A Sirius Change

Chapter 12 - The Show

Half an hour later Cordelia was in the courtyard of the IFW Embassy in New Delhi, waiting for the signal that all was secure in London at the destination. The other party had gone ahead as Sirius had received the most detailed threats. It was imperative they get him out of India as soon as possible. She got the cue, felt the familiar rush and pulling sensation and tumbled into the chaos that was travelling by Portkey. She came to a staggering halt in the courtyard of the Indian Embassy of the IFW in Bombay. She knew it from a few trips she'd made here before becoming leopard. She was confused and looked immediately for the security people that typically shadowed her. She saw none of them. Instead she saw a crater with the crumpled heap of a dark haired, bearded wizard in the centre. She tried to quell the screaming in her head, the shrieks of 'Sirius' that reverberated much too loudly in her ears. She went to take steps to get to his side, for surely she saw Sirius lying ten yards ahead. If she could get to him, he'd be okay. He'd sit up and tell her not to be silly.

She took one step and fell forward, striking her head with a dull thud as blackness closed in on her.

When Cordelia came to, there was an eerie silence as the dust from the apparent explosion settled. An instant later there were shouts, moans, and a lot of people running in different directions. She sat up and looked around again. Her brain was having trouble comprehending what had happened. She recognized the compound once more, Bombay. She wondered why they were there and not London. Running her hands over her face, she noticed her arm was bleeding. She moved a bit, but nothing felt wrong. Sirius, she thought, then shook her head. No, not Sirius. Colin. That was Colin I saw. Colin was travelling with me. Not Sirius, Colin. Momentary relief that Sirius was not here gave rise to a panic at what exactly did happen. Cordelia glanced up and a dust covered witch was there. Andy, her brain prompted, that's Andy, she's supposed to be protecting you.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked.

"I ... um ... I think so," Cordelia responded with more than a bit of hesitation. "What the hell happened?"

"Our Portkey was intercepted and we landed here. An explosive charm was cast by someone who was waiting for us." Andy explained all this as she pulled Cordelia to her feet and directed her towards the embassy doors.

"What about Sirius?"

"He apparently got home. We've had communication from the staff that had control of his party and they were unaffected."

"Who's hurt? How's Colin?"

"Colin's severely injured, he's been taken to the infirmary inside the embassy."

Cordelia shook her head. "Right after we landed here, I saw Colin on the ground. I forgot, just for that moment that he was standing in for Sirius. I thought ... well I thought Sirius was hurt."

Andy laughed, ruefully, "Well at least one thing worked."

"A bit too well for my taste. But then I didn't have time to think much about it. Oww." Cordelia abruptly stopped walking. "Damn, I must have done something to my ankle."

Andy leaned over and pulled up the leg of Cordelia's trousers, "Yes, well you do have quite the bruise there. I think you must have twisted it a bit."

While Andy was looking at her ankle, Cordelia looked out across the courtyard of the embassy. "Where's Leslie?"

Andy looked up. Cordelia watched her hesitate and got a cold spot in the pit of her stomach. Andy cleared her throat and stood up, placing an arm around Cordelia's waist and urging Cordelia's arm over her shoulder. "She was killed. She was walking in front of you and absorbed a good deal of the blast."

They had reached the door by now and luckily there was a bench just to one side of the door. Cordelia sat abruptly. Leslie was the chief of Cordelia's security team. They had developed a respect and friendship. Not as close as Sirius had with Colin, but Cordelia was devastated just the same. She put her head in her hands, rubbed her face, then looked up at Andy. "So she did it, didn't she? She was killed to keep me safe."

Andy swallowed hard. Cordelia could see the control Andy kept on her face. "Yes, ma'am, she did."

The pit of her stomach felt hollow and she just wanted to cry. Leslie was still young and healthy and strong and ... "Why? It's not fair."

The security witch sat down beside Cordelia and looked her straight in the eye. "It was her job."

"Yes, but ... "

Andy cut her off. "No, we all realize what the possibilities are when we agree to join this team. We know the risks."

Trying to keep her voice steady, Cordelia said softly, "It doesn't make me feel better."

"It's not supposed to, it's supposed to keep you alive. Come on, we need to get you inside and have that gash bandaged and your ankle looked at." Andy got up and pulled Cordelia to her feet, draping her arm around her neck and ushering her to the door. Then she got Cordelia braced to the left of the door as she moved to open it for the both of them, when a witch with short blonde hair burst through it and nearly knocked Cordelia over.

"Hey!" Andy called out as the girl glanced over her shoulder, but made no apology or even broke stride.

"Do you want to go after her?"

"I can't leave you. But I'll report her when we get back to inside."

"Did you recognize her?"

"No, but I'll remember her. You develop a pretty good eye for detail in this job. You never know when you'll have to describe the man in the crowd who killed your witch," Andy said as they managed the door and hobbled down the hall.

"We need to get back to London. I need to talk to Sirius."

"We're working on it. We've secured the infirmary for the three most critical cases. We have the other injured people in the Ambassador's personal residence. We need to get you out of the public area."

"Do you know who did this?"

"No. Not yet. "

"Can I go see Colin? I might be able to help," Cordelia offered as they limped down the cool tiled hallway.

"There is a full emergency crew with him right now."

"Do they need anything? Blood?"

Andy looked at her for a full second. "I don't think they'd accept you as a donor," the witch said brusquely.

Cordelia felt foolish; of course they wouldn't take her blood. "Oh, right. I guess not. Umm ... I can give a sort of energy. I was doing pretty well at the Pard's headquarters."

Andy considered this. Cordelia could feel a little ripple of what she assumed was revulsion move through her guard's body. Andy took a deep breath and gave herself an infinitesimal shake. "We can go and see what they say."

"Thanks."

**********

Sirius arrived at the portkey destination in London. The other team was supposed to have arrived already. They were coming into the other side of the building. It was how they always did it. The DC's team would Portkey to one side of the IFW headquarters and the decoy team would Apparate or Portkey to the other. When he and Cordelia were travelling to the same event, sometimes he'd travel with her and sometimes Colin, as decoy, would travel with her.

As he made his way up to his office, he was stopped by Jared, Colin's assistant for monitoring and verification. It was his job to confirm that the logistical security arrangements were adhered to and everyone made it to their destination. Seeing him waiting outside his office was not a good sign.

"Sir, Colin's team was mistransported to Bombay and once they arrived they were assaulted. Cordelia's team suffered one casualty and four injuries. There were also some casualties in the civilian press corp. Reports are your wife suffered minor injuries, but is secure. Colin was critically injured. I'll report more as soon as I'm told the status."

Sirius realized his mouth was open. He closed it. "Assaulted? How?"

"It was an explosive charm. They don't have a full analysis yet, but it looks like an incendiary charm that set off a combustible potion."

"Potion?" Sirius immediately thought of Jeralyn. She was an expert at potions and knew Peregrine's brother in the biblical sense. Why wouldn't she be working for Avian?

"Yes, sir. It was hidden in the bushes by the gate inside the Embassy compound."

"Why inside the compound? Wouldn't that be difficult to get in and out of?"

"They were having a large mural installed this month. It was reported that it might have been one of the artists, sir."

Sirius almost laughed. Then he realized that wouldn't look good. The head of his team took him by the elbow and moved him forward into his office. Sirius wrenched away from the wizard.

"Sir, we needed to get you to a secure position, until we know who was behind the mission failure in India and where they are now."

"I know who's behind it. See where Avian Peregrine is. See what his minions have been doing the last 24 hours. Look up Colin's files on the explosion that took place at the Circe headquarters a couple of months ago. See if the charm or potion that was used in India has any relation to the one used there. Then find out what Jeralyn's been up to." Sirius was yelling now. "Samantha!" Get me Cordelia, right now."

"She already called in. She's not near a Floo fireplace at the moment and she'll contact you as soon as she can. She said something about checking on Colin. Is he all right?"

"I don't think so."

**********

As was his habit lately, Draco arrived at Gringotts just before noon. He and Bill would take lunch in one of the discreet meeting rooms and Draco would update Bill on the progress of his investigation. He had heard about the attack the night before, but hadn't had time to get any intelligent news about the incident. He had nothing new in his portion of the investigation. He'd been digging in Muggle galleries and following up every rumour in the art world.

"I'm going to have to search Lexus' flat," Draco mused as he opened up the curry that Bill had ordered them.

"Can you break in?"

"I tried that. She's got a locking charm with a codeword. It's also specific to her wand, so only she can open the door."

"You tried it?"

"Yeah, Lexus was out of town last night. I tried every opening charm and counter charm I could think of. I was there for nearly an hour. I think the neighbours were starting to get suspicious."

"So she's home tonight?" Bill was pouring pumpkin juice for both of them.

"Yes, and we have a date. She insisted on it."

"What do you hope to find?"

"I don't know. Some sort of record or shred of something," Draco said with exasperation.

"I'll let Sirius know."

Draco nodded. "How's Ginny?"

"She's been busy. Her deadline is coming up. Have you been able to experience her during the days before the deadline?" Bill said with a smile.

"Ah yes. She doesn't eat, sleep, or hardly even come home then, does she?"

"I don't think she does. I've come in just after publication and she looks like hell."

Draco laughed. "I've seen her once like that. It's a bit scary."

"A bit? I'm glad I'm a brother. I grew up seeing her like that, so it's not such a shock."

"So she's all right then?"

"She's fine. Preoccupied, but fine." Bill looked Draco right in the eye and asked, "Are you going to sleep with Lexus?"

Draco looked at Bill for a long moment. "I hope I don't have to. A lot depends on how much she trusts me in her home. If she leaves me alone for any length of time, I can avoid it. If not, post sexual satisfaction can have a relaxing effect."

"True. What about a sleeping potion?" Bill asked as he reached for the jug of pumpkin juice.

"Last resort, don't you think? Given the penalties for distributing that stuff without a license." Draco downed the rest of his juice. "I'm meeting Lexus for drinks tonight. Hopefully I can get her pissed, drag her home, and cross my fingers that she passes out. Otherwise, I think I'm out of excuses with her. If she stays conscious, she's going to either want me to sleep with her or leave."

Bill nodded, then took a deep breath. "I understand your position, but as Ginny's brother I want to pound you senseless."

"I know. Just wait until after we nail this guy. Until then watch your back."

"I will. More pumpkin juice?" Bill offered. Draco thought Bill's smile was a bit odd, but he shrugged it off and accepted more juice.

****************

Sirius paced the secured corridor at the central Floo station in the basement of St. Mungo's. They were transferring Colin home and they were late. Well, they were five minutes late, but still. The corridor was bristling with other members of the security team, while Aidan, Colin's partner, paced 10 yards away from Sirius. They spoke briefly after the attack when Sirius called him to tell him what had happened, but had said nothing but hello this afternoon. Sirius wanted to apologize for putting Colin in danger. He also wanted to tell him how much Colin had done for him, and how he relied on him for guidance in the uncertain world of magical diplomacy. He turned to approach Aidan a number of times, but each time got the feeling that he would be less than receptive to him. Aidan hadn't got angry and he didn't seem like the type to hold a grudge, but his body language and expression told Sirius that all of Aidan's concentration was looking for Colin.

So Sirius paced, and Aidan paced. Cordelia was also due back with this team. She had resolutely refused to leave India without Colin. He loved her for that loyalty and he knew he'd have done the same thing, but these three days had driven him mad with worry for her safety. He also knew he selfishly felt like he needed her for reassurance, even though he told himself he could manage. He did manage. He managed when Charlie and Ian asked where mum was. They were terrified that she would be gone like last time. He let them talk to her through the fireplace and they seemed more relaxed. Cordelia's mum had been exasperated at the fact that Sirius had again endangered her daughter, but he explained that they were close to getting the psycho that was behind all the terrible things that had happened to them this year. She relaxed a bit as well. Seemed everyone had relaxed but him. So he paced.

Finally, the team arrived with a duo of security wizards in the lead, followed by mediwizards, and Colin's stretcher just behind them. More of the injured security team hobbled through the corridor behind the stretcher and finally Cordelia and Andy. Sirius let the medical team pass as Aidan fell in next to Colin and took his hand. Cordelia broke with the group and ran to Sirius, holding him tightly as he reciprocated the grateful hug.

"How is he?"

Cordelia sighed. "He has a cracked skull, a broken thigh, a lacerated spleen and a shattered wrist. He was bleeding internally and there was some swelling in his brain. He hasn't regained consciousness and they're afraid if the swelling doesn't go down, he could be permanently brain damaged."

Sirius sat down hard on a bench in the hall. "I thought the mediwizards could heal just about everything."

Cordelia sat beside him. "So did I. They said they tried all the conventional charms and potions. They're hoping the specialists here can help."

"We do have a few very good wizards. Mungo's is a magical neurological centre. If anyone can help, they can." Sirius sat back, dejected.

Cordelia patted his leg. "We'd best go up and see what we can do."

"Have they been letting you help?"

"A little. I have a lot of extra energy and they're letting me channel it into him, but only once a day. They're afraid the extra energy will make the swelling worse."

"How are you?"

"I was lucky. You heard about my ankle?"

"Yeah. Is it better?"

"Yep. It stopped hurting after a day. It's a bit tender, but I can walk on it," Cordelia reassured him.

"I notified Leslie's parents. Did she have a husband or boyfriend?"

"No. She broke up with that wizard in external affairs a couple of months ago. She said when she got back to London, she was going to try dating again."

They were both silent for a bit.

Sirius nudged her with his shoulder. "I'm glad you're back and all right."

"Thanks. I just feel so bad for Aidan."

"I know."

It was silent again, when Jared cleared his throat and indicated they should be getting out of the corridor.

They stood up, and Sirius felt a surge of determination he hadn't felt in along time. "I'm going to get that bastard."

Cordelia looked back at him. He knew she was afraid he was going to lose it, but he didn't feel fuzzy around the edges at all. Quite the contrary, he felt more clear headed and focused than he had in months.

**********

Draco removed the woman's arms from around his neck and slid off the couch. At least she hadn't dragged him into the bedroom. He made sure she was asleep again, stood and adjusted his clothing until he was decent again. He was disgusted with himself, disgusted with her, and most of all disgusted with this project which was going nowhere fast. He really had exhausted all other avenues of investigation. This was a last resort and if he didn't find anything here, he was at a loss to figure out where to go next. There had to be something in this flat that would help connect the dots.

He scanned the flat. There was an old roll top desk with what seemed like 100 tiny drawers in one corner of the main living area. That would be the most obvious place to start. Fifteen minutes later he had looked in every cubby and hidden drawer. He searched under the desk and all around the dining room.

Draco froze just as he was entering her bedroom. There was a soft mumble from the couch. He held his breath and drew his wand, but the mumbling ceased and was replaced by a soft snore. Finally able to breathe again, he entered the bedroom. An hour later he had found nothing there, and nothing in the bathroom, on the terrace, or in the broom closet. He padded softly into the kitchen only to find a bank shaped in a tiny replica of Gringotts Paris branch sitting in a dark dusty corner of one of the lower cabinets. Draco stood and rubbed his neck. He thought about taking a hammer to the damn bank, but decided that would make too much noise. He pulled the bottom plug and shook, but nothing came out. The bank was empty.

That was it. That was the last straw. Draco had decided to tell Sirius that he'd had enough and that if he wasn't reassigned he'd quit. He looked once more at the bank and set it back on the counter, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he intended. He glanced over at the couch to make sure the noise hadn't woken Lexus. When he looked back, the stairs in the front of the bank had popped open, revealing a very small hidden compartment.

"HA!" Draco whispered. He scanned the compartment for curses before probing it with his fingers. He withdrew two small slips of parchment. Written on each of the scraps was a number and a password. He jotted the numbers and words onto another scrap he found in a drawer, replaced the originals, secured the compartment, and repositioned the bank in its cabinet.

By the time they arrived at the first vault it was nearly midnight. Draco was feeling decidedly fuzzy around the edges when it was opened. It was spacious with paintings lining the walls, crated sculptures stacked in neat rows through the centre, and thick portfolios of photos and prints piled on top of the crates.

"Wow, some collection," Bill remarked as he looked around the space.

Draco circled the room, studying one work then another. "These are priceless. There are Muggle works here as well."

Bill was looking through the portfolios. "This is odd. There are two of everything over on this side."

Draco looked up and moved over to Bill's side of the vault to look more closely at the duplicates. "One's original and one's a forgery."

"What?" Bill asked as he looked closer at the paintings in front of him.

"See? Here and here," Draco gestured. "See how the brush strokes are different and the texture of the paint is smoother. This one's a fake. It wasn't painted in the same century as the original. Damn good forgery though."

"Yeah, I see. So we have a forgery ring here?"

"And probably theft as well. I'd bet galleons that the owners of these pieces didn't donate the paintings to be forged. Kind of defeats the purpose of owning an original, don't you think?"

"Let's go see what's in the other vault," Bill suggested.

Draco nodded. They found the other vault nearby. It was smaller and required only one password.

This one was crammed full of filing cabinets that had been shrunk so more cabinets could be fit into the tiny space. Bill moved one into the small open area at the front and charmed it to full size. Draco reached in and pulled out a roll of parchment. The roll was over ten feet long and detailed dates, names of artworks, where the works had gone, where they had been, and the various amounts of money that they had been sold for. They looked at a few more of these, and on every parchment was the signature of Flora Whitesmith. Something about the signature of this witch resonated in Draco, like he'd seen it before. It just felt so familiar. Then it hit him. Flora Whitesmith had the same signature style as his mother, Narcissa Malfoy. Draco sat down hard in the chair by the desk, as he recalled a very distant cousin with that surname. This was confirmed an hour later when he found references to the sculpture he'd seen in the Muggle gallery a few months before. What the hell was his mother doing involved in all this? He shook his head in disbelief, but he could see that Narcissa was up to her neck in this enterprise.

"This Flora witch and Peregrine seem to have a nice little racket going on here. Any ideas who Flora is?"

Bill's comments brought Draco out of his own thoughts. "Yes. I know exactly who it is. My mother."

Bill's jaw dropped. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I've seen my mother's signature on enough things to recognize it anywhere."

"Yes, I guess you would."

"You know, I was wondering where she was getting her money lately. I thought it might be from her family, but apparently not." Changing the subject, because he just didn't really want to think of the implications just yet, "Have you seen anything that has to do with wine or explosive charms in these records?"

"Not yet, but it looks like there are thousands of rolls of parchment here. It might take quite awhile to go through all this. I'll owl the ministry when we get out of here."

"Can you get Sirius down here without attracting any attention? I'd like him to see this and have a chance at deciding what to do."

"Yeah, I can get him. Wait here, I'll be back." Bill left the vault and locked it behind him.

Draco was grateful that he wasn't claustrophobic. Even though he was able to keep the vault lit, it seemed just a bit smaller with the door closed. Bill had assured him it wouldn't shrink while he was in it, but it still made him relatively uneasy to be locked up like this. Draco wondered if this was what prison was like.

An hour later he was awakened by the vault door reopening.

Sirius strode across the vault and offered Draco a hand up from where he'd settled on the floor reading a roll of parchment.

"The stuff in that other vault is amazing. Good work," Sirius commented.

Bill crossed behind him, "So should I call the ministry and have them seal the vaults and search the contents?

Both Sirius and Draco said, "No!" simultaneously. Draco deferred to Sirius.

"You can't notify the Ministry yet. Let me try something first. If we empty the vaults now, Draco's cover is blown. If there isn't any evidence of Peregrine's activities against me here, we've missed our chance to set him up. I think we have a better chance of trying to get an idea what's in both of these vaults, then waiting a bit. Draco, how is Peregrine coming on finding that painting for you?"

"Last I talked to Lexus, he was planning on taking delivery this week, then I'd be able to inspect the piece and we'd begin to discuss terms."

"Okay, maybe we can do something at that meeting," Sirius said. Draco noticed a glint in his eye like he was already picturing something. This made Draco nervous. But then, a lot of things about Sirius made him nervous. He wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he agreed with Sirius that they couldn't just leave it to the Ministry and hope enough evidence could be gathered from these vaults. They didn't have anything that connected Peregrine to Sirius, but the documentation had to be somewhere.

The three of them spent another two hours in the vault getting an idea of the organization of the files. As Sirius and Draco searched the cabinets, Bill went through the desk. There were bits and pieces of parchment stashed in all the nooks and cubbies of the desk. Most were receipts or addresses. Sirius finished with the last cabinet he'd taken and leaned on the desk momentarily. Bill had a stack of bits of parchment in his hands. "Any of this mean anything to you?" Bill asked and started to recite the names of the scraps.

"Bennifield, Smithsone, Jeralyn, Bethesda..."

Sirius interrupted him, "Jeralyn?"

"Yeah. That's all it says, besides the list of potion ingredients under her name."

Sirius snatched the bit out of his hand. "I guess I can't take this, can I?"

"Nope, it would self-destruct as soon as you left the building," Bill replied. "Why, do you know her?"

Sirius smiled, "Let's just say she's an old friend."

Draco finished with his portion of the room and they went back over their descriptions so that all three would remember what they saw in here and the other vault.

"Thanks for calling me down here. I'll keep you both informed on what I want to do. I need to talk to some people and get a few things set up."

They left the vaults and Bill secured them. They got done before the goblins showed up for work. Draco and Sirius were able to slip out while Bill climbed the stairs to his office, determined to get a few hours sleep before sunrise.

Draco went back to his flat and immediately sent his owl to make a lunch appointment with Narcissa. Once that was done, he collapsed on his bed with his alarm set for six in the morning. The only trouble was that he couldn't turn off his brain. He'd always known his father was into illegal, immoral, and unethical activities, but he really didn't think his mother had the desire for power that had been his father's undoing. Draco immediately realized that it wasn't about power with his mother, it was about money. It always had been about money with her and it always would be. He could almost respect his father a bit more. Power was a much stronger motivator for screwing someone than money. He hadn't had to live on a moderate income for long to understand that a moderate amount of money allowed you to do more with more freedom than the wealth he had experienced before. Money just wasn't worth the risk of Azkaban. Apparently even after repeated visits to his father in that god-forsaken place, the possibility had never occurred to Narcissa that she could end up there for what she was involved in.

These thoughts and musings on money led him to think of families who grew up without money, and of course Ginny popped into his mind. She had plenty of money now, and again money was something that was screwing up their relationship. That and family. Draco knew that Ginny still wasn't positive that he wasn't out to use her for her money, or at least that's what Percy thought. That was probably what Molly thought as well, Draco thought, uncharitably. He didn't care about her money or her success, except that her success helped define her and give her a confidence she'd lacked at Hogwarts. It had only been a week since he'd seen Ginny at the auction and Circe party. But that night had turned out badly. Draco was determined to give her as much time as she needed. He suspected it wouldn't be long. But in the meantime, he really did miss her. He missed holding her and smoothing her hair away from his face. He missed how that hair cascaded down onto his chest when she was on top of him. He missed her smiles and laughs and sighs and moans. He'd seen other men pine for women before and previously he'd found it deeply disturbing. He still found it disturbing that he could be one of them. In a moment of desperation he summoned his wand and conjured a flock of pixies to count. He reached 382 before he noticed the clock was chiming five am.

************

It was five am as Ginny entered the coffee shop, completely oblivious to the other customers. The last two days had been hell. She had lost a photographer and a reporter in the attack on Sirius in India. The deadline for this month's publication was tomorrow and she hadn't heard from Draco since the Circe party. She deeply regretted the way they left things that night, but she had no way of getting in touch with him to settle the matter. She didn't regret how she felt, that she was still confused about it all. She did regret that this whole relationship was so nebulous. It wasn't as if she wanted a well defined commitment. She cringed at being that rigid, but what they had was like trying to grasp a cloud. It looked light and fluffy and soft from a distance, but up close it was opaque, dense, and hard to navigate. Like driving through a fog, things didn't seem clear until you were upon them and it was too late to stop. She remembered how he had left her. She didn't blame him for leaving, but had spent the last week wondering if things would be different if she had asked him to stay.

"Damn," she muttered as she ran into a solid form, and scalding hot coffee sloshed over the side of the cup. It was a rather tall man, stirring cinnamon into his large coffee. He hadn't spilled it, and her coffee had miraculously managed not to spill on him.

"Sorry," he said as he stepped back to give her room to set her cup down and dry off her hand.

She looked up and shook her head, deciphering more than just a large shape. "Oh no! I'm so sorry. I've been up too late, I'm afraid."

"Which is why we need coffee," said a voice that sounded raspy and tired.

She smiled and mopped her hand and her jeans. "You're Aidan Lynch, aren't you? Colin's partner?"

"Yes, that's right. Do I know you?"

As Ginny finally looked at him, he was dishevelled and looked miserable. "I'm Ginny Weasley; I've met Colin a few times ..."

"Oh yes, of course. Circe has done some articles on the team, and Colin talked about you when you had that explosion a few months back," Aidan said with apparent relief that she wasn't a Quidditch fan.

"He was wonderful about that. How is he? I heard he was seriously hurt in India. Is he any better? Oh! He must be in St. Mungo's." Ginny suddenly felt stupid, not realizing this earlier.

"Yes, that's right. That's why I'm here. I needed a break and his mum was there. I nicked down here for some decent coffee."

"Yes, I've had the stuff they call coffee over there. It's awful." Ginny made a horrible face.

Aidan smiled weakly. "You'd think they ... well ... anyway. Would you like to sit with me for a while? I could use the company. I don't want to go back just yet."

"Of course. I need to get my mind off work for a few moments. I'd love to," Ginny said, genuinely glad to have some distraction. "So they thought Colin was Sirius? In India, I mean."

"Well, that's what they're supposed to think, aren't they? They do that a lot. Colin stands in for Sirius when they think there's a threat. A decoy. I told him he's going to get killed that way." Aidan looked away.

"What does Colin say," Ginny asked gently.

Aidan laughed, "He says that's the point. It's supposed to be him and not Sirius. I know it's his job, and he's been doing it forever. He's managed to stay alive, but for obvious reasons, I'd rather he not sacrifice himself."

"That must be difficult. Knowing he's taking those risks everyday."

"I thought I was used to it. I hadn't thought about it much, lately. I'm used to risks, you know, Quidditch and all that. But when they owled me that he'd been hurt ... well ... All those years of ignoring the possibility came back to bite me. And it bit hard."

Ginny nodded and thought of the risks Draco was taking and the risks Harry and Hermione took all the time. She thought she understood, but she knew her understanding was only a shadow to Aidan's reality. "How long have you two been together?"

"Ten years, next month."

"Really? I'm impressed. Did you know right away that it would last this long?"

Aidan thought for a few minutes. "I can look back and say I knew. I think Colin knew, but we weren't exclusive for the first six months. I was still sleeping with women. He wasn't. He's always been so comfortable about it. He says he was attracted to men for as long as he could remember. I was this tough Quidditch Star. It was a difficult transition for me. I was too straight to be gay. But ..." He let out a low whistle, then caught himself. "I'm sorry. You probably don't need to hear this."

"No, really, it's okay. I love hearing about how people met. It's encouraging to those of us who aren't sure if we've met the right person yet or not."

"It doesn't bother you. Hearing about gay relationships?" Aidan looked at her. She could tell he was expecting her to wince.

"Are you kidding, half my art department is gay and if it bothered me, I wouldn't be able to staff my magazine. Not to mention the male models we use. Most of them are queer as well. Nicest bunch of guys ever, though. And my production director is a lesbian witch who can just work circles around any sort of logistical challenge. I'd be up a chimney without any Floo powder without her."

Aidan eyed her for a moment. While Ginny didn't like the scrutiny, she could understand the hazards of talking openly about his relationship. There were still those on the fringe who treated homosexuals with nearly as much disdain as some wizards treated Muggles. Ginny thought both attitudes were disgusting.

Aidan took a deep breath and looked into the window to the left of Ginny's shoulder. She could tell he was looking into the past, trying to recall. "I remember the first time I saw him. He was gorgeous. He had on jeans and a white cotton shirt. I knew I'd never been that attracted to any woman. I could tell when a woman was supposed to be attractive. I went along with the other blokes and mouthed all the right words. I'd take them out to dinner and sleep with them if they'd let me. But it wasn't anything like the jolt I felt when I met Colin."

"How did you meet?" Ginny asked. She could tell that talking about Colin was helping. He already looked more relaxed. The worry lines between his brows were easing.

Aidan smiled and looked off, remembering. "He came to a party in London. He was a friend of a friend. I was just about to leave with a woman, in fact. Funny, I don't remember her name or even what she looked like. I think she was blonde. I tended to go for blondes. He came into the room and I never saw anyone else. I'd been attracted to men before. I'd placed myself in the bisexual box. I'd had a fling or two with other men, but it was never serious.

"But he was gorgeous. The white of his shirt set off his darker skin tone and dark hair. He had the brightest smile I'd ever seen. It lit up the room when he laughed. We hit it off right away. We were on the terrace for hours talking that night. I had Flooed in. When it was time to go we were over at the fireplace and he told me he was attracted to me and asked me to come home with him, and I went. I've never been picked up before. I had always been the one to chat up women, and men for that matter. Merlin, that first kiss. I had him undressed before he set his keys down. He was slower, more patient. It was the best sex I've ever had." He refocused his eyes on Ginny and laughed. "Does that fall into too much information?"

Ginny laughed as well, "No. You seemed to need to say it. But if the sex was so good that first time, why did you continue to see other people for six months?"

"I was terrified!"

"Of what?" Ginny pushed a bit harder, this seemed to hit so close to home for her.

"Of the intensity of the connection I felt. I didn't want to feel that strongly for him. Ten years ago, gay couples were given a much harder time about things than they are today. I didn't want to have to go through that."

"You were afraid your family and friends wouldn't accept you as a couple?"

"I was convinced they would think he seduced me and was holding me by some sort of enthrallment. I knew my friends didn't think I was gay, so they certainly would blame Colin. I didn't want them to do that, but then I wasn't ready to stand up and say that I loved him yet, even though I knew I did. I didn't want to believe I couldn't have what I had with him with anyone else. I wanted to have that with a woman, so that I could be comfortable taking her around and so that people would understand without me having to be defensive or cautious. I also was terrified of his job. His hours were irregular, and he had to leave on short notice a lot. I was deluding myself to think that any of that really mattered."

"I think I know what you mean. What made you give up on the others?"

"I tried so hard to fall in love with someone, anyone else. I'm surprised Colin put up with me. He never gave me an ultimatum or anything, but one night he admitted that he was hurt when I went out with other men. He said the women didn't bother him as much. He said he understood why I wanted to try it on with them. I finally realized that I wasn't going to find that same connection, and not just sexual connection, with anyone else. Then I realized how much I'd been hurting him, and realized I really didn't want to lose him, and if I didn't want to lose him, I'd better stop hurting him. I was an idiot for a long time."

Ginny nodded her head. She knew exactly how he felt.

Her internal musings were interrupted. "I wish I had those six months back. What a waste of time, and the hurt I inflicted on Colin and on the other people I dated was so useless. I know now that if you love someone like that, there's no use in fighting it, and trying to deny it. It opens you up to so much pain, and the risk that something could happen to one of you. Life's far too short to waste time worrying about how to make it easy for yourself. I could have had easy with any number of women, but they weren't Colin, and they never would be. I just couldn't dream of having as good a life with them as I have with him." His eyes were glistening.

"How is he?"

"It's been a week and we still don't know if he's going to pull out of this, and if he does, if there'll be any permanent damage." Aidan took a deep, shaky breath.

"So Colin's mum is okay with you two? She never gave him a hard time about being gay?" Ginny asked cautiously. She didn't want to stir up bad feelings, but she needed to know how families fit into relationships.

"No, she's been wonderful. He said he told her about halfway through Hogwarts. She asked him once if he liked any girls and she said that he got a peculiar look on his face and asked if he had to. She remembers saying no, he didn't have to. She eventually coaxed out of him that while he didn't like any girls, there were a few boys he was crushing on. She figured it out from there. She said she was more surprised and worried that he'd have a difficult life. No one wants that for their children. She's always been wonderful to me. She says that I'm a good influence. That he relaxes with me."

"What about your parents? Are they here at hospital with you?"

"No. They're dead. Da went last year, and Mum a couple of years before that."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. They died of old age and we'd made peace before they went."

"I take it there was trouble before that?"

"With a capital T. My Da was a very typical Irish wizard. He was very proud of his son, the Quidditch star and all that. I'd always done everything he expected of me. Then I told him about Colin. He hit the roof. Colin and I had been together for about a year and we knew we wanted to spend out lives together. We kind of did it backwards, but it turned out well, eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"Before I told them, I brought Colin home. Da thought he was great. They ... we... spent 4 days just palling around. When Da asked Colin if he had a girlfriend, Colin spoke up and said with no hesitation, 'No sir, I don't have a girlfriend. I'm afraid I prefer men.' This shocked Da. Here's this tall, handsome, and very masculine looking man, Colin, with a military carriage telling Da he was gay. Da was good about it at first. He coughed and choked a bit, then he cleared his throat and asked me if I knew my friend was a queer. Then he mentioned that Colin didn't look like any of the queers he knew. I was uncomfortable with both of them, but Colin was cool as a cucumber. I saw how easy he was with it. So I screwed up my courage and asked Da if I looked queer. That's when he made the connection. It took him a day or two to even speak to us again. Then he ranted and raved about how unnatural and how wrong it was.

"When we left I explained to him how much I loved Colin and that I had never felt that for a woman and I assured him that I had tried, but that Colin was it for me. He let me leave and we didn't hear from him for a very long time. I wonder if we had sat him down and told him differently, would it have been easier. But I wanted him to get to know Colin as Colin, not as his son's gay lover. I think it helped.

"Da finally said that he couldn't get over the fact that he really liked Colin. Mum's largest complaint was that we wouldn't be giving her grandchildren; but that was not something I'd planned for anyway. They finally accepted Colin and me and the lack of grandchildren, my sisters were having them by that time, so I was absolved."

"Did you have any trouble with your siblings?"

"Not particularly. One of my sisters was sure he would hurt me, but she came around."

"What would you have done if they had all hated him?"

"Nothing different. You have to live your life. No one can live it for you and you can't live it for anyone else. No one spends as much time inside your skin as you do. When everyone else is gone, what will you be if you lived your life for them?"

"So you'd still be together."

"Of course. It was Colin. I can't imagine living without him." Ginny could see Aidan swallowing hard and trying hard to stay in control. He shook his head back, but went on. "But you have to really love the bloke, if you're going to go up against it with your family. Family means a lot to me, and I felt very cut off during the time when Da wouldn't accept us. But at the same time I was going to bed with Colin every night, there was good balanced with that bad. If I had let my Da's objections influence who I spent time with, that period of time would have been much darker. I'd still have been arguing with my Da and I wouldn't have had Colin for support. Families are tricky, but usually they just want what's best for you. There are exceptions, however..."

Ginny knew one exception was the Malfoy family. They were downright toxic. They wanted what was best for the family and damn those in it. She knew she'd never be accepted there, and is she were really honest, she didn't want to be. Then she thought about her own family. Maybe they did want what was best for her. She felt a bit silly in light of Aidan's difficulties.

Aidan glanced at his watch, and rubbed his eyes. "I'd better be getting back. They were going to do some more testing this morning."

"I'd better go as well. I've got a deadline later this morning."

"Thanks for listening."

"My pleasure. I got a lot out of it, more than you'll know."

Aidan raised an eyebrow, "What, do you have a thing for your production director?"

Ginny laughed, "No, for someone that my family would find even more unacceptable and I'm someone his family could never accept."

"How bad could it be? If you're both hetero, it shouldn't be that bad?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "I guess I need to just stop deluding myself that anyone else will do."

"Ah, yes, you do. Just don't lose the six months. It may be all you've got." With that, Aidan gave her a weak smile and left.

Ginny sat in the shop thinking for quite awhile. Finally she shook her head and headed back to work. If she didn't have a deadline and if she knew where Draco was she'd go talk to him now. But she did, and she didn't, so she couldn't, which was far more frustrating. Her eyes had been opened, talking to Aidan, but now she had to actually see through them. What if something did happen to him in the meantime?

************

The rest of the week was spent setting his plan into motion. He had supplies to get, artwork to borrow and people to coerce. When Cordelia suggested he might be going to an extreme here, he reminded her that Peregrine nearly killed her, Ian, Colin, Ginny, and himself a couple of times. That helped quiet her comments. She wanted to let the authorities handle it. She didn't understand the wizarding authorities. Sirius did. They had a part to play in his show, but only as backup. He was not leaving something this essential to the Ministry to fuck up.

He'd started calling it a show, because that's what he felt like he was planning. There would be parts to play, props to set up, and an audience of one. He was going to nail the bastard to the wall, without shedding a drop of the idiot's blood. Well, maybe a drop, or two, trickling from his mouth after he pounded his teeth through ... Sirius took a deep breath and tried to stay on track. No violence, just a show. He had figured out that Peregrine's goal initially wasn't to kill him, just drive him crazy enough to ruin him. But after that didn't work, the violence had been escalating and the attack on Colin at the embassy showed that Peregrine did intend to kill him, somehow, someway. Sirius would fight back, but he finally understood power and what he could do with it. He'd always been magically powerful, he knew that, but now he had political power as well, and in this case he wasn't hesitant about using it.

There was a knock on his office door and his ten am appointment was ushered in by his secretary, accompanied by a Ministry guard.

Sirius looked up as his guest settled in her chair. "Jeralyn, so nice of you to drop by."

She glared at him, "Didn't have much choice, you bastard. You're making me miss my nail appointment."

"I'm sorry. I'll write you a note. Maybe she'll be able to work you in tomorrow. Actually I might be able to recommend the woman Cordelia uses. If you do what I'm going to ask you, you just may get your sentence reduced."

Jeralyn raised her eyebrows, "I always did like you. I'm listening."

They talked for an hour and by the end they had a deal.

Sirius had one last question. "If I get you out of this, do you promise to try to go straight? There's a lot of money to be made as a potions master with some of the multinationals."

"I'm an independent. Working potions for a multinational in some sterile lab somewhere would make me ill," Jeralyn grumbled.

"You could be a consultant."

"Now, that's an idea. I could charge 200 galleons an hour to help some poor sod stir correctly?" Her face brightened considerably.

"Potions is a dying art. You've a rare talent; I hate to see you rot away in some jail because you want to be an independent."

"Oh Sirius, I didn't know you cared," She said as she batted her eyelashes.

"I don't, but I need you on this one," he admitted

Jeralyn appeared to be considering this for a long moment. "Okay. I'm not particularly pleased with Mr. Peregrine myself at the moment. He left me hung out to dry, which is why I have a guard. I'm surprised that they let me out to talk to you."

"Being Deputy Chancellor does have its privileges."

"Yes, quite. Right then, let me know when I need to be where."

"A car will pick you up and drop you off. You will have a guard at all times and you will not try to double-cross me. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, Mr. Black, I believe we do."

*********

An hour later Samantha, Sirius' secretary, let him know she had reached the Minister of Magic for him. Sirius crouched in front of the fire.

"Is this a secure channel?" Sirius asked.

"They're secure on this end. What about yours?"

"Absolutely. Arthur, I need your approval on this one," Sirius started out then outlined who Peregrine was, what he's been pulling, and what he planned to do about it.

Arthur listened thoughtfully and nodded when it was all over. "Are you sure this is going to work, Sirius?"

"There are risks that it will go wrong, but I'm quite comfortable with the risk."

"You say Draco Malfoy is involved?"

Sirius nodded.

"Are you sure he's on our side now? I know Ginny thinks so, and he was working for you, but I've been hearing about him lately and I wonder if you can trust him."

"Arthur, Draco's been integral to this investigation, and he has a personal interest in this now. I don't think he'd deliberately screw it up."

"Does it have anything to do with his family? You know the Malfoys. Family and blood first, then galleons, then the hell with the rest of the world."

"He's already betrayed his father, what more do you want from the man?"

"I want to know he isn't going to double cross us in this. It leaves me feeling very vulnerable, Sirius."

"I know. Hell, it's my arse on the line here. If we're wrong, Peregrine just may kill me or Cordelia or Draco right there. He's not afraid to do that."

"And you don't think he'll do that anyway, if you're right, that is?"

"That's where your ministry agents come in."

Arthur chuckled again. "All right, you have my blessing, but watch your back."

"I have security, Arthur. They won't let me forget that," Sirius said in an exasperated voice.

All was set. Now all he did was wait until show time.

*********

Sirius and Cordelia arrived at the gallery an hour before show time. They had spent three days setting up this show and Sirius was very nervous about its outcome. He thought he'd gone through all the possible problems with this plan, but then that's what he thought when he suggested that Peter be secret-keeper as well. Sirius shuddered at that misstep and went cold thinking that this could all go very wrong if he wasn't very careful.

"I love what you've done with the windows, Mum," Cordelia said, examining the blue velvet drapes that were pulled back to either side of the massive front windows.

"Actually, Jared suggested them. He said they would be useful if we needed privacy for some reason, but if we pulled them back like this, his team could still see what they needed to see from across the way."

"I see." Cordelia shifted her attention to Sirius, "Will we need privacy?"

"Only if everything goes wrong. The Muggles tend not to like to see a lot of bodies," Sirius said with a smile, trying to exude more confidence than he had at the present.

Cordelia wasn't buying the bravado, and scowled at him. "That bad, eh?"

Sirius shook it off, "No, really, I think it will be fine. It all depends on Peregrine."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Who's here, Kate?" Sirius asked, changing the subject.

"Ginny, Bill, and Aidan are in the back drinking coffee, Maggie and Jeralyn are getting on quite nicely, and I think Maggie is interested in Jeralyn's guard." Kate ticked off the main players on her fingers.

"Will you be joining our party?"

"No, I'm leaving this in your hands, Sirius. I wish Cordelia would come home with me. I don't like the idea of you both being here."

"Mum, I need to be here. He hurt me and I need to see his face when we nail his butt to the wall." Sirius was surprised at her sudden vehemence. Cordelia smiled at him.

Kate sighed; she looked resigned to the situation. "I just don't want Charlie and Ian to be orphans, that's all."

"Don't worry about that, Mum, we're in good hands." Cordelia began to walk her back towards the back door.

"I'd feel better if Colin were in here."

"I know, but remember we're also doing this for him too. Peregrine nearly killed him."

"All right. Call me as soon as it's over, promise?" Kate gave the gallery one last look. Sirius could see she didn't like the plan, but it was the best he could come up with.

"I promise." Cordelia gave her mum a kiss. Kate collected her things and left. She gave Sirius a rather pointed look as she closed the gallery door, but Kate was just about the last person he was worried about.

Half an hour later, everyone was in place. Maggie was ready to greet the gallery's guests. Sirius could see her hovering near the back table where the food and drink was set up. Jeralyn was lurking behind a divider as was Cordelia and Aidan. Their times would come. Sirius had positioned himself behind the divider closer to the door. There were six dividers spaced evenly around the room. Each divider had two paintings. Filling the interior space was a series of pedestals holding various forms of sculpture and displays.

There were twenty to thirty other people in the gallery when Peregrine showed up at nine. Narcissa Malfoy was on his arm and he was followed closely by Draco and Lexus. Following them was a small array of bodyguards. Maggie greeted Peregrine's party and handed each a flute of champagne.

"Good evening and welcome to the Hunter Gallery, Mr. Peregrine. Let me show you what we have available this evening."

"Hello, Maggie. It's nice to see you again. Have you enjoyed working in the studio here?"

Maggie looked nervous, but played her part. "Yes, very much. Kate is very generous and has promoted my work."

"Good, I'm glad it's worked out for you. You'll be continuing to work here?"

"As long as it's possible, yes. Now, if you give me an idea of what you and your friends are interested in, I can help direct you to the right area of the gallery. We have so much here tonight."

"I was told you would have The Triwizard. It is available, isn't it?" Peregrine asked glancing around the gallery.

"Yes, it is, right this way." Maggie led the group to a painting hung in the centre of the room. "This is the one you were looking for, correct?"

Peregrine stopped in front of the painting and smiled. "Yes, that would be the one. Thank you"

But Maggie interrupted, "Or is it this one on the other side?" She moved to the other side of the divider where a duplicate of the first painting hung. Peregrine came around to her side as his face went white.

Draco circled all the way around the display, then looked from one side of the display to the other, then back again. "What kind of game are you playing at, Peregrine. You couldn't possibly be planning to sell me a forged painting?" Sirius could hear the outrage in Draco's voice. The man was a damn good actor, he conceded.

Narcissa was making similar outraged comments. Peregrine looked surprised, and angry beneath a veneer of calm. At the moment his glare was directed towards Maggie.

"No, of course not. Maggie, can I see you in private?"

"No," she said simply.

"Look, Peregrine, I think we should just call off the deal. I want the painting, but you can't expect me to accept a forgery. Were you trying to set me up? You know how closely I'm being watched for any sort of illegal activity," Draco hissed.

"Right. I'd never expected you to accept that. I have no idea what these people are playing at, Mr. Malfoy. Narcissa, please let your son know I would never be involved in that sort of activity."

Narcissa raised her eyebrow, but turned to Draco, "Really, darling. I think it was all a simple misunderstanding. Maggie, do you know anything about all this? How did we happen to come across two of these marvellous paintings?"

Maggie shrugged, "Maybe you'd like to see the rest of the work on display."

She walked over to one of the pedestals. It held a wine bottle and an artful display of potion ingredients. This was the same brand and vintage that had poisoned Cordelia just before Christmas with the ingredients essential to the poison. Sirius watched Jeralyn quietly emerge from behind the divider across the room, blending into the crowd. She circled the room, stopping at different paintings and sculptures. Peregrine was looking at the display, he was trying very hard to be casual about it. "This is what they call art in Muggle galleries? They're worse off than I thought they were." He laughed and looked for the rest of his group to laugh. Narcissa did and Lexus managed a nervous twitter. She had been hanging onto Draco's arm through the discussion at the painting, but now was pressing herself even closer to him. Sirius glanced over at Ginny, who wasn't visible to Peregrine's group, and noticed that she was glaring at the blonde. If looks could kill, he thought.

Jeralyn finally sauntered over, "Avian! What a pleasure seeing you here! I heard someone comment that they didn't think this sculpture was interesting. I'm hurt. I helped with this and I think it has a certain charm, don't you?"

"Hello, Jeralyn. What the hell are you doing here?" Peregrine's face was tense and grim.

Jeralyn, was by contrast cheerful and enthusiastic. "I've come to see the show, isn't it marvellous?" She gestured expansively with her arms.

"I thought you were in prison," Peregrine asked.

"Oh, I was, but they let me out just for this show. Wasn't it marvellous of them?" Jeralyn beamed.

Peregrine looked up and finally started to take a really good look around the room. There were fifteen paintings with their forged twins hanging side-by-side. There was the sculpture that Draco had seen in the San Francisco gallery. There was Cordelia's painting that was being repaired just before Ian's accident. On a small well lit pedestal was a replication of the sculpture Ginny had bought, with the ammonite focal piece. As Peregrine's gaze travelled around the room his face was becoming flushed with anger. His jaw was clenching and his hands were balling up at his side. Other patrons who had been milling about gradually stopped, and he began to connect the people to the artwork. Cordelia came to stand by the ammonite. Ginny stood behind a display of an ancient text opened to the explanation of an incendiary explosive charm. Aidan wandered next to a photograph of the Bombay Embassy. Once everyone was in place and Peregrine's attention was directed elsewhere, Sirius emerged and strolled amongst the items. He kept an eye on Peregrine as he circled the room. He waited just beyond a photograph of the exterior of Azkaban.

Peregrine looked around again. "What the hell is going on? Who set me up? You?" he yelled at Draco.

Draco shrugged, "Set up? I don't know what you're talking about?"

Sirius finally spoke up from the back of the room. "You don't like the artwork, Avian?"

Peregrine whirled around. Sirius thought he looked like he was about to explode. "You!" Peregrine bellowed, then he began to laugh. It was the laughter that did it.

Sirius began to cross the room, but suddenly he could feel reality fading around the edges. As he walked he realized Peregrine was starting to look like Pettigrew. He concentrated very hard and Pettigrew faded into Peregrine once again. Then the backdrop shifted from the white of the gallery with the dark windows and blue curtains behind Peregrine to the brick façade of a Muggle street behind Pettigrew again. This can't happen. This isn't happening. Concentrate. Calm. It's not bad. He's not Pettigrew. You are here and now. Stay here. Sirius began repeating to himself, stay in the now, stay in the now. With this mantra the street façade faded back to the contrasts of the Gallery and Peregrine was laughing in front of him. He shook his head hard, once and met Peregrine's slightly hysterical glare.

"Hello, Mr. Peregrine. So nice to meet you at last," Sirius said in a calm voice that belied the fear that everything would go wrong.

Peregrine appeared to have recovered his composure. "Hello, Mr. Black. I'm wondering what this is all about. Who are these people and why do they all look like they want something from me?"

"They do. Would you like to fill us in on what it is?"

"I have no idea," Peregrine bluffed.

"Well, then let me refresh your memory. Jeralyn, are you familiar with the material that's on the pedestal in front of you?"

"Yes, I got them for one of Peregrine's assistants in November of last year."

"You did nothing of the sort. No one associated with me has ever seen any of those ingredients."

"You never saw them. I brewed the potion and put them in the wine. A friend of mine provided the wine to Mr. Malfoy and suggested he give it as a gift."

"You have no proof any instruction came from me."

"No, she doesn't. But we found out that the wine came from a vineyard owned by a man who also specializes in art theft. He's paid regularly by one of your companies. We raided his cellars and found Draco's contact information."

"That doesn't prove anything. Jeralyn, why in the hell are you cooperating with this man. He's mad, you know."

"I know, but he has the means to send me to Azkaban. No one I know is worth going to that place for. Especially not you, Avian." She paused and looked pointedly at Peregrine, then added, "Plus, I've always had sort of a crush on him." She turned and smiled at Sirius, then threw a disdainful glance at Cordelia. Sirius rolled his eyes. Now was not the time to bring up that old story, he thought.

Peregrine tried to look calm and casual, but the twitch at the corner of his eye showed he wasn't. "So you have some suspect connections. Why are the rest of these idiots here? What's with the book?"

Lexus had gone over to the display. Sirius saw her glancing nervously around, then her gaze settled on Ginny. "Where'd you get that book?"

"Why, does it look familiar?" Ginny asked, calmly.

"Ummm, no ... yes. You can't confiscate that spell book."

Sirius stepped towards the book, "Who said we confiscated it?"

"Oh, er ... my family had one of these, I know they're rare and, well ... my mum would never part with it, that's all. I was afraid you'd taken it from her, or hurt her or something." Lexus stammered, obviously nervous.

"Are you familiar with the spells in this book?"

"No, not at all. Besides, like he said, just because you have a book, doesn't mean I did the incendiary charm at Circe. There are some potions ingredients that are necessary to make it work. I'd never have access to those."

Jeralyn cleared her throat, "Yes, you did. I sent them to you."

"No, you didn't, you can't send those ingredients through the mail."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "And just how do you know what ingredients they are and that they would be banned to travel by owl?"

Lexus was clearly panicked by now. "It's listed in the book, see ... right here," She marched over to the book. Sirius relaxed just a little when the look of realization spread across her face. She sputtered for a bit. He knew she had realized that only one intimately familiar with the charm would know about the ingredients and how they could be transported. She realized she had just about confessed to doing the charm. "You don't know I did the charm at Circe or in Bombay."

"Who said anything about Circe or Bombay?"

"That's why those two are here," she yelled, gesturing to Ginny and Aidan. "She's just jealous. I know she's a friend of yours. You'd believe everything she says. She was dating Draco before he chose me and she just wants me gone."

Ginny straightened her shoulders, "I want you gone, but I'm not jealous." She glanced at Draco. He came around to Ginny's side of the pedestal with the book and kissed her long, hard, and deep, then smiled at Lexus as Narcissa went pale. That was a dramatic twist, Sirius thought, but keep it on track.

"Right, so we have the wine, and the bomb at Circe that can be traced back to you, Peregrine. What about that fall my son took ..."

"Clumsy of him," Peregrine sneered.

"Yes, quite." Sirius proceeded to lay out the connections for him. Peregrine was playing tough and refusing to break. Sirius was hoping for a confession or some sort of slip that would solidify the web of evil that Peregrine wove between his trading in fraudulent art and his attacks on Sirius and his family.

Periodically during the show, Sirius glanced at Narcissa. Her face was frozen in horror after her son kissed the daughter of a Weasley. Sirius could tell she wasn't paying much attention to the rest of it. Too bad, he thought, she should be....

By the time Sirius was finished with each piece Peregrine was shaking his head. When he ended, Peregrine laughed again, but it was a nervous laugh. "It worked. You are insane. I see you struggling to keep a hold on reality. When you started this little speech, did you know who you were talking to? Did you see me standing here or some ghost from the past? I never did anything to you personally, Deputy Chancellor, sir, but even I can see how unfit you are. This whole charade is a fantasy of yours. I did none of these things you are accusing me of. I'm leaving now. This has been an absurd exercise in dramatics."

"You can't leave. The gallery is surrounded by Ministry Aurors and the IFW security team. You're right, though. You didn't do anything, but you had others do it. We have the records. Does Narcissa know about the deaths? Or was she only involved in the art forgery?"

Narcissa jerked her head around, finally paying attention rather than glaring at Ginny.

"Deaths? There were no deaths. Avian, you weren't involved in any of this?" Narcissa said firmly.

Sirius glanced at Peregrine. "We've seen the vault, Narcissa. We know you're involved."

Narcissa dismissed this with a wave of her hand. "Yes, but that wasn't serious."

Draco let go of Ginny and moved a bit to stand between Narcissa and Ginny. Sirius saw him touch the tip of his wand. "It was art fraud, Mother. It's illegal," he interjected.

"Not really, darling. I mean, it's only art. It's not evil after all. Your father was the one mucking about with evil. I was never involved in any of that. I'd never be involved if people were hurt. It attracts attention and gets very messy. I did learn some lessons from your father's activities."

"Mother, people were hurt. People were killed in the bombing at the Bombay Embassy."

"But what has that got to do with me?"

"Your name is on the vault Lexus used to store her records."

Narcissa turned and glared at Lexus. "I told you to keep your pyrotechnics out of that vault."

"I did! There was nothing there! This is all a bluff. I never mixed my work for Peregrine's art dealings with what I was doing to Sirius for him." Lexus clapped her hand over her mouth. Sirius smiled at Draco. Draco had been lying about finding Lexus' records in the vault, but both Lexus and Narcissa had taken the bait.

Peregrine hung his head and shook it. He raised it again, then before anyone knew what he did, he fired a curse at Lexus that sent a ball of fire through her, leaving her dead in the middle of the room. He grabbed Narcissa and pulled her against the nearest wall.

He was holding her by the waist, with his wand at her neck. Sirius heard him mumble what must have been a slicing charm, since a little bit of blood ran from a cut just below Narcissa's ear.

Draco lunged forward, wand drawn and aimed at Peregrine, but Sirius caught him by the sleeve. Draco glared back at him and shrugged off his hand.

Sirius drew his wand, and glanced around the room to see the security force had drawn as well. All were facing Peregrine, waiting for instruction. "Ginny, Aidan, Cordelia and Jeralyn, I want you in the back room," Sirius commanded. They faded into the background.

Draco turned his back on Peregrine and came up next to Sirius. He spoke softly, "I know you want Peregrine, but I'd appreciate it if you let me get my mother out alive, if possible. If you distract him to the left, I might be able to get her out."

"No, no mights. We'll get her out alive. Let me talk to Jared, see if he has a plan. If we can get someone behind him, we can petrify him, but you're not the one to do it. He's watching you and me. I've always been his primary target, and you just moved in line to be secondary."

"Damn, I hate to be second. Okay. Much as I'm loathe to do this, I'll follow your lead."

"Suck it up, Draco," Sirius said quietly with a smile. They looked at each other for a long moment. Sirius understood that Draco was evaluating his worthiness to trust. Finally Draco nodded and turned to face Peregrine and Narcissa.

Sirius stepped forward, "So you have a hostage and we have you both cornered. What do you want?"

"I want the evidence of this destroyed."

"Would that be before or after slitting Narcissa's throat?" He saw Draco flinch from the corner of his eye.

"After. I couldn't leave her as evidence and I am not going to Azkaban."

"Why not? It's such a restful place. I got loads of sleep when I was in there."

"You should still be there. I'm just doing the IFW a service by eliminating you."

"Always thinking of others, eh, Peregrine?"

"Bastard."

"Now, don't bring my parents into this. We might be guilty of inbreeding, but not illegitimacy. Isn't that right, Narcissa?"

Narcissa nodded her head slightly.

"If you don't let me and Narcissa leave here, I will kill her. Then I'll blow the place up, since you think I'm so good at incendiary charms."

"But you just said you were going to slit her throat. Now you are going to let her live if I let you out of here. Oh, and on the incendiary charms, you just killed your expert, I get the feeling you couldn't do those yourself."

"I know you want a confession, but you aren't going to get it. I did nothing to you."

"I don't need a confession. I've got documentation and witnesses."

"Does that mean you're willing to let this go to trial? You're not going to kill me here?"

"Not if you let Narcissa go and come willingly with the ministry officials."

"Why should I let Narcissa go, she's as guilty as I am. Don't you want her dead as well?"

"Why would I want her dead? She can testify against you."

"You're trusting the British justice system?"

Sirius shrugged, "They did right by me eventually. I'd love to blast you into the next block, but see, I'm one of the good guys, we aren't supposed to do that."

"They'll never convict me. I can buy off just about anyone."

"People will be watching this, I'll make sure."

"You can't offer them more money," Peregrine said with a sneer.

Sirius laughed. "You forget I have something money can't buy. I have power. I don't use it much, but it's there when I need it. I will ruin anyone who takes a bribe from you. I can banish them from the magical community or I can always feed them to the Dementors in Azkaban, which by the way is what I am going to do with you when they convict you. I have friends at the prison that I'm sure you'd like."

Peregrine was quiet for a bit, but didn't move to release or even relax his grip on Narcissa. Sirius saw a shadow pass behind the dividers. All was quiet for a long moment just before all hell broke loose with spells, blood, and growls. When the smoke had cleared Narcissa was raising herself up off the floor, looking dazed. Peregrine was slumped against the wall with a bloody leg, but unable to move. Half his body was frozen in the motion of reaching for his leg, the other half was limp and lifeless and a black leopard circled the gallery with a satisfied expression on her face.

Sirius and Draco walked up to Peregrine. Sirius nudged him with his toe. "What did you cast?" Draco asked, as the medics in the security team pulled Peregrine into a position flat on his back so they could bandage his wound.

"A Petrificus charm. How about you?"

"A liquefy charm," Draco commented as he looked Peregrine over.

"They don't do so well together, do they?" Sirius asked.

"No, I'm afraid they don't," Draco stated. "Who'd have thought?"

Peregrine tried to glare at them, but one eyeball was rolling about in it's socket, while the other was fixed straight ahead in the horrible moment he realized a wereleopard was taking a piece from his leg.

Draco went over to help his mother up. She took his hand, then pulled it from his grasp, and stayed seated while the medics checked her over. "I suppose you think this is acceptable. You traitor," she spat.

Sirius looked over. "Narcissa, you will be treated with the utmost respect, and I'm sure we can arrange a light sentence, given what you've been through today."

"With all due respect, Sirius, I'm not talking about my alleged crimes, which can hardly be considered felonious, it was just art after all. Will you please mind your own business; this is between me and my son."

Sirius held his hands up and looked at Draco. The medics had bandaged her neck, and she was being helped to her feet. She was a tall woman, but still looked up to her son. Her posture though was one of a mother reprimanding her small child. Sirius was close enough to catch the drift of the hissed conversation.

"Just what the hell were you thinking kissing that Weasley trash like that? You told me it was over."

"Just what the hell were you thinking getting involved in art fraud?" Draco hissed back.

"For the money, of course. You weren't the only one left with limited funding after your father was put in Azkaban."

"I thought you had family money to fall back on."

"No. Your father liked power. He took the money for granted. He always did have trouble figuring out just what was important."

"And what was that, Mother?"

"Money, of course. He gave half our galleons over to that ridiculous Circle. I told him to get out, that that Allegra creature was no good. What self-respecting woman would follow some anonymous Master half her life. It never made any sense to me, unless she liked to be considered a slave. Was that it? I've heard some women are excited by that. She always did favour leather. I told your father that someone with that little fashion sense and pandering to some Master is not someone he should be spending time with. But he never listened to me, so here I was with very little to live on. Do you realize he left me with less than 300 million Galleons? How was I supposed to live on that?"

Sirius saw Draco looking confused.

"You had 300 million galleons and you resorted to art fraud because it wasn't enough?" Draco sighed and shook his head.

"You don't expect me to live like those Weasleys, do you? Well, I guess you might, you seem so taken with them. Are you slumming with her? Is that what this is about? Is it trendy to put yourself in such a denigrated position?"

"Denigrated? Mother, you're being charged with art fraud. Do you really think your Ladies Art Charities is going to forgive you for this?"

"Of course, what they won't forgive is if you continue to date that woman."

"Mother, even I can recognize your priorities are out of control. When you figure out what really is important, then you can speak to me again. Until then, fuck off." Draco turned and walked away. Narcissa pulled her arm out of the security wizard's hand, brushed off her skirt, raised her head and walked off.

Sirius' attention was pulled away from Draco and his drama by the leopard rubbing against his leg. He stooped down and looked her in the eye. She licked his face. He kissed her between the clear jewel blue eyes. "Thank you," he said softly. She licked him again and exited the gallery thorough the back door. Sirius understood she had to feed somewhere before changing back. He imagined she was off to Peter's house to get help. He saw Andy, Cordelia's security witch, follow her out, and he relaxed just a little.

By this time, they were carrying Peregrine out on a stretcher, and they had removed Lexus' body.

Sirius stood and looked around. There was surprisingly little damage to the rest of the gallery. Kate would be pleased.

"That was something." Sirius jumped just a bit and whirled around to see Aidan standing behind him, smiling.

"Hey! How are you doing?"

"I'm getting by," Aidan shrugged.

"Any improvement in Colin?"

"No, not yet. I've gotta get back over there. Thanks for letting me be here for this."

"Thanks for being here. It was effective."

"I don't know if he knew who I was, but it helped me to see him and her, the one he killed."

"Oh, he knew who you were. He makes it his job to know everything about his targets."

"Well, good then. Let him see who he hurt." Aidan nodded firmly.

"I'll come by tomorrow morning, all right?" Sirius asked.

"We'd like that. Maybe Colin will be awake and you can tell him you caught the bastard."

Sirius laughed, "Yeah, that would tick him off, since I did it without him."

"That's true. We'll see you tomorrow." Aidan held out his hand

Sirius shook it, and Aidan pulled him into a hug and said thanks in his ear. Sirius felt himself choking up just a little bit. Aidan turned and left as Sirius took a deep breath and shook it off.

Sirius began walking to the back as Ginny and Draco were walking towards the front door.

"Are we done here, boss?" Draco asked.

"Yes, I guess we are. Take a couple of days, then I have another project for you."

"Dark forces?" Draco asked.

"Yep."

"Risk to my nefarious reputation?"

"Yep." Sirius smiled and nodded.

"Bring it on." Draco smiled.

Sirius laughed, "Good night."

Draco paused. "Thanks for not sacrificing my mother."

Sirius shrugged. "She was up to her neck in the forgeries, but I don't think she killed anyone. She doesn't deserve to die."

"I guess that's the difference between you and them. The Circle would have killed her before Peregrine could use her.

"It's one of the differences. There are others."

"I'm learning that. Thanks."

"Good night," Sirius said. They turned and headed towards the door. By the time they got there they were engaged in animated conversation, but they weren't touching. That was odd, Sirius shrugged.

Another hour passed as the Ministry finished up documentation of the scene. Kate came in just as the last investigator was leaving. "I see I still have a gallery, and from your mood, I take it Cordelia is still alive and well?"

"Yes, we tried to leave it in one piece. There are a few scorch marks on the wall over there, I'll have someone come in tomorrow to clean them off."

"So just where is my daughter?"

"She's out prowling."

"So she had to ... err ... transform?" Kate asked gently.

"That was her choice. She wasn't in any danger," Sirius responded, trying to reassure his mother-in-law that not everything was his fault.

Kate eyed him for a long moment. "All right. Would you like me to pick up Charlie and Ian and take them back to my flat?"

"That would be wonderful. I have a feeling that once the adrenaline wears off I'll be more than knackered and I know Cordelia is always worn out after she's been prowling."

"I won't ask what happened tonight, but I'd like a play by play tomorrow."

"That's fair. I'll let Cordelia fill you in."

"All right. Lock up for me when you're done. I'll go get the children now, before it gets too late."

"Thanks. Good night Kate."

"Good night," Kate answered as she left the building.

Sirius finished up the paperwork that the Ministry had left for him, then Apparated back to his townhouse across the river from the gallery. It wasn't until he sat at the foot of his bed that he began to shake. It started as a small tremor in his hands that made it difficult to untie his shoes. He kicked off the shoes and gripped his legs to stop the tremor, but then it spread to his arms and legs as shudders ran down his back. He knew it was the alleviation of stress that brought these on. He'd experienced them before and hated them every time. Usually Cordelia would be here to hold him and soothe him. That helped them to dissipate much more quickly. Unfortunately Cordelia wasn't here. He thought moving around might help. But the tremors just made getting undressed that much harder. He climbed into bed without trying to put anything on, which probably made it worse. All the nerve endings in his skin were sensitive and on edge. Cordelia could soothe that, with her touch and with her body, but meanwhile he felt electric and jumpy. He thought about the evening, and was bolstered by the fact that he came out of the flashback before he lost it entirely. He'd have to tell Dr. Huebner that in the morning. Gradually the shaking stopped, and his body relaxed. His mind stopped replaying the scene, and the tension seeped out. He realized he was trying to stay awake until Cordelia made it home; he ached for her physically and mentally, but it was a losing proposition. With all the external stimulants dampened for the night, he drifted off.

***********

As they walked to his place, they had been wary around each other and very polite. They talked a lot. They caught up on all the things that had happened to each other since the night of the Circe party, but they didn't touch. They ordered out for dinner, ate and consumed most of a bottle of wine. Little cakes were sitting on the table in front of the couch where Ginny and Draco were slouched, conversation exhausted. Ginny didn't know quite where to begin. She felt drained from the experience at the gallery. She wanted to apologize to him, but she wasn't quite sure she could yet. She had to know first. There wasn't anything left to do but blurt it out. She took a deep breath and jumped in. "So did you have to sleep with her?"

Draco was silent for so long that she thought maybe he was asleep. She stole a glance at him, and his eyes were open, but unfocused and looking away, apparently deciding, trying to puzzle out the right answer. "I thought I would. I needed to search her flat, and after trying to break in a couple of times I figured I'd have to let her bring me home."

Ginny's stomach lurched and she was afraid she was going to lose her dinner, but she had to know. She had to ask. "So was she any good?"

Draco took a deep breath, staring into the fire that burned in the fireplace in front of them. "I don't know, we didn't get that far."

Ginny looked over, surprised, amazed, and not a little relieved.

Draco looked over at her as he hesitated. "Do you want to know? I know I promised you honesty, but there is a difference between lying and full disclosure."

Ginny sat back. She knew it might be painful to hear, but she also knew she had to hear it. "I think I need full disclosure."

"Testing out the trust thing, eh?"

"Draco, you just admitted to nearly sleeping with another woman. I need to know how near. Are you trying to protect me or something?"

Draco laughed. "No, I'm trying to protect me. It wasn't an evening I want to brag about."

Ginny looked over at him. She was confused. "Do you have a guilty conscience?"

Draco shook his head. "No, nothing as noble as that."

He had her full attention now. "Well then, what was it? Did she reject you?"

"No, she never got that far. I used a sleeping draught on her."

"Okay. I don't understand. You started something, intending to, ummmm, 'satisfy her' enough to get her to sleep so you could snoop, but you used a potion on her instead?"

"Always have a plan B."

"Why wasn't plan B, plan A to begin with?"

"Because not only are sleeping draughts illegal without a potion master's certification, but I'd need to do a short-term memory charm as well and that was illegal, too and I was really trying not to do illegal things, remember?" Draco said, in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Okay, so what caused you to resort to Plan B. It must have been drastic in order to make you compromise your values like that." She said this last part in a truly sarcastic tone and elbowed him in the ribs to emphasize her point.

Draco shot her a glare.

"If you must know. I couldn't 'rise to the occasion' as it were."

Ginny let out a loud laugh. Her eyes were wide and a look of joy suffused her face.

Draco turned a deep red. "You don't need to be so pleased about it. I think someone may have slipped me something. I've never had that problem in my life."

When Ginny stopped laughing, which was more than a few seconds; she took a deep breath and remarked, "Maybe your sub-conscious felt too guilty. Or maybe she just wasn't your type."

"Ginny, you have five brothers, although I'm not sure Percy counts, but you should know that if it's female and shapely and halfway attractive, and nearly naked, which she was, type just doesn't come into play. A bird in the hand, so to speak..."

"Yes, so to speak. So should I be worried about you? Do I need to take you to a medic?"

"No. I haven't had the problem since then. It was a week ago, after all."

"You've had the occasion to try since then?" Ginny asked in a challenging voice.

"Not with a partner, no, but I do have occasions, at times, that a partner is not required."

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "So you performed satisfactorily for yourself?"

"Well, I was thinking about you," He smiled at her and elbowed her back.

Ginny smiled. "So are you telling me that I'm the only one who can start your engine anymore?"

"Don't get too cocky." Ginny laughed. "All right, bad choice of words, but I think it was a one time occurrence. Totally circumstantial."

"I don't think I want you to test out that theory any time soon. That is, see if anyone else can get you started."

"We could test out the opposite. I do need some reassurance that I can perform with another person adequately."

Ginny sighed a bit dreamily, "Well, you've always been adequate, I suppose."

With that snide remark Draco rolled her off the couch and began to tickle her with one hand and strip off her trousers with the other. The tickling then progressed to fondling and suddenly things weren't so funny. They stopped laughing and looked at each other. Really looked for a long time. He kissed her, almost desperate, then pulled back and sat back on his knees.

She looked up at him. He looked away, then back at her. "Can we go to bed?"

"I was hoping that's where we'd end up."

He smiled, "Come on."

He got to his feet and gave her a hand up. "I want you pretty badly and if we don't get to the bed soon I'm going to take you on the couch."

Ginny beamed, it was what she was hoping for. She took a deep breath. "There's never enough room on the couch."

"Then go," he said as he swatted her playfully on the arse.

As she walked into the bedroom, she peeled off her clothes. He did likewise and turned down the covers. They didn't touch again until they were in bed. It was odd as this was the most comfortable they had ever been around one another. It was almost as if he was going to take out a book and turn on the reading light. He didn't, however. He switched off the light and conjured an array of candles. Then they finally touched.

*************

Cordelia staggered into the bedroom and collapsed into bed. Peter and Kris had gone out with her. They knew of places that they could hunt in the city without endangering themselves or others. After the hunt, they gathered back at Peter's. Kris dressed Cordelia in sweats and a t-shirt and Peter drove her home. She vaguely remembered the drive home and willed herself to climb the stairs and not pass out in the hall. Four hours later she came awake feeling the caress of Sirius' hand on her back. She was lying on her stomach and he was softly stroking from the nape of her neck to the small of her back. He nudged closer and she woke up a bit more. He was naked and she could feel him hard all along her body. She wished she was naked as well so she could feel the skin to skin contact that let his warmth seep into her.

Half of her wanted to sleep, but the other half wanted him. He moved her t-shirt up so he could rub her back and he let his hand drift downwards inside the waistband of her sweats. She pulled the t-shirt over her head, and settled back down on the bed as his touch changed from a stroking to a massage kneading of her shoulders and back. She relaxed into the warmth and the therapeutic feel of his hands releasing the tension in her muscles. His mouth was near her ear, and he kissed her cheek. She was sleepy, yet all the nerve endings of her skin were particularly sensitive after a change. They tingled under his touch and set her pulse racing and blanked her mind to all but the most sensual thoughts, and feelings. He rolled onto her back as their skin was melting into one another from their shoulders down to their intertwined ankles. He stroked her body and sucked at the hollow space on her neck. She arched back into him as he moved one hand to her breasts and the other to her hip. He rolled them to the side as the hand by the hip snaked down and was stroking her centre as lights and stars and fire and heat was melting her into him.

She had never particularly liked being entered from behind. She knew some women found it erotic, but it just didn't work for her. She managed to flip over. The minute she did he took her wrists and pinned them above her head and entered her. Gone was the slow stroking. He'd been lit and the fire had ignited something in him that was rough and urgent and desperate, and it was just what she needed tonight. He opened her up and she felt nearly split in two with his sudden intrusion. Then that feeling of two expanded. She felt the leopard within take notice and stretch as she was being stretched between the anchor of his hands on her wrists and his hips pinning her. She felt the leopard reach out, but this time contact was made. She felt it and he stopped moving. She could tell he felt it too. The leopard was brushing against something large and silky. She could feel it inside, just as she could feel Sirius inside of her. The two warm beings inside them moved and circled each other letting their fur glide past, as he stroked firmly into her.

He released her wrists and Cordelia grabbed his shoulders. The pleasure was inside, outside, completely enveloping, but at the same time she was terrified. She didn't have the urge to change, since she'd transformed already tonight, but still the thought terrified her, heightening all her other senses. If she let go, she'd be lost to the sensations, but the idea of being lost brought the fear of not controlling herself and hurting him. She'd done it once. She held his shoulders and felt the scars on his back. His movements were getting stronger and faster. She checked again and she realized she didn't feel like she would change. The leopard was satisfied with playing with Sirius, she didn't want to take over. With that Cordelia let go and let the sensations surge with the energy they were creating. She gripped his back and arched up to meet him as the leopard and canine merged through them and pulled a little of Sirius and Cordelia into the other with them.

Sirius braced himself above her and shook his head back. He was lost in the feeling and as she looked at him, her breath gave out looking at the beauty in the lines of his chest and face and muscles tensed against the exertion. She felt her leopard move out of her and slip into him as he was slipping into her. The movement of the animals within them was liquid and silky. The movement of their human companions was slick with sweat, and rough with the force of trying to get beyond the skin.

It ended suddenly with a final release of control as they cried out against teeth that were clenched with the intensity of the moment and fingernails, but not claws, and bodies taken and given and entwined and released, invaded and surrendered, and glittering to settle back in themselves.

Sirius had collapsed motionless on her and she gripped him to her, letting the shuddering stop and all the little shock waves dissipate. The leopard retreated to a corner away from the canine who was retreating back into his masters body. She heard Sirius suck in his breath when the connection was broken. He slid off her, and she was able to breathe again. They still touched. Sirius pulled her tight against him as their breathing returned to normal and their skin hummed to the tune of the other.

Cordelia was still speechless when Sirius kissed her very hard and snuggled her closer.

"This change in you is not all bad, you know," he whispered in her ear.

A hiccup of a laugh escaped her, but she began to shake.

He held her tighter and stroked her hair. "It's all right. I shook earlier. Maybe it's good we weren't together, we'd have caused an earthquake."

"You mean we didn't? I know I felt the earth move," she said as she elbowed him in the ribs.

He laughed and held her tighter while the energy dissipated in tremors and shudders.

"I hope I'm not in shock," she said after a bit.

"Shock? From what?"

"What ever that was that we just did."

"Some sort of sex, I suppose."

"Yes, but ..."

"Shhhh, I really don't want to try to reduce it to words. I just want to feel it and hope like hell we can do that again. Is that all right?"

"Yes, very much all right." She snuggled even closer and he held her tight and they breathed together and slept together.

In the morning Cordelia was sore and stiff and every muscle ached when she tried to move. Sirius rolled towards her and kissed her gently, as he pushed the hair back from her face.

"Good morning."

"Hi," she answered softly.

"Can I get you coffee?" he offered.

"No, I need a hot shower first, and no, if you join me I won't be fit to do anything today."

"Can't we just stay in bed all day and relive last night?"

"No, Mum is bringing the kids back about noon. Charlie has a play date at two. I need you to take Ian to the park. Nick has the day off."

Sirius flopped back on the bed, while Cordelia got up and stretched and wandered slowly to the bath. He watched her. Her body still took his breath away and he still ached for her every time she left the room.

After both showering, they made their way to the kitchen. They hadn't talked about the Gallery show. Both seemed to be avoiding the issue. Cordelia didn't bring it up because she was afraid she'd get a lecture on having jumped in when she should have stayed upstairs. She knew he didn't want her endangering herself and she didn't want him to tell her she did the wrong thing. And, Cordelia reasoned, since everything turned out all right, they didn't need to talk about it.

They discussed the logistics of the rest of the week and other schedules and commitments. Then over coffee came a long lull in the conversation.

Sirius set down his mug and finally asked, "Why did you do it? Why did you change?"

Cordelia looked at him feeling wary. "Are you angry that I did?"

"I was at the time. I'm not now. I felt out of control and I didn't like that. For a long time I was terrified that this change would take you away from me. I was afraid that you wouldn't be you anymore. But between the Gallery show and last night, I'm not so afraid anymore."

Cordelia raised her eyebrows and said with a smile over the rim of her cup, "One night of hot sex and you think everything will be fine?"

"That helped, but no. You're still you. Is that why you interfered last night? I was afraid you would change, but do something you'd regret or that we'd all regret and ..."

Cordelia cut in, "I was upstairs with everyone after you told us to leave. I was frightened, and felt helpless. It was that same feeling that I had when Ian was in the hospital and I wasn't allowed to bridge that gap between your world and my world. I was trying to stay calm, honestly. Well, between the fear and the anger at being shut out again, I started to feel it coming on. Half of me wanted to control it, but the other half was seeing the potential in changing and letting loose. My biggest fear was that I'd kill him and eat him if I started down that path."

Sirius felt an odd lurch of repulsion in his gut. "Eat him? I must say I forgot about that possibility. I was always aware of it with Remus, but I rather neglected that that was possible with you. You just don't seem the cannibalistic type."

"Could it be called cannibalism if I wasn't human at that point?" she asked academically.

"Let's not find out, shall we?"

"Right, well ... It finally came down to channelling the control I had left into just injuring him, and using the effort to not kill him rather than using it to not change. I did want to kill him."

"So did I."

"What held you in check?"

"Fear of Azkaban. I started to flashback to Pettigrew when the whole thing started, but surprisingly enough I was able to control that and when I realized there needed to be a difference in the outcome. It would have felt better to kill him, but then he'd be dead, and where's the fun in that?"

"Fun?"

"Yeah, don't you think death would be too quick? He put us into one hell after another this year. Dementors seem like just retribution."

"Will they put him in that part of Azkaban?"

"I have friends in high places, remember."

"You'd be that vindictive? Are you transferring some of your need for revenge against Pettigrew to Peregrine?"

"He killed people, Cordelia. He killed Lexus as we stood there, he killed Leslie, and Colin's life is still pending. Who knows who else was killed for his games?"

"I know. I've just heard you describe the Dementors so many times; I see them as monsters that I'm not sure anyone deserves."

Sirius looked at her. She looked back. "I'll think about it," he conceded.

"All right." She smiled at him and all was right with his world, for this moment anyway.

End Of Chapter

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Author's Note 3: Special waves to those who reviewed chapter 11 on schnoogle.com, including twirler, IsabelA113, Slytherin green (was it what you expected), flucias, Broken Angel (Do you really think Molly will warm to Draco, given how she treated Sirius in OoP?), Attack of the killa, KatGrl504 (its so nice to see your name there each chapter), Railey, misha (sorry about the cliffhanger, is it what you expected?), LucyD (glad you found us), MissEvans, cezanne, morgan muffle (all three really familiar names), Sapnish (you rock), PakiPrincess, danmaryK (finally finishing this up), momentyne, DracoAsRavenclaw.