SEQUEL IS OUT! GO FOR IT, EVERYONE!

By the way, you guys can try out the poll on my bio page. It's like a teaser…

Sirius is definitely gonna freak.

A: … ? Yeah, I didn't give a question for the last chapter.

Listening to – Imagine by John Lennon

August 11, 2012.
2:10 p.m. – London time

When Harry woke up, he felt tired and old. Most of his body was numb and his head was slow in trying to figure out what was happening. He could see the inside of his eyelids in viscous red and black shades.

It was not quiet. He could hear the sounds of people walking around outside his room, could hear them talking. His ears ached from the over-sensitivity they were experiencing. His head throbbed. The smell of floor cleaner was mild but still present and he knew he was in a hospital, lying on a firm mattress. But something felt odd. He tried to open his eyes and found that he couldn't.

His hands were heavy, but he lifted them shaking with effort to touch his face. His fingers were sensitive. The callouses were mysteriously gone and he could feel bandages on his face, more specifically, on his eyes.

Harry got up, ignoring the sting in his back and placed his hands on his eyes. He couldn't open them because they were shut by the gauze.

His regular breathing went shallow and he started to panic. He reached up to pull the bandages down, tearing through them and unwrapping the long strip that went all the way around his head.

The moment the soft light of the room hit his closed, sore and delicate eyelids, he groaned. Shuffling on the bed, he wrenched his eyes open and nearly screamed. The room was distorted. Colours were doused by a strange shadow that seemed to fall everywhere and he couldn't focus on any single object. He could figure out the bed's railing, the opposite wall, the curtained window to his side, the door to his left, but he couldn't actually see them.

Harry stared down at his hands, both of which were wrapped as well. He felt like a mummy and faltered through the work of removing the gauze that covered his arms from his palms to his shoulders.

The wrap fell away and revealed wrinkled pink skin, similar to that of a newborn. He stared at it, realising what had happened. He had survived the explosion. Not unscathed, though.

The feeling of panic bubbled up in his throat. It was starting to feel like a regular thing. Harry clutched at his head, trying to muffle a gasp that threatened to leave him. He needed to get away to somewhere safe. He had to find somewhere quiet. The noise of the hospital was louder and he moaned, trying to fight against it.

He threw the covers off of him and stumbled out of the room.

Rachel stared at the paper in awe. There it was. Written in solid ink. The final, binding proof. She and Harry were definitely siblings.

She was in the magical hospital in London, St. Mungo's. Percy's mother (who still scared Rachel) and Harry's godfather (who was technically hers as well) had been with her while the witch doctor had pricked her finger and drawn a single drop of blood to examine it against Harry's. Rachel read the results again.

50% commonality in DNA combination. Confirmed (Potter-Evans) sibling of Harry J. Potter.
Lack of magic inheritance but gene remains. Confirmed squib with ability of passing on magic to progeny.

She sighed again when she read the second point. Confirmed squib – had she been a witch, she could have gone to Hogwarts and would have known Harry since then. Rachel had seen many odd details in her life, but she had never done odd stuff.

May be it was for the best. She tried not to think too much of it.

"Healer Calles will be very discreet, Rachel." Sirius told her as they entered the elevator. Ms. Jackson pressed the button for the fifth floor. "No one will know who you really are."

No one would know who she really was – squib sister of the boy-who-lived. Rachel nodded, feeling a wave of sadness but pushed it aside. She was in the hospital to confirm her status and to check in on Harry. He was still unconscious from coming in close contact with an exploding grenade. Annabeth's dream held more truth than anybody wanted to think about.

Sirius smiled at her. He looked a little sad too. Rachel asked the question that been stuck in her head for over an hour.

"Is it weird? Being a squib?"

Sirius blinked. "Of course not! You're still Rachel, no matter what. You have no idea how I felt when I realized who you are."

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Rachel finally looked at him and grinned.

"Lead the way." Ms. Jackson said to Sirius. They shared a sly look with each other. Rachel wondered if there was something going on between them.

The doors opened and they walked out on the fifth floor. Rachel looked around, impressed. The hospital must have been owned by the private sector because it looked furnished. She looked over the banister. Five floors down, she could see the large golden statue of an archer. She didn't know what archery had to do with medicine, but it was incredible.

"This way, honey." Ms. Jackson said. She had a smile on her face too. Rachel couldn't help but think that the woman was more dangerous than a regular mortal. She remembered how Sally had killed two men without flinching.

They crossed the long term ward and reached the end of the passage. Rachel couldn't see a door. She waited for Sirius and Sally to turn around and say they'd forgotten where Harry's room was but Sirius touched the empty wall and it shimmered.

Rachel stepped back when the very solid looking wall disappeared to reveal a door.

"Wow." She said.

Sally nodded, impressed as well, but Sirius looked stiff. "Tonks should have been waiting here for us."

"She may be inside with Remus." Sally suggested.

"May be." He said and turned the knob, pushing the door open. Rachel peered in and saw it was an extension of the corridor behind them. There were doors on either side and the place looked some how even more quieter than the previous section.

"Wait a second." Rachel whispered. "How is this place existing? How big is this hospital?"

"Private extension charm." Sirius said. There was a deep frown on his face as he started to jog down the hallway.

They stopped outside one particular door and the expression on his face was stark. "Remus was definitely supposed to be here! He was guarding Harry!"

Sally caught his arm. "The boys were here too!"

They rushed into the room and Rachel swore that Sirius seemed to get a heart attack when they saw the bed empty of Harry. The room was small and cosy, clearly meant for high paying clients. Though the windows were closed with the pink curtains pulled, serene sunlight was heavily filtered, giving the room an easy kind of atmosphere. Rachel knew that if she closed her eyes and sat down, she could have fallen asleep.

"Unbelievable!" Sally hissed. She was staring to their right where there was a couch. Percy sat near the far edge, head tilted back, letting out slow snores. Nico was sitting propped up between him and the end of the couch, while DJ's head was on Percy's lap, the rest of his body stretched out. All three were dead to the world.

It was the cutest thing Rachel had ever seen.

"If something had happened to Harry, they'd have known it. He probably just wanted to get some air." Sirius said hurriedly. "I'll go look for him."

"I'll come with you. Rachel, would you wake them up?" Sally told her and they left the room.

Rachel gave a great sigh.

You could sing the US national anthem. You need the practice. Bolt told her.

That would be fun, but she stared at the three boys and pulled out her phone. She would need blackmail if she was getting involved with magic and gods and stuff.

After clicking a few photos, she pocketed her phone and yelled, "Harry's missing!"

Percy jumped so high that both Nico and DJ fell to the floor. Though it was mean, Rachel burst out laughing.

"For the love of… Rachel!" DJ complained. "That was not funny!"

"Sorry! I couldn't help it!"

"Urgh!" Nico got up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wait, what did you say?"

"What did you mean, 'Harry's missing again?'" Percy said, suddenly standing up. He looked tired but was alert. Rachel stopped giggling and winced.

"Well, we think that Remus and someone named… Tongs… took him out…"

"Tonks. Yeah, she was supposed to watch the special corridor. And Remus was standing guard outside." DJ nodded.

"Were you watching over Harry?" Rachel asked, folding her arms.

The three looked abashed. "Umm…"

"This hospital may not look it, but it's apparently humungous." She said. "Where do you think they could have gone?"

"The Healer must have taken him for a check up." DJ suggested. The four left the room and walked down the passage to reach the main section.

"If you're talking about Healer Calles, then that's not it. She was giving me a check up." Rachel informed them.

Percy looked curious. "Why? Wait, were you hurt? Why didn't you say –"

"I'm fine! It's… it's the Potter thing."

DJ gasped. "Oh Merlin! Did she… Are you…"

Rachel winked, showing him the parchment sheet with the details of her heritage. "She took my blood and checked it. It's true. Lily and James are my birth parents. Were, I guess."

"We're cousins!" DJ crowed. She laughed and gave him a hug when he splayed his hands out.

"Cousin hug." Percy announced and yanked Nico in, squeezing him till Nico's face turned red.

DJ's eyes looked suspiciously misty when Rachel let him go. She liked him. He was like the younger brother she always wanted. Speaking of which…

"And guess what?" She added, smirking. "I'm older than Harry by ten minutes!"

"Ha! He's not gonna like that."

They chuckled and headed for the elevator. The mood had cleared with the easygoing happiness, especially with the fact that they had all mostly healed after the horrific day of running around a silent Embassy avoiding monsters and bad guys.

"And where are we going to find him?" Nico asked, coughing slightly.

They stopped in front of the lift. "Good question." Percy muttered.

"Well, if you were Harry, where would you go?"

"Somewhere quiet." Percy said immediately.

"Somewhere with no people to hound me." Rachel said.

"Somewhere I can yell about the uselessness of the world." DJ chuckled.

Nico scratched the back of his neck. "Right, so…" He looked up and Rachel saw that he was squinting at a board on the wall where directions of hospital sections had been printed. "Like the morgue?"

"… Crap."

Sirius nearly collapsed with relief. Harry was with Remus. He was safe.

"Hey." Tonk said, leaning away from the window. "How'd you find us?"

"Asked around." Sally replied like it was no big deal. Sirius didn't understand how she could be calm in the situation. His heart was still beating a thousand times a minute.

Tonks looked at him. "You look like you had a chat with a dementor."

"Shut it, Dora. You were supposed to keep an eye on him."

"And what am I doing right now?" She demanded.

Sirius sighed, shaking his head and trying to calm down. Harry was in his eye line. He was sitting on the floor with Remus, inside the large hall that was lined with small cots for newborn infants. The maternity ward usually didn't allow non-family members, but the nurses apparently hadn't been able to refuse a fifteen year old, traumatic patient who desperately needed peace and quiet.

Some of Harry's bandages had come out, trailing around him on the floor. His eyes looked red and swollen. Sirius tried not to wince when he saw the newly grown skin on his uncovered arm. It looked ungainly and scarring. Of course, the potions wouldn't let any permanent scars to remain, but it was a terrible sight. Harry was hunched over, facing the floor, eyes shut, frame small.

Remus was speaking to him in low tones. Whatever he was saying, seemed to keep Harry calm. He was fine.

No, he isn't, Sirius thought sadly. How were they going to move on from this?

"You look pale." Sally muttered. Sirius blinked.

"Yeah… I was worried…"

"He's with us." She said. Her voice left no room for doubts. Sirius turned to look at the dozen or so sleeping babies in the ward, tiny and fragile, and then at Harry, suddenly finding not much difference.

"He panicked when he woke up. He couldn't see properly. There was something wrong with his eyes." Tonks whispered.

"The Healer said that it would take longer for the eyes to heal. He'll be fine." Sirius said harshly, leaning back to sit on the short bench opposite the window. He closed his eyes.

"I'll get you some tea." Tonk said. She sounded a little hurt, but before he could say anything, she'd walked away.

He heard a sigh and looked up to see Sally bury her face in her hands. He lifted a hand to touch her elbow, pulling her down with him.

"You didn't sleep, did you?" He asked her. She gave him a look of disbelief. "What? And you did?"

"No. I spent the night at the hospital."

"Of course you did." She shook her head. "Calles said that she'd had him stabilized yesterday evening. You could have gone home to change."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Tell me. If it were Percy right there, would you have gone home?"

Sally grimaced. "I would have liked to say no. But you're right. The thing is, though…" She leaned in to look at him carefully, "Whether you stayed here or at home, it doesn't mean you care any less or more about him. I love that boy too. But I went home to make sure the others were alright."

Sirius nodded. "I know. Thank you for taking care of DJ. Do you think he slept at all?"

She suddenly looked grim. "Seriously? I don't think anyone relaxed, except maybe for Annabeth, though she's excused."

"How is she, by the way?"

Sally exhaled, relaxing her head against the wall behind them. "Percy gave her ambrosia and nectar the moment we reached Frost. She healed within the hour. Slept fitfully."

"Good." Sirius could still see flashes of the young girl taking on a towering manticore and winning. When he'd first gotten the whole truth of demigods from Sally and Percy, he'd felt dizzy. It had been disconcerting but soon, he'd realised that it didn't matter. The Jacksons were wonderful, sweet and charming, who cared if the son happened to be half human?

Apparently, real life Greek monsters cared.

"I'm going to have to read that book." He muttered.

"Hmm?"

"The book, 'The Modern Demigod'. DJ said it's a pretty good and gory introduction to the world of gods."

Sally opened her eyes. "Is it?"

"Didn't you read –"

"No. Is it aimed for newly claimed children?"

He shrugged, not sure of what that meant. Then he smiled.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"You know what."

He looked at her till she smiled back. "You're welcome. You needed the distraction."

"And you took my mind off of the … bad stuff." Sirius looked at Harry and Remus. They had stopped talking but the former looked better now.

"What can I say?" Sally said in a teasing tone. "You've been blessed with me, you raggedy, old mutt."

Sirius choked, trying to keep in a great chuckle. It would be his luck if he managed to wake up the babies.

"Blessed?" Something stirred in a faint memory. Sirius stopped laughing and suddenly remembered the night of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. It should have been an insignificant moment because of everything that happened during the task, but…

Trelawney's words came to him in startling clarity. Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth to swallow down the urge to laugh.

"Was it that funny?" Sally looked at him, amused.

"No… not that. It's something Sybill said."

"Who?"

"Oh, you know. She teaches at Hogwarts. Divination."

Sally shrugged. "I don't know any of the teachers there."

"I think you met her." Sirius said thinking hard. "Yes, you were there. And Remus and Harry and Percy… and DJ too, I'm not sure… wait…"

"Divination?" Sally pondered. "The astrology thing?"

"Reading palms, tea leaves, that sort of stuff."

"Wow." Sally looked amazed. "You guys can do that?"

"Don't be so impressed. She's given about one prophecy in her lifetime."

"Prophecy? Like the ones the kids get at Camp?"

Sirius looked confused. "Demigods get prophecies on a regular basis?"

She sighed. "I guess so. They get one before they go on a quest, I know that much."

"Right. They get one when they need one. That doesn't sound abnormal at all."

Sally shoved him. "Don't diss on my son's culture. You have a bunch of weird stuff too. What was it you were saying about Sybill and her Divination?"

"Weird doesn't begin to cover her." He snorted. He felt the stress melt away as they joked and bantered. "She said something about some… Sarah giving me a great gift, or some sort."

"Sarah?"

"Yeah… I don't know a Sarah!" he said hurriedly. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, pale blue eyes striking against the dark shadows.

"I think you might actually do… does this Sybill predict other stuff or something?"

"What? No. She's a hack. Not like Lockhart, from what I've heard, but definitely nothing like the legitimate Seer kind." Sirius said, shaking his head but Sally still looked curious.

"You sure? 'Cause my name is actually Sarah."

Sirius was about to chuckle but she looked dead serious and he simply stared at her.

"Sarah?" He asked slowly.

"Yep." She sat up straight. "My given name is Sarah Elliot Jackson. My parents always called me Sally because apparently, I didn't look like a Sarah. My sister did it too and it stuck."

"You don't look like a Sarah." Sirius said. Suddenly, she seemed like a whole different person to him.

Sally grinned. "Thanks? Official papers have my name as Sarah, but not many people actually know it."

"Okay." He kept staring at her and they were silent for a while till Rachel, Percy, DJ and Nico arrived, panting as though they'd run for a while.

"Where were you?" Sally asked them.

"The mortuary." DJ said. "Don't ask what happened after that."

"I don't want to ask why you went there." Sirius said shaking his head. Honestly, the mortuary?

"Ooh!" Percy's eyes went wide in awe. "Look at all the babies!"

The kids crowded behind the glass window to peer at the infants in excitement. Sirius leaned towards them. "Harry's fine, by the way."

"Uhh. Yeah, he's there too. I guess he likes the smell of baby powder." DJ answered. Nico stood on his toes to get a better view of the newborns.

"They're so tiny! Look at their toes!" Rachel whisper-squealed.

"They're really tired." Sally nodded to Sirius who put an arm around her shoulders. She gave him a side eye and then, surprisingly, leaned in kiss him.

They had been back on the dating field, trying to see if it worked. It wasn't long before Sally's work upset her schedule. Sirius didn't work, but with Dumbledore recruiting the old Order, he'd been on the time constraint as well. He wasn't sure if they'd ever have a solid relationship, but at the moment, it felt as real as it could possibly ever get.

It had been a rough couple of days, but they'd made it through. The Aurors had arrested the rogue wizards and one other person who had a crossbow instead of a wand. They'd never found the body of the person Sally had shot and killed. The Embassy's officers had been found unconscious and unharmed in the first floor elaborately equipped greenroom. It was a summer none of them would ever forget.

Sirius tried to push the worry out of his head to kiss Sally back. For now, they were healing.

Well, would you look at that? This fic is done. I'm not letting you guys free so soon, though! Next installment is called 'Power.' Take a look at the poll.

Have a great week and stay tuned for the first chapter titled 'Foreshadow.'

Cabba.