peace is war by other means

[effingsirius]

It's soon enough after the war that an increase in incidents involving Muggles anywhere in the UK gets the Aurors and the Order poking their head in. A confirmed death, disappearances, and a number of addled Muggles was definitely something that called their attention. Preliminary investigations turned up at least one Death Eater's son in the vicinity; he was put on the shortlist instantly. Most of the people assumed he was the man they'd be nabbing, at the end.

But interrogations of the Muggles who seem to have been put at risk yield an interesting new factor. Yield a description of one Sirius Black, previously missing and apparently turned dark in his absence. Yield, from a few of the Muggles, blurry memories of a snake.

The Aurors are ready to arrest him on the spot. The Order members know better. Relay the information back to the Potters, who are understandably upset, and to Dumbledore, who poses the possibility of Horcruxes to them.

In the end, they ask Lily to go out. She's familiar and loved enough she probably won't seem a threat to Sirius if he has taken a dark turn. Is skilled enough that there is a Horcrux, she'll likely be able to handle it.

They still have some people accompany her, but when the time comes it's her they're allowing to knock on the door of the apartment they've determined belongs to one Sirius Black.

When he opens the door, for a heartbeat of a moment he's nothing but a shell. When his glazed eyes take in who's standing there, though, the foreign soul in him hisses. Twists a little at the controls it has on him to bring back a bit of the light in his eyes but none of the actual feeling behind it.

"--Lily." He's still so pale. His voice and eyes are still so dull. The smile doesn't reach his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

(The snake, elsewhere in the apartment, slithers to try to find a hiding place.)

Comments

[lightmagic]

Lily can do this. She can. There's no way that Sirius has done any of this of his own accord. No possible way—she believes it because she loves him, because she's known him for so long, because she needs to. She just repeats it as a mantra in her head as she moves to the door. She appears to be alone. Appears being key. James hadn't been allowed to accompany at all. It's too much, too raw, for the both of them together.

When Sirius opens the door Lily is keen enough to capture a progression in Sirius' expression—if it can be called that—that's even more worrying than the general look of him. There's a deep-seated worry and hurt in her that she doesn't think will ever go away in the face of this pale ghost of one of the men she loves.

(She thinks of Peter, Peter who they'd loved as well, and something twists in her chest.)

"I came here to see you," she says softly, smiling in a way that looks very real to someone that doesn't know her very well. "I want to ask you to come home." She tilts her head aside, wants to touch his face but refrains from reaching out just in case. "We miss you, love. Can I come in? We should talk a bit." Whether he's really gone dark (which she doesn't believe) or he's being controlled (far more likely from the looks of him), she needs to drag him out of this hell and back where he belongs.

Her perfectly straight spine is certainly familiar.