Black Library

Inus firetalked to Sirius. "I need to see your library."

"Those books are Dark Magic,"said Sirius.

"I teach Defence Against Dark Arts," said Inus. "I can handle I few biting and spitting books. Please, open the floo and let me through."

Sirius opened the secured floo and Inus arrived in Sirius's living room. Sirius pointed toward the kitchen. "Kreacher made tea."

"Are the cucumber sandwiches poisoned?" asked Inus.

"Never," said Kreacher. "I makes good food for beastie-loving master."

"Eat; enjoy He says nasty words, but he wouldn't lift a finger to hurt his proper master. Hurts his house elf pride." Sirius ate a finger sandwich then another and drank some tea. "Why the sudden interest in my father's books?"

"Lord Voldemort called on Severus last night, meaning he has learned to do magic in a host body. All he could do when he possessed me was yell," Inus explained.

"He did magic while he was in your body. When he raised his wand, I thought he was going to AK Remus and I." Sirius looked down at his plate. "I acted out of instinct. Sorry."

"In Potter's body, he was biding his time. If you hadn't killed him, he would have played Harry Potter until he established himself as Minister of Magic." Inus squirmed a bit because he didn't want Sirius to think he was angry at him or held a grudge. Sirius had done what needed doing. "Sirius, you saved yourself and Remus from Voldemort's wand. I don't blame you. All I am saying is he found another body he can do magic from and he will just find another if we kill his present body. We need to stop him from going from body to body. I hope I can find something in your books that helps."

"My books are your books," Sirius said. "Harry, can he do magic?"

Inus nodded.

Sirius put down his teacup. "I need to check your arms."

"He didn't mark me," said Inus. "He was going to, but I distracted him. He used curio on me for causing the distraction, but I left unmarked."

"Harry, please, remove your shirt."

Inus took off his shirt. He had the burn marks from where Harry's hands had burnt his flesh, fading scars from where the gillyweed created gills, but no new marks. "See. No dark mark, only my previous scars. I'm not going to win any beauty pageants."

"You can put your shirt on."

Inus put his shirt on and rebuttoned it. "It's OK. After Peter, you have a right to your paranoia."

"Harry, even if he marked you, you would tell him nothing. I just need to know if you can be called by him. He killed both your parents. Quirrell's memories or not, you still have Harry's soul."

"I died, went to Heaven and returned to this body. I'm grounded in this body. It has a bad leg, scarred and isn't as young as my original, but I'm alive. I thank the Goddess and the Horned God for the second chance."

"If I didn't maul your body, the dementors could have kissed it and you could have returned to your own body." Sirius cried; a few tears ran down his cheeks. In his mind's eye and nose, Sirius was seeing and smelling Harry's dead body, again. No color and a pallet of odors; Sirius was remembering being a dog. "It's all my fault."

"You saved yourself and Remus from Voldemort's wand." Inus hugged Sirius. "You did good. I thought a house elf is free if you give them clothes and Kreacher picks up your laundry."

"I can't hand him laundry," said Sirius. "He can pick up my laundry and wash it because I'm not giving him clothes. Elf magic is strange."

"All magic is strange," Inus declared.

"Harry, you're alive because of strange and wonderful magic."

"My parents died due to magic." Inus looked at his hands. "They didn't die in a car accident like my aunt and uncle told me. Maybe, Lord Voldemort is right we should use our magic to kill the muggles, except for the few we take home as slaves."

"You don't think that."

"No, but we can do so much more than they teach in Hogwarts. I teach Dark Arts. The itinerary calls it Defence Against Dark Arts to make it all proper, but let's not kid ourselves: a counter-jinx is still a jinx. It's easy to get jaded." Inus looked at his hands. "Here I am looking at hands that aren't mine. You should be talking to a fifteen year old boy."

"Life isn't fair. My brother, the perfect pureblood twit, was killed by Voldemort, my best friend and his wife are dead, and I was in prison for eleven years for a crime I didn't commit. Not to mention, the love of my life is a werewolf. Harry, you can't stand in the shit all day. You have to move on to newer shit."

Inus laughed.

"You know what I mean."

Inus hopped over to Sirius and hugged him. "Thank you for the food. I have a library to explore."

Sirius handed Inus his crutches. "Good luck. Watch out for biting books."