Author's Note

Okay, so, here's another chapter for you all! It doesn't really advance the plot much, but it does clarify everything that happened in the last chapter. In Chapter 12 we'll be back at Hogwarts, and things are going to get rolling!

However, as I said in the my author's note for the last chapter, I'll be really busy the next few days. I'm thinking I'll definitely not be able to update tomorrow, but probably Friday night or Saturday afternoon I'll be posting Chapter 12. Stay tuned!

Also, I only got one review for the last chapter :( ( but thank you QueenAnnneMagic! I so appreciate it!).

My point is: please review! It doesn't have to be long or deep, just a quick comment! (Although if any one has some constructive criticism or suggestions, I would L-O-V-E to hear it!). Anyway, it would mean the world to me if you reviewed! Thanks so much!

So yes, there it is. Another super long author's note. Sorry for begging for reviews. (What can I say? I'm a teenager, I need reassurance I guess! LOL!)

Anyway, read, enjoy, review! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own HP!

11. Relief

A door on one side of the living room was suddenly flung open, causing all of us to jump. Sirius reacted immediately, reaching for his wand and moving in front of me defensively in one fluid motion. For a terrible second, I was certain that somehow, my father had followed us and was about to finish what he'd started at the manor.

To my utter relief, though, I peered around Sirius's broad shoulder and realized that not my father, but James Potter was standing in the doorway, and I could see two older people a little bit behind him.

"Lily!" James said breathlessly, his expression going from troubled to relieved to ecstatic in a matter of milliseconds. "Sirius! Addy! I thought you were going to apparate into the study! Bloody hell, you had us all terrified!"

He and the other two people filed into the room as Sirius lowered his wand and slumped back against the couch, after casting a quick glance towards me. Lily was the one to speak, answering James in a surprisingly civil tone. Either she was finally warming up to Potter, or she was too relieved herself to care.

"Yeah, I know. But, I panicked, and somehow we ended up in the living room. Honestly, I'm just thankful I didn't splice every single one of us." she ran a hand through her hair, and stood up, smiling at the two older people who I had now deduced to be Mr. and Mrs. Potter. I figured this must be their house.

Sirius and I stood as well, and Lily and James both came over and hugged me tightly. "I'm so glad you're safe!" said Lily, grinning broadly at me. "We were all so scared, Addy!"

"We really were," James told me, casting a sideways glance at Sirius, who hadn't yet left my side. "I can't believe you made it out of there! Must have been a madhouse." He shook his head, almost in admiration. "I can only imagine… Oh, that's my Mum and Dad!" he told me, gesturing towards his parents, who waved and smiled at me.

"We've heard so much about you, dear." said Mrs. Potter, coming forward now. "And I can only imagine how traumatic this must be for you. How about we all head into the kitchen and have some tea?"

I sat in the Potters' cozy kitchen, a mug of peppermint tea in front of me and Lily and Sirius on either side. It was almost surreal, to be sitting in this warm, inviting room, while only minutes before, I had been absolutely convinced that I was going to die.

"So let me get this straight," I said, having just been filled in on the entire string of events that had lead up to this point by Lily, James, and Sirius. "Sirius hid in the forest outside the manor, and then snuck inside while the ceremony was going on. Then he casted the blinding spell, grabbed me, we jumped into the fireplace, were transported to an abandoned shack where Lily was waiting, at which point Lily apparated all three of us here, where the Potters were waiting, to make sure they wouldn't be able to follow us."

James nodded approvingly. "That's the gist of it. Honestly, I'm a bit shocked everything worked out so well. Nothing we plan ever goes smoothly!"

Sirius shot his best friend a dark look. "I wouldn't exactly say that things went smoothly. Adeline has been through her fair share of near death-experiences in the last few hours."

I blinked a few times, vaguely surprised that Sirius was being so defensive, especially to his best friend, but Lily spoke before I could say anything. "Come on, Sirius. What James means is that we're all safe and alive and everything worked out in the end. Right James?"

A bit of a silence enveloped the room as everyone, James included, stared at Lily, slack-jawed. Had Lily really just defended James Potter?

James, for his part, looked as though he had just won the lottery. "Lily—" he began enthusiastically, only to be cut off by Mrs. Potter, who hopped up from her chair and began clearing away our empty mugs.

"Well, it's very, very late, and I'm sure everyone is absolutely exhausted. Girls, you can stay in the guestroom. Lily, a trunk with some clothes from your house has already been brought up there. And, Adeline, dear…" she trailed off, and I felt my cheeks flush and my stomach flip-flop with the sudden realization that now, I had virtually nothing. No money, no family, and not even any clothes besides what I had brought with me to Hogwarts.

"Adeline can borrow some of my clothes." Lily put in quickly, standing and pulling me up with her. I breathed an inward sigh of relief. Maybe I did have a family of sorts after all.

"Yes!" said Mrs. Potter, shooting Lily a grateful glance. "And we'll arrange that some of Adeline's clothes from Hogwarts be dropped off here tomorrow. Good girls." She turned to Sirius and James now, the latter of which was still staring at Lily with a look of complete admiration on his face. "Now then, you boys go upstairs to your room. It's time for bed. Off you go!" she shooed the boys away, although they both lingered in the kitchen long enough to make sure that Lily and I were following after saying our 'good night's and 'thank you's to the Potters.

Lily dragged me up the stairs and into the Potters' guest room before the boys had a chance to say a word, shutting the door behind us. "Wow." she said, flopping onto one of the two twin-sized beds that stood on opposite sides of the room. "This was the craziest day ever." she looked over at me, worry etched all over her face as she pulled me down onto the bed next to her and looked at me seriously. "But, good Merlin, Addy, how are you? You've been so incredibly quiet!"

I sighed, not exactly knowing how to answer. "I'm good." I said after a moment. "Tired. Still reeling from the shock a bit, I suppose. And more than a little worried about the future. But overall, well, I just can't even tell you how thankful I am that you all saved me. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if—"

"That doesn't matter." said Lily quickly, giving me a sympathetic smile and squeezing my hand gently. "You're safe now. That's what's important. And besides, you don't have to worry about the future. You'll be staying at my house for the rest of the holidays. And the ministry has already been here at the Potters as well as at my house, and all the protective spells in the entire world are in place. There is zero chance of anyone being able to track you down."

I breathed a sigh of relief, even as the reminder that people were trying to find me and probably kill me sent a shiver down my spine. At least Lily wasn't trying to sugar coat things; for that I was extremely grateful.

"And…" she went on, "I know Dumbledore well have a great deal to say to you once we return to Hogwarts. Hopefully apologize for sending you into that madness in the first place."

"It was my choice." I said, defending the wise old wizard who had been against the plan in the first place. "I was naïve to think my family would just leave me be after everything that's happened."

Lily nodded. "All the same, I'm sure he feels terrible. We hardly had time to contact him before Sirius was sneaking into your family's house and blinding the lot of them. Mr. and Mrs. Potter are both aurors, if you didn't know. The plan was mostly theirs."

"One thing I don't understand," I said, looking at Lily curiously. "is how you found out that I was to be inducted tonight in the first place. Who told you?"

"Well," said Lily, yawning widely as she stood up and grabbed what I assumed to be a toiletry bag out of her trunk at the foot of the bed. "Regulus. Sirius's brother. He sent word earlier this evening. Sent Sirius into a panic like you wouldn't believe. He was brilliant today. There really isn't any other word for it. If not for him, you would probably be a sworn death eater by now."

I let these words sink in for a moment. Sirius had been acting oddly lately, for sure. Maybe all of us weren't quite ourselves, after all the drama the night had held, and the exhaustion that no doubt everyone was feeling. I couldn't really think of another reason to explain his behavior, besides…

"I said it once, I'll say it again. Sirius Black fancies you." Lily said over her shoulder as she walked towards the door and presumably to the bathroom down the hallway. "He would die before he let something happen to you."

She let this comment hang in the air, leaving me alone in the guest room to ponder these thoughts. Not even a minute had passed, however, before Sirius himself poked his head into the room. When he saw me, he smiled that cocky smile of his. It was oddly relaxing to see that despite the late hour, he seemed to be feeling more his old self.

"Hey," He said, blinking. "How are you holding up?"

""Hi." I replied as I watched him walk into Lily and I's room and sit down on the bed next to me, occupying the space Lily had just left. "I'm fine."

"You're tough." He said with a smile that only seemed to widen as his gaze traveled from my eyes down to my neck.

I looked down too, perplexed, to find that I had been subconsciously holding on tightly to Sirius's necklace with my left hand. I blushed, not meeting his gaze, but didn't move my hand. The calming effect that Sirius's necklace, and really Sirius himself, had on me was all too welcome at this point.

Suddenly I remembered something that, in the excitement of the last hour, I had completely forgotten about. "I saw a Grim." I blurted out, not even sure why I was telling Sirius this. It sounded silly to my own ears. "In the forest, before the ceremony."

He was quiet for a moment, then I heard him emit a raspy chuckle and watched out of the corner of my eye as he leaned back on the bed and looked at me with a curious expression on his face. "That was not a grim, Addy. Though I can see how you would make that mistake."

I felt a little defensive, even if what he was saying made no sense at all. "How would you know what I saw?" I shot back, brow furrowed, finally looking over at him and meeting his gaze.

He was silent for another long moment before he sighed and looked at me seriously. "Because it was me." He said finally. "I'm an animagus, and when I transform I turn into a big dog. Kind of like… well, the grim. I have the disposition of a playful puppy though, I swear." He added, with a wink in my direction.

I just looked at him, slack-jawed, trying to decide whether he was joking, in which case I thought it was hardly appropriate given the situation, or if he was serious, in which case that was not only incredibly impressive but also totally illegal.

"Are you serious?" I finally managed to ask him.

He chuckled, and I immediately regretted my choice of words even before he said his trademark line: "I'm always Sirius."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he sat up, still grinning. "But really, I'm telling the truth. All of us marauders can turn into animals. That's where the nicknames come from. You know, "Padfoot", like a dog. James is a stag."

I was shocked, although this was certainly not the most surprising thing that had happened to me in the past twenty-four hours. Finally, I recovered myself enough to ask the other thing that was bugging me, even after Lily had clarified.

"Did Regulus really tell you about the induction ceremony?" I asked skeptically, changing the subject away from Sirius and his law-breaking friends.

Honestly, I was shocked that Regulus would try to help Sirius in any way, especially when it came to undermining his family loyalties. Even though Regulus was a year younger than we were, from what I remembered of him since the last time we had spoken a year prior, he was near-obsessed with pure blood and the dark side.

"I'm just as surprised as you are." said Sirius, holding up both hands in an expression of confusion. "But yes, he owled me earlier this evening, saying that you were going to become a death eater tonight at midnight. I suppose giving me the opportunity to save you, though I have no idea why he would choose now of all times to do something brotherly. We hate each other."

I nodded, though I had a vague idea of what might have possessed the younger Black brother to inform Sirius of my situation. Regulus wasn't my favorite person, but we had played often enough together as children, and had gotten along quite well. I expect our parents had even hoped we would get married one day and extend the pure-blood line. However, Regulus had been firm in his pure-blood supremacist beliefs, practically a carbon-copy of his father. Regardless though, he was a surprisingly nice person, and he had always been respectful of my slightly less enthusiastic support of our parents' lifestyle.

Maybe Regulus had decided that I ought to get a choice in whether or not I became a death eater, and had informed his brother so that I might not have to meet a fate I didn't wish for. He must have known Sirius and I were friends, otherwise he would never have sent word to his brother.

But, regardless of the reason, I was insanely grateful to Regulus for this random act of compassion towards me, and to an extent, his brother. I owed him, that was for sure.

"I don't really care why he told me though." said Sirius, half to himself. "just that he did. I'm grateful for it."

I smiled at Sirius, then yawned widely. A second later he did the same, and we both laughed, just two teenagers again, no responsibilities or worries or threats lurking behind the corner.

"Too bad you two are going to Lily's house tomorrow." Sirius said as he hopped off the bed and started for the door. "It would have been fun to have you here. Prongs has been practically inconsolable these past few days without his daily dose of Lily."

"Holiday will be over soon enough." I said, wanting to believe it. I was starting to wonder how I would hold up without seeing Sirius for an entire week. I walked over to where he was standing by the door and gave him a quick hug, inhaling deeply, and—I hoped—inconspicuously, wanting to memorize the smell of him. Kind of like rain, with butter-beer mixed in, and chocolate. "Night, Black." I said, letting my arms drop to my sides and giving him a small smile. "Thank you. So much. For everything."

"Good night, Adeline. And no need to thank me. I'll always be there to protect you." Those big blue eyes seemed to bore into my green ones for a split second, before he flashed that trademark grin of his and was gone.