Fallen Angel
Title: Fallen Angel
Chapter 2: Just Energy
“You can see me,” Sirius said, after a few moments of stunned silence. He seemed as surprised as she felt, but he was recovering faster. “You can close your mouth now, unless you intend to catch a fly with it.”
“I…uhm…” she stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. What the hell was going on?
“Why can you see me?” he asked, with a puzzled expression she had never seen on his face before. “No one else can.”
“I don’t…I’m not sure. It must have been the spell.”
She took a small step forward, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes. He looked real, solid. In fact, he looked just like she remembered him. But he had just appeared in front of her; he hadn’t been there moments before, had he?
“How did you-” she started, but then the door behind her opened suddenly, hitting her on the back and making her stumble a few feet forward.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hermione. Are you all right?” Ron asked, stepping into the room.
“I…yes, it…” she mumbled, frowning. Ron had stepped into the room and walked to the far end, where he was rummaging inside one of the backpacks for something. He had walked right past Sirius, as if he wasn’t there. “Ron, can’t you-“
“He can’t see me,” Sirius said calmly, before she could finish the question.
“Why?” she asked him.
“Why what?” Ron asked, still focused on the backpack. “Oh, here it is!” he said, pulling out a box, and then turning around to face her again. “Are you sure you’re all right? You look a little pale.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she told him, forcing a small smile to her lips, then she added in a whisper, “Just think I’m going crazy.”
“You’re not going crazy,” Sirius replied, taking one last step towards her. “I’m real, see?” he said with a wink, reaching for her hand. The second his fingers reached hers she felt that strange warm energy again, but nothing else.
“I can’t feel your hand, your skin,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his fingers.
“You’re feeling all there is to feel,” he said. “Energy.”
“You’re just energy?”
“What are you talking about?” Ron asked, stepping right in front of her, so that Sirius’ arm was sticking out of his chest.
“He can’t feel me,” Sirius said, before she could ask, moving his arm up and down a bit, as if to prove his point. “No one else can.”
“Then why me?”
“Why you what?” Ron asked her, looking confused.
She forced herself to look away from Sirius and focused on Ron.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine, just a little tired.”
“Why don’t you come downstairs with the rest? Most of the Order’s here already, Harry’s telling them about the trip.”
“I…sure, let’s go,” she said, waving her wand and lowering the wards before Ron could notice they were there. Ron looked at her for a second, as if not sure she was really all right, but he finally shrugged and walked out of the room.
“Are you coming?” she asked Sirius, before following Ron out.
She stepped into the library after Ron, doing her best to smile at everyone as she looked for an empty seat. She had expected to find more people there, but apparently only those closest to them had been called.
She made her way to the far end of the room as Harry spoke, sitting by the window, next to Mrs Weasley. She tried to focus on what Harry was saying, but then Sirius walked into the room, and her attention immediately went to him. He smiled at her as he moved, walking right through Fred and then Bill before settling behind Harry. She looked at every person in the room in turn; no one seemed to have noticed the wizard they all thought dead standing right there.
“They can’t see me, either,” Sirius said, his voice easily carrying over Harry’s. “Or feel me,” he added, as he walked away from Harry, walking right through Professor McGonagall and then Kingsley as he got closer to her.
She wanted to ask him what was going on, but if anyone heard her they’d think she was going crazy. Could Sirius perhaps read her mind? She looked right into his eyes and concentrated on the question, but he just smiled at her, looking slightly puzzled. Damn.
“You can’t read my mind, can you?” she whispered, frustrated.
“Why? Are you thinking something you’d want me to know about?” he asked her, with a devilish grin she’d seen him use a time or two. Not that she’d been paying attention, of course. Great, now she was blushing, too.
She saw the grin on his face broaden, and she turned away from him without a word, focusing on Harry.
“…our second day in Belgrade. We had gone to a Muggle shopping mall to watch a movie.”
“A movie?” Mr Weasley interrupted, excitedly.
“Yes,” Ron said. “We were walking through the crowd when I saw a Muggle woman walk right by us, wearing the locket.”
“A Muggle wearing Salazar Slytherin’s locket?” Mad-Eye asked.
“Yes. We discovered later on that the locket was some kind of Riddle family heirloom,” Harry said. “Or family curse, more like. Voldemort had cursed it before giving it to what was left of his Muggle family, although they didn’t know it was cursed.”
“We couldn’t use magic on her in the mall, so we followed her back home and switched the locket for the one we had without her noticing,” Ron said.
“Oh, isn’t that a lovely story?” Sirius said, with a smirk, leaning back against the window. When she frowned at him in confusion he told her in a fake whisper. “The truth is, Ron tried to approach the woman when she was in the mall. He grabbed her sleeve trying to catch her attention, and the woman turned around and punched him square on the nose, probably thinking he was some sort of pickpocket. Just one good punch and the boy fell on his arse. Before he even knew what was happening, a security guard was there, and the woman started yelling he had tried to take her bag. The poor boy looked from one to the other, blushed so hard he looked like his face was on fire, and then bounced to his feet and made a run for it, with the guard running after him. He ran for at least five minutes before he found a place hidden enough to Apparate away. Real suave, he was.”
She tried to stifle the chuckle bubbling from her chest, but it was impossible; just the thought of Ron being punched like that by a Muggle woman and then running from the guards was hilarious, especially after having heard Ron’s uneventful version of the encounter. She covered her mouth with her hands to drown the sound of her laughter, but there was no hiding her shaking shoulders or teary eyes.
“Hermione?” someone asked, and she looked up to see everyone turned to her, looking at her as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Perhaps it was because Ron’s version of the story wasn’t quite as funny as Sirius’.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to keep her face straight. “I just remembered something funny.” She knew she was blushing again, but she ignored that fact, along with Sirius’ bark of laughter at her reaction, and focused on Ron and Harry once more.
They all stayed silent for a few moments, still looking at her, but then, thankfully, Kingsley spoke.
“So you managed to destroy the Horcruxes?”
Well, it seemed she had missed a part of the story; she’d have to ask the boys about it later on.
“Yes,” Harry replied, and everyone else finally turned back to him. “We destroyed the two we found, which means that, if Dumbledore was right, there should only be two more left.”
“Do you know where they are hidden?”
“Not yet, but we will find them and destroy them. What matters the most right now is that the Order has to be ready. When the last Horcrux is destroyed, it will be time to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters.”
A collective shiver ran through the room at the mention of the wizard’s name, but no one said anything.
“We have to find a way to track that last Horcruxes,” Moody said, after a few moments. “Magic so dark always leaves a trace, we only need to find a way to follow it.”
“I believe there are some books on Horcruxes in the Department of Mysteries. We could have used them before, if you had told us what you were searching for. I know an Unspeakable who is supportive to our cause; he might be able to get that information for us.”
“Professor Dumbledore wanted me to search them for myself; he didn’t want me to tell the Order.”
“What’s done is done, and I am sure Albus had his reasons for asking you to keep this from us,” McGonagall said. “Now that we know, we have more important things to worry about than why he asked that of you, such as finding those Horcruxes and readying ourselves for a battle.”
“We should arrange a meeting soon, with every Order member this time, and see where we stand and what needs to be done,” Kingsley said, and everyone agreed.
Conversation quickly drifted to other subjects, and after a few minutes the Order members that weren’t staying for lunch said their goodbyes and left headquarters.
“Fancy a quick Quidditch match before lunch?” Fred asked, stretching on the couch.
“You bet. Haven’t played in months,” Harry said, and Ron nodded in agreement.
“How about you, Hermione?” Ginny asked.
“You know I don’t like flying. Besides, I need to do some research. I’d like to know more about those books you showed me,” she told Harry and Ron.
“But there’s only five of us, Hermione, you have to play.”
“I think I’ll stay, then,” Ron said. “I could help you with the research.”
“You? Research?” she asked, and heard Sirius laugh at Ron’s outraged expression.
“You’re right,” Harry said, trying not to smile. “But the least we can do is help you with those books. We brought them here, after all.”
“There’s no need to help, and I work better by myself. Just go have fun, and if you need another player, Bill’s in the kitchen, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, now go,” she said, and they didn’t need to be told twice. Harry and Ron had only been back for a few hours, and already she missed the calm of the previous days.
“You’d really rather do research than play Quidditch?” Sirius asked, as the others left. He sounded almost surprised.
“You know me, Bookworm-Hermione. All work and no fun, remember?” she said with a shrug, and he frowned, looking confused. “Aren’t you going with them?”
“I think I’d rather stay here and help you,” he said, sitting next to her, close enough for her to feel his energy prickling on her skin.
“I never pictured you for one willing to choose books over fun.” He looked positively confused at her words, now.
“What do you mean?” he asked her.
“Well, I don’t mean to say you aren’t smart or anything,” she said quickly, wondering if that was what he’d made out of her words, “but from what I heard, you were always ready to pass studying in favour of…well, fun of any kind.”
“Why do you talk like that?”
“Talk like what?” she asked. This conversation was getting stranger by the second.
“Why do you talk like you know me?”
“I…” She hesitated, not sure what to say. “I know we were never close, Sirius, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything,” she said, not sure exactly what she was apologizing for, or why. “I guess that’s just the impression you gave, and from what everyone says about you I…”
“What did you call me?” he suddenly interrupted, standing up quickly and turning to her, his expression unreadable.
Well, what had she said now?
“I’m sorry, Sirius, I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, standing up as well and moving in front of him. He was beginning to worry her.
“Sirius. You called me that before. Why?” he asked, and she frowned at his question.
“That’s your name.”
His eyes widened for a moment, and he took a step closer to her. He reached for her, seemingly not remembering he couldn’t touch her, and she shivered at the sudden feel of his warm energy going through her. His eyes met hers, and there was an intensity in them like she had never seen before; it was as if his entire attention was focused solely on her, and nothing else mattered.
“Sirius, what’s going on?” she asked, worry quickly turning into confusion, and then fear, not of him, but for him. He looked so lost, so desperate.
“From the moment you saw me earlier you acted as if you knew me,” he said softly. “I didn’t think much of it at first, thought you were shocked at seeing someone no one else could. But now I just…”
“What are you talking about?”
When he spoke again, his voice was barely a whisper, confusion and a shadow of hope clear on his face.
“Do you know me?” he asked. “Do you know who I am?”
Chapter 2: Just Energy
“You can see me,” Sirius said, after a few moments of stunned silence. He seemed as surprised as she felt, but he was recovering faster. “You can close your mouth now, unless you intend to catch a fly with it.”
“I…uhm…” she stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. What the hell was going on?
“Why can you see me?” he asked, with a puzzled expression she had never seen on his face before. “No one else can.”
“I don’t…I’m not sure. It must have been the spell.”
She took a small step forward, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes. He looked real, solid. In fact, he looked just like she remembered him. But he had just appeared in front of her; he hadn’t been there moments before, had he?
“How did you-” she started, but then the door behind her opened suddenly, hitting her on the back and making her stumble a few feet forward.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hermione. Are you all right?” Ron asked, stepping into the room.
“I…yes, it…” she mumbled, frowning. Ron had stepped into the room and walked to the far end, where he was rummaging inside one of the backpacks for something. He had walked right past Sirius, as if he wasn’t there. “Ron, can’t you-“
“He can’t see me,” Sirius said calmly, before she could finish the question.
“Why?” she asked him.
“Why what?” Ron asked, still focused on the backpack. “Oh, here it is!” he said, pulling out a box, and then turning around to face her again. “Are you sure you’re all right? You look a little pale.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she told him, forcing a small smile to her lips, then she added in a whisper, “Just think I’m going crazy.”
“You’re not going crazy,” Sirius replied, taking one last step towards her. “I’m real, see?” he said with a wink, reaching for her hand. The second his fingers reached hers she felt that strange warm energy again, but nothing else.
“I can’t feel your hand, your skin,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his fingers.
“You’re feeling all there is to feel,” he said. “Energy.”
“You’re just energy?”
“What are you talking about?” Ron asked, stepping right in front of her, so that Sirius’ arm was sticking out of his chest.
“He can’t feel me,” Sirius said, before she could ask, moving his arm up and down a bit, as if to prove his point. “No one else can.”
“Then why me?”
“Why you what?” Ron asked her, looking confused.
She forced herself to look away from Sirius and focused on Ron.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine, just a little tired.”
“Why don’t you come downstairs with the rest? Most of the Order’s here already, Harry’s telling them about the trip.”
“I…sure, let’s go,” she said, waving her wand and lowering the wards before Ron could notice they were there. Ron looked at her for a second, as if not sure she was really all right, but he finally shrugged and walked out of the room.
“Are you coming?” she asked Sirius, before following Ron out.
She stepped into the library after Ron, doing her best to smile at everyone as she looked for an empty seat. She had expected to find more people there, but apparently only those closest to them had been called.
She made her way to the far end of the room as Harry spoke, sitting by the window, next to Mrs Weasley. She tried to focus on what Harry was saying, but then Sirius walked into the room, and her attention immediately went to him. He smiled at her as he moved, walking right through Fred and then Bill before settling behind Harry. She looked at every person in the room in turn; no one seemed to have noticed the wizard they all thought dead standing right there.
“They can’t see me, either,” Sirius said, his voice easily carrying over Harry’s. “Or feel me,” he added, as he walked away from Harry, walking right through Professor McGonagall and then Kingsley as he got closer to her.
She wanted to ask him what was going on, but if anyone heard her they’d think she was going crazy. Could Sirius perhaps read her mind? She looked right into his eyes and concentrated on the question, but he just smiled at her, looking slightly puzzled. Damn.
“You can’t read my mind, can you?” she whispered, frustrated.
“Why? Are you thinking something you’d want me to know about?” he asked her, with a devilish grin she’d seen him use a time or two. Not that she’d been paying attention, of course. Great, now she was blushing, too.
She saw the grin on his face broaden, and she turned away from him without a word, focusing on Harry.
“…our second day in Belgrade. We had gone to a Muggle shopping mall to watch a movie.”
“A movie?” Mr Weasley interrupted, excitedly.
“Yes,” Ron said. “We were walking through the crowd when I saw a Muggle woman walk right by us, wearing the locket.”
“A Muggle wearing Salazar Slytherin’s locket?” Mad-Eye asked.
“Yes. We discovered later on that the locket was some kind of Riddle family heirloom,” Harry said. “Or family curse, more like. Voldemort had cursed it before giving it to what was left of his Muggle family, although they didn’t know it was cursed.”
“We couldn’t use magic on her in the mall, so we followed her back home and switched the locket for the one we had without her noticing,” Ron said.
“Oh, isn’t that a lovely story?” Sirius said, with a smirk, leaning back against the window. When she frowned at him in confusion he told her in a fake whisper. “The truth is, Ron tried to approach the woman when she was in the mall. He grabbed her sleeve trying to catch her attention, and the woman turned around and punched him square on the nose, probably thinking he was some sort of pickpocket. Just one good punch and the boy fell on his arse. Before he even knew what was happening, a security guard was there, and the woman started yelling he had tried to take her bag. The poor boy looked from one to the other, blushed so hard he looked like his face was on fire, and then bounced to his feet and made a run for it, with the guard running after him. He ran for at least five minutes before he found a place hidden enough to Apparate away. Real suave, he was.”
She tried to stifle the chuckle bubbling from her chest, but it was impossible; just the thought of Ron being punched like that by a Muggle woman and then running from the guards was hilarious, especially after having heard Ron’s uneventful version of the encounter. She covered her mouth with her hands to drown the sound of her laughter, but there was no hiding her shaking shoulders or teary eyes.
“Hermione?” someone asked, and she looked up to see everyone turned to her, looking at her as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Perhaps it was because Ron’s version of the story wasn’t quite as funny as Sirius’.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to keep her face straight. “I just remembered something funny.” She knew she was blushing again, but she ignored that fact, along with Sirius’ bark of laughter at her reaction, and focused on Ron and Harry once more.
They all stayed silent for a few moments, still looking at her, but then, thankfully, Kingsley spoke.
“So you managed to destroy the Horcruxes?”
Well, it seemed she had missed a part of the story; she’d have to ask the boys about it later on.
“Yes,” Harry replied, and everyone else finally turned back to him. “We destroyed the two we found, which means that, if Dumbledore was right, there should only be two more left.”
“Do you know where they are hidden?”
“Not yet, but we will find them and destroy them. What matters the most right now is that the Order has to be ready. When the last Horcrux is destroyed, it will be time to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters.”
A collective shiver ran through the room at the mention of the wizard’s name, but no one said anything.
“We have to find a way to track that last Horcruxes,” Moody said, after a few moments. “Magic so dark always leaves a trace, we only need to find a way to follow it.”
“I believe there are some books on Horcruxes in the Department of Mysteries. We could have used them before, if you had told us what you were searching for. I know an Unspeakable who is supportive to our cause; he might be able to get that information for us.”
“Professor Dumbledore wanted me to search them for myself; he didn’t want me to tell the Order.”
“What’s done is done, and I am sure Albus had his reasons for asking you to keep this from us,” McGonagall said. “Now that we know, we have more important things to worry about than why he asked that of you, such as finding those Horcruxes and readying ourselves for a battle.”
“We should arrange a meeting soon, with every Order member this time, and see where we stand and what needs to be done,” Kingsley said, and everyone agreed.
Conversation quickly drifted to other subjects, and after a few minutes the Order members that weren’t staying for lunch said their goodbyes and left headquarters.
“Fancy a quick Quidditch match before lunch?” Fred asked, stretching on the couch.
“You bet. Haven’t played in months,” Harry said, and Ron nodded in agreement.
“How about you, Hermione?” Ginny asked.
“You know I don’t like flying. Besides, I need to do some research. I’d like to know more about those books you showed me,” she told Harry and Ron.
“But there’s only five of us, Hermione, you have to play.”
“I think I’ll stay, then,” Ron said. “I could help you with the research.”
“You? Research?” she asked, and heard Sirius laugh at Ron’s outraged expression.
“You’re right,” Harry said, trying not to smile. “But the least we can do is help you with those books. We brought them here, after all.”
“There’s no need to help, and I work better by myself. Just go have fun, and if you need another player, Bill’s in the kitchen, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, now go,” she said, and they didn’t need to be told twice. Harry and Ron had only been back for a few hours, and already she missed the calm of the previous days.
“You’d really rather do research than play Quidditch?” Sirius asked, as the others left. He sounded almost surprised.
“You know me, Bookworm-Hermione. All work and no fun, remember?” she said with a shrug, and he frowned, looking confused. “Aren’t you going with them?”
“I think I’d rather stay here and help you,” he said, sitting next to her, close enough for her to feel his energy prickling on her skin.
“I never pictured you for one willing to choose books over fun.” He looked positively confused at her words, now.
“What do you mean?” he asked her.
“Well, I don’t mean to say you aren’t smart or anything,” she said quickly, wondering if that was what he’d made out of her words, “but from what I heard, you were always ready to pass studying in favour of…well, fun of any kind.”
“Why do you talk like that?”
“Talk like what?” she asked. This conversation was getting stranger by the second.
“Why do you talk like you know me?”
“I…” She hesitated, not sure what to say. “I know we were never close, Sirius, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything,” she said, not sure exactly what she was apologizing for, or why. “I guess that’s just the impression you gave, and from what everyone says about you I…”
“What did you call me?” he suddenly interrupted, standing up quickly and turning to her, his expression unreadable.
Well, what had she said now?
“I’m sorry, Sirius, I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, standing up as well and moving in front of him. He was beginning to worry her.
“Sirius. You called me that before. Why?” he asked, and she frowned at his question.
“That’s your name.”
His eyes widened for a moment, and he took a step closer to her. He reached for her, seemingly not remembering he couldn’t touch her, and she shivered at the sudden feel of his warm energy going through her. His eyes met hers, and there was an intensity in them like she had never seen before; it was as if his entire attention was focused solely on her, and nothing else mattered.
“Sirius, what’s going on?” she asked, worry quickly turning into confusion, and then fear, not of him, but for him. He looked so lost, so desperate.
“From the moment you saw me earlier you acted as if you knew me,” he said softly. “I didn’t think much of it at first, thought you were shocked at seeing someone no one else could. But now I just…”
“What are you talking about?”
When he spoke again, his voice was barely a whisper, confusion and a shadow of hope clear on his face.
“Do you know me?” he asked. “Do you know who I am?”