AUTHOR'S NOTE: POTENTIAL SPOILERS ARE HERE IN THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU POST SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS! THANK YOU!
Harry was exhausted when he got home from Hogwarts that evening. He did miss the castle, of course, but it was still sort of nice to be home. And it wasn't as if he couldn't see Ron and Hermione until the next year started! Hermione lived right here in London, and Sirius was in tight with the Weasley family. So he would have plenty of company. Then there would be the move, and after he started his second year, Phoebe would be born. Barbara slept over that night, too (she didn't need to get an overnight bag, because whatever she needed Sirius could just magic out of thin air).
The next morning, Harry was awakened by a giant black dog jumping on him. Harry gave the dog a hug and patted it on the head, then watched him transform into Sirius again. Sirius was still wearing his pajamas and a bathrobe, but the shower was running; Harry assumed Barbara must be in there.
"Let me take the shower first, she said." Sirius put his hands on his hips, pretending to look angry. "It will only take ten minutes, she said."
"What, did she want all the hot water or something?" Harry asked.
"This is a flat," said Sirius. "There's pretty much unlimited hot water. No, she just wanted time to do her makeup and stuff."
"It's a good thing we're getting a house," said Harry. "I don't think this one-shower thing is going to work out for very long, is it?"
"No…" said Sirius, but that was when the water shut off in the bathroom.
"WHERE ARE ALL THE TOWELS?!" Barbara yelled from the bathroom.
"THERE'S ONE IN THERE, DARLING!" Sirius yelled back.
"ONLY ONE! I NEED TWO!"
"WHY?!"
"FOR MY HAIR, YOU DUMBASS!"
"SORRY!" Sirius called. "THERE AREN'T ANY MORE LEFT!"
"Yes, there are," said Harry, giving him a look. "And even if there aren't, can't you just magic one up?"
"Hopefully she'll use the one towel in there for her hair and not her body."
"Sirius!"
"Fine," said Sirius, and he took off.
Harry rolled his eyes at them as he waited for the shower. Hopefully Sirius wouldn't be in there for very long. Until then, he settled his head back down on his pillow and dreamed of the new house in Hogsmeade. Things would be perfect.
…
That evening, Sirius, Barbara and Harry prepared to go to Reggie's Pizza Empire. Barbara wore a bright pink sleeveless maternity shirt with black tights and cute white flats (she had been wearing tights a lot more often, and heels only when she went to work). Harry wore his white button-down shirt, but with jeans instead of slacks. Sirius wore a pleather jacket, jeans and his imitation-dragonhide boots. (Sirius had confided in Harry and Barbara that he had never worn anything actually made from animals.)
When they were seated, Sirius and Harry decided that they wanted to split the "Reggie", only they didn't want the vegetables on it, just the meat. Barbara got another chocolate-chip cookie pizza, although she said she'd have some of the "Reggie", too, so Phoebe wouldn't only be eating sweets.
It wasn't long before the pizzas came.
"You have quite an honor," they heard their waitress, Reba, saying.
"What is it?" Sirius said casually, looking down at the table as he sipped his drink.
The next voice Harry heard was a male's, in an American accent. He didn't recognize the region or dialect off the bat, since the only American dialect he was familiar with was a Southern drawl (from TV). But then, remembering who the only American in the place was, he knew who it must be…
"Well, it's customary for the 'Reggie' pizza to be delivered by Reggie himself, of course."
That was when Sirius looked up, and so did Harry, who felt his breath catch in his throat. He was sure he looked just as shocked as Reggie did, but he couldn't say a word. Luckily, Reggie could.
"Sirius?!" he cried, and at the same time—
"Regulus?!" Sirius blurted out in disbelief. They were just staring, both of them, as if the other had grown an extra head suddenly.
"Oh my God—Sirius!" Regulus said again. "And, can it be…Harry Potter?"
Harry noticed how Regulus said his name sort of like "Hairy Podder". He put a lot of emphasis on the hard a in "Harry", and even more on the double r.
"Yeah, that's me," said Harry, remembering how Regulus had been a Death Eater, and feeling somewhat nervous. But Sirius looked twice as nervous as Harry felt.
"You," said Sirius, face white as a shroud, standing up and pointing at Regulus, his finger shaking uncontrollably. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Now, Sirius," said Regulus, making a "calm-down" motion with his arms, "there's a simple explanation—"
But Sirius was leaning on the chair now, his hand over his heart. Everyone in the restaurant was staring.
"If I'm starting to see people back from the dead—that was, what did he call it, psychosis…" Sirius's hand was still over his heart, and his face was looking more panicked by the second. "I'm going to be locked up…again…a danger to myself and others…"
"Sirius!" Regulus said, looking a little panicked himself. "Calm down! You're not imagining me, I'm real!"
"Harry, you'd better call Dr. Stefansen," said Sirius, his voice trembling. "Or—hell—I might even need a real doctor!"
"What?" Harry jumped up, Barbara right behind him.
"Oh my God, Sirius, no—you aren't—are you having a heart attack?!" Regulus cried.
"If I was, would—would my chest be hurting?" Sirius said, looking alarmed. "And my arms?"
"Yes, they would!" Regulus shouted. "Hurry up, somebody call 911!"
"What's 911?!" said Barbara, who had been running to the phone.
"Sorry—I mean 999," Regulus said. "Dial a 7 first, that's how the phone works—Sirius!"
"No!" Harry screamed, for that was when Sirius blacked out. Looking around the restaurant, knowing he couldn't wait for the paramedics, he cried, "Is there a doctor in the house?!"
"Yes!" said a woman at a nearby table, standing up. "My date here has been a rich doctor for over thirty years!"
"Um…honey?" said the man she was with. "I…I'm actually not a doctor. I just said that to impress you."
"WHAT?!" the woman screeched, slapping him with her purse. "You asshole!"
Harry couldn't focus on them right now. He leaned down next to Sirius, tears starting in his eyes. The room was spinning; he could feel his entire world falling apart at the seams. That's how it would be without Sirius in it…
Barbara was over by the bar, using the phone there to call an ambulance. Regulus was giving Sirius CPR. Harry dropped to his knees by Sirius.
"Listen, Harry, you go outside and wait for the ambulance, all right?" said Regulus. "I'll keep trying to resuscitate him."
Harry could only nod. As soon as Barbara got off the phone with the 999 operator, she ran to Sirius and held his head in her hands, silent tears streaming down her cheeks, as Regulus tried his best to pump life back into his brother. Harry ran outside into the warm summer night air. He couldn't watch it anymore.
It wasn't long before the flashing lights and sirens announced the ambulance's arrival. The cops were there, too, and firetrucks. Harry had always liked firetrucks as a little boy. But when he saw the paramedics rush into the building with all their equipment and a stretcher, he just felt hot tears leaking out of his eyes, staining his glasses. One of the cops walked up to him.
"There, there," he said, taking Harry into his arms. "It's going to be all right, son."
"No it isn't…" Harry's voice broke. "That was my godfather."
"They'll save him, son, you'll see," said the police officer.
"You're—you're just saying that." Harry was sobbing by now. He just couldn't help it.
"Harry." It was Regulus Black. "I'm going to ride in the ambulance with Sirius, okay? Barbara is going to drive you to the hospital."
Even though he barely took in what Regulus was saying, Harry nodded, not letting go of the police officer. Regulus set his hand on Harry's shoulder for a split second, then left. The paramedics came out of the restaurant soon after, carrying a stretcher, which Harry knew had Sirius on it, but he couldn't look. There was no way he would want to see Sirius like that, and Sirius wouldn't want Harry to see him like that.
Then the cop left Harry, and Harry felt a warm, soft hand slip into his.
"Come on, honey," Barbara said softly, gently pulling Harry along to the red Ford Fiesta, waiting close by in the parking lot. The flashing lights and sirens died away, although everything seemed strangely dulled and muted.
Harry cried all the way to the emergency room.