Tonks made her way carefully (which for her meant knocking over only one little table as she went) through the room. It had been a month since Sirius had died, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix were rummaging through the whole house in search for important things – stuff revealing the identity of the members, the plans of the Order etcetera etcetera, as, according to Dumbledore, they might have to evacuate Number 12, Grimmaulds Place. She, having returned fully healed from St. Mungo’s, had offered to help, so now the four of them (Remus, Mad-Eye, Mundungus and herself) were distributed in various rooms of the house, picking up anything and everything that might give them away. Well actually, only Remus, Mad-Eye and she were doing the scavenging; all Mundungus seemed to be doing was complaining and (she strongly suspected) stealing an occasional valuable item.


The current room she was in had nothing to give anyway, and she was just about to leave when a photograph stuck in a clumsy fashion – possibly by careless magic – caught her attention. It contained a group of people, all laughing and apparently enjoying themselves – the original Order of the Phoenix. She remembered Mad-Eye showing Sirius the picture last year. Looking carefully, she managed to locate him in the picture, seated at the back, looking very handsome and very happy. The cousin she had never really known that well but had come to like so very much in an extraordinarily short while. Next to him sat on one side Harry’s parents and that Peter Pettigrew fellow, and on the other a girl close to Lily's age. The long golden curls framing her face bounced freely as she animatedly shook her head. She seemed to be laughing at some joke he’d just whispered into her ear. He must have been pretty popular with girls. Tonks had never looked carefully at this picture before, and for some reason, the people in it fascinated her. So this is how it had been – merriment in the time of war, laughter in the face of death. She looked at the girl again, somehow hypnotized by her blue eyes, then, concentrating, forced her own features to change. A pleasant tingly feeling spread over her – despite having many years’ practice, she had never quite got used to metamorphosis.


‘Tonks?’ She jumped and turned around as a voice behind her called her name. It was Remus, looking a lot more tired and shabbier, not to mention more wrinkled, than a month before. But he was smiling nonetheless … sweet Remus, who always had a smile for everyone, no matter what his mood. As he set his eyes on her however, the smile froze, and his general look of kindness was replaced by one of horror.


‘What the – what are – why would you …?’ His hoarse voice trailed off, he seemed to be too agitated for words.


Tonks, realizing why this might be, immediately changed herself back into her own heart shaped face and short pink hair. How could she have been so stupid as to put on the face of someone who Remus had known before and who’d died a long time ago?


‘I’m sorry,’ she said quickly, ‘I didn’t mean to –’


‘It’s okay,’ he said, taking a deep breath, ‘just – just pay the dead more respect next time, alright?’


She nodded miserably, and the two elapsed into an awkward silence. This had been happening a lot for the past few months, the silence that is, not the rebuking. In recent times, Tonks often found herself wondering where her previous ease around him had gone. With an effort that seemed staggering, Remus smiled again.


‘So, everything done here?’


‘Yes … you?’


‘Hmm … almost … one room left.’


He looked distractedly at the picture, and an extremely sad expression filled his face, one she’d seen so many times this past month, but she understood that. He had lost the one friend who understood him, not that she didn’t wish to be such a friend to him. She wanted terribly to be able to know him better, if only he gave her such a chance … tell her more about himself. A sudden desperate feeling sprung up within her.


‘Why won’t you tell me?’ she cried out impulsively. His eyes widened in surprise.


‘I’m sorry?’


‘Oh! Nothing!’ she said, confused at this outburst. ‘Well, er, I guess I should go help Mad-Eye out.’


She rushed past him and had almost made it to the door when a sudden feeling of courage swept over her.


‘Remus?’


‘Yes?’


‘I just – wanted to – er – say that – that I’m really sorry for what happened, at the Ministry, I mean.’


She turned round, not knowing whether he was angry at her for pitying him or not, but his back was turned to her. After a few seconds elapsed, he turned as well and looked straight into her eyes, with a gaze so penetrating it seemed to reach right into her heart, but there was a sincerity about his expression that lessened her discomfort. At that moment they were both thinking the same thing.


‘Thanks, I’m glad that she – she didn’t get you too. When I saw you lying there – unconscious – I thought ... well anyway it’s all over now I suppose.’


She didn’t know what to say to that, and the room was filled with another of those heavy silences, only this time it was accompanied with another feeling, one she’d had a few times before, of wanting to run up to him and hug him tightly.


Snap out of it, she told herself mentally and smacked her head out of habit, only realizing her mistake when Remus once again raised his eyebrows in surprise.


‘Damn, um, I guess we’d better go then, huh?’ she tried to make her voice sound cheerful. His face split into a weary smile.


‘You go, I think I want to stay here for a while,’ and nodding at her, he again turned his back and stood looking up at the picture, which Sirius had obviously stuck himself to the wall in one of his irresponsible moods.

‘SIRIUS, COME HERE!’


The thick walls of Sirius Black’s bedroom were no match for the deafening shout that infiltrated every corner of the house. He moved listlessly, but otherwise completely ignored the shout. Having had a most entertaining and restless time the previous night, he was trying to catch up on sleep now. Besides, after almost eleven years of being addressed the same way, day and night, he had become quite used to it.


‘SIRIUS!’


Unable to ignore the yells any longer, he got up from his bed with a weary groan and made his way to the door, pausing only momentarily in front of the mirror to check his appearance. His hair was a bit messy, and his clothes a bit rumpled, but otherwise he looked fine. While people often got him wrong, he couldn’t help being a little proud of his looks – it was one thing among many that distinguished him from his not so dear mother. With a small smile he stepped out into the landing. In doing so, he found himself looking straight into a small face, poking out of a door opposite to his own bedroom’s.


‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed,’ said his idiotic younger brother in a lofty voice, ‘but Mother’s been calling you. I think she might want to have a word with you.’


He wondered why the sight of Regulus’ face always incited within him an urge to punch him dearly. However, there was a time and place for everything. Mother was calling him for some reason (and if it was what he thought it was, it was no small whim) and he thought he had better make haste.


Contenting himself with a very dirty look and a few select swear words thrown at that half-witted family member of his, he made his way down the stairs and emerged finally into the kitchen, where Mother sat, wearing an uncharacteristically ugly look. Although of course, it wasn’t like she generally had a very amiable expression on her face, only this time she had transgressed all boundaries of ugliness.


‘So,’ she said, slowly and clearly, as if wishing to draw out even that monosyllabic word into many minutes.


He said nothing. She was evidently fit to bursting with rage. He wondered if she actually would one of these days, and then realized with a faint smile that even then she could not possibly look scarier than now. Her eyes were popping, but she was still making a valiant effort (the first he’d seen of that particular trait in her) to look calm and composed.


‘What are you grinning in that idiotic way at me for young man?’ she almost snapped. Sirius replaced the cheerful expression with a pained one, which was more appropriate in this house, and said nothing.


‘Well?’ she asked. He continued saying nothing, in the tiny hope that she might just be angry at him for being late for breakfast or something.


‘Well?’ she asked again. He wondered if she was suffering from a hangover from last night. She didn’t usually display such limited vocabulary; her rich insults poured out faster than he was able to catch them, not that he wanted to catch them of course. However, he had developed a foolproof method to combat this. All he did was switch off whenever he saw the dangerous signs, and the result of it was that he was able to get through the longest lectures by merely not paying attention to what Mother was saying and managed to put in a lot of thought on other topics in the meantime, the only inconvenience being that he got tired remaining in her company for so long.


Maybe she realized that this particular conversation of theirs was not as snappy as she would have liked it to be, so she tried to make amends.


‘What have you got to say for yourself?’ she asked him imperiously. A great many thoughts entered his head, the fact that he was hungry, tired and sleepy and needed a wash took precedence, but he decided to make do for the time being with a cheery ‘Good morning’. It didn’t help melt the thaw at all. Her eyes just popped all the more, giving her the appearance of a particularly ugly fish. Sirius found himself fighting down another smile. He wasn’t the only one struggling, though.


‘You – you dare,’ she began, labouring hard to keep herself in control, and gaining his full support (even though he knew it was a losing battle, things would not be very pleasant once she gave way to her primeval instincts). She paused, took a deep breath, and continued, ‘you dare to – to pretend that – that nothing has happened even after – after everything that has happened?’ A pretty lame sentence, in Sirius’ opinion, but, to give the poor creature credit, she was fighting a colossal battle all the while inside.


‘Why,’ he said innocently, widening his eyes and hoping it didn’t make him resemble her, ‘whatever can you mean, Mother?’


This was too much for her. She simply couldn’t speak. In response, she waved a newspaper at him, her chest heaving with emotion all the while. He caught the headlines – ‘DISTURBED ELDEST SON OF RESPECTED FAMILY GOES MAD, BURNS DOWN BUILDINGS AND CAUSES A RIOT’. Whoever had written the article pretty much summed up last night’s events, even though they had a tendency to exaggerate a bit. So the thing was out. There was no getting away from it.


After this, things got pretty fast paced. She called him a lot of things, he gave her all the justifications he could, she ignored them and continued burying him under her wrath. In a last bid for freedom, Sirius reminded her that they were supposed to go to Diagon Alley today to get his school things (being eleven, he was just about to start at Hogwarts), but she only gathered together many more names to call him during the interval in which he spoke and proceeded to repeat them. Finally fed up, he went to the fireside, collected a handful of Floo Powder, and made a speedy exit, leaving her gaping and more pop eyed than ever before.


***


Sirius stepped out of the fire at Flourish and Blotts in a debonair fashion, feeling pretty much at peace with the world, when suddenly the thought struck him that he was still in the same crumpled clothes (now made much worse with ash) which he had slept in. The sense of being out in public without having washed came home to him painfully, and was heightened by the fact that a pretty red-headed girl was staring wide eyed at him. Noticing his embarrassment, she blushed, and tried to explain.


‘I’m sorry for staring, but – but you just stepped out of the fire!’ She spoke with an amazed expression, her words clearly indicating her ignorance of the commonest Wizarding practices. He suddenly felt more at ease; in fact, he was really comfortable now, having realized his superiority in being a pure-blood.


‘Yes, we wizards do have a tendency to do that. You Muggle-born?’


She nodded. ‘I’m just starting. I got my letter only last week. Oh, I’m so excited!’ she concluded, her eyes shining.


‘Ah,’ he replied. So she would be in the same year as him. But he was prevented from making any further remarks owing to the sight of a small, sallow skinned boy staring at them, probably eavesdropping. Seeing Sirius looking at him, he walked away, but the former had seen something in his expression, contempt that he had made no attempt to veil. This was a bit rich, coming from him. The way he had been dressed made him look like a cross between a house-elf and a Muggle tramp. He turned back to the pretty girl.


‘I’m Sirius Black, by the way,’ He told her, returning to his debonair manner. ‘Are you here all alone?’


‘Not really,’ she said nervously. ‘My family’s here with me, but Pet started acting all weird and sulky and when I tried to soothe her she just rounded angrily on me and stalked off. They’re gone off to find her I suppose. I’m supposed to wait here in the meantime. Wonder when they’ll be back.’


Saying this she turned around immediately, as if hoping they’d Apparate at the entrance.
‘Hmm … If I was my mother I’d advise you to give your pet a good licking to make her behave.’


‘Oh,’ she replied with a touch of coolness in her voice, ‘you can’t hit Pet. She’s my sister.’


‘Well if Mother is to be believed that makes her worse than any pet you could have owned,’ he murmured.


‘Sorry?’


‘You haven’t yet told me your name, I’m afraid.’


‘Lily Evans.’ She smiled, although she looked uncertain about talking to him any longer. This didn’t affect him though, he was used to it.


‘All right, then, Lily, if you don’t mind, can we put as much distance between ourselves and the fireplace as we can? I’m rather afraid The Monster will come charging through any moment once she’s finished putting on make-up.’


‘Sorry?’


‘My mother, silly!’ he replied benevolently.


‘Oh,’ she replied, apparently somewhat confused. Well, his mother had to be seen to be believed. He started walking away from the place, followed by Lily.


‘You know, I think I should wait here for Mum and Dad to return with Pet,’ she said uncertainly.


‘Nonsense,’ he replied, ‘they might be gone for ages, for all y–’


He wasn’t able to complete the sentence however, because, looking back, he had just noticed Mother standing at the fireplace, and, what was worse, she had noticed him. Without thinking, he grabbed Lily’s hand and made a dash for the exit.


‘Sirius! Stop! Wait!’ Lily yelled, as they weaved in and out of the crowd. He ignored her completely. Soon they were out of the shop and mingling with the rest of the crowd, though still running, of course. He was quite serious about that remark he had made about getting a lot of distance between himself and his flesh-and-blood. There were shouts from somewhere behind, but they only spurred him on. And then suddenly he heard another, more distinct yell. Actually, it was more like a roar, echoing throughout the street. He turned round to see himself being pursued by the largest man he had ever seen in his life. In his astonishment, he stopped short, letting go of his racing companion’s hand, who (probably owing to the fact that her eyes had not rested on this daunting vision) was unable to stop in time and hence collided with a boy – the same boy, in fact, who had shot them a contemptuous look before. It was a small world indeed. The impact of the collision knocked over the boy, in addition to scattering all his books. Lily bent down, flustered, and tried to help him gather his stuff, all the while repeating how sorry she was.


‘Get away from me, Mudblood,’ he said venomously. She fell silent, puzzled.


‘Oy!’ Sirius shouted, advancing on the ugly kid. ‘You don’t call her that!’ And then, with a wave of gallantry, he punched him on the nose, being rewarded with a crunching sound. As Sirius took a step back to admire his handiwork, doubt slowly crept in on his mind. He didn’t know why he had punched the ugly boy. He had been considerably rude, but, it wasn’t like Sirius had heard the term for the first time. More than that, it was his striking resemblance to Mother that really ticked Sirius off. But his anger was nothing to match the ugly kid’s own, as he staggered, clutching his nose, and then, unexpectedly producing a wand out of nowhere, he started showering Sirius with curses, much as Mother showered him with her verbal ones.


Sirius dodged them most skilfully indeed, and had a bit of fun at the ugly kid’s expense, but, amidst all these frivolous activities, his mind was expressing wonder that one as young looking as the kid could know such advanced spells, and dark spells they seemed too. All around them, various shops were crumbling as spell after spell, intended for Sirius, broke a window pane, or set fire to a door. Quite a stir was caused among the crowd. In fact, it was not dissimilar to what had happened last night at Father’s ‘important official party’, where he had set fire to his house’s drawing room in an outburst of festive spirit (and not any surge of insanity, as the Daily Prophet claimed).


There was a general mayhem all round. Sirius was forced to perform the most complex forms of acrobatics to avoid having his hair set on fire. Lily was standing a little distance away, looking at a loss, while occasional spells sent her way caused her to perform some extraordinary leaps and jumps as well. Not long afterwards he began to tire of this sport, and had just started wondering who would come up and stop the crazy ugly kid (he couldn’t blame the crowd really; the last few people who had endeavoured to put an end to the violence were being rushed to St. Mungo’s), when it was all over unexpectedly.


One minute, Sirius was dodging a purple jet of light, and the next, he was dangling upside down from his ankles, looking straight at an enormous belly under a massive hairy coat. Looking up, he saw a really big face that was mostly hidden with long hair and a beard, but what was visible wasn’t looking very friendly. This giant-man could hardly be worse than the woman who married his father, though, and, seeing the other kid in a similar position, he was put to ease.


This ease was short-lived. The man in the hairy overcoat proceeded to give them a good shake and then the benefit of a long lecture. He started with Sirius.


‘An’ what do yeh think yeh were doin’?’ He roared. ‘Runnin’ off with the little girl like that, even while she was screamin’ at you ter stop? An’ then pushin’ her onter the dangerous kid an’ then punchin’ him an’ gettin’ inter fights? What d’yeh mean, eh?’


‘Easy there, mate!’ Sirius said in alarm. ‘I didn’t mean for that accident to happen. And I had to punch him. He deserved it. He called Lily – well, he called her what gits like him call people like her who’ve got Muggles for parents.’


‘He din’!’ said the massive man, shocked. He was obviously not as mean inside as he looked externally.


‘He did,’ Sirius replied gravely. The huge man proceeded to drop the scrawny boy and started thundering at him for having no respect for fellow wizards, causing a scene, inflicting heavy damages on other people’s property, etc, when he was interrupted by a hook-nosed man, very unpleasant looking. He obviously had until now been very wisely keeping away from the proceedings, but, once assured the ugly boy wouldn’t use his wand again any time soon, came up to where they stood (and hung), and taking good aim, kicked hard at the boy. The boy crumpled and the man, obviously his father, started shouting something about having warned him not to do any spells. He kicked him some more to make sure he had driven home the point, and then dragged him off. Sirius was quite surprised; the man made Mother look like a right little angel, or then again, maybe not.


The huge man holding him seemed too shocked to speak for a moment, and Lily, who had fought her way through the solid crowd to them, pulled his sleeve.


‘Erm, excuse me, sir,’ she said, ‘you should put him down now.’


‘Wha’?’ Said the man holding Sirius. ‘Oh, righ’, there yeh go.’ He put Sirius down a lot more gently than he had done the ugly kid.


‘Sorry ‘bout tha’,’ he said, ‘Guess it wasn’ yer fault after all.’


‘Don’t worry about it,’ Sirius said graciously. ‘It was nothing. But I do think you shouldn’t have left Lily, you know, look where it landed her.’ He knew he was attacking this gigantic well meaning man in the wrong spot, but, in all fairness, Sirius considered that people who’ve been dangled upside down for a considerable period of time for no reason at all do have a bit of a right to get their own back. The gigantic man squirmed at his words.


‘Oh, but, I don’t know him at all,’ Lily cut in. ‘I came with my family remember?’


‘Yeah’ the giant man rumbled, glaring at Sirius, ‘I was just goin’ about me own business in Knockturn Alley when this girl’s parents run past me, screamin’ at her to stop. Had ter help –’


‘Why were you down at Knockturn Alley?’ Sirius interrupted him, interested. ‘It’s the kind of place my parents would visit. You weren’t looking for a shrinking spell by any chance, were you? How come you’re so big anyway? Did you get in the way of some badly placed engorgement charm when you were young? Or is it hereditary? You don’t have giant blood somewhere do you?’


‘Too many questions!’ was the only reply he got. ‘Gotta get goin’ then, haven’ I? Well,’ he turned to Lily, ‘nice meetin’ yeh an’ everythin’.’


At that moment a strangled yell came from behind, and a distraught looking red-haired woman rushed up to Lily and hugged her tightly, while a balding man stood behind them, holding the hand of a girl whose face bore an expression rivalling his cousin Narcissa’s. As a whole, the family turned to glare at him hostilely, and Lily’s parents started trying to edge her away from him.


Sirius wanted to chat longer, but fate would not permit him. Mother, looking as imperious as she could while panting, was standing by his side. An opening of her mouth warned him of what was going to come. He switched off …