The Inbetween – By Slytherin's Dragon

Part II(2) – Games of Fire

/Harry\

The next morning, the smells of grilled meat and exotic spices woke Harry up. Habitually, he reached for his glasses, only to touch cold stone. Right, I don't need those anymore. He was splayed out on several layers of soft dark fur – it turned out that Goblins didn't sleep on beds – his head resting on a comfortable green pillow. His torso and legs were swathed in a thick patchwork quilt of dark and light green.

They were the colours of Merrywinter.

Reluctantly, he rolled out of the quilt and furs. He felt around for his pair of socks. He was still dressed in the same long sleeved black shirt and dark jeans from yesterday. The room was pitch-black. He spread out his energy from the palms of his hands, washing the various surfaces of the room with his magic. He could 'see' the wardrobe, the metallic box of scrolls and the writing desk that sat in the side of the room. It was a little skill that he had picked up a few days back on the way to the loo in the middle of the night. He didn't exactly understand how exactly the skill worked but he theorized that it was a variant on echolocation.

'It's cold, Silly-boy!' Silly's hissing came from the bunched up quilt.

'I know. It's rather chilly down here.' Harry agreed, rather wishing that he hadn't left his coat downstairs. He shivered.

'But the hunting's good. Nice fat silly mice...' Silly slithered out slowly, reluctant to expose his body to the hard cold stone. Harry picked up Silly and the snake wrapped himself snugly around Harry's shoulders.

The door to Harry's room swung open and Harry blinked rapidly at the sudden brightness from outside the room. Lorelei, with her long blonde hair in a simple ponytail, said. "Oh, good... you're up! You better get down there before all the food is gone. Leander can be so inconsiderate sometimes."

She dashed nimbly away, as Harry made his way towards the washroom. Rogan had provided him with the necessities, including a plastic toothbrush. As he did the basics, he found it interesting that so much Muggle-inspired stuff had found its way down in Goblin-land. Rogan even owned a magically-powered TV, although he used it for watching VCRs, since Muggle signals from above weren't very well received.

When he was done, he went down the three flights of stone steps that were covered in green carpet. They led to another hallway. Hangings, tapestries and paintings adorned the walls with the occasional gap of stone for a bracket to hold an ever-burning torch. The well-woven tapestries depicted images of fighting Goblins in magnificent armour, sailing Goblins in creaky looking wooden tubs and even Goblins forging weapons with fire supplied obligingly by a dark dragon with gleaming golden eyes. The squiggly Runes of Gobbledegook were stitched beside the pictures. Harry had no doubt that they gave a brief insight into Goblin history and culture.

If only he could read it.

The likeness of one human was stitched onto one of the tapestries. He was tall, rugged-looking with piercing blue eyes and dark hair. Silver goblin-wrought armoured plates were worn over the dark blue robes that the man donned. There was a cheery looking Goblin piggy-back riding on his shoulders dressed in the colours of Merryweather. The man wielded a fearsome sword. The blade looked translucent and it stuck out towards Harry menacingly.

He reached out to trace the outline of the blade.

The art was so realistic, that Harry pondered whether magic was involved in the weaving or was it pure skill. And he wondered who exactly that man with the Goblin around his neck was. This was the first tapestry that he had seen down below that seemed to shed a positive light on goblin and human relationships instead of the two species attempting to hack each other to bits via physical force or magic.

He followed the sounds of conversation, to find himself in a spacious kitchen space. There were three sitting around the squat round marble table that served as the breakfast-table of sorts. Lorelei looked rather out of place; she was too tall for the table. She sat in between the two Goblins. Rogan was sitting with a spread of newspapers in front of him – The Daily Prophet, The New York Times, several London newspapers, and some other newspapers written in foreign languages.

Harry pulled out one of the stone stools that were underneath the table. Silly readjusted his hold around Harry's shoulders and repeatedly sampled the exotic aromas of food with his sensitive tongue.

"Morning, Harry." Rogan took a sip from a mug. "Hope you slept well. It's a little different to be sleeping in a Goblin dwelling..."

"It was quite snug." Harry moved his right hand towards a pile of skewers lying in a metal tray at the centre of the table. He picked one up. Some sort of grilled meat, strange mushrooms, peppers and something that resembled sliced potato were the contents on the stick.

"This is Leander." Lorelei nudged the other Goblin, who was busy with vigorous chewing.

Leander had a skewer in both hands and alternated large bites between the two. He was dressed in a combination of white shirt, matte gold tie and black robes. His golden hair was long and in a braid. His severe dark eyes were fixated on his skewers – evidently a Goblin who took his food seriously. A dark sword-hilt protruded from his left shoulder.

The Goblin then dropped a finished stick and suddenly pushed a filled mug of golden liquid towards Harry. He swallowed before explaining. "Some apple cider my mother made me to bring over. Made from some special strain of apple that our family has managed to cultivate down here... goes down perfectly with this beef."

Harry took a bite of his skewer, savouring the interesting blend of spices that covered the juicy, tender meat. He then took a sip of the cider which had a refreshingly cool taste and the perfect amount of sweetness that seemed to compliment the tang of the spices.

"Good, isn't it?" Leander smiled knowingly.

Harry simply nodded and tackled the food. Leander and Lorelei started talking about food and Harry learned that Goblins preferred skewered foods for the purposes of convenience. Soups were also common as well as a certain kind of flatbread. Beef and lamb were the dominant meats consumed down below. Root veggies such as tubers were popular as well. Fruits were considered a luxury.

Rogan took a final sip of his mug and got up, taking all the papers with him. He tugged at his shirt to straighten it out with his free hand. "Well children, I've got to go to work now. Don't you two lead Harry astray!"

"Of course not," Lorelei grinned widely as Leander muttered rebelliously as he wiped at his strong stubbled chin with his free hand, "I am not a child!"

When Rogan left, Lorelei summoned her long dark wand from the green sleeves of her robes. She non-verbally vanished the debris of breakfast, picked up the mugs and tray, and washed them in the sink with complex swishes.

"Show-off," Leander teased. He then sighed, looking rather wistfully at Lorelei's stick. "If only Goblins could have wands... Damned treaty..."

"It's alright Leander, if you need anything done – I can do it for you." Lorelei manually put the mugs and tray away in the various metallic drawers.

"It's not the same." Leander said. He then added mischievously. "But it is nice having you at my beck and call."

Lorelei swished her head defiantly. "You wish."

"You offered." Leander grinned. "Admit it. You are my bitch!"

She stuck out her tongue. "In your dreams, Leander Brandon Reinhardt!"

"This is a nice dream, don't you think?"

Harry watched as Lorelei shook her head and mutter, "Bloody impossible. That's what you are."

"Just how much magic does a Goblin have?" Harry asked, putting a halt to the banter.

Leander turned his head to Harry. "Well..."

"Probably as much as a wizard or a witch without a wand," Lorelei said after a moment of thought, "The wand amplifies and focuses your magic."

"This is the extent of my amazing powers!" Leander roared aloud. He put his hand forcefully in front of Rogan's mug, which Lorelei hadn't put away and pushed the mug a decimeter away from where it stood originally. He then said rather meekly. "Bloody exhausting, I would rather pick up the mug and move it."

Harry mused. "Well, if you have control over your magic like that – there are a lot of things you could do that don't require –"

"I know." Leander nodded. "I can do more than some other Goblins..." He then changed the topic, "Lorelei, m'dear, where are we going to frolic today?"

"We, my dear Leander..." Lorelei rolled her eyes at the Goblin, "Are going to raid Harry's galleons and take him shopping. I was planning to take him on a little tour of Goblin-land – maybe on Friday? You don't have anything pressing on Friday, do you?"

"Not that I am aware of." Leander said jovially. He then frowned. "There is a Family get-together tomorrow in regards to the upcoming Meeting in good old Deutschland and you know... I have to attend –"

"Father has to go too – being the Speaker and everything. I don't think I will be going this time." Lorelei sighed. "It's a shame Leander, remember when we were young, we used to pretend that the most exciting things happened during those meetings?"

"I dread them. At first they were as boring as hell – and then..." Leander trailed off, looking rather miserable. "Things... things just aren't good."

There was silence as the two friends looked solemnly at each other. For their mid-twenties, both looked very weary. Lorelei finally turned to look at Harry and she said. "We won't burden you with our little troubles, Harry. Today should be a fun day, right Leander?" She forced a smile.

"Yeah..." Leander used his fingers to push up the corners of his mouth to form a smile. "So, shall we go the long way, or go through Uncle Rogan's office?"

Lorelei, Leander and Harry exited the kitchen, walked through the hallway that Harry had came through earlier before tackling the long series of stairs that led up to Rogan's office. When they came to the landing, Lorelei simply pressed against the bookshelf that served as the secret doorway to Rogan's office and the secret door swung open. Rogan wasn't in his office, although the newspapers that he had been reading in the morning were deposited in a neat pile on his desk.

Lorelei and Leander took a few quick glances around before Leander stroked the stone to shut the secret door and Lorelei opened the door on the other side of the wall. Leander shut the door, and Harry could hear a click – probably a self-locking mechanism. The hallway was dimly lit by torches, the walls were adorned with an occasional Goblin portrait but the floor was covered in carpet of black and gold, with the Gringotts crest appearing periodically.

The tunnels were narrow and somewhat confusing, but Lorelei eventually led them to a cart platform. They had walked by several suited up Goblins who didn't give them a second glance. This one was much darker and dingier than the grand platform that Harry had seen yesterday, with Gringotts banners and more torches illuminating the space. She jumped into a cart and pulled both Harry and Leander in with her. She manipulated what looked like a control panel hidden within the front of the cart and without warning, the vehicle lurched forward and started a steady acceleration.

"I hope you know where we are going!" Leander yelled as the cart lurched up and down violently in a sickeningly manner. "Damn it, I should have driven."

"Ah, shut it. You aren't a Merryweather, you can't drive for beans!" Lorelei exclaimed, "Just because I showed you several times how to operate a cart doesn't mean you can drive!"

"Oh shush - you, did you bring the Clankers at least?" Leander asked. "We are heading towards the surface –"

"No, I didn't bring them." Lorelei said sarcastically. "I –"

"Alright, I am sorry!" Leander interrupted rather loudly. He then whispered to Harry, "You've got to apologize when she gets into that sarcastic pissy-mood of hers, even if you are have nothing to be sorry for. It just isn't worth the conse-"

"I HEARD THAT!" Lorelei's irritation echoed throughout the chamber. "Why, oh why are you being so annoying today?"

"And you are on a short-fuse... Do you want to talk about it?" Leander asked concernedly. After a moment of peace and quiet, he said. "Or is it that time of the m-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, or I will use you instead of the Clankers. You know how they starve the poor thing... She could probably use the extra morsel of Goblin."

"What are the Clankers?" Harry finally interjected as Leander shook his head and muttered darkly. "I have such a difficult life." He then grinned childishly when Lorelei turned around.

Harry had an odd feeling that Leander got a kick out of being a nuisance.

Lorelei pulled out something covered in a brown bag. She grabbed it by the middle of the bag. "There are dragons used to guard these tunnels. They've been conditioned to fear the loud sound of the Clankers." She slightly shook the bag and a loud clang was heard, forcing both Harry and Leander to wince. "But really, I can toss Leander here overboard, and I think the dragon we will be passing shall be much happier."

"Too little meat, too many bones," Leander objected. "She'd prefer a human like you, Lorelei."

Lorelei's retort was lost when the sounds of a dragon tugging on metal chains and furious roars filled the space. She turned her head towards them, a fearsome spiked red head with dull eyes and vicious teeth. She reared back, exposing her massive wingspan. Lorelei pulled out the bag once more, and the loud clanging filled the dungeon. Harry covered his ears with his hands, even though it was futile and watched as the dragon cowered and fled whimpering to the rocks it was chained to.

"Really, one would be foolish to rob Gringotts," Leander stated moments after.

"Unless you are a Goblin yourself," Lorelei mused. "Someone who knows how everything works..."

Leander looked thoughtfully at Lorelei as she suddenly decelerated the cart, causing it to halt beside a simple door with the number 9472 engraved on it. "This is your vault, Harry."

Harry scrambled onto the stone platform. He pulled out the silver key from a zippered pocket and kneeled down to fit it into the slot. He gave it a deft turn, and the door swung open, revealing a pile of gleaming Galleons.

"Here, you might want a bag!" Lorelei tossed a sack at Harry, who caught it.

"Thanks." Harry started removing many handfuls of gold from the pile. He smiled at the pile of money. It was nice to know that this was all his. When he was done, he relocked the door and he vaulted into the cart, nearly landing on Leander in the process.

"Hey, be careful!" Leander scrunched further into his back corner.

"Sorry." Harry claimed the other back corner.

Lorelei shrunk Harry's bag of coins so that it would fit discreetly in one of his jean pockets before starting the cart off again. Harry had regrettably forgotten to bring his coat. It was another five minutes before Lorelei slowed down the cart again. "Get off here and meet me at the back!"

Harry had no idea what back she was referring to, but he and Leander both scrambled out of the cart, as Lorelei continued on along the tracks. Leander gently tugged at Harry's sleeve and pulled him towards a pitch-black tunnel. Leander then snatched a torch from one of the brackets nearby and the two continued onwards. With the combination of Leander's fire and his own magic-sense, Harry could see that the darkness hid a long flight of stairs upwards. Silly frantically tasted the air to make up for the lack of sensory information. He had been quiet during the trip, occasionally squeezing Harry during particularly turbulent driving.

The obsidian walls were incredibly polished and engraved with Gobbledegook and pictures. He couldn't resist tracing the smooth etchings with the tips of his fingers.

"This is the Hall of Memory." Leander said quietly. His head was bowed. "On these walls are engraved the name of every Goblin that our people can account for lost in the Wizarding Wars."

"It's a memorial of sorts..."

"Yes... it is." Leander whispered as they climbed up the stairs. "War is not a pleasant thing, Harry. These walls are built with a mixture of blood, bones and tears. This tunnel was a bloodbath before it got turned into this. My father took me here when I was ten and asked that I never forgot our family's legacy."

"Why do we have war?"

Leander shrugged. "I don't know. There are many reasons for war – conquest, hatred, discrimination, resentment, power, money – the list goes on. It can be often a summation of the little things. Someone breaks an agreement, someone misinterprets a message, like dominos – you never know."

"Voldemort, Grindelwald..." Harry murmured, "Dumbledore –"

"My father's uncle – my great-uncle – perished in the Final Battle." Leander said rather dryly, "The battle where Grindelwald was disarmed, bound and sent to Nuremburg. He died childless and my Father inherited the title of High Lord from him. He was about my age when he died. An Avada Kedavra killed him. Grindelwald took down many before Albus Dumbledore managed to disarm him."

"What do all these titles mean?" Harry asked, "High Lord, Lord –"

Leander laughed. He then turned to look at Harry. "You are an interesting kid, Harry. This stuff used to put Lorelei and me to sleep when we were little and carefree. My father is High Lord... the head of all the Reinhardts in Europe. The Lord is the head of a family in a particular area. There's a Lord Reinhardt in Munich, Paris, Moscow and etc. But to avoid confusion, we call them by their first name."

The pair finally made it to the top, where Leander found an empty bracket to place his torch. "Carts are actually seriously regulated in Gringotts. It's illegal to randomly take a cart like we just did. Lorelei's known to commandeer carts now and there, so the Watchers above are used to seeing her pretty face. It helps that she's Hurst's daughter. They don't ask her questions. I might be Lord Eisenheim's son and heir but in an uncertain world of Merryweathers – you can never be too careful."

"But you know Lorelei..." Harry mused.

"It doesn't mean I know her entire family, Harry." Leander countered. He led Harry through another tunnel – this time brightly lit and hung with the Family banners. "I am familiar with Lorelei's immediate family, but that's only a crumb of the entire pie of Merryweathers. By nature, Goblins are usually pretty suspicious of those in the other clans, even though I am pretty sure that by now every Goblin has the blood of all three families running in their veins."

They emerged into the back of surface-level Gringotts with its smooth white marbled walls and elegant arches. The carts were operating in full swing, with Goblins emerging from down below and Goblins heading back down. One of the Watchers gave Leander a curt nod, as he steered Harry out of the building and to the outside world. Harry found himself once again regretting that he had left his coat down below when the cold air assailed his body.

"Why do you carry a sword?" Harry asked when they finally stopped beside a large column outside, presumably to wait for Lorelei.

Leander unsheathed his broadsword. The blade did not gleam or shine. It was a dull darkish-black and the hilt looked like it was made out of a stone as smooth as marble. "The Reinhardts are known for the three Fs, Harry – Fighting, Food and the third F – probably not appropriate to say around a child. In the old days – and sometimes even today... our family hold duels to settle arguments. This is Ashen... my great-Uncle's blade... the very blade he took to Grindelwald's downfall and his own."

Harry was surprised when Leander offered the historical blade to him, hilt first. He made eye-contact with Leander, who gave him a friendly smile and a nod as he placed his hands reluctantly around the smooth coldness of the hilt. Leander let go. Harry readjusted his grip on the leather. It was heavy.

"Hold it like this." Leander reached out and readjusted Harry's hands on the hilt. "You should learn how to wield a sword. It's one of the traditions that both wizards and Goblins hold in great esteem, especially amongst the high-born of both societies. This is how you swing. Loosen up – don't be so tense." Leander, who still had Harry's hands and the sword hilt in his long-fingered grip, gently swung the blade into empty space. He then allowed Harry to swing it a few times on his own.

"You look like a half-decent swordsman." Lorelei's voice drifted over to Harry. Both turned to look as she walked towards them. "You should ask Richard to teach you. Leander and I could, but Richard knows what there is to know about blades. I can fight him to a stalemate, but –"

"You can't exactly disarm him?" Leander finished. "I have that problem too. It's like the damned blade is glued into his hands or something. Nor can you get him into a position to surrender. That man's a bloody cat! I tried tripping him once and I was the one who ended up on the ground, swordpoint to neck... mind you."

Harry handed back Ashen and Leander put her back in her scabbard. They headed towards the front side of Gringotts, towards the more densely wizard-populated areas.

"He's been whipping our asses ever since we could pick up a sword." Lorelei said forlornly.

"Can we have ice cream?" Leander changed the topic. "I really really –"

Lorelei shook her head at Leander, "Honestly, you are one big child! Later, when we actually get some stuff accomplished..."

"Yes, mother..." Leander replied childishly.

"Did you just compare me to your mother?" Lorelei asked suspiciously.

"Oh, look – a clothing shop! Didn't Harry need clothes?" Leander said quickly, pointing to Madam Malkin's.

"Yeah, I don't have anything except the clothes on my back." Harry said, as Lorelei murmured, "I am not done with you yet, Leander..."

Leander pushed opened the door while complaining, "She's never bloody done with me."

As Lorelei was rummaging for appropriate clothes for Harry, Harry was standing on a stool while Madam Malkin began measuring him with an assortment of magical rulers, under control of her wand. Harry had passed Silly on to Leander. It was an hour later before Harry had several robes that fitted him perfectly, a pair of boots – dragonhide – and even some winter clothing. Leander had found him a nice weather-proof cloak with a silver dragon clasp at the front that Harry had particularly liked. It was pricey, but Harry shrugged – he had the galleons now, didn't he? Lorelei had also reassured him that the cloak could be enlarged when he grew larger with a simple charm. She also shrank down Harry's purchases, with the exception of the cloak, which Harry immediately donned. He tucked his bags of clothes in the large discreet pocket of his cloak.

They spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon visiting various shops – Leander bought himself a nice falcon-feathered quill and several leaves of parchment, Lorelei bought some stuff too, and Harry splurged on a raven quill that was self-inking and wrote with a unique green ink that he particularly liked. They had walked into Quality Quidditch Supplies and Harry spent some time examining the brooms and several animated posters of people flying on brooms. He had never seen or flew on a broom, but he had heard plenty of enthused chatter on it from Hannah and Richard. After looking at a price tag of the latest model of broom – the price was well over one-third of what he had left in his vault after splurging on clothes and stationery – the three walked out.

Ice cream was had at Fortescue's after Lorelei had finally given in to Leander's whining. Harry had asked for some chocolate and vanilla, Lorelei had an orange sherbet while Leander bought the largest sundae that Mr. Fortescue had on his menu. They all sat at a wooden table in the sunny outdoors, despite the close to freezing temperatures under the shade of a colourful umbrella. Harry had also requested a glass of water for Silly and the snake was now coiled up on the surface of the wooden table, lapping up water topped with a slice of lemon.

"Fortescue's is my favourite!" Leander grinned, as he tackled his bowl of ice cream. "If I wasn't born an heir, I think I would have gone into the ice cream business!"

"That would last you what – max a week?" Lorelei said thoughtfully. She laughed and then threw a tease. "You'd eat all your stock!"

Harry took a bite out of his ice cream and found that Leander's praises weren't too far off the mark. It was bloody delicious.

"You have so little faith in me." Leander said with a grievously injured look.

Harry spread his magic out behind him to examine the other pedestrians that were out on this chilly October day. It was a shame that he couldn't see colour through magic-sense, but it served its purposes. He could feel the familiarity of the magic thrumming in every wizard and witch that were nearby. There was nothing too much out of the ordinary until a large dark – presumably black, judging by the shade that he saw in his mind – dog strode jauntily down the street. It stopped once to let a child pet him, before moving on.

He could sense that there was something magical about that dog. It seemed wizard-like!

Animals weren't supposed to give off vibes like that!

"That looks like the Grim." Lorelei said to Leander as she finished her last scoop of ice cream.

"I didn't know you were superstitious!" Leander exclaimed, putting his well-licked spoon back into his empty sundae bowl. "I mean, we have enough grim things to keep ourselves occupied."

"I am not –"

Were there such things as magical dogs? Harry then picked up the pace on his ice cream eating, considering that his companions were done.

/Sirius\

"Darius, did you order the stuff –"

Sirius looked extremely guilty as he turned around in his leather swivel chair towards the pretty and sometimes absent-minded Arty – short for Artemis – looking sternly at him. She was one of Forest's new post-docs.

"Bloody Mer-I mean hell, are you playing Solitaire?"

Wait, did she mean to swear to Merlin? Sirius found himself wondering. And here I was thinking that I was surrounded by Muggles! He had been surprised when Forest told him that he had accepted a professorship before Sirius' infamous escape, but in retrospect, it was probably one of the reasons why Forest had decided to return back across the pond. In less than the span of two months, Forest had erected a laboratory of sorts on the top floor of one of the University's research buildings. He also hired several grads and post-docs to run his lab. The days of lounging around for Sirius Black, alias Darius Kaiser was over as Forest had recruited him to attend to the administrative and money stuff for the laboratory.

'I know your type, Sirius. You need something to do, or you will go mad. I know this isn't the most fun thing in the world, but I really really really need someone to keep track of where the money is going and keep an eye on what's going on in the lab.'

And, really he couldn't say no. This was a plea from a man who had rescued him from potential years of hell, although Forest might live to regret the decision. There were so many fun things that old-Padfoot could do with an operating budget of that size.

It was nice to be needed though.

"Are you in there, Darius?" Arty was starting to get that look of exasperation on her face. Sirius grinned doggishly at her and gave her the look that said, 'I know something you don't know...'

She was dressed in a nice form-fitting dark-green blouse, her raven hair tied back in a messy ponytail and her unbuttoned lab coat was a few sizes too big for her. An array of colourful pens and waterproof markers was clipped onto the chest pocket of her lab coat. She was much shorter than Sirius and appeared to be Asian in origin, with a possibility of having Caucasian parentage as well. There was an air of familiarity about her as well; Sirius wondered if it was because she had attended Hogwarts during the years that he had been there.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sirius said easily. "I will get you your antibodies soon, I promise." He threw in a puppy-eyed look for good measure. "Can I buy you coffee sometime to make up for my laziness?"

"You definitely can." Arty tucked a strand of wayward hair behind her left ear. "Give me ten minutes. I want to set the PCR up and then we can go."

Sirius watched her – or rather her ass – as she walked away to do whatever she needed to do. He flipped through a stack of catalogues that was located beside the computer to find what Arty wanted – Sigma-Aldrich, Millipore, Bio-rad... Some mouse-anti-p53; and a goat-telomerase, was it? He consulted a pink-sticky note that Arty had stuck on the computer the day prior.

"Hey, Darius – could you order another set of gel plates? Jon the klutz shattered a pair yesterday while bringing them to the sink –"

"Shut up, Natalie!"

There were several other requests and Sirius dutifully wrote everything down on a pad of paper. Laboratory stuff was fucking expensive. That was something else that Sirius had discovered. Here, one ml of seemingly colourless liquid could be had for hundreds of pounds and a jar of laboratory grade salt could go for under fifty quid.

By the time he was settling back into his interrupted game of Solitaire back on the computer, Arty was back with her dark pea coat and purse.

"Let's go – I've got four hours or so to kill. I've already told Seth to put my tubes in the fridge if I don't make it back and Katrina will take the secondary off –"

Sirius flung his own grey overcoat over his striped shirt and the pair headed towards the elevators. He mused that it was also for his own benefit that Forest had gotten him to work here. No one would suspect that the pureblooded and supposed Death Eater Sirius Black was working in a Muggle research lab. It was the perfect camouflage, really. He fingered the plastic badge that had his picture and new moniker printed upon it – Kaiser, Darius – Laboratory Manager. The stuff that went on in there was beyond him, but he was learning, slowly. Why didn't they teach this stuff at Hogwarts? It was kind of important stuff – how living things actually worked, while crap like Divination and outdated History of Magic was offered back in his days at Hogwarts.

The picture of himself on his badge was slightly different than pictures taken pre-Azkaban. Forest had gone and bought a set of advanced human-Transfiguration texts, after they had both discovered that they both couldn't produce functional Glamours that lasted a decent amount of time – neither of them had been exceptional in Charms. Transfiguration was something that Sirius had excelled at, although he would have preferred going by the Glamour route, it wasn't invasive. He had given himself a slightly more prominent jawline, made his nose slightly pointier and other miniscule changes. He had also darkened the shade of his grey eyes. He hated having to change his features – he thought he was perfect the way he was. Forest had made him a Potion that reversed the tattooing spell that the guards had utilized, although each application to the old ink forced him to bite his tongue to keep his screams of pain from frightening Hadrian in the living room.

"Busy day?" Sirius asked in an attempt to make small-talk when the pair walked into the elevator.

"Every day is a busy day, Darius."Arty replied. "I've got three experiments running simultaneously, and Forest wants me to repeat the results of this other study that was published last week because he thinks the other guys screwed up."

The pair walked to the local coffee shop, where Sirius bought himself a plain coffee and a latte for Arty. He also bought several doughnuts.

Arty remarked when she sat down. "It's been a while since someone offered to buy me coffee."

When they were both halfway through their doughnuts – a rainbow sprinkled one for Sirius and a chocolate one for Arty – Sirius remarked casually, "So you let something interesting slip today..."

"Did I really?" Arty held Sirius' gaze. "What did I say?"

"You said bloody Mer-hell." Sirius grinned mischievously, "You wanted to say Merlin, didn't you? You went to Hogwarts, didn't you?"

Arty flushed. "Darn it. You've got me there. I was a Ravenclaw. But I immersed myself in the Muggle-life after I graduated."

"But why?" Sirius was genuinely surprised.

"Because I couldn't take it anymore," Arty almost choked on her latte. She sat in silence for a minute, and Sirius found his brain meandering in the past. The countless blank faces of Hogwarts students that he had once walked with almost a decade ago. How naive they had all been. Full of grandiose ideals that could never be realized... or sounded good on principle, but things were never what they seemed. His thoughts were disturbed when she whispered. "Do you remember Marlene McKinnon?"

"She was murdered, wasn't she?" Sirius found himself lapsing into the same darkness that Arty was currently engulfed within. Yes, he remembered Marlene. Lily's best friend... He had even dated her for a year – the one serious relationship that he'd ever had. She had long wavy brown hair, dark chocolate eyes and an infectious cheerful disposition towards life. It had been so long since he had thought of his ex. Ever since they had broken up, ever since her death... And vaguely, he remembered Arty. She had been the Remus of Lily's group, although Arty had been a lot closer to Marlene than Lily. But she wasn't Artemis back then, wasn't she? She hadn't been someone memorable back in the day, or maybe it was he who had changed. "You were Emily back then."

"Artemis is my middle name." Arty said somewhat wistfully. "I had them flipped on my birth certificate after her entire family was killed in preparation for university. I wanted to start fresh, Darius. But I did find out..."

"Find out what?" Sirius prompted.

"That Marlene is still alive. But she's changed." Arty said tonelessly. "She sent me an owl at the beginning of summer. I thought it was odd that she would wait almost a decade before attempting to contact me! I went to see her. The meeting occurred at a quaint little wand shop in Knockturn Alley –"

Why did everything happen in that quaint little wand shop? Sirius found himself thinking furiously. And why didn't Marlene go to Dumbledore after? She had been an Order member as he had been.

"And there she was. Sitting cross-legged on a divan in a wooden room filled with oriental artifacts – pottery, swords, you name it." Arty continued in a monotone. "She wore a hooded long cloak, jet black and her face was covered by a black veil – rather like a niqab. But it wasn't for religious purposes, no – " Arty hesitated then; there was agony in her brown eyes, "It was to hide the scars."

"The scars?" Sirius asked, cautiously. "As in –"

"Sectumsempra," Arty finished. "You know those can't heal. And that wasn't all the curse got either –"

"It wasn't?" Sirius found himself spouting stupid questions.

"No," Arty said sadly, "It severed her right arm. By all accounts she should have died that night Voldemort came calling. But Marle-marle – you know the nickname we used to have for her – she found a way to survive. She was found minutes later by someone dressed in Death Eater gear and was whisked away to safety."

"And..." Sirius had a nasty feeling at the pit of his stomach.

"She scared the fucking shit out of me, Darius." Arty said in a carefully controlled tone, although Sirius could see that in her eyes that she had been deeply affected by what she had seen. The Marlene he knew had been kind and gentle. Heck, the Marlene Arty had known had been that too. "She removed the cloth covering her face and she was laughing – cackling would have been the better word – 'Aren't I a pretty sight – Em –' ... The mutilated lips, the severed corner of nose, the wound that almost missed her eye – I have nightmares of her. And she talks incessantly about Severus Snape..."

"Because he did it," Sirius said with a tone of finality. "Sectumsempra was his work."

"Aye, it was." Arty nodded. "And of how she would love to stick her knives into his corpse. She showed me her knives too." She shuddered. "If I was Severus, I would not sleep easily at night."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sirius asked, "Me, a stranger?"

Arty smiled thinly. There was a nostalgic air in her voice. "Because I know who you are, dog-star. I was Marle-marle's best friend. You were Marle-marle's ex-boyfriend. Marle-marle died the day Voldemort took everything from her. What's left is madness."

There was an awkward silence before Sirius got up, "I think we need a second drink." He returned with a second latte for Arty while he got himself a fresh strawberry smoothie. He found himself wishing that he was at a bar of some sort. He needed something like a Firewhiskey, and he had no doubt that Arty needed one too.

"Thanks." Arty gently blew the steaming cup, "For listening to me. I needed it."

"No problem." Sirius looked down awkwardly. He then asked, "What brought you here?"

"To the Malfoy Lab?" Arty grinned. "I just finished my Ph. D. last year down at Oxford. And when I was searching up post-doc offerings, my old advisor suggested I go take a shot at Forest's position. I thought I had no chance, Darius." She sipped at her latte. "He interviewed me, and it turned out that he was interested in hiring those with our background for some special project that he was interested in pursuing. Most of the people in our lab, Darius, are actually magical with an exception or two, I don't quite remember – but Seth does. That man remembers everything."

"You are damned unusual." Sirius mused, "You are like the only pureblood that I knew who went into the–"

"Yeah," Arty agreed. "My parents pretty much cut me off. It wasn't fun, but I think what they were most surprised was the development of a backbone in me. I send them an occasional card and get nothing back in return. I like to think that they get at least a read through once before they get chucked into the fire."

Sirius laughed. "I guess I can relate to that. All those howlers..."

"Yeah... your parents were a piece of work from what I remembered." Arty chuckled too, "I got those howlers too, after I started my university life. Really awkward especially since I had a roommate who wasn't magical – I lived in perpetual fear that my roommate would someday come in to my room when an owl arrived, or I had my wand out – had to silence those damned things before they became activated."

Sirius erupted into bark-like fits of laughter. Arty did too. Sure, the imagery was funny, but Sirius had a feeling that they were not laughing at Arty's misfortune, but rather for their own lost innocence.

"Let's go for a walk, Darius." Arty stood up. "Being cooped inside all day makes Arty a miserable girl."

Sirius nodded, and the pair donned their outerwear before heading out into the cool air of Muggle London. The breeze blew against them when they emerged from the warm interior. Sirius, with his hands in his pockets, asked a question that he had been dying to ask since discovering Arty's connection to his past. "Do you think I did it?" His voice cracked in the middle.

"Did what?" Arty looked confused.

"Betrayed them," Sirius elaborated curtly.

"No," Arty replied promptly, but she let the monosyllable linger for awhile. "I don't think you could. I knew how close-knit you and James were. You would have done anything for him, as I would have for Marlene a decade back..."

"Thank you," Sirius fidgeted a bit with the fabric of his coat. "I know Forest knows I didn't do it, but it's different you know – you knew –"

"Yeah, it\s different being an outsider versus someone who actually knew all the people involved." Arty mused. She then touched upon another sore subject. "Have you spoken to Remy yet?"

"No," Sirius sighed dejectedly, "I am afraid..."

"That he doubted you?" Arty asked. There was a certain twinge of sadness in her tone.

"Yeah," Sirius looked forlorn. "I was hurt when they decided to change Secret-Keeper that day. But I understood why they did it. I was disappointed that James couldn't –" He blinked rapidly; he couldn't finish the sentence.

It cut too deep.

Arty was silent when they walked through the campus grounds, on the quaint concrete tiling that laid out the paths. The trees were all barren, the skies grey and the clouds thick.

"It's almost a betrayal of sorts to you too." She said slowly. "James forfeited his trust to you on that day. They didn't make contingencies just in case they put all their eggs in the wrong basket – so to speak..."

"I will never understand what happened that day." Sirius said resignedly. "And part of me wants to bury that hatchet. And part of me wants to go find that fucking rat and tear him into tiny little pieces – or maybe..."

"What?" Arty asked sharply.

"I know Forest wants some rat-models..."

Arty laughed. "I don't think he's fit for our experiments either..." She then said seriously, "I know I have no right telling you what you should do or not do, but after seeing Marlene and her crazy obsession with the man who almost killed her..."

"You think I shouldn't go after the rat..." Sirius sighed.

"Yeah," Arty agreed, "But, I would totally understand if you did though."

They loitered in the grounds for a bit longer. They weren't alone though; there was the hustle of undergrads moving from night classes to other classes or back to their dorms. Sirius bought some hot dogs and chips from a local vendor and they had their unhealthy dinner on a nearby bench beneath the darkening skies before the pair headed back to the research facility.

"I have a feeling that you are going to look for Marlene to satisfy your curiosity," Arty deduced on the elevator ride back.

"I think we've been spending too much time together..." Sirius joked, "You know me too well..."

"Sometimes," Arty said philosophically, "Things are best left as past memories."

Review?

I was going to write another section, but then that might take another week. :X

Happy Victoria Day for those who care! :)