The Hidden Marauder (Harry Potter FanFiction)

End

-CHAPTER TWELVE-

Thirty-eight hours. Thirteen minutes. Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two seconds.

Sirius Black felt completely and utterly hopeless, sat on a cold, half broken chair in the middle of the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. He'd taken a brief moment away from his worries to care for his godson, to reassure him that he was goddamn Sirius Black, and he assuredly wouldn't lose his life to some sort of petty veil, but even that conversation didn't last all that long. In fact, it hadn't even occurred to him that the members of the order would think that he had died - for he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that it hadn't appeared to have mattered.

What if he never looked into her warm brown eyes ever again?

What if he'd never have help controlling Moony on a full moon ever again?

What if he lost yet another of his best friends - another one of the marauders?

What if he never had the opportunity to tell her how much he loved her?

Sirius had cursed the last perhaps most, and then felt guilty that he did so. He surely shouldn't be hoping that this woman - this fantastic, idiotically brave and unequivocally amazing woman - should live just so that he could tell her that he loved her just as much as she'd claimed to love him. Surely that was broken, and at that thought, Sirius chuckled hollowly. Maybe it was simply appropriate, after all, he was arguably a very broken man. 

How terribly guilty he'd been feeling for months, knowing deep down that he might have been able to do something to stop Katherine from being taken. He could have done something to save her, but instead, he opted to stay in his room and sulk like a child. Oh what a fool he had been - and although she'd had full reason to resent him more and more with each month she'd been away, it was obvious that Katherine still loved him.

Moony had told Sirius as much. After Sirius had told him about how he was actually alive, Moony had been unbelievably surprised. He'd proceeded to tell Sirius that most of her injuries, and her internal exhaustion, was not apparition induced. He'd determined that Katherine must have known the risks before she'd concocted the insane, risk filled plot she'd then taken on in an attempt to save Sirius, but proceeded regardless.

"You're a lucky man, Sirius Black." Moony had told him, "Unbelievably so."

Sirius hadn't been able to agree more.

Mane's obvious forgiveness towards Sirius and Sirius' almost death had a positive effect on Moony, though. For the months she'd been missing, Remus and Sirius had been strained in their communication - most of the order, in fact, remembered one particularly intense argument the evening that Katherine had been discovered kidnapped, and ever since, regardless of Sirius' attempts to make things right, Remus had been terse and short whenever spoken to. It was a surprise to everyone who was ever in 12 Grimmauld place, for Remus was usually the most level headed and mature of the marauders, but surprisingly, things were different on that occasion.

"Any sign of movement?"

Sirius lifted his head up from where it had been resting on his arm and turned to face Remus - face littered with a shadow that screamed 'shave me' and eyes that were bloodshot from a lack of sleep, not for lack of others attempting to make him rest. Sirius had, a couple of times over the past few days, found himself lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling with enough thoughts racing around in his head to induce a migraine. Needless to say that he hadn't, and probably wouldn't, be able to sleep until something changed for the better.

"No." He replied, voice deep and hoarse from a lack of use. "Nothing."

"She'll be okay." Said Moony, and Sirius didn't bother arguing. He would have reminded Remus that she very well might not be okay, but from the tone of Moony's voice, he was already aware of that fact. Nothing he ever said about Katherine's health was assured - after all, he wasn't a professional - but it wasn't like they were able to take her to a 'proper healer'. As soon as Remus had managed to whip off the offensive robe that Katherine had worn a few days ago, both men had recoiled at the appearance of a strikingly black, intricate, evil mark on the inside of her left wrist.