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A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read/reviewed. I greatly appreciate your thoughts and comments. I hope you enjoy the final installment.
Title: Legacy
By: Vaughn
Part 4/4
Rating: R (Part 4)
Legacy-Part 4 and Epliogue
Sirius was sitting on the floor covered in a blanket Remus had thrown over him. He had ignored Remus' numerous attempts to find out what happened, but the one thing you should never underestimate in Moony was his resourcefulness. Normally, that was a feature that Sirius greatly appreciated in his old friend. That opinion rapidly changed when Remus left the room and emerged ten minutes later carefully holding something in his hand. It was a figurine of some sort..
Sirius nearly howled in frustration; that was the last thing he wanted to see right now.
"The KNIGHT? If you are trying to make me feel better, you are failing miserably."
Remus grinned, and shook his head. Sirius was certain ‘Remus logic’ would follow, and he wasn’t disappointed.
"If you won't tell me what went wrong, I can't help you fix it. I just asked this gentleman here, and he's assured me that he watched the entire night unfold."
The knight grinned, nodding his head in accordance.
"All right, you win. I'll tell you everything." Sirius sighed.
"Go on then, Sirius. It can't be that bad. You had everything down pat."
"I know, Rem. Everything went well, too. We even had a bit of a..moment. But he just left before we could finish. Didn't even say a single word. Maybe I'm just too bloody optimistic. Maybe there really is too much bad blood between us to ever go anywhere."
"Sirius . . . " Remus absentmindedly chewed on his bottom lip, a telltale sign he was concentrating.
"What, Remy? I know that gesture . . . "
"Well, we're putting all the focus on you here. For once, I think the problem lies with someone other than yourself. Namely, Severus.."
"It is obvious, is it not, gentlemen?"
The small, tinny voice startled both Remus and Sirius. They had momentarily forgotten about the miniature knight currently perched atop Remus left hand.
"What could you possibly know that we don’t?” started Sirius, but Remus raised a hand to silence him.
"What do you mean, good sir knight?"
The knight smiled proudly at the title and gave a little bow.
"You see, sirs, you can tell a lot about a man from the way he plays chess."
He pointed a tiny finger at Sirius, who shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"I have known young Master Black here ever since he was a child. He plays the game recklessly, only thinking about the move he’s making in the terms of that moment. He makes bold moves that sometimes pay off, but more often backfire on him later in the course of play. This is why he loses most of the time."
"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Sirius whined.
"Shut it, Sirius. Let him speak." Remus hissed.
Sirius held up his hands in a gesture of defeat and motioned for the knight to continue.
"The gentleman that played so well the other night . . . "
A chorus of tiny voices in agreement echoed in the room, causing Sirius to roll his eyes dramatically.
"Severus?" Remus supplied.
"Yes, this Severus, he plays the game quite differently. That is why Sirius cannot win against him. He plans his moves, accepting small sacrifices in the name of achieving his desired outcome. Everything is calculated with him, and he thinks about the repercussions that every single move will have further down the game. In short.."
The knight paused, pondering how to phrase what he had seen in the man.
"In short, he plays like a man with everything to lose, but nothing to gain."
Sirius was getting annoyed and was unable to see what ANY of this had to do with himself and Severus. He looked up and glimpsed the expected dawning look of comprehension lighting up Remus' face. Sirius never was one for abstract concepts; if you wanted to say something, just say it already. Remus, however, lived for that sort of thing.
"If Severus didn't have any feelings for you, sexual or otherwise, he would have told you to bugger off months ago, Sirius."
"But he didn't, Remy! That's what I'm not getting-"
"I know, Siri. I think Severus was only harboring feelings of lust before, though. When you two were..ahem..doing whatever, he must've realised you felt more than that for him. And he felt the same way."
"Is that so bad? I was fine for a quick shag but nothing else?'
"Don't give me that wounded pride act, Sirius. I can't recall Severus ever being in any sort of long term relationship since.."
"He started spying on that psychotic bastard." Sirius finished, mentally smacking himself.
It was so plainly obvious. A quick tumble was one thing, but actually being with someone while in Severus' position would be very dangerous to the other party. That only meant one thing..
Sirius looked down, fumbling with the frayed corners of the blanket. Remus observed his friend in silence, waiting for him to continue.
"He cares about me, Remy. Enough that he didn't want just to sleep with me or put me at risk."
"I'm sorry that it can't be, Padfoot." Remus said, misery clear in his voice.
Remus was concerned when Sirius lifted his head with a mischievous grin on his face. Bright blue eyes twinkling, the Animagus shook his head.
"You should know me better than that, Remy. No one tells Sirius Black what risks he can’t take."
Sirius spent the entire day plotting to get Severus to at least listen to what he had to say. After Remus had left, he had gone through several scenarios in his head, each one more unlikely than the last. The only breaks he had was to tend to Buckbeak. Something was wrong with the hippogriff; he'd have to remember to have Harry talk to Hagrid about them later. He must have been missing some vital aspect of hippogriff care, since Buckbeak was managing to injure himself more and more as of late.
As he tended to Buckbeak's latest hurt, he was surprised to hear Severus' unmistakable voice ringing through the house, calling for him. The stoic Potions Master had a desperate edge to his voice that sent Sirius racing down the stairs.
Severus was in the kitchen, looking about the room wildly when Sirius burst in.
"What's wrong, Sev? You sound.."
Sirius let the words die on his lips as Severus grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a terse look.
"You promise me that no matter WHAT you hear, you will stay right here."
"What are you talking about, Severus?" Sirius asked, worry evident in his voice.
"You will not leave this place, Black. Promise me."
"All right, all right. I won't leave. Happy? Now please tell me what the hell is going on."
Severus abruptly released him, and pointed to the fireplace.
"Your godson tried to contact you earlier, because the Dark Lord had led him to believe you were his prisoner."
"Earlier? I was probably upstairs with Buckbeak..gods, Severus. Is Harry Ok? Where is he?' Sirius demanded.
"Right now, in the forest with that monster know as Dolores Umbridge. He got detention for his stunt, and tried to convey to me what had him worried enough to risk contact with you. I could not speak in front of the wench, but I verified your presence here and alerted the other Order members that Harry was being lured to the Ministry."
Sirius felt sick at the implication behind Severus words. That bastard was using him to get to Harry. All over that damned prophecy.
"But I can't stay here, Severus. What if Harry gets.."
"You will stay here, Sirius. The Dark Lord obviously is aware of your connection to the boy. If you walk right into his hands, the consequences could be dire for us all."
Sirius put on his most obedient face, and nodded his agreement.
It was a good thing he'd never actually promised Severus he would stay.
"I have to go back to the school before I am missed. I will be back later, Black."
"Sirius." Sirius said, with his best puppy dog eyes.
Severus let out an exasperated sigh, and folded his arms to his chest.
"Fine, Sirius."
"And you'll bring a bottle of wine so we can celebrate your brilliant foiling of yet another one of that maniac's plans?"
Severus opened his mouth to object, so Sirius rushed to cut him off.
"Just a few drinks, Severus. I'm not asking you to marry me, for Merlin's sake. Besides, it will give me incentive to stay put. All the good wine was destroyed by my insane house-elf. I'll be waiting for you, with two of my best glasses. I promise."
Sirius could see a faint smile tugging at the corners of Severus' mouth, and his heart leapt with excitement.
"Very well, Sirius. I shall return with a bottle of wine later."
With that, Severus turned and swept out of the room. Sirius, grinning like an idiot, bounded over to the cabinets and searched for the glasses he had in mind. He quickly found the box he was looking for. He tore through the tissue paper to reveal two wine goblets with deep scarlet stems and gold bases. Each base had the Gryffindor shield etched in, complete with a roaring lion. They had been a graduation present from James and Lily, and he had never had any reason to use them.
Until now.
Admiring the two shiny goblets in the light for a moment, he put them down on the table and regarded them thoughtfully. He grabbed his wand from the kitchen drawer and tapped one of the goblets. He watched with satisfaction as the stem morphed into an emerald green, and base changed to silver with the Slytherin shield. The snake even hissed and stuck out a forked tongue. Satisfied, he went to get ready to join the others at the Ministry. The was no way he was going to fail Harry like he had failed James and Lily. He glanced at the goblets on the table before he left, deciding at the last minute to take them with him. He didn't trust Kreacher enough to leave them behind. Smiling to himself, he charmed each with an unbreakable glass spell and added a single sentence to each as an afterthought. He stuffed them into the deep pockets of his robe and headed out the door.
Epilogue
It was a dark night, and the lone dark figure rapidly advancing up the street was hardly noticed. Good thing, too, since anyone who saw the figure would have sworn he disappeared somewhere between 10 and 14 Grimmauld Place.
Severus entered the Black mansion with an overwhelming mixture of sadness and anger. Why hadn't the mutt listened for once in his miserable life?
The mansion was empty; no one had wanted to return just yet. Severus knew this would be his last opportunity before he had to act like he couldn't care less about Sirius' passing.
There was no place for grief in a time of war.
He made his way up to the sitting room, clutching his finest bottle of red wine to his chest. The chessboard was still on the table, the small figurines in various stages of grief. They must have been charmed to Sirius.
Severus quietly set the bottle of wine on the table and made to escape. A small voice stopped him at the threshold of the room.
"Take the bottle with you, young Master Severus. He may have been..well, Master Sirius, but he never broke a promise in his life."
Severus whirled around to see the tiny knight furiously rubbing the minuscule tears that were falling from his metallic eyes.
Wordlessly, Severus shrunk the bottle to the size of a Knut and carefully stored it in his robe pocket.
He left the room before the knight could see the tears he had no will to stop.
Most believed you had two choices when you entered the land of the dead. Go on, or stay behind as a ghost, forever doomed to roam the earth. What they didn't realise was that there was a third, if unpopular, option.
You could go nowhere.
A spirit of a young woman had chosen just that. She watched the newcomers and the mainstays as if they were the most fascinating things in the world, twirling her gold necklace in her fingers. Unluckily, she had no other items on her person at the time of her demise, so she had to make do with the necklace and her own curiosity.
The object of her interest for the past fortnight had been a slightly greying man, clad in normal wizard attire, who did nothing but stand at the edge of the gate where the newly departed passed through. He never took his hands of his pockets, and she suspected something of great importance to him was stored there.
She finally decided to investigate, and drifted over to where he stood.
"Hello." she said, flashing him a friendly smile.
He smiled back, but made no move to respond. Something about his patient blue eyes unnerved her, but she was determined to get some answers. After all, she had nothing better to do until she could decide where to go.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's in your pockets that you treasure so much? You can take them out here, you know, they won't disappear or anything."
The man considered this for a moment, and then produced two beautiful glasses from his pockets. He handed the one of red and gold to her, and she giggled when the lion on the base growled at her. He clutched the green and silver one tightly in his hand, so she knew better than to ask to see it. Perhaps that was best, anyways. She could have sworn that one was hissing...
As she was handing the other glass back to him, she noticed words flashing in gold across it.
Here's to a love with the cunning of a snake and the strength of a lion.
"Thank you. Those are beautiful goblets." she said, quietly.
She took the man's hand and lightly squeezed it in sympathy.
"It's hard to be separated from someone you truly love, I know. But I'm afraid I don't quite understand why you are still here, standing at the gates of the dead. This is nothing more than a brief waiting room for when you die. As soon as you make a choice, you can leave this place forever."
To her surprise, the man chuckled and resumed his watch over the portal with sadness clouding his bright eyes.
"I know. But I promised him I would be waiting with the glasses."
FIN
Title: Legacy
By: Vaughn
Part 4/4
Rating: R (Part 4)
Legacy-Part 4 and Epliogue
Sirius was sitting on the floor covered in a blanket Remus had thrown over him. He had ignored Remus' numerous attempts to find out what happened, but the one thing you should never underestimate in Moony was his resourcefulness. Normally, that was a feature that Sirius greatly appreciated in his old friend. That opinion rapidly changed when Remus left the room and emerged ten minutes later carefully holding something in his hand. It was a figurine of some sort..
Sirius nearly howled in frustration; that was the last thing he wanted to see right now.
"The KNIGHT? If you are trying to make me feel better, you are failing miserably."
Remus grinned, and shook his head. Sirius was certain ‘Remus logic’ would follow, and he wasn’t disappointed.
"If you won't tell me what went wrong, I can't help you fix it. I just asked this gentleman here, and he's assured me that he watched the entire night unfold."
The knight grinned, nodding his head in accordance.
"All right, you win. I'll tell you everything." Sirius sighed.
"Go on then, Sirius. It can't be that bad. You had everything down pat."
"I know, Rem. Everything went well, too. We even had a bit of a..moment. But he just left before we could finish. Didn't even say a single word. Maybe I'm just too bloody optimistic. Maybe there really is too much bad blood between us to ever go anywhere."
"Sirius . . . " Remus absentmindedly chewed on his bottom lip, a telltale sign he was concentrating.
"What, Remy? I know that gesture . . . "
"Well, we're putting all the focus on you here. For once, I think the problem lies with someone other than yourself. Namely, Severus.."
"It is obvious, is it not, gentlemen?"
The small, tinny voice startled both Remus and Sirius. They had momentarily forgotten about the miniature knight currently perched atop Remus left hand.
"What could you possibly know that we don’t?” started Sirius, but Remus raised a hand to silence him.
"What do you mean, good sir knight?"
The knight smiled proudly at the title and gave a little bow.
"You see, sirs, you can tell a lot about a man from the way he plays chess."
He pointed a tiny finger at Sirius, who shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"I have known young Master Black here ever since he was a child. He plays the game recklessly, only thinking about the move he’s making in the terms of that moment. He makes bold moves that sometimes pay off, but more often backfire on him later in the course of play. This is why he loses most of the time."
"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Sirius whined.
"Shut it, Sirius. Let him speak." Remus hissed.
Sirius held up his hands in a gesture of defeat and motioned for the knight to continue.
"The gentleman that played so well the other night . . . "
A chorus of tiny voices in agreement echoed in the room, causing Sirius to roll his eyes dramatically.
"Severus?" Remus supplied.
"Yes, this Severus, he plays the game quite differently. That is why Sirius cannot win against him. He plans his moves, accepting small sacrifices in the name of achieving his desired outcome. Everything is calculated with him, and he thinks about the repercussions that every single move will have further down the game. In short.."
The knight paused, pondering how to phrase what he had seen in the man.
"In short, he plays like a man with everything to lose, but nothing to gain."
Sirius was getting annoyed and was unable to see what ANY of this had to do with himself and Severus. He looked up and glimpsed the expected dawning look of comprehension lighting up Remus' face. Sirius never was one for abstract concepts; if you wanted to say something, just say it already. Remus, however, lived for that sort of thing.
"If Severus didn't have any feelings for you, sexual or otherwise, he would have told you to bugger off months ago, Sirius."
"But he didn't, Remy! That's what I'm not getting-"
"I know, Siri. I think Severus was only harboring feelings of lust before, though. When you two were..ahem..doing whatever, he must've realised you felt more than that for him. And he felt the same way."
"Is that so bad? I was fine for a quick shag but nothing else?'
"Don't give me that wounded pride act, Sirius. I can't recall Severus ever being in any sort of long term relationship since.."
"He started spying on that psychotic bastard." Sirius finished, mentally smacking himself.
It was so plainly obvious. A quick tumble was one thing, but actually being with someone while in Severus' position would be very dangerous to the other party. That only meant one thing..
Sirius looked down, fumbling with the frayed corners of the blanket. Remus observed his friend in silence, waiting for him to continue.
"He cares about me, Remy. Enough that he didn't want just to sleep with me or put me at risk."
"I'm sorry that it can't be, Padfoot." Remus said, misery clear in his voice.
Remus was concerned when Sirius lifted his head with a mischievous grin on his face. Bright blue eyes twinkling, the Animagus shook his head.
"You should know me better than that, Remy. No one tells Sirius Black what risks he can’t take."
Sirius spent the entire day plotting to get Severus to at least listen to what he had to say. After Remus had left, he had gone through several scenarios in his head, each one more unlikely than the last. The only breaks he had was to tend to Buckbeak. Something was wrong with the hippogriff; he'd have to remember to have Harry talk to Hagrid about them later. He must have been missing some vital aspect of hippogriff care, since Buckbeak was managing to injure himself more and more as of late.
As he tended to Buckbeak's latest hurt, he was surprised to hear Severus' unmistakable voice ringing through the house, calling for him. The stoic Potions Master had a desperate edge to his voice that sent Sirius racing down the stairs.
Severus was in the kitchen, looking about the room wildly when Sirius burst in.
"What's wrong, Sev? You sound.."
Sirius let the words die on his lips as Severus grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a terse look.
"You promise me that no matter WHAT you hear, you will stay right here."
"What are you talking about, Severus?" Sirius asked, worry evident in his voice.
"You will not leave this place, Black. Promise me."
"All right, all right. I won't leave. Happy? Now please tell me what the hell is going on."
Severus abruptly released him, and pointed to the fireplace.
"Your godson tried to contact you earlier, because the Dark Lord had led him to believe you were his prisoner."
"Earlier? I was probably upstairs with Buckbeak..gods, Severus. Is Harry Ok? Where is he?' Sirius demanded.
"Right now, in the forest with that monster know as Dolores Umbridge. He got detention for his stunt, and tried to convey to me what had him worried enough to risk contact with you. I could not speak in front of the wench, but I verified your presence here and alerted the other Order members that Harry was being lured to the Ministry."
Sirius felt sick at the implication behind Severus words. That bastard was using him to get to Harry. All over that damned prophecy.
"But I can't stay here, Severus. What if Harry gets.."
"You will stay here, Sirius. The Dark Lord obviously is aware of your connection to the boy. If you walk right into his hands, the consequences could be dire for us all."
Sirius put on his most obedient face, and nodded his agreement.
It was a good thing he'd never actually promised Severus he would stay.
"I have to go back to the school before I am missed. I will be back later, Black."
"Sirius." Sirius said, with his best puppy dog eyes.
Severus let out an exasperated sigh, and folded his arms to his chest.
"Fine, Sirius."
"And you'll bring a bottle of wine so we can celebrate your brilliant foiling of yet another one of that maniac's plans?"
Severus opened his mouth to object, so Sirius rushed to cut him off.
"Just a few drinks, Severus. I'm not asking you to marry me, for Merlin's sake. Besides, it will give me incentive to stay put. All the good wine was destroyed by my insane house-elf. I'll be waiting for you, with two of my best glasses. I promise."
Sirius could see a faint smile tugging at the corners of Severus' mouth, and his heart leapt with excitement.
"Very well, Sirius. I shall return with a bottle of wine later."
With that, Severus turned and swept out of the room. Sirius, grinning like an idiot, bounded over to the cabinets and searched for the glasses he had in mind. He quickly found the box he was looking for. He tore through the tissue paper to reveal two wine goblets with deep scarlet stems and gold bases. Each base had the Gryffindor shield etched in, complete with a roaring lion. They had been a graduation present from James and Lily, and he had never had any reason to use them.
Until now.
Admiring the two shiny goblets in the light for a moment, he put them down on the table and regarded them thoughtfully. He grabbed his wand from the kitchen drawer and tapped one of the goblets. He watched with satisfaction as the stem morphed into an emerald green, and base changed to silver with the Slytherin shield. The snake even hissed and stuck out a forked tongue. Satisfied, he went to get ready to join the others at the Ministry. The was no way he was going to fail Harry like he had failed James and Lily. He glanced at the goblets on the table before he left, deciding at the last minute to take them with him. He didn't trust Kreacher enough to leave them behind. Smiling to himself, he charmed each with an unbreakable glass spell and added a single sentence to each as an afterthought. He stuffed them into the deep pockets of his robe and headed out the door.
Epilogue
It was a dark night, and the lone dark figure rapidly advancing up the street was hardly noticed. Good thing, too, since anyone who saw the figure would have sworn he disappeared somewhere between 10 and 14 Grimmauld Place.
Severus entered the Black mansion with an overwhelming mixture of sadness and anger. Why hadn't the mutt listened for once in his miserable life?
The mansion was empty; no one had wanted to return just yet. Severus knew this would be his last opportunity before he had to act like he couldn't care less about Sirius' passing.
There was no place for grief in a time of war.
He made his way up to the sitting room, clutching his finest bottle of red wine to his chest. The chessboard was still on the table, the small figurines in various stages of grief. They must have been charmed to Sirius.
Severus quietly set the bottle of wine on the table and made to escape. A small voice stopped him at the threshold of the room.
"Take the bottle with you, young Master Severus. He may have been..well, Master Sirius, but he never broke a promise in his life."
Severus whirled around to see the tiny knight furiously rubbing the minuscule tears that were falling from his metallic eyes.
Wordlessly, Severus shrunk the bottle to the size of a Knut and carefully stored it in his robe pocket.
He left the room before the knight could see the tears he had no will to stop.
Most believed you had two choices when you entered the land of the dead. Go on, or stay behind as a ghost, forever doomed to roam the earth. What they didn't realise was that there was a third, if unpopular, option.
You could go nowhere.
A spirit of a young woman had chosen just that. She watched the newcomers and the mainstays as if they were the most fascinating things in the world, twirling her gold necklace in her fingers. Unluckily, she had no other items on her person at the time of her demise, so she had to make do with the necklace and her own curiosity.
The object of her interest for the past fortnight had been a slightly greying man, clad in normal wizard attire, who did nothing but stand at the edge of the gate where the newly departed passed through. He never took his hands of his pockets, and she suspected something of great importance to him was stored there.
She finally decided to investigate, and drifted over to where he stood.
"Hello." she said, flashing him a friendly smile.
He smiled back, but made no move to respond. Something about his patient blue eyes unnerved her, but she was determined to get some answers. After all, she had nothing better to do until she could decide where to go.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's in your pockets that you treasure so much? You can take them out here, you know, they won't disappear or anything."
The man considered this for a moment, and then produced two beautiful glasses from his pockets. He handed the one of red and gold to her, and she giggled when the lion on the base growled at her. He clutched the green and silver one tightly in his hand, so she knew better than to ask to see it. Perhaps that was best, anyways. She could have sworn that one was hissing...
As she was handing the other glass back to him, she noticed words flashing in gold across it.
Here's to a love with the cunning of a snake and the strength of a lion.
"Thank you. Those are beautiful goblets." she said, quietly.
She took the man's hand and lightly squeezed it in sympathy.
"It's hard to be separated from someone you truly love, I know. But I'm afraid I don't quite understand why you are still here, standing at the gates of the dead. This is nothing more than a brief waiting room for when you die. As soon as you make a choice, you can leave this place forever."
To her surprise, the man chuckled and resumed his watch over the portal with sadness clouding his bright eyes.
"I know. But I promised him I would be waiting with the glasses."
FIN