The Touch Of Prometheus

THE TOUCH OF PROMETHEUS

Written originally in Portuguese, english version: Fabianna Bluhn

Thanks to my beta readers: Silvia Rodrigues and Audrey Fischer.

Chapter 4 - The Study

Sirius stood up in a leap and told the kids, "You'll witness it; Sheeba, give me your engagement ring," in a mockingly solemn tone, he knelt and said, "Sheeba Amapoulos, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will, you nitwit, or else I wouldn't have waited for you for fourteen years."

"Okay, do you believe that soon I will clear my name?" now, Sirius's tone was serious. Carefully, Sheeba took off her gloves and touched lightly his hands. As an answer, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"I guess it's a yes," said an annoyed Ron.

Sirius reassumed his serious tone Harry was already used to, "I'd be glad if you forebode what's going to happen with him."

Sheeba stepped forward and touched delicately Harry's face. Harry closed his eyes. His godmother's hands wrapped his face. They were soft and strangely cold. Nothing happened. Sheeba was quiet. Harry opened his eyes and fell across her unreadable eyes staring at his scar.

"Harry," she said, "there's a problem. You're under a Confusion Spell."

"And this means exactly that...?"

"That I can tell you very little about your future."

"And what can you see?"

"Only you and the Dark Lord."

"Fighting?"

"No, not fighting. Falling."

"Where?"

"I don't know, a chasm maybe."

"When?"

"I can't tell exactly. It may be soon."

"And... will I die?"

"I don't know."

Silence fell heavily over everybody at the room. All the agreeable atmosphere of moments before had dissipated. Harry smirked and took his godmother's hand slowly off from his face. "Sheeba, don't get annoyed, it's not the first time my prospectes weren't good ones. At least you don't know if I'm going to die or not, which would make me start from scratch... all I can do now is being careful with high places."

"Harry," Sirius laid a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Don't be worried. You know I'll always keep an eye on you. If you fall in a chasm, I swear I'll reach you, no matter what, even if it's the last thing I do."

"I know Sirius, I know you... Sheeba, would you mind if from now on I acted like Viviane Lake? I think I don't want to know anything else about my future. You won't be upset, will you?"

"Not at all, Harry, I don't mind those things. I just want to know who did this to you."

"Why?"

"Because I can bet it was somebody from Hogwarts," a cold glow flashed in Sheeba's eyes, "And I sure will find out who it was."

After the frustration Sheeba's prediction caused, nobody else in the room felt lively; except for Smiley, who was waling around offering the contents of a tray full of exotic foods. Everybody was subdued, so the tray was left untouched.

Suddenly Sirius said, "Sheeba, we need to do something today. I'm going to London tomorrow to meet Moony, and the more we progress today, the more we'll be able to protect him. We can talk to Dumbledore; I can go as a dog."

"Sirius, Dumbledore isn't at Hogwarts," Sheeba said.

"What do you mean by ‘he's not at Hogwarts'?" Ron was suspicious, "He would never leave Hogwarts in the middle of a school year!"

"Today, he needed to go out, and he'll just be back in about two days."

"How can you know it without touching him?" Hermione asked in her usual inquisitive air.

Sheeba stood up and took her want out of her robes. Approaching a wall, she said, "I'll show you," she touched the wall with her wand, "Doorkeeper, wake up!"

A door sprung up on the wall. It was a wooded door with a huge face chiselled in its centre. The face was deep asleep, snoring. Sheeba touched its nose with her wand and it opened its somnolent eyes, twinkling. Then, it seemed to be getting scared and said, in a solid German accent, "Frau Sheepa! Good morning! Be welcomed to your Study! Who are these people?" the face seemed suspicious, "Ma'am knows the rules..."

"They're my guests, Doorkeeper! How many times do I have to tell you..."

"To suspect the other people, not you ma'am. I know, but they are the others!"

"I'm her fiancé! Are you going to argue with me?" Sirius had a threatening look on his face.

"Okay," the wooded face sighed, "What is the use of German technology if they don't respect the rules..." it continued grouching when they stepped through the door.

"German technology!" Sheeba said as she entered the completely dark room, "It's a second-hand door. Okay, then. Blaze!"

"Yes, Miss Amapoulos?" a hoarse voice asked in the dark.

"Light!"

"Ambient or study light?"

"Study light."

Instantly, the room was completely illuminated. On the contrary of what Harry was thinking, it was not a narrow room, but a huge hall that resembled a laboratory. On the walls, the shelves reached the ceiling, full of every shapes vials, in which there was every kind of common objects. Every vial had a label with a name written.

"Thank you, Blaze," as Sheeba said this, one of the ceiling's lamps flashed repeatedly, "These are my files. Each vial contains an object that belonged to the person whose name's written on the label. The last time I counted, there was over twenty thousand vials."

"And how did you get these things?" Ron asked suspiciously as he looked at a blood stained knife inside a vial.

"Some of them are the result of ten years of work at the Muggle police, as with this knife you're looking at. It belonged to a psychopathic murderer. I keep it here in case he tries to run away from jail. Other things are sent to me by the relatives of missing wizards' for me to find them. I do it as a freelance job. I also have objects from wizards who want to be monitored and others, I simply stole from people I needed to monitor."

Hermione cast her a glance as if Sheeba had already said an atrocity. Then, Harry understood the presence of a vial that contained a serpent ring and a label that had the inscription: Severus Snape.

"Albus Dumbledore!" said Sheeba and immediately a vial containing a long red and gold quill (phoenix's feather, thought Harry) flew from one of the shelves, landing gently on her out stretched hand. Sheeba opened it and took out the object. She walked towards a craftsman bench, where there was a stone bowl that Harry instantly recognized; a Pensieve.

"Where is Albus Dumbledore?" Sheeba asked, and at the same moment, the Pensieve shook itself and showed a room with an enormous round table at which Dumbledore was seated, along with many other wizards, in a conference. Among them, Harry could see the Auror Mad-Eye Moody and, to his great surprise, his ex-teacher, Professor Remus Lupin.

Sheeba went on, "Where is he going after this?" the Pensieve showed Dumbledore entering the Ministry of Magic's building, "And where is he going the day after next?" the Pensieve shook itself again and showed Dumbledore at his office, talking to somebody. He looked very serious and was explaining that he did not want that person to leave the school for absolutely anything in the world. The person he was talking to did not become visible. In his/her place, there was a blot, and when he/she talked to Dumbledore, one could not listen to his/her voice. When the Headmaster talked to this person by what would be his/her name, his voice simply vanished.

"The other person at Dumbledore's office is under the Confusion Spell," Sheeba said seriously, "That's why he or she isn't appearing in the Pensieve."

"So it must be Harry!" exclaimed a triumphant Ron Weasley.

"In two days, I know I'll be in trouble," Harry looked very disheartened.

"Not necessarily, Harry," Sirius looked straight at his godson, "Don't you think this person can be also the one who cast this Confusion Spell on you?"

"Or even another person. With me around, many parents may have put this Spell on their children..."

"Isn't it Dark Magic?" asked a startled Hermione.

"No. Actually, it's even a way of protection to some people. It's simply the way some wizards find to have more privacy. There's no big deal in not wanting to know the future."

"But whoever cast this spell at me," said Harry, "isn't thinking about keeping my privacy. Absolutely not."

"Listen," said Sirius seriously, "It's time for you to go back to Hogwarts. I'm going to London tomorrow, but Sheeba will be here. I assure you she's going to find a way to discover who cast this spell at you. I just want you all to keep calm and to stay away from trouble, okay?"

"You aren't exactly the best person to give this kind of advice," Sheeba laughed before Sirius's startled face.

Chapter 5 – The Garment

Harry, Ron and Hermione were preparing to leave Sheeba's house. Sirius took off Crookshank's collar, that had been around his neck ever since they were at the pub, and handed it over to Hermione. "Thank you very much, but I won't need it anymore."

"Won't you come with us to the cave?"

"Nope, I'll stay here."

"Hermione, do you really, really think that while he can be at this house with Sheeba, Sirius would want to go back to that cave full of fleas?" said Ron and Hermione seemed to get really embarrassed, and quickly put the collar in her bag.

"Harry," Sheeba approached him with a package on her arms, "I also have a gift for you. I would have liked to give you a Firebolt, but Sirius did it first, didn't him? Anyway, I believe my gift's going to be useful."

Harry opened the package and took out from it something that resembled a rustic garment, weaved in black and gold fibres. It was not exactly good-looking, and the touch of it was rough.

"Wearing these robes, you can walk on fire without getting burned and you'll also be protected from Muggle bullets, knives and many kinds of spells, including Dark Magic. There are only two spells it cannot stop; Cruciatus and..."

"Avada Kedavra," Harry said without thinking.

"Exactly. Be careful with this garment, I took ten years weaving it for you."

"Why the hell does he need protection against Muggle bullets?" Sirius looked almost offended.

"I have an identical garment," said Sheeba, "It was very useful when I worked for the Muggle Police. And don't be jealous Sirius, you can borrow mine tomorrow when you go to London. And don't care about its queer appearance, Harry, for it is invisible when you put it on your body."

"Okay, let's go," said Harry, "It's time to go."

They waved goodbye to Sirius and Sheeba and then they joined the students who were coming back from Hogsmeade's trip. When they arrived at the Great Hall, Ron commented, "Harry, what a godmother you have, eh? Sirius's a very lucky guy... can you imagine what they are doing now?"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked, "Don't be so rude!"

"Come on, Hermione, you're not a little girl anymore... you know what a man and a woman can do together..."

"Yes, I know, but you shouldn't talk about her like this; she's Harry's godmother and Sirius's fiancée!"

"This doesn't change the fact that she's a gorgeous woman."

"Harry! Are you listening to the foolish things he's saying?" Harry definitely was not paying any attention at all in this conversation, since he was already very worried about himself falling in the chasm with Voldemort.

"What? Oh, Hermione, let him say what he wants. Currently, Ron spends half of his time thinking about sex. Do you think he would have any chances with Sheeba? Don't be jealous."

"Harry! I'm not jealous of Ron! And I don't think there is anything very special about Sheeba... what makes her so special?"

"Over thirty years, Touch of Prometheus, an incredible house, an exuberant personality and last but not least, what's really important: a fantastic shape."

"Ron, you're really getting sick," said Harry, "I think I'll turn in that magazines you keep under your bed..."

"Potter! Granger! Weasley!" the trio got cold as they listened to Professor Snape's disagreeable voice. They turned on their heels thinking about the same word: ‘trouble'.

"All right. I'd like to know about what magazines are you talking about."

"No big deal," said an embarrassed Ron, "just some Muggle magazines I'm collecting... you can't give me a detention, for reading some comics?"

"Not comics, but... I think the magazines Mr. Potter was talking about weren't exactly these... I may ask Filch to make an inspection of your dormitory."

"It won't be necessary," said Ron, "I myself will bring my magazines and give them to you, sir... I think you're really need them..."

Oh, no, Ron! Harry and Hermione thought at the same time.

"Ten points from Gryffindor. And I'll send Mr. Filch to your dormitory to make the inspection, and in your trunk too, Mr. Potter. What are you carrying under this package?"

"A gift from my godmother. I guess you know her, sir."

Snape was paralysed. He looked at Harry, and now, he wore a completely different face, "Did she tell you she know me? Did she talk about me?"

"Not much, really."

"And how is she doing? We have some sort of... friendship."

"She's very happy," Harry lowered his tone of voice, "She and my godfather retied their engagement. I guess I can tell you that, since now you know he's innocent, sir..."

"Well... yes... of course... I'm happy for them... I think Sheeba deserves to be... happy. Excuse me, I've just remember I have something really important to do," he said and vanished, heading to the Dungeons.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ron said, almost rolling over with laughter, "Harry Potter, you prat! You've just broken old Snape's poor heart! Do you think he still had any hope he had a chance with Sheeba?"

"Something completely absurd," said Hermione, "But do you think she and Snape were really friends with each other?"

"Of course not!" said Harry. Suddenly, he remembered the vial with his name in Sheeba's study.

**

Sirius was at Azkaban. The Dementors dragged him to a room where a hooded Dementor was going to punish him with a kiss. In a corner, Sheeba watched everything, tears rolling across her cheek. It was useless, nobody listened to him claiming he was innocent... he wanted to scream, but he could only manage to yank from his throat incomprehensible murmurs. The Dementor took off its hood. And then, Sirius finally managed to shout, "I'm innocent!"

The Dementor and Azkaban vanished Sirius found himself lying on a king-sized bed, absorbed in the darkness. His mind clarified and he remembered where he was. He threw his arms at an asleep Sheeba, pulling her even closer to him, burying his head into her cold black hair. He wanted to forget. He wanted Sheeba. He missed her.

"The dream," Sheeba said without opening her eyes, "It's only going to stop when you put Wormtail into jail."

"Are you awake?"

"I woke up just as you did it," she kept her eyes closed, lying on her back, her face aimed at the ceiling. One of her arms was on her face. She started caressing Sirius's arm that was on her body, smiling, and still having her eyes shut, "Do you know what I missed more in those fourteen years?"

"What?"

"Your laughter. Your voice provoking me. Caressing you like this, feeling your arms' hair. Sometimes, I woke up in the middle of night from this same dream you're having, and I couldn't sleep anymore. Sometimes, I dreamed of you in your canine form, howling in the middle of darkness. That was the day you found to avoid the dream, wasn't it?" she opened her eyes and faced him. The conjured landscape's faint light illuminated the bed they were lying on. Sirius Black's eyes flashed concerned on her face.

"Yeah. It hurt even more because you were always in it."

"And it would be impossible if I wasn't. I slept wearing your pajamas to feel you near me. During fourteen years, I've always dreamed the same thing you did," Sheeba closed her eyes again, "Now go back to sleep, Sirius."

"I don't want to sleep," he said and kissed her passionately.

To be continued...