Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: Another update for you! Thanks to those who reviewed. As for the questions about Remus/Anna, yes they did get quite close there but considering they live together, have similar personalities and interests and both shared an awful loss I think it's quite possible that they became very good friends. Perhaps they might even have become lovers, if the following didn't happen. Thanks again.
Summary: A continuation of Complexities of the Heart,
Things Between People
By katemary77
Chapter Ten:
What comes is better than what came before
You better run, run, run to me.
I Found a Reason, Cat Power
November passed in a flurry of classes, homework, carefully monitored trips to Hogsmeade and increasingly chilly weather. Before Harry and the others knew it, Christmas had come and they were boarding the Hogwarts Express to journey back to London. Grimmauld Place would be full this year. The Weasleys had planned to stay in London for the break, not only to keep Harry, Remus and Anna company but for the increased security as well, and Hermione would come to stay the day after Boxing Day; she'd chosen to spend some time with her family.
"Harry!" The young Gryffindor turned at the sound of Remus' voice. He, Mrs. Weasley and Mad-Eye were waiting on the platform.
Harry and his friends made their way over to the Order members, happily enduring welcoming hugs and pats on the back.
"Hermione, I've arranged to drop you at your parents myself," Remus explained to the bushy-haired prefect. When you're ready, I'll Apparate us there."
Hermione hugged Harry and the Weasleys and with a, "See you in a few days!" took Remus' arm.
"Back in a jiffy!" Remus said, before turning slightly and Apparating away with a pop! Sure enough, he was back in a minute and the group leisurely made their way from the station and to number twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Harry!"
The front door had barely opened before Harry found himself with an armful of Anna.
"Anna, I saw you just last week," he spluttered.
"Oh, posh," she replied, taking him by the shoulders. "Let me look at you! Harry, you've grown!"
Harry rolled his eyes and patted her on the back.
"You're mad," he said with a laugh. "Come on, we're blocking the doorway."
Anna had a pot of tea stewing in the kitchen, so they magicked their trunks upstairs and settled down around the dining table.
"So, kids, how was school?"
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Christmas passed quietly, as did New Years Eve. The celebrations seemed much more subdued to Harry, probably because of the glaring absence of Sirius, he reasoned. He and Anna continued to practice Occlumency, taking advantage of the extra time to further build upon his mental barriers. Any enemy attempting to penetrate the mind of Harry Potter would now have to bypass a complex maze made of the hardest, impenetrable stone, interrupted only by solid, unopenable doors. In the middle of this fortress stood a mighty wall, behind which rested his garden – the centre of his mind. He and Anna were now considering adding made-up or harmless memories to his defences; they would float outside of the maze, giving the penetrator the illusion that they had entered his mind.
"You know Harry, I think maybe it's time we had Professor Snape have a go at you," Anna said after their latest session.
Harry blanched; "Do we have to?"
She laughed.
"I've gotten pretty used to your mind, Harry, I think it's be good to have a neutral party attempt Legilimency on you. Besides, Professor Snape is much more proficient at Legilimency than I am."
Harry sighed; "Okay, I'll do it. As long as you're there."
Anna nodded, "Of course. If Severus is satisfied, it might be time to end your training."
Harry felt a little sad at that. He'd come to enjoy this time spent with Anna, even though it wasn't spent in the best of ways. Of course, Anna felt that sadness and came over to ruffle his hair.
"Come on, let's join the others downstairs."
As Anna got started on dinner, without giving time for Mrs. Weasley to protest, Harry plopped down next to Remus at the kitchen table.
"So Harry," the older man started, "I still haven't been given a demonstration of how your wandless magic skills have improved under Professor Dumbledore's tutelage."
Harry grinned. Startling Anna, a drawer of cutlery shot out, knives forks and spoons flying into the air to form the words, 'Hello Moony!' Vanishing them from the air, Harry then Conjured them back onto the table in front of he and Remus, where he Transfigured each one into a different coloured flower. Summoning a vase from upstairs, he waved a hand and the flowers arranged themselves into a bouquet, which he then floated over to Anna. She rolled her eyes and accepted the vase. As soon as her hands touched the glass, the flowers inside turned back to cutlery. She pouted, but was appeased when Harry waved his hand again, causing the cutlery to organise itself into place along the table.
The Weasleys clapped, along with Anna, Remus and Hermione.
"Very impressive, Harry!" Remus applauded. "Transfiguring those flowers into different breeds and colours at the same time was very advanced."
Harry shrugged. "Ever since we took that block off over summer, things that used to be hard have become a lot easier."
Ron snorted, "Yeah, and it's had Hermione fretting her pretty head off, Harry might even get better results than her!"
Hermione looked as if she couldn't decide on whether she was upset at what Ron had said about her results or flattered that he'd called her pretty.
Anna placed a steaming bowl of spaghetti Bolognese on the table and smirked at Harry.
"Yes, very good Harry," she said, "Except you set the table wrong. Desert spoons go on the inside."
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She was on a battlefield. Lucius Malfoy was standing before her, Hermione trapped in his arms. He held a sickeningly familiar blade to her throat and the young Gryffindor was trying bravely not to cry, knowing it would only feed the sadistic man's pleasure.
"All you've fought for is for nothing, Arianna, the people that you will love will die."
She noticed then at his feet the crumpled body of Severus Snape. His wand arm was broken, the bone visibly piercing his skin. His neck was slit open and blood was leaking from his vacant, dead eyes.
"He is not the only one. There are others," Lucius reminded her, squeezing the girl in his arms for emphasis. "You know what you must do."
"It won't work," Anna sobbed, "I can't force myself to make that choice, you know that! And you can't make it for me! Please just let them go."
And then, suddenly, somehow, Sirius was there with Harry following close behind him.
"Stupefy!" he yelled, pointing his wand at Malfoy.
The Death Eater angled Hermione in front of him just in time and she slumped over in his arms. The movement caused the knife Lucius held at her neck to cut a thin line into her skin.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy's wand was already raising, pointing at Sirius as he yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"
Anna felt herself moving, saw the green light rocketing towards the man she loved and had already lost once and then everything went dark.
She awoke with a gasp. Grasping blindly at her bedside table, Anna eventually found her wand and whispered the demand for light. Blinking her eyes at the sudden glow, she turned to her clock and groaned. Just about four in the morning! Sighing, Anna stumbled out of bed, intent on some tea to carry her back to sleep. Climbing down the stairs, she lurched for a moment, a sudden weight dropping into her heart. What had happened? Blinking, dazed, she stood for a moment before shaking her shoulders out and continuing downstairs.
"Remus!" she said, surprised to see him sipping tea already at the kitchen table.
He looked up, his hand absently massaging his chest, just above his heart. "Couldn't sleep either?"
Anna shook her head, "No, a dream woke me up. Well, more like a nightmare really."
He poured her a cup of chamomile tea and passed it to her. "Want to talk about it?"
She shook her head, "Not really. Here, pass me your cup. This will help you sleep." He did as he was told and watched as she wrapped her hands around the steaming mugs, focused for a moment, and handed his tea back. "There."
Accepting the cup, Remus took a sip and felt an unexplainable wash of calm soothe over him. "Thanks Anna."
"Not a problem. Would you like me to sit with you?" she offered.
"No, that's okay. You go back to bed. Thanks, though."
She departed with a smile and left him to his thoughts.
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At that very time, not so far away from Grimmauld Place and far beneath central London, something was stirring. Deep in the Ministry of Magic, down long corridors and further than many were permitted to venture stood a tall stone arch, shrouded by a dark, slightly swaying sheet of fabric. All at once, a high-pitched explosion sounded from inside the archway and rocked the arena it stood in. Hairline cracks appeared on the stone tablets that made up the podium and a dark-haired body passed through the almost transparent cloth and back into our world.
Gasping for breath, he opened pale grey eyes and studied the room he was in, his mouth pulling into a frown. When had he last been here? On the one hand it felt as if he and the other Order members had arrived at the Ministry of Magic only a few minutes ago, that it had only been a moment since he had separated from Anna, half of his heart yearning to keep her safe and the other half pressing him on to find Harry. But despite this, he somehow felt as if he had gone a long while, had been falling through that dark abyss for an age.
The room was empty, no signs of fighting or a struggle apparent, which reinforced his feeling that some time had passed. Hoping it hadn't been too long, Sirius swiftly morphed into Padfoot – aware he was a wanted criminal in the heart of the Ministry – and began to trot out of the Department of Mysteries. All the corridors were empty and silent. Perhaps it was after-hours? he considered. At the Atrium this was confirmed; a large clock mounted high on the wall told him it was four in the morning. But what was the date? Bounding over to a nearby rack of Daily Prophets, he used his mouth to pull a copy down and let out a doggy whine when he saw the date. January 7th. He'd been gone for months!
With no time to waste, Sirius quickly padded over to the public telephone box that granted the public access to the Ministry and activated the elevator. Once on the streets of central London he broke into a fast sprint. Even so early, the city wasn't completely dead; bright street lights glowed overhead, taxis drove down the empty streets and every other corner Sirius would glimpse a paper boy delivering his load.
He wasn't running fast enough! He had to know what had happened. Was Harry safe? Had anything happened to Remus or Anna during that fight? And what about Harry's friends? Anna had said they were seriously injured, what if somebody hadn't recovered? Sirius urged his legs into a faster sprint and soon he was slowing down in front of 12 Grimmauld Place. Morphing back into human form, Sirius repeated 'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix reside at number twelve Grimmauld Place,' and watched as numbers ten and fourteen were pushed aside to make room for his hated family home.
Not wasting time for the pang that touched him at the sight, Sirius bounded up the stairs, grasped the black wooden handle of the front door and pushed it open.
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Not half an hour after Anna left him with her doctored tea, Remus found himself wondering if Anna had gone back to bed at all, for he felt sure he'd just heard the front door of Grimmauld Place open. Deciding that caution was best, the werewolf set down his tea and took his wand up in his hand, climbing silently to the top of the stairs. There was a dark figure in the foyer. Remus tapped the wall with his wand, causing the lights overhead to flash on.
The sight that greeted Remus almost but not quite completely disarmed him. Only a second after startled grey eyes met his, Remus' wand was up and casting the body-binding curse.
"Rem-" the impostor called, but was cut off by the spell sealing his mouth shut.
Feeling as if the body-bind had been cast on himself, Remus struggled to emerge from shock and get his limbs working again. Once he'd gained control of himself, the werewolf levitated the body down to the kitchen and relaxed the spell just long enough to tie the body to a chair with impenetrable ropes that burst from his wand.
As his spell relaxed, the impostor had the chance to cry out, "Moony, it's me, really, it's Padfoot - "
Remus silenced him with a spell, growling out, "How dare you say those names!"
Unwilling to leave a likely Death Eater alone in the house, Remus raised his wand again and Padfoot the dog burst forth and shot upstairs, alerting Arthur and Molly Weasley. He felt a twinge at seeing the hulking dog in the current circumstances. He decided to leave Anna out of this, and Harry too; the least people hurt by Voldemort's games the better. As he waited, Remus cast a number of spells designed to remove glamours over the impostor but he remained the same.
"Polyjuice Potion, then," he muttered, "Well, that won't last forever."
Arthur and Molly entered the kitchen in a rush.
"Remus what – oh Merlin." Arthur and Molly stopped in their tracks when they saw the bound fake-Sirius sitting in the kitchen.
"He walked into the house just a few minutes ago. Lucky I was awake," the werewolf shook his head, "Imagine what could've happened if he'd made it to Harry!"
"How?" Molly asked.
"Polyjuice, I should think."
Arthur nodded. "Unsilence him, Remus. We should question him. Are you sure Anna shouldn't be here?"
Remus nodded, "I'm sure." He waved his wand at the Death Eater.
"Remus, Remus, it's me! I swear, I just fell out of the Veil in the Department of Mysteries not thirty minutes ago. Honestly, tell me how to convince you! I'm Sirius!"
"Sirius Black is dead," Remus replied harshly. "He died seven months ago. You won't fool us."
"Can't you smell me, Remus?" he pushed. "Don't I smell like I always did?"
Molly and Arthur looked at Remus curiously.
"Polyjuice Potion affects the scent of a person as well as their looks," he countered.
"Perhaps we should contact Albus," Arthur said, "And use Veritaserum on this man."
"Yes! Do!" Sirius said, "And then I can prove it's really me! Or let me change into Padfoot; Polyjuice can't mimic animagus transformations."
"We're not stupid enough to let you out of those constraints," Remus laughed darkly.
"Then get Anna," Sirius said firmly, "She'll know it's me."
Remus was almost a touch hurt. "Why would she know Sirius better than I?"
"Don't be stupid, Moony," Sirius scoffed, "She's an Empath, she can sense dishonesty."
"She could use Legilimency on him too," Molly supplied. "Remus, we might have to."
His shoulders slumped, he really hadn't wanted to involve Anna in this mess.
"I'll go and wake her," he sighed. "Keep a sharp eye on him," he told the Weasleys, pointing his wand at the impostor.
When Remus entered Anna's room, she was slumbering peacefully, her face turned toward the opposite side of the bed, where he imagined Sirius once slept. Sitting beside her, Remus gave her shoulder a gentle shake.
"Anna, wake up."
She did so slowly, stretching her arms above her head and smiling at him through a yawn.
"Merlin Remus what time is it?" The more she woke, the more she could tell something was seriously wrong. "What's happened?"
"Someone – a Death Eater – entered the house this morning."
Anna shot out of bed and pulled her dressing gown over her, grasping her wand tightly. "Who? Did you catch them? Did they get to Harry?"
"I stopped them before they could get past the foyer. He's downstairs now, with Arthur and Molly. We need your help interrogating him."
"Of course."
She was at the door when she realised Remus wasn't following.
"There's more." His tone of voice made her frown, scared at what could make him so pained. "The Death Eater is Polyjuiced… to look like Sirius."
It felt like her stomach had dropped away from her. She felt she might be sick.
"He's insisting he's Sirius. I didn't want to involve you, Anna, but I didn't see another option."
"No, no, you did the right thing," she replied vaguely. "Harry?"
"Will hopefully be sleeping for another few hours."
"We have to get him out of the house before Harry wakes up," Anna said, uncertainty still in her eyes. "Let's go."
Anna tried her best to focus as they descended the stairs, she needed to be completely aware of everything in order to figure out what was going on. She had to reign in her anger, as well. The callousness, the absolute cruelty of Lord Voldemort still managed to stun her somehow.
As soon as she walked into the kitchen, however, everything changed.
During their time together and considering the intimacy they'd shared, Anna felt she knew Sirius better than she'd ever known or could ever know anyone else. Wizards could use any number of glamours, could use Polyjuice and cast spells to change their appearance, but nothing could change a person's soul. And Anna looked right into the heart of the man sitting, bound by ropes in the dusty old kitchen, and knew instantly that it was Sirius.
She raised her wand and the ropes binding him fell away. Sirius bound out of his chair and leapt over to Anna, who he took up in his arms and crushed to himself. She couldn't hold back a sob and the sound broke the utter silence of the room. Tearing herself away from him was the hardest thing she'd done, but she managed.
"Change," she told him, half-crying. "They're still not sure it's you."
Nodding, Sirius morphed into Padfoot and gave Anna's hand a quick lick before morphing back.
"Sirius…" Remus breathed, and grabbed the other man to him. "I'm so sorry," he said, his voice muffled, "I thought…"
"It doesn't matter," Sirius reassured him, patting his back as he spoke, "You couldn't have known."
Anna sobbed again and both Sirius and Remus threw out an arm for her. She stumbled into their embrace. It didn't take long for the other two to join Anna in crying. Soon, Molly was sobbing into her husband's nightshirt and Anna laughed.
"Come over here!"
Their group hug lasted a few more minutes until Sirius suddenly realised someone terribly important was missing and shouted, "Harry!"
He was almost at the stairs when Remus and Anna's shouts of, "Wait!" stopped him.
"You can't just go bounding up there, Sirius," Remus said. "You'll frighten the poor boy to death. Let us go up first, introduce him to the idea."
"Really?" Sirius moaned, a pout on his lips that almost made Anna cry again.
"Yes, really," she said, "We won't be long, I promise."
They were quiet on the way upstairs, careful not to wake the other kids. In Harry's room they quickly woke the boy up and beckoned him out, into
Remus' because it was closer.
"What's up guys?" he yawned.
"We didn't want to wake Ron up," Remus told him. "Sit down, Harry."
The Gryffindor complied, perching on the edge of the bed. Remus and Anna sat down on either side of him.
"Something's happened, Harry," Remus begun, whilst Anna kept the three of them calm, "Someone came into Headquarters this morning. We thought it was a Death Eater but it's not. We're absolutely sure it's not, Harry, do you understand?"
He nodded, confused.
"If we weren't sure we wouldn't be telling you at all, Harry," Anna told him.
"Well, who is it?" Harry asked.
Remus took in a breath and looked at Anna, then back at Harry. "Harry, it's Sirius. Sirius is back."
After a stunned silence, Harry stood and faced them both angrily.
"Do you think that's funny? Some kind of joke?"
"No, Harry please listen," Remus placated, holding his hands out. "Do you really think we'd do that?"
Harry thought for a moment and finally his face relaxed a fraction.
"No, but I can't believe he's back."
Anna knew why. Despite himself, a thread of pure golden hope was spreading through him, and Harry knew he couldn't take being disappointed this way again. It had to be Sirius downstairs, or Harry would break.
"Just come downstairs, Harry," Anna said quietly. "That's all you have to do."
Sirius' back had been facing the kitchen entrance when Harry had pushed the door open with shaking fingers, Anna and Remus silent behind him. But as soon as Sirius heard the creak of the old door, he turned and looked at his godson.
Harry looked thinner, wanner than he remembered – but then, everybody seemed to look worse for wear – and his green eyes, dull, began to shine with tears.
"You died," he said softly, almost too soft for anyone to hear. "You fell. I saw you." Sirius said nothing, just took two long strides towards his godson. Harry's voice was louder now, "It really is you?"
Sirius nodded and the boy walked – almost fell – into the older man's arms, crying.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm so sorry. I never meant to leave you."
"It's okay," Harry mumbled into Sirius, "Just try not to do it again, please."
Sirius let out a half-laugh, half-sob and pressed a kiss into Harry's unruly hair. Watching the reunion, Anna felt more tears of her own slide down her face. Surprised she had any left, Anna used her thumbs to wipe them away and shared a grin with Sirius over Harry's head.
Everything would be okay now. Sirius was home.
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