Sirius POV

The last remnants of gold light flickered away, like dust motes dancing in the stale air. The room still echoed with the fading cries of alarm, their phantoms now reverberating against the hollow space in his chest. He was stiff, his hand still outstretched. Fuck.

"They're gone," Sirius whispered, the words a bitter weight on his tongue. "They just… disappeared."

Emma and Regulus had slipped away like shadows, leaving a void, a stillness now deafening.

The cushion beside him still held the warmth from Emma's body, and Sirius allowed himself to imagine she was still there, squeezing his eyes shut. He saw the dark, almost black, chocolate brown of her deep-set eyes, her lashes fluttering as she glanced at him when she thought he wasn't looking. The way her full lips thinned just the slightest when she smiled, the rosiness of her plump cheeks when he called her 'angel'. The fierce warmth in her voice when she spoke to his little brother.

And Regulus, who had just come back, who he barely had a chance to reconcile with before ...

No, it couldn't be. Fate wasn't this cruel.

He was on his feet, blood rushing in his ears.

"Emma! Regulus!" his voice broke, rough with raw terror.

Lily's hand on his shoulder startled him out of his desperation slightly. "Sirius, they're gone," she murmured. The concept rattled painfully around in his skull, refusing to stick.

"But they'll come back, won't they? In just a moment they'll be back," he pleaded, knees buckling. James caught Sirius against his chest, leading him to rest in one of the plush chairs.

"Pads ..." he said, his voice trailing off helplessly. The grandfather clock in the corner ticked on, indifferent to the despair and shock in the room. With each chime, the spectres of Emma and Regulus seemed to slip further away, becoming ghosts in the fabric of the world.

Lily and James stood motionless, their expressions somber. It was Lily who finally moved, her hand reaching out to touch his arm. "Sirius, look at me," she commanded. He did, because it was Lily.

"She'll come back to you," she said, her words a promise.

He wanted to believe her, wanted her words to ease the tightness in his chest. But hope was a dangerous thing, Sirius mused bitterly, a thing that could set you soaring only to dash you against the rocks.

"Lils," James's voice finally broke through, "maybe you should explain what you mean."

Lily's green eyes, usually so full of life, were muted now, clouded with a seriousness that seemed beyond her years.

"Emma is being pulled to where she needs to be, to the time she belongs. And I believe..." She paused, looking at him with a resolve that bordered on certainty, "Sirius, I think she's being tethered to you, to a future version of you."

"How can you possibly know that?" I asked, the words scraping out of his throat almost angrily.

Lily's steady tone didn't waver. "I told you she was untethered. That isn't a state she could remain in and live. When you agreed to Bond with her, she wasn't floating between veils anymore--she became fixed to life, to your life."

Sirius bounced his knee impatiently, restlessness tightly coiled in his limbs. His blood stilled momentarily as Lily spoke of Emma 'floating' toward death, but he knew Lily was only beginning her explanation. She sometimes had a way of delaying the meat of the information that drove him mad. He glanced at Prongs who was chewing errantly on his thumbnail as Lily continued.

"However, the Bond, it's still incomplete. You and Emma, you only wove the first thread--commitment, the vows so to speak. You're as of yet, only tied spiritually. There are two more threads to weave in to the Bond before the chord that binds you is finished: the physical and magical threads."

Sirius worked his jaw and sighed. None of what Lily said made any bloody sense! Threads and tethering and chords that weave--or did something weave into chords? Sirius imagined a giant tapestry made from hemp rope, absolutely lost.

A soft cry sounded from above them, interrupting Lily, and James stood, sweeping a hand through his perpetually wind-swept hair. "That'll be the kid. Never can keep him down for long can you?" he said jovially, though his smile didn't reach his eyes. He bounded up the stairs to retrieve Harry from his kip and Sirius was left alone with Lily in the sitting room.

Lily sighed and stood before reaching out and patting his knee. "Just a mo' dear. Catch your breath and I'll explain what I can."

She padded into the kitchen and began rummaging in the fridge, emerging with what looked like a large roast. She waved her wand absently and a two knives, a wooden board, and several russet potatoes and carrots tottered behind her. As she began retrieving small cylinders of spices from the cupboards that were painted a cheery cream-yellow, the knife began chopping the vegetables dutifully behind her. Sirius watched dazedly before noticing it was indeed already five pm as he glanced down at his watch.

"You're staying for supper of course?" Lily asked as James stepped into the sitting room, carrying sleepy, pink-cheeked Harry in his arms. Sirius nodded.

"Good, we'll get a good meal in you. Today has been quite the ordeal for you, for all of us. And with Emma ... this Bond and her Knowing, it's a lot to swallow, difficult to understand," Lily remarked patiently as James placed himself on the ottoman next to Sirius, Harry still clutching his robes sleepily.

"Right, er, Lils, you're bloody brilliant, always have been, but I don't know much I really understand about the time chords bit and all. And do the details of it all really, well, matter? Maybe we should just skip to how we get them back, discuss the game plan y'know?" Sirius rushed as he struggled to still his bouncing leg. Best to appear as if he was already calming down and prepared to act.

James's hazel eyes flickered to Lily who held his gaze and frowned, the skin above her delicate nose crinkling sympathetically. Sirius twisted the ring on his pinky fitfully before drumming his fingers against his thigh. The silent communication between his best mates shouldn't have frustrated him so much, but he was growing tired of being the most clueless person in the room.

Lily addressed him hesitantly. "Sirius, there's nothing that we can control, nothing that we can do but wait. But if you let me, maybe I can help you to understa--"

"But how can you be so sure? How can you possibly be so certain Lils?" Sirius interrupted, nearly shouting.

"Padfoot, mate ..." James warned, his tone only slightly admonishing. He clapped a hand on Sirius's shoulder reassuringly as Harry began to fidget in his father's arms.

"Sirius," Lily sighed, sounding exhausted. "I am certain, of everything I have told you ... I only know what I've told you because, I'm a Knower too."