InsaneJournal

He knew where he was. Sirius knew where he was and didn’t want to be here. Instead he took a deep breath of cold, October air, which was thick with dust and the remains of magic. Everything was quiet, like the whole world was holding its breath, and he kept his eyes tightly shut and prayed that it would stay this way. Because God he couldn’t do this again and it couldn’t be happening again because he couldn’t go there and James couldn’t...

Then the baby was crying, and Sirius heard himself make a broken noise in reply before his dark eyes snapped open. He was leaning against the familiar gate, which hung partially off its hinges, and the wood was cold and unsteady beneath the grip he had on it. The house itself seemed to rise up before him, partially blown apart, Harry’s room exposed to to the evening air like an open wound, gaping and horrific. Sirius felt himself sway awkwardly, the wood creaking beneath his fingers as he swallowed hard and saw without surprise that the front door was open.

Then he was stood just inside the threshold, using the door-frame to keep him standing, staring down at a scene that was too familiar. Staring at the motionless, empty body splayed over the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The young wizard heard himself make an odd noise halfway between a laugh and a scream. He’d seen this too many times and it hurt too much and he was going to kill Peter for doing this to them all. James didn’t have his glasses on, and Sirius looked around hopelessly for them, because everyone knew Prongs was as blind as a flobberworm without them. Somewhere in the broken house, the baby was still crying.

The sounds gradually died away, less like the baby had stopped crying and more like someone had simply turned the volume down. Which was, in fact, what had happened. Ariadne stood behind Sirius; if he turned to look, she would seem vague and blurred as if seen through old glass.

"This is why you don't sleep," she said softly. "Oh, Sirius. When are you going to stop torturing yourself? It hasn't even happened yet, not for you, but you keep coming back here." The light on the scene flickered and dimmed. She wouldn't stay here. It felt like intruding. Which was precisely what she was doing, but she wouldn't continue to invade his privacy once she'd found out what he was dreaming.

Sirius started at the voice behind him. People didn’t normally join him here. Hagrid on occasion, pulling the baby away. Or Remus or Peter. But they rarely stayed and they never spoke. And this voice was female and was definitely speaking, and that was different enough to surprise him. In fact, it was a moment before he recognized it, and another moment before he understood what was happening.

Ariadne had taken over the dreaming. Eames had told him that much, and now here she was, in Sirius’ own head. His own nightmare. And he should have been furious that that barrier had been breached without his permission, allowing her to hack into his precious privacy. But he was cold and there was a deep, hollow space in his chest that seemed to switch between being completely numb and full of blinding pain with every breath. So Sirius gritted his jaw and spoke through his teeth, his gaze still fixated on James’ motionless face as it started to fade away into darkness.

“Can you just get me out of here?” He fought not to grab onto his best friend, not to curl up beside the cold body and just stay there. It was a dream, he reminded himself. It was all a dream. Sirius shut his eyes tight, still refusing to face the small girl he could feel stood behind him. “Please?”

There was a long moment, and then finally, feeling a change in the surroundings, the young man allowed his eyelids to open, and he took a deep breath before cautiously turning to meet Ariadne’s intense stare. There was a long silence.

“What are you doing here?”

Warm sunlight poured down on both of them as they stood on a rocky shore. Nothing like the beach in limbo where she'd washed up, this one was full of shells and had a ragged strip of sand bordered by scrub pines and long grasses. The salty air mingled with the scent of charcoal burning in someone's barbecue just out of sight. Ariadne rolled up the sleeves of the huge and hideously paisley shirt she was now wearing over a pair of cutoffs, shrugging.

"I can see everybody's dreams if I want to, Sirius. It's like... imagine a tub full of bubbles, and when you look at them from far off they're just this white cloud, but when you get in closer you can see through the skin of them right through the other side." Her eyes fixed on his again, face calm and open. "I couldn't just leave you to that. And I interfered, and if you want me to apologize for intruding I will. But I think this is nicer. Don't you?"

“Well, I bet that’s a laugh and a half,” Sirius grumbled, glancing around him at the beach. In a place like this it was almost impossible to cling on to the horror and heartbreak of Godric’s Hollow, and he did his very best to shove it to the back of his mind, to push it back into a box hidden somewhere in his subconscious and lock it tight. With a jolt, he imagined the scene from Ariadne’s point of view, and felt his cheeks colour with shame and embarrassment. That wasn’t for her to see. That wasn’t for anyone to see.

Sirius ignored the final question. He didn’t want to talk about it, and the idea of someone getting that far into his mind made him uncomfortable and agitated. Instead he squinted against the sudden excess of light and peered out into the sea. The waves were rolling over each other as far as you could see, stretching off into the horizon and coming to break a few feet from them. “Fuck,” he commented. “I haven’t been to the beach since I was a kid...” There was a moment’s silence, while Sirius struggled for something to say, a safe topic to steer them onto. “Are you here to lecture me about Eames? You could have just rung me. You know... when I was awake?”

Okay, so it wasn’t a safe topic. But he felt a lot more comfortable discussing that than what had just happened.

"It's interesting," she said finally. "Trying not to pry, but... there's a responsibility there, even if I've just been having fun most of the time." Ariadne shook her head, walking past him and up to where the waves were coming onto the shore. If it had been real she would have been picking her way carefully among the rocks and shells. But this was her dream, and she stepped surely without fear of injury. Nothing would hurt her here if she didn't want it to.

"I didn't come here to lecture you, but I can if you want. Frankly I think you're both being kind of stupid if you're going to stop being friends entirely over this." She looked back at him, the wind whipping her hair into her face for a moment. "Would you rather talk about something else? Or just explore? I could show you Atlantis, I built that two days ago." She'd been very busy in the Dreaming. Morpheus was going to find a lot of new additions when he returned to his power. Thus far she hadn't had the courage to see if he was still dreaming while temporarily human. "Or you can lecture me about something you disapprove of." Better this than reliving a personal horror, she figured, even if this wasn't exactly the friendliest reunion.

Sirius shrugged. “I don’t want to stop being mates,” he told her. “I’m not bloody happy about it. But there’s only so much I can do when he can’t fucking control himself. Least ‘til things go back to normal.” His voice became a little sharper as he spoke, but Sirius stopped himself, shaking his head and trudging after Ariadne towards the edge of the water, jamming his hands deep into his pockets. Sirius’ muscles were still wound tight under his shirt, and occasionally he saw flashes of dead hazel eyes or felt a prickle of something up his spine.

“Why?” he asked, turning his gaze away from the sea to look down at her with one eyebrow raised playfully. Sirius smirked, a very good impression of a friendly, good-humored expression that even he very nearly believed. “What have you been doing that I wouldn’t approve of?”

The sun sparkled on the water and a gull swooped down, squawking hoarsely at them. Ariadne grinned, she couldn't help it, and spun to face him as the waves came past her feet. "That's all right, then. So no lecture from me." It wasn't as if she'd been particularly mad at him in the first place, after all, and things were awkward enough without her scolding him for feeling understandably upset about what had happened to Lily. But the girl was fine, and Eames would be okay eventually and wasn't trying to eat their friends anymore, and they were in what was ostensibly a lovely day at the beach.

"I'm pretty sure the only things you wouldn't approve of would be disgustingly well-behaved," she said, hands in her pockets mirroring his. "Helping little old ladies cross the street and assisting truant officers in their duties. So maybe there's nothing for you to lecture me about."

“So... no lectures at all then?” Sirius checked, then his smile became a little more genuine, almost reaching his eyes, and he turned to squint out once again at the waves. The sun was glinting off the water, flashing into his face for a moment. “It’s a bloody miracle.”

Sirius sighed, pulling his hands from his pockets and stretching his arms above his head. It was easy to relax here. He felt a lot better than he had in days, with everything hanging over his head and the lack of magic and everything. Even things with Reg had been a little strained, although Sirius wasn’t quite sure why. He’d given up trying to work out what went on in his sibling's head a long time ago.

Looking around over the beach, Sirius examined their surroundings before trudging over to a slightly raised sand dune, where the sun seemed to pool brighter than anywhere else, and settling himself down. He still wore the jacket he’d had on at Godric’s Hollow, and he peeled it off to provide them with something to sit on. He’d missed Ariadne. He didn’t know what had happened between them, but it had been weeks since they’d had a proper conversation. Perhaps she’d still been angry with him. But they’d been close before and he had noticed her absence.

Sirius patted the space on the jacket beside him. “Come on. Let’s see these building skills of yours.” He crossed his arms over his knees, propping his chin on top of them to smile across at her. “Bet you can build a hell of a sandcastle. Then you can show me Atlantis, if you want. I’ll even act impressed.”

“Act impressed," she said, stressing the first word and raising an eyebrow. "Gee, thanks. You're so magnanimous." But she came and sat next to him, digging her feet into the sand and looking down at where the grains stretched before her. She'd missed him too, even if she'd been mad at him - for hurting her, for hurting Regulus and leaving her to clean up the aftermath. But they were friends, and she missed having him around. It was easier to be with him than with Regulus, or with her doppelganger who was a teenager with that particular constellation of problems. And now her interactions with Eames and Arthur had the overlay of their new relationship, which was heady and exciting but made her nervous all the same. Having a friend who wouldn't make demands on her was almost a relief. Even one with as many psychological issues as Sirius had.

Towers began to rise out of the sand, and shortly a miniature version of Hogwarts had constructed itself with no help from Ariadne's hands. It looked like the movie version she remembered, if a bit more monochrome. Tiny figures began to move around the castle as if running from class to class.

“Hah!” Sirius gave his usual bark of laughter, leaning forward to peer into the miniature castle. “Look at it! Awh...” He cocked his head in a canine manner, watching the figures starting to scurry about, ducking in and out of the building and hurrying across the grounds. There was even a tiny version of the Whomping Willow, although the positioning was a bit off. Sirius watched the tree thrash its branches like weird, sandy, worm-things, a fond smile curving at the corner of his mouth as memories crashed over him.

Bloody hell, he missed that place sometimes. Things had been so much simpler there. Life had been easy. Away from his family, sitting comfortably at the top of the school's social ladder along with Pete, Remus and James. No war or anything, or at least not in any way that affected them too directly. Most of the time his biggest worry had been how to sneak out of detention early, which secret passageway to pick or girl to take to Hogsmeade.

“You need to see the real thing,” he told Ariadne. “It’s -” he stopped suddenly, a familiar glint lighting in his eye, quickly followed by his ‘I have an idea’ grin. “Hey, could we go? You could build it, couldn’t you? Take us there for a flying visit before I wake up?” He shot Ariadne his best smile, his elbow moving to nudge her playfully. “Come on. It’ll be a laugh.”

"Could we?" The light vanished, blocked out as it was by stone walls arching above them. Ariadne stood up and brushed some grains of sand from the school robes she was now wearing, smirking a little. "You'll have to fill it in as we go, I don't really know most of it." A ghost sailed through one wall, across the corridor and into the other up ahead. "Just what it's supposed to look like. Kind of like Oxford and Cambridge - those are universities in England. I took a weekend trip there once and spent the whole time sketching and eating pasties." Sometimes she really missed being on Earth. Not just Paris, but Europe, being able to take a flying visit just by hopping on a train or a short flight. And home as well, which might have been why she'd brought Sirius to an amalgamation of the Maine beaches she remembered so well.

Sirius couldn’t stop the grin cracking his features as the school's stone walls blossomed around them, netting together to form arching ceilings over their heads. Within moments he was stood in what looked like a corridor on the first floor, and when he turned to Ariadne she was dressed in a grey school jumper with a crimson and gold tie. Sirius laughed, reaching out to tweak at the knot of fabric around her neck. “Nice choice. But you know I’d have been deeply offended it you had anything else.”

He cocked an eyebrow, then grabbed her hand and started to drag her easily along the empty corridor, their combined footsteps echoing off the stone. As they walked, torches burst into life on the walls, and portraits stirred in their frames. A few called out, but Sirius ignored them. He was glad to be back here, almost giddy from the rush of it. This was what dreaming should be like, he thought. Not cells and death and Dementors. Things like this.

“Common room or Great Hall?” he asked, pulling her along with him through a spectacular archway and onto a staircase. They could go up or down, and as they hovered there was a rumble as one of the other sets of stairs changed position. Luckily, barely anyone knew this castle better than Sirius Black and his friends - they’d worked on the map for years, and the animagus was pretty sure he could replicate that thing in his sleep. If you wanted someone to accurately rebuild the castle, Sirius was a good bet. He grinned to himself again, bounding up the stairs to the next landing. “Third step’s a trick!” he called back to his friend, stepping neatly over it. “Don’t forget to jump.”

"Well, really. Do I seem like a Hufflepuff to you?" She walked with him, having no trouble keeping up for once, and looked at everything as they passed. Allowing him a measure of control over the dream was interesting, since thus far she'd been controlling much more of what was going on even when visiting others as they slept. And it was exciting, seeing something she hadn't built herself - and all right, being inside what passed for Hogwarts was thrilling, she couldn't pretend otherwise.

The shifting staircase made Ariadne think of Escher and Arthur and the Penrose steps, and she followed Sirius with a hop over the trick step. "Common room, I think." She was keeping the projections out of here (though part of her was tempted to let Eames and Arthur show up, just to see them in the school uniforms) but the Great Hall would seem empty and strange with no people in it. Better the common room, where they could be comfortable.

“Got it.” Sirius swung her round a corner and past a suit of armor whose helmeted head turned to watch them, before skidding dramatically to a halt in front of a painting showing a rather brutal scene where a troll smacked a giant around the shin with a club. Reaching out, Sirius nudged the giant (who was currently bounding around on one foot, howling) in the belly with one finger. “Oi. Open up, mate. Y’know... please?”

The troll gave him a look, but bounded out of the way as the giant grabbed a branch of one of the trees in the backdrop, and the whole painting swung forward with a creak. Sirius dodged out of the way in time to avoid getting a picture frame to the head before clambering in, turning back to take Ariadne’s hand and help her climb after him. The picture swung shut behind them, and Sirius sighed as they were flung into darkness. This brought back memories...

“I once spent three hours in here avoiding Slughorn and Minnie,” he commented. “I was bloody starving.” Keeping a firm grip on her hand, Sirius led his companion along a dusty corridor, brushing away a few spiderwebs from where they hung from the ceiling until they hit a spiral staircase. It was a few minutes before they reached the top, and Sirius’ carefully arranged head of hair appeared from under a tapestry seconds before the rest of his body followed, sliding neatly out and back into the main hallway of the school. “Fat Lady's just around the corner...” he told her, and sure enough, a second later they were stood in front of the portrait in question. She looked a little surprised to see them. Sirius hesitated, then turned to Ariadne.

“Do I need a password?”

"Open sesame?" Ariadne said wryly, and the Fat Lady rolled her eyes but obligingly swung away so that they could go through the entrance. The architect scrambled through and plunked herself down happily in the middle of a couch, looking around with a grin. Playing with the Dreaming had been fascinating and wonderful and awe-inspiring and heady, but being inside Hogwarts was just fun. And Sirius was really completely at ease, which was something she hadn't seen in quite some time given how strained their friendship had become. He wasn't worrying about hurting her feelings or raging at his brother or frantic over something or other, he was simply happy. It was a nice change.

"So what now? You find your secret cache of Firewhiskey and regale me with your exploits?"

Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes at the password, ignoring the look the Fat Lady was giving him and following in after Ariadne. He was having a good time, without anything weighing down on him, something which he couldn’t remember really happening for a long time. Colligo was amazing, and most of the time he was happy there. He had everyone he cared about in one place, without the worry of Death Eaters. People died, but they usually came back. He and Remus could be together in a way that would never have been accepted back in 1970’s wizarding Britain. But it still wasn’t home, and there was too much going on in too small a space for anyone to really relax. Sirius knew the happiest times of his life had taken place here, at Hogwarts, and it was good to walk into the familiar room, with its dark wood and red and gold decoration, and throw himself down in his usual armchair by the fire.

“If you want,” he grinned across at her, slinging his legs over one arm of the seat. “Although rather than have me trek all the way up to our dormitory, wouldn’t it be easier for you to just whip some up?” He stretched, glanced towards the empty fireplace and watching flames crackle to life in the grate. Sirius smiled to himself, stretching and looking across at the girl spread over the sofa in James’ usual place. It was funny to see her here. Not unpleasant, but... different.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve told you all about my ‘exploits’,” he grinned. They had spent a lot of time talking about all sorts of rubbish in the past. After all, there had been a while when they had shared a bed pretty regularly, and you couldn’t have sex all the time. “You should tell me about being a short, mouthy dream God. Won’t you miss it when it's done? You know...” he waved an absent hand around the circular room of the Gryffindor tower. “Being able to do all this?”

"I could try, but I don't know that it would taste right. If you come up with it it'll be better. You're supplying the information for it." The way this sort of thing worked was fascinating even in regular dreams. She could feel the knowledge inside his head and how to pull it out and craft it into a facsimile of a drink, but this was all new to her still. And she didn't want to accidentally pull out anything important or draw them both back into another nightmare or something equally unpleasant. Better to let him keep running things. Besides, it was nice to take a bit of a break and just let the dream flow around her.

His grin elicited another shake of the head, and Ariadne shifted to draw her feet up on the couch. "Of course I'm going to miss it," she said. What a stupid question. "It's like... imagine if your magic was suddenly infinitely more powerful, and you didn't need a wand, or spells, you could just do whatever you wanted by thinking about it. And then knowing you'd have to give it up. I think Eames and Arthur are a little worried that I'm going to forget myself or freak out when it stops or something, but... how can I not revel in it while I have the power?" She shrugged and looked into the fire. "It sucks that Eames can't dream properly, though. I think it's because he's technically dead. So he can't Forge or change things. And Arthur isn't much for changing the Dreaming, he'd much rather work within it." Not that the point man had no imagination, as Eames liked to tease; he simply saw things from a different angle.

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll try. But if we end up with piss you have only yourself to blame.” Sirius reached over to one of the sidetables, picking up a bottle that had appeared at some point, along with a couple of the school’s standard gold goblets (Complete with the Hogwarts crest.). Sirius spilled a healthy helping of firewhiskey into each goblet and passed it over to Ariadne, placing the bottle down on the floor before taking a sip of his own. At least it definitely wasn’t piss.

With a contented sigh, Sirius settled back in the red plush of the cushions to listen to Ariadne, enjoying the gentle crackle of the fire that was working as background noise. He shrugged. “I’d enjoy it while you can. What’s the point otherwise? Someone needs to have a laugh during all this. Then if you have a breakdown afterwards I swear I’ll nurse you back to health.” He took another gulp of the amber liquid, quirking an eyebrow teasingly. “Laughter, I’ll have you know, is the best medicine.”

Then she was talking about Eames and Arthur, and Sirius’s brow remained stubbornly raised throughout. Sirius couldn’t really be interested in all the technicalities of the dreaming - forging and building and all the rest of it. It was all very confusing, and he had enough problems mastering an oven, for Gods sake. Anyway, there was something else he’d much rather focus on. Sirius gave a bright grin and was suddenly sat up straight, a wolfish grin splitting his face in two and curiosity glinting in his dark eyes as he scooted forward to the edge of his seat. After all, if there was one thing Sirius Black loved, apart from motorbikes and his friends and booze and sex, it was a good bit of gossip. And it had been a long time since he’d felt comfortable enough around Ariadne to ask her about stuff like this.

“What’s going on with you and Eames, anyway?”

Ariadne sipped the Firewhiskey and closed her eyes in contentment. Not that she strictly needed to eat while she was sharing Morpheus' powers - along with the pale skin and fathomless eyes she seemed to be no longer strictly bound by human biology. But it tasted delicious, with the added depth of nostalgia and longing in the flavor along with the warmth that gave the liquor its name. "Exactly. I know a lot of people are having a hard time with this, even if they're not blowing things up accidentally or getting stuck on the ceiling, but... I got something I can use and that's fucking amazing. Why wouldn't I take advantage of it?" The fire flared briefly before dying down to a more subdued crackle and glow. His promise to nurse her made her smile. "You'd have to fight Neal for it. Somehow he's very determined to take care of me." If things hadn't worked out the way they had, she almost would have seen if Neal wanted to continue things after their fake marriage had ended.

And speaking of which... Ariadne definitely did not squirm at the question Sirius asked, though she couldn't help smiling. "You'll have to be more specific." She took another swallow of Firewhiskey and smirked. "Besides,more accurately it would be 'what's going on with you and Eames and Arthur.' Asking the right question is important if you want to get the right answer."

Sirius had been sat precariously on the edge of his chair, chin propped in his palm, waiting for some nonsensical bit of rambling or a non-committal answer. In fact, he’d been so ready to launch into his own personal, extra-annoying, method of getting people to part with information that he almost missed the point of what Ariadne was saying. But then it managed to worm its way through, and Sirius’ head popped up like a dog catching a scent, eyes widening momentarily.

“No...” he checked, but that smirk of Ariadne’s features spoke volumes as Sirius gaped across at her.

“No!” He repeated, and then before he could stop it a wave of genuine laughter broke out of him, ripping through the (slightly unnatural, because there was no way in hell this room was ever this quiet in real life,) quiet of the common room. “Both of them?!” Sirius exclaimed, fighting to catch himself over a second round of laughter, each bark that escaped him making his ribs hurt a little. “No fucking way! You jammy little cow!” But it was said affectionately.

Sirius, still biting back laughter, slumped back into his seat, shaking his head a little as his shoulders jumped. It was a moment before he recovered himself. “You know, I’m taking this as a compliment. Clearly, it took two men to replace me.”

Ariadne bore the torrent of laughter in silence, watching Sirius attempt to keep his sides from splitting with the same smirk on her face. "Yes, both of them. What is a 'jammy cow,' anyway? It sounds like an ice cream dish." The smirk softened into a fond smile as she looked past Sirius and into the fire again. "I don't know, it just... it works. We work, together, and it's... kind of terrifying, but it's great. It's really great." For all that they hadn't talked for months, it was all too easy to slip back into familiarity with Sirius. And telling him about her feelings was more important than the particulars of her intimacies with Eames and Arthur. The wizard could probably imagine that part himself - or he could if it didn't mean imagining someone with his brother's face getting busy.

"And technically Neal replaced you first," she pointed out, setting her goblet down on the floor. "So really it's not all about you."

Sirius waved the ‘jammy cow’ question aside with a flippant hand gesture. “British expression. Ask Eames.” And then he was curling his legs up into the chair as Ariadne looked off into the fire, examining the way her features softened and the corners of her mouth turned upwards. She looked... happy. Sirius shrugged, mirroring her gesture and placing his own goblet on the floor. “You’re the one who hijacked my dream,” he pointed out. “Here, I rather feel that it is all about me.”

He pulled a teasing face in Ariadne’s direction, before swinging his feet back onto the floor and standing up. “I don’t mean to be boring, but you’ll be careful, won’t you? I mean, the more people involved... yadda yadda blah blah.” He cocked an eyebrow in her direction, then strode past her, his hand brushing briefly against her shoulder before he was back in the middle of the room and arching his neck up to peer at the ceiling, painted just as he remembered. There were a few papers scattered over a table, and Sirius picked one up and flicked it over with a mildly offended expression. How in the name of Merlin’s blue balls had Moony’s transfiguration homework managed to follow him into his dream? That hardly seemed fair.

“Your ridiculous love life aside,” he continued, turning back to face her. “Can we go to the Great Hall now?” he asked. “You wanted to see Hogwarts, after all. Although do we have to walk it? Can’t you do some softly, softly dreamy apparition trick and get us there quickly?”

"Hijacked your nightmare, cupcake. You're welcome." Ariadne watched him go and nodded. Being careful was hard when she felt so strongly, but Arthur was so reserved that holding herself back was necessary to keep from scaring him off. Eames was a lost cause, so to speak; she was head over heels for him, but she knew that he felt the same way. And she knew he would never want to hurt her. Still, it was all so new and a bit strange that she didn't need the warning. Sirius offering it was meaningful, though, and she appreciated it. "I will be. Even if you're being a bit boring," she drawled.

Ariadne stood and they were already in the Great Hall, the vast ceiling disappearing into the starry night overhead, lights floating over the tables. "Yeah, I can do that."

Sirius didn’t get it. But then Sirius had enough trouble letting one person get close to him, let alone two. From what he could see, relationships as a rule were messy, awkward and usually asking for trouble. Add more people in, even when they were like Eames and Arthur, who he knew were good people (when they weren’t eating his friends.), and the chances of everything going to shit increased dramatically. You were just supplying even more people with ammunition to use against you. But perhaps that was just him and his paranoia talking. Sirius kept his thoughts to himself, instead turning his attention to the hall that was morphing into shape around him.

“Excellent.” Sirius stepped neatly up onto one of the Ravenclaw benches, strolling along it with his head thrown back to watch the clouds rolling over the charmed ceiling. “We used to make it hail onto the Slytherin table,” he called back to Ariadne. “And rearrange these to spell out certain words.” He reached out, nudging one of the floating candles, which jumped out of his reach. Sirius bounced down off the bench at the front of the hall, a little way from the teachers table. “I miss this place,” he told the architect, shooting her a crooked grin. “Thanks. You’ve cheered up my depressing dream no end.”

"Do you miss it because you're nostalgic for your school days, or because you miss being back on the right planet?" Ariadne would never have chosen to go back to high school if she could help it - memories of being even more awkward and mousy were not ones that she ever wanted to relive - but then, her public high school was rather less exciting than Hogwarts. For one thing, the staircases always stayed stubbornly in the same place, and she hadn't been able to send messages via owl or learn about moving the world with her mind. That came later.

Ariadne hoisted herself up to sit on one of the tables, flicking a crystal goblet and listening to the bell-like chime of it. She smiled down the length of the hall at Sirius, feeling a familiar warmth return to her chest. "You're welcome. I don't know how much longer I'll have this, but I can keep the nightmares away as long as I do."

“Pfft,” Sirius made a noise to demonstrate what a stupid question that actually was. “I miss school. I don’t really miss home and the war, funnily enough.” It had been terrible - Ariadne had just seen the aftermath of it in his nightmare, and although Sirius was pretty sure that was the peak, the rest hadn’t been a whole lot better. He shrugged, casually hoisting himself up onto the teachers table, which sat on the slightly elevated platform. He was perched where Professor Flitwick’s plate usually sat, legs swinging awkwardly, and a little way down the hall Ariadne was doing much the same on one of the house tables.

“It’s okay,” he leaned back on his hands, using an offhand tone that dismissed the conversation quite effectively. “Don’t worry too much about it.” He thought he’d managed to squirm out of the whole ‘let's hack into Sirius’ dreams and rearrange his head’ plan, but he wasn’t about to bring it up now that (he hoped) he and Ariadne seemed to be at least kind of speaking again.

"I know you wouldn't miss the war, but there's a lot of the world beyond that. Being stuck in Colligo is different." Ariadne watched him carefully for a moment. They were inside his head, after all, and she knew that it wasn't sorted out quite that easily. But she wasn't going to force the issue, not now and not when they'd reached a fragile peace. They could talk about it more when things were back to normal and Eames wasn't trying to snack on anybody's friends.

So instead she hopped off the table and landed in front of Sirius. "I should go. There's a lot to do, and a lot to see, and I may have started a dinosaur stampede before you distracted me." She smiled and reached up, ruffling his hair. "But you can stay here till it's time to wake up. Do you want your projections back? A little company in the halls?"

Sirius scowled as she reached up and ruffled his hair, his own hand coming up immediately to straighten the dishevelled dark locks. “Dinosaur stampede?” he checked, turning his nose up a little proudly. “That just sounds irresponsible.” Although in a fun way. He almost wished he could go with her, but a large part of him wanted to stay here. For as long as possible. Sirius smoothed down the worst of Ariadne’s attack on his hair, swinging himself down from the teachers table as he did so. “Alright. Thanks.”

At that moment, there was a chatter of voices and a swarm of students hurried into the Great Hall with James, Remus and Peter at the front, chattering and laughing as the plates filled with food. “Pads!” someone called out. Sirius shot Ariadne a grin, but she was already gone by the time he jumped down and charged off to join James and the others, letting the crowd of noisy students swallow him up.