AS SOON AS LEO got into his apartment, Leo was able to only sleep off and on. Most of the night Leo spent lying in his bed, his mind swirling with the events from the day; especially Lydia's knife that she had stabbed pretty deep into his back. Part of him didn't even want to humor the idea of going back to the ministry, but on the other hand he didn't have much of an option. With his suspension looming over him thanks to Lydia's two cents to offer Scrimgeour, it would be a miracle if anyone ever hired him as an auror again. MCUSA wouldn't take them back if the Ministry couldn't vouch for his time there, the ministry in France wouldn't take him...hoping Scrimgeour would let him come back was really the only thing he could do.

It wasn't until there was a pounding on his front door that Leo finally just rolled out of bed, his head still spinning a bit when he stood up. Making his way through the apartment as the knocking on his door continued. Before Leo could pull his door all the way open, Sirius busted into the apartment in his dog form, nearly knocking Leo off of his feet.

"He's been sitting out here for an hour." Katie said bitterly, "Finally came over to start scraping on my door. If you can't take care of the thing you should consider giving him to someone who will." she stood before Leo's door in a t-shirt and sweatpants and looked incredibly upset to be out of bed at that time.

"Right..." Leo said quietly, glancing back at Sirius who was pacing across the living room still as his towering dog form. "sorry...it's uh, it's been a long day. It won't happen again...thank you."

Katie sighed heavily and rolled her eyes before turning sharply and going back to her apartment.

Leo swiftly closed his door again before turning sharply. Sirius knew that he was supposed to use the fire escape if he intended on showing up again well after Leo had either gone to bed or left for work. So once again, Leo was ready to give Sirius the option to find someone else to live with or actually stop bringing so much attention to Leo from his neighbors. However, before he could open his mouth, Sirius was no long in his dog form, but was still pacing until Leo stepped into the living room.

"Did anyone tell you what happened?" Sirius questioned sharply, "About the dark mark?"

Leo stared at him, puzzled. "Who would have told me? The dark mark at the World Cup? I was there, Sirius."

"No, the one over Lydia Corner's flat." Sirius replied, almost irritated that Leo didn't know what he was talking about. "Kingsley said they were keeping it pretty quiet at the Ministry, he said she may have told you about it. Who was there, what they wanted..." Sirius rambled, waving his hands around as if it would help him get his point across.

Leo's brows pressed together, "Over Lydia's apartment?" he questioned, "No? She didn't say anything about it...in fact all she did was get me suspended from work..."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair before he began passing again. "Well, maybe she was told not to tell you."

"I doubt they would have wanted to tell me...they think since I met with my mother I might not be the type they'd want to tell." Leo stated, "But Lydia...when did that happen? Tonight?"

"Two days ago."

It made sense that Scrimgeour wouldn't have wanted to tell him. But it didn't make sense that Lydia would have kept it from him, even if she was planning on adding in her own argument about why Leo shouldn't be an auror. He figured they had worked together long enough, they had both been treated to weeks of desk duty because the ministry didn't want to acknowledge their report about what happened at Riddle Manor. If anyone in the ministry should have been told about the dark mark over Lydia's own home...it should have been Leo...

"Come on," Leo started, "get ready to go. I'm going to change."

"For?"

"We're going to go wake up Lydia and ask her what's going on." Leo said sternly, "She cost me my job, the least she could do is tell me what happened."

After Leo pulled on the same clothes that he had worn that day, Leo joined Sirius in the living room who had already taken his dog form and was waiting. On the handful of occasions that Sirius went anywhere, especially if he was going somewhere with Leo, he never went as a man. Of course if the wrong person saw them, it would be just as obvious that he was with Sirius as if they saw him as himself instead of the wire-haired dog.

"Can you apperate like that?" Leo questioned, he had never tried apperating with anyone that wasn't a human. But Sirius didn't budge, so Leo really didn't have much of a choice but to crouch down to get a good grip of the scruff of Sirius' neck before apperating.

And it definitely wasn't an experience that Leo wanted to have again.

When apperating with another person, you were pressed against one another as if you were being shoved through a narrow tube with each other. With a dog, the feeling of Sirius' fur being pressed against him was disgusting. Sirius wasn't a soft dog at all, his fur was coarse and ruff and at certain angles, it felt almost like little porcupine quills poking and scraping against his skin.

When they landed however, since Leo had been crouching already and not standing up, Leo fell backwards. Unable to keep his balance.

Leo groaned a bit, his head spun momentarily while Sirius simply seemed to shake it off while Leo pushed himself to get back to his feet. "Never again...I don't care if anyone see's you. You can be person next time."

In that moment, Sirius rose onto his back legs and took shape of himself once again. "Or maybe you should work on your landing." he replied, waiting for Leo to be standing on his feet.

"No, Sirius, I don't need a hand. It's fine..." Leo sighed, earning a chuckle from Sirius as the two of them made their way to the door of the building.

Inside the building smelt like it hadn't been properly cleaned for months, if ever at all. The paint on the walls going up the stairs was chipped at certain points. Particularly around where the railing was bolted to the wall.

"Appare vestigium." Leo spoke, pointing his wand to the stairs before them, hoping that there was still a trace of the route Lydia took to her apartment.

Along the ground, gold sparks forms, taking shape of someones steps. Leading the two men up two flights of stairs. From what Leo could see, the rest of the building didn't seem to be in much better of a shape as the entrance had been. If anything it seemed to only get worse. With each step they took, the carpet in the halls seemed to stick to their feet. Until finally it led them directly to a single apartment door.

"Are you sure this is where she lives? Can't imagine Corner letting anyone he knows live in a place like this..." Sirius said as the two approached the door.

"Before we went back to the ministry from a case she had to stop by here to feed her cat since we were working a long shift. I didn't go in, but I know this is the building." Leo replied, and after getting no other comments from Sirius, he began to knock on the door.

After a minute, Leo knocked again. But there was still no response. At least not one he was expecting. Instead a loud screaming that sounded like a cat screeching for something came from the other side of the door. Leo glanced at Sirius, and then around the hallway before he pointed his wand at the door.

"Alohomora," he said quietly, and he listened for the sound of the clicking of the lock before he pushed the door open, but as soon as it was opened even an inch, the door came to a stop, as if it hit something. "well..." Leo paused, stepping back. "I can't fit through that..." he said before looking back at Sirius.

"I'm bigger than you, neither can I." Sirius replied.

"Not this you."

Sirius sighed heavily and then right before Leo's eyes the scruffy black dog stood in his place. Sirius slunk through the doorframe, causing Lydia's cat to begin hissing until it suddenly became silent besides the sound of something being moved away from the door.

"It doesn't look good in here..." Sirius stated as Leo pushed the door the rest of the way open.

       And Sirius was right. When Leo stepped into the apartment, he could see that the place was wrecked. And Lydia wasn't exactly the type to leave any place like this. She could barely stand to have her desk a bit unorganized. If Lydia saw her apartment in this state, she'd lose her mind.

"Lydia?" Leo called out as he moved further into the apartment, the sound of a passing car that sounded like it was missing filled the apartment. Leo moved towards the window that was broken, shards of glass were on the outside laying on the firescape while there were some chipped pieces of the wall around the window.

"Do you think whoever set off the mark did this?" Sirius asked from behind Leo, Leo turned to see Sirius standing in the counter and setting a can of food down on the floor near an old empty one. A white cat had been waiting, meowing as if to hurry Sirius up before diving into the can of food.

"I don't think Lydia did." Leo replied, "Don't think she wouldn't feed that either."

Sirius stood up straight and looked around the apartment, "Well, you said she was at work? She just didn't tell you anything?"

Leo shook his head, "And she would have..." Leo stated, "she wouldn't have even come to work."

         The apartment looked like a miniature war zone. Her book she'd was toppled over, blocking her hallway that led to the rest of the rooms like her bedroom. Books were tossed all around, and at various spots on her walls there were holes, or burn marks.

"Reparo," Leo mutters as he looked around, the sound of crackling glass fitting back together, and books snapping shut filled the apartment as everything began to put itself back to where it belonged. Something that Patrick had taught Leo when a scene looked like such a mess. It was easier to find things that may have been out of place before everything went wrong, but as Leo and Sirius stood in the apartment watching as Lydia's window, her walls, her bookshelf, and something that made a loud BANG as it hit the floor down the hallway all put itself back together; nothing seemed out of place.

Lydia's apartment was spotless, as to be expected. Nothing seemed out of place or out of the ordinary.

"Well?" Sirius started, "Now what? She isn't here."

"We could go to where I know Voldemort is." Leo said, his voice was nonchalant but Sirius looked less that impressed with the idea. "Whoever set off the dark mark could be there. Voldemort knows that Lydia and I both knows he's there. He's probably gone somewhere else now." Leo assured Sirius, "It's probably just an empty house now. If nothings there that'll tell us who set off the mark here then I guess we'll go home and just figure something else out. Lydia will probably show up tomorrow to tell me how her conversation with Scrimgeour went."

"You said she wouldn't have left this place like that." Sirius reminded him, "Where would she be?"

Leo thought for a moment. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Lydia was too much of a neat freak and obsessed with having things in its place to leave things the way she had. "Probably working, she probably is pulling an extra shift to try and get to the bottom of things..." he suggested, but then it hit him. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Calling him a good partner.

Throwing him under the bus.

Barely even able to look at him...

"Or whoever that was didn't know that Lydia wouldn't have left her apartment like that."

Sirius clapped his hands together, causing the cat he gave a can of food to flinch and all of its hair stood on edge. "Well, then that's settled." Sirius said, "I've been dying to have a bit of action besides listening to Molly talk about what the Order has to do different this time around after our little meetings."

        After Leo reminding Sirius that he didn't need to be a dog this time, not because he was confident nobody would see him. But because Leo wasn't exactly eager to try going anywhere with a dog again. Leo took a hold of Sirius' shoulder and pictured Riddle Manor. Its overgrown hedges, the dust filled entrance room, everything about it. Leo tried to recall as much of it as best as he could before their feet firmly landed just down the path from the towering house that looked even more eerie than it had last time. In this part of England, the mood was only visible when the clouds had past over it. But as soon as they had, another began to cover it. It made the shadows that the hedges around the house and the higher points of its roof have changing shadows constantly.

"Sure you aren't too rusty?" Leo questioned as Sirius began to walk up to the house without any hesitation. "Spending a decade in Azkaban would could cause someone to forget a thing or two." Leo said, smirking a little bit as the two of them walked along the rundown walkway to the house.

Sirius scoffed, "Please," Sirius sighed, "I was fighting these blokes before you were even in school."

"But you could be out of practice," Leo reminded him, "times have changed."

         Once the two of them made it to the doorway, Leo pushed it open once he saw that Sirius already had his wand gripped tightly in his hand. Inside, it was just as Leo remembered it. Dark, musky smelling, and he could even taste the dust that was in the air as the moved inside the house.

"This way," Leo started, pointing towards the stairs that he could just barely see thanks to the shifting shadows the moonlight allowed in the house. "last time, they were upstairs."

        The two of them made their way up the stairs, both with their wands held ahead of them just enough to be considered ready if it came down to it. Since the last time Leo had been there, they must have done some work on the stairs because they barely made a sound with each step they took.

"Well, it took you long enough to think to come here."

Leo stopped in his tracks and looked up from making sure he didn't miss the final step to see Lydia standing at the end of the hall in the same clothes she had been wearing earlier that day.

         Without a single warning, Sirius rose his wand and white sparks flew towards Lydia but she blocked his spell with no problem at all. But then while their focus was on Lydia, Sirius fell to the ground and Leo spun around to see a man with graying brown hair standing half way down the stairs and as soon as he Leo saw him he moved his wand away from Sirius and a sharp pain began radiating through Leo's stomach and instantly made him crumble to the floor beside Sirius.

"A bit pathetic of you to even come here without anyone else." he spoke as he closed the gap between himself and Sirius who was only just beginning to regain himself and use the railing to begin pulling himself up enough. All while the pain only grew worse in Leo's stomach and began to radiate through every inch of his body. Leo had to bite his tongue to not scream in agony.

"That's what makes them think they're winning, hellraiser." Patrick Hoode said that after Leo asked him how he managed to not lose his focus even when he was on the receiving end of the cruciatus curse.

But by the time the man finally moved his wand back to Sirius, Leo could taste a tinge of blood in his mouth.

"Well, he's an interesting choice for backup I suppose." he added as he lowered his wand only briefly enough to reach for Sirius's wand that was still gripped tightly in his hand. "The Dark Lord will be happy to finally have his hands on you, Sirius." he noted.

"So he is back," Leo replied hoarsely.

"Not really, not completely." he replied as he reached down and grabbed Leo by the collar of his jacket and pulled him up to his feet. "Come on, Sirius. Be a good dog and follow us. Can't do much without this anyway." he said, holding Sirius' wand along with his own as he began to practically push Leo down the hall to where Lydia had been.

"He did escape Azkaban without one, which is more than any of you morons have been able to do." Leo pointed out, his body beginning to ache more and more with each step he took.

          The man didn't say anything in response but angrily snatched Leo's wand from his hand as they reached the room at the end of the hall. He shoved Leo inside and turned and turned sharply to check on Sirius's progress at following them. From what Leo could see when he peered around the death eater, Sirius was nowhere to be seen, and the death eater who had brought him down the hall quickly took off down the hall to go after him. Leo hoped that meant he had taken a chance to get help. Whether it was from the Order or the Ministry, Leo really didn't care. But the death eater was right, coming here with nobody but Sirius was stupid.

"Leo?"

        Leo turned sharply and seated beside the fireplace on the floor, quite bloodied by the looks of it like she had taken quite the beating, was Lydia.

"This is a nice reunion isn't it?"

As the other Lydia spoke, Leo felt the crippling pain move throughout his body. This time it seemed much worse. It was almost like a stabbing and burning pain all at once that started in  his chest when the red sparks hit him.

"Stop! Stop it!"  Lydia yelled, "You said it yourself! The Dark Lord won't want him all banged up!"

Instantly the pain began to subside, and Leo felt like he could breathe again. "You're right, but it's just too tempting. Elladora is a good friend of mine."

"I don't know who I should feel worse for, her or you." Leo muttered pushing himself up  to at least be sitting up. As he did, he scanned the room. There was nothing besides furniture, a couch, two armchairs, a coffee table, and the fireplace.

"Watch yourself, Black." the woman replied, "The Dark Lord won't take your cheek very lightly."

"Now that he's here, the aurors will be here in no time-"

"No," Leo replied, "actually they won't..."

"What?" Lydia snapped back, her eyes were wide, giving Leo a better look at one of them that looked to be bloodshot.

"You helped me lose my job." he replied deciding not to comment on Lydia's condition, he wouldn't until they were out of there. If they thought it got to him, they'd only do it again.

"I put on quite the performance, if I do say so myself." the woman replied, "It won't be enjoyable having to play Lydia Corner there, the polyjuice potion is practically torture to drink." she said with a shrug.

"So nobody's coming?" Lydia asked quietly.

"Sirius' will." Leo replied.

Lydia's eyes narrowed, confusion covering her face.

"It's a long story."

"Gibbon probably already has his hands on him," the woman told him so I wouldn't be so sure. "the dark lord will be here any minute anyhow. He'll be please to finally meet you face to face, Leo. He's got great things planned for you. I bet he'll even help you get your job back, maybe even Scrimgeour's job."

          Suddenly yelling and screaming echoed into the room from downstairs. It was a blood curdling scream that Leo had only really ever heard from someone when they were being tortured. Leo's stomach dropped, Sirius had been defenseless. He hadn't really had a chance with Gibbon. The woman who had moved herself to one of the armchairs, completely unbothered by the screaming. In fact, she seemed almost pleased and didn't seem to be that worried about Leo being unbound in the room. But he was unarmed.

"You're an idiot, Black..."Lydia muttered, seeming to slump against the wall even more.

            However as she spoke, Leo glanced out the door and coming down the hall with a wand in either hand was Sirius. He stopped just far enough from the door that he was out of sight from the armchair that the other death eater was seated in. Leo watched him carefully, looking him over and he didn't seem to be in too bad of a shape. The sinking feeling Leo had felt was gone, he was just relieved. But he wasn't sure if it was because Sirius had gotten away, or if because he had been right, Sirius showed up when he needed him to.

        Before Sirius did anything, he held up one of his hands and motioned as if he was going to toss it into the room. And Leo simply nodded slightly before Sirius crouched down and swiftly slid Leo's wand across the floor and into the room. The sound of the wand sliding across the floor was enough to catch the death eaters attention, but Leo lunged forward and grabbed it.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The spell struck the death eaters legs and instantly caused her to fall to the ground, unable to move.

"Still think I lost it in Azkaban?" Sirius questioned as he made his way into the room, however before Leo could even see Sirius' outreached hand to help Leo to his feet Leo was moving across the floor to Lydia and quickly had her pulled into a hug.

Leo couldn't stand the idea of losing another partner.

authors note:
Holy balls this was a long chapter.
A few of my take always from this chapter is that; Sirius would have a pet cat if he could. That's it. That's the tweet.

Anywayyy let me know what y'all think! Be sure to comment, vote, and follow for updates!

Stay classy!
*unedited*