Raylynx's POV

Currently at a dead end in my hunt for Horcruxes, I headed for Hogsmeade. I was willing to pay a price for the help of the "fortune-teller" or, as Merlin called her, "The Enchantress:. But to my surprise, the store was gone, replaced by a magical creature shop called the Magical Menagerie. When I stepped inside, I found that there were only two owls and a cage of rats.

For whatever reason, the Enchantress is gone. I'd love to find out why, but that's magic I shouldn't meddle in. They live on a landscape and timeline of their own, those witches and warlocks of old.

A voice sounded out from behind the counter. "Welcome. How may I assist you?"

Before I could speak, the witch added, "You know, a fine assortment of rats came in only today."

"Oh…" I said. I thought quickly on the spot as the witch looked at me expectantly. What if I stay in this village as a cat and pick up news? News from Hogwarts is bound to filter down to Hogsmeade, particularly by way of the pubs. It would be a way of staying on Dumbledore's territory while escaping Dumbledore's notice.

"Any cats?" I asked.

The witch shook her head. "Not yet. You know, we only opened just a week ago. It does take time for animals to filter in here."

"Of course," I agreed.

I made up my mind. I became a full-time cat. It was easy to be inducted into the Magical Menagerie. I posed as a stray, mewing at the front door. The shopkeeper, Maggie, took me in right away. I tried to help out whenever her back was turned. For example, she was awful at accounting, so sometimes after she'd locked up and left, I'd go over the bookkeeping statements for her. Not that I was any better at accounting, but I was slightly better at math.

I found it very convenient to live in the Magical Menagerie. Maggie was a very generous witch. She always left a window open, believing that animals would come home as they wanted to. So after she'd locked up and left, I'd simply slip out the window, transform back, and then Dissulurate myself into a new person.


On the very first night out, I made my way against the village and came across a familiar pub. With a wry smile, I entered.

I dropped my false accent as I sat at the bar and said, "Hello, Aberforth."

"So you're still alive."

"Disappointed?"

"That depends. What have you been doing?"

"I acquired this." I slid my wand across to him.

He inspected it, and then shook his head as he passed it back to me.

"You have nerve, lass. I'll give you that," he said.

"What have things been like around here?" I asked Aberforth. "Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nah, nothing out of the ordinary," Aberforth replied. He dropped his voice and added in a mutter, "But unfortunately, what's 'ordinary' is getting bleaker and bleaker."

"More sightings of Death Eaters," I guessed.

"More Death Eaters, more Dark Marks, more murders, more Imperiused people… Voldemort must have reached new heights, somehow," Aberforth muttered.

Something about what Aberforth said struck me as odd.

"What do you mean 'somehow'?" I pushed. "Shouldn't the Order know exactly how?"

"We don't have the resources to trace Voldemort once he leaves the country," Aberforth told me. "We've outnumbered by far as it is here."

Suddenly, Aberforth looked at me sternly as he said, "You understand why I'm telling you all this? It's not out of kindness."

"Yes," I said coolly, standing up. "Your brother predicted my return."

I grew attached to Maggie. She was a clumsy, but genuinely bright soul. Our Magical Menagerie did, indeed, grow. We began to have a steady flow of creatures and customers, especially as September 1st rolled around. When we got our first great horned toad, Maggie dressed us all up in party hats and popped champagne. She really was a very dear soul. I was purposefully irksome to any customers interested in me behind Maggie's back in order to stay in the Menagerie.

Despite frequently changing my appearance, a version of "me" gained a slight reputation at Aberforth's for visiting so often, so I pretended to be a new assistant. I figured I was pretty safe, since I Transfigured myself to look like a boy. I also gained news by slinking around the shops, especially the Three Broomsticks. The number of Dark Marks appearing in the sky increased, and I guessed that Voldemort had returned from Albania. The question was: What did he do with the Horcrux he created by killing that female villager? But as of yet, I had no answers to that.


Sirius' POV

I walked into the Hog's Head to report the all-clear.

"How was it, boy?" Aberforth asked me.

"Fine. All clear."

Aberforth nodded.

"Hey," I said. "I hear you have a new assistant." I had my suspicions to check and a promise to keep: I told her I'd find her if she was around.

"Young boy named Fredrick," Aberforth answered without missing a beat.

"You've never had an assistant before," I said pointedly.

"If you want to meet him, just ask," Aberforth returned.

"All right," I said.

I paused, but Aberforth made no response.

"This is me asking," I said more bluntly.

"Come back earlier tomorrow night," Aberforth replied. "He'll be here. He's always here."

"He's always here? Then how come I haven't seen him yet? I'm here almost every night, too," I said

"Clearly, he leaves before you come," Aberforth said, hinting not-so-subtly that this person was avoiding me.

It confirmed everything I needed to know.

"See you tomorrow night then," I said, satisfied. "I'll come by after guard duty."

"Well, if it's that late, I'll need to find a way to keep him here," Aberforth mused.

"I leave that to your discretion," I said, lifting a hand to say good-bye as I walked out the pub to go home.


Raylynx's POV

"Anything else?" I asked Aberforth, washing my hands thoroughly after feeding the goat. I hadn't actually touched anything, since I'd magicked the food to him, but I still felt dirty just looking at the goat. "If not, it's time I head out," I said, my eyes on the clock hanging in the pub.

It was almost time for the Order watch members to come in, and I didn't want to risk running into any of them.

"Yes, come try this," Aberforth said disinterestedly and slammed a mug of some frothy ale onto the bar.

"Try this?" I said skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"New drink, need your word on it before I start selling it to people who matter more," Aberforth said gruffly.

I laughed out loud. "Okay," I said and tipped it back into my mouth. I tasted sweet cream and cherry with a bit of that wheat-flavored tinge of good mead.

I finished it in two gulps and tossed the empty mug on the counter.

"Careful!" Aberforth growled.

"That was amazing," I said. "What was that exactly?"

"Scotch, mead, cherry syrup, liquor, liquor, and more liquor," Aberforth told me.

"Wait, what?"

Aberforth snorted.


Ten minutes later, and I was about as buzzed as you can get without being unacceptably drunk.

"More!" I called to Aberforth.

"You work here," Aberforth reminded me, "Freddie."

"Oh yes, yes, quite right." I tried to modulate my voice to a lower pitch, as I usually did when I was "Freddie".

"Hey, youngin'. You care for another drink with me?"

I looked over to see a man probably around his forties smiling at me.

"C'mon. I'll pay," he said.

"Don't think he needs any more than that, George," Aberforth commented.

"Ah, come on, kid needs to let loose a bit," George said. "'Specially if he's your assistant."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Aberforth asked.

"It means you might be a good man, but nine times outta ten, you got a stick up your arse, that's what," George said straightforwardly.

I snorted, amused.

Aberforth glared at me.

I covered my mouth with my hand, pressing on my lips to flatten out the smirk I had. "Sorry," I muttered.

"Two ales mixed with some good brandy, you hear?" George told Aberforth.

Grumbling, Aberforth walked away.

When he brought over the requested drinks, he leaned over and muttered to me, "You watch yourself."

George and I clanked mugs and downed them together. There was a delicious warm feeling in my stomach now.

"So, how's it goin', young fella?" George asked me. "Love life goin' okay?"

"It's shit," I answered abruptly, far more honest with the alcohol running pleasantly through my veins.

George roared with laughter at my crassness.

"You sound like the rest of us already!" George said. Sure enough, it didn't take long before a group of drunk geezers gathered around us to join the chatter. We made for a pleasantly rambunctious crowd. More and more alcohol was brought to the forefront.

"Who's goin' pay for this!?" ol' Frankie, an excitable old geezer, yelled.

"Georgie, of course!" somebody else shouted back. "After all, he's still the only one of us employed!"

"Yeah, works for the bloody big-headed Ministry, don't ya, pal?"

"All right, all right," George said irritably. "Calm down. Keep yer knickers on."

Just then, the door opened and a cold rush of night air breezed in. There was a wave of protest and complaints as the cold air washed over us.

"Shut the damn door!" someone shouted. We all laughed and somebody else shouted, "Cheers to shutting the damn door!" Promptly, we all downed another gulp from whatever shot glass, beer bottle, martini glass, or mug we were holding.

"What the-? Aberforth, what the hell is going on in here?" a voice at the back of the group said.

"My discretion," Aberforth replied shortly.

"Your discretion? It's hardly discreet." The voice grew louder as the person shouldered his way through the group and up to the bar.

"Cheers to strangers rudely shouldering you to get to the bar!" somebody yelled.

"AYE!"

"To your good health, sir," George said, reaching back to raise his mug to the person who had just appeared. "Aye, Freddie?" George said to me.

"Right, your good-"

I raised my mug only to see Sirius staring down at me in utter disbelief. "Freddie, huh?"

I hiccupped, and it came out high-pitched.

"Well, Freddie, its high time you went home," Sirius said.

"Oops, I guess you stayed later than you're allowed, youngin'," George laughed.

Sirius tried to make it around to reach me, but struggled to get by the crowd packed in around us.

Somebody roared and clanked mugs with somebody else, abruptly elbowing Sirius in the back.

Sirius had to reach out and grab the bar to keep from falling. His arm shot over my shoulder as he grabbed the bar. Suddenly, I was snug against his chest. I blushed. Sirius took a deep breath, his jaw set. He was clearly irritated to all hell, but wanting to keep the peace in this huge crowd.

"Woohoo! There's some young romance, right there!" somebody (probably ol' Frankie) yelled out.

"C"mon, let's go," Sirius said, gripping my arm.

"Is that your older brother? He's mighty good-looking, isn't he?"

"Nah, they look too different to be brothers. Take a closer look, mate."

"Aye, wait! I know you, Sirius Black!" An old chap by the name of Ernie waved his hand in the crowd and came forward. "Nah, they ain't brothers! Wait, Sirius Black, are you into men?!"

A hush fell over the crowd.

Sirius silently groaned and leaned over and hid his face in his hand. He breathed out deeply. I could almost see the thought bubble over his head: Keep your temper. Don't kill anyone. You didn't come here to commit murder.

"I think I've had juusssst enough," Frankie said suddenly.

Then, he swooned.

"Easy there, Frank!"

"Whoa, watch out!"

Frank dropped his glass, which shattered on the ground.

Sirius held his other arm out to protect my face.

Unfortunately, a small shard hit his cheek.

It was barely anything, but we both saw it happen.

We stared up at each other. I was still hardcore drunk.

"Oh dear," Ernie said besides us. "Somebody help this poor boy! His pretty face is his only asset!"

I burst out laughing.

Sirius covered my mouth with his hand and whispered urgently, "Shut up, you sound like a girl."

To Ernie, he said, "Go fuck yourself!"

"They're definitely lovers," Georgie commented, amused, watching me trying to pry Sirius' fingers off my lips.

"That's it. We're going!" Sirius said, and pulled me off the high chair in one strong tug.

"Didn't know you were into men," Ernie said thoughtfully.

Sirius glared at me. "If I am, so what? Everybody's free to love anybody. Put that in your head, you old cracker."

Ernie grinned and said, "No harm meant," but Sirius had already pushed us through the crowd and opened the door and shoved me through it.

"Bring out the goat!" I managed to shout just before Sirius shoved me out.

The ones as drunk as me in the crowd joined together around the bar and whistled and called, "Yes, the goat, the goat!"

Aberforth scowled.


With the brisk night air hitting my skin, I felt myself sober up slightly, enough to walk straight. Well, I thought so before I walked right in front of Sirius. He grabbed my shoulders to steady me, and then let me go. But when I started veering the other way, he yelled, "Hey, hey, hey!" and grasped my arm and pulled me back to him.

"Let me go!" I said. Then, I gripped his jacket collar. "Mmm, you smell good." Then, I frowned and said, "Your cheek is cut." I pressed my finger against his cheek and tried to heal, but my mind was working so slow. I frowned. "Work, magic," I ordered. Nothing happened. Healing had never been my strong point.

Sirius sighed and walked onwards, dragging me with him. "You're already impossible even in your right state of mind. You've got to add lack of mental faculties to the list?"

"Oh no, no, no," I said, as he gripped my shoulder to keep me on the path. "You can't complain about me. I'm the one at a disadvantage here because Sirius Black, you are, quite frankly, the last person I want to be drunk in front of."

"And why's that?" he asked me.

"Shhhhh…" I said, putting my own finger to my lips. "Secrets, secrets," I mumbled.

"What secrets?"

"I can't tell you."

"Christ, your mental game really is strong," Sirius scoffed. "Even in this state, you won't tell me anything."

I beamed at him, taking that as a compliment. Sirius looked at me with a highly skeptical expression for a moment, but then his face softened and he sighed. "I'll ask you again. Does it make you happy to have this much power over me?"

Slightly uninhibited by the alcohol still running, though now clearly fading, from my system, I replied to Sirius much more honestly than I would ever let myself normally.

"Only if it means I can protect you," I said, and the grief filtered into my voice.

Sirius stopped when I said that and then he swung me around so that I was facing him. He grasped both my shoulders tightly as he looked into my face.

I don't know what expression I had, but he leaned in and kissed me. It was short but very, very sweet. He bit my lower lip ever so slightly.

"Sirius-"

He kissed me again. The kiss was quicker than the flutter of a butterfly's wings.

"You-"

He kissed me yet again, quickly. When he drew back, he smiled slightly.

Slightly irate, I said, "What, are you trying to take full advantage of the fact that I'm a guy? Satisfying all your curiosities, are we?"

"As if. That's the third time I've kissed a boy," he scoffed.

"Third?"

"Yeah… Prongs and Moony, y'know."

"Really?" I said, surprised.

"Prongs was being stupid and fell into the Black Lake. I literally had to breathe life back into him. With Moony… Well, I was er- completely wasted and I felt this mad urge. Anyways, I basically pounced on him and caught him off guard."

I raised my eyebrows at Sirius. "And you were worried that I was in love with Remus? I think I'm in much more danger of losing you to him than the other way around!"

Sirius scowled. "No, c'mon. I mean, it was just curiosity."

I glared up at him.

"Don't give me that look," Sirius said, looking away.

"Wait, wait, wait," I said suddenly.

"What?" Sirius said, stopping immediately.

I attempted a pirouette and got halfway around before I tripped forward. But I managed to stay on my feet.

"What in hell…?" I heard Sirius mutter behind me.

"D'you know what?" I announced, proud of myself. "I think I'm getting better at holding my alcohol."

"If this is you getting better, it says a lot about how lightweight you were before," Sirius replied dryly. He grasped my arm again and led me forward.

I smiled up at him like a little kid, biting my lower lip. "You remember how bad it was when you first made me drink? One shot and I was down. I fell asleep…"

"I do remember. It was so pathetic I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it."

"I had to leave the room because I wanted to kiss you so badly and it wasn't appropriate at all, given the state you were in," I mumbled all in a rush.

"What?" Sirius said. "I didn't catch that."

I didn't say anything, slowly feeling the embarrassment filter in through the light buzz of alcohol.

"And you got drunk off of champagne at a wedding," Sirius recalled. He shook his head and looked downright confused. "I didn't know it was possible to get drunk off of such low alcohol content."

"He was pretty charming, um… what's-his-name, Jamesy's cousin… ah- Gale! He was really funny." I remembered him vaguely.

"Yeah, he must have been," Sirius said, slightly irate. "I didn't even know you could flirt until I saw you with him."

"You weren't even interested in me then," I reminded him. "You only danced with me because we had to and you barely spoke to me at all."

Sirius sighed.

I Dissulurated myself then, and it was credit to how many times I'd done this before that I didn't seriously injure myself pulling it off drunk. I changed into a shapely woman with long silky blonde curls and bright blue eyes.

"Isn't this more your type?" I said to Sirius.

Sirius looked extremely displeased.

"No? Then what about this?" I transformed into a brunette with beautiful green eyes, framed my long lashes.

"Stop it," Sirius said sharply. "Switch back."

I looked around to make sure the road was empty, which it was, seeing as we had walked out quite a ways in the dead of the night. I shut my eyes and clutching my wand, I concentrated and changed back into my normal self.

"Yes," I heard Sirius growl and then I felt his strong arms around me and his lips against mine. My lips parted in surprise and he kissed me harder. He pressed into me so strong that I felt myself tripping backwards until I was up against the fence. I tried to stand on tip-toe to kiss him back since he was a whole head and a half taller than me. He hugged me tightly around my waist to make sure I wouldn't stupidly fall over or anything. Our hips pressed together. I breathed out and gripped his hair. He growled slightly as he leaned over slightly to trail kisses down my neck. My breathing hitched and I could feel myself tense in anticipation. But then, with a deep and regretful sigh, Sirius stepped away.

I bit my lower lip and stared at him. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked.

"No," Sirius answered, shaking his head. He took my hand and led us back to the path. His chest was rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath.

"Then what made you stop?" I asked.

"I'm not going to take you when you're intoxicated," Sirius answered. Then, he smirked and said, "I want to see you anxious about it. You're always overthinking until you make yourself nervous. It's funny. And I want you to say 'yes' when you're thinking clear so I know you won't regret it…"

"As much," he tacked on, as an afterthought.

While he was speaking, my eyes followed the knee-high hedges along the pathway. They were sure to hide my cat form fairly well.

"Ladies always regret sleeping with me because they never stop wanting more," Sirius said, reaching up to smooth his hair.

I snorted, not holding back even a speck of the condescension I felt towards his arrogance.

"Anyways, come on," he said, walking ahead a little. "Let's get you home."

"Wait a second," he said, realizing suddenly. "Where is your-?"

He turned around to an empty road.

I was crouching in the bushes, trying to keep my tail utterly still.

"Lynx?"

He sighed and his hand, with which he had been tracing his lips with his fingers, dropped to his side.

"Phantom," he murmured, in a voice so low I couldn't have heard it in my human form. "Always disappearing with first light."

Then, shaking his head slightly, he turned around and walked away.