Sirius leaned against the wall in the corridor. Malfoy's confession had taken him by surprise. Thoughtfully, he admitted to himself that his own seeming failure to put himself in other people's shoes had led to disasters more than once. When it had come to identifying a potential traitor among the Marauders, he had ruled out Peter, simply because in his unbelievable arrogance he had been convinced that someone with such limited powers was simply not likely to do any harm. But what kind of skills were needed to pass on a piece of confidential information to the enemy? At the same time, he had underestimated Remus' unconditional loyalty and gratitude to his friends for the incredible lengths they had gone to be his support during his transformations. This made it impossible for him to think of betraying them. With Marius and Cygnus, it had been the same. In the beginning, Sirius had simply not taken the time to get to know Marius better and reduce his reverence for the father he had idolised. Instead, he had uncritically accepted the façade Cygnus had shown him.
Sirius wondered if Lucius was right to say that he was mentally fragile. No doubt, under Cygnus' influence, he had lost his bearings at times. And it had not been the first time in his life. Lucius was right: it was time for him to get back on track. And he was convinced that the flower woman was the one who would provide him with the stability he so desperately needed. Still, she was a little insecure and nervous. But Sirius could sense her strength and resolve. He peered into the kitchen. Jessie was sitting at the table, brooding, her head rested in her hands, her eyes were closed. When he walked in, she looked up in surprise and then hesitantly got to her feet. She stepped in front of him and turned her face upwards. Then she softly caressed his cheek. Smiling down at her, he placed his hand over hers. "Do you want to give it a try? Why the change of heart?". She laid her head on his shoulder. "Your friend Lucius was here. And he said something I can't get out of my head. He said, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to you? That one day this gorgeous guy would say he wanted to break up. Then at least you will have had an exciting time instead of sitting at home for the rest of your life regretting all the things that you have missed out on'. I don't want to end up looking back one day and becoming sad and disappointed because I missed out on every chance I ever had". She looked at him. "I want to take a risk. Yes, I am sure about it". Sirius leaned down to her and gave her a soft kiss. She took him by the hand and led him up the stairs and into her bedroom. In front of the bed, she hesitated. Shyly, but with a determined look on her face, she began to unbutton his shirt and carefully pulled it off. Then she ran her hand over his chest and bent down to kiss him. Sirius had to stop himself from throwing her unceremoniously onto the bed when her lips touched his nipple. When she tried to undo his pants with shaking hands, he was tempted to help her, even though he knew she had to do it herself. Eventually she managed to do it and his pants fell. He kicked off his boots. At this point Mercuria would have pushed him onto the bed and crawled on top of him, lavishing caresses all over his body. But Jessie was standing in front of him with a helpless expression on her face and no idea what to do.
Sirius cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently. At the same time, he carefully lowered himself onto the bed and pulled her with him. He unbuttoned her blouse with one hand and ran the other down her spine as he continued to kiss her. He smiled as she moaned softly. When he had completely undressed her, he gently pushed her onto the mattress and began to caress her nipples with his tongue. She put her arms around his neck and kept her eyes closed as he stroked her. Not wanting to embarrass her any further, Sirius limited himself to caressing her with his hands. Although he longed to do everything with her that he had experienced with his wife, he held himself back and took it slowly. He ran his fingertips up and down the inside of her thighs and smiled at the moans she made. When he felt that she was ready, he used his tongue to drive her to orgasm, and enjoyed the sensation of a woman whose climax was not faked, as he could tell without a doubt by the contractions that shot through her body. When he laid himself on top of her and penetrated her, she wrapped her legs around his back and adopted his rhythm. "Look me in the eye". She beamed at him, and her brown eyes lit up as she felt him climax.
Sirius kissed her and was pleased when she began to respond to his tongue in her mouth by touching it with the tip of her own. "We will find out what will do us good. We'll take as much time as we need to. We are not in any kind of competition. We will be wonderful together, I'm certain". He smiled. Having experienced this, he was sure that he had found the right one. She was still shy and sometimes reluctant. But he had noticed signs that told him she would soon abandon her reserve. Their lovemaking would be more than satisfying for both when he got to know her better. Of that he was convinced. Jessie smiled happily and caressed his face. "Do you know something? I have been married for three years, but today was the first time that I have heard the drums and the cymbals that D.H. Lawrence writes about". "D.H. Lawrence?". "The author of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. Quite ancient stuff. Published before WWII. I guess, nobody reads this anymore. But I am a bit old-fashioned. Well, because I've never really heard them, I always thought I wasn't a proper woman. But then perhaps it wasn't my fault". She had a questioning look in her eyes. Sirius rummaged through his memories for answers. Mercuria had mentioned the book as well, back then, at the very beginning of their relationship. "I'm certain you weren't to blame. I'm sure the drums and cymbals will be playing a lot louder for us in the future". They made love for the rest of the night and the next day Jessie moved back to Black Manor. From then on their relationship and their love-making constantly improved. And at the latest, when Sirius again had a nightmare and Jessie cradled him in her arms, whispered soothing words to him, and banished his ghosts he knew that she was the perfect choice. Stammering, he had told her of his terrible demons and since that night he thought he never saw her doubt his loyalty to her again.
As Jessie and Jonathan had already been living at Black Manor for some time, they settled in very quickly. Sirius set up Jessie's own office with a phone, fax and computer. From there she could run the nursery and the shop. Most of her business had already consisted of mail-ordering before and the villagers ordered by phone. Then Jonathan, as he had often done in the past, delivered the local orders by car, now that the shop in the village was temporarily closed. Sirius had given him the remote control for the gate so he could leave the premises whenever he wanted. Once they decided to stay, Jessie became interested in magical plants, some of whom, such as mandrake, had been known in the Muggle world for centuries as healing plants as well. Others were new to her, and she and Alphard often combed the library for writings on the cultivation and care of these plants.
After dinner, the men were sitting around the living room table playing cards when they suddenly heard loud shouting and Alphard stormed into the room. "Daddy, Daddy, come quick. Jessie's hurt herself". They jumped up and followed Alphard into the library. Sirius shouted, "Jessie, Jessie, where are you?", as he raced along the bookshelves. When he heard a loud moan, he felt relieved. He had feared the worst already. Alphard led them to the far end of the library. As Sirius turned around a shelf, in the floor he saw a large hole and a flight of stone steps leading downwards that hadn't been there before. Jessie was lying at the bottom of the stairs. Her leg was twisted, her hand seemed to be broken, and she had a cut on her head that was bleeding. Sirius leapt down the stairs and knelt at her side. He was joined by Marius, who examined Jessie, "It's best you take her upstairs first. It's too cramped in here. The leg and the hand are broken, I suspect. Nothing that won't heal quickly. The worst thing is probably just the shock". Carefully Sirius lifted her and carried her to the bedroom where Marius healed the broken bones and tended to the wound on her head. Then he gave Jessie a potion to help her sleep. "In the morning, she'll be fine. Right now, she just needs to get a good night's sleep".
When Jessie was fast asleep, they returned to the living room where the others were waiting. Regulus was holding Alphard, who was completely distraught. When Sirius took him into his arms, Alphard clung to a strand of his father's hair, rested his head on Sirius' shoulder and sobbed heartbreakingly. "Will Jessie now die too?". "No, love", Marius said, patting Alphard's back reassuringly. "She hurt herself. But she'll be fine tomorrow. Did you see what happened?". Looking at Sirius, Alphard nodded. "We were checking out the other end of the library. Jessie was standing on the part of the floor that looks like it was a spiral or something. All of a sudden it gave way and the spiral turned into steps. It happened so quickly that Jessie was caught off guard and fell headfirst down the stairs. Are you sure she'll be fine tomorrow?". "No doubt. She was very fortunate. A backwards fall like that can have very serious consequences". Regulus asked, "Alphard, can you remember what you and Jessie did before the floor gave way and the stairs formed?". The boy thought about it. "Jessie said, 'Look at this, it's a book about plants. What is it doing here? It should be in the front part with the rest of them. She reached for it and then the gap opened, and Jessie fell". The boy sobbed. "Daddy, can I stay with you for the night? Just for tonight? Please don't leave me alone". Sirius stroked the boy's head and kissed him on the cheek. "Of course, you can. Then we can both look after Jessie". They returned to the library. The gap had closed again and there was no sign that there might be a secret staircase under the stone floor. "I'll bet you anything you like that Phineas' forbidden books are down there. We always knew they must be hidden somewhere". Sirius said, "I've been looking for them for weeks, and I am sure Cygnus has as well. So how is it possible that Jessie of all people found the entrance?". Jonathan said, "because she is a Muggle who found it by coincidence. Maybe that was exactly your Uncle Phineas' intention. You said that he bought the estate a long time ago from an impoverished noble Muggle friend who was no longer able to maintain the house and grounds. But we have secret stashes in our houses as well. At least when it comes to old mansions like this one. You and Cygnus used magic to find the room. But your uncle perhaps thought that the Muggle protection which already existed protected the room from wizard intruders far more effective than any spell could ever do. I am sure he didn't take into account that a Muggle would ever enter his library. The question is what this opener is. Something mechanical in any case. Probably one must operate a lever. But where is it? Jessie saw a book about plants that wasn't supposed to be there. Let's find it". They scanned the shelves around them. Suddenly Regulus called out, "I think I've found it. Up there". At head height there was an old book with the title 'Healing herbs of Scandinavia'. "It must be this one. Take it from the shelf. The lever may be hidden behind it". Regulus reached for the book. But it was stuck. He pulled harder. When the stairs suddenly appeared again, he staggered backwards and almost fell as well. Gavin managed to catch him just in time. "The book is the lever. But you must be careful when you operate it. If you are standing right on top of the stairs when it opens, you are sure falling down". Sirius said, "The young man here needs to go to sleep, and so do I. Let's explore the room in the morning. But now that we know where the stairs are, you might as well try to see if you can open them with magic". He went back to the door, heading for his bedroom. Quietly, he slipped into the room. Jessie was still fast asleep. He quickly put on Alphard's pyjamas, took off his own clothes and slipped under the covers. Jessie cuddled up to him in one arm. In the other he was holding Alphard, who was snuggled close to him. Sirius lay uncomfortably on his back and slept little that night, but he stared at the ceiling, content and at ease, knowing that there was still someone who loved and needed him.
The next morning, the wizards gathered in the library. Regulus carefully opened the stone staircase. Sirius drew his wand and descended the stairs to a massive iron-barred door at the foot of the stairs. He whispered 'Alohomora' and pressed the handle. The door opened and he entered cautiously, standing in a large room with shelves on the walls containing countless books, folios and parchments. There was a large desk in the middle of the room, with more documents piled on top of it. Behind him, the others entered the room and had a look around. Lucius took a parchment from one of the shelves and read it. "Oh, my goodness me. It is amazing what is possible. These are the instructions for a potion that will protect you from the Imperius Curse. Unfortunately, it doesn't say whether or not the potion is safe to use. From the list of ingredients, I wonder if drinking this stuff might not be a considerable risk". Sirius, who had just been leafing through a folio, took the parchment from him and put it back on the shelf. "Let's be careful. It seems that Uncle Phineas has collected every reference to the Dark Arts he could find. Among them, I'm sure, are many that proved fatal, even to those who invented them, when first put to practical use. Only that the inventor could not tell anyone about it anymore. In any case, I will not take a potion that has unknown side effects. The same goes for spells, of course. For the time being, I suggest we leave everything as it is. Then we can go through the writings together one by one and decide what we want to do with them. What do you think?".
Regulus said, "Agreed. If all of the writings in here are related to the Dark Arts, and we can assume that they are, then I think we should be cautious. As you said, a lot of it probably didn't make it past the first attempt. And might backfire. We should examine everything together". The others nodded their agreement and left the room. Sirius was the last to leave. He was in deep thought. The folio he had been flipping through had been about Dementors. How they were created. And how they were then subjugated. Had the Ministry used this knowledge centuries ago to create the perfect guardians for Azkaban? If so, the knowledge had not been passed down, for how else could the Ministry have lost control of the Dementors in the end? Or had it been a single researcher's experiment that had tragically gone wrong, bringing disaster to the world when he was unable to stop it? No matter. Sirius was determined that under no circumstances this knowledge should be allowed to leave the secret room of his library. Furthermore, nobody knew what else would turn up here. He closed the door. Then he sealed the lock with a spell that would prevent it from being opened by any charm or magical instrument. In addition, he locked the door with the Muggle key, which he pocketed.