American Secrets

Not An Actual Chapter

"Quill, begin quote. Dear Sirius."

"Sirius!" Sirius Black turned his head as his godson, Harry Potter, thundered down the stairs with his friends. The man felt a smile unconsciously begin to form on his face.

"First off, I'd like you to know I'm very sorry for all the secrets, and I'm writing this letter to come clean on all of them."

"Hey, pup. What's up?" he said, leaning the broom he was using to sweep away the dust in one of the many common rooms against the wall.

"By the time you read this, I've been told it will be a little over perhaps fifteen to twenty years after my death."

"There's a letter addressed to you here," Hermione Granger, one of his godson's best friends best him to the punch.

"We're not too sure: prophetic dreams, I'm told, don't come with exact dates."

"It says it's from a lady called Victoria?" Harry asked, handing the letter to his godfather.

"The years have apparently not been particularly kind to you, and you have my sadness for that."

"Let's see it then," Sirius said, scanning the letter. As he did so, his face became almost frighteningly blank. The teen exchanged looks.

"Unfortunately, after I've written this letter, I'm heading towards certain doom, so I can't do much about it. Sorry."

"Bloody hell," Sirius breathed out.

"If our calculations are correct, and the seal still glows purple, there's still some measure of hope."

"What is it, Sirius? Sirius? Sirius?" Harry asked as Sirius almost mindlessly started for the staircase.

"I already mentioned certain doom haven't I?"

"Do you think the letter was cursed? Only Sirius could see what was written," Hermione asked.

"My informant is planning to go up against the sickest torture the Dark Lord can think up, and I'm not about to let him go alone."

"Doubtful, but not impossible," Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody growled and he started after Sirius and Harry.

"With luck, he won't be thinking straight and the house elf he's taken with him will be able to take me to him."

The Order followed after them to another yet-to-be-cleaned corridor.

"Hopefully, that new spell I've been working on will work, and we'll make it out alive."

"Sirius, what are you doing?" Molly Weasley demanded, pushing her way to the front of the room, as he stopped in front of a door. In response, he threw open the door. They all gaped.

"If not, well, I'm trying not to think about that. Me trying to be optimistic? It must be the end of the world, huh?

Unlike the rest of the old house, the room was perfectly clean. No dust littered the corners, and no odd creatures lingered in the corners. But what really astonished the group was the two purple-green cocoons that stood in the centre of the room. Inside, you could obviously see the silhouettes of two people, trapped inside.

"I know what you're thinking. "You're crazy!" "We can help!" "That's stupid." etc. etc."

"What the bloody hell?" Ron let slip.

"But here's the thing."

"Ronald!" his mother scolded. By then, everyone was in the room.

"You can't. It has to be us. It has to be someone outside the war."

"Who..." Hermione trailed off, wand gripped in hand.

"It'll be too suspicious if the Order does it, nevermind the chaos it will cause to the Balance."

"No!" Kreacher suddenly popped up, making everyone jump backwards in surprise. "You will not harm the Master and Madame!"

"Hand this information over to Dumbledore, and he'll end the Dark, but if we don't do anything, Voldemort will destroy the Light."

"Kreacher!" Sirius growled, turning to the elf. "What is this?!?"

"Both the Dark and the Light can be blinding in great amounts."

"The blood-traitors will not harm the Master and Madame!!!" Kreacher exclaimed again, with growing aggregation.

"If the seal is glowing purple, then we're in stasis, and you really need to wake us up."

"Kreacher, please calm down!" Hermione pleaded to the old elf.

"We'll be in your father's office, as no one ever goes there."

While the others were distracted with Kreacher, Harry was making his way to the cocoons. It was as if some strange, deep Magic was calling out to him, telling him to touch the cocoon. He approached the one to the left, peering into the translucent little window. Inside, he could barely see the face of a woman inside. As he reached out to touch it, he heard Sirius cry, "Harry, no!"

"If we are dead, I'll catch you on the flip side, and the next back of this page will reveal itself."

But it was too late. As Harry jerked his hand away, his fingertips brushed against the cocoon the woman was encased inside and it began to glow purple.

"Your loving sister-in-law,"

The rebels shed their eyes away. When they opened them again, the cocoon had disappeared and the woman was sitting on the floor, hair sopping wet, retching water.

"Victoria Fierro Greengrass. Quill, end quote."

"Don't touch him!"

Sixteen years later, Sirius Black was handed a letter with a glowing purple seal.