The Other Black Book 3

Chapter 20 - The Dementor's Kiss

Aurora had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Professor Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry, Aurora, and Hermione brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Professor Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Professor Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Aurora could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Aurora, who had entered just behind Harry, had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this.

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," said Harry.

"Yes..." said Black. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry. "Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What — live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Black turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Black's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Aurora had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parents' wedding.

Aurora thought about the odd situation, and how it compared to what she saw in the crystal nall. "A dog, a wolf, and a ghostly stag chasing a rat who was missing a toe. All of them angry, all of them... all of them looking to kill."

"What?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Divination exam. It's what I saw."

"Elara was always good at that," Sirius said to Aurora. "Has anyone ever told you that you look so much like her?"

"Not often, no," Aurora admitted. "I don't know very many people who knew her."

"'Knew'?" Sirius asked. "What... what happened to her?"

"We don't know," Professor Lupin said. "The same night James and Lily died, she vanished. Aurora turned up in an orphanage, but no one's seen or heard from Elara since."

"But... she's not dead, is she?" Sirius asked.

"We don't know, but I and her family assume so," Professor Lupin said.

They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.