A Sirius Affair

Penny and Carole

Story Summary:
A prequel to Paradigm of Uncertainty that takes place six years before the events in that story, chronicling the lives of Sirius, Harry, Hermione during the summer and fall of 2001.

Chapter 08

Posted:
07/14/2001
Hits:
3,110

A SIRIUS AFFAIR

Chapter 8

Seeking

Sirius woke up very disoriented to the sound of someone knocking on his door. He could see sunlight peeking from behind the heavy drapes in his bedroom. "Who the bloody hell could that be...at this hour?" Glancing over to notice Cordelia still asleep beside him, he smiled and then peered sleepily at the clock. "10:05 . . . .well, I guess it's not that early," he said to himself as he swung out of bed and pulled on his shorts, and found the shirt Cordelia had had on the day before.

He ran his hands through his hair and over his face and pulled open the door. "Harry, good morning. What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Harry said as he stepped in the door. "I got a couple of tickets to see the Dragons game at the last minute and knew . . . ."

"Ian, .er . . . Sirius, or whoever the bloody hell you are this morning," Cordelia called from the bedroom, "Where is that robe I had on last night? . . . . Oh, never mind! I found something else. . . ."

Sirius glanced at Harry, who was turning very red and began to stammer. "Er . . . never mind . . .I'll . . ..uh. . . . ring up George or. . .um . . . ."

Harry was backing quickly toward the door when Sirius reached out to stop him. "No, no. It's okay. We were just getting up anyway," Sirius assured him quickly.

"Hi, Harry," Cordelia said casually as she came into the room. "I found this in your closet and it looked comfortable. Is it okay?" It was a very old wizard robe that Sirius hadn't worn in years. It had shrunk and faded and fit Cordelia perfectly.

"Enchanting," he said with a smile. He turned to Harry and explained "I told her."

Harry smiled. "Azkaban and everything?"

"Yes, I showed her that lovely wanted poster of me . . . that's how I looked when I first met Harry," he told Cordelia.

"I also thought he was out to kill me. Talk about great first impressions!" Harry laughed.

"Yes, I did have the urge to run the moment I saw that poster, but something made me stay," Cordelia said with a quiet smile at Sirius.

"Animal attraction?" Harry commented, as they all rolled their eyes and laughed. Harry then turned to Cordelia and said, "Well, welcome to our world" with a slight bow. She walked over and embraced him. As he looked at Sirius over the top of her head, he could see the life had finally and fully come back into his godfather's eyes. Harry couldn't ever remember seeing him looking quite this alive.

"Thanks, Harry. It's been an amazing couple of days. . . . . God, what day is it anyway?" she asked, shaking her head and smiling at Sirius.

"Thursday," Harry replied.

"Really! Thursday already . . . .hmmmm," she said as she ran her fingers through her hair and wandered over to the kitchen. "So, does most of this stuff work the usual way? You know -- without magic?" she asked as she gestured around the kitchen.

"Yes," Sirius chuckled. "Magic just makes it faster."

She nodded as she began to make coffee. Sirius grinned as he watched her peering down curiously into the toaster after she'd put slices of bread into the slots and turned it on. Sirius and Cordelia took turns describing to Harry just how it was that Sirius had convinced her about the existence of the wizard world. Cordelia set steaming cups of coffee in front of them both and turned back to the fridge to retrieve eggs and sausages, as Sirius turned to Harry, who was watching him with a bemused smile, and asked if he'd received any more leads about the bone fragments.

"Oh, that reminds me! I forgot all about that until just now," Cordelia exclaimed as she turned around. "The other night when I was walking back here after talking to my mum, I was thinking about what you said, "If bones could talk." Remember?" He nodded with a puzzled expression. "Well, I wondered if DNA testing wouldn't help?"

"What's that?" Sirius and Harry said in unison.

"You've never heard of DNA testing? But, it was in all the papers just a few months ago when they cleared that bloke who'd been in prison forever!"

"Well, most of us don't follow the muggle news much," Sirius explained. "I occasionally read the muggle newspapers if I'm really bored in the coffee bar, but . . . I guess I read the sports sections mainly."

"Oh!" Cordelia still looked a bit surprised. "Well, I'm no expert, but in general it's a procedure the police use to match blood or other evidence from a crime scene to a suspect. Like fingerprints, only with blood or hair or whatever. So if you had the bone fragments, you could have them identified as . . .what's his name? . . . .

"Pettigrew." Sirius practically spat the name.

"Right. Well, if you had something else from him to compare the fragments with, but I guess that might be difficult. Or, you could compare those bones with something from a close relative - sometimes that's good enough," Cordelia explained.

"His finger," Harry and Sirius said simultaneously.

"What?"

"His finger. He cut it off to make it look like I blasted him into little bits -- the day he killed all those people that sent me to Azkaban. Cut it off right before he transformed and escaped," Sirius muttered darkly. "The Ministry found it. It was the only thing "left" to send back to his poor grieving mother."

"Is his mother still alive?" Cordelia asked.

Harry and Sirius both shrugged. "I suppose so," Sirius replied. "Lived in a little village in Devon. Shouldn't be too hard to track her down."

"Well, I should think that would be a good thing to use to compare with the bone fragments."

"But once we've proved they are Pettigrew's bones, how do we prove when he died?" Sirius asked. "We need to show the finger and the bones didn't die at the same time for my story to be credible."

"Well, they can date bone fragments you know. Not to within a day, but certainly within a year or so."

"So . . . . it could be proven that the finger "died" so to speak at a different time than the bone fragments? If we could get the finger and the bones, we could show they didn't die at the same time?" Sirius asked with mounting excitement in his voice.

"Provided there was a large enough gap in their deaths, I don't see why not. I'm not an expert on this stuff, mind you. I've read a few memos on it at the firm and some general news in the newspapers. Don't wizards use these forensic tools?" Cordelia asked in amazement.

"I'm sure there must be something like this in our investigations. I just don't usually deal with the remains of a wizard," Harry said. "It's not common knowledge within the wizarding world though I don't suppose. Of course, Hermione would have heard of it if anyone has," he said with a laugh.

"So, you haven't mentioned these bone fragments to her then, I take it?" Cordelia asked as she turned the sausages.

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Well . . . telling her about those bone fragments would have raised more questions than I'm comfortable with, truth be told." Cordelia looked over at him with a puzzled expression. "She doesn't know much at all about my work. In fact . . . . it's fair to say she doesn't know anything about my work. I've got reasons for keeping it from her though . . . . mostly for her own protection," he added quickly but not meeting Cordelia's eyes.

"So, she doesn't know that you work with Harry sometimes?" she asked Sirius. He shook his head. She set plates of food in front of them all and sat down.

Sensing that they should change the subject away from Hermione, Cordelia asked "So, you think it would be possible to obtain both the finger and the bone fragments, then?"

"I'm sure I could probably get Mrs. Pettigrew to loan me that finger - you know for official I.D. investigations. I'll think of something. Now, about those fragments though. We need to . . . ."

Cordelia was frowning slightly and interrupted. "Wait a minute Harry. Do you have wizard lawyers? I assume there are wizard laws?" she asked.

"Yes, we have laws. The Magical House creates laws, and the Ministry has divisions that administer and enforce them."

"Well, you'll probably want to consult a lawyer before you obtain that finger from his mum. There are likely some evidentiary standards. You don't want to obtain it by illegal means and then have it not be admissible to help clear Sirius' name after all."

"Good point," Sirius said quickly. He looked at Harry and asked "Do you know anyone to talk to?"

"Yeah . . . one of my schoolmates from Hogwarts was a lawyer with the Ministry's Enforcement Division for a couple of years. I just heard she'd left the Ministry and started working in the private sector. Yes . . . Padma would probably be a good person to ask as I'm sure she must be familiar with the Ministry's evidence standards."

"Well, I think you should probably talk to her first then. She can advise you on how to be sure you don't taint the evidence when you obtain it. Once you've talked to her and figure out how to get the finger, we can work from there," Cordelia advised. "In the meantime, I'll talk to a friend of mine who does some criminal work. I'm sure he'll be able to tell me how to go about getting this material tested, how long it takes, that sort of thing. . . . . Harry, I just thought of something else. When you speak to this lawyer, be sure to find out whether wizards will give effect to evidence from a . . . muggle laboratory." Sirius smiled and nodded at her to indicate she'd used the word "muggle" correctly. "If they won't, then you should inquire how to go about getting it tested through a wizarding forensics lab."

"I guess I should work on finding those bones," Sirius said. "Should I owl Jeralyn do you suppose?" he asked Harry. "Anonymously, of course." Harry shrugged and nodded. "Can't hurt to try," he said.

"What do you mean by "owl"?" Cordelia asked hesitantly.

Sirius smiled and kissed her hand. "Ah, so much to learn, my dear. . . . . Most wizards don't use a muggle telephone to communicate. We send owls with notes attached to their legs."

"Hmmmm" Cordelia said as she looked a bit puzzled by this, "Doesn't seem all that efficient to me." She finished her coffee, and Sirius magiked the plates back into the sink. Sirius came up behind her and put his arms around her waist and began to nuzzle her neck.

Harry stood up. "Well, I'd best let the two of you have some privacy . . .," he said as he took his coffee mug to the sink.

"No, I really should go to my house - get some clean clothes and check my messages." She smiled as she extricated herself from Sirius' arms. "You two go on. What was it you had tickets to Harry? A football match?"

"No." Sirius paused "Um . . . . actually a Quidditch match."

"I don't even want to know. You can fill me in later. I don't think I can absorb any more new information at this point," she said, laughing. She waved off Sirius' attempts to explain a sport on broomsticks with four balls and walked back into the bedroom to get into her clothes.

"So, who are the Dragons playing today?" Sirius asked.

"The Cavemen -- Oliver Wood's team."

"Great! Mind if we see Cordelia to the Tube?"

"Not at all," Harry replied with a smile.

Cordelia had just bustled back into the room. "All right, I'll be off then. Shall we have dinner tonight, Ian? . . . .oh, um . . . Sirius. . . . hmmm, this is going to be difficult. You're Ian to me still," she stammered.

"That's all right. I'll just keep whispering "Sirius" in your sleep each night until you get used to it," Sirius replied, leaning over to whisper in her ear. She giggled. He straightened up and added, "Dinner would be great. My place, yours, or neutral territory?"

"Why don't you come over to my place? I'll make something, or we can get take away like we did the other night," she said with a mischievous grin.

"I do have to work tonight though," Sirius reminded her.

"Well, we'll just have to cut short our post-dinner activities then, won't we?"

"Ah, if we must I suppose. . . ." Sirius was nuzzling her face with his, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Harry was shifting uncomfortably, pretending without much success to be invisible during this conversation. He looked relieved as they left Sirius' flat toward the Tube stop.

When they reached the station, Sirius leaned down and gave Cordelia a long, lingering kiss. They seemed to have a hard time breaking away from one another. At last, they dropped each other's hand, and Cordelia went down the stairs to the Tube. Harry and Sirius proceeded to an inconspicuous spot from which they could apparate to the western England Quidditch field near Oxford.

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

Harry was lounging on the couch in their flat the next evening, half-heartedly watching the telly they'd purchased the week before in celebration of Hermione's graduation. He looked up when Hermione bustled in. "Where you've been all day today?" he asked lazily.

"At the library mostly."

"The library? I thought your exams were over weeks ago!"

"Well, they were. I've been doing some research on some of the experimental charms that we didn't cover in my coursework. I've got another interview with the Institute of Magical Academics next week. I'll be meeting the head of the Charms Department," Hermione replied. She glanced at the clock and muttered, "Damn. I'm always so late! Why am I always so late?" She hurried back to the bathroom and moments later, he heard the shower turn on.

Harry got up, stretching, and walked towards the bathroom. "Do you really think they're going to question you on specific charms in a job interview?" he called through the door.

He heard a muffled "What?" He pushed the door open, "I've opened the door so you can hear me," he called.

She poked her head out briefly and said "Oh, okay. What were you saying?" He repeated his jibe, and was forced to duck as she lobbed a sponge out at him. "Well, really, Hermione! Do you honestly believe the head of the Charms Department is going to sit down and quiz you on obscure charms when you've already passed muster with all the lower-level types?" he teased.

"Harry, I just have to be as prepared as possible. You never know what will come up! I would just be mortified if they asked me something substantive, and I couldn't answer the question."

"You? Not know the answer? Hermione, I've never known you to be without the right answer. Who are you kidding?"

"I guess I'm just a bit worried," she called.

"So, I take it this job might be the one you're most serious about?" he asked as he leaned back against the sink.

"Well . . . . I think so. It's really everything I've always wanted after all. I guess you could say it's my dream job."

"Hermione, just relax. You'll completely bowl over the Head of the Charms Department at the . . . what is it again? . . . . the Institute of . . . . Uptight Intellectuals?"

"Harry!" He heard her chuckling as the taps turned off. "Toss me that towel, will you?"

"Seriously, you really should relax. Any employer will be thrilled to have you, trust me," Harry said as he handed her a towel over the top of the shower rod.

"I hope you're right. Say . . . where were you last night? Ginny and I waited awhile before we went to the cinema."

She stepped out of the shower, wrapped in the towel, and began combing out her hair as he watched. As she shook it out slightly, she sprayed him with water. "Ooh, sorry. So, where were you again?" she repeated as she walked into her bedroom and sat down at her dressing table.

"I went to a Quidditch match with Sirius yesterday, and it ran very late. Speaking of Sirius, wait until you hear this," Harry said as he stretched out on his stomach on her bed, propped up on his elbows. He told her all about Sirius and Cordelia as she applied makeup and began drying her hair. She'd been running the hair dryer for several minutes, with Harry talking over it. They were both laughing about Cordelia's reaction to the toaster when they looked up to see Rufus standing in the doorway. Hermione clicked off the hair dryer.

"Noone answered the door, and I had that key you gave me, so I just let myself in," he said quietly. "I thought maybe you were in the shower or something."

"Sorry, honey. I guess it was this," she said as she gestured at the hair dryer.

"So it would seem," he said tensely. "And I guess Harry wouldn't have heard the door either . . . . not with being so close to the hair dryer noise that is."

Taking his cue, Harry got up and made a show of checking his watch. "I'm supposed to meet George and Lee for dinner so I think I'll head off. Have a good time tonight," he added casually but with a concerned look at Hermione who was determinedly not looking away from Rufus' stony gaze.

"Say hello to both of them for me," Hermione said lightly, turning to smile at Harry. He smiled back somewhat uncertainly and nodded. "Okay," he said as he moved toward the door.

Rufus stepped aside to let Harry pass, flattening himself against the wall and not meeting Harry's eyes. He continued to watch Harry angrily as Harry slipped into his shoes, tucked his wand in his pocket and hurried out. He shook his head as he heard their raised angry voices through the open kitchen window.

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

Sloan Peregrine visited The Obsidian three times the following week. He was very persistent. He came in very late at night, when there were no other customers. He talked a lot about the power his group was amassing and the fact that he was trying to get some other groups of dark wizards to join in with him. He mentioned a potions circle he'd had contact with. He bragged that he'd even had a fling with the witch that ran that circle. Again and again, he emphasized the money that could be made by helping his group.

Although Sirius and Harry had decided that it would be worth the risk for Sirius to attend Peregrine's upcoming meeting, Sirius continued to feign mild disinterest to Peregrine. Knowing that there were a number of dark wizards who might recognise him and damage his cover (or, worse, seek their own personal revenge against him), he at last agreed to attend the meeting on the condition that Peregrine provide him with a complete list of the other wizards who would be in attendance. After they bickered back and forth on this point for some time, Peregrine finally caved, agreeing to provide the list a week before the next meeting.

Meanwhile, Harry and Sirius concentrated their efforts to locate Jeralyn. Sirius' anonymous owl post regarding the bone fragments had not elicited any response from her. "She must suspect it wasn't an innocent query," he mused when his owl returned without a reply.

Over that same week, Sirius had spent a day in Munich, two days in Buenos Aires, and had just received a tip that she might be in Paris. After several hours, he finally located her walking along the Boulevard St. Germaine, near the Rue de Seine. This was the shopping district, but he somehow suspected that she was probably selling rather than buying. He walked up behind her, took her hand and pointed his wand at her side. He walked her into a small café on the corner. Sirius steered Jeralyn into a couple of seats in the middle of the crowded cafe, so she couldn't apparate away.

"This is the second time this month that you've accosted me," she said in an exasperated voice. "Who are you? And, where is your friend, the charming Mr. Potter, this time?" she added sarcastically.

"If you haven't figured out who I am by now, I'm not going to give you any clues. Just think of me as a kindly old gent who is going to give you some advice about your future, and you're going to give me some information about your past," Sirius replied as a waiter came up to take their order.

"You're interested in my past?"

"Just the immediate past," he said firmly. "I want to know the whereabouts of those bones you mentioned the last time we met."

"Oh, so now you're interested? I sold them last week as a matter of fact. I told you they would go quickly. Why would a good guy like you be interested in the remains of some old Death Eater anyway?"

"Let's just say they would be a sentimental collectible for me. The other thing I wanted to ask was if you know muggles are still dying as a result of your potions. This is not going to look good. You can plead muggle stupidity once, but if you keep peddling this shit out there, you'll be taken in and questioned. That's the very least that could happen. But, you don't want to be questioned by Harry and his friends, trust me. I've been at the receiving end of Harry's wand. Not a fun experience." Sirius said, adding a bit of mystery to the conversation.

"Well, I would certainly be interested in hearing more about that, I must say. You've renounced your evil ways, is it?" Sirius was sitting silently, watching her intently. "Listen, I am no longer in the herbal remedy market. I deal solely with collectibles now. Should I owl you if I get any other Death Eater bones or is it just Wormtail's bones that were of particular interest to you?"

"That, my dear, is none of your business. Just remember though, it could be worth your while to let me know where Wormtail's relics are. Harry would be so much more willing to be lenient with you with respect to the damage your potions are doing if he knows I've obtained this particular relic."

"Why would he care if you obtain a pile of old bones?" she said sarcastically. "You really expect me to believe that I'll receive more lenient treatment from the officials if I tell you where those silly bones are?" She shook her head vigorously. "Nothing doing. Besides, the Federation officials can't pin anything on me. I told you - I'm no longer selling herbal remedies. I'm just an innocent "antiques" dealer of sorts. That's all."

Sirius snorted and then narrowed his eyes. "Innocent you are not, my dear. You're fooling only yourself if you don't think the Federation can connect you up with your minions who are peddling those "herbal remedies." It's only a matter of time. Now, are you sure you can't tell me what's become of those bones?"

"Well, I sold them to a friend in London. I can't possibly divulge his name though. I'd ruin my reputation. He is a collector, specializes in bones and relics of notorious wizards. I even heard he had Sirius Black's original wand, broken in two of course . . . . You know, come to think of it, you remind me a bit of the posters I remember of him. I wonder what ever happened to him."

"One of the wizarding world's great mysteries I suppose," Sirius said with a smirk.

She smiled coquettishly at him. "Say, why don't we just forget all this questioning and go get a room somewhere. I know just the place around the corner," she said with a wink.

"No thanks. You're not really my type," Sirius replied coolly.

"You're no fun. I just thought it might be interesting to seduce a good guy for a change. But well, you're a bit old for me anyway."

"Oh, now that hurt. I'm not all that old," Sirius winced, but laughed. Changing gears, he asked abruptly, "I've heard you might have a connection to a wizard named Sloan Peregrine."

"I might have known him once," she said noncommittally. "Why? Is he under investigation now?" Jeralyn asked

"Nothing that you should concern yourself about. I'm just curious what you can tell me about him, that's all."

"Like I said, I might have known him once, but we haven't had any contact for quite some time. I'm not sure I would even recognise him if I saw him on the street." Sirius was watching her with raised eyebrows but she held his gaze coolly. "Are we about done here? I have other appointments."

"Yes. I suppose we're done. For now anyway. But, listen, if you ever want to come clean and let us know where those relics are, send an owl to this address." He handed her a parchment card with an owl post box number in London. "The information will get to Harry."

Sirius continued to watch Jeralyn as she rounded a corner. He walked from the café down the Boulevard past the ancient church to Rue Saint Benoit to the Pont de Arts. He stood looking at the river for a long time. It was dusk, and the lights up and down the river were just beginning to go on. Notre Dame was behind him, the Louvre to his right. He was thinking how nice it would be to be here with Cordelia - all couples in love should spend some time in Paris he thought. "Hmmm . . . in love. What a brave new world I'm in," he chuckled as he thought, "But, not nearly as new a world as Cordelia is entering."

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

In the weeks before the party, Ginny and Hermione found themselves spending a fair amount of time together. Ginny got into the habit of stopping by Hermione's flat after work several times a week. They ate a lot of take away pizza and curry, while she and Hermione talked about food and guests and other party arrangements. They also found themselves spending a lot of time talking about the future and jobs. Hermione was getting even more job offers, and despite what she'd confided to Harry about favoring the Institute position, she was still having a bit of a struggle sorting out all the options.

Ginny was beginning to outline her thoughts for a new-style witch magazine. She found that Hermione was a great help as she wasn't a typical witch and could show her some ideas from various muggle magazines that were less traditional in terms of womens' issues. Ginny began carrying two notebooks with her at all times: one for party details (guests, grocery lists) and one for ideas for her magazine. She hadn't really decided to take the idea of starting her own magazine seriously yet, but she had decided to better define what it was she was looking for in a properly run magazine.

Sometimes Harry was at the flat during her visits, but more often, he was out of town for his job. Ginny noticed that he seemed to be away for long spells at a time, but tactful questioning had revealed that Hermione knew little more than she did as far as details about his job. She'd decided not to press the issue with Harry; it was just one more mystery about Harry Potter that she would need to accept if there was to be relationship between them. Ginny recognised that there were a number of things about Harry that she seemed willing to accept, secrecy and mystery that she would likely never have accepted in anyone else. But, she knew him so well, and he was, well, . . . Harry. It wasn't that he was "The Famous Harry Potter" to her. In fact, that was another one of those things she had decided that she was going to have to accept if she got involved with Harry, as it would be much more difficult having a relationship with someone rather famous than with just an average wizard. Despite all the mystery, there was still that lingering attraction that she had so successfully conquered while she was at Hogwarts. She really thought if she didn't explore it, she would always regret it.

On the evenings Harry was home, she couldn't help being pleased that he always offered to walk with her back to her flat. She'd given up protesting that she was perfectly capable of walking the short distance without an escort as he seemed happy to get out for the walk. She was also daring to believe that he seemed to want to spend some time with her.

As Harry walked home from Ginny's flat one night a week before the party, he began to think again about the possibility of asking her out. He had long thought "why not" didn't seem a good enough reason to get involved with someone. However, this evening, for the first time, he found that he was no longer thinking just "why not." He had arrived home that evening to find Hermione and Ginny immersed in a conversation about their old boyfriends. Ginny had been telling Hermione that Wesley had rung her up out of the blue and asked to see her again. She'd apparently been asking Hermione's advice about whether she should ring him up or leave that relationship alone.

As he listened to their conversation from the kitchen, Harry found himself making a conscious effort to resist the urge to vehemently object to Ginny seeing Wesley. On the walk home, he replayed the conversation in his head and began to feel irritated all over again that Ginny was considering hooking up with Wesley again. "What's bugging you about Ginny being with Wesley? He may be a perfectly nice wizard for all you know," Harry asked himself. He shook his head to clear it as he continued his walk home, but, he couldn't long ignore the little voice in the back of his head that answered his question, "Because you really want her to be with you, not Wesley."

"Oh!" he said out loud. "Hmmmmm. Now what do I do about that?!" He was leaving in the morning for Sydney and wouldn't be back until the night before the party. "Great timing," he muttered to himself as he arrived back at his flat.