Where I Belong
Chapter 5
Frowning, Sirius turned only to stop in both anger and shock. On the other side of the street stood his cousin and husband. Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Sileni quickly took hold of Sirius wrist to keep him there so as not to panic the Muggle's, not taking her eyes away from the witch and wizard across the street. Despite the darkness of the alley the Lestrange stood in, you can clearly tell she was glaring with an evil grin towards Sirius.
Praying that the older woman does not recognize her from helping out the Order, Sileni slowly moves her right hand towards herself to take hold of her wand. However, Bellatrix's gaze turns to her sharply, her eyes narrowing further with hatred. Sileni stopped her movement as her breath was caught in her throat. Feeling her hand go limp Sirius turns his hand so he had a hold of her left hand and gripped in comfort before reaching over with his other to take hold of her right. He prayed that they will not need to engage in a fight with his cousin and her husband for there were too many innocent people and witnesses around.
Suddenly there was thunder and lightning across the sky, mixed with Bellatrix's cackle before she and Rodolphus disappeared. Sileni let the breath she was holding go, her heart racing with fear she has felt before she was transported to the future. It was Sirius that first reacted. He stood and pulled Sileni to a stand, throwing money on to the table, not once looking away from the now empty alley.
"Come on Eni, we have to get out of here." Sirius whispered, pausing at the entrance, looking left and right.
Seeing neither Bellatrix nor Rodolphus, Sirius quickly dragged the woman to the side of the alley to quickly Apparate to the Auror headquarters. Those still on duty gave Sirius a greeting only to frown in confusion at his and Sileni's state of panic.
"Go get Kingsley! Bellatrix and her husband were sighted in the city of London not two minutes ago." Sirius barked at the stunned group, "Start tracking them down now!"
As the group of Auror's scrambled about, Sirius sat the woman down on a nearby chair and kneeled down before her. He rubbed her arms a couple of times before holding her hands in his in a firm grip that gave both comfort and strength. He noted that Sileni had gone into her own little world, fear the only emotion shown in her light gray eyes.
Sirius own gray eyes darken with hatred–he knew that the fear the woman was feeling had to be the same fear she felt when his two cousins, Lucius, Crabbe, and Goyle had first cornered her at Hogwarts. Inhaling deeply Sileni looked up to Sirius' face, wanting to whimper as she felt her body tensing rather than shake. She wanted to break down and hide but knew now wasn't the time for either of those.
"I saw the same crazy look in her eyes as the day I first met her in Hogwarts. Only this time I felt more of the fear coming from just the one look. I felt the grin and the cackle vibrate through my whole body as though she were right next to me."
Her voice was hoarse, as though she hadn't used it in days. Sirius saw the emptiness start to spread from her eyes and to the rest of her body as she started to lean forward with exhaustion, almost like she was now giving up. Gulping back his anger Sirius reached up to take hold of the woman's face, making her look at him in the eyes.
"Hey, you're safe–you are safe. Nothing and no one will touch you when I am around, do you understand?"
Sileni smiled ghostly, some of her energy coming back. "You can't always be around, Padfoot. Besides, you know I will kill you if you send Auror's to follow me–and I will know!"
Sirius smiled, grateful to see Sileni coming back to herself, but vowed to keep her safe from his cousin. "No worries Rouge, no Auror's will be following you."
"The hell they will!"
Both adults looked up to see Luke, James, Remus, Kingsley, the Prewitt twins, Mad-Eye, Regulus, and Severus. Sileni raised an eyebrow at her brother, knowing he was the one who made the comment and would want to have more than a dozen Auror's to follow her around if he couldn't lock her up. Sirius immediately brought his hands down to Sileni's knees, trying hard not to look at Remus to see what kind of emotions was going through him from what he, and the others, have walked into between him and Sileni.
"Bellatrix could have recognized you instantly, Sileni. I'm not taking my chances in you being dead for real this time." Luke growled, shoving a hand through his hair as he paced around.
'News travels fast,' both Sileni and Sirius thought as they looked at the large group.
Sileni placed her hands on Sirius' and gripped them with sadness and guilt for what she did to her brother so long ago. Sirius gripped her hands in return before standing up, giving the younger man a look that made him stop in his tracks. Very rarely did Sirius ever become serious to the point that it made a person stop, and when that happened you know that Sirius has thought over every situation possible.
"I know how you feel Luke, but she would be an even bigger target for Bellatrix to find her with all the people following her."
Luke glared at Sirius with fear feeding into his anger. "What do you suggest we do then, huh?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow, but kept calm. "First of, relocate since Bellatrix obviously knows where it was I was living. Or, at least, the neighborhood."
"No doubt she's been following you for a while, now." Regulus muttered, meeting his brother's gaze evenly.
Before any more argument could grow Gideon stepped forward, holding Sileni's gaze to let her know that he was there for her. "Chipping Campden, it's a half hour to forty-five minutes North West of Oxford. Our great-aunt had left us a small house for when one of us got married." Gideon shrugged, looking to his twin who nodded in agreement. "It would probably be best for you guys to hide there."
Sileni looked at Sirius, her mind too clouded with fear to make any decisions for herself at that moment. And she trusted Sirius now than her brother at the moment, knowing he will make decisions based off of what was best for her not just what her brother wanted done. Taking her hands once more, Sirius rubbed the back of her knuckles with his thumbs, nodding to the twins. He felt a lot of emotions going through him, but the most was a proud emotion that Sileni was giving him that much trust to save her now.
"We'll take it, thanks you guys."
Gideon nodded and moved to the fireplace that the Auror had within the department, while Fabian walked over to Sileni and kneeled in front of the woman, placing a hand on her cheek. Sileni turned to him, the oldest Prewitt twin by a minute feeling his heart break at the fear in her eyes. He has seen her in action and the fear before when she was younger, but this fear that he was seeing now in her eyes took the cake.
"You're safe, your friends and brother are going to protect you, okay? Bellatrix or any of the other Death Eaters will have to go through us to get to you."
As he finished his words Sileni started crying, the seventh book still fresh on her mind. Everyone was taken aback by the tears, for they never really have seen her cry this openly before. The woman leaned slightly forward, covering her face with her hands, her sobs even louder. Despite saving and helping these people she came to love–if it wasn't for her and her brother interfering–they would have died in a less painful way then how the author had described/changed in the last book.
"Oh my God, you read the last book." Luke suddenly muttered.
Sileni gave a bigger sob, Luke uttering a few choice words underneath his breath. He moved over to his sister, forcing both Sirius and Fabian to move out of the way in alarm. Luke kneeled before her and took her hands away from her face. He hated seeing his older sister like this and wish that he can do to take away the pain, but knew there was nothing he can do.
"Hey, you were able to change the books the first time around, you can do it again a second time, okay?" he whispered fiercely.
Still crying, Sileni nodded, hating Andi for making all this real and cursing the brilliant author in creating such wonderful characters she had come to love so much. Nodding himself Luke leaned up to kiss his sister's forehead. He stood and turned to the group that have closed in on the siblings, he noted Gideon had returned to them as well.
"Take her to the house now. Severus, any chance you have a calming and sleeping potions for her?"
The Potion Master nodded, "I can meet you all at the house?"
Sirius nodded, still staring at the crying woman. He wanted to know what was going on, what the books the siblings were talking about. There were rumors about the siblings having books about their lives, or at least that of his godson, Harry. He wondered if the yellow spine he saw hiding behind the pillows in Sileni's room was the book the siblings were talking about.
"Good me, Fabian, James, and Remus will go to Sirius flat and pack up all their clothes and items. Mad-Eye, Gideon, Kingsley, Sirius..." Luke trailed off so that the four men looked at him, "Please take care of her."
"You got nothing to worry about, Thorn. Let's go, now. Move people!" Mad-Eye shouted.
Sirius walked over to Sileni and helped her up to her feet then scoped her up in his arms seeing as she was still paralyze with fear. Sileni wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder, not able to stop crying for the deaths that might come if they couldn't stop it. Sirius turned and followed Gideon, Mad-Eye, and Kingsley to the fireplace–Severus having already left to get the potions for Sileni.
"Call out 'Bush Rose,'" Sirius, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye frowned at Gideon. "You'll see why soon enough."
4545454545
–Bush Rose–
As Sirius stumbled out of the fireplace, keeping a firm grip on the woman, he looked around. It was a semi large living room, the furniture was old fashion, many figurines were planted all around the room and old fashion lamps. There were also many photographs and portraits upon the walls, many of them looking curiously down at Sirius and Sileni. He noted Kingsley and Mad-Eye walking to the right to start setting up wards around the home and the property.
Still not seeing why the house was called the Bush Rose, Sirius walked out to the hall and moved up the stairs behind Gideon. The older man opened a door at the end of the hallway on the right, gesturing Sirius to go in. The room, itself, was grand. A king size four poster bed sat in the middle with a dresser that had a mirror attached to it sitting in front of it, a dresser right next to the door, a desk by the balcony French doors, and a table on the other side. There was also a door next to the table, Sirius assumed it to be the bathroom.
The colors were from silver, to a navy blue, black, and a magenta color. The floor–like the rest of the house–was all wood and very polished. It made Sirius think that the Prewitt twins had a house elf come to the house and clean every week or so if the house was this clean and neat. It also made the oldest Black wonder why the twins never married. There were no more attacks or a war to fight in the last couple of years, so the fear of dying–or that of a loved one–was past due.
Shaking his head to rid the thoughts, Sirius walked over to the bed and placed the woman on it, quickly taking the folded blanket at the edge of the bed and placing it over her shivering body. She has yet to stop the tears from falling or the fear to leave her eyes. A hand was placed on his shoulder, Sirius looking up to see the Potion master. With a nod, he moves aside and watches Severus help Sileni sit up and make her drink the two potions.
She was immediately asleep. Sirius gave a small sigh of relief and walks over to Sileni's sleeping form as the two other wizards left the room to give him privacy. No words coming to him, Sirius merely brushes Sileni's hair from her face and leans down to kiss her forehead.
"Sleep tight love, I'll be back." he whispered before turning to walk down stairs.
He prays that the group finds his cousin and husband soon–but he knew that was only wishful thinking. If they were able to stay hidden for nineteen years, they can stay hidden again for another few days, weeks, or even months until they see either him or Sileni out in the open with no escorts to help. Or maybe they will attack when they have escorts, for surely that wouldn't stop Bellatrix or Rodolphus from trying to kill them.
Coming into the living room Sirius warily sits on an arm chair, not really knowing what to say or do. He hated not able to go out and start looking for these Death Eaters, but he knew that Sileni needed him here more than the others needed him at the moment. Besides Sirius wasn't going to leave Sileni by herself no matter what.
"We'll have some Auror's come stay in the house and shift every eight hours." Mad-Eye started, glaring (though it wasn't a harsh look) down at Sirius. "They'll stay inside rather patrol outside, that way it won't be easy to be spotted."
Sirius nodded, looking thoughtful. Everyone around them looked to each other, not really knowing what to say to the other man to ease the fear he might be feeling, but carefully hiding from them. Sileni was special to not just Sirius but to all of them. She not only saved them, but the Wizarding World too, from an evil that would have caused so much suffering and damage with two wars. She had sacrificed herself to save them nineteen years ago, now it was time to repay that favor.
"Get some rest Sirius, Mad-Eye and I will be on duty until dawn." Gideon told the younger wizard softly.
With a sigh, Sirius nods and gets up from the chair tiredly. 'Merlin, I feel like an old man,' he thought to himself as he moved up the stairs.
Coming to a stop at Sileni's door Sirius carefully peeked in to survey the room. Noting nothing has changed from the five or ten minutes he was gone, Sirius stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind him. With the potions Sileni was sleeping peacefully and deeply, looking almost as if she was dead.
'Like Sleeping Beauty,' Sirius mused with a grin.
Walking over to her, the wizard sat on the edge of the bed, taking Sileni's hand in his own and brushing a strand of hair with his other. Sileni sighed in her sleep, leaning her head against Sirius hand.
"Sirius," she muttered with content.
The said man felt his heart beat faster, wondering if he had heard right. Maybe this hiding out will bring out the emotions they knew both were holding back from each other. Not wanting to leave her side the wizard kicked off his shoes and lay down next to the woman. He held her close, and protectively, promising to not let any harm come near her. Not even blood kin.
A/N: Not that many due to the writer's block and lack of ideas for this story. Please review so I can get re-inspired again, thanks!