Sirius appeared out of thin air in the parking lot behind the pharmacy with a loud crack. After checking the two cars to make sure they had not contained witnesses, he transformed into a dog and made his way out to the main street.
He followed the sidewalk several blocks, retracing his steps from the previous night until he came upon the house where he had seen Geoffrey Mansfield return home.
The windows were dark, save for one on the second floor glowing a dull orange, as though somewhere inside a desk lamp remained alight for the last hour or so before bed. Sirius moved to look at his watch, then remembered he was a dog, and transformed. It was after midnight.
Hoping it was Geoff who was the night owl, he made his way to the front door, ducking below the hedgeline so as to avoid any errant neighbors, and pulled his wand from his pocket to unlock the door. It opened easily, and Sirius mentally cursed Geoff for not taking better security measures.
The house was fairly clean, sparsely decorated, as though they had only recently moved in. There was a stark lack of ancestral furniture. Between Hogwarts, the Potters', and his parents' house, Sirius had rarely seen a home devoid of polished silver and gold heirlooms and ancient flaking oil paintings.
He alighted the stairs softly, hand on the hilt of his pocketed wand, running the narrative over in his head. They had been in Hogsmeade when they heard the news of Joel's death at the hands of the Death Eaters in a random attack, sharing a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks. Close enough to the truth without getting into too many gorey details. He shook off a brief mental image of Joel Mansfield's body hanging in the basement of the Lovell home and pressed on.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he flattened himself to the wall, eyeing the open doorway spilling the golden orange light of the lamp into the hall. He rolled his eyes, annoyed at his nervousness. It was just Geoff, or worst case Emilie. He was not afraid of them.
'One,' he mouthed silently. 'Two. Three.'
Sirius rounded the corner, drawing his wand and pointing it into the lamplight. The room was empty, the lamp illuminating a desk with assorted papers, and an empty chair. Sirius let his breath out slowly, his tension dissipating.
"What are you doing in my house?"
Sirius jumped sharply, his shoulder knocking into the doorframe as he spun around, wand at the ready. A jumble of spell incantations died on his tongue as he saw Geoff standing there, the door to the bathroom half open. Sirius lowered his wand.
"Merlin's beard, Geoff, you scared the shit out of me. I almost hexed you."
"Sirius, you broke into my house," said Geoff.
"Broke in is a relative term, Geoff, your door was unlocked and everything," said Sirius, catching his breath. Geoff shrugged, and his eyes roved over Sirius's suit.
"Who died?" he asked.
"Ah...James's freedom as a bachelor," said Sirius. "No worries."
"Be sure to pass on my congratulations," said Geoff. Sirius nodded, eyeing Geoff's hand, where a golden band caught the lamplight.
"Same to you," he said. Geoff glanced down at his hand, nodding as well.
"Yeah, nearly six months now. Not long after…graduation," he finished haltingly. Sirius shrugged.
"I'll just assume my invitation got lost in the mail," he said. "And where is the blushing bride if I might ask?"
"Sleeping, but don't worry, she sleeps like the dead," said Geoff, gesturing down the hallway to a third closed door.
"Oh I know," said Sirius. Geoff frowned at him, but Sirius was looking around the hallway. "Nice place you have. Very...Muggley."
"We try," said Geoff. Silence fell over the two of them as they ran out of banter and solemnity sank in. "So," said Geoff after a moment. "How'd you find me?"
"By accident, " said Sirius. He twisted his wand between his fingers. Geoff sighed.
"Well I can't say I didn't see it coming," he said. "I've been waiting for someone to show up and make it official for a while now."
"It's nothing personal, Mansfield," said Sirius. "Although I should be salty you left me to die on that train."
"Yeah, you probably should be," agreed Geoff.
"I mean, you could have at least finished the fight with me before running off on your happily-ever-after," said Sirius. "Made sure the mediwizards got me and then Apparated. I nearly bled out."
Geoff shrugged.
"Hindsight is 20-20," he said. "If it's any consolation, I'm glad you survived."
"Thank you," said Sirius pointedly. Out of any other response, he sighed. "Right." He raised his wand to Geoff's forehead.
"Hold up, could we…" said Geoff, gesturing at the room behind Sirius. "I don't want to take any chances. Emilie's been on edge lately and she won't ask questions first."
"Sure, yeah," said Sirius, backing into the room. Geoff followed, closing the door behind him. "You didn't tell her anything about the Order did you?" asked Sirius.
"No. We've tried to put it all behind us best we can," said Geoff. "It's not easy."
"I'd bloody hope not," muttered Sirius. "And she's not in contact with–"
"No, we've been completely cut off," said Geoff. "From everyone."
"Good," said Sirius. "So, what I'm going to do is modify your memory of the past year. Anything to do with the Order will be wiped, but I've made modifications for the big events and the...er...deaths." He refocused his wand on Geoff's forehead.
"Can I make a request?" asked Geoff. Sirius hesitated.
"I mean...probably not, but what is it?" he asked.
"Don't make it sound like my uncle died of an accident with a magical creature. They were his life, and it would be disrespectful to him and to our family," said Geoff. Sirius put down the wand.
"Please, what do you take me for? I took that into account. Don't worry, he was killed by Death Eaters in a raid, same as your parents." He refocused his wand on Geoff's relieved face.
"Thanks Sirius," said Geoff. Sirius nodded, his wand at the ready.
A minute passed.
"Have you done this before?" asked Geoff. Sirius shook his head.
"I just… ugh." He dropped his wand. "It just doesn't feel right."
"I mean, if it makes you feel better, I'm fully prepared for it," said Geoff. "I don't want to be a part of the Order anymore, or this war. We're living in a Muggle neighborhood for Merlin's sake."
"And how come you should be able to get off so easy doing that, huh?" snapped Sirius, suddenly frustrated. "You and Delacroix just get to jump off the train and Mary Poppins your way into a new life leaving me to bleed out?"
"You are still mad!" exclaimed Geoff.
"Damn right I'm still mad! You can't just leave a battle like that! Where's your integrity?" demanded Sirius.
"It's not our fight anymore," said Geoff. "Emilie and I are trying to find another way."
"What about your family?" said Sirius sharply. "Your friends? When we die will you even come to our funerals? Or is that too close to the front line for you?"
"Sirius…"
"You abandoned me, Mansfield, and I fucking miss you," said Sirius. Geoff reached out for him, but Sirius knocked his hand aside and went for the door, yanking it open.
"Where are you going?" asked Geoff, alarmed, as Sirius descended the stairs, shoving his wand back into his pocket.
"Forget Obliviation, Mansfield, I'm not letting you off that easy. You live your fake Muggle life with your Death Eater wife all you want, but I'm going to make sure that you remember what they did to you, and what you did to us," said Sirius, letting himself out of the front door.
He made it halfway down the path to the sidewalk when Geoff wrenched the door open again behind him.
"But what about the Order?" he asked.
"Fuck the Order! Ta!" retorted Sirius, drawing his wand and Disapparating with a whipcrack of punctuation that snapped the night and left a ringing silence in his wake, Geoffrey Mansfield still in his doorway, blinking at the place where his old friend had vanished.
