James' POV
Back at home, I was arguing with Lily.
"Lily, you can't come after me like this! You're carrying our baby inside you! It's too risky," I argued furiously. "Do you have any idea how I felt when I heard your voice, and then saw Death Eaters casting Killing Curses at you? It's hard enough to let you fight when you're not pregnant, but this-"
"I can't just wait at home, James!" Lily shouted back, enraged. "I have to do what I can, same as you! Do you know what it's like waiting, not knowing if you'll come back to me? Feeling utterly helpless…"
I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers against them.
"Lily, don't come after me again. This can't happen. Promise me."
"No. As long as you're there, I will be too," Lily said firmly. Frustration ate away at my mind.
"Lils, come on. Please, think of Harry," I begged.
"You think of Harry," Lily shot back. "He… He wanted to go after you, too. I know he did. I felt him wanting to go see you, same as me."
She blushed, then, and I just about fell in love with her all over again.
But at that very moment, Sirius and Raylynx entered, both looking as though they'd had their souls eaten by dementors.
"What is it? What's wrong? Where's-?" My voice fell silent when Raylynx turned away from me, trying silently but desperately to hold back tears.
"She's not-?" I looked towards Sirius for an answer, and he gave me a solemn nod, his face twisted in pain.
Lily suddenly began to rush out, pushing past Sirius and towards the door. I grabbed her and said, "Lily, wait!"
"Move!" Lily said, struggling against me with all her strength. I barely managed to keep her from pushing past me.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To find her!" Lily said in a high-pitched voice. "To find Dorcas and bring her here!"
"Lils, you-" my voice cracked. "You can't. You can't go to her anymore. She's… out of our reach now."
Lily shoved me away, hard. She stood there, angry as all hell. Then, suddenly, she broke down, and burst into a flood of tears. I wrapped my arms around her lovingly.
"Lils, Lils…" I murmured her name, kissing the top of her head over and over again. But in my own heart, I felt a heavy grief mixed with disbelief. No way… There's no one as clever as her. She can't have been killed… I looked over at Sirius. His brow furrowed and grief and battle etched onto his once handsome face, Sirius nodded once, confirming that Dorcas was truly gone.
Raylynx began to walk out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked.
"Marlene…" Raylynx said, in a dazed and disorientated voice.
"By the time I left, the Healers had managed to save her life. It was close, but whatever spells you used must have worked," Sirius told her.
But Raylynx didn't stop. "I'm going," was all she said as she left the room.
Sirius looked towards me and seeing Lily sobbing in my arms, his face fell.
"Take care of her, will you?" Sirius said gently.
I nodded. "Go with Ray," I said. "We'll…" The words 'be fine' died in my throat and I could only force myself to say "manage here."
Raylynx's POV
Sirius followed me outside into the warm spring air.
In the humid night, I felt a strange calmness overtake me. I said to Sirius, "We need to tell Dumbledore."
"I'll do that," Sirius said immediately, sensing my reluctance to say those awful words.
"Thanks. I'll be at St. Mungo's," I told him.
"Okay," he murmured softly, and then he turned and vanished.
I spent the whole night besides Marlene's side.
As I gazed upon her now, thankfully, peacefully sleeping face, the frustration and anger built up inside of me.
I swear I will kill that person. I don't care about ideals like peace and righteous behavior anymore, I will kill whoever is responsible for this.
And as I sat there, letting these dangerous thoughts rush over me, I felt an irrepressible anger at Dumbledore.
So much of this could have been prevented if, instead of intending to sacrifice Marlene and trying to hide the incident from all of us, he could have organized a group of us to go and rescue her. We could have gotten out of there without any casualties. It was entirely possible. Did he not think Marlene was worth it? Well, he lost a lot more than Marlene tonight. When he forfeited Marlene, he forfeited Dorcas' life… and my loyalty.
Sirius joined me later that night. Neither of us spoke. We only watched over Marlene.
When morning came, I had to go to Ollivander's, so I left Marlene to Sirius.
Severus' POV
"Say that again," Lord Voldemort hissed at Travers. "Say that again!"
Travers swallowed hard and said, "She- that is, the McKinnon girl- she saw the traitor."
"And you let her escape, you let her live!" Voldemort said, livid.
Travers winced.
"My Lord," Rodolphus said calmly, stepping forward. "Rookwood has just reported. McKinnon is in St. Mungo's with the Kingsley girl."
"Did she tell the Muggle who the traitor is?" Voldemort demanded.
"Rookwood said he cannot be sure. He can only spy for so long."
Voldemort stood perfectly still, and in his stillness, I felt chills run down my spine for it was in his stillness, the Dark Lord was most violent. I tried to hide my utter fear, tried not to be like all the others, whose fear clearly showed on their faces.
Finally, Voldemort said quietly, "I had hoped to convert Kingsley into our servant. Her use of Dark Magic was beyond amateur. She could have been very useful to us, if only we could capture her rage against the Order and have her slaughter them for us. But it seems, due to mistakes made-"
Travers shivered again.
"-we shall have to dispose of her and the McKinnon girl. Rodolphus, have Rookwood track McKinnon home. We shall target the McKinnon blood traitors. Their whole family deserves death for their betrayal. As for the Kingsley Mudblood, Travers- bring me back her corpse. This is my mercy."
"Y-yes, my Lord," Travers stumbled over his words and hastily bowed and exited.
Rodulphus' upper lip curled at Travers' nervousness. I tried harder to control my posture, to control my hands from trembling. I have chosen my path. I will excel here.
When Rodulphus' eyes looked straight at mine, I did not look away or falter. Rodulphus grinned wickedly at me before bowing deeply to the Dark Lord and striding away.
Sirius' POV
I was dozing off besides Marlene, when suddenly, footsteps clattered into the hospital wing.
"Sirius! Sirius, wake up!" A familiar voice urgently called to me.
My eyes flew open and I saw James and-
"Moony! What are you doing here?"
"Moony just overheard two Death Eaters in Knockturn Alley. They were talking about springing a trap for Raylynx at Ollivander's!" James explained, speaking quickly.
"We have to go, now!" Remus urged.
My mouth suddenly went dry.
"Come on!" Remus tugged at my arm.
I leapt out of my chair and we both rushed out of the hospital together, sprinting towards the Ministry entrance so we could Apparate to Diagon Alley.
We didn't notice Rookwood in the corridor, his mouth curving into a victorious smile when he saw us rush out.
"Ollivander! Mr. Ollivander!"
We were all were completely out of breath by the time we got to Ollivander's wand shop. Without hesitation, I slammed open the door of the shop and shouted out Ollivander's name.
Ollivander came around the corner, his silver eyes glittering harshly. "What's your business, Mr. Black? Rampaging in my shop like a mindless bull. Don't you have any man-?"
"We're sorry, sir-" Remus began, but I immediately cut him off and demanded, "Raylynx Kingsley! Where is she?!"
Ollivander's eyes suddenly snapped open and he said, "She never came. She never arrived today."
Remus groaned.
I grabbed Ollivander. "Where is she!? Do you know where she is?" I yelled at him furiously.
Ollivander shook his head. His eyes fell on my wand.
"Find her. If it's the last thing you do," he whispered. "You have a debt to pay."
"What?"
"I saw two Death Eaters pass by here twenty minutes ago," he told us.
"Twenty minutes, that's ages ago. They could have Apparated anywhere by now!" James said, frustrated.
Ollivander drew his hand. With a flick of his hand, the door of his store closed and locked and the curtains on the window fell shut.
"Come with me," Ollivander said. He hastened to the back room. James, Remus, and I exchanged desperate looks. My heart was about to burst with impatience.
"We have no lead," Remus reminded us, and pushed me towards the back room.
Ollivander pulled out a stone bowl and waved his wand over it.
Immediately, sparkling water filled the bowl.
Ollivander took a piece of cedar wood, snapped it abruptly and threw it into the bowl. Then, he put his wand to his temple and pulled out a silver-blue string.
"A memory…" Remus said in awe.
The memory swirled down into the bowl. Ollivander moved his wand over the bowl and it began to spin faster and faster.
"What are you doing?" James asked, staring down at the bowl.
"Last week, Ms. Kingsley discovered that cedar possess conflicting properties of divination and logic. If we mix it with my memory of the two Death Eaters in the scrying bowl, perhaps we will be able to see they disappeared to."
It didn't make any sense to me. I could never follow this sort-of logic. But there was no other choice now except to trust him.
An image suddenly appeared in the bowl. We all leaned forward, staring hard.
"I know that place," I said through gritted teeth, recognizing the layout. "That's Malfoy Manor."
We all started to leave, when Ollivander said, "Stop. The mirror has not finished."
A new image flashed up, one that was unfamiliar to me. From the looks on James' and Remus' faces, neither of them knew the place either.
"That could be anywhere," Remus said, swallowing hard.
"Take that vision to Dumbledore," Ollivander ordered. "Have him help you. Go! Now!"
"I'll do it," Remus said.
"I'll come with you," I said.
"Then, I'm going to contact Alice and then head to Malfoy Manor," James said, and spun immediately into Disapparation.
I started to turn, too, when Ollivander suddenly grabbed my arm.
"Sirius Black."
I looked back at him.
"Dogwood mixed with aspen, phoenix feather, eleven and a quarter inches long," Ollivander recited, his silver eyes shimmering.
"What?" My mind buzzing with worry, I couldn't focus on anything else except reaching Raylynx as quickly as possible.
"Your wand… Do you know who is responsible for the wand you hold?"
I stared at him in bewilderment.
"Eleven years ago, after your mother dragged you out that door, a little girl came rushing in here to buy your wand for you."
I suddenly remembered that day my wand appeared in my bag, in Charms class. I had always assumed that my mother had secretly bought it for me and slipped it into my bag when I wasn't looking, but now… I suddenly remembered that day in Ollivander's shop. There had been a little girl waiting uncertainly behind me, hadn't there?
"Raylynx," I breathed out.
"Please, find her," Ollivander whispered.
Raylynx, I'm coming. Please hold on.
Raylynx's POV
"Uhh..."
Consciousness returned through a veil. My vision was blurry, my mind was groggy, and I was feeling deeply nauseous.
"Might take you a bit to get your senses back," a gruff voice said, sounding amused. "We gave you a strong poison."
I tried to move but my hands and feet were bound.
The man besides me chuckled. "How do you like the feeling of being completely trapped?" I felt something wet flicker across my cheek. I wanted to grimace, but I felt so exhausted. Even my bones felt heavy. I thought that if I wasn't tied up like this, I wouldn't be able to even sit up.
Suddenly, a door clicked open somewhere and I heard footsteps echoing somewhere, somehow.
"You. Kingsley," a voice snarled. "Tell me what you know. You know who the traitor is, don't you? You heard it from that McKinnon girl."
I felt something jabbed under my jaw. Then, I registered the searing pain of being cut.
Somehow, the pain felt more intense even though my mind was fuzzy.
It felt like the pain had access to more parts of my brain than usual.
"Tell me what you know!" the voice yelled harshly, and I felt another cut rip into my arm.
"I won't!" I barely managed to shout through the ringing in my head.
"You see?" A voice slithered disgustingly. "She knowsss. I told you, she knows!"
Something about it was vaguely familiar. I shivered.
"You know who it is, you filthy Mudblood!?" A hard smack! echoed in the small chamber as someone struck my face.
"No, I-I… won't…" I managed to say, breathing heavily. More than anything, I wanted to say that I didn't know, but I knew the only power I had over them was their ignorance of my knowledge. So I had to stick to saying "I won't" rather than "I don't".
"Shall I kill her?" a voice said, amused. "I'll give her the same treatment as her parents."
Through the fog seeping through my mind and fighting the constant need to vomit, I still recognized that voice.
"Y-Yaxley," I coughed out.
Somebody slapped me in the face hard enough that my teeth cut my cheek. Blood filled my mouth.
"Yaxley, I-I'll kill you!" I spat out, my voice gurgling slightly.
Cruel laughter filled the room. Everything sounded like an echo, but a flame burned in my mind.
Where's my wand? Where's my wand?
It's not- they must have taken-
It doesn't… It doesn't matter…
Think. Think!
I gritted my teeth and tried to summon magic to me, but the hazy effect of the potion kept getting in the way.
"Not gonna answer, eh?" someone growled impatiently. "Fine, we'll do it the hard way."
Somebody grabbed my arm and began to cut deeply.
I screamed aloud, consumed by the pain.
"TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"
I gritted my teeth back, but couldn't hold back the cries after what happened next.
"CRUCIO!"
"AHHH!" My scream ripped through my throat and wrenched through the air.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and blinding light filled the room as shouts, yells, and explosions sounded everywhere.
I still couldn't make sense of anything. The only sensation I could truly comprehend was the piercing fire lingering in my body and mind.
Help… somebody, please help me...
"Raylynx…"
Such a familiar voice…
"Ms. Kingsley…"
Professor… Professor McGonagall. Am I hallucinating?
Blurrily, I felt someone untie me. I slumped forward like a puppet cut from strings, but gentle arms caught me and wrapped around me.
The smell of lovely tea, old books, and chocolate wafted towards me, pushing down my nausea. Wait, it couldn't be…
"Remus...?" I breathed out. Too exhausted, I couldn't open my eyes. I'm definitely hallucinating.
My eyes snapped open.
Slowly, I sat up. I felt rather dizzy and somewhat nauseous. I held my head in my hand for a moment. I thought I could hear the soft murmuring of voices… and then, the sound of footsteps.
"Lynx, you're up?"
I looked up to see Sirius enter my room. He was holding a bowl of water and a washcloth. Lily was right behind him, and she raced over to me side and took my other hand.
"How are you feeling, Ray?" Lily asked me, concerned.
I shook my head a little, trying to convey that I still felt sick.
"If you feel nauseous, that's to be expected," Sirius said. He set the bowl down on my bedside table. "There's still poison running in your system, or so Minnie said."
"McGonagall?" I asked, then coughed. My throat was so dry. "Professor McGonagall's here?"
"No, she's at Hogwarts. But she helped us to rescue you, and stayed by your side until she was sure you'd be all right," Sirius explained.
Lily took an empty glass from the nightstand and tapped it so that it filled with water, and handed it to me. As I sipped it, I started to remember what had happened. That's right. They had to rescue me.
"What happened?" I asked. "How did you find me?"
"Ollivander managed to conjure up images of where you might be. We recognized Malfoy Manor, but not the other, so we split up. James contacted Alice and went to Malfoy Manor. Moony and I took the unknown image to Dumbledore and he managed to track you down. McGonagall was in Dumbledore's office and she came with us to rescue you."
"Moony?" I said, immediately sitting up. "You mean Remus is back?"
"Yes," Lily replied. She hesitated a little before admitting, "He's here now, actually. Just in the kitchen."
I started to get up when the world suddenly spun.
Warm hands clasped my waist. "Careful, there," Sirius cautioned. "The poison's still in your system."
"Here, take my shoulder," Lily said, but Sirius waved her off.
"I'm not going to have a pregnant lady helping a poisoned lady while I'm standing right here, perfectly unharmed," Sirius said impatiently, and wrapped his arm securely around my waist.
We walked out together to the kitchen. By the time we'd walked those short steps to the kitchen, I already felt a bit fatigued.
Remus, who had been quietly sipping his tea at the table, quickly sat up. He bumped his hip on the table. Grinning sheepishly, he rubbed his hip. His eyes didn't quite meet mine as he mumbled, "Glad to see you're up."
I stepped away from Sirius and approached Remus. "Glad to see you're here," I said.
"I didn't want to shock you when you woke up," Remus explained uncertainly. "I wasn't sure how you would react."
"What are you talking about, Remus?" I said, shaking my head a little. "I'm just glad you're here."
"You're not angry with me?" Remus asked.
"No," I answered honestly. "I'm sorry for how I acted. I'm just glad you've returned."
"I won't be staying here," Remus clarified. "I've got a small place in London."
I nodded. Then, I stepped forward and gently wrapped my arms around him. Remus seemed surprised, but then hesitantly returned the embrace, rubbing his hand on my back.
I suddenly felt very tired. Remus must have felt how much I was leaning on him and how feverish I suddenly was.
"Raylynx, are you all right?"
"Fine," I murmured, breathing in the relaxing scent of Remus Lupin. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head into his shoulder.
"Raylynx, you're burning up. You need to rest," Remus said softly.
"I have the potions from Poppy," Sirius said, and I could hear the clinking of phials as he drew them out of his robe.
"I have to go to my shift," Lily said. "Marlene's probably already there."
"Speaking of," I lifted my head and murmured quietly, "Why was I kidnapped? It had something to do with Marlene."
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"They kept asking me what Marlene had told me. They thought I knew something important because of Marlene," I explained tiredly.
"Well, I'm not sure. They must have made a mistake," Lily said. "Anyways, I have to run or I'll be late. Take care, Raylynx."
"You too, Lils," I mumbled.
"Moony, can you take her to her bed? I have to prepare this potion."
"Sure," Remus replied and he gently guided me back to my room. I almost instantly fell asleep, but Sirius came in and dipped the contents of a potion into my mouth. Even in this state, I could identify the potion and I heard Poppy's voice in my mind. "Silvery taste, with a slight bitterness at the tip of the tongue. Purifying potion."
"I have work," I heard Remus say.
"I know, I'll look after her tonight," Sirius replied. "My shift isn't until tomorrow, and I think Alice will be here then."
There was a slight pause, and then footsteps heading further away from me.
"Moony?" Sirius suddenly called.
The footsteps stopped.
"Really, though. I'm glad you're back with us."
A soft cough. Remus cleared his throat and said quietly, "Yes, me too."
Then, the door shut.
I woke up with fire coursing through my veins.
This was the Purifying Potion doing its work. Only there was so much poison in my body that I-
I jolted out of bed.
Sirius stirred awake from the floor. I leapt over him and headed straight for the toilet.
I vomited out the poison my body was pushing out.
Sirius appeared behind me. "Lynx?" he mumbled.
I tried to wave him away.
"Get out of here. No one needs to see this," I managed to say before I turned and had to retch again.
"This is a good thing," Sirius said, rubbing his eyes as he slowly woke up. "It means the poison's getting out of your system."
"Yeah, bloody brilliant," I managed to comment dryly between heaves.
He chuckled tiredly and then grimaced as I threw up again.
I reached over and flushed before I went to the sink and thoroughly washed out my mouth.
I felt a bit shaky, but I did feel lighter and less nauseous, at least for now.
"I'll get you some water," Sirius said, and went to the kitchen.
I came out of the bathroom and sat on the carpet besides the bathroom door, just in case I felt nauseous again.
Sirius came back and handed me a glass before joining me on the floor.
"You really don't have to watch me go through this, you know," I said, drinking the water slowly. "Besides, I know a bit of Healing. I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, yeah, you never want help. I know that already," Sirius said sarcastically. "But I'm here anyways, so just tolerate it, will you?"
We lapsed into silence and I felt my stomach turning again.
"How are you?" I asked, trying to keep my mind off the nauseous feeling in my stomach. "You didn't get hurt coming after me, did you?"
"I hardly think you're in a position to worry about me," Sirius replied. "Besides," he scoffed, "no Death Eater could lay a finger on me."
As he said that, my eyes traced over the half-healed bruises on his arms and on his neck.
"What?" he asked me, noticing my gaze.
"Nothing," I said. "Just admiring your arrogance."
Sirius fell silent.
"Well," he said after a moment, "admittedly, that Cruciatus Curse was more than a finger. That one hurt a bit." He winced a little.
I snorted. Is that your imitation of humility? But then I remembered that he had protected me from the oncoming Cruciatus Curse.
"Why did you do that?" I asked him.
"Why did I do what?"
"You didn't have to take that Cruciatus Curse for me."
Sirius gave me his trademark devilish grin and looked at me slyly. "You know me, always got to play the hero."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, for whatever reason, thanks," I said. "You should go back to sleep, Sirius. I'm really all right."
But Sirius didn't respond. I looked up at him. He was frowning slightly, and deep in thought.
"Sirius?"
"Hm?"
"You should get back to sleep."
"Oh."
Feeling awkward, I started to turn away from him when Sirius said, "There was that time in our fourth year, down by the kitchens, when you got caught in the middle of our fight with the Slytherins. When we took you up to the hospital wing, I lied about how you got hurt. I lied because I knew that telling the truth would get us into more trouble than the Slytherins. I'd already seen enough of my heritage to know that telling the truth was not going to end in justice. But I always felt guilty that you got involved."
"So this is your apology?" I said, both amused and touched at the fact that he remembered that incident. "It's a little late in coming, but I appreciate it."
"That's not the only time," Sirius said. "There was that time in the seventh year. You went to go get chocolates for Moony and when you came back…"
My breath caught. I knew what he was talking about. That had been the night Regulus had cursed me with the Cruciatus Curse.
"I've been cursed a lot of times before," Sirius said slowly. "That night, you were so pale and your hands were shaking. You went up to your dormitory, and I let you go. I should have gone after you."
His eyes met mine. "You were cursed, weren't you?"
I looked away from him.
"You don't have to talk about it," Sirius said. "But when I saw that Cruciatus Curse coming for you, I suddenly thought of these moments at Hogwarts and I just felt like I had to step in this time."
"I realize this is strange for you to hear," Sirius said, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm sure you told the others about it and have moved on."
"I didn't tell them," I said. "
Sirius looked at me incredulously. "You didn't tell anyone what happened to you?"
"Why would I have? They didn't have to know."
He gave me a hard look. "You can't just bottle everything up like that. It'll reach a limit."
"How would you know?"
"Just do."
"What are you hiding, Sirius?" I asked, turning the tables on him. For some strange reason, I felt defensive instead of appreciative of Sirius' words. He had no right to read me so easily. However, two could play at this game.
"I'm not," Sirius replied.
"Are you scared you'll find out you're more a Black than a Gryffindor?" I asked him.
"What?"
"Are you frightened that one day you'll find yourself as mad as the rest of your family and that all the choices you consciously made about being a bold, rebellious Gryffindor hero won't matter at all, in the end?"
"What's your point?" he said defensively, his eyes shadowing over.
"My point is that we all hide things. But as long as we have the strength to resolve it within ourselves, it's not a weakness to keep it inside."
"That's a hell of a thing to say."
"It took me seven years to figure it out."
Sirius sighed heavily. "Some people go their whole lives without figuring it out. They distract themselves every day to forget about what they're hiding..."
Unable to think of a response and unwilling to keep speaking about things that hit too close to home, I changed the topic. "When did Remus return?"
"Not sure. He's been in London for a while. He's got his own flat now. Were you worried about him?"
"No," I answered honestly. "Not anymore. Remus is good at taking care of himself. I won't get in the way anymore."
Sirius hesitated, before he said quietly, "You weren't in the way. You were helping him."
I shrugged. "I thought I was helping, but looking back, maybe it was just some sort-of twisted self-satisfaction. You were right, Sirius, when you said it was me that had to let him go."
"That wasn't what I meant. I didn't say that for his sake, you know."
"Does Remus know about… about Dorcas?" I asked hoarsely.
"Yeah," Sirius said heavily. "Yeah, he does."
Five minutes of silence passed, and then I had to make a dash for the toilet again.
But my body felt much, much lighter afterwards. The nauseous feeling was mostly gone. I just felt tired. I brushed my teeth again before heading for my bed.
"Sirius, I think the worst of it is over. You can go home now," I told him, feeling a bit uncomfortable with him around.
"I'm all right," Sirius said, though I could see dark circles starting to form under his eyes.
"Go home," I said, starting to get irritated.
But Sirius took up residence besides my bed. Feeling slightly frustrated, I tried to close my eyes and sleep. Some time passed.
"Are you sleeping?" he whispered.
Tiredly, I murmured, "No. Why? You know, you can take Jamie's bed if you want."
"It's not that. There's something I wanted to say to you."
I waited silently, my mind blanketed in light sleep.
"It wasn't a dare."
"What wasn't a dare?" I mumbled.
"Dorcas only said it was a dare to protect Marlene and me."
Oh, that… But then he really… He actually… Dorcas was telling the truth.
"And there was that time when your siblings came over to the house and you asked if I was being nice because it was your sister. I said yes, but I meant I was being nice because it was your sister rather than anyone else's. I wanted to treat her right since she's important to you, not because of any other reason."
He fell silent. Then, he shifted forward and he murmured uncertainly, "You know, don't you? What I'm trying to say."
"Sirius," I murmured into my pillow. "I'm not your type of girl, Sirius."
Quietly, he replied, "Could I maybe figure that out for myself?"
"Well…" I said softly, my mind starting to float into sleep.
"Never mind," Sirius sighed. He put his hand on my arm and said, "Sleep."
I hesitantly reached out. He was surprised when my fingers touched against his. He turned and opened his hand so that I could hold onto his fingers. He ran his thumb gently over the back of my hand, and I fell asleep.
My dreams were filled with Sirius' voice, murmuring things I'd wanted to hear for a long time.
