“Sirius, come on, we need to get out of here. Then you can-” James words were cut off by Abby. She held a hand up to forestall what he was going to say.
“No need to worry, James. Even if Mr Black is too blind to see that we are all in a very dangerous position, I’m not.” She smiled sweetly at them. “I will meet you back at your house. I have to make a stop first.” She took a step back getting ready to Disapparate.
Sirius reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “Where do you think you are going? To meet Malfoy?” The last word came out in a harsh tone.
“Where I am going is none of your business,” she said angrily. She pulled free of his hold. She turned on the spot and Disapparated.
Sirius didn’t think, as he saw her turning, he reached out again and grabbed hold of her arm. He held tight as the darkness squeezed them. When they landed behind the Hogs Head bar, he let her go and she crumbled to the ground. Looking down, he saw blood pouring from her arm where she had tried to pull it away from him.
Sirius reacted instantly, he bent down and scooped Abby up in his arms. He strode quickly through the backdoor of the Hogs Head and went upstairs to the room Aberforth kept for Order use. He laid her gently on the sofa.
“Abby, come on sweetheart, wake up.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realised it was probably better if she stayed unconscious.
He ripped her shirt open and pulled it gently off her. Looking down, he felt his stomach roll. He took a deep breath and looked around for something to clean the blood away. Not seeing anything handy, he pulled off his own shirt and tied it tightly around her arm.
“I’ll be right back, sweetheart,” he told her as he bent down and kissed her cold cheek.
Sirius rushed from the room and down the stairs. He skidded to a stop in front of Aberforth who was standing at the end of the bar. Aberforth pressed a glass of Firewhisky into Sirius’ hand. He downed it before attempting to speak. “Abby’s hurt,” he said quickly. “Splinched herself, she’s bleeding badly.”
Aberforth nodded and turned to go into the backroom. He didn't even question the fact Sirius was standing in his pub without a shirt on. Sirius stood unmoving waiting for him to return. When Aberforth came out, he put a box into Sirius’ hands.
“I’ll send word to the others,” he said. “You go take care of your lady.”
“Madam Pomfrey,” Sirius choked out.
“Yes, yes, I will send for her and my brother. You get back upstairs before someone questions why you are standing here without a shirt and covered in blood.” Aberforth pushed Sirius towards the stairs.
Sirius nodded and rushed back up the stairs. He barged in the room to see Abby in the same position, looking even paler than she did a few minutes ago. As he approached the sofa, he noticed his shirt was soaked in blood.
He dropped to his knees and looked in the box. He pulled off the shirt from around her arm and pressed a towel to her arm. He took several deep breaths hoping Madam Pomfrey arrived soon. His head snapped up when he heard her moan.
“Abby, honey, just relax. Madam Pomfrey is on her way and she will fix you up in no time,” he told her. With his free hand, he brushed her hair off her face.
He turned to look as the door opened and he saw Madam Pomfrey coming through the door followed by Dumbledore. She came over to the sofa and nudged Sirius aside. He stood and sat down at her feet.
“Pick up her feet and put them on your lap,” Madam Pomfrey instructed. She began working on Abby’s arm. She pulled out a bottle of potion and dripped some of it on the wound. Waiting a few minutes, she poured more on.
Sirius watched as the wound slowly closed. It took quite a while but eventually the wound was healed over. Madam Pomfrey began cleaning up the dried blood on Abby’s arm.
“She’ll be fine,” she told Sirius. “She just needs some rest.”
Sirius let out a deep breath. He would never admit it, but this was probably one of the few times in his life he had been scared out of his mind. His head turned again to the door when it opened. He wasn’t surprised to see the other Marauders and Lily striding through the door.
“Is Abby okay?” asked Lily as she rushed across the room.
“As I was just telling Mr Black, Miss Sampson will be fine. She just needs some rest. Mr Potter, will you and your friends take Mr Black downstairs and get him something to drink? Miss Evans...oh sorry, Mrs Potter and I will take care of Miss Sampson.”
“No, I am not leaving her,” Sirius said.
“Sirius, Poppy is right. Let’s go downstairs and you and Peter can fill me in what happened tonight.” Dumbledore gently lifted Abby’s legs and James pulled Sirius to his feet.
"Here," said Peter as he threw his overshirt to Sirius, which James caught, "you'd better put this on before you do downstairs. Maybe you should wash your hands off too."
Sirius looked down at his hands, it was only then he realised the amount of blood that covered him. "Give me a minute?" He walked into the bathroom and cleaned himself up. When he came out, he caught the shirt James fired at him.
"Prongs, maybe I should stay here," he said looking down at Abby.
James and Remus each took one of his arms and led him from the room. As they settled in a back booth, Aberforth brought over a bottle of Firewhisky and five glasses. He placed them on the table and returned walked back behind the bar.
Dumbledore began questioning them as to what happened and who was there. Peter did most of the talking. Sirius kept glancing at the stairs. It was about a half hour later when Madam Pomfrey finally came down. Sirius stood quickly and rushed over to her. At her nod, he raced up the stairs.
He came to a quick stop outside the door of the room. He didn’t want to burst in and alarm either Abby or Lily. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. Abby was still unconscious though on the bed across the room. Lily was sitting in a chair next to her.
Seeing Sirius, Lily stood and walked over to him. “She is sleeping now. Madam Pomfrey gave her a potion when she woke. She will probably sleep through the night. I am going down to see if Aberforth has rooms for us for tonight.” She patted him on the arm. “You get some rest. I’ll check on both of you later.”
Sirius just nodded absently to Lily and went over to the bed. It broke his heart to see Abby lying so helpless. He knew it was his fault. If he hadn’t grabbed her arm as she was Disapparating, this wouldn’t have happened.
He very gently climbed into bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. She moved slightly to rest her head in the hollow of his shoulder and sighed in her sleep.
“Shh, it’s okay. You are going to be fine, just get some rest,” he told her softly. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, thankful she was alive.
*****
Four days later, Abby and Sirius were standing in her apartment arguing once again over Abby going back to work. The argument had started when Abby had come out of the bathroom dressed for work.
“Abby, don’t be ridiculous,” snapped Sirius, “you can’t go back to work yet. It’s too soon after-”
“After my accident?” she questioned. “I feel fine. I have felt fine for the past two days. If I have to stay in this room for another day...” She let her voice trail off. “Look, I can’t continue to pretend to be sick. Someone is going to catch on if they check St Mungo’s and find out I haven’t been there. I haven’t been to work since that day; don’t you think that looks a bit suspicious?”
Sirius sighed. He knew she was right, but he just couldn’t help the feeling in his gut that going back to work was dangerous for Abby. He just had no way to make her understand that without her thinking he was being overprotective.
“Fine,” he said resigned, “go back to work. But I want a promise from you.” He waited until she nodded her head for him to go on. “I want you to promise me any sign that something isn’t right, that anyone is suspicious of you, you leave immediately.”
“No one has any reason to suspect me of anything,” she said. Abby watched as Sirius moved to stand in front of the door. “Oh, like that would stop me,” she said snidely. “I can Apparate, you know.”
“Not without your wand,” he said casually as he held her wand up.
“Sirius Black, you are the most infuriating man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,” she said. “Fine, I promise if anything seems off, I’ll leave. There, you happy?” Abby knew if she tried to get her wand back before agreeing with Sirius, she would be late in getting to work. For once, she didn’t give in to the impulsive behaviour that more often than not, got her into trouble.
“No, I’d be happier if you stayed right here,” he said. He walked over to her and gave her her wand as he drew her into a tight embrace. He leaned his head down and kissed her.
The kiss started out gentle but his worry and fear for her safety turned the kiss desperate. After a few moments, she pulled back and looked up into his eyes.
“I can take care of myself,” she reminded him. “Please, understand, I need to do this. You and James, you two go off fighting Death Eaters. I have to do this. It is the only way I can help.”
Her tone of sadness finally broke through Sirius’ desperate need to keep her under lock and key. He understood what it was like to want to help, to want to fight and not be able to. Hadn’t he felt that way his last year at school? he asked himself.
“If you go and get yourself hurt, I will never forgive you,” he said simply as he let her go. She smiled, patted his face and walked out the door of her apartment.
Love Beyond Forever by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: I wish to thank my beta, Alyssa (harry4lif) for once again, checking another chapter of mine.
I do not own anything your recognise in this story. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Well, except for Abby. She is all mine.