We were both sitting under the shades of that tree. Our back supported by its trunk. I looked up, Toby was listening carefully to every word. He didn't interrupt me once while recollected that day.

I paused to give him some time to adjust his thoughts. He was gazing up at a certain cloud, lost in his mind.

Realising i have stopped speaking, he turned to me. His face was serious, and his gaze heavy.

" Anything else? " He asked.

" When I was about to collect the medium, I started hearing whispers. The medium was calling for me "

" Hoo? And what happened next?" His tone was intrigued.

" I was reluctant to touch it. The call felt real but my wariness prevented me from being careless. I summoned the fire and wrapped it around my palms and then touched the medium ".

Toby didn't speak. His gesture encouraged me to continue.

"The touch allowed me to make sense of the whispers.

Someone or something was speaking in my mind. It was a grotesque and ugly voice, filled with a chilling malice. "

" What did that voice say ?"

" Blood of your lineage runs deep in you Sirius. You destiny is fixed. You can't outrun that. "

I quoted the exact words I heard that day.

I still remember the feeling back then. The voice wasn't of that creature. It was the one who ordered it .

The real caster.

It echoed with a dissonance that sent shivers down my spine, wrapping around my consciousness like tendrils of shadow.

After that, I picked Sylvie up. By the time we reached home, it was already late at night. I put her to sleep and laid beside her, just in case she woke up and needed me.

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Silence ensued.

I was the one to break it.

" It's time that you tell me the truth. I need to know whatever you know and whatever you are hiding. "

Leaning forward now, his hands folded . With a sigh, Toby said

" And here I thought you'd want to catch up. Maybe reminisce about the old days. But with all that happened, I can't blame you"

I clenched my jaw. We'd had this conversation before. I'd asked him about my past in the early days when we hunted together.

When I noticed how he seemed to know more about me than he ever let on. I confronted him about it , demanded answers, but he always danced around the truth, kept his distance with vague reassurances. And soon, I lost interest.

"It's not the first time I've asked, Toby. Don't pretend you've forgotten that."

He smirked, leaning forward now, fingers tracing patterns on the grass we were sitting on.

"You had no curiousity back then? You weren't ready to hear what I had to say."

I glanced up at him, the old frustration bubbling up.

" Toby " , I spoke his name. My words heavy and jagged.

Back then, I wasn't myself. Sunny's sudden demise left me completely alone, with no family or friends to rely on, the trauma and burden of his loss weighed heavily on me.

I found solace in killing. I wasn't the best in the field, but I was fearless ,no regard for my own life and no fear for my loved ones.

That touch, I lost it during my years with Lily and Sylv. The reason it was so hard to fight that creature was because, for the first time, it wasn't just my life in danger.

"And what makes now any different, Sirius?" Toby's voice softened, but I caught the undercurrent of something darker. " Now that you have lost Lily because of your past? "

My voice wavered, but I pushed on, meeting his eyes.

"That creature… it mentioned things. Things about my lineage, things about me. I'm done running blind."

For the first time, Toby's smirk faded completely. He knew I was serious now, that the weight of the past was no longer something I could ignore. His fingers drummed against his legs, a slow, steady rhythm.

"You're right," he said quietly. "You've asked before, and I didn't press enough. Not because I didn't want to… but because once you know the truth, there's no undoing it."

"Stop dodging the point." My voice was sharper than I intended. "You knew something about me before we even met, didn't you? That's why you scouted me. You've always known."

Toby's eyes flickered, the shadows under his gaze deepening. He leaned back, staring off into the far distance as though weighing his words carefully. "I knew who you were, yes. I knew about your family, your past. It's part of why I found you in the first place."

"So why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me the truth the first chance you got? Why let me be stubborn, knowing I wasn't myself?"

He exhaled slowly. "Because sometimes, knowing the truth is more dangerous than living without it. And you weren't ready to face what comes next."

"I am now," I shot back. "I have nothing left to lose. Lily's dead because of this."

The silence between us stretched, heavy with the weight of everything unsaid. Toby's face was unreadable, but there was something there. Something that made me believe, for just a second, that maybe he wasn't entirely indifferent to my loss.

" You still have Sylvie Sirius. I hope you don't let your past control yourself again. Past has a funny way of catching up. And yours… yours is a lot darker than you think." His voice serious and I could discern a trace of worry beneath it.

" I know . But what's the point if I can't even defend my family? I couldn't save my wife, and I am powerless now to save my daughter. I need to know what and who I am to move forward. I need to know my cards Toby."

" I want to be stronger "

My voice trembling with a mixture of anger and regret, along with determination.

"I'll tell you what I can," Toby finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But remember this, Sirius , once you open the past , you can't close it again. The past will follow you, whether you're ready or not."

' The past is a very determined ghost, haunting every chance it gets. '

And now this ghost was onto me.

I didn't reply but nodded, sufficient to convey that I was ready.