The Dog and the Swan.

Chapter Twenty One - Fini

This Chapter is the final chapter, it's been unfinished for the longest time and I apologise for any errors. I'll come back to it eventually and clean it up, maybe adding a few more chapters... but for now. Thank you for reading.

===========================================

Hazel walked out of Gringotts beside Bill and Fleur. Both were working on the curse breaking team with her, it was so refreshing to work with people who valued intellect and logic more than wand skill. She felt useful and part of something for the first time in years. The night had crawled in while they had argued over the last line of a curse. It hadn't been sorted, so they'd just given up and promised to return to it the next morning. Bill threw his arm over Fleurs shoulders as she giggled and hazel pretended to look away. It was so cute seeing them together.

A silver glow echoed down the street before them, catching her attention.

Hazel felt her knees drop from beneath her. Bill Weasley turned and grabbed her elbow seconds before she hit the cold concrete. She felt his warm hands grab at her and heave her against his chest. She could hear Fleur talking in fast French beside them and then the familiar tugging of apparating.

She could hear people shouting occasionally but mostly it was silent.

This didn't feel right, something was wrong... something was wrong with Sirius.

Voices came back into her consciousness, she could hear the dulcet tones of Remus and the twang that belonged to Tonks. She tried to speak, but she simply didn't have enough energy like when you're trying to scream in a dream. She must be asleep, that must be it.

With a sigh, she thought of Sirius and how life was so much better with him. She thought of how his arms held her while they slept; like he was scared he'd wake up and she'd be gone. She understood the fear, its why she learnt to sleep in a death grip. She wanted to be reassured he'd still be there when she woke up.

She woke slowly, the arms that held her during the night were wrapped tightly around her. She sighed happily and rolled to face the man she loved. Shock filled her for a few seconds before she shut her eyes to get rid of the haze of sleep. For a second he looked twenty again. Opening the second time though, she began to panic.

"Sirius?" she whispered, grabbing his shirt and opening it to look at his chest.

The myriad of tattoos he'd acquired at Azkaban were gone. She grabbed his arm and pulled it closer, looking for the scar that Remus had inflicted just before he'd been locked away... it was gone too.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, his voice had lost the husk that maturity had brought and his eyes were bright and full of youth. "Haze?"

"What's happening?" she whispered, rolling out of the bed and realising they were in his common room. "Sirius, what's happened?"

"What do you mean?" he frowned as she found a mirror.

"I'm young again." She whispered, touching her wrinkle free face, running her hands through her short hair. "I'm going to have a panic attack."

Sirius reacted quickly, he jumped out of bed and sat her down in his arms as he rocked her back and forth. "Hazel just relax, breathe and tell me what's wrong."

"I was walking home from work with Bill and Fleur when I collapsed, Remus was there and Tonks... I couldn't talk. I couldn't speak to them." She gasped, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I was dying and I didn't know where you were."

"It's just a dream Haze." He whispered kissing her cheek. "It was just a bad dream... why were you dreaming about Ted Tonks?"

"No... Nymphadora." She replied looking up at him.