Chapter Title from "Learn to Fly" by Foo Fighters

"How about this one, Daddy?" Ben pointed to his Knight and looked back to Sirius for confirmation before directing it to its intended square. It was a cloudy Saturday morning, and they were enjoying a game of chess while Colleen took Remus and Tonks out to the village to begin looking at nursery possibilities. The couple had wanted a distraction from the risks they were about to take that evening, and Colleen had quickly stepped in to help.

Sirius glanced across the table at Severus, but the man was unreadable as always, elbows on the table, hands folded in front of his face, black eyes darting between the silver pieces.

"I don't know, Benji," Sirius mused aloud. "If we move there that puts your Queen at risk, see? We need to keep her protected. Let's move this one instead." Sirius held Ben's hand over a Bishop and moved it to take one of Severus's black-crested pawns.

"Got 'em!" Ben said with a grin. Sirius ruffled the boy's light brown hair affectionately as Severus still swooped in to take the white-crested Queen, sacrificing his Rook to Ben and Sirius's Knight.

"Come on, now, Severus, he's not even five!" Sirius protested.

"Yes, but you are, and you should have known I would take the Queen," Snape remarked triumphantly.

Sirius sighed and moved the Knight to take out Severus's Rook rather anti-climatically.

"We'll go after his Queen next," Sirius muttered in Ben's ear.

Right about that time Rhiannon entered into the parlor, slapping The Daily Prophet down beside the chess board before taking a seat on the piano bench. It was an old, dusty relic that had come with the house, woefully out of tune, and since Severus was the only one who could even begin to play it, it continued to be a mere perch for chess match observers. Rhiannon had thrown on one of Colleen's Muggle concert t-shirts instead of her usual flowing gowns, having just awakened from a late slumber. Professor Burbage's death had hit her hard. She'd spent a lot of time asleep lately and was noticeably subdued even when awake.

"It appears your time for bragging has come to an end, Sirius," Rhiannon said, pointing to the bottom left corner of the back page. "We've both been bested for that Number One spot."

"The Life and Times of Albus Dumbledore," Sirius read aloud. "By...ugh. Rita Skeeter. I bet that's quite the load of rubbish."

"Probably should get Lupin to pick up a copy for us nonetheless," Snape suggested. "We need to know all the 'facts' that may be circulating out there, no matter how preposterous." He stood from the chess table and gave Ben a stiff pat on the back.

"Nice game thus far, Benjamin Black. We'll finish tomorrow, all right?"

"Yes, Professor Snape," Ben replied. Colleen had insisted he address the Snapes formally in preparation for his future Hogwarts years. She didn't want their unconventional living arrangement to make him a target at school down the road.

Colleen already worried enough about Ben being Muggleborn, the attention that would inevitably come with being adopted by the notorious Sirius Black, and snide comments that may come from Ben's extended family on his biological father's side. Ben himself was descended from the squib daughter of the Middlesworth family, who remained a threat in their lives. His grandmother had used the boy to reconnect with her magical relatives late last winter and had attempted to take him from Colleen once she'd learned of her engagement to Sirius. Having been off with Dumbledore hunting Horcruxes at the time, Sirius was unable to rescue him, so Severus had stepped in at Rhiannon's request. But the Middlesworths had a son that had joined the Dark Lord's ranks, and the hush money Sirius had been forced to pay them did little to guarantee the Middlesworths' silence and the Blacks' security. The situation was going to require constant vigilance, as Mad-Eye Moody liked to say.

"I'm going to shower," Snape announced, bending to kiss his wife. "Black, I suggest you do the same. Polyjuice doesn't always account for smells, and Rhiannon never smells like a dog. Anymore." He stalked from the room clearly quite proud of his love triangle joke. Ben hopped off Sirius's lap and ran to the far side of the room to play with toy cars.

"Is your husband ever going to stop with the insults?" Sirius asked Rhiannon with disgust.

"Probably not," she answered honestly. "In his defense, I saw the memory once of your first ride on the Hogwarts Express. You tore into the poor boy right away without even giving him a chance. You were kind of ruthless, Sirius. Defending himself had to be his default from day one."

"What does he have to defend himself from now?" Sirius asked incredulously. "We're all here in this near perfect house, enjoying food and wine together, sharing information, protecting each other, having some laughs. It's a great arrangement if he'd just lighten up and let himself enjoy it."

"Agreed." Rhiannon ran her fingers along the yellowed piano keys, sending discordant notes into the air. "But have you ever apologized?"

Sirius opened his mouth to defend himself but realized he really hadn't. When Dumbledore had asked him to re-form the Order and make amends with Snape, Sirius had suggested they "let bygones be bygones," but that wasn't really an apology, he supposed. He had also extended an offer of friendship that night at Grimmauld Place, when Snape was overwhelmed with grief over being forced to kill Dumbledore. But that didn't really come with an apology either.

"So I'm just supposed to say, 'Hey, Snape. I'm sorry I was a prick to you on the train over twenty-six years ago and pretty much every day for seven years after that. And annoyed the shit out of you at Order meetings, and fought with you over a girl.'"

"And tried to kill you," Rhiannon added.

Sirius furrowed his brow. "That's a little dramatic, don't you think?"

"Not at all," she replied. "Did you think Moony the Werewolf was going to welcome Severus into the Shrieking Shack with a scone and a cup of tea?"

"Well, James saved him, and Snape still hates James. So clearly he just has it out for us."

"Did James do it to save Severus or to save his own skin, Sirius?" challenged Rhiannon, crossing her arms over Colleen's Fleetwood Mac 1990 tour shirt. Rhiannon wore that one more than Colleen did these days for obvious reasons, since her mother had named her after their song.

Sirius sighed. "Probably both. You're not going to convince me James was some awful person, Rhiannon, and you're not going to peg this whole thing on me. Snape was embroiled with Death Eater shit at a young age. Caught up in the Pureblood nonsense that I hated from childhood. Made friends with Slytherins like Avery and Mulciber who did terrible things to innocent kids. So your husband was no saint."

Rhiannon opened her mouth, but Sirius held up his hand.

"I know that's not an excuse to have him killed. I was a miserable, reckless, immature jackass. I don't even know what I was thinking, honestly. It wasn't about killing; it was about seeing what could happen. About letting his nosy, meddlesome self finally see what it was he was sticking his hooked nose into. Just high on the power, I guess. That's me, Rhiannon. I get high on stuff. I like the way it feels. But I spent all last year working on myself. And I'm married now, and a dad. I'm not the same guy. Snape ought to understand that."

Rhiannon reached her hand out to grab his and smiled. "Then just tell him that. Maybe from behind your Death Eater mask tonight if it makes it easier."

Sirius shook his head. "Tonight's hard enough as it is. I'll get to it soon, okay? Give me some time."

"Okay," she agreed. "But I'm holding you to it." Rhiannon still held his hand in hers, looking down thoughtfully at where they joined.

"I have another favor to ask of you," she said in a low voice, her green eyes darting to the hall to make sure Snape hadn't returned.

"Uh-oh, this sounds like a covert operation," Sirius teased her.

"It is. And I only want you to attempt it if you can do it in a way where you're SURE my father won't know it's you— or me, as the case may be. Promise?"

"Of course." Sirius felt a quick rush of excitement. He adored a challenge.

"Since it's such an important night, my father will probably be wearing a trinket around his neck; it's called a gris-gris. Something my mother made him back in New Orleans. He didn't take it with him when he left her, so she gave it to me. It was mine until my father sent that attacker to me, that night I was brought over here. They stole it from me. To you, it will just appear like a little leather rectangle pouch, sort of stitched together and on a chain. But there's a figurine inside, of a woman, wrapped in a snake and riding atop a horse. My mother crafted it with some kind of magic. Now that I know more about her practices, I'm not even sure I want to know all the details of how it was made. But apparently she claimed to the Dark Lord that it kept the wearer from Death. And I want it back."

Sirius grinned, hands on his hips. "Wanting to be immortal, eh? Apple not fall far from the tree?"

Rhiannon shook her head. "Not for me. For Colleen."

Sirius had to admit he was touched at this offer. "Really? Thank you. You must care a lot about her."

"About both of you," Rhiannon corrected. "And I'm not sure of the power the necklace holds, if any. But I'm not just thinking about the war. I'm also thinking about your future together. Wizards live a lot longer than Muggles. If having the trinket buys the two of you more time together, then that would be amazing, right?"

Sirius honestly hadn't even thought that far ahead. He'd always been a firm believer of living in the moment. And his moments with Colleen had been a whirlwind cocktail of passion, comfort, and laughter. Now he would get to chew on this nagging thought, thanks to Rhiannon.

"How exactly am I supposed to steal this thing without getting myself killed and jeopardizing your place in the Death Eater ranks?" Sirius wondered aloud.

Rhiannon shrugged and threw her head back toward the piano with an amused cackle, looking an awful lot like the Muggle stereotype of a witch in that moment.

"How in Merlin's name should I know? I said only if you think you can manage it. I thought you'd appreciate the challenge. And obviously Severus can't know. Although I'm sure he'll find out rather quickly."

Sirius was not looking forward to that at all. Snape had made it quite clear the other night that he was supposed to run all of his plans by him first.

Wait, why am I willing to let Severus Snape call all of the shots? Sirius questioned himself.

Sirius was a powerful wizard, too, and he wasn't subject to some Death Eater hierarchy. With Dumbledore gone, Moody was the tactical leader of the Order, but there was no real overarching force controlling all aspects of the organization like Albus had been. Sirius was really an independent agent.

"I'll see if an opportunity presents itself," Sirius finally answered.

Rhiannon gave him one last grin. "Good enough for me."

Sirius surveyed his new reflection in the mirror with a critical eye.

"I'm not sure Snape brewed this stuff properly. I don't remember this birthmark being here." He turned to the side and brushed a finger over a faint pink spot on the side of his now delicate, soft-skinned torso.

"It is," Colleen assured him, looking up from folding towels. Sirius saw her blue eyes widen in the mirror when she saw him.

"And how do you know that?" Sirius laughed, moving closer to her. "Are these sex magic lessons performed in the nude now?"

Colleen promptly dropped the towel in her hand and moved backward at his advances.

"You wish," she replied with a smirk. "Rhiannon and I simply took Ben to the beach last week when it was so warm. While you and Remus were out trying that new pub. Her bathing suit was a bit revealing, is all."

Sirius tried to pull Colleen to him, and she jumped, promptly pushing his arms away. "Stop, Sirius! That's creepy!"

"What? You have to have fantasized about Rhiannon at some point. We both know she has about you. Now you can see what it would be like."

Colleen's pale skin was flushed nearly Gryffindor red. "Sirius, you have exactly five minutes before departure time, and I am worried sick about you going. I couldn't do that right now if you paid me. Besides, it's not the same and you know it. Even with her looks and her touch, I know it's still you by your voice, and well, just being you, and that's beyond weird."

Sirius sighed but nodded. He turned back toward the mirror, lifting his— well, Rhiannon's— breasts in his hands to examine them. Colleen was right; it was a little too weird to be outright sexual, with its strangeness exacerbated by the fact that he'd once held these as a lover, and now he was her ex and they were his own. His mind seemed to bend on itself as he tried to comprehend that. Fixated on the mirror, he slid his hand between his legs and was met with Colleen's horrified gasp of his name.

"What?" Sirius said defensively. "This is probably my only chance to feel what it's like for a woman, okay? Cut me some slack. Wow...all right then...no wonder you scream so much. This is truly mindbending, love. And educational. Maybe we should turn you into me sometime?"

"God, Sirius! You're bloody bonkers!" Colleen flopped face down into their pillows. "Tell me when you're dressed," she muttered.

Sirius played a few moments more and realized all the new adventures Polyjuice Potion afforded him. He knew what he'd be asking the Snapes for as a birthday present from now on. The clock was ticking, however, so he slid into Rhiannon's new Death Eater robes and slipped the elegantly terrifying silver mask upon his transformed face.

This was a different feeling entirely. Sirius found himself holding his breath as he stared at this reflection. Thoughts bombarded his head all at once: Grimmauld Place, Regulus, the battle at the Department of Mysteries...his own name below the singe mark on the Black family tapestry, suddenly being erased and replaced by his face...

"Sirius! It's time!" Rhiannon's voice came from downstairs. "Severus is about to Imperio you if you're not down here in two minutes!"

Colleen allowed one eye to peer out from the pillows and gasped again. "That's what those things look like? They're horrific!"

"Yes, they are," Sirius agreed. "Which is why we go to war." He pulled the mask to the side and gazed down at her, propped up on the bed in a light green summer dress that showed her generous cleavage and the full curve of her hips. "Kiss for the road? Please?"

Colleen sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm going to need therapy after tonight. Or my vibrator, one or the other."

Sirius laughed and bent his petite, feminine form over his wife and pressed his fuller, softer lips to hers, surprised at how the feeling was mirrored back to him and how different it felt from normal.

Gods, how many wizards and witches are using this stuff for kicks, and why have I never thought of it before?

Colleen surprised him by raising up closer to him and opening her mouth, her hand quickly tangling in his wavy, now-blonde hair.

"Merlin's blue balls," Sirius muttered into her mouth. Only he didn't have balls now. He had a gaping emptiness inside of him that desperately wanted to be caressed and filled by his wife's gentle hand.

"This is some shit," he declared.

"Fucked up shit," Colleen agreed, laying the back of her hand on the hot skin of her flushed face. "You need to go meet Severus. Stop by Ben's room and send him here on your way please, and don't put the mask back on until after. I don't want him to see you and Severus like that."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Hey— I love you."

Her flustered amusement over the effects of Polyjuice gave way to the swallowing back of tears. "I love you, too, Sirius. Please be careful."

"I will," Sirius promised, and headed toward the hall.

"So let me see!" Rhiannon exclaimed. "Oh, my. I don't even know what to say. He's so pretty, isn't he, Severus?"

Snape grunted. "So modest, aren't you, darling? Yet another similarity you and Black seem to share."

"Just stating facts," she laughed. "What did Colleen think?"

"Before or after she snogged my plump, womanly lips?"

Rhiannon gave a little victory dance. "I knew she loved me. Now, you two be safe out there. The Polyjuice we made you should last a good four to five hours. And you have an extra bottle in the robe. It wasn't the most potent of the recipes, but we used a good middle ground one to give you plenty of coverage and still be normal before you go to bed. Although that may no longer be necessary," she added with mock sweetness.

"Behave yourself while we're away," Snape commanded her in a low voice, bending to kiss her goodbye. Rhiannon's expression immediately sobered.

"Be careful, Severus. I love you."

Remus and Tonks had already departed for Privet Drive over an hour earlier. They were likely with Harry now. Sirius felt a pang of jealousy and wished they had permitted him to be one of the real decoys for the Order. To lay eyes on Harry again, up close, and witness the young man he'd become was his greatest wish, even if Harry couldn't know it was him. Instead, Sirius was crouched in the bushes next to Snape, a ways down from Number Four, staring at his own motorbike parked on the side of the street.

"A little worse for the wear, but no matter. She's a beauty, huh, Severus?" Sirius asked jubilantly.

"Keep your voice down," Snape snapped, his voice barely above a hiss. "How did they even induct you into the Order at all? Did you ever actually do any spying?"

"Of course I did. I was very good at pretending to snog a woman to hide behind her and keep one eye open for suspicious activity. Though I suppose it wasn't really pretending."

Snape heaved a sigh. "You're going to trail your cousin, leaving exactly thirty seconds after takeoff. You'll catch up to her quickly on a Firebolt. I will be tailing Lupin. Don't get any ideas to go rogue and start down other trails. I have to know where to find you. And if anything at all goes wrong and you are possibly able, apparate immediately back home. Don't wait for me. I will make an excuse for Rhiannon if she doesn't return. Understood?"

"Yeah. But how are you explaining that Rhiannon has a Firebolt?"

"Dumbledore. I've led the Dark Lord to believe that he thought of her like a daughter. Which wasn't that far from the truth. Now— do not speak to any Death Eaters. Your impression of Rhiannon's subtle Cajun 'twang' is pathetic. Her accent is much too difficult to master. Just keep yourself too busy to answer questions, and you can always play the card of being dumbfounded. This is Rhiannon's first time in battle, after all. Just don't make any grave mistakes. She will encounter her father many more times, and I cannot watch her on the receiving end of his wrath."

Snape's face was covered with his mask, but Sirius could hear the pain in his voice without seeing his expression. He felt it too. It was the same feeling he got when he saw the Prophet headlines of attacks on Muggles and pictured Colleen defenseless if Death Eaters came knocking. He would take every ounce of pain she might suffer onto himself if he could, and he knew Snape felt the same about Rhiannon.

Sirius jumped when he saw the Order begin to emerge from the Dursleys' front door. Mad-Eye was in front, stern-faced, cane and cape whipping in the winds of the approaching storm. Of course it had to be bad weather for the evening, as if the task weren't dangerous enough.

Remus had prepped Sirius in advance with the true names of the decoys, with whom they would be partnered, and their destinations. Sirius would be following Tonks with decoy Ron Weasley— a pairing Sirius was none too pleased with. Why they would put a pregnant woman with someone so young and inexperienced was beyond him, but that made Sirius all the more glad to be there. He did wish to be following Harry, of course— the real one— and wondered exactly which pair was his best bet to get at Lord Voldemort and accomplish his task for Rhiannon. The Dark Lord would probably go after Moody or Kingsley, assuming they would have sent Harry with the most experienced member. But it appeared they were sending Harry with Hagrid aboard Sirius's old motorbike.

Sirius had never felt envy for the giant before, but he sure did now. To be on his old motorbike with Harry, zooming through the night sky, fleeing from danger— well, that was Sirius's idea of a perfect night. Before coming home to Colleen, of course.

"Can't Rhiannon swoop in last minute, apologize to the Order for being married to your sorry arse, and then help Harry?" Sirius asked with a slight whine in his voice.

Snape didn't grace that absurdity with an answer. The good news was that Tonks's parents' house, where Hagrid was headed, was in Somerset and on the way to where Tonks herself was headed, to Ron's Aunt Muriel's in Devon. So Sirius could at least ride in between them for a good part of the trip, though he'd probably lose his vantage point frequently of one or the other. He decided he would make his decisions largely on the behavior of the Death Eaters themselves and where he felt he was needed most.

The seven pairs suddenly took to the skies, and Sirius knew from Snape that there were nearly thirty Death Eaters waiting in a circle in the skies above. It was an ambush in every sense of the word. Snape and "Rhiannon" had been ordered to begin their assignment on the ground and make sure the Order ascended as planned.

"Good luck, Black," Snape said tersely, and he disappeared in a shooting black cloud in pursuit of Remus and George Weasley.

Sirius spent a minute of pure euphoria in the air before he could even force himself to think with a clear head. The warm, humid summer winds, the roar of thunder in the distance with lightning dancing around, the rush inside of his belly as the Firebolt sped toward its mission; it was almost orgasmic.

It wasn't long until fellow black-robed, masked figures appeared at his side, having broken off from the circle to chase their respective targets. Sirius had to suppress the urge to fire hexes in their direction, forcing himself to remember he was Rhiannon, and she had a role to play. They formed a triangle behind Tonks and Ron, with Sirius quickly firing off the jinx he and his cousin had planned in advance. She deflected it quickly while Ron began firing off defensive spells left and right against the now four Death Eaters that had caught up to them.

The combination of the lightning and the multi-colored fireworks from the wands gave a bright light by which Sirius could squint and study possible opportunities to aim at Tonks's broom and still capture her attackers in his spells. He had to make sure it always looked accidental, and not so inept that Rhiannon would suffer for it later. He managed to send a disarming spell to one Death Eater at the exact moment Ron sent him tumbling backward.

Good. One down. Team effort.

Sirius could get used to this. It sure beat Azkaban and twiddling his thumbs in his mother's house.

Sirius winced as Ron sent a hex in his direction, of course not knowing any better. The boy was surprisingly good— his expert defense allowing Tonks to concentrate on steering the broom through the incoming storm. The winds were drifting them all decidedly northward in their southern descent, which meant that soon Sirius was able to catch a glimpse of another brilliant firestorm of light up ahead. The colors bounced off of gleaming silver, illuminating it with an iridescent sheen. His motorbike. Harry.

With a quick glance at Tonks, Sirius saw that Ron had blasted two more Death Eaters out of the way, so that only Sirius and one other remained. No more were in pursuit of the pair, because they were all drawing toward the motorbike like moths to a flame. Something must have tipped them off as to the real Harry's identity.

Deciding that his cousin and the baby she carried were in the clear, Sirius joined the other Death Eaters in pursuit of the motorbike. He tried to make a wide circle around them to get beside their target without becoming entangled in the web of jets. There were four that Sirius could see, and Hagrid was utilizing the motorbike's enchanted construction to fend them off— first with a brick wall that erupted from the bike's exhaust and sent one Death Eater careening into the night, their broomstick splintering into pieces. Harry was sending red stunning spells in multiple directions, and they tangoed with the green Killing Curses that erupted from the Death Eaters' wands.

Harry, it's time to step up the game, son, Sirius thought. Don't play so nicely.

Hagrid continued to send enchanted barriers from the bike— a net intended to capture, and a spout of dragon fire. The combined power of these enchantments with the rapid acceleration of the bike caused the sidecar to break loose, and Harry began to panic.

Sirius thought back to the night he'd met Colleen, almost this time last year. She'd fallen in a busy London street, and Sirius had used wandless magic to stop a car with his hand. Wandless magic had become a specialty of his during and after Azkaban, out of necessity. The prison had confiscated his wand upon entry, and since Sirius had escaped and not been formally released, he had to survive months without one. He'd taught himself the nuances of mental conjuring and directing the force of his magic, imagining his very nerves and bones as conductors and his hands and fingers as the concentrated point of release instead of a wand tip. It was probably the reason he was able to conduct magic through Colleen so well, to her surprise and delight. If he was going to help Harry now, as Rhiannon, it would have to be like that. He couldn't very well send obvious protective spells through his wand.

Sirius held back a bit and focused his energy on keeping the sidecar up, giving Harry a bit of relief. For good measure, Sirius held a breath and sent a few darker curses haphazardly into the air. One bounced off the bike's giant tire and hit one of the Death Eaters, causing him to almost collide with another that Harry had hit in the chest with an Impedimenta.

Once Hagrid was able to get control enough to pull Harry safely onto the bike, Sirius was content to let the sidecar fall so he could continue his Death Eater act more convincingly. As he was about to send another poorly aimed curse in Hagrid's direction, Harry exploded the falling sidecar into shrapnel, and the force knocked one Death Eater off his broom and sent Sirius pummeling backwards. He held on tight to the Firebolt, terrified for the first time ever while on a broom. A loud clap of thunder roared around him as he struggled to catch back up. The impact had sent him so far back that the jets of light were somewhat distant now, then suddenly they stopped. Like something had happened to call off the attack.

Silence and darkness fell. Up ahead he spotted a glimpse of the bike, and he bore down on the broom to get closer. Just as he did, a curl of smoke, moving unnaturally fast, whooshed past him with a rush of wind that nearly choked him. Out of the swirls, a figure manifested— a white head, blazing eyes, and a billowing greenish black robe. From the horizontal form, Sirius caught sight of a chain dangling in the light from a lightning crash.

Hagrid launched himself into the air at a Death Eater that had approached, leaving Harry alone on the bike to face the Dark Lord. It occurred to Sirius that he had to do something to keep Rhiannon in her father's good graces; he couldn't just hang back useless and gaping while the Dark Lord went after Harry. He maneuvered closer to the now plummeting bike in the guise of preparing to jinx it, but Voldemort's attention wasn't on him anyway. He was focused on Harry, their wands colliding in a magnificent duel of golden fire. Sirius seized the chance to raise the bike wandlessly, ensuring its descent was controlled and its proximity to Harry allowing for him to at least grasp it with his knees.

"No!" Voldemort screamed, and he began ordering the closest Death Eater to him to surrender his wand. The one that Voldemort had been using had been obliterated by its collision with Harry's.

The bike was plummeting toward the earth again; they had to be reaching the protective barrier of the Tonks residence soon. Sirius knew he had to act quickly if he was going to secure the talisman from Voldemort's neck. Sending a random hex haphazardly in the direction of the falling bike for the sake of the ruse, Sirius turned his mind to Colleen, who was no doubt meditating with her candle at home, her mind focused on protection. He felt the love emanating from her instantly, having helped her create the force initially through their union together.

With Rhiannon's hand in place of his own, he imagined reaching for the floating trinket, and imagined sending his magic through Colleen as they had done for fun so many times, her holding his wand, now directing Rhiannon's hand to clasp the necklace that was rightfully hers. It was the perfect marriage of their forces in that moment, and the chain broke free in the rushing wind that sent both it and Sirius spiraling backwards, past the protective shield and into the tree line below.

Voldemort's high pitched shrieks of fury echoed from the other side as Sirius and the Firebolt landed in the bushes, the necklace landing squarely on his chest. Still Rhiannon, Sirius placed it around his neck and quickly apparated back to the coast.

The charm worn by the Dark Lord was first mentioned in "Within the Wings of a Storm"— Book One of my series. Ben's kidnapping was part of Book Two, "Black as Night."

Be sure to check out Books One and Two if you haven't already!