best results anyone has gotten from Hogwarts in a while."
"Really?" Hermione asked, her face relaxing a little.
"Really," Anna answered and rifled through Hermione's envelope. "See here? It's a letter from Professor McGonagall. Read it!"
After carefully reading the letter, Hermione's face broke out in a proud smile.
"Well?"
"Best results in quite a while," she said, "Since Remus, it says."
"Good job, Hermione," Harry told her.
She smiled and asked to borrow Hedwig to send a letter to her parents. Once she had left and Ron had stuck his head into the fireplace to speak to his own parents, Harry turned to Anna.
"How did you do in your OWLs?"
She exhaled through her lips and furrowed her brow; "Merlin, it's hard to remember! I got a few Os, in Potions, Charms and Astronomy and an Acceptable in Transfiguration (which Professor McGonagall never let me forget) and Es in everything else."
"Good results," Harry surmised.
"Yeah, I was happy with them." Finishing off her coffee, Anna gestured to the letter. "Make sure you get the list of things you need, we'll head off to Diagon Alley soon; not long till you kids go off to Hogwarts."
"Not long till we finish Hogwarts," Harry said a little sadly, realising that his time at the first place he'd been able to call home was almost over.
Anna ruffled his hair.
"You've still got a few years left. Who knows, maybe you can finish your father's good work and turn the rest of Professor McGonagall's hair grey."
Harry nodded and laughed.
"I'll go upstairs and get my things."
She smiled.
"I'll be here."
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"You've packed everything, Harry?"
"I'm pretty sure I have," Harry told Remus.
"Well, we can send anything you've forgotten. We should get going."
Harry nodded. Slowly but surely, September 1st had crept up on them and Remus, Mad-Eye, Tonks and Bill were escorting Harry to Kings Cross to board the Hogwarts Express. Anna wouldn't be coming.
Harry turned to her now. Without saying anything, she drew him into a long, warm embrace.
"I'm going to miss you."
"You'll see me soon," Harry replied as they stepped apart from each other, "You're coming to Hogwarts for Occlumency lessons."
"I know, but I'll still miss you."
"Alright, time to go," Mad-Eye barked.
"Beat it, kid," Anna grinned. "Have a good year at school!"
"See you soon, Anna."
He looked back as he got onto the street. Anna was standing in the doorway. She smiled and waved, just as Number 12 disappeared into the houses around it.