Author's Note:
This is part three in a series of stories.
Part one is not necessary to follow my world of ASC/Kismet, but Third Time's the Charm WILL BE CONFUSING to anyone who has NOT yet read A Second Chance first — It is not a standalone.
But for those of you who refuse to listen — (puts on announcer voice like Foster Hewitt) — previously in the World of ASC: Voldemort is dead. Harry defeated him in a stunning display of power by the Black Lake in May of 1998. Harry and Ron are new Auror recruits trying to track down the three main Death Eaters who escaped the Battle of Hogwarts (Bellatrix Lestrange, Belladonna Brambilla, and Barty Crouch Junior). Zee has gone missing and the Death Eaters have the resurrection stone. Ginny's at Hogwarts for her seventh year and newly signed to play with the Holyhead Harpies while attending her final year of school. Hermione is working at the Ministry of Magic in the new department created within the DRCMC. Tonks has returned to work and Remus is Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts with McGonagall as Headmistress. And in the middle of the cemetery in Godric's Hollow, the evil trio of Death Eaters used the resurrection stone with evil intentions…
As those of you who follow me on Tumblr are aware — The World of ASC is the KISMET TRILOGY posted on both fanfiction and Ao3.
1. The First Time Around (1965-1981) — 69 chapters
Told in snippets and chronological moments during the lives of the Marauders: From how they first met, to how James and Lily fell in love, to how Peter betrayed them. It ends with Sirius going to Azkaban. Many of these memories are pieces and snippets shared in ASC; some of them have been expanded to be more, and some of them are new. This story is told chronologically, but each chapter is essentially a standalone moment in the lives of the Marauders and of James and Lily's relationship.
2. A Second Chance (1985-1998) — 360 chapters
The story that started it all. This is the story of Sirius Black only spending 4 years in prison before he is finally given a trial and able to raise Harry with Remus (platonically. It is NOT a Wolfstar fic) the way that he should have been. It is the story of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin as they learn what it means to be a father/brother/guardian to Harry while finding love themselves and it is the story of Harry Potter, a young boy with a loving home who learns about the Marauders from the two men who should have raised him as he grows into the man who will lead the war against Voldemort. Slow burn Hinny. Multiple POVs. Multiple characters and storylines. It is written in 10 parts.
3. The Third Time's the Charm (1998-?)
Picks up where ASC left off (literally) and will continue into the future of the world and characters you've all come to love — I do not yet know how far, but it will not be as long as A Second Chance nor as long as The First Time Around (most likely).
I am calling the trilogy Kismet which means fate/destiny; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny; the property of being lucky; the, usually unfortunate, way of the world. I think it sums up what I want to do and what I have done so far in ASC and I am excited to share it with you all.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave me beautiful and incredible reviews. Reading them makes me so happy and I adore every single word. You are amazing!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the lyrics to the song by Queen.
This chapter jumps around within a twenty-four hour period. Each scene is time stamped as needed.
Thank you in advance! I hope you like it!
I do not have a Beta for this story as the amazing Dusk has too much going on to assist me, but I will do my best — please remember, writers are not perfect. I caught as many errors as I found, but there are always more (even with a Beta). Just enjoy the story and don't worry about the grammatical mistakes please.
My posting schedule: Weekly.
As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!
Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!
CHAPTER ONE:
The One With A Second Chance
Queen blared from the speakers as Sirius hummed along with the beat of Radio Gaga. He smiled as James began to hum under his breath next to him, shaking his hips to the beat. When he started to move his head and fist pump the air as he quite frankly, jammed out, Sirius stifled a laugh. When he began to sing along, Sirius couldn't help but smile at his friend. He wiggled his own hips along, knocking them against James' as they grinned widely at each other.
By the time the second verse started, James was singing loudly and powerfully, his smooth voice echoing in the workshop around them.
"Let's hope you never leave, old friend. Like all good things, on you we depend. So stick around, 'cause we might miss you, when we grow tired, of all this visual. You had your time, you had the power! You've yet to have your finest hour, radio! Radio!" James sang.
When he caught Sirius' eye, he grabbed the wrench like a microphone and began to really sing as he clapped his hands together.
"All we hear is radio ga ga! Radio goo goo! Radio ga ga! Sing it, mate! All we hear is radio ga ga! Radio goo goo! Radio ga ga! All we hear is radio ga ga! Radio blah blah! Radio, what's new? Some-one still loves you!"
Sirius snorted. "Do they now?"
James shrugged. "Well, I mean, there has to be at least one person who loves you, Padfoot. No one I know, obviously…"
"Piss off," Sirius said, biting back a laugh.
James reached a hand up to scratch his cheek and spread engine grease all over his face.
Sirius shook his head. "You're hopeless, Prongs."
James attempted to wipe it off, but instead only smeared it even worse. "I don't even understand how this shit gets everywhere!" When he only succeeded in blackening himself even more, he pouted. "Help me!" he whined.
Sirius chuckled and reached for a cloth, moving to stand in front of his best mate and brother to scrub his face clean. "There. Hopeless."
"I'm not hopeless, I'm just not good with the whole machine thing. That's a wheel right?"
"Smart arse," Sirius said, throwing the towel at him. "If you can't honour the bike, get out of the workshop."
James chuckled. "That's the moto-so-che bonneville harley, right?"
"I hate you."
James grinned and passed his friend the wrench. "Love you, too, brother."
Marauder barked and ran in a circle around James as Lady Godiva merely lifted her head to watch the dog, looking very unimpressed with Marauder's antics.
They both looked up when someone came to the door and Fleamont stood there, a smile on his face.
"Boys, getting up to trouble out here?"
"Never, Dad," James said.
He chuckled. "That's what I thought. Why don't you come inside? Fee and Lily have prepared a picnic for lunch. Misha is joining us."
"I hope Fee and the house elves made it," Sirius said. "If it was Evans, I might not want to risk it."
"I heard that, Sirius Black!" Lily exclaimed, coming up behind Fleamont. "That was one time and I was pregnant with your godson!"
"So you say," he teased. "I just remember you trying to poison me and then Prongs forcing Moony and I to eat it."
Lily shook her head in amusement before she moved towards Sirius to kiss his cheek. She took James' hand in hers. "Well, come risk it if you dare. Misha wants to talk to you anyway."
James tugged on her hand to pull her up against him so that he could kiss his wife deeply. "I love you, Lily."
"I love you, too," she said, grinning up at him with her heart in her eyes.
They kissed again and Sirius turned back towards his motorbike to give his friends a moment of privacy.
"I'll meet you out there in a minute. I just want to finish something first and you two can get the snogging out of your system in the meantime."
"Never!" James scoffed. "Have you seen these lips? They are the most perfect lips ever made!"
Lily squeezed her husband's hand. "The sad part is that he's talking about his own lips. Don't be too long, Padfoot."
James squeezed Sirius' shoulder before wrapping his arm around his wife's waist and leading her away from the bike. Fleamont put his hand on Sirius' shoulder.
"Don't be too long, son. You know that Fee will want to feed you."
Sirius nodded. "I won't, Monty. Save me some of that treacle tart before Jamie eats it all."
Fleamont chuckled. "No promises."
Sirius grinned as he turned back to the bike. He picked up the wrench, humming along to "Radio Gaga" as the music seemed to grow louder, rumbling in in his ears like the wireless was somehow moving closer and closer to him. He didn't think much of the change in the sound until something flashed at his right. He turned, his eyebrow furrowed in confusion as the music blared in his ears. He smelt her vanilla soap before he saw her and when she flashed again, covered in blood, his eyes widened.
"Zee! What…?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice echoing as the music stopped around him. "I tried to stop them."
Sirius reached for her, but just as he touched her, his hand passed right through her. Before he could contemplate the vision before him, something punched him right in the chest. It hit him so hard that all of the breath was knocked out of him. He felt like his chest was caved in; that every rib was broken and stabbing him somewhere different. He gasped for breath, his eyes on Zee flashing in and out before him.
"Zee? Zee, where are you?" he demanded, but she flashed again and vanished before his eyes.
"Sirius?" Euphemia asked from the doorway. "Are you coming, dear?"
"Fee…" he whispered, blood bubbling at his mouth.
"Sirius?" she called out, seeming to stare right through him. "Darling, are you in here?"
Euphemia stepped right past him as if she couldn't see him. Sirius started to speak, unsuccessfully attempting to reach for her when suddenly, hands sprung out from the ground and tightly gripped him by his ankles. He tried to shake them off, ventured to jump away, but the grip was too strong. He reached for Euphemia again, his eyes wide before the hands around his ankles yanked. His boots sank into the ground like quicksand and he was abruptly pulled into the earth.
The scream tore through him so loudly that it scorched his throat and Zee's terrified face flashed before him.
"Zahira!" he cried out. "Zahira!"
He was dragged through the mud; falling and rising like he was clawing his way to the surface, but the surface of what he didn't know. He swallowed the earth; dirt in his eyes, in his nose, in his mouth. He could hear voices calling him and then there was nothing but the earth and the pain in his chest.
Pain unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
Sharp, searing pain that made him taste his own blood.
Pain like something was being ripped apart inside of him; something that he tried desperately to hold onto to, but no matter how hard he fought, the more it ripped and tore free.
And then there was only blackness.
~ TTTC ~
3rd November, 1998 — 3AM…
Harry was pretty sure that they had searched everywhere that Zee could possibly have gone and had turned up nothing. She'd been missing almost fourteen hours now and he was starting to seriously panic.
What the fuck had Belladonna Brambilla and Barty Crouch Jr done with her?
They'd followed her trail to Apricity Lane before she'd vanished with Brambilla and Crouch (under the guise of Polyjuice) at half past twelve yesterday afternoon according to the surveillance charms situated outside of Obscure. Despite following the magical signature, they had seemingly vanished somewhere in Manchester. All they'd found were magical traces of runic symbols and Harry had a feeling that whatever Dante Draogmir had unearthed about runes were doing a lot to help keep them hidden; Brambilla had obviously become an expert on using them.
Harry needed to go over the old man's notes and to try to study them himself. There was something about the runes that gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't quite explain.
A huge Patronus of a highland cow appeared in front of him, breaking Harry out of his thoughts.
"Brambilla was just spotted in Godric's Hollow," Gawain Robards' gruff voice said from the cow Patronus. "A team will meet you there shortly."
Ron grabbed Harry's arm. "Mate," he warned. "Let me."
Harry gave his best friend a grateful look as Ron held his arm and Apparated them both to the small village. Harry knew that his emotions were too haywire right now and he was glad that Ron realized he was in no condition to Apparate himself safely.
The village was quiet and deserted when they arrived. Harry already knew that if Brambilla had been there, she was long gone by now. He kept his wand at the ready as Baxter, Tonks, and Higgins Apparated near them. The five of them carefully checked the area, looking for any signs of suspicious activity or proof that Brambilla was indeed nearby. Tonks ordered them to split up and despite the fact that Rexford Higgins was his partner, no one objected when Ron stayed by his side instead.
They headed away from the statue of his parents, Harry's eyes stopping on them long enough to watch it change to the memorial of them, flashing the tale of their bravery and sacrifice.
Then he followed Ron towards the graveyard.
The sight of the dark cemetery made his breath hitch. This was where he was supposed to come tomorrow night — well tonight now, he thought. To come here and to pay his respects towards Sirius and his parents. But instead, he was here for another reason that he couldn't quite fathom.
There was no one around as they stepped through the low gate and the eerie quiet made his breath seem loud in the darkness. They kept their wands raised, the light from the tips the only light in the dark.
"Would she have come here today?" Ron whispered. "It's Sirius' birthday today, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Harry whispered back. "We were all supposed to come, together. She wouldn't have come here alone the day before. Not when we had plans to come tonight together with Mina and Leo."
Harry knew that Zee sometimes did stop by Sirius' grave to talk to him. It was a habit she'd done occasionally, often popping by after work from time to time. And today would have been Sirius' thirty-ninth birthday. He'd been looking forward to going out and having a drink and telling Mina and Leo all about the father they'd never met. Instead, Mina and Leo were at home with Sorcha, Colt, and Flo, not understanding that their mother was missing.
Harry dragged his hand over his face, rubbing his tired eyes under his glasses before he followed Ron into the graveyard. He kept his eyes peeled for anything outside of the norm. But at almost four in the morning, the cemetery was deserted and quiet. The night sky lit by only a sliver of moonlight, making the Hollow's graves look shadowy and dark. They moved silently from headstone to headstone, but the place was empty and reticent.
It wasn't long before Harry found himself standing in front of his parents' graves. He traced his fingers over the lettering of their names as the first snowflake fell, dusting the top of his red Auror robe in a soft sprinkle.
"No one's here, mate," Ron said, coming to stand next to him.
Harry nodded, his eyes on his parents' names. "I know."
But he didn't like the sound of that.
He knew that if Brambilla had been seen here in Godric's Hollow it couldn't have been a false sighting, but it didn't do anything to reassure him. He let his eyes move over to Sirius' headstone, taking in the words engraved there.
In Loving Memory
Sirius Orion "Padfoot" Black
b. 3 November 1959
d. 18 June 1996
"Touch my tears with your lips, touch my world with your fingertips,
And we can have forever."
This star we will miss forever.
He swallowed, brushing the fresh, soft, wet flakes off of the top of the headstone. Sometimes losing him had felt like yesterday and at other times, he felt every day of the almost three years he'd lived without him. He finished clearing the snowflakes from the headstone before he squinted at what looked like scorch marks beneath the snow. It was dusted against the base of the marble, but the freshly fallen snow covered it. Since it had been snowing on and off for the last two days, there was no telling how long the black marks had been there.
"What is that?"
Ron leaned in to examine it. "It looks like it was burned. There was that weird storm earlier, maybe lightning hit it?" He ran his thumb over it and some of it came off with his finger. "Or not."
Harry frowned. Something tickled at the back of his brain that he couldn't quite make sense of, but when they looked around the graveyard once more, it was empty and deserted. Nothing looked out of place.
"There's no one here."
"Someone was," Ron pointed out, gesturing to the footprints on the ground. "What's that spell again? To trace footprints? Maybe we can see if it's unusual prints or something?"
"Appare Vestigium," Harry whispered.
Gold dusted footprints began to appear around the cemetery in a swirl of movements that told him a lot of people had wandered through the graveyard that day. Trying to decipher them would be almost impossible. But the sight of what looked like drag marks near a large tree had him crouching down to examine them more closely.
"Someone was here."
Ron crouched down next to him, his brow furrowing. "Can you make it more detailed?"
Harry shook his head as he tried to do just that. "No, there's a warding around it. More runes."
"That's peculiar," Ron said, turning when Baxter called his name. "Baxter, come check this out!"
Baxter, Higgins, and Tonks all moved to examine the area that they were studying.
Tonks frowned as she waved her wand around it. "Someone was here, you're right, but the magic is hidden. Nothing looks disturbed like it was in Sussex, but something about this is off. We'll have to call in a curse breaker to get the details of the warding, but we do have to remember that a lot of times these types of spells in a cemetery are a ritual to give peace to the dead, some of them private by the families themselves. Do you think it's relevant?"
Harry wanted to say yes; absolutely. They were in a cemetery where a known Death Eater had been spotted, but he also couldn't see why it would be relevant. Or why Brambilla would even be spotted here in the first place. It didn't make any sense.
None of this made any sense.
He stood up, wiping his sweaty palms on his sides. "I don't know. It's peculiar, like Ron said."
"The AIU's will be arriving soon and they'll have better luck at figuring out what's going on," Tonks told them. "In the meantime, I think the best thing to do is to head home tonight, Harry. No," she insisted, holding up her hand. "You've already worked all day. We're not going to find Zee with you exhausted. Right now we know that the trail ran cold in Manchester. Tomorrow we'll pick it up again and for now I'll assign a team to keep looking. In the meantime, we'll have the Auror Inquisitors Unit come over here and assess the evidence. All right?"
Harry let out a slow breath and nodded. He wanted to protest more but Tonks was right. He didn't even know what he was looking for. He needed to go home; to refuel and recharge and go from there.
But as he looked out across the dark, deserted graveyard, he couldn't help but think he was missing something; he just didn't know what.
~ TTTC ~
When Harry stepped into Black Cottage, it was almost six in the morning and he was dead on his feet. He knew that he needed to try to get a few hours of sleep, but the thought of closing his eyes and of not being out there trying to find Zee was unthinkable.
He looked up when Sorcha came down the stairs with Mina in her arms.
"Well?"
He shook his head, hating the disappointment in her gaze.
Sorcha passed him Mina and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You'll find her, Harry. Can you tell me what you know?"
Harry followed her into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table as Mina, still half asleep, snuggled into his shoulder. "We don't know much, but what we do know doesn't really make sense… two of the escaped Death Eaters were last seen disappearing with her in Apricity Lane yesterday around lunchtime. No one has seen nor heard from her since. We think that someone was stalking her beforehand; one of the Death Eaters was disguised under Polyjuice."
Sorcha paled, but she didn't speak as she put the kettle on.
Harry quickly explained what he could about how they'd gone to try to retrace her steps and how it had brought them to Sirius' grave in Godric's Hollow. He couldn't say much about the investigation itself, but he did what he could to keep his grandmother informed. Sorcha placed a cup of tea in front of him and began to make some breakfast as he talked. By the time she was done, Leo was awake so Harry left her with Mina and went upstairs to get him. Leo snuggled into his shoulder much as his sister did in his early morning half asleep daze.
Harry kissed his forehead. "Mama will be home soon, Leo. I'm going to find her."
Leo only stared up at him with his dark brown eyes, so like his mother's, and Harry's heart tightened in his chest. He had to find her. What was he going to do if he didn't?
Sorcha and Harry worked together to get the twins eating breakfast before Sorcha kissed his cheek and told him that she had to run home to shower.
"I have a meeting this morning I can't miss, but if you drop them off at the nursery school, I'll be there to get them at four."
"Okay," Harry said. "Thank you."
Sorcha pinched his cheeks and pecked his forehead once more. "You drop off those babies and then you go home and get some rest. You won't find her if you're too exhausted."
"I will," he promised. "But I don't want to leave you with Mina and Leo by yourself either."
"I will be fine," Sorcha insisted. "I have a few meetings today that I can't miss, but I'll juggle my schedule and get some time off."
"Grandmama, you only just started this contract for the Daily Prophet. I don't want —"
"I don't care what you want," Sorcha interrupted. "My grandbabies need me and my eldest needs me most of all. We'll work together to take care of them. Colt and Flo will help and if needed, there's a slew of my Scottish cousins to call upon as well. You do what you need to do."
Harry nodded, feeling calmer when she kissed his forehead once more. "Okay."
Sorcha kissed Mina and Leo goodbye and Harry watched her hurry out of the house. He spent the next hour chasing the twins around to get them changed and dressed; checking and rechecking their bags to go to nursery school before he took them on the Knight Bus to Polperro. Mina and Leo were not a fan of Apparition and Harry figured the Knight Bus would be easier. He wondered if maybe he should invest in an auto of some sort as clearly a motorbike wasn't going to work for carting them around. But he had too many other things to worry about other than giving an auto a passing thought.
Harry kissed them both goodbye and told Phil and Edward, the owners of Once Upon A Nursery School, that Sorcha would be picking them up after school. Then he Apparated home to Clevedon Court, stumbling into the house as exhaustion set in on him.
Hermione was on her way out the door, but she grabbed his arm when he stumbled.
"Merlin, you look like poop on toast, Harry."
"Thanks," he said. "Just what I want to hear."
She tucked herself into his arms and hugged him. The moment her arms came around him, he pressed his face into her bushy brown curls, and tears welled up in his eyes. His fingers tightened in her robes and she ran her hands up and down his back.
"It's okay, Harry. It's going to be okay," she soothed.
"I can't lose her, Hermione," he whispered. "She's… I can't."
Hermione just held him until he finally moved back, wiping at the tears on his cheeks. "Want me to call in and stay?"
Harry shook his head. "No. You have stuff to do. I… I need to try to sleep for an hour or two."
"More," Hermione corrected. "An hour or two isn't going to do anyone any good, Harry."
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Call Ginny," Hermione said, grabbing her bag from the floor.
"She's in class."
Hermione gave him an annoyed look before she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "I love you. Call her."
Then she was gone.
Harry slowly made his way up the stairs to the master bedroom. The bed looked inviting, but he decided a shower sounded better. He undressed and turned on the hot jets from all sides, letting the water hit him as he stood there, trying to get himself to feel warm. When he finally turned off the water and dried off, he changed into the pyjama bottoms hanging on the back of the bathroom door and stepped into his bedroom.
The last person that he expected to see lying on his bed was Ron.
"Hey, is there news?"
"No," Ron said, patting the bed next to him. "I just spoke to Baxter. They have patrols combing the streets for any sighting of Brambilla, Crouch, or Lestrange, but they're in the wind. The AIU's are processing the area outside of The Poison Brew and checking out the graveyard in Godric's Hollow. When they know something, he promised to let us know. In the meantime, we're going in for this afternoon, at two. Not before."
Harry nodded.
Ron pat the bed again. "Lie down, mate."
Harry reluctantly climbed into the bed, tossing his glasses on the nightstand. "I don't know if I can close my eyes."
"You can," Ron insisted, setting an alarm with his wand. "I'm going to stay right here to make sure you sleep."
"I won't sleep a wink with you snoring next to me like a bloody hibernating bear."
Ron made what Harry assumed was a rude gesture with the blur of a large freckled hand near him. "I'm not leaving you alone. Close your eyes."
Harry rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face into the pillow with a grunt. He considered making another comment, but the next thing he knew, the alarm was going off and he was blinking owlishly at the sunlight coming in through the huge windows. He sat up, nudging Ron who was snoring next to him, his arm draped across his eyes.
"Whassamatta?" Ron grumbled, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Right, work."
Harry climbed out of bed and grabbed his glasses. "Come on. We need to find out what they've learned in our absence."
Thirty minutes later, Harry and Ron were back in uniform as they headed into the DMLE. Robards ordered them into the conference room in the back where Tonks, Baxter, Higgins, and Atwell were already waiting.
"The six of you will be working cohesively on this case," Robards began when the door closed behind them. "Lupin's running point and everything will go through her. If you need more assistance you can bring in Barnes and Jackowski or Young and Graham. I know this one is close to home, Potter, and I debated about pulling you from it entirely, but Auror Lupin talked me out of it. Zacarias is a respected member of the DRCMC and I know that finding her is our top priority. Lupin knows Brambilla's background better than anyone so we're going to start there. We know that Zacarias was abducted twenty-six hours ago, but until a body turns up — we're assuming she's alive."
"Sir, if Brambilla is behind this, we have to assume that Crouch and Lestrange are working alongside her," Harry said.
"Yes, we do," Robards agreed. "I've doubled patrols in and around the areas they've been seen. In the meantime, let's see what we can pull up on the three of them and any known locations that might have significance to them. Let's get to work."
Harry took Lestrange's file from Higgins as they sat down to start going over it, to try to find out where they could have taken Zee, but he couldn't help but feel a chill wash over him as he did so.
He had a terrible feeling that they were too late and he hated himself for even thinking it.
~ TTTC ~
3rd November, 1998 — 12:30AM…
He woke, blinking in the dark.
His chest was aching. It felt hollow, strange. His hands reached up to make sense of the darkness surrounding him and they hit wood. When he felt the roughness again, he dragged his nails across it, causing them to split and warm blood dripped down his fingers.
"Listen, Bart!" a woman's voice hissed from somewhere above him.
He punched the wood with all of his strength, but it only caused his knuckles to bleed.
Where was he?
What had happened?
He punched the wood again and again, feeling it splinter above him and cutting into his skin as his fist finally broke through it with a sickening crunch. Then the lid was opening and he found himself staring up at three figures, one of them the man who he assumed must be Bart.
"Welcome back, cousin," the woman with long black and grey curls said.
She held out her hand to him and he let her pull him from the coffin, out of the hole in the ground. He reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes, his broken nails and knuckles bleeding. He looked down at them indifferently before letting his eyes roam the surroundings. He was in a snow covered cemetery and there was a woman tied up with her arms and legs spread wide, a fist-sized hole in her chest, and covered in blood. Interesting, he thought, licking his dry lips. His eyes took in the beautiful blonde standing next to the dark haired woman and he cleared his throat.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded, his voice so hoarse it pained him to talk.
Bart giggled. "The question isn't what did we do, it's what you're going to do for us now that we've brought you back."
"What's that?" he rasped.
"Help us kill Harry Potter," the dark haired woman said. "Because trust us, he's never going to see you coming, Sirius. And it's going to blow his fucking mind."
Sirius blinked. He looked down at himself, despite the dirty and bloody fingernails he looked relatively unscathed except for the ache in his chest that he couldn't make sense of. Sirius…
"Is that my name then? Sirius…"
"Black," the dark haired woman said. "I'm Bellatrix, your dear cousin. This is Belladonna and this is Bart."
"The three bitches?"
Bellatrix's eyes narrowed. "What do you remember?"
Sirius shrugged. He wasn't sure. His eyes took in the woman with her chest cut open again rather indifferently. They wanted him to kill someone? Well, he figured he owed them for bringing him back. He'd been… he didn't remember where he'd been exactly. Everything was blurry, like his memories had been wiped from him. He felt… different, like something was missing, but he didn't know what. His eyes met his cousin's again and when he saw the manic gleam in her eye, he felt comforted at knowing that she was his cousin.
He looked back at the hole he'd just climbed from; the grave. He'd come out of a coffin, he realized. Had he been dead? The look Bellatrix gave him told him it was true. She was someone he could trust. He saw that now; after all, she'd pulled him (literally) from his own grave.
"Where do I start?" he rasped.
Bart cackled and pointed to the woman lying on the ground. "Get rid of the whore."
Sirius' eyes moved back over to the woman: The whore. Her violent death had obviously been an important part of bringing him back. He knelt over the woman, taking in her curvy form and long curls. She had clearly been beaten, he noted. His eyes roamed over her naked chest and the gaping hole where her heart should have been. He picked her up bridal style, his eyes catching his name tattooed under the blood on her chest.
She had his name tattooed on her.
"Who is she?" he asked, staring down at the tattoo, curiously.
"The bitch who killed you," Bellatrix declared. "We took care of her for you; to bring you back, Sirius."
Sirius looked down at the woman once more, his eyes finding the tattoo on her chest again. He couldn't make out the rest, but he saw that it was more names. Leo. Mina. Harry. He frowned; trying to decipher it made his head hurt. He carried her over to the grave he'd just risen from and dropped her into the coffin. The sound of her body hitting the bottom, a bone cracking loudly in the silence, only made him wrinkle his nose. When he looked below, he saw his wand lying in the casket and he hopped down, careful not to step on the woman as he pulled it out from beneath the woman's limbs before he closed the lid.
Sirius hopped out of the grave and with a wave of his wand, tossed the cauldron into the coffin before it was buried in the ground once more, sealing the earth beneath the tombstone as if it had never even been disturbed. He pocketed his wand and turned back to the three who had pulled him from the grave.
"All right. So, tell me, why do I need to kill this Potter?"
"Because he's the reason you're dead," Bellatrix exclaimed. "He and that bitch you just buried are responsible for your death. It's about time that we teach them a lesson."
Sirius licked his dry lips again, the headache forming over his temple picking up pace. "And now I'm just back? How?"
The blonde laughed and took his arm. "I like you already, Sirius Black."
Sirius let his gaze move over her lovely curves and thought it would be a shame if she was his cousin as well. "Are we related as well, darling?"
She laughed again, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "No. Only you and Bellatrix are cousins. Bart and I are friends. I'm Belladonna. How much do you remember?"
Sirius shook his head, trying to make sense of the cobwebs that were clouding his mind. "I don't know. It's all… blurry. But I know that name… Harry Potter… who is he? Why did he kill me? Why was his name and mine tattooed on that woman?"
Belladonna pursed her lips, letting her hand linger over his bicep as she spoke. "He's only the darkest wizard to ever have lived. He killed our master and has been trying to destroy the magical world ever since. We need to kill him and we need to do it quickly before he finds out what we're up to."
"Why do you need me? If he killed me once, what's to stop him from doing it again?"
Belladonna smiled, brushing her hands over her thighs to clean the dirt off of them. "Because you're the one thing that he won't see coming, Sirius. Come on, let's get you a nice hot shower and some food. Then we'll have a chat about how to kill Harry Potter."
Sirius nodded and let her lead him off, half listening as Bellatrix and Bart spoke about how Sirius was the perfect weapon. A weapon, he thought his mind fogging again.
That name… Harry Potter… just how exactly was he connected to him? He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that Bellatrix would fill him in once he was more alert. He looked over at the sexy blonde and licked his bottom lip. She wasn't as beautiful as the curvy brunette he'd just buried, but he wondered if she'd be willing to join him in the shower.
After all, if he'd really been dead, he had a lot to make up for.
~ TTTC ~
4th November, 1998…
It was after midnight by the time Harry returned Clevedon Court, still bone tired and still coming up empty-handed. Ron draped his arm over his shoulders when they stepped into the entrance way.
"We'll find her, mate."
Harry's eyes met Ron's blue ones and he shook his head. "Will we find her alive?"
Ron's expression told him exactly what he feared.
"Mate…"
"No," Harry said, shrugging his friend's arm off. "I just… I need to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."
He headed upstairs to his room, closing the door behind him and leaning back against the door. He knew that being an Auror meant putting in the legwork. He understood that things didn't happen in a flash and that it took time, but working today… they'd found out more than he could have imagined and yet, they found nothing.
The Auror Inquisitive Unit used the help of a curse breaker to decipher the runes and they'd managed to follow Zee's trail to an abandoned warehouse in Liverpool. They found drops of her blood near a wall, an abandoned cauldron with a handful of an unknown potion left that gleamed like rainbow icicles, and they'd found her wand — broken in half.
The sight of it had almost taken Harry to his knees.
They'd broken her wand.
They'd made her bleed and she was still missing.
From the warehouse, they'd managed to find a trail a little further into the city before all trace of her had vanished again. But in Godric's Hollow, the AIU's had learned a few more things.
Someone had performed dark magic in the graveyard.
They didn't know what kind or to what extent or to what purpose, but the magical signature had proven something had happened there and Harry was almost certain that Zee had been involved.
He just didn't know how.
He took a step further into the room and the sight of a figure asleep on the bed made his heart swell in his chest. He recognized the soft features in the semi-darkness and moved to sit on the side of the bed. He reached for her, brushing his fingertips down her cheek, she stirred, opening those big brown eyes.
"Hi."
"Hi," he said, his fingers still moving down her cheek.
Ginny tugged him down into the bed with her, wrapping her arms around him. "Hermione mirror-called me. She said that she had a feeling you didn't."
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I… I've just been focused and… I didn't want to bother you."
Ginny gently brushed her fingers through his hair, taking his glasses off and putting them on the night table next to them before resuming her focus on his hair. "You are never bothering me. You are more important than classes."
Harry moved closer, burying his face in her breasts. "What if I don't find her, Gin?"
"You will," Ginny assured him. "If anyone can find out what happened to her, it's you, Harry."
"I'm afraid she's dead," he whispered.
Ginny's fingers paused in his hair for a half a second.
"I don't want to believe it," he whispered. "I don't even want to think it, but… I just have this feeling… in here." He reached a hand between them to rub it over his heart. "I can't explain it, I just… I just don't.… something horrible happened. Something terrible and I can't tell you what it is, I just know… I just know something's very wrong, Ginny. I can feel it in my gut. Gin, why would they kidnap her? What would they want with her? What the fuck am I going to do about Mina and Leo?"
Ginny pressed her lips to his forehead. "You are going to keep doing exactly what you're doing. You're an amazing big brother, Harry, and those kids are going to be so loved and so well cared for, no matter what. You're not alone. Zee will turn up."
"Do you think that she's alive?"
Ginny held him closer and for a long moment, he just listened to the beat of her heart before she finally spoke. "I think that if they had killed her, they would make a statement about it. Something to show you what they did. The fact that you haven't found her — dead or alive — tells me there's something more going on, something that we don't know."
"They have the Resurrection Stone."
"Tom's not coming back, Harry," Ginny insisted. "He can't. You killed him."
"I know," he said, the smell of her skin calming him as he snuggled closer. "I know that. Logically, I know that. But… I don't know. Something about this doesn't make sense. Crouch. Brambilla. Lestrange. It doesn't make sense, Ginny."
Ginny's fingers continued to stroke his hair as she lay on her back, Harry on his stomach as he snuggled against her, his face buried in her breasts. "You'll figure it out, Harry. I know you will."
Her words comforted him as he drifted off to sleep, still in his Auror uniform, held safe in the arms of the woman he loved.
~ TTTC ~
Ron finished getting dressed the next morning and reached for Hermione when she walked by in a towel, tugging her down into his lap. He pressed his lips to her naked shoulder and Hermione linked her arms around his neck.
"You didn't sleep well."
"Couldn't shut my mind off," Ron admitted. "I should check on Harry."
"Ginny's with him."
Ron's eyebrow rose. "Ginny should be at Hogwarts."
"McGonagall let her leave when she heard what happened," Hermione told him. "Can you tell me what you learned yesterday?"
Ron repeated everything that he'd told her last night. He knew that Auror cases weren't meant to be shared outside of the department, but this was Harry's mum. It was different and everyone knew it. Hermione listened attentively before she bit her bottom lip.
"Godric's Hollow is the bit where I'm the most puzzled," Hermione told him. "It doesn't make sense for Brambilla to have been seen there."
"Why not?"
"Well, she has no history there." When Ron only stared at her, her fingers played with the short hairs at the back of his neck as she continued. "Think about it, Ron. Godric's Hollow has always been a peaceful village. The only real history there was Halloween of 1981 when Harry's parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort. Brambilla was never there. Why would they go to that graveyard?"
Ron frowned. "Well, Harry and Zee were planning on going there, for Sirius' birthday."
"But why take Zee there?" Hermione asked. "It doesn't make sense. It can't just be to throw you off the trail as you said someone was sent to Sussex as well to check out a lead, right? As you said, there were signs of dark magic there; something happened…"
"There was some dark magic lingering in Sussex too, a few graves had been robbed, but… none of the graves in Godric's Hollow were disturbed," Ron said. "The AIU's were still trying to decipher the runes from the Hollow to figure it out, but there's no proof that Brambilla or Zee were involved with it."
"No," Hermione agreed, "but do you really think that someone saw her in the village and she wasn't involved in the dark magic there?"
"No," Ron admitted. "But until we know what the runes were, we can't be sure of anything yet."
"I think that you should check out the graveyard again. Leave no stone unturned."
"What? Like dig people up?"
Hermione wrinkled her nose. "No! Merlin, it's an expression, Ron! Albeit a poor one considering the environment so, I apologize for that. I just think that you really need to figure out more about this dark magic they performed."
"We will," Ron assured her. "We're still trying to figure out what this unknown potion is that we found in Liverpool as well. It looked like rainbow coloured glaciers or crystals in liquid form. It's unlike anything the Potioneers have seen before and there was only a handful of it left. Not to mention the runes are ancient and a combination of spells no one has used in centuries. Plus Robards is still having Baxter and I look into these ashes of Hades. According to our sources, they did arrive in England. We traced them back to Gringotts."
"Hades?" Hermione asked in surprise. "The Greek god of the underworld?"
"Well, he was a wizard actually," Ron corrected. "But he was very well known and came from a powerful family called Olympus. His ashes have been protected for centuries and it's believed that because of the raw power he possessed, his ashes can be used for all sorts of dark rituals. But they've been strongly protected in a cave in Greece. Baxter and I determined that they can be used in a necromancy spell."
Hermione looked perplexed. "Necromancy isn't a true revival, Ron. People can't be brought back from the dead."
"Voldemort was," Ron countered.
"Yes, but he fractured his soul, leaving part of himself tethered to this world. Without that tether, it would be impossible to come back, not as yourself. He would be an Inferius at best."
"Maybe… but I can't figure out why else they would want the ashes of Hades Olympus and be doing dark magic in a graveyard," Ron said. "I wish you'd joined the Aurors with us, Hermione, we could use your big, sexy brain."
Hermione smiled and pecked his lips. "You can pick my brain if you need to, but I have no doubt that you and Harry can figure this out yourself."
Ron nodded and inched his fingers under her towel. "So, if we skipped breakfast, I think I have a better idea for a morning pick me up."
When his fingers brushed her core, she bit her bottom lip. "We don't have time for that."
Ron leaned in to kiss her neck. "Bet we do."
When Ron strolled into the DMLE at precisely eight, he was whistling. His stomach was grumbling, but just this once, he thought missing breakfast had totally been worth it.
~ TTTC ~
Harry knew that Ginny was worried about him. Zee had been missing for six days now and she knew that he was stressing over it. McGonagall was letting her leave every night to stay with him and between her early morning Quidditch training and trying to get her homework done, he was a little worried she was going to burn out taking the extra time to come see him instead of getting the rest she needed.
But nothing was going to stop her from being there to hold him when he came home at night with dark circles under his eyes and fear in his heart.
He was so grateful for her.
It was only when he was in her arms at night that he truly felt calm and safe and was able to turn his mind off from the worry that he was feeling over Zee's disappearance. As more days past, he became more and more sure that they weren't going to find her alive and he didn't have any comfort in that. If anything, it made him more determined to prove himself wrong.
When he wasn't at the Ministry, Harry spent every free second with Mina and Leo. Whether it was being there to tuck them in at night or to drop them off and pick them up from Once Upon A Nursery School, he was there. Sorcha stayed at Black Cottage every night and she took turns with Colt and Flo to watch the twins when needed. Molly had even popped by a few times to help out when she could as had Remus with little Teddy in tow, but everyone was starting to be on edge.
The dark magical signature that had been left in Godric's Hollow kept turning up nothing good, but so far, despite the bits that they could decipher, no one knew what it meant. The AIU's were still processing the evidence and trying to see through the warding spells that were blocking the runes. It wasn't an easy task and Harry knew that they were working as hard as they could to take apart the magic layer by layer, but it wasn't fast enough.
There was still no sign of the three Death Eaters and no sign of Zee.
Not until the seventh day.
On the seventh day of her having gone missing, someone finally spotted something.
Crouch, Lestrange, and Brambilla were spotted in Sussex by Black Manor, near were Bellatrix Lestrange had been see over a week before. The Daily Prophet had printed the news of their sighting, claiming that a fourth person had been seen with them in the distance: A man.
But there was still no sign of Zee.
Harry had immediately used the mirror to call Ginny. "Can Theo get a hold of Malfoy?"
Ginny merely raised an eyebrow. "Hello to you, too."
His green eyes softened. "Hi, Gin. I'm sorry, I'm just… stressed."
"I know," she told him. "And yes, Theo can get a hold of Malfoy. Why?"
"Black Manor is owned by his grandmother," Harry told her. "We need access to it to see if the three of them are really there."
Ginny urged Harry to call Theo and get his help. When Theo didn't answer his mirror, Harry Apparated straight to Fakenham in the county of Norfolk and knocked on the front door. Kiki let him inside and led him to the living room, assuring him that Master Theo would be right down.
It was only a minute before Theo came down the stairs from the small balcony overlooking the living room. His hair was damp and he was wearing deep red corduroy trousers with a dark blue button-down dress shirt beneath a black and red v-neck sleeveless jumper. He beamed at the sight of Harry as he skipped down the stairs.
"Lover! You came to visit! Sorry, I missed your call, I was in the shower, but I'm glad you came to see me."
Harry felt a little guilty that he wasn't actually here to visit. "Well, not entirely," he admitted. "Did you hear about Zee?"
Theo's smile faded. "Yeah, I saw it in the paper the other day and Ginny's filled me in since then. I'm so sorry, Harry. How can I help?"
"Thank you and that's actually why I came. Can you get a hold of Malfoy?"
"Of course," Theo said, looking perplexed by the change in conversation. "How can Draco help?"
"I need to get access to his grandmother's home in Sussex."
Theo's eyebrow rose in surprise. "Well, that won't be too difficult. As far as I know, Druella Black hasn't returned to England since she left years ago to avoid the war."
"Good. How soon can you get me there?"
Theo slapped his hands on his thighs as he stood up. "Do you have time for a quick trip to France?"
"France?"
"Oui, Monsieur."
Harry frowned, glancing at his watch. As much as he wanted to say yes, he had to be at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement soon. "Not really."
Theo nodded. "All right. I'll head out to wine country and get a hold of Draco. I promise to mirror-call as soon as I know something."
Relief tore through Harry at his words. "That would be great. Thank you, Theo."
"Of course. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask. I'm sure Sebastian can probably help as well?"
"We're using the case files that Sebastian worked on when he was at the DMLE," Harry told him. "But right now, there's nothing that they can do that we aren't already doing."
"Right," Theo said. "Well, if there is, just ask. He'd be glad to help, I know it."
"Thanks, Theo. You'll call?"
"As soon as I can," Theo promised.
Harry left Norfolk feeling a little better, but still rather unsure of everything. On his way to London, he decided to Apparate to Sussex again. It wasn't going to hurt anything to have a little look around, even if he couldn't get directly to Black Manor just yet.
Black Manor had belonged to the Black family for centuries, but Sirius had told him that it belonged to the other side of the Blacks which was why he'd continued to leave it in the hands of Cygnus and Druella Black when he inherited everything upon his mother's death. When his uncle Cygnus had died, Sirius entrusted it to Draco once he reached majority while Druella continued to live there. Now it belonged to Malfoy and Harry didn't have any access to it as it was no longer a Black asset like it had been before Malfoy had turned seventeen.
Harry stood near the English Channel, looking over across at the water at the manor in the distance. The cemetery was on his left, the one where Bellatrix has first been spotted over a week before, and the one that had grave robberies. No one knew what the robbers had been after, but seven graves had been dug up and things taken, body parts included. They suspected Bellatrix was involved, but grave robbing wasn't exactly her known modus operandi. That part of the case was being worked on by Baxter and Ron, but Harry was positive that it had to be connected to the graveyard in Godric's Hollow as well even if nothing had been taken from the Hollow cemetery. Unlike here, where the Sussex graves were left vandalized, there had been nothing like that in Godric's Hollow; just a lot more hints of dark magic.
Harry looked out towards the Tudor style manor house again. He remembered Sirius telling him that it had been in the Black family for a few centuries. If Druella Black had truly been out of the country for years, Bellatrix Lestrange could be using it. After all, it was the house that she had grown up in. It would be an ideal place to hide for herself, Crouch, and Brambilla.
He wondered if they were hiding Zee inside as well.
A twig snapped somewhere behind him and he turned, squinting out in the early morning light to see if he could see anything through the patches of morning fog, but the wood was silent. He turned back to the house, wondering how long it would be before Theo found Draco when the smell of forest and leather washed over him.
He turned again, his heart in his throat.
But he didn't feel that familiar feeling of warmth like he usually did when he thought Sirius was watching over him. The smell seemed stronger here and when he stepped towards the woods, the scent of cigarette smoke wafted closer. He pulled his wand from his holster and crept into the woods.
The wood was silent around him. He could hear snow falling from the branches above, birds whistling, and the wind ripping through the trees. But there was no sound of feet crunching through snow. No sounds of snow being pushed around. No footprints in the fluffy white outside of his own. But when he stumbled across a still smoking cigarette butt lying on the ground next to a pair of boot tracks; he frowned.
Someone had been watching him.
He looked back towards the house again and swore that he could still smell forest and leather with a hint of wet dog that reminded him so strongly of Sirius, he leaned into the smell; comforted by it. He took a step behind the tree, eying the boot tracks that seemed to vanish before him. The tracks were around the tree, a treaded path that told him whoever had stood there had been pacing, but no tracks left the path. The only other prints were ones of a deer, possibly a wolf, and what looked like rabbit tracks in the snow. He used a revealing spell and when no one showed up under the guise of an invisibility spell or a cloak or anything other form of magical disguise, he frowned.
The Jack Russell Terrier tore through the trees, startling Harry from his thoughts as Ron's voice broke out of it.
"Harry, meet us in Apricity Lane. Robards has found something."
Harry blinked out into the woods a moment longer, but he couldn't see anyone so he Disapparated to Apricity Lane.
He just missed the tall figure coming out from behind the tree on the other side of the wooded clearing, his lips curved into a sneer.
"Don't worry, Potter. We'll meet again soon," Sirius said into the empty forest.
Then he used his wand to light the fresh cigarette in his mouth, blowing a long stream of smoke forward. He whistled the tune of Radio Gaga as he made his way towards Black Manor, watching the sun rise up fully over the water.
Bellatrix was standing at the back door when he came up the steps. "Where have you been?"
"Out for a walk," Sirius said, flicking the butt out onto the grass. "Did you find me one?"
She pursed her lips. "It's repulsive."
"It's sexy," he corrected. "And it's part of the deal."
Bellatrix's eyes narrowed. "It's on the side of the house."
Sirius followed her and when his eyes landed on the orange and black motorbike, his lips curved. "It's perfect."
Belladonna stepped out of the house and handed him a black jacket with a greenish hue to the material. "It's dragon hide and that is a 1998 Triumph Thunderbird Sport. The Muggle said it's the newest and best Triumph on the market."
Sirius slipped the jacket on and straddled the bike, revving the engine. "It'll do. And the Muggle?"
Belladonna shrugged. "He was only too happy to give it to me for free."
"Is he alive?" Bellatrix asked.
"Please. I don't need to kill men to make them give me everything I want," Belladonna cooed. "We gave you what you wanted, Sirius. Now it's your turn."
Sirius patted the seat behind him. "After you come for a ride, Donna. We'll talk more about how we're going to murder Potter."
Belladonna grinned as she straddled the bike behind Sirius and slipped her arms around his waist. "Will it be filthy?"
He gave her a look over his shoulder and winked. "Absolutely naughty, darling. Hang on."
And when he rode out into the morning sun, the bike vibrating beneath him with Belladonna holding his waist, he thought that killing this Potter was going to be rather fun after all.
End Author's Notes:
Thank you to SeriouslySam for helping me coordinate my ideas and thoughts into this idea way back in late 2021-early 2022. I appreciate the help in making this idea work, even if it took some convincing me to do it. I am eternally grateful to have gotten the chance to bounce ideas off with such a wonderful writer. Thank you!
Thank you to celtics534 for helping me make this chapter flow better.
Thank you to Bellmel for writing the story summary for me — they are so hard!
Thank you to ellieoryan for creating my cover art/Hinny mood board for TTTC. You're the best!
Auror Reminders — Dark Arts Unit within the Auror Department of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, created by yours truly. Gawain Robards is in charge of the unit.
A3s — Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, Natalie Atwell (OC), Rexford Higgins (OC), Eric Baxter (OC)
A2s — Natasha Barnes (OC), Aslan Young (OC)
A1s — Harry, Ron, Andrew Graham (OC), Jay Jackowski (OC)
Well, what do you think of the first chapter?
Thank you for reading and please review!