Fic: Unfinished Business, for lls_mutant
Title: Unfinished Business
Author: Kris, sambethe
Written for: lls_mutant
Rating: PG
Prompt: Crossover with Battlestar Galactica
Summary: Lily & Alice screw up, Remus & Sirius are idiots, and Sirius Black & Felix Gaeta form an unlikely friendship.
Any other notes, warnings, etc.: Set January 1980 (and BSG-wise somewhere after Lay Down Your Burdens but well before Occupation). Hope you enjoy, Lissa!
By the third nudge at his ear, Sirius lost his patience.
‘For fuck’s sake, Remus, it’s three AM and I’ve only just gone to bed. I’m not about -’
Sirius rolled over and found himself nose to nose with a shimmering doe. He only had a moment to register the flash of disappointment at it not being Remus before his brain caught on to what was before him and he bolted upright.
The doe seemed to roll its eyes and then spoke in Lily’s voice. ‘We can’t find Dearborn. Need help. Coming to you.’
He had barely grabbed a t-shirt from the pile on the floor when he heard a crash downstairs followed by a string of expletives. Sirius finished pulling on the shirt as he made his way down the stairs and found Lily leaning over a figure lying on the couch.
Sirius stopped mid-stride when he saw the shock of dark hair. Lily looked over at him and shook her head and he let out a breath.
‘What happened?’
Lily dug in her bag and pulled out a package of gauze.
‘Dumbledore had me working with Alice on a project in the Department of Mysteries.’
Sirius narrowed his eyes. ‘Project?’
She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret and set to wrapping gauze around the man’s arm. ‘Let’s just say we were working on a spell, something to track missing persons, sort of a port key in reverse. Seems we got part of it right.’
Sirius moved next to her and let out a low whistle. The man looked to be a few years older than them, maybe about Gideon’s age. He looked a bit like one of the Beaters from the Cannons. He was wearing a dark Muggle suit, probably of wool. Minus whatever scrape Lily was bandaging, he looked unharmed.
‘Do we know who he is or where he came from?’
‘No idea. He’s been out since we pulled him through.’ She reached into her pocket, pulled out a chain and handed it to him. ‘This is all that was on him. I think it’s an ID, but I don’t recognize the symbol on it.’
Sirius turned it over in his hand. It was lighter than he expected. All that was inscribed on it was F. Gaeta ser465385. Above that was what looked like a winged object of some sort. Sirius ran a finger along the etching and grinned to himself.
‘What’s so funny, Black?’
He held the chain out to her and glanced between it and his t-shirt. ‘Look familiar?’ he asked.
Lily squinted at it and then smiled. ‘A phoenix, you think? How did I not notice that?’
Sirius smiled back. ‘So what does Dumbledore need me to do?’
Lily slipped the chain back into one of her pockets. ‘Dearborn wasn’t at Mungo’s or any of the usual haunts. He’s got James and Peter out trying to track him down. He asked that I bring him to you in the meantime.’
‘And do what with him?’
Lily shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You’re the Healer-in-training. I gather he wants you to do whatever it is Dearborn’s been teaching you. Can’t you scan him or something?’
Sirius rolled his eyes.
‘What? What do I know about Healing?’
‘Point,’ he said and knelt down in front of the man - Gaeta - he corrected himself. ‘Go make yourself useful then and brew up some tea. I’m going to move him to the guest room.’
He should have expected the hit upside the head as she moved past him towards the kitchen, but he still yelped when she made contact.
*
It took Sirius the better part of an hour to get the man settled and run through most of the spells Dearborn had taught him for assessing a patient. He was finishing the last of them when he realised that Lily never brought with the requested tea. He pulled the duvet up over Gaeta and ducked out of the room.
He found Lily sitting in the kitchen with several letters open in front of her. ‘What happened to my tea?’
Lily looked up and blinked. ‘Oh, sorry.’
She made to get up and Sirius waved at her. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He pointed his wand at the kettle and floated it and a pair of mugs over to them. He settled in across from her and set the kettle to work.
‘Is he all right?’ she asked.
‘Seems well enough.’ He poured the boiling water into the mugs and handed her one. ‘I imagine it’s just the shock of whatever it is you and Alice did. Can you tell me about it?’
Lily looked down at her mug and blew at its contents.
‘All right,’ he said after a moment. ‘Have you heard from Dumbledore?’
‘Yeah.’ She nodded her head at one of the letters as she took a sip of her tea. ‘He’s asked me to start tracking down information on our guest, not that we’ve much to go on. He’s going to send someone to help you keep watch. You’re to send a Patronus when he wakes.’
Sirius sighed and turned his attention to his tea.
‘Is there anything you need before I go?’ she asked, standing up from the table and stretching her arms up above her head.
He shook his head. ‘Just the promise I’ll have a full night’s sleep one day soon?’
She smiled wryly. ‘As soon as I get one myself,’ she said and with a nod Disapparated.
*
It shouldn’t have been a shock when there was a knock at his door an hour later and that Remus was the source of it, yet it was.
Sirius hoped he managed to avoid gaping like a fish at him. ‘You needn’t knock,’ he said, turning and stalking back towards the living room, leaving Remus standing in the open doorway.
‘Thought it would be the polite.’
‘You live here, you prat,’ he bit out.
Remus closed the door and followed him into the flat. ‘Sirius -’ he started but then seemed to check himself. ‘Can we not do this? At least not tonight?’
‘Pardon?’ Sirius flopped down onto the couch. ‘You show up on my doorstep after three weeks of being Merlin-knows-where without a word to me or James and I’m just supposed to what, shrug?’
‘Look, it wasn’t my idea to come. Dumbledore -’
Sirius clenched his fist and slammed it against the arm of the couch. ‘So, what, are you just planning to dodge us - me - until the next moon?’
He watched as Remus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked tired. The moon was still a week away, but his face was drawn and his eyes dark. Despite himself, Sirius felt the fury drain out of him. He had learnt, through much trial and error, that there was no real use to try and bully information out of Remus when he set his mind to keeping it in his head. Plus he didn’t have the heart to fight with him when he looked like this.
‘Did Dumbledore tell you what happened?’
Remus nodded. ‘As much as there was to tell.’
‘Ok. I’ll take first watch then. Go take a shower and get some sleep. I’ll wake you later to switch.’
Remus nodded again and then quietly slipped out of the room.
‘Fuck!’ Sirius muttered to himself as he sank back further into the couch and curled his chin into his chest.
*
It was two days before Gaeta woke. Two days of awkward silences and stilted conversations with Remus. They avoided any actual exchanges in favour of random mutterings about the contents of The Prophet and the season’s revised Quidditch schedule. Sirius found he preferred escaping to the guest room to sit with an unconscious stranger than facing more of Remus’ dodges.
In that time, James and Peter still had not managed to locate Dearborn and Lily had got no where with any of the information on the chain they found on Gaeta. Granted it wasn’t much to go on, but she had been hopeful that the symbol might link up to something from the Muggle military.
He was sitting in a chair he had conjured up for himself. It reminded him of one of the ones he used to love in the common room at Hogwarts and he wondered at why his thoughts went there when he casted the spell.
He felt himself begin to nod off when he heard the man cough. Sirius stood in time to watch Gaeta’s eyes flutter open and try to focus the surroundings.
‘Where -’ he croaked.
Sirius crossed to the bed and poured him a glass of water from the bedside table. Gaeta accepted it with a wary look but drank it down. When he was done he asked again, ‘Where am I?’
‘Edinburgh.’
Gaeta blinked. ‘Where?’
Sirius hesitated. ‘Edinburgh,’ he repeated and then added, ‘Scotland,’ for clarification.
‘Is that some Cylon location?’ Gaeta asked, furrowing his eyebrow. ‘Are you one of the other models?’
It was Sirius’ turn to look confused. The man’s accent wasn’t a British one and it certainly wasn’t any colonial one that he knew. He sounded possibly American, but he wasn’t entirely sure. He ignored the comment about his looks and asked, ‘Ceylon? That’s near India, yeah?’
‘India?’
Gaeta looked like he was on the verge of wanting to panic, but he took a breath and seemed to steady himself.
‘Why don’t we start over?’ Sirius offered. ‘My name’s Sirius Black. You are in my flat. What’s your name?’
Gaeta pushed himself up and back against the headboard and watched as Sirius sat at the foot of the bed.
‘Felix Gaeta. I’m President Baltar’s Chief of Staff.’
‘Ah, definitely American then,’ he thought. ‘Do you remember the last place you were before you woke up here?’
‘My quarters on Colonial One,’ he said, rubbing his hand across his forehead. ‘I was making dinner.’
‘Colonial One?’
‘Yeah, you know, the President’s ship.’
‘I guess Lily was right about the Muggle military,’ Sirius muttered.
‘What?’
‘Nothing, sorry. So that’s all you remember?’
Felix eyed him warily. ‘Where have you taken me again? And why? What possible use am I to you?’
‘Didn’t take you anywhere, mate, at least not intentionally. You sort of got caught up, accidently I mean. But you’re in my flat in Scotland.’
‘Where’s Scotland?’ Felix asked, his tone beginning to rise.
Sirius was beginning to worry that Lily and Alice had done some real damage during the spell. He glanced towards the door, hoping that Remus might materialise from wherever he was hiding himself.
‘Ya know, Scotland. It’s that country due north of England. Kind of has reputation for being one of the colder, damper parts of the planet. Lot’s of sheep’
‘And what planet is that?’ Felix shouted.
Out of the corner of his eye Sirius saw Remus appear in the doorway and mentally breathed a sigh of relief.
In a quiet, even tone, Remus answered simply, ‘Earth.’ The turning to Sirius he asked, ‘Would you like me to call Dumbledore?’
*
Sirius sat at the kitchen table across from Remus and Dumbledore nursing a small glass of firewhiskey. Remus had left him with Felix long enough to send a Patronus to Dumbledore. Then Sirius set to brewing a Calming potion for Felix so that they could begin to sort everything out.
Once Dumbledore arrived and managed to somehow convince Felix that they weren’t out to harm him, the three of them sat with him while he told them as much about where he came from as they could think to ask. After, either exhausted or, more likely, fed another potion by Dumbledore, Felix fell back into a restless sleep.
‘Do you think he’s telling the truth, Professor?’ Sirius asked. ‘Another Earth? A whole other universe where things seem to have gone entirely mad?’
‘Madder than they’ve gone here?’ Remus asked.
Sirius stared at him. ‘Things here may be going to shit, but we’ve as of yet managed to not let Death Eaters wipe out the better part of existence.’
Remus shrugged and stared down at his tumbler. ‘Not that they wouldn’t try,’ he muttered.
Dumbledore ran a finger through the ends of his beard. ‘He doesn’t seem to be lying and the images I gleaned appear to corroborate his story.’
Remus finished off his glass. ‘How is that even possible?’
‘Well, we aren’t entirely certain where Mrs Longbottom and Mrs Potter went wrong in their work quite yet. They have reconstructed events for me as much as possible, and I imagine that they tapped into something greater than we had planned. However, as of yet, I’m not sure what that something was.’
Sirius snorted and Remus shot him a look. ‘Will we be able to reverse it? To send him back?’
‘That would be the question, now wouldn’t it? I -’
Sirius drained his glass and slammed it down. ‘What if he doesn’t want to go back?’ Remus and Dumbledore both turned towards him. ‘I mean, would you? To be sent back to existence where you are constantly hunted and on the run? Where you and everyone you know are picked off first en masse and then one by one? Where even the chance of respite from it all is destroyed by those on that same hunt?’
‘He doesn’t belong here Sirius,’ Remus whispered.
‘Quite right, Mr Lupin,’ said Dumbledore, rising from his chair and putting on his hat. ‘Could I ask you to go see Minerva and update her on the situation? I need to go talk with Mrs Potter. Mr Black, I trust you’ll look after our guest?’
Sirius glanced up. ‘Wait? Why am I left with him?’ His only answer was that of the usual pop that comes with Apparation. Sirius turned to Remus, who had stood to put on his outer cloak and was now fingering his gloves.
‘Will you be coming back? You know. After?’ he asked quietly.
Remus shuffled his feet and didn’t look at Sirius. ‘I’ve still got some boxes to move.’
‘Remus -’ He hated how his voice took on that pleading tone.
‘We’ve had this conversation before, Sirius, and we always ends up in the same place. I don’t think I can do it again.’
Sirius stood frozen as Remus turned and headed for the front door. It was only after he was gone that Sirius reached out as if to stop him.
*
The next morning when Felix woke and was still giving him that wary look like he expected to be beaten or worse, Sirius resolved to ignore everything and take him out to show him that he, Dumbledore and Remus weren’t pulling one large, cosmic prank on him.
He rummaged through the cupboard, pulled out a cloak and tossed it at Felix.
‘Put that on.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s January and it’s bound to be frozen outside. I’m already going to be in enough trouble as it is for bringing you out of the house, I’d prefer not to add causing you frostbite to the inevitable list of charges.’
He watched as Felix slipped the cloak around him. It was a few inches too short, so he pulled out his wand and lengthened it.
Felix’s eyes grew wide. ‘You weren’t kidding then?’
‘What? About the Magic?’
He nodded.
‘Wasn’t joking about any of it, mate.’ Sirius nodded towards the fireplace. ‘When we go through, hold on tight.’ He took a pinch of powder. ‘This might cause your head to swim a bit.’ Then grabbing Felix’s arm, he stepped into the flames and called out, ‘Leaky Cauldron.’
*
As far as tasks for the Order went, Sirius had to admit that ‘looking after our guest’ was certainly not among the more onerous ones he’d been asked to perform.
Watching Felix in Diagon Alley had reminded him of his own first trip there as a boy to pick out his wand. Sirius was surprised at how much joy he’d got from watching someone else wander the stalls and shops, touching and smelling everything. It almost helped drive away the nagging thoughts from the ongoing argument with Remus.
From that day, Sirius took it as a challenge to show Felix as much of this world while he had the chance. After Diagon, he showed him the grounds of Hogwarts and took him shopping in Hogsmeade. He brought him out to both London and Edinburgh. They visited pubs, restaurants and museums, took rides on trains and simply walked around. Dumbledore didn’t seem all too pleased with the proceedings, but Sirius chose to ignore the stern words and glances he was given.
A month passed like this and Sirius grew used to having Felix around. He was happy for the distraction, surely, but he was also grateful for the developing friendship; his first real one since leaving Hogwarts.
Felix told him stories of growing up on a planet called Scorpia and of life in what he called the Colonies. Occasionally, he would talk about the events of the last couple years, of running from the Cylons and life on Galactica and later New Caprica. He spoke only twice of the arrival of the Cylons at their new home and if years of living with Remus had taught him anything, it was when not to push.
In exchange, Sirius told him of life Hogwarts, about him and James, Peter and Remus, about life in Gryffindor tower. He spoke of the war they’ve been fighting, of Voldemort and the years of ridiculous politics that brought them to this point. If he shied away from stories of growing up in Grimmauld Place, Felix didn’t push either.
*
It was Friday night when Felix met him at pub down the street from his flat. Sirius had spent the day tracking Dolohov at Mad Eye’s request. He had just finished paying for their pints when he saw Felix slip in and grab their usual table. James and the others were planning to meet up with them in bit.
Sirius hadn’t even managed to slip into the booth before Felix started talking.
‘Dumbledore thinks they’ve figured out how I got here in the first place, which means they’ve got a plan to send me back. They’re working through the last of it now, so we should be ready to go tomorrow night.’
Sirius stared at him. ‘You’re going back? Tomorrow?’
Felix took a drink from his pint and nodded.
‘But- But why?’
He stared back at Sirius. ‘Because I have to.’
Sirius took a long drink and then put the glass back down on the table, a bit harder than he had meant. Its contents sloshed about for a minute before settling back down.
Felix sipped his pint. ‘Where I’m from we have this saying, All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.’
‘That’s depressing,’ Sirius replied. He finished off his and signalled the bartender for another round.
‘I guess, but it sort of depends on how you look at it. I find there’s a certain comfort in it. It tells me we’ve each got a place in time and a role within that time. And I know mine isn’t here, as much as I’d wouldn’t mind it if it were. It’d be a hell of a lot easier to stay.’
They sat in silence until one of the waitresses brought them the second round of drinks.
‘But it sort of removes the control from you, doesn’t it? Sort of says that it doesn’t matter what you do, whatever is going to happen will happen no matter what. I don’t think I could stand that.’
Felix took a drink and raised an eyebrow. ‘Says the man who’s been ducking his what, boyfriend, since long before I arrived?’
‘What do you know of it?’ Sirius glared. ‘There’s no changing Remus once he’s set his mind to something.’
‘And you have no control here whatsoever?’
Sirius sighed and took another drink. He was about to continue arguing when the pub door opened, letting in an icy breeze followed by James and Peter.
They waved and James made his way to the bar while Peter headed towards them. He slid in next to Sirius and unwound his scarf. ‘What, no Remus yet?’
Sirius glowered at him and downed the remains of his second pint.
*
They sat on the cold stone bench outside a black, unmarked door somewhere in the bowels of the Ministry.
‘Does your head still hurt?’ Sirius asked, wishing for another vial of Pepper Up for himself.
‘No, that stuff is amazing. I wish I could bring some back with me.’
Sirius grinned and Felix poked him in the side.
‘So, you’ll talk to him, right?’
Sirius nodded, reluctantly. ‘He isn’t going to change.’
‘Maybe not,’ Felix conceded. ‘But not doing anything hasn’t made it any better, has it?’
‘Fair point.’ Sirius fiddled in his pocket and pulled out the chain Lily had taken off Felix the when he arrived. He handed it over to him. ‘Thought you might want this back.’
Felix smiled and took it from his outstretched palm. ‘I’d wondered if I lost that.’ He slipped it over his head and tucked it into his shirt.
Sirius then handed him a scarf and one of his older wool trench coats that he’d picked up down in Kensington. ‘Reckoned you might need these, if your stories of New Caprica are even half true.’
Felix grinned and accepted them. They both shuffled their feet a moment before the door opened and Lily’s head poked out from around the side. ‘We’re ready when you are.’
Felix nodded and turned to go. When he got to the door, he looked back and gave Sirius a small smile. ‘Thanks, Sirius.’
Sirius nodded and watched as he slipped through and the door closed itself behind him.
Right, then, he thought. It’s just one Werewolf, yeah? Should be a piece of cake compared to an army of angry Cylon.
Author: Kris, sambethe
Written for: lls_mutant
Rating: PG
Prompt: Crossover with Battlestar Galactica
Summary: Lily & Alice screw up, Remus & Sirius are idiots, and Sirius Black & Felix Gaeta form an unlikely friendship.
Any other notes, warnings, etc.: Set January 1980 (and BSG-wise somewhere after Lay Down Your Burdens but well before Occupation). Hope you enjoy, Lissa!
By the third nudge at his ear, Sirius lost his patience.
‘For fuck’s sake, Remus, it’s three AM and I’ve only just gone to bed. I’m not about -’
Sirius rolled over and found himself nose to nose with a shimmering doe. He only had a moment to register the flash of disappointment at it not being Remus before his brain caught on to what was before him and he bolted upright.
The doe seemed to roll its eyes and then spoke in Lily’s voice. ‘We can’t find Dearborn. Need help. Coming to you.’
He had barely grabbed a t-shirt from the pile on the floor when he heard a crash downstairs followed by a string of expletives. Sirius finished pulling on the shirt as he made his way down the stairs and found Lily leaning over a figure lying on the couch.
Sirius stopped mid-stride when he saw the shock of dark hair. Lily looked over at him and shook her head and he let out a breath.
‘What happened?’
Lily dug in her bag and pulled out a package of gauze.
‘Dumbledore had me working with Alice on a project in the Department of Mysteries.’
Sirius narrowed his eyes. ‘Project?’
She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret and set to wrapping gauze around the man’s arm. ‘Let’s just say we were working on a spell, something to track missing persons, sort of a port key in reverse. Seems we got part of it right.’
Sirius moved next to her and let out a low whistle. The man looked to be a few years older than them, maybe about Gideon’s age. He looked a bit like one of the Beaters from the Cannons. He was wearing a dark Muggle suit, probably of wool. Minus whatever scrape Lily was bandaging, he looked unharmed.
‘Do we know who he is or where he came from?’
‘No idea. He’s been out since we pulled him through.’ She reached into her pocket, pulled out a chain and handed it to him. ‘This is all that was on him. I think it’s an ID, but I don’t recognize the symbol on it.’
Sirius turned it over in his hand. It was lighter than he expected. All that was inscribed on it was F. Gaeta ser465385. Above that was what looked like a winged object of some sort. Sirius ran a finger along the etching and grinned to himself.
‘What’s so funny, Black?’
He held the chain out to her and glanced between it and his t-shirt. ‘Look familiar?’ he asked.
Lily squinted at it and then smiled. ‘A phoenix, you think? How did I not notice that?’
Sirius smiled back. ‘So what does Dumbledore need me to do?’
Lily slipped the chain back into one of her pockets. ‘Dearborn wasn’t at Mungo’s or any of the usual haunts. He’s got James and Peter out trying to track him down. He asked that I bring him to you in the meantime.’
‘And do what with him?’
Lily shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You’re the Healer-in-training. I gather he wants you to do whatever it is Dearborn’s been teaching you. Can’t you scan him or something?’
Sirius rolled his eyes.
‘What? What do I know about Healing?’
‘Point,’ he said and knelt down in front of the man - Gaeta - he corrected himself. ‘Go make yourself useful then and brew up some tea. I’m going to move him to the guest room.’
He should have expected the hit upside the head as she moved past him towards the kitchen, but he still yelped when she made contact.
*
It took Sirius the better part of an hour to get the man settled and run through most of the spells Dearborn had taught him for assessing a patient. He was finishing the last of them when he realised that Lily never brought with the requested tea. He pulled the duvet up over Gaeta and ducked out of the room.
He found Lily sitting in the kitchen with several letters open in front of her. ‘What happened to my tea?’
Lily looked up and blinked. ‘Oh, sorry.’
She made to get up and Sirius waved at her. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He pointed his wand at the kettle and floated it and a pair of mugs over to them. He settled in across from her and set the kettle to work.
‘Is he all right?’ she asked.
‘Seems well enough.’ He poured the boiling water into the mugs and handed her one. ‘I imagine it’s just the shock of whatever it is you and Alice did. Can you tell me about it?’
Lily looked down at her mug and blew at its contents.
‘All right,’ he said after a moment. ‘Have you heard from Dumbledore?’
‘Yeah.’ She nodded her head at one of the letters as she took a sip of her tea. ‘He’s asked me to start tracking down information on our guest, not that we’ve much to go on. He’s going to send someone to help you keep watch. You’re to send a Patronus when he wakes.’
Sirius sighed and turned his attention to his tea.
‘Is there anything you need before I go?’ she asked, standing up from the table and stretching her arms up above her head.
He shook his head. ‘Just the promise I’ll have a full night’s sleep one day soon?’
She smiled wryly. ‘As soon as I get one myself,’ she said and with a nod Disapparated.
*
It shouldn’t have been a shock when there was a knock at his door an hour later and that Remus was the source of it, yet it was.
Sirius hoped he managed to avoid gaping like a fish at him. ‘You needn’t knock,’ he said, turning and stalking back towards the living room, leaving Remus standing in the open doorway.
‘Thought it would be the polite.’
‘You live here, you prat,’ he bit out.
Remus closed the door and followed him into the flat. ‘Sirius -’ he started but then seemed to check himself. ‘Can we not do this? At least not tonight?’
‘Pardon?’ Sirius flopped down onto the couch. ‘You show up on my doorstep after three weeks of being Merlin-knows-where without a word to me or James and I’m just supposed to what, shrug?’
‘Look, it wasn’t my idea to come. Dumbledore -’
Sirius clenched his fist and slammed it against the arm of the couch. ‘So, what, are you just planning to dodge us - me - until the next moon?’
He watched as Remus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked tired. The moon was still a week away, but his face was drawn and his eyes dark. Despite himself, Sirius felt the fury drain out of him. He had learnt, through much trial and error, that there was no real use to try and bully information out of Remus when he set his mind to keeping it in his head. Plus he didn’t have the heart to fight with him when he looked like this.
‘Did Dumbledore tell you what happened?’
Remus nodded. ‘As much as there was to tell.’
‘Ok. I’ll take first watch then. Go take a shower and get some sleep. I’ll wake you later to switch.’
Remus nodded again and then quietly slipped out of the room.
‘Fuck!’ Sirius muttered to himself as he sank back further into the couch and curled his chin into his chest.
*
It was two days before Gaeta woke. Two days of awkward silences and stilted conversations with Remus. They avoided any actual exchanges in favour of random mutterings about the contents of The Prophet and the season’s revised Quidditch schedule. Sirius found he preferred escaping to the guest room to sit with an unconscious stranger than facing more of Remus’ dodges.
In that time, James and Peter still had not managed to locate Dearborn and Lily had got no where with any of the information on the chain they found on Gaeta. Granted it wasn’t much to go on, but she had been hopeful that the symbol might link up to something from the Muggle military.
He was sitting in a chair he had conjured up for himself. It reminded him of one of the ones he used to love in the common room at Hogwarts and he wondered at why his thoughts went there when he casted the spell.
He felt himself begin to nod off when he heard the man cough. Sirius stood in time to watch Gaeta’s eyes flutter open and try to focus the surroundings.
‘Where -’ he croaked.
Sirius crossed to the bed and poured him a glass of water from the bedside table. Gaeta accepted it with a wary look but drank it down. When he was done he asked again, ‘Where am I?’
‘Edinburgh.’
Gaeta blinked. ‘Where?’
Sirius hesitated. ‘Edinburgh,’ he repeated and then added, ‘Scotland,’ for clarification.
‘Is that some Cylon location?’ Gaeta asked, furrowing his eyebrow. ‘Are you one of the other models?’
It was Sirius’ turn to look confused. The man’s accent wasn’t a British one and it certainly wasn’t any colonial one that he knew. He sounded possibly American, but he wasn’t entirely sure. He ignored the comment about his looks and asked, ‘Ceylon? That’s near India, yeah?’
‘India?’
Gaeta looked like he was on the verge of wanting to panic, but he took a breath and seemed to steady himself.
‘Why don’t we start over?’ Sirius offered. ‘My name’s Sirius Black. You are in my flat. What’s your name?’
Gaeta pushed himself up and back against the headboard and watched as Sirius sat at the foot of the bed.
‘Felix Gaeta. I’m President Baltar’s Chief of Staff.’
‘Ah, definitely American then,’ he thought. ‘Do you remember the last place you were before you woke up here?’
‘My quarters on Colonial One,’ he said, rubbing his hand across his forehead. ‘I was making dinner.’
‘Colonial One?’
‘Yeah, you know, the President’s ship.’
‘I guess Lily was right about the Muggle military,’ Sirius muttered.
‘What?’
‘Nothing, sorry. So that’s all you remember?’
Felix eyed him warily. ‘Where have you taken me again? And why? What possible use am I to you?’
‘Didn’t take you anywhere, mate, at least not intentionally. You sort of got caught up, accidently I mean. But you’re in my flat in Scotland.’
‘Where’s Scotland?’ Felix asked, his tone beginning to rise.
Sirius was beginning to worry that Lily and Alice had done some real damage during the spell. He glanced towards the door, hoping that Remus might materialise from wherever he was hiding himself.
‘Ya know, Scotland. It’s that country due north of England. Kind of has reputation for being one of the colder, damper parts of the planet. Lot’s of sheep’
‘And what planet is that?’ Felix shouted.
Out of the corner of his eye Sirius saw Remus appear in the doorway and mentally breathed a sigh of relief.
In a quiet, even tone, Remus answered simply, ‘Earth.’ The turning to Sirius he asked, ‘Would you like me to call Dumbledore?’
*
Sirius sat at the kitchen table across from Remus and Dumbledore nursing a small glass of firewhiskey. Remus had left him with Felix long enough to send a Patronus to Dumbledore. Then Sirius set to brewing a Calming potion for Felix so that they could begin to sort everything out.
Once Dumbledore arrived and managed to somehow convince Felix that they weren’t out to harm him, the three of them sat with him while he told them as much about where he came from as they could think to ask. After, either exhausted or, more likely, fed another potion by Dumbledore, Felix fell back into a restless sleep.
‘Do you think he’s telling the truth, Professor?’ Sirius asked. ‘Another Earth? A whole other universe where things seem to have gone entirely mad?’
‘Madder than they’ve gone here?’ Remus asked.
Sirius stared at him. ‘Things here may be going to shit, but we’ve as of yet managed to not let Death Eaters wipe out the better part of existence.’
Remus shrugged and stared down at his tumbler. ‘Not that they wouldn’t try,’ he muttered.
Dumbledore ran a finger through the ends of his beard. ‘He doesn’t seem to be lying and the images I gleaned appear to corroborate his story.’
Remus finished off his glass. ‘How is that even possible?’
‘Well, we aren’t entirely certain where Mrs Longbottom and Mrs Potter went wrong in their work quite yet. They have reconstructed events for me as much as possible, and I imagine that they tapped into something greater than we had planned. However, as of yet, I’m not sure what that something was.’
Sirius snorted and Remus shot him a look. ‘Will we be able to reverse it? To send him back?’
‘That would be the question, now wouldn’t it? I -’
Sirius drained his glass and slammed it down. ‘What if he doesn’t want to go back?’ Remus and Dumbledore both turned towards him. ‘I mean, would you? To be sent back to existence where you are constantly hunted and on the run? Where you and everyone you know are picked off first en masse and then one by one? Where even the chance of respite from it all is destroyed by those on that same hunt?’
‘He doesn’t belong here Sirius,’ Remus whispered.
‘Quite right, Mr Lupin,’ said Dumbledore, rising from his chair and putting on his hat. ‘Could I ask you to go see Minerva and update her on the situation? I need to go talk with Mrs Potter. Mr Black, I trust you’ll look after our guest?’
Sirius glanced up. ‘Wait? Why am I left with him?’ His only answer was that of the usual pop that comes with Apparation. Sirius turned to Remus, who had stood to put on his outer cloak and was now fingering his gloves.
‘Will you be coming back? You know. After?’ he asked quietly.
Remus shuffled his feet and didn’t look at Sirius. ‘I’ve still got some boxes to move.’
‘Remus -’ He hated how his voice took on that pleading tone.
‘We’ve had this conversation before, Sirius, and we always ends up in the same place. I don’t think I can do it again.’
Sirius stood frozen as Remus turned and headed for the front door. It was only after he was gone that Sirius reached out as if to stop him.
*
The next morning when Felix woke and was still giving him that wary look like he expected to be beaten or worse, Sirius resolved to ignore everything and take him out to show him that he, Dumbledore and Remus weren’t pulling one large, cosmic prank on him.
He rummaged through the cupboard, pulled out a cloak and tossed it at Felix.
‘Put that on.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s January and it’s bound to be frozen outside. I’m already going to be in enough trouble as it is for bringing you out of the house, I’d prefer not to add causing you frostbite to the inevitable list of charges.’
He watched as Felix slipped the cloak around him. It was a few inches too short, so he pulled out his wand and lengthened it.
Felix’s eyes grew wide. ‘You weren’t kidding then?’
‘What? About the Magic?’
He nodded.
‘Wasn’t joking about any of it, mate.’ Sirius nodded towards the fireplace. ‘When we go through, hold on tight.’ He took a pinch of powder. ‘This might cause your head to swim a bit.’ Then grabbing Felix’s arm, he stepped into the flames and called out, ‘Leaky Cauldron.’
*
As far as tasks for the Order went, Sirius had to admit that ‘looking after our guest’ was certainly not among the more onerous ones he’d been asked to perform.
Watching Felix in Diagon Alley had reminded him of his own first trip there as a boy to pick out his wand. Sirius was surprised at how much joy he’d got from watching someone else wander the stalls and shops, touching and smelling everything. It almost helped drive away the nagging thoughts from the ongoing argument with Remus.
From that day, Sirius took it as a challenge to show Felix as much of this world while he had the chance. After Diagon, he showed him the grounds of Hogwarts and took him shopping in Hogsmeade. He brought him out to both London and Edinburgh. They visited pubs, restaurants and museums, took rides on trains and simply walked around. Dumbledore didn’t seem all too pleased with the proceedings, but Sirius chose to ignore the stern words and glances he was given.
A month passed like this and Sirius grew used to having Felix around. He was happy for the distraction, surely, but he was also grateful for the developing friendship; his first real one since leaving Hogwarts.
Felix told him stories of growing up on a planet called Scorpia and of life in what he called the Colonies. Occasionally, he would talk about the events of the last couple years, of running from the Cylons and life on Galactica and later New Caprica. He spoke only twice of the arrival of the Cylons at their new home and if years of living with Remus had taught him anything, it was when not to push.
In exchange, Sirius told him of life Hogwarts, about him and James, Peter and Remus, about life in Gryffindor tower. He spoke of the war they’ve been fighting, of Voldemort and the years of ridiculous politics that brought them to this point. If he shied away from stories of growing up in Grimmauld Place, Felix didn’t push either.
*
It was Friday night when Felix met him at pub down the street from his flat. Sirius had spent the day tracking Dolohov at Mad Eye’s request. He had just finished paying for their pints when he saw Felix slip in and grab their usual table. James and the others were planning to meet up with them in bit.
Sirius hadn’t even managed to slip into the booth before Felix started talking.
‘Dumbledore thinks they’ve figured out how I got here in the first place, which means they’ve got a plan to send me back. They’re working through the last of it now, so we should be ready to go tomorrow night.’
Sirius stared at him. ‘You’re going back? Tomorrow?’
Felix took a drink from his pint and nodded.
‘But- But why?’
He stared back at Sirius. ‘Because I have to.’
Sirius took a long drink and then put the glass back down on the table, a bit harder than he had meant. Its contents sloshed about for a minute before settling back down.
Felix sipped his pint. ‘Where I’m from we have this saying, All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.’
‘That’s depressing,’ Sirius replied. He finished off his and signalled the bartender for another round.
‘I guess, but it sort of depends on how you look at it. I find there’s a certain comfort in it. It tells me we’ve each got a place in time and a role within that time. And I know mine isn’t here, as much as I’d wouldn’t mind it if it were. It’d be a hell of a lot easier to stay.’
They sat in silence until one of the waitresses brought them the second round of drinks.
‘But it sort of removes the control from you, doesn’t it? Sort of says that it doesn’t matter what you do, whatever is going to happen will happen no matter what. I don’t think I could stand that.’
Felix took a drink and raised an eyebrow. ‘Says the man who’s been ducking his what, boyfriend, since long before I arrived?’
‘What do you know of it?’ Sirius glared. ‘There’s no changing Remus once he’s set his mind to something.’
‘And you have no control here whatsoever?’
Sirius sighed and took another drink. He was about to continue arguing when the pub door opened, letting in an icy breeze followed by James and Peter.
They waved and James made his way to the bar while Peter headed towards them. He slid in next to Sirius and unwound his scarf. ‘What, no Remus yet?’
Sirius glowered at him and downed the remains of his second pint.
*
They sat on the cold stone bench outside a black, unmarked door somewhere in the bowels of the Ministry.
‘Does your head still hurt?’ Sirius asked, wishing for another vial of Pepper Up for himself.
‘No, that stuff is amazing. I wish I could bring some back with me.’
Sirius grinned and Felix poked him in the side.
‘So, you’ll talk to him, right?’
Sirius nodded, reluctantly. ‘He isn’t going to change.’
‘Maybe not,’ Felix conceded. ‘But not doing anything hasn’t made it any better, has it?’
‘Fair point.’ Sirius fiddled in his pocket and pulled out the chain Lily had taken off Felix the when he arrived. He handed it over to him. ‘Thought you might want this back.’
Felix smiled and took it from his outstretched palm. ‘I’d wondered if I lost that.’ He slipped it over his head and tucked it into his shirt.
Sirius then handed him a scarf and one of his older wool trench coats that he’d picked up down in Kensington. ‘Reckoned you might need these, if your stories of New Caprica are even half true.’
Felix grinned and accepted them. They both shuffled their feet a moment before the door opened and Lily’s head poked out from around the side. ‘We’re ready when you are.’
Felix nodded and turned to go. When he got to the door, he looked back and gave Sirius a small smile. ‘Thanks, Sirius.’
Sirius nodded and watched as he slipped through and the door closed itself behind him.
Right, then, he thought. It’s just one Werewolf, yeah? Should be a piece of cake compared to an army of angry Cylon.