Dark AIAOY 5

Chapter 4

Sirius wove in and out from between legs and trolleys in Kings Cross, his tail wagging and his tongue hanging out of his canine mouth all the while.  Moody clumped along at the front of the party, Arthur bringing up the back to ensure that the group of students the Order was seeing off stayed together and arrived in on piece.  Moody was muttering under his breath darkly, Tonks at his side no stranger to his anger.  "What is he even doing here?  Barking mad, absolutely barking mad!"

Sirius, still in dog form, went down the stairs they were pausing at the top of and snuck into an empty waiting room to transform back into the thin man he was on a daily basis.  Harry and Rebecca looked to the adults for permission, only taking a small step closer to the stairs until Molly grimaced and gave them the go-ahead.

"Sirius!  What are you doing here?"  Harry asked, launching himself into Sirius' outstretched arms.

"I had to see you two off, didn't I?"  Sirius countered, letting go of Harry and hugging Rebecca as her brother just had been.  "What's life without a little risk?  Come, have a seat."  He sat down and patted the two chairs on either side of him.

"We don't want to see you back in Azkaban."  Rebecca said warily.  "We can't."

"Don't spend your time worrying about me."  Sirius chuckled, reaching into his coat to pull out the folded photograph he had found earlier in the week.  "I found this and wanted you two to have it."  Rebecca tilted it so Harry could see it as well.  "This was the original Order of the Phoenix.  Marlene McKinnon--killed two weeks after this was taken."  Sirius pointed to a blonde woman with a mischievous smile.  "Frank and Alice Longbottom."

"Neville's parents."  Harry said.

"They suffered a fate worse than death, if you ask me."  Sirius' voice grew sadder.  "It's been fourteen years...and not a day goes by I don't miss your mum and dad."  Sirius looked at the young faces of James and Lily and felt his heart wrench.

Harry put his head on Sirius' shoulder, his arm going around the man's back.  "Why are you telling us this now?"  He asked with a quiet voice.

"He thinks there's going to be another war."  Rebecca said bluntly.  "Right?"

Sirius paused and looked away from the two of them.  "I told you this because I want you to know about those who have paved the way for this resistance.  If we don't remember whom and what we've lost, then there's nothing left to fight for."

Rebecca took his words to heart.  She tried to hand Sirius back his photograph, but he shook his head and held his hand up to push it back towards her.

"No, I want you two to keep it."  He chuckled.  "I supposed you're the young (dudes) ones now."  Moody knocked on the door to the sitting room they were in and Sirius stood up with a grunt.  "Time to go then, the boss man demands it."  He turned back into a dog and accepted a quick pat from both of them before going to the door.

Harry and Rebecca climbed the stairs behind Moody quickly, following him straight through the passageway to Platform 9 3/4s.  The rest of their group was already inside and jumped back into motion at their return.

"Rebecca!"  Harry hissed, staring in front of them and stopping her in his tracks with a tight grip, a too-tight grip.  

"Oi, Harry!"  Rebecca looked up quickly, stopping next to him.  While Harry's grip grew tighter, her face grew paler.

Voldemort was in front of them, standing in a black suit in the middle of the walk way while his head jerked from side to side.  As quickly as he had appeared, he was gone.  "Harry, please!"  Rebecca whispered, trying to puller her wrist out of his grip and then pulling her sleeve down over the darkening marks he had left behind.