The night was deep and cold, silver mist rising off the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Roy walked alone, following the sleek orange shape of Crookshanks padding through the frost.
"Lead the way, Crookshanks," Roy murmured, the faint shimmer of his Dark Phoenix flames illuminating the trees.
For days, Crookshanks had been stealing scraps of food from the kitchen, carrying them to the woods. Now Roy knew why.He could feel it — a flicker of chaotic magic, familiar and wild.
At the clearing's edge, a large black dog crouched by a rock, thin and feral. Its eyes burned with both hunger and suspicion.
Roy stopped several paces away.
"You can drop the disguise, Sirius Black," he said quietly.
The dog froze. Then, with a crackle of magic, it twisted and grew — fur turning into tattered robes, paws into scarred hands. The man who stood before him was gaunt, hollow-cheeked, eyes burning with the desperation of someone who had escaped hell itself.
Sirius' wand snapped up, trembling.
"Stay back! I don't know who sent you, but I won't go back to Azkaban!"
Roy raised an eyebrow, amused.In an instant he blurred forward — a single movement faster than sight — and with surgical precision dislocated Sirius's wrist and shoulder, making him drop the wand. A twist of his other hand, and the man collapsed into a sitting position.
"Calm down," Roy said evenly. "If I wanted to turn you in, you'd already be on the Ministry's doorstep."
Sirius stared at him, panting, confusion and rage flickering together.
"Then what do you want? Money? Information? I've got nothing left but revenge."
"Revenge?" Roy tilted his head. "On Peter Pettigrew, I assume?"
The flicker of shock in Sirius's eyes was answer enough.
So Roy listened — the entire story, from Godric's Hollow to Pettigrew's betrayal, from Azkaban's icy despair to his recent escape. Roy already knew most of it from the threads of history he remembered, but hearing it from Sirius's trembling voice gave it weight — the grief of a man broken by loyalty and loss.
When Sirius finally fell silent, breathing raggedly, Roy smiled faintly.
"You want help finding the rat. I can arrange that. But you don't need to buy my help, Sirius. You've already paid enough."
Sirius blinked.
"Then why? What's your price?"
Roy's expression softened just a fraction.
"Narcissa Black."
The name hit Sirius like a hex.
"Narcissa? Lucius's wife?"
"Former wife," Roy corrected gently. "Lucius divorced her for a Selwyn woman — left Narcissa in ruin. Even her own son pretends she doesn't exist."
Roy told him everything: Lucius's affairs, his schemes, the humiliation Narcissa endured, and how she had rebuilt her dignity working beside Roy.By the time he finished, Sirius's head was bowed, tears cutting lines through the grime on his face.
"If I'd been there… she wouldn't have suffered like that," he whispered.
Roy knelt beside him and met his eyes.
"Then tell me, Sirius Black — do you believe that giving her the twenty percent of the Black family fortune was wrong?"
Sirius gave a strangled laugh.
"Wrong? That was the best thing any Black ever did. She deserved more."
Roy smiled — a small, genuine smile — and with a flick of his wrist, healed the dislocations in Sirius's arms and legs. The older man gasped as the pain vanished.
"Medicine and swordsmanship," Roy said simply. "Learned them before Hogwarts. They come in handy."
The Phoenix's Ascent
Moments later, the clearing blazed violet-gold.Sirius blinked as flames erupted around them — not burning, but warm, like sunlight on snow. The next instant, the world folded, and they reappeared in the marble halls of the Valvas Mansion in England.
Waiting there were Venelana Bael, Rem, Ram, Grayfia Lucifuge, Nagini, Bela White, Narcissa Black, and Albedo.
They all turned toward the newcomers — Roy stepping forward with calm poise, Sirius still disoriented beside him.
"Everyone," Roy said, "meet Sirius Black — former heir of the Black family, wrongly imprisoned, and my new guest."
A ripple of greetings followed. Sirius looked around, stunned by the sheer power and grace in the room — even more so when he saw Narcissa.
For a long moment, she just stared at him — eyes wide, trembling between disbelief and memory.Then Sirius whispered, "Cissy…"
Roy's voice brushed silently through the room via telepathy, cold and clear:
Do not reveal Bela's true identity.
The women nodded almost imperceptibly.Narcissa took a small step forward, eyes glistening.
Roy watched quietly from behind, knowing that this reunion — though incomplete — was the first spark of healing for a family long torn apart by pride and pain.
The night stretched on with soft conversation, quiet tears, and the faint hum of phoenix fire in the hearth.And for the first time since Azkaban, Sirius Black slept under a safe roof.