Mixed POV:
In Memoriam
The image of Helena's memorial lion swirled in his mind, over and over. The angry rage he had been feeling was ripped from his mental priorities by the flash of a flame haired girl turning away from the edge of the lake. Lily. He stopped abruptly as he watched the small fragment of parchment floating away from where she had dropped it.
She looked so devastated as she walked back towards the castle that, just for a second, a terrible though flared across his mind unbidden. What if she couldn't deal with it all? What if she couldn't live without her best friend? What if it was...a -
He knew it was wrong, a violation of privacy. But since when did he give a flying Fire Whiskey about rules? He was Sirius Black for Merlin's sake.
There was a dull pounding in his ears; the sound of heavy footfalls. He realised he was running.
They said that curiosity killed the cat, but what about the dog? He didn't want to know, but he had to find out what the note said, for better or worse. He raced back around to the near side of the lake and, after taking a brief scan of the landscape to check for other students, waded into the chilly water.
Thankfully the parchment hadn't sunk or floated out too far, the dark water only reached knee depth before he found himself staring down at the small white scrap of parchment, perfectly folded, as per usual from Lily Evans.
Doubt crept into his conscience along with burning curiosity which won out eventually. As he bent to pluck the parchment from the surface, the water rippled away from his robes disturbing the glassy peace of the lake. As he straightened, however, he realised he was no longer alone.
A distorted reflection caught his eye and he gasped as it suddenly smashed to pieces. Why? Because he had fallen to his knees, shock crashing through his body leaving him winded.
Helena.
The word shot like an arrow through his heart, both pain and something else piercing him.
Helena.
This time the though galvanised his body and he whipped his now dripping hair off his face, turned and launched himself from the water in pursuit of the partially obscured figure running towards the Forbidden Forest.
"Lena" He called, not too loudly in case somebody heard him.
She didn't stop.
"Helena!" He struggled to keep her in his line of vision as she weaved through the sparse trees marking the edge of the forest.
She was gone. Urgency spurred him on, lungs burning, air tearing in and out. How could she outrun him? She was like lightning.
Luckily as he rounded a huge trunk he caught sight of her again.
"Princess!" He shouted, this time so desperate he didn't care who heard him now.
She stopped immediately.
"Princess" He repeated "Where - have you - been?" He could barely get the words past his harsh breathing. He leaned against the trunk of the nearest tree for support, both physical and mental.
She didn't answer immediately, nor did she turn around. "I-" she faltered.
He waited. He knew not to push and he himself needed time to sort through his jumbled thoughts. Relief and hope wrestled with fear inside him and he didn't trust himself to speak until she explained herself - he feared he might blurt something stupid otherwise.
Seconds ticked by and still there was silence. Eventually she sighed and began again. "I'm not sure what happened after I was kidnapped so don't ask me to explain. I'm not protecting anyone and I don't want to talk about it."
Sirius approached her slowly. He didn't touch her, just stood behind her. He didn't want her to bolt. "If you ever change your mind about that, you know that I'm always here. Are you hurt?"
"No."
Relief. He slowly lowered his head until it was resting on her shoulder, his face in her hair. He breathed in deeply and let out a shuddering sigh. "I've missed you so much" He whispered.
The weight of his head was comforting and his mere presence filled her with calm. She was home.
"I've missed you so much" Sirius whispered in her ear.
Just hearing him say that almost sent her over the edge of her self- imposed calm, she wanted to breakdown and sob finally knowing she was safe. Well, as safe as she could be considering the threat they were under. Standing here with Sirius this close, however, danger seemed to melt away, all sense of urgency seeping from her mind.
His arms wrapped around her body and he hugged her tightly silently telling her how much he had missed her too.
"Turn around"
She took a deep, steadying breath before complying with his request, however, she kept her eyes closed, afraid that if she opened them he would disappear and she would blink and find herself alone in the dark once again.
"Look at me, Lena, please. I need to make sure – I need this"
It was the fact that his voice sounded like it would break that made her open her eyes. She kept her gaze lowered however, staring straight at his chest. He was wearing black mourning robes. She could tell they were expensive, she could see every fibre expertly woven together.
She inhaled sharply as she realised he smelled very different to the last time she had seen him. Of course he still carried the unmistakeable bouquet of clean linen, but there were subtle nuances to his personal scent now. She could almost visualise his scent as a musical score in her mind; the tone shifting from the bitter, acridity of fear to the fragrant, vanilla-like smell of relief. Odd.
The various smells were so potent that she could taste them; in fact, she was so aware of him on every sensory level, it was as if all of his senses had been blown wide open and her newfound hypersensitivity allowed her to experience him as she never had before.
She was half afraid of what she might see if she looked up. Her acute eyesight would miss nothing, and he wouldn't be blind or stupid enough not to notice that her face looked different.
"Please"
She slowly dragged her eyes up to meet his.
Sirius had expected something to be different, but not this, never this. This change was inexplicable, yet blindingly obvious to him. Her face was unchanged yet completely new. He struggled to peg exactly how, but he just knew. Her face was pale, it always had been, but there was a subtle iridescence to it now making her glow slightly in the dusky shadows of the trees. Her eyes were still the same shade of cobalt blue with their icy flecks but there was a new depth to them, like she was carrying a thousand year old secret that was crushing her soul. It scared him.
She was the same, but she was more beautiful - if that were possible - superficially perfect.
The only outward sign Sirius gave of shock was a twinge of the muscle in his jaw, and Helena was highly grateful that he had remained calm. Someone needed to be.
"What-" Sirius began.
"I-I don't know. I woke up and I looked in a puddle and – well – I looked like...this."
Sirius let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and briefly closed his eyes.
"How can you possibly have been taken by someone, and come back looking...better than when you left?"
Helena tensed as she sensed his anger begin to rise. He released her and began to pace in front of her.
"I don't know."
"I never gave up looking for you - hoping -" his words were tangled, "hoping that I would find you. You don't know how much I've missed you!" He stopped pacing and stood before her. "It felt like someone had come along and ripped my chest open." He paused. "It hurt, so much, right here" He thumped his left pectoral with a fist. Right over where his heart was.
Her own chest tightened.
He drew closer. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" He demanded. His stormy grey eyes blazed with wild desperation as he inched closer.
"I think-" Helena could hear his pulse beating heavily in her ears, taste his desire.
He cut her off mid thought with his lips on hers. She reacted immediately, kissing him back with everything she had. His tongue slid across her lips, warm and soft. She opened her mouth to give him access and his tongue swept into her mouth as his arms surrounded her. With the sensations of his hands on her body and the onslaught of passion to her senses she was almost overwhelmed. She could feel the blood rushing around his body, hear it, smell it...taste it.
Taste it.
Oh dear Merlin.
Her head jerked away from his as a sharp pain engulfed her mouth. She ran her tongue over her teeth but nothing had changed except a dull throbbing in her incisors.
Helena glanced at Sirius in time to see him flick his tongue over his bottom lip which she saw had two small ruby red droplets of blood glistening on it.
Suddenly, the reason why she had come back to Hogwarts slammed into her body, like someone throwing a bucket of icy water all over her, everything became completely clear.
"Sirius, there's something I need to tell you-"
She didn't know what she was going to say. She imagined the reaction she would get if she said: "Oh, by the way, Sirius, there's someone at school who's out to get you but I don't know who." She reasoned that it would sound pretty stupid considering half the school suspected the other of Death Eater activity at the moment so it would be nothing new. No, she needed to do some sleuthing before she told her friends, and she needed to be quick about it as time was of the essence. An attack could occur at any time.
"Later" He said jubilantly. He seemed to have recovered sufficiently because he grabbed her hand and steered her towards the castle. "We need to tell everyone! Come on!"
"No!" She barked. Her resolve softened as she saw his grin fade. "What I mean is, let's keep this between just you and me for the moment. I need some head space and I can't deal with attention right now. Ok? Please."
She couldn't deal with more people she cared about being put in danger. The less people that knew, the better.
"Anything. Anything you want. Look, why don't I sneak you up to my dorm? James' is in the Heads' dorm, Remmie's out tonight," he winked, "and Pete's off Merlin knows where doing Merlin knows what...he's always busy these days."
"Erm..."
He knew she was wavering.
"You can wear Jamsie's invisibility cloak if you like?"
"Ok, but-" She acquiesced.
"Let's go then. There's a secret passageway just by the lake that should do nicely..."
Helena's mind switched off from Sirius' cheerful ramblings as he towed her out of the Forbidden Forest into the hazy twilight of the grounds, her thoughts now returning to the strange incident involving Sirius' blood and the even more terrible flashes of memory from her dark prison.
A/N: Please review, I know it's been a long time but I love to know what you guys all think!
