“To Live Again” or “Para vivir otra vez”
Something tickled his nose and Sirius fought the unconscious urge to sneeze violently, which he did when the phantom menace came back to pester him with the dreadful prospect of waking up.
He yawned widely and stretched before surrendering to the blinding sunlight that assaulted his eyes. Sirius tried to sit up, but the world swayed underneath him and he fell back down onto the grass. He took a second to collect his wits before he propped himself up onto his elbows. He was sitting in a field of grass, which accounted for the nose-tickling thing, but why the hell was he sitting in a field of grass? He tried to get up from the ground, but once again a wave of dizziness and disorientation kept him down.
Sirius took the time to look around him. The field, no matter how annoying, was really quite beautiful. The grass was a blanket of green covering the rolling hills. Underneath the majestic oak trees scattered throughout the field, sheep grazed and slept lazily, so Sirius deduced that he must be one someone’s farm, trespassing probably. But the sun was so warm and the sky was so blue that he lay still for a few minutes enjoying the lovely day.
It wasn’t until he heard the dull roar of a tractor starting up that he figured he had better get on his way in a hurry before he became dog meat. He got to his feet slowly and was pleased to see that he could stand without falling. Sirius was about to go about his way when he remembered his wand. He looked around for it and spotted it next to a leather satchel; the satchel was plain and worn, nothing fancy, but Sirius picked it up anyway to see whether it had a clue as to where he was. Or even better: a map. He squatted down and dumped the contents of the bag unceremoniously on the ground.
Out tumbled a history book, a small, weird, hourglass thing on a chain and… a map! Sirius brought the hourglass up to his eye and was about to flip it when he saw the engraving on the base: Time Turner.
Oh, snap! He put the Time Turner back down on the ground carefully lest he accidentally transport himself to another time and after glancing at the cover of the history book, tossed it back inside the satchel. The map was what he was most interested in, but a gust of wind kicked up and blew it a few feet away.
He chased after it and pinned it down with his boot. However, another piece of parchment caught his eye and he picked it up as well. It was highly unlikely that a Muggle farmer had a piece of parchment… maybe it was for him?
Sirius stuffed the map in his pocket and read,
Dear Sirius Black,
Then, with a shock that made his blood go cold, Sirius remembered what exactly he was here for.
Sirius hopped the fence and strolled down the dirt road. He looked at the map for a few minutes as he walked, trying to get his bearings, but the map was useless as he didn’t have a landmark to go off of. He spotted the edge of a cliff looming nearby and jogged down further along the road. Sirius sat down on a cliff and dangled his feet precariously off the edge as he looked down on the valley laid out below him. There was a small, quaint-looking town a few miles off and Sirius decided this would be a good place to stop for some supplies. It looked like he could probably take an old sheep path on the right side of the cliff to get to the town, so he brushed the dirt off his jeans and got up.
It was basically like rock climbing down a mountain! Sirius had to use his hands and feet in order to get himself safely down the steep sheep path. How the bloody sheep actually stayed on the mountain without falling off mystified him completely. He got to a particularly tricky spot where he was basically vertical on the hill, clinging onto a rock with his hands and stepping on one with his feet; a straight vertical descent. Sirius felt around with his foot and felt a rock to step down upon, then the rock beneath his fingers seemed to crumble and suddenly…
He was falling! He tumbled down the cliff and somehow, miraculously, landed in a patch of ferns. Bruised and dazed, he shook his head to clear his head of the stars clouding his vision. His tumble was worth it though”he landed right next to the main path. For what seemed like the tenth time that day, Sirius picked his dazed body off the ground and began to walk after making sure nothing was damaged during his fall.
He strolled leisurely down the path, joyfully anticipating the hot meal and warm room that would be awaiting him at the inn. But something was bothering him. He was somehow eliciting a few stares and glares from some conservatively dressed older farmwomen he passed on the road. He suddenly felt weirdly self-conscious about his outfit, although he didn’t see why he should be. Sirius was dressed as he normally was in leather jacket, dark jeans, concert tee and army boots. It was Muggle clothing too, so why was he getting all these weird stares?
He froze. Down the road was a guy about his age, wearing old-fashioned slacks with a vest and sport jacket. It wasn’t too fancy, but it sure was different from Sirius’ attire, which was looked more suited towards a rock concert next to this fellow. Sirius quickly hopped over the bushes, hid himself behind them and watched the guy walk by. He studied his clothing intently before Transfiguring his clothes into something very similar to the man’s. He wore a white collared shirt, black pants, a black vest and a black sport jacket. He added a sort of derby to the ensemble to give it a bit of dramatic effect and gave himself a once over. Simple, unobtrusive, perfect.
With his new disguise on, Sirius strolled freely into the town where his fears were confirmed.
He definitely wasn’t in 1980 anymore. All the men were dressed in the same old-fashioned clothes and the women were wearing plain dresses, but with high collars and full skirts. He snatched a newspaper from a rubbish bin and found the date: June 15, 1932.
Well that certainly explained things. No wonder the women had treated him like a bum! In their eyes, he was a bum. Rock concerts hadn’t even been invented yet, had they? Sirius racked his brain for things that had happened in 1932 but he kept drawing a blank. His mind was elsewhere, strangely enough. He felt as if he had never properly woken up since finding himself in the field. Everything had a weird, dreamlike vibe to it, and Sirius decided that as long as he was “dreaming” he might as well be drinking. He strolled over to the local pub, where a group of farmers were already congregating.
A quick drink couldn’t hurt, he argued with himself. Especially after all he’d been through today. He made his way to the counter and ordered a pint from the bartender. While he waited on his drink, he rested his elbows on the bar and took a look around the place. The pub was mainly full of farmers in for their afternoon meal and pint, but there was a finely dressed gentleman at the other end of the bar. Curious as to whom he was, Sirius pretended to read the paper he had snuck from the bin while stealing glances at the stranger. Then, by a stroke of luck, one of the farmer’s wives accidentally knocked into the gentleman and his bowler hat fell off. A shock of neatly combed blond hair was revealed and with a small lurch, Sirius realized that the stranger was Lucius Malfoy.
This could not be good. Sirius finished his beer in several large gulps, slapped some Muggle money on the bar and left as quickly as his legs would let him. It was not good that Lucius was here. Not good at all.
He was half way to freedom when a smooth, cold voice stopped him.
“Well, look what the Kneazle dragged in!”
A weaker man may have shivered in fear, but Sirius only gulped and turned to face Lucius Malfoy.
“Why, hello, cousin,” Lucius drawled.
“Hello,” Sirius said through clenched teeth. The snotty, slimy, spineless man who had unfortunately married Narcissa and made a snotty, slimy, spineless family was looking debonair in a suit, bow tie, and was that actually a cane?!
The cane thumped each time it hit the floor as Lucius strode towards Sirius and engulfed him in a bone-crushing hug that was probably intended to be just that: bone-crushing. Lucius didn’t relinquish his grasp on him so easily however; he put his arm around Sirius’ shoulders and steered him past the group gathering at the bar.
Sirius was frantically thinking of his options. He had never actually proven that Lucius was a Death Eater, right? Maybe he was here for different reasons? If he were a Death Eater, he would’ve killed Sirius regardless of the Muggles watching.
The farmers were glaring daggers at them for some reason. One man actually made to get up, but his wife held him down. The entire pub was oddly quiet as Lucius steered Sirius away and Sirius had no idea why.
“I have some urgent news to tell you, cousin,” Lucius hissed in his ear.
“Really.” By now Sirius was trying to fight the death grip on his shoulders.
“I think that you’ll find it fascinating,” Lucius continued.
“I find every twisted thing you do a constant source of fascination, cousin,” Sirius muttered.
They were out of the pub but Lucius didn’t let go of Sirius until they were a few blocks away.
“What the hell do you want?” Sirius demanded and then mustered up a wandless Stinging Hex in his head. He slammed his palm down on Lucius’ arm and Lucius immediately began to howl in pain. Sirius watched and grinned. He’d always been good at Stinging Hexes.
Lucius hissed in pain and withdrew his arm.
“I forgot that you were always this charming,” he growled as he rubbed his arm.
“You’re the one to talk,” Sirius said, as he sized up the cane. “What do you use that for? Tripping old ladies and hitting puppy dogs?”
“What? You don’t like it?” Lucius sneered. “Why that’s such a shame. Narcissa thinks that it’s rather dashing.” He gave the cane a twirl.
Sirius managed to refrain from grabbing the cane and bashing Lucius’ head with it. Barely.
“Listen, contrary to what seems to be popular belief, I’m not here for a family reunion. Care to explain why you are here?”
The cane twirled faster now and Sirius’ eyes followed it.
“Well, hmm… Let’s just say that a situation has unexpectedly come up.” Lucius smirked infuriatingly.
“What situation?” Sirius said warily. “There should be no situation! You’re supposed to be looking after Molly!”
“Now don’t get your knickers in a twist, Black…”
“Don’t tell me what to do, you arrogant bastard! This is my daughter that we’re talking about!” Sirius seethed. “Where is she? You made an Unbreakable Vow to protect her, Malfoy!”
“‘To protect her to the best of my ability!' And, don’t you think I know that, Black?” Lucius snapped. “She’s around here…somewhere.”
“What do you mean, ‘she’s around here, somewhere?’ I gave her to you because she needed to be somewhere safe! I figured that she would be safe enough in your mansion in Switzerland with Narcissa. AND NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT SHE’S HERE? ONE OF THE FEW PLACES I WANTED HER FAR AWAY FROM?” Sirius lunged forward and caught Lucius on the square on the jaw with a punch.
Lucius fell back down onto the ground and into a muddy puddle, but Sirius didn’t even feel nearly vindicated. He crouched down near Lucius and held his gaze.
“You lost my daughter,” he said steadily and dangerously. “And now you’re going to find her for me. If you don’t have her back here within twenty-four hours, there will be trouble.”
To Live Again by dragonwings
Chapter Notes: A huge thank you to my beta, Phia Phoenix!