Hi all! I haven't been on here for quite some time, but I was recently reading through some of my favorite HP fictions and it reminded me of this one story that I'd read a very long time ago. Somehow I never put the story in my favorites or bookmarks...even though I loved it. It's been so long that I can barely remember any details about it.
I believe, but I'm not certain, that the story was on ffnet. However, it could easily have been archived somewhere else. From what I remember, it was Harry-centric and set post OOTP. There was a very distinctive scene that I can recall partially:
- Sirius is somehow brought back to life/comes back to life/wasn't dead(?)...I don't remember how this came about exactly but he was alive in the scene.
- He hasn't been cleared, so when he reappears, he's captured by the Ministry and imprisoned.
- Because Sirus had "wronged" Harry...the Ministry (which I believe was trying to get on Harry's good side) asks/invites (not sure exactly...) Harry to come down and see Sirius...
- The Ministry expected Harry to treat Sirius badly and the Ministry's representive, Percy Weasley, is shocked and confused when Harry treats Sirius well and greets him like an old friend.
- In the scene, Sirius is being held in a holding cell in the Ministry and he hasn't been provided with any comforts i.e. a chair. So, when Harry comes in he's (Harry is) offered a chair...but Harry also conjures (or maybe gets Percy to conjure up?) a chair for Sirius.
- I remember that Sirius and Harry's reunion is very moving and also sort of humourous. There were some very distinctive lines and witty banter in this part...but it's been so long that I can't remember them. I remember vaguely that Sirius says something and Harry responds with an amusing comment...something about Sirius being crazy or something? But Harry wasn't being serious with the line, which basically goes like:
Sirius: "blah blah blah"
Harry: "blah blah...check!"
I remember the check part very distinctly but I can't remember what the "blah blah" parts said. :-/! The line was one of the first lines between the two when they see each other. Oh and I just remembered, Harry and Sirius communicate in a sort of code...where Harry is basically telling Sirius that he's learned a "trick" which is referring to the fact that Harry has become an animagus. Also, part of the code is somehow related to or derived from the language/code(?) that werewolfs use (possibly their family/pack structure?). During this part, Harry and Sirius refer to each other with nicknames and codenames? and Harry says something like "also, I've learned the thing...". I'm not sure of the exact wording.
- I think, think but am not completely positive, that during the reunion scene Harry says something about how he had accomplished a lot and it was inspired by Sirius' death. Harry (I think maybe?) also says about how it kind of seems like the accomplishments were in vain? because they were inspired by the need to recover from Sirius' death...but I'm very uncertain on this last bit.
I believe the story was a WIP at the time that I read it. It was well-written and spelling/grammar were both done well. It was also a relatively decent size and contained multiple chapters. I believe it was an independent!Harry type fiction. I can't remember the pairing but I'm pretty sure it was not slash...because at that time the only slash I read was Harry/Sirius. The story also did not seem to contain any Sirry slash up to the scene I described above. I can't remember anything after that scene so I don't know where the story went from there.
It's very frusterating not being able to give you all anymore details. I hope I remember more, but I read the story at least a year ago. I'm pretty sure it was in fact on ffnet. I think I read it near the time that Jbern's To Fight the Coming Darkness was being posted...so sometime between December 3rd, 2005 and November 12th, 2007. I thought that it might have been a scene in that story but I've been reading through it and I haven't come across this scene so it may have been a story with a similar plot?
I know that this is all very little to go on...but I'm hoping that it's enough to jog someone's memory because I really loved this story. Also, I've been having quite a bit of trouble with Firefox's built-in spell checker, so if there are some glaring spelling mistakes I aplogize for that.
Thanks to everyone in advance and I really hope you all can help me find this story!
I'm crossposting this story in various places because I'm hoping that someone somewhere will be able to find it...I apologize if I've just flooded you with the same request.