Secrets, Lies and the Daily Prophet (Alt. Fifth Year Fic)

Chapter Five: The Zone

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

The next morning Arabella woke to see Sirius propped up on one elbow and gazing down at her. "I guess I didn't just dream that I had a wonderful lover in bed with me. How did you sleep last night?"

"For the first time in years, I did not have any nightmares. Thanks to you." He leaned over and started kissing her gently. Then his tongue started to probe her mouth while his hand traced the outline of her breast.

Arabella broke the kiss, "As nice as it would be to start our day that way, I have to turn you down. We have a lot of work to do and we'll just have to wait until this evening to continue."

Sirius looked at the clock, "But it's only six o'clock in the morning. That's still very early..."

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "What am I going to do with you? Come on and let's get our day started."

Sirius smiled. "Well you can't blame me for trying."

Arabella put on her bathrobe. "You can stay there for a few minutes while I take my shower if you'd like. However, I do have a routine and you're going to have to learn it since you'll be taking over the surveillance here. I also know that we're going to have many errands to do today and we'll be lucky to get everything done before nightfall."

Sirius leaned back on his pillow and smiled at her. "My love, the take-charge lady. Sure you don't want me to join you in that shower?"

"No, because I think you're going to be needing a cold shower," she said as she playfully threw her pillow at him.

Arabella started on her morning routine. Shower, dry and fix her hair, get dressed, put a pot of tea on the stove, listen to the Wireless Wizarding Network morning news, and get a report from the cat doing the overnight shift of surveillance in the control room. She also performed her daily disillusionment charm on the Kneazles so they appeared to Muggles as regular cats. Ordinarily she would also review the morning Muggle newspaper, but today she'd have to wait until later when she could resume the old lady appearance and retrieve the paper from her stoop. Sirius appeared in the kitchen dressed in the clothes she had set out for him the previous night. He looked incredibly handsome and Arabella gave him a warm hug and kiss.

"It's seven o'clock now. Time for the aging potion," she handed him a bottle of yellowish liquid. "Please place twenty drops under your tongue. One drop for every year."

"Twenty?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, it'll be easier for you to remember that way. You need to find an age and stick with it."

"I thought you said you've been trapped in an eighty year old woman's body for years?" he asked.

"Well, I started out at seventy and progressed until I turned eighty. After that I decided that no one really pays that much attention as to how an old lady looks and I held steady after that. Hurry up and take it, I still need to take my dose," she said urgently.

Sirius took the dropper and carefully administered the drops. Arabella took the bottle from him and quickly placed the drops under her tongue. Instantly they both began to age. Sirius started to go gray around the temples and crow's feet began to form around his eyes. Arabella continued to age long after he had finished aging. Her shoulders shrunk, her hair was all white, and she had wrinkles all over her face. She placed her spectacles upon her face and nodded at her reflection in a hand held mirror. She then handed the mirror to Sirius. He looked surprised to see the face looking back.