Searching for the Truth

Part Seven

"I do believe she sacrificed herself," Remus said sadly. They were all once again gathered in the kitchen, however lost they felt.

"No," Sirius replied firmly. He was the only one who was hopeful about the whole situation. "She wasn't doing it of her own free will."

"She wouldn't normally give herself those creepy eyes," Ron affirmed, if only for the purpose of consoling himself.

"Sirius is right. Connie gave her word not to sing anymore, and she always keeps her word. There was an outside force acting on her tonight." Dumbledore glanced at the clock. It was three o'clock in the morning. "Happy Birthday, Harry." Harry looked slowly up from the table.

"What's happy about it?" No one could answer him. Hermione, with an anxious look at Harry, yawned loudly.

"It's very late, you know. Maybe the three of us should go to bed," she said with a pointed look at Ron. He nodded and also gave an enormous yawn.

"I'm tired, too. Come on Harry, the sleep will do you good." The three friends rose from their seats, said good night, then went upstairs.

"You know, Sirius, I'd have thought you'd be a little less nonchalant about this." Sirius turned his head to Remus over his shoulder.

"Why, Remus?" He looked a bit sheepish as he gave his response.

"Well... Connie was killed tonight." Sirius ran his hand through his wind-knotted hair.

"She's alive, Remus. I can feel it. I don't know where she is but I know she's out there somewhere."

~

Connie looked confusedly around her. Everything around her was white and wispy. Oddly, she didn't seem to be in a room, or anywhere for that matter. It was just white.

"Where am I, how did I get here, and most importantly, why the hell am I talking to myself?" Connie turned towards the sound of approaching foot steps. Two indistinct figures were coming in her direction. She decided to address them.

"I'm going to repeat two questions. One, where am I? Two, how did I get here?" The two figures, a man and a woman, laughed and came into focus. "One more question. Am I dead?"

"Now, what would give you that idea?" asked the man in an amused tone.

"Because James and Lily Potter have been dead for fifteen years and I'm standing here talking to them."

"Yes, it would cause one to think that. But put the thought out of mind, because you aren't dead," Lily responded reassuringly. Connie glanced around her, hands on hips.

"So this isn't heaven. Good thing, too, if this was heaven I'd want to go to hell. What is this place anyway?"

"It's kind of a limbo. We call it White."

"If this is White, Jay, then there must be other colors." Lily and James shook their heads.

"This is the only one," Lily informed her.

"How boring. So how did I get here, or not here?" Connie spread her arms to indicate the nowhere around her.

"We brought you here. After your healing didn't help Harry, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We basically possessed you and gave you extra healing," Lily said.

"Let me get this straight. You took over my body, then brought me to this nowhere. What, is my body lying all comatose back in reality?"

"No. There is no trace of you back in your plane," Lily responded.

"Ok, that's freaking me out," Connie said blankly, "But is Harry all right?"

"Physically, yes, but uh, he thinks you're dead," James answered slowly.

"Of course he does. He's not naïve, he's not going to think I just disappeared." Connie took a deep breath and sighed. "I guess there wasn't a way to leave me there and save Harry." James glanced guiltily at his wife and scratched the back of his head, grinning rather sheepishly.

"Well, see," he explained, "We could have left you there, without making you sing and everything." Connie looked outraged.

"WHAT? You made me sing? How could you?"

"Oh, come on, Connie, you were being ridiculous. We wanted to talk to you anyway." Lily said calmingly.

"About what?" Connie was still affronted, but able to be reasoned with.

"Well, for one thing, you were being absolutely ridiculous giving up singing."

"That's news to me, James."

"It was a stupid reason to stop," Lily reprimanded.

"According to you anyway," Connie retorted coldly.

"Enough. Number two. Give Sirius another chance, will you? There's something you don't know about what happened."

"Which I don't want to hear about, Jay, not from the two of you anyway. I'm tired of you all trying to make his excuses for him. If he wants to explain himself, he can. There's nothing stopping him and there never has been."

"Except for the time he spent in Azkaban," James said pointedly.

"I wasn't counting that," Connie said indifferently, "I was counting the five years before then."

"At least think about it," Lily said imploringly. Connie bit her lip begrudgingly.

"I never said I wouldn't," Connie responded in a matter of fact tone.

"Good. Which brings us to topic number three. We need you to act the part of owl for us."

"I can do owl, but do my powers work over here?"

"We don't need you to actually transform," Lily said aghastly, "We need you to bring a few letters back for us."

"Those are spirit letters, won't they stay in the spirit world when I go back? You can get me back, right?" Connie asked concernedly.

"Of course we can," James replied nonchalantly. "And the letters will become real letters."

"So, are you going to tell me how to get back? I'm sorry, it's wonderful seeing you again, but this place is creepy." Connie rubbed her left arm; she felt cold.

"We'll tell you how to get back, but you need to promise us something."

"Anything, Jay. Just give me the letters and get me out of here."

"Start singing again. You've already taken the first step."

"You've got it, Lil." She smiled, then pulled the scrunchy out of her hair. "Now, tell me what to do." James embraced his sister tightly.

"You truly are a Potter, you know that?"

~

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore were all in the living room. A week had passed since Connie's passing into White. Sirius was pacing by the fireplace.

"I don't understand. How could she just vanish like that?" Even Sirius was beginning to lose hope.

"Professor Dumbledore, do you think Aunt Connie's alive?"

"I really can not say Harry. In all my years, such an occurrence I have not encountered." A cool breeze flowed through the room, making each shudder in turn.

"Where did that come from?" Ron asked suspiciously, "All the windows are closed." Hermione got up suddenly and left the room. When she returned, she had an odd look to her eyes and she wielded Harry's music box.

"Hermione, what..." Remus began, but then stopped shortly, as Hermione hurled the box at the floor, shattering it.

"Have you gone mad, Hermione?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Shhh...listen," Sirius intoned. The song had eerily begun playing. By the end of the first verse, something odd had appeared in the middle of the floor.

"Are those...feet?" Ron asked weakly. They were soon more than feet. Very slowly, with each line of the song, ankles and then legs appeared. Arms and a torso soon blossomed up. At the end of the song, Connie had fully reappeared.

"Happy Birthday, Harry." Harry stared at her unbelievingly.

"Er...my birthday was last week. It's August 8."

"What're you talking about? I've only been gone a few minutes."

"No, you've been gone a week. Where've you been?" Sirius asked, his eyes looking more like the first time she had gazed into them twenty years before. She turned her face from him.

"You'd never believe it if I told you." Sirius moved towards Connie almost as if he wanted to hold her, but she stiffened involuntarily as he drew near. The silence afterward was awkward.

"Try us, why don't you, then." Remus said finally.

"All right, Ray. I was nowhere. It was some sort of Limbo, they called it White. They saved Harry, brought me there; they said they could have left me here, but they wanted to talk to me."

"Who, might I ask, is 'they'?" Sirius asked, sounding a tad hurt.

"Lil and Jay." Harry looked dumbstruck from his seat on the couch. "Which reminds me. They sent letters." She reached into her pocket and pulled out several parchment envelopes. "Let's see, Albus...Ray...Sirius, this one's yours...and here's yours, Harry." Harry reached out with trembling hands, numb. My parents, he thought, my parents wrote this. He could only stare at it. Connie squatted next to him.

"You can leave the room if you want," she said gently. Harry gratefully accepted the offer and hurled himself up to his bedroom. Flinging himself on the bed, he carefully opened the thick envelope and unfolded the parchment.

Dear Harry,

Happy belated sixteenth birthday! One of our greatest joys has been watching you grow up into the wonderful young man you are. Though we can not be with you physically, we have always watched over you and given you protection and guidance. It's no coincidence that Remus and Connie entered your life when they did. We gave Dumbledore a little encouragement when he was searching for replacements. We also helped in your search for Connie's identity. We don't reckon Debbie would have given you the information she did on her own.

You've given us so much more than we could have hoped for. So many people owe you their lives. You've given us all the greatest gift of all: freedom. You've destroyed the evilest wizard that ever existed or will exist. You've freed us all from Lord Voldemort. But it's the other things, your loyalty, courage, determination, that makes us so proud of you.

Love always,

Mum and Dad

PS Talk to Sirius. He'll need help getting up the nerve to talk to Connie. -Dad

~.

"He's been up there for quite a while, d'you think we should check on him?"

"He's fine, Ray. Leave him alone, there's no danger. What, is Voldemort gonna come back from the dead now, and try to do Harry in? I don't think so. Relax, and let him read." Connie glanced at the rug. "Harry said it was August 8? It's my birthday, and I didn't even know it. So, what's happened during the past week?"

"We've all gone out of our shirts trying to figure out what happened to you, and then you just popped out of nowhere. Hermione left the room, then came back and smashed Harry's music box. Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Ron Weasley, I did no such thing. I didn't even leave the room."

"Well, how d'you explain the pieces on the floor? No one else broke it. We all saw you."

"Happy Birthday. They're arguing like a married couple," Sirius observed.

"Thanks. You both need to relax. I possessed Hermione from the other side. I smashed the thing. I just used her body. It was the only way to get back. I tried to use all of you, but Hermione was the only one to respond."

"Oh, so that's what that breeze was from," Ron said comprehendingly.

"I don't know why you all are flipping out. It's a simple matter of fixing it." With this, Connie pointed at the shattered pieces and the music box reappeared, good as new, except for where it was chipped. "I had to free my voice on this side in order to get back, that's why I had to smash it in the first place. Opening it wasn't enough."

"Remus, how long was your letter?"

"Quite short, why, Sirius?"

"Just checking...mine is two sentences, and signed James."

"What does it say?" Connie asked imposingly.

"Never mind, it's not important." But Connie knew it was something about her.

It was much later that night when Dumbledore and Remus knocked at Connie's chamber door. As she opened the door, she pulled on a small, thin robe. She appeared as though she hadn't slept at all.

"We didn't disturb you, did we?"

"No, Albus, not at all. I was just lying awake."

"Remus and I need a word."

"Obviously. Do you want to go downstairs?"

"Yes, that would be best," Dumbledore answered. Connie plopped down into a chair across the table from Remus and Dumbledore.

"So what's up?"

"Remus and I have to go to the Ministry tomorrow Cornelius needs to speak to us about the final show-down with Voldemort."

"So you're leaving? That's all?"

"Err, no, actually" Remus said anxiously. "Sirius hasn't been pardoned yet, so if he shows up at the Ministry it could cause a conflict, to put it mildly. So ummm..."

"You were wondering if Sirius could stay here until you smoothed things over," Connie replied knowingly.

"If it wouldn't be too much?" Connie thought long and hard. Finally, she gave her consent.

"All right, he can stay. I'm putting him under Harry's supervision. He'll make sure he behaves."

"And if he doesn't?" Remus asked, amused.

"I'll blast him into White." She rose to her feet. "Good night. Oh, and next time; just leave a note saying you had an urgent message and had to leave immediately. That's much more convincing." Remus stared after her, scratching his head.

"You can't put anything past her. I wonder how she found us out?"

"As long as I've lived, I've never met anyone so complicated as her. I don't believe that any of us should figure her out completely."

It was on his way to the bathroom that Harry noticed the light on in Sirius's bedroom. Remembering his father's request, he knocked on the door. Sirius opened the door a crack and peered out.

"Co- oh, hi Harry. What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just wanted a word, that's all."

"This doesn't have anything to do with your aunt by any chance, does it?"

"Err, yes, actually, it does. I know err, how you feel about her."

"What are you getting at, Harry? Are you here to bestow your blessing?" he asked, amused.

"You don't need my blessing. You're both old enough to know what you want. You need to talk to her. I don't know what happened between you all those years ago, but you need to resolve it." On the contrary, he did know perfectly well what had happened, as Remus had told him in private. Harry had grown more confident over the summer, though still a bit on the insecure side, especially when it came to discussion of personal matters.

"I don't know, Harry. It's such a difficult situation. I don't think she could ever forgive me for what I did. It wasn't my fault, but I doubt she'd believe me. Or even listen," he added bitterly.

"You've got to give it a shot. She'll listen, and if she won't, I'll make her. Maybe she will forgive you, whatever it was you did. Besides, from what I've heard, all she's wanted for the past twenty years is an explanation. From you."

"It's going to be difficult, but I'll go for it. Thanks, Harry."

"Don't thank me, thank my dad. He's the one who told me to talk to you. What was in your letter, anyway?"

"You've done a great job of looking after Harry. And if you hurt my little sister again, I'm going to posses you. -James." Harry laughed.

"I'm rubbish at Divination, but I think it's an omen. I'm going back to bed. Good night, Sirius."

"Good night, Harry." Sirius had finally made up his mind about what he was going to do. Going through with it, however, was a completely different matter. The next morning, Sirius made a stab at casual conversation.

"Harry tells me you have horses."

"Harry tells you correctly. You ride?"

"Well, I have spent a lot of time since getting out of Azkaban on a Hippogriff." Connie didn't look impressed by that, and her response made it clear.

"Don't be such a braggart. Do you think you can handle a horse?" Sirius was so taken aback that his response was rather sarcastic.

"Yes, I can handle a horse."

"You can't in robes." An instant later, Sirius was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt. "That's better." She led him to the stables, where Harry and the others were waiting. Harry had already saddled and mounted Stella.

"Harry, what do you think you're doing?"

"Err, I always ride Stella."

"Not today, you're not. Let Sirius ride her." Connie strode to the empty pen where Blaze usually was. "Come on, now I know you're there." There was no response and the others stared at her bizarrely. "You are so stubborn, you know that?" After still not getting a response, Connie said the last sentence rather threateningly. "If you don't make yourself visible right now, I'm going to clip your wings, and don't try me." Blaze reappeared instantly. Connie turned to the others. "Thestrals. Stubbornest things ever. Well, saddle up, Harry."

"D'you mean I get to ride Blaze?" Connie shook her head amusedly.

"No, he's being ridden by the invisible man. Of course you're riding him."

"That's not fair."

"What're you talking about, Ron, you can barely mount a regular horse. It's for your own good, trust me." Several minutes later, they were on their way. Connie was giving Ron pointers when a loud thud came from behind. Frantic, Connie searched the sky. Harry peered over from atop of Blaze's back. Turning, she found Hermione helping Sirius to his feet.

"Are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, luckily I landed on something soft."

"Not your head, I hope?" Sirius glared at Connie. "I said that wrong. What I meant was did you hit your head? By the way, I wouldn't consider landing in horse manure lucky." Sirius twisted to see the back of his jeans and made a sound of disgust. He pulled out the wand Connie had given him and performed a cleaning charm. "Didn't you say you could handle a horse?"

"This one's wild. Don't you have a tame one?"

"Stella? She's the nicest horse I have. You just have to show her who's boss. Go ahead, get back on." Sirius looked wary.

"Are you sure?"

"Go on, Sirius," Harry said encouragingly. "I've never had a problem with Stella." Sirius tried to remount but slid off on the other side. Harry and Ron tried to stifle their laughs, but Connie giggled outright.

"Do you do that with the Hippogriff?" Sirius propped himself onto his elbows, then sat upright and rubbed his lower back.

"No, I'm just not riding material today," he answered, getting up.

"I know what you mean." Connie drew Bryce next to Sirius and held out her arm. "Come on, before you really hurt yourself." She pulled him up behind her.

"What about Stella?" Hermione asked.

"She'll follow." Sirius held onto Connie's waist. "And you, no blushing back there. You're not fifteen anymore." Sirius remained somewhat collected, though every once in a while Connie could hear him muttering 'It's not a big deal' repeatedly under his breath. Half an hour later, Harry landed.

"Tired, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"No, but I think Blaze is. He just came down on his own."

"You know, we've been riding a lot. We haven't really used the pool that much. Let's forget this and go swimming." Connie waved her arm in the direction of the pool a little too enthusiastically. A jet of light shot from her hand and hit a nearby tree. "I've got to be a little more careful with that," she added nonchalantly, examining her fingers. The next moment, the tree toppled with a loud crash, causing the horses to fright. Sirius and Connie managed to stay mounted, but the others were thrown. Stella, Blaze, Morgan, and Argon all dashed for the stables.

"Are you lot all right?" Sirius asked, followed by a loud chorus of groaning affirmations.

"Umm, Sirius, a-hem." Sirius quickly released Connie with a quick 'Sorry' as he realized where he had grabbed her in panic. "Let's get back to the house and change. Then we can cool off in the pool."

~

"Why so modest, Connie?" Sirius asked. Connie was wearing a solid black one piece with her towel tied around her waist.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I think I'm a little too old to parade around in a bikini. No matter how nice you think my body is." She threw herself into a lounge chair next to the pool, flipped open a pair of shades, and placed a visor on her head.

"Aren't you swimming?"

"Not yet, Hermione, I want to work on my tan for a while. I'm ridiculously pale for my black hair. I look like a Goth." Despite the splashing and yelling from the pool, Connie soon fell asleep. Just before she returned to full consciousness, she began to hear voices around her, though she still couldn't tell who they belonged to.

"Be careful, or you'll wake her."

"But if she doesn't wake up she'll probably drown."

"Don't worry about it. She'll wake up before she hits the water." Connie kept her eyes closed, but spoke.

"I'm awake now. And if you know what's in your best interest, you'll put this chair down immediately."

"Sorry, Connie, but I don't really have a choice in the matter." And with this, Sirius tipped the back of the chair, throwing Connie into the water. She came up sputtering while the boys laughed.

"Gee, Sirius, you're batting a thousand today. If I didn't know better I'd swear you were annoying me on purpose."

"If you knew better you wouldn't be in the pool right now."

"Excuse me, Sirius?" Connie answered indignantly.

"You should have known not to fall asleep."

"You should have known better than to throw me in here. Now, you'll have to suffer the consequences," she retorted, sending a jet of yellow light at Sirius. Hermione turned a brilliant shade of red and hid her eyes. Ron and Harry laughed, but couldn't look either.

"What did you do? There's nothing wrong with me."

"Of course there isn't. At least as far as you can see." Sirius twisted around, but still couldn't see anything. He turned to face Harry and Ron. "On the other hand, I'm seeing a side of you I haven't seen before." Sirius placed his hands behind him. A few seconds later, his eyes bulged.

"You split my shorts! You've had your fun, now fix them."

"No, I don't think I will. They look much less modest this way. And by the way, since it's your fault my towel got wet, I'm taking yours." She pulled herself out of the pool and pulled the towel from her waist. She grabbed Sirius's towel and rearranged herself in a chair. "All right, now I'm good and ready to fix your shorts." Instead of repairing them, however, she turned them into a Speedo, which didn't leave much to the imagination. "How's that for not modest?"

"Harry, Ron, let this be a lesson to you. Never get on Hermione's nerves. You might end up like your friend; half naked and nothing you can do about it." She folded her hands behind her head and soon fell asleep again.

"I don't understand why she's being so mean to you, Sirius. She's always nice to everyone, except maybe Malfoy and the other Slytherins."

"Hermione, I believe this is a little thing called payback. Quite frankly, I don't deserve it. It wasn't my fault." Sirius went on to explain everything. They were by turns intrigued and outraged.

"I can't believe that Debbie girl. How could she do such a thing? Especially since Connie never did anything to her." Ron and Hermione hadn't heard the story yet, so this was a large insight into Connie's character and how she'd been behaving lately.

"Well, actually, she did do something to Debbie, but it wasn't anything she could help."

"What exactly could that have been?" Hermione asked.

"She out-shined Debbie in Transfiguration. Her first day in class, McGonagall gave Gryffindor ten points, and then told Debbie that she wasn't up to her usual standard. Rogue though she was, Debbie Davis was the best at Transfiguration, though never quite as good as James. She resented losing her place at the top. So she resorted to flinging insults at her every chance she got. Some of them really got to her, let me tell you. She never really let on, mind you, but I could tell."

"You two really were meant for each other. If only you hadn't been under the curse, things would have been different."

"If she hadn't thrown water balloons at us, it would have been different. Hermione, a lot of things could have been different about the past, but it's not and there isn't anything we can do about it. I just have to work around it and try to convince Connie that I never wanted to hurt her, or do what I did."

"Sirius, you've got to talk to her."

"Ron, you've seen how she is, she won't listen to me, and if she does, she'll probably mock me. I don't know how I'll ever get through to her." Harry had seen Sirius look this hopeless only once: when the Dementors had cornered him at the end of third year.

"Don't worry, Sirius, we'll think of something," Harry said reassuringly. "Do you know what that scar on her stomach is from?"

"No, I didn't even know it was there... I bet if it wasn't she'd be wearing something more revealing, though."

"What was she going on about that night when she said Voldemort thought she was dead?" Hermione asked. Sirius thought deeply on the subject, but could not remember enough details.

"I'm afraid that you're going to have to ask Connie about that. I wasn't too deeply involved, but it was something like the three of you do every year." Harry considered this, but didn't pursue the subject again.

~

Harry and Ron were lolling around the pool a few days later. Sirius was inside getting changed, and Connie had taken Hermione for a girl's day out.

"Hey Harry, how much of a drop d'you think it is from the balcony to the pool?"

"About fifteen feet, I guess. Why, you reckon on jumping?"

"Well, you got any better ideas?" Harry had to admit he didn't, so they went back inside. They counted the doors until they got to the one they believed had the entrance to the balcony. Professor Dumbledore had used this room. Harry and Ron ran over to the balcony and flung open the French doors. Ron pulled himself onto the railing and stood there about to jump when a voice came sharply from behind.

"Ron Weasley, what d'you think you're doing."

"Nothing, Sirius, I was just ummm...."

"Get down. I don't suppose you realize you could get yourself killed doing that. What if you missed the pool?" Sirius sounded an awful lot like Hermione. He came closer and peered over the edge of the railing as Ron climbed down. Then he walked back to the doors. As if on a whim, Sirius spun around and ran, flinging himself over the railing. Harry and Ron ran back over to the rail, indignant to Sirius's hypocrisy.

"You just told us not to jump," Harry yelled at him.

"No I didn't. I never said 'Harry and Ron, don't jump over the balcony'," Sirius responded innocently. "Besides, I wanted to be the first to do it. Are you coming or not?" Harry, Ron, and Sirius took turns jumping off the balcony for at least an hour. Hungry, they went inside and raided Connie's pantry, no bothering to dry off or clean up after themselves. They brought more food into the living room, where Connie had set up a video game console with surround sound speakers. A stretch of the upstairs hallway passed through one side of the living room. One look at the banister was all the convincing they needed. Ron unearthed a large trampoline in the attic, which they set up. They had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline, especially when they learned to do flips on it. They had so much fun, in fact, that they forgot to watch the time and panicked when they heard Connie pull up in the driveway.

"We've got to stall her. You two go keep her busy; I'll clean up. Try to stay out there as long as possible." Harry and Ron rushed out to meet Connie and Hermione.

"Hey you two, why such a rush?" Connie asked. "Grab some bags and help us bring them in."

"We went swimming today," Ron improvised. "We all jumped off the balcony into the pool." He had expected Connie to be angry with this, but it had the reverse effect. She was instead intrigued.

"Did you really? I've got to try that. Right now, in fact. Forget the bags, I'm jumping off the balcony."

"No, don't," Harry cried, but it was too late. Connie went inside. She wouldn't have noticed anything if the living room door hadn't been left open. Not liking open doors, Connie immediately went to close it. She stopped short in the doorway. Sirius grinned sheepishly at her; the scraps of garbage in his had fluttered to the floor.

"WHAT-DID-YOU-DO-TO-MY-HOUSE?" she bellowed, looking at the mess around her. Sirius said nothing, but instead turned and ran out through the dining room, Connie not far behind him. He had nearly made it to the back door, which they had left open, when Connie magicked it shut. Sirius tried to open it, but it was locked magically.

"You are going back to the living room, you are cleaning up the mess, and then I am going to disembowel you," she said in a surprisingly calm manner. She marched him back to the living room and set him to work, along with Ron and Harry. "Man though he is, Sirius could not have possibly eaten that much food on his own. Before I disembowel the lot of you, you are all going to the store and buying more food. Now get to work." When at long last they finished, Connie returned.

"Where is the store, Aunt Connie?"

"In town. It's only two miles away, so you should be able to get there and back before night fall."

"But none of us has a driver's license," Ron said.

"Who said anything about a car? You're walking to town. You should have thought about it while you were destroying my house." Connie ushered them out the door and shut it behind them.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

"Hermione, I've thrown some pretty wild parties in my day. But never, never have I had so much food devoured over such a short period of time. Nor have I had such careless disregard for my belongings. But they did have a good idea. I never would have thought of jumping off the balcony."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"What's the point of living if you don't take a few risks. You don't want to wake up old one day and realize you never really lived."

"But you remember what we talked about, right? You did make a promise to talk to Sirius."

"That's the second one I've made. I'm just waiting for him to approach me."

"You haven't exactly made yourself approachable to him."

"You're right. I guess I'm just a little scared of what could happen. I don't want another Debbie incident. Or another Three Broomsticks for that matter."

"Of course you don't. But of course from my experience, you never know unless you try."

"Hermione, it may seem funny when I say this, but during the past few weeks, you've become a replacement for Judy." Connie and Hermione had frequently sat up late and talked for hours. It had always been a secret between the two of them. Hermione had even gotten Connie to talk about her music career, and shown her the basement. Judy had married their old friend Brian and moved to a remote section of Russia, where Brian taught at Agata-Yessey, the Russian school of magic. They only exchanged letters at Christmas, and Connie quite missed her best friend. She found comfort in Hermione, who also had no close female friends.

"It doesn't sound funny at all. Actually, you're the first real girl I could actually talk to. Harry and Ron are the first real friends I've had, in fact."

"I know exactly what you're going through. For the first five years of school, I only hung out with Josh and Brian. Judy transferred in from the other American school in sixth year. Then I went to Hogwarts and met Lily. Those were the only two girls I had as friends. Boys are more relaxed than girls are, you don't have to worry about making an ass of yourself, but if you try to talk anything personal with them, forget it. Guy friends are great, but a girl needs other girls."

"But you are going to keep your promise, right?"

"You got it, Hermione." She resolved to act nicer towards Sirius.

~

All through the next morning, Connie sat at the organ, humming a long silent but still familiar melody. Her fingers rapidly grazed the keys in several octave arpeggios. Sirius slipped in unnoticed and closed the door behind him.

"Connie."

"Oh, hello," she spoke to him more nicely than she had all summer. "I was just going through an old song. Would you believe I once played that on guitar?" Sirius sat in a nearby chair with a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Whatever happened between us all those years ago?" Connie's response was colder than ever.

"You know perfectly well what happened. If you want to hear my side, say so, and don't ask me to explain everything like it was my fault."

"You're right, as per usual," Sirius said relenting. "What is your point of view of what happened between us?"

"I fell for you the instant I looked into your eyes in Hogsmeade. I felt that you could read my thoughts. You knew how much Debbie upset me, in a way no one else did. When you asked me to walk on the grounds with you, I was unbelievably giddy. Then we had water balloons thrown at us. You can't imagine the pain, no, the anguish, I felt when I came down from the dorm the very next day and saw you with that very same person who you told me two days ago to ignore. I tried to forget it, but no, everywhere I turned I was reminded of what I almost had. I cried myself to sleep every night. I was almost to the point of wanting to kill myself. And then, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse you..." she broke off abruptly, unable to go any further.

"James tried to accuse me of that, too." Sirius took Connie's hands in his and made her look into his eyes. "But I swear to you, I never laid an unkind hand on you."

"Never laid an unkind hand on me?" Connie repeated indignantly as she pulled her hands away. "You knocked me unconscious, Sirius. Unconscious! Maybe you guilted yourself into forgetting but I remember it like it was yesterday. You were the one. You gave me that black eye. I still can't understand why I never turned you in and gotten your sorry ass expelled."

"Damn her," Sirius whispered.

"Excuse me?"

"No. Not you. There's something you never knew."

"Finally, what I've been waiting twenty years to find out. Everyone and their mother has tried to tell me this, but I wanted to hear it from you, so go on, before you change your mind."

"I don't know how to put it nicely."

"Then don't. Never waste your words making something pretty when it isn't. If it's ugly, say it's ugly, don't say it has character."

"Debbie Davis had me under the Imperious Curse. She made me leave you, and do what I did. I loved you, but by the time I broke free of the curse, it was too late. You were gone. I must have started hundreds of letters to you, but I never could figure out how to tell you, nor did I think you'd read it, or even believe me."

"The night I found out about Ray, I asked to talk to you. You said you were busy, I left. I had been doing research on the curse all week. If I had been able to talk to you; I would have realized and done something about it."

She turned back to the organ and fingered the keys. "At least that's finally settled. Do you want to hear the song I was playing when you came in? I wrote it at Hogwarts, right after I met you."

"I've only heard you a few times. I'd like a private performance from the greatest singer in both worlds, Wizarding and Muggle." Connie shook her head resignedly

"I'm not. Maybe I was, but my voice is never going to be the same again. If you don't mind mediocrity, I'll do it."

"Please do." It was a mere shadow of what Lily had heard all those years ago, but the childlike sweetness sounded just as pleasing to him. Sirius could hardly believe the song was written especially for him. Instead of stopping where she did last time, however, Connie sang the ending for the first time ever.

"Your love is magical, that's how I feel. But in your presence I am lost for words, words like, like." Sirius had come and sat next to Connie on the bench.

"I love you." He lifted her face to meet his. The held each other as if it was the last time they ever would. When they finally broke apart, Connie gazed into Sirius's eyes.

"How'd you know the words?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh, a little bird with a beautiful voice told me," he replied, running a finger down her nose.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered outside the closed door, trying to eavesdrop.

"D'you think Sirius did it?" Ron whispered. "I can't hear anything."

"I wish we could use magic," Hermione whispered quickly, "Then we could hear them. I learned a great spell last year for this kind of situation. But we'll find out soon enough."

"Shhh!" Harry hissed, "I think I hear them." They pressed their ears to the door and listened intensely.

"Are you sure you want to?" Sirius's voice came faintly. "I am thirty-six, you know." Connie's voice could be heard next.

"What's the big deal? I'm thirty-four. And they say people are getting married later these days." Harry was ecstatic.

"I'm getting an uncle," he said a little too loudly.

"Cripes, Harry, are you trying to get us caught?" Ron replied even more loudly. They didn't have time to run however, as the door opened, spilling all three into the living room. They grinned sheepishly up at Connie and Sirius.

"Well, Sirius, at least we don't have to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Harry asked innocently as he untwisted himself from the pile of bodies.

"We're getting married," Sirius answered simply. "But you already knew that."

"What, Aunt Connie, are you leaving Hogwarts? You were about to become the first in about four years to last more than three terms."

"Of course not. I'm selling this place, buying a place in the English countryside, keeping the horses and my job as Defense teacher."

"You made up your mind rather quickly about that."

"Sirius, this was a decision twenty years in the making. It needed no thinking about. It's just how it's going to be."

"What if that's not what I want to do?"

"Do you really want to be away from everyone? All of your friends and family are in England. I have no family except for Harry; I have two friends in Russia, one in Australia, and Josh in Egypt. I have nothing here except a big empty house. Too empty for my taste." Sirius gripped Connie by the shoulders. They continued their conversation as if no one else was there

"We can fill it."

"It's too much. I spent half my life cleaning this place."

"We'll get a few elves."

"I don't want them. Besides, I think Hermione would throw a fit."

"Since when does Hermione have a say in what we do?"

"I've always put others before myself."

"Then it's time someone put you first." He kissed her. "Fine then, whatever you want goes. There's only one problem."

"What's that?"

"The matter of my pardon. I can't be seen in the country until I get it."

"Well, we aren't going until the end of summer anyway. We have a few weeks. You'll get it, I have no worries about that."

~

Sirius's pardon did indeed come a few days later. It was delivered by Cornelius Fudge himself, with Dumbledore and Remus behind him. He fully apologized to Sirius on behalf of the entire Ministry of Magic, as well as Barty Crouch, who being dead was unable to.

"Well, Sirius, I guess everything is back to normal," Remus said after Fudge had left.

"On the contrary, Moony, everything is the way it should have been. Almost."

"What is 'almost' about it?" Dumbledore asked.

"Lily and James should be here."

"Sirius," Connie corrected gently, "Lily and James are always here."

"Now, when you say should have been, does that mean that you two..." Remus asked, pointing between Sirius and Connie. They merely grinned and nodded. "Finally. So when's the big day?"

"Sometime next summer. We haven't decided exactly yet," Sirius answered.

"We'll work on it. In the meantime, we've got a summer vacation to finish. And I never did get to jump off the balcony."

~

All good things must come to an end, and the next two weeks of Harry's best summer ever flew by. They flew back to England the week before start of term to buy their new books and such. After spending the week at the Leaky Cauldron, everyone was almost glad to be boarding the train to Hogwarts. Sirius was taking another train to the village where Connie had gotten their cottage. Before they knew it, the train had pulled into Hogsmeade station and they were on their way to another sorting. The hat always knew the truth.