The Haunting of Peter Pettigrew

The New Secret Keeper

It was the pain that made her move. One moment, she was staring in horror at Peter, and the next she was brought back to the warm flat she had shared with Sirius.

Sirius Black was the most handsome man Lana'd ever seen in her life. If anyone had asked her when she was alive five hours ago, how well she knew him, she'd have told them that she knew everything there was to know about Sirius Black. She knew him happy and mischievous. She knew him brooding and sullen. She knew him tired and anxious. However, she'd never seen him like this, broken beyond repair.

People who believed him a traitor would say that the Blacks' abuse had broken Sirius. Order Members, who had merely heard stories of him, would say that it was the death of James Potter that broke him. Everyone would agree that Azkaban had taken it's toll. But those who truly knew Sirius Black understood the truth. The day that Lana Bowers was kidnapped from their home, from their bed, after he left for the market to meet up with Peter, was the end of him.

She saw him there, staring down at the kitchen table, His hands were tangled in his long, silky dark hair, clutching desperately at his head as if staving off one of his migraines. His body was all tension instead of that lithe, smooth quality that was inherently Sirius and no one else. But his ease of manner was gone. She couldn't see his face but she knew that the smile she'd kissed on his face less than twelve hours ago was gone.

If she were alive, Lana would have come up behind him and begin to rub his shoulders. She would have leaned down and pressed light kisses to his head. She would have whispered soothing nothings into his ears as she held him to her firmly. Together they would have fought off, not for the first time, the residual trauma of abuse. He had headaches and freezes. She had nightmares. They were messy, but they were solid. They had each other to keep them steady. But...that was all over now, wasn't it.

Lana went to touch his shoulder. She wanted to tell him what had happened. She wanted to tell him about Peter. She needed to tell him everything.

"SIRIUS!" She'd cried out. Her voice laden with affection and relief. Seeing him, she'd completely forgotten the green lights and the sight of her body on the floor.

Then she reached out to him.

Her hands desperately reached out to the familiar, the safe, the love, the person they'd held on many times. The person they'd touched just that morning. But, this time, those hands were empty.

She watched her hand go right through his shoulder. Sirius didn't even look up.

"Sirius!" She screamed again, this time in panic and denial. It was finally hitting her. Yes, she'd seen her body. Yes, she knew she was dead, but this was too much.

This was Sirius.

"Sirius!" She screamed so loud that her throat would have been raw...if she'd been alive. "Sirius! I'm right here! I'm here!" She reached out and watched in heightening horror as her hand never touched him. It went right through him.

"Please look at me! My Star look at me!!!"

He continued to stare into space.

That was when a silvery, glowing Phoenix flew into the room and landed in front of him. Only then did he look up and she saw his face.

He had shadows under his eyes, eyes which were red rimmed and had an uncharacteristic edge to them. His eyes...they looked manic and so familiar she had to take a step back in shock. They looked just like the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange, his cousin who had taken great pleasure in torturing her and who was severely upset that she didn't scream.

Sirius had that look in his eyes. He looked, in that very moment, as if he could watch the entire world burn and laugh as he listened to their screams.