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Flashback

How It Should've Been

Chapter 7: I Can't, But We Could

It had been two days since Alex had left and for Sirius they had been hell. Not because he couldn't take care of Harry on his own but because while they weren't friendly to one another he got used to having another person around the house, and now with no one else around he was left to his thoughts which always managed to go back to Lily and James and how Harry wouldn't have them in the future to go to.

Elsewhere…

Alex was exchanging blows with another person. Well more like Alex was hitting him as he tried to fight back. It finally got to a point where Alex had enough and after catching a punch she yanked on the man's arm pulling him forward while at the same time bringing her right arm forward in a blast of air that sent him flying back over ten feet into a pillar, where he landed in a heap on the ground. He moved slightly, rolling on to his hands and knees. Alex walked over to him, where she crouched in front of him and grabbed the front of his shirt pushing him into a sitting position.

"Tell me!" She demanded angrily.

"I can't he'll find me!" The man cried.

"You should be more worried about me!" Alex countered, eyes flashing with power.

"Alright! Alright! Talk to Hecate! She would know!" The man stammered, giving in trying to get out of harm's way.

"Thanks." Alex said but before she stood she punched him in the face effectively knocking him out before standing and disappearing in electricity.

She reappeared in front of Jake.

"He tell you anything?"

"Only the same that the last two rogues have. That his leader would find him and to talk to Hecate." She informed him.

"Well that's not helpful, since no one knows where she is!" Jake exclaimed.

"Well you're her son maybe you should pray to her?" Alex suggested.

"You think I haven't tried that? She didn't answer, I even managed to ask Athena, no one's seen Hecate in the weeks." Jake explained.

"About the same time the child went missing?" Alex inquired.

"I'm not sure the exact date." Jake remarked not really paying attention. A few seconds later he realized what she said and his head shot up. "You don't think?" He asked drawing Alex's attention from a notebook.

"Anything's possible."


After Alex left the study she went straight to the ministry but rather than going in the entrance like a wizard or witch might, Alex appeared in an empty storage room. Opening the door, she exited the room before looking around and seeing what department she wound up in. Department of Magical Transport, she read from the nearest sign. Not the one she was looking for.

She went the way she guessed the lifts were based on the direction of traffic flow and eventually found them. Checking the floor signs, she entered a lift. When she went to go press the button for the correct level she was surprised to see there were none.

"What the hell is that?" She muttered looking at the odd lever level selector. It took her a second or two before figuring out how to properly work the thing but once she did she selected the correct floor and pulled the gate down as the lift started to go down.

Not long later a voice called "Level Two." Alex exited the lift and made her way in the direction she believed would take her where she needed to go. When she turned left around a corner she collided dead set with another woman, causing the woman to drop the file she was carrying. The woman paid no heed to the fact that she dropped something and more to Alex.

"Who are you?" She demanded obviously not thrilled that Alex was neither wearing robes nor the fact that she didn't have a visitor's pass.

"I'm somebody that's looking for somebody else." Alex replied cryptically. The woman's eyes narrowed and Alex spotted hand movement out of the corner of her eye, the woman was now holding a wand that Alex knew she wasn't holding a second ago.

"You plan to curse me for looking for someone?" Alex remarked. The woman's eyes widened slightly, barely but just enough for Alex to notice.

"If you don't tell me who you are I just might." The woman threatened, obviously not in the joking mood.

Alex had a small grin on her face as she chuckled slightly. "Tell you what? Why don't you take me to Amelia Bones and I just might?" Alex offered.

The woman clearly wasn't having it. "How about I arrest you and if I see her I'll pass on a message?" The woman countered.

Alex's grin never left her face. "I'll think I'll pass on the arresting part but if you see tell her I'm looking for an ex-boyfriend of hers, yeah?" Alex told her. The woman's fingers gripped her wand tighter.

"You might want to make that a little more specific, you won't get another message." The woman warned.

"Fine. Tell her I'm looking for the person she choose her family over. She'll know who I'm talking about." Alex retorted. The woman's mouth opened slightly but she didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Come with me." She demanded before waving her wand causing the forgotten file to fly into her hand as she started walking back the direction she came with Alex following. They entered a department where people were milling around all doing different things. As they approached a door Alex saw the name on it.

"Oh, you're taking me to her, fantastic." She remarked as the woman opened the door and walked straight over to the opposite side of the desk and setting the file down. The office was empty aside from them. She flicked her wand and the door closed behind Alex.

"What do you want?" The woman demanded. Alex looked at the woman before chuckling slightly.

"I'll admit you were good. I didn't suspect it was it you… until you looked me directly in the eye. But maybe that's because I have this?" Alex suggested before she pulled something out of the inside pocket of her leather jacket and threw it on the desk.

Amelia's eyes flicked down to it, before she picked it up and really looked at it and flipped it over. Written on the back was, To our future together! You're not getting rid of me that easily Black. They were much younger in the picture but you could still see who it was.

"Where did you get this?" She demanded when she looked back up at Alex again.

"Sirius's study. He used to have it on his desk when we were in New Zealand but now it's home is a book. A book he knew I would look in." Alex answered. Amelia's jaw clenched slightly at the word 'we'.

"What'd you mean?"

"I'm sure you have a place too. A spot your niece knows to check if something went wrong or you thought something would. Sirius's is a certain book." Alex answered. Her answer caused Amelia's eyes to widen, she put the pieces together.

"What happened to Sirius?" She asked her voice rose an octave.

"I don't know." Alex admitted with a shrug. Amelia went to say something but Alex pulled another paper out of her pocket and reached forward setting on the desk. Amelia frowned slightly before she picked up the paper and read it. Once she finished she set it down.

"Why bring this to me?" She questioned curiously.

"Because I may not know, and I may not be able to find him on my own but then again I don't have to. I just need someone who can. And who better than the person that knows him better than anyone."

"You seem like someone that would know him pretty damn well. And just from knowing you for ten minutes I know that you are not someone to be underestimated. So again, I will ask, why bring this to me? We broke up 15 years ago. That's a helluva long time ago." Amelia inquired clearly skeptical.

"Maybe it is... I may have been around Sirius a lot in the past 15 years." Alex paused when she saw Amelia's face sour, before she had the chance to hide it and look down. "But there are somethings that even time doesn't change." Alex continued causing Amelia to look up. "And I know enough about your split to know that it was more about your obligations than it was about each other. So… you gonna help me or not?"

"This letter was written in Sirius's handwriting, but a lot of this doesn't sound like him. He wouldn't ever use the phrase 'my boy'. He would never suddenly have a realization like that unless it's about a girl, and I have no idea what this signature is. Only thing I don't get is the aunt part, who is that?" Amelia asked as she looked up from the paper.

"Well considering who the letter is from, my guess is that they're referring to Petunia Dursley but Sirius no matter what, would never send him there. But he would never call me aunt in this context, he would say Alex."

"And what relation do you have to Harry?" Amelia inquired. Alex stood before picking up the picture and the letter before sticking it her pocket and reaching over the desk to grab Amelia's forearm before they disappeared in arcs of electricity.

They appeared in Sirius's study back at the house where Amelia landed on his chair and Alex was standing across the desk.

"I'm his aunt." Alex said as she turned to close the study door, not sure if Harry was still here.

"Where the hell are we?" Amelia demanded now standing.

"The study in the Potter Vacation Home in Britain where we've been living for the past month. Now as for your next question, we are here because no offense but I don't trust saying private information about family relations in public. Now for the other question I know you have. I'm Lily's younger sister, yes, she had one. I just wasn't widely known for various reasons and no Sirius did not lie to you, he didn't know either, not until the day after he left Britain." She answered as she moved back over to the desk and placed the letter and the picture back down. "Flip over the letter. That's what I know so far." Alex told her as she did as Alex said and flipped it over.

"Dumbledore." Amelia mumbled taking this new information in.

"Yea. Not that big of a shock to be honest." Alex sighed.

"But why write it like that unless he was resisting something? He put the picture in the book!" Amelia exclaimed.

"So?" Alex asked not seeing how the two connected.

"Whatever happened, he obviously managed to get the picture in the book for you to be able to get to me. So, he did it knowing if we worked together we could find him." She concluded.


Somewhere Unknown

Sirius was slamming his palm into a wall. The room he was in had navy blue walls. There was a chandler hanging from the middle of the room and it was a nice room except for the fact that he wasn't willingly there.

"You're not going to get away with this!" He shouted but no one heard him. Knowing it was no use, he turned around and slide his back down the wall until he was sitting on the ground with his head resting against the wall. All he could do was wait.

Hogwarts

Harry returned to Hogwarts about twenty minutes after he left and he was just in time to make it to his first class of the day. When he entered the class, he looked around the classroom before taking a seat next to Hermione.

"Where have you been?" She asked looking at him when he sat down.

"Later." He assured her as the class began.

So, another chapter down and more of the past and present is revealed. Hope you enjoyed, and Happy Reading! -DS