The Hidden House

Victoria had only intended to sleep for an hour at most, but she must have been more tired than she realized because it was after four in the afternoon before she finally woke up. She was grateful that the shirt Sirius had given her had thick straps, or she would've been at risk of embarrassing herself even more. She sat up with a slight groan and gathered the blanket around herself before making her way to the kitchen. 

"Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty!" Sirius called when he saw her approaching. 

"That is one hell of a couch, Sirius. I haven't slept that well in ages." Victoria was still wiping the sleep out of her eyes when Sirius pulled a chair out for her and handed her a fresh glass of water. 

"Glad you got some rest. I hope you didn't have any plans today because they're undoubtedly shot." 

"Nah, I am starting a new job in three weeks, and I have decided to be a right menace until then," Victoria said with a chuckle. She was not looking forward to starting her new job, but she knew it was vital, so she would do it anyway. She would just enjoy her weeks of freedom before starting. 

"Well, look at you being all responsible!" Sirius narrowly dodged the pillow she charmed to fly at him, laughing as he ducked out of the way. "Come on, is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"Yeah, yeah. I vaguely remember you mentioning food. Is that still an option? I am suddenly starving." Victoria was smiling as she spoke. 

"You were hungry while you were sleeping. I am surprised your stomach growls didn't wake you up sooner." Sirius levitated a sandwich on a plate over to her as he spoke, deciding it was not worth standing up for. The chair he treated like a throne was very comfortable, and he didn't feel guilty in the slightest for modifying it with cushioning charms. 

"Come off it. My stomach was not growling." If he looked closely, Sirius could see the tips of her ears turning red. 

"I almost thought an animal had gotten in!" He laughed. 

"Well, it's a good thing you're feeding it then," try as she might; Victoria couldn't hide the grin that crept onto her face. 

"So what's this new job then?" Sirius asked finally, attempting to be casual. He had been enjoying goofing off with Victoria, but he also needed answers. She had saved his life and then disappeared off the face of the earth. He needed to know why. 

"It is, by definition, unspeakable," Victoria said after a slight pause. From the grimace on her face, she was not happy about this new job. 

"You're going to be an unspeakable?" Sirius asked incredulously. 

"No need to be rude about it. I've always been good with a wand." The pair shared a look before choosing to ignore the obvious joke. It was true. Victoria had been top of her class; Sirius was just grateful she had been the year below him, so he didn't have to compete against her for marks. 

"You're brilliant. I just don't understand why you would take a job working with that lot. Didn't you used to talk about being an auror?" 

"That was before I spent years as a soldier. I am tired of dueling for my life," her face fell as she spoke. It was a look Sirius knew all too well; he had seen it in the mirror plenty of times. She was reliving memories that are best left on their own. 

"Rather duel for fun, then?" He said with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. It was a piss poor attempt at lightening the mood, but Victoria was grateful for it and let out a small laugh. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's fine."

"I can only say so much, but you're right. It's not exactly my dream job." Victoria paused for a moment, deciding what she could, or even wanted to, tell him. "I don't trust the ministry and wanted to be in a place where I would have high-level clearance without drawing public attention." 

Sirius let out a low whistle at her words. He could infer what she meant. Victoria believed that death eaters still held prominent positions in the ministry. As an unspeakable, she would be privy to any use of ministry funds for magical research, and she would also be able to conduct her own research. It was the perfect position for a spy if you were brave enough. 

"Did Dumbledore put you up to this? Bloody Gryffindor bravery." He tried to be stern, but awe slipped into his voice anyway. 

"Dumbledore is as trustworthy as that weasel, Fudge, who is creeping his way to the top." The venom in her voice was unmistakable. It wasn't the first time she had dismissed the wizard, she had said as much when she showed up in his flat, but he was surprised nonetheless. His opinion of the headmaster was not one that most shared. 

"I know why I don't trust him. Do you wanna share your reason?" Sirius said after a pause. 

"No, you first. I feel like I am being interrogated, and I want to know what happened to you too." It was fair enough, and Sirius told her so. 

"Okay, good point. The final straw was when he tried to convince me that Remus was working with Voldemort simply because he was," Sirius paused, trying to remember if Victoria was one of the order members who were aware of his friend's condition. "-was different. It was ridiculous and prejudiced and clearly an attempt to fracture the relationships between my friends and me. I wasn't going to let the old bastard tell me my chosen family was plotting against me." He nearly spat the last sentence, his rage against Dumbledore growing as he thought about it. 

"I know Remus is a werewolf, but I appreciate your wanting to protect him. That was a horrible thing for Dumbledore to do. Unfortunately, it was just one more thing in a pattern of disgusting behavior." Victoria's face mirrored his own. 

"James and Lily hate him for the same reason. Apparently, James gave Dumbledore a piece of his mind when he had me locked up in Azkaban. According to Minnie, it was quite entertaining." Sirius shook his head with a smile as he replayed the memory that his old professor had shown him. 

"Arthur told me about it. I don't think I have ever admired Potter more." Victoria laughed, grateful that her older brother had been there to lend his support. 

"James is a good man and friend, and he was only there to call out Dumbledore because of you. It's your turn. Why did you go against Dumbledore's orders, and why do you hate him so much?" He could tell that she was afraid to speak. Whatever had happened, it was clearly not a memory that Victoria enjoyed revisiting. 

"Okay, I understand your curiosity, although I think you give me too much credit. I just passed on a little bit of information. You and your friends did the rest." Sirius scoffed at that. 

"A little bit of information that if we didn't have, we would've been dead or imprisoned." Victoria just waved him off. 

"I am not fishing for compliments, Sirius. Stop interrupting." Sirius raised his hands in surrender and gestured for her to continue. "Good. I will start at the beginning of the story. Do you remember Gideon and Fabian?" 

"The Prewett twins? They were a riot; I loved those two. You were sent on missions with them, right?" Sirius asked, a ghost of a smile still on his face as he thought about the pair. 

"Yes, they were Molly's older brothers, and once Molly and Arthur got married, they took me in as their sister as well. Taught me everything I know about dueling and inventing new spells. Absolutely brilliant wizards." Her words belied the somber expression on her face as she spoke. "The three of us were always sent on missions together. For three years, I spent nearly every day with them, fighting alongside them, learning from them, and teaching them. 

Then, we received intel that there would be a meeting of high-level death eaters. It was too obvious. We were sure it was a trap. Still, we did our duty and included it in our mission report. Dumbledore was insistent that we needed to go. I still hated the idea, but he was the head of the order. Fabian and Gideon didn't even protest. They just assigned us each tasks. I was to stay outside, monitor the situation, and send for backup if needed." Victoria paused again, and Sirius could tell she was getting choked up. 

"Hey, it's alright. You don't have to keep going if you don't want to. Trust me, I have plenty of missions that the local pubs have helped me to drown out." Sirius said after a moment. He wanted to know, but he hated hurting her like this. 

"No, no, I need to tell someone. I just – I need a moment." Sirius nodded and decided it was late enough in the day to switch from water. He summoned his favorite bottle of firewhiskey and a couple of shot glasses before pouring a shot for each of them. 

"Bottoms up," He said with a grin that didn't reach his eyes. The rush of courage distinctive of firewhiskey filled them both quickly, and Victoria found her tears fading away. 

"Thanks, I needed that." Sirius just nodded in response. "They went in together, and our intuition was correct. It was a trap. I didn't even have time to call for backup before they died. There was nothing I could've done to save them. It was so quick. I have replayed it repeatedly in my mind, and nothing I could've done would have made a difference." 

Sirius reached across the table and took her hand in his, slowly massaging his thumb over it. She flashed a small smile and took another shot of the firewhiskey. He knew better than to comment on her drinking. He was surprised that he still had a liver. 

"Dumbledore sent you on a suicide mission," Sirius said finally. It wasn't a question. 

"Yes. Now I know that Peter had pressed him to send us, apparently, the order was doing too well, and Voldemort suspected a traitor in their midst. He wanted us to fail a mission. Dumbledore sent us to our deaths, and the only thing that surprised him was my survival." The tears she had been holding back flowed freely now, and Sirius decided that holding her hand wasn't enough to comfort her. 

He stood up and walked around the table, casting an expansion charm on her chair. He pulled Victoria into his arms as he sat next to her in the now bench-sized chair, stroking her head as she cried. The pair stayed like that for longer than either would later admit, but the companionship was needed. 

Sirius didn't have to ask to know that she hadn't told Arthur and Molly the truth about the mission. She had probably spun them a tale about a brutal battle that made the twins look like heroes. She was carrying the knowledge of their swift execution all on her own, but Sirius wouldn't be harmed by the truth. She could share the load with a near stranger, and he was happy to help her carry it. 

"Anyway," Victoria said once she regained her voice. "That is why I hate that bastard. He is all about the 'greater good,' and only he can decide what that means. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him." Sirius knew he should probably let her go now that she wasn't crying, but he needed the hug as much as she did. 

"I wouldn't either." 

"That is why I gave you that information. I saw that you were all being set up as sacrificial lambs like my brothers were, and I knew that this time there was something that I could do about it." Sirius pulled her closer to his chest to prevent her from seeing the tears flowing down his face. 

"That's why you won't let us thank you?" He asked once he was reasonably confident she wouldn't hear the emotion in his voice. 

"Yes." 

"Why the ministry, then? Why are you taking such a dangerous role?" 

"Because, unlike everyone else, I don't think this war is over. Until I see his corpse with my own eyes and every death eater in Azkaban, I won't believe it is over. So, while the dregs of the war continue, I will do what I can to keep people alive and safe." 

"You're incredible," Sirius said, not bothering to hide the emotion now. 

"I start training for the new job in three weeks, and I am determined to be as awful as I can until then, so I don't know how incredible I am." She said with a laugh. The emotion made her uncomfortable, and she pulled herself out of Sirius's hold. She used the excuse of fetching herself a glass of water to chase all of the firewhiskey. 

"I'll help you then," Sirius said as he leaned back into the commandeered chair. 

"Help me what?" Victoria replied, confusion written all over her face. 

"I'll help you be horrible for three weeks, and then I will help you make sense of what you learn at the ministry. This isn't something you should be doing on your own, and it's not like I am short on time or money," He said with a laugh. 

"Why?"

"Because I don't believe it's over either. I moved here because I couldn't handle the celebration when the war was still going on for me. Also, you are my friend, I want to help you, and I am spectacularly good at being generally awful." His signature grin was now spreading across his face. Victoria had to look away before the twinkle in his eye drew her in further. 

"Okay, I will let you help me under one condition," Sirius let out a snort at her attitude. Only Victoria Weasley would make him beg for the privilege of helping her. 

"What is your condition?" 

"You have to help me find my own flat around here. I am not taking my one-night stands to your couch." Sirius let out another laugh, and this time Victoria joined him.

"I don't want you or your lovers on my couch every night! If it saves me from that fate, I will help you find a flat." Sirius choked out once he had semi-composed himself. 

"What, you don't want me to cock-block you?" Victoria's laugh was contagious. 

"Don't you dare, you devil woman. I am helping you be horrible. That means you can't be horrible to me. Besides, don't you want my inside knowledge of which local bars have the sluttiest muggles?" Sirius poured them another shot as he spoke. 

"Oh! Yes! Lead me to the sluts, you whore of a man!" Sirius bowed at the title and decided now was as good a time as any to bring her up to speed on the local bar scene. 

The rest of the evening was spent drinking far too much and laughing until they ran out of breath. Sirius knew it was the most fun he had had in a long time. That was the real reason he wanted to help Victoria stay in Inverness. If she was around, he was less alone. She reminded him that he used to be fun and could be fun again.  

The following day the pair woke up tangled together on top of Sirius’s bed, fully dressed, reeking of alcohol, and nursing splitting hangovers. It would've been comedic if not for the fact that they had been woken up by the sound of children running around the living room.