[Author's Note:] Please note that this is going to be a short novella with probably only three or four chapters. And please review each chapter and let me know what you think! Also know that I do not own the Harry Potter universe, nor do I pretend to. I'm simply playing in the sandbox. Happy reading!
Chapter One
When reality finally hit the Marauders of Hogwarts, it hit hard.
It was during the Marauder's sixth year that they really began to understand what was happening in the world. Remus was the only one who kept up with the papers, but he had learned years ago that trying to discuss current events at the breakfast table with the other three Marauders still half asleep was a fruitless endeavor. There were rumors that were whispered in the hallways but the Marauders were always too busy planning pranks to really pay much attention. It was easy to overlook the problems of the outside world when they felt so safe behind the walls of their school.
In hindsight, the signs were all there. Maybe if they had just paid more attention they could have been more careful. Probably not, but looking back at the events that had unfolded that night they all wished they hadn't had to learn this lesson the hard way.
It had been James' idea. It was a dull Saturday in early October when he had announced to the other three that the Marauders would be making their own trip to Hogsmeade since the previous trip had been cancelled by the school for some vague reason about unrest among the residents of the wizard town. Although it was strange for the Headmaster to cancel a Hogsmeade trip, it wasn't unusual for these boys to make the trip on their own. More and more the Marauders as a group had grown bored of going to Hogsmeade with the rest of the school and had begun skipping the trips anyway. Instead they had their own trips to Hogsmeade which they all found to be much more exciting. Even Remus would enjoy these trips even as he would try and pretend to object since he was a prefect.
They were able to discreetly escape the castle through the corridor hidden behind the one-eyed witch statue. They raced down the underground tunnel, playfully pushing each other out of the way in an effort to be first. When they reached the end James used his Invisibility Cloak to make sure the coast was clear – they had long ago outgrown being able to put more than one of them under the Cloak at a time – and when he gave the signal the other three scurried up through the basement of Honeydukes.
Despite the fact that it wasn't a weekend when the Hogwarts students were allowed in to town, Hogsmeade was still particularly busy. The four boys were able to lose themselves in the crowd and avoid the Honeydukes shop owner who had taken to threatening to report them to Headmaster Dumbledore one day when they made too much of a ruckus in his store. Most of the other shop owners turned the other cheek when they saw the highly recognizable trouble makers in town when they weren't supposed to be, probably because Sirius and James usually made it worth their while with their purchases.
They spent hours in Zonko's joke shop checking out new merchandise and stocking up on dungbombs and sugar quills and the like. Then they headed over to Spintwitches so that Sirius and James could look at the newest Quiddich gear, though neither of them ended up making any purchases. Next they stopped in to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer. They stirred up quite a ruckus with their horsing around, but the owner of the Inn, Madam Rosmerta, only smiled and laughed along with them. Overall it was a very normal day with nothing out of the ordinary to cause concern.
As they left the Three Broomsticks Madam Rosmerta made a comment about how they should head back to the castle before it got dark, but they all brushed her off, unconcerned. Dusk was just falling and they were walking lazily up the street when Sirius suddenly cursed loudly. "I think I left my Zonko's bag in The Three Broomsticks," he said, looking down at his empty hand where the bag with his purchases should have been.
Remus rolled his eyes at him. "You're always losing something, mate," he pointed out. "I think we ought to start using permanent sticking charms to keep you from misplacing things."
Sirius gave him a playful shove. "I'm going to go look for it. I spent too much of my parents' hard earned, Pureblooded money on dungbombs to let that go to waste without wreaking havoc on some Slytherins!" He laughed as he spun on his heels.
"You want me to go with you?" James asked casually.
"No, I'll only be a minute," Sirius said, flashing his friend a grin. "I'll meet you lot up at the Shrieking Shack." And with that he took off at a jog back in the direction they had come from, disappearing around a corner in a matter of moments.
Without giving the situation a second thought James, Remus and Peter continued on their leisurely stroll down the street, discussing possible pranks they might pull with their new stash from Zonko's. They made it up to the Shrieking Shack and sat on the fence as they poked fun at the rumors about the place they had heard over the years, knowing what really went on there.
"You'd think someone would have worked it out by now," James commented lazily. "Even if you only half pay attention you'd notice that it's only active during the full moon."
Remus playfully swiped at him as if trying to push him off the railing. "No one likes to think that they have a werewolf in their backyard," he pointed out with a laugh.
"Try having one in your dormitory," James laughed.
Remus made a face at him, but couldn't keep the laughter out of his eyes. It had taken a while to become as comfortable with his condition as he was now, but James, Sirius and Peter had helped him come a long way. They poked fun at Remus' lycanthropy the same way they would poke fun at Sirius' knack for losing things, James' obsession with Lily Evans, or Peter's lack of academic smarts. It was normal for them to act this way and to laugh off flaws in each other.
"Sirius sure is taking his time," Peter observed, glancing back down the path they had come up to find it empty still. They had been sitting on the fence for about twenty minutes now and he still had not shown up.
"I knew it was a bad idea to let him go on his own," James sighed, shaking his head like an annoyed parent. "He always gets distracted. He's probably trying to flirt with Madam Rosmerta again."
"Reckon we ought to reel him in before she kicks us out?" Remus mused.
James slid off of the fence, landing lightly on his feet. "I reckon that's a good idea. Wouldn't want to be banned from The Three Broomsticks like we were banned from Honeydukes."
Remus followed suit as did Peter, though admittedly less gracefully.
Remus looked up at darkening the sky. "We should probably head back soon anyway," he said. "It's getting late."
"Yes, Mr. Prefect," James drawled with a lazy wave of his hand by way of dismissal.
They all trooped back down the pathway toward town. The mood was light as they wandered back to the inn at a casual pace. James was the first to the door, pushing through it fully expecting to see his best friend in the pub. He stopped short. The place was completely deserted. He was looking around curiously as Remus and Peter came up behind him.
"Where did everyone go?" Peter wondered out loud.
"I don't know," James said as he gazed around. It was hard to explain why, but suddenly there was an uneasy feeling creeping up into his stomach. Something just didn't feel right. It was a Saturday night; the inn should have at least some people around. He had never seen it deserted like this before.
"I'm going to check upstairs," Remus said, tension in his voice. Clearly he felt it too. He disappeared up the stairs as James and Peter wandered around to examine the pub area. Nothing looked out of place. Everything was cleaned up and put away as if they were closed for the night. But even though it was dark out now it was still awful early for the pub to close. They heard footsteps as Remus descended back down the stairs, alone. "Madam Rosmerta's door was locked and there was no answer when I knocked."
"That's odd," James observed.
"Maybe she had to go out and run an errand?" Peter guessed.
"Maybe…" James mused, though he wasn't convinced.
"That doesn't explain where Sirius went though," Remus pointed out with concern as he rejoined the group.
"Maybe he went to the Shrieking Shack like he said and we just missed him," Peter said hopefully.
"Not likely," James said. "We took the shortest path from there to here. We would have seen him unless he took a very round about route."
"Perhaps he didn't find his bag here and he continued to retrace his steps," Remus said.
"That still wouldn't have taken him this long," James said uneasily.
"It's worth a try though," Remus insisted. "It's the only logical theory we have right now."
"Yeah, you're right," James admitted. "Come on. Let's go check Spintwitches and Zonko's."
The three boys turned and made their way back out onto the street. As they started toward the sporting shop they couldn't help but notice that the entire street suddenly seemed deserted as well. They didn't pass one other soul as they walked. The streetlamps glowed dully but the area somehow seemed darker than usual, like there were fewer lights coming from the surrounding buildings. They reached Spintwitches to find that the shop was dark and the door was locked.
"Something's not right," Remus said in a low voice as he looked around nervously.
"Can't argue with you there," James agreed. On an instinct he checked to make sure his wand was still securely in his back pocket within easy reach.
"Maybe we should just go back," Peter said anxiously.
"We're not leaving without Sirius," James said firmly as he started toward Zonko's, even though they could see it from where they stood and could already tell it was just as deserted as the rest of the street.
"Yeah but maybe he went back already," Peter tried even as he followed James, Remus falling into step behind them. "Maybe he saw everyone leaving and he decided to leave too."
James immediately shook his head. "He would have never left without telling us," he insisted, dismissing Peter's flawed logic without a second thought.
"James," Remus said suddenly. James turned to find that Remus had veered off slightly and was crouching in the opening of a nearby alley. James immediately hurried over in time to see him picking up a bag with the Zonko's logo printed on the side of it. "It's Sirius' bag," he said with certainty as he looked at the contents.
James stared at it for a moment before his eyes slowly wandered to the alley in front of him. They could see no more than a few meters into the space, darkness overtaking where the streetlights couldn't reach. James pulled his wand out of his pocket. "Lumos," he muttered, watching the light spring from the end of his wand. He glanced back at his companions, noting how Remus already had his wand out as well. "Let's go."
Keeping close together they all moved into the alley. They were all tense, unsure what to expect as they moved along. With every step the light from James' wand lit another darkened space and each time they all somehow expected to find some kind of horrific scene. But as they walked all they found was more empty space. That did nothing to ease their fears though. Something was clearly very wrong here.
The alleyway was quickly narrowing as they moved further down it. Eventually they were forced to walk in a single file line with James in the front and Peter in the back. As they reached the end James slowed, holding a hand up behind him to slow the others as well. He could just hear the murmur of voices from beyond the end of the alley.
Trusting his instincts he put out the light at the end of his wand as he slowly began creeping forward, running his hand along the brick wall of the alley to keep from bumping in to anything. Unfortunately Peter didn't have that same thought and a moment later he bumped into some abandoned rubbish bins. They clattered for a second, but both James and Remus quickly moved to silence them. James went to glare at Peter but had to remind himself he probably couldn't see it because of the darkness.
The voices had stopped abruptly at the noise and James froze in place, waiting for someone to burst into the alley. But everything was still.
"Did you hear that?" They could just hear the sound of a woman's voice drifting toward them in the silence.
"It was probably a cat or something," a deep male voice answered.
"We need to hurry up," the woman's voice went on. "We cannot get caught or the message will be diminished. If we get caught right in Dumbledore's backyard the Dark Lord will not be happy."
"I need more time," a third male voice mumbled. "This boy needs to pay for what he did to my face."
At this James started creeping forward again. He reached the end of the alley and carefully peaked around the corner. The alley opened up onto a street lined with small townhouses, all darkened looking almost abandoned. In the middle of the street stood three people dressed in dark robes with the hoods drawn up over their faces. James studied the figures, but it was hard to tell anything about them. They were all circled around something. James let his gaze fall down to the heap that lay at their feet.
The latter man who had spoken pointed his wand down at the heap. "Crucio!"
The heap on the ground screamed out in pure agony and James felt all the color drain from his face as he recognized the voice despite how horribly distorted it was in that moment. He didn't remember making a decision to move but suddenly he had whipped out of the alley and into open space, his wand held high. "Stupefy!"
Caught completely by surprise, the curse hit the man square in the back, sending him crumpling to the ground. The other two whipped around, wands at the ready.
"Oh, you are going to regret that, boy," the woman spat.
"No, I don't think he will." Remus had appeared at James' side, his wand up as well. His voice was practically a growl. "Now get away from him." James had never heard Remus sound so commanding before, as if he were years older than the people in front of them instead of just sixteen.
James tightened his grip on his wand as he watched the man and woman in front of them sizing them up. Even Peter had emerged from the alley, though he stood a step behind where James and Remus stood. That gave them the superior numbers with one of the others still incapacitated by James' spell.
"Let's go, we have done our damage," the man announced.
From under her hood James could just barely detect a grin from the woman. "Tell Dumbledore the Dark Lord says hello!"
And with that the group Apparated, taking their third member with them. For a moment everything was still, as the boys were all a bit concerned that it was a trap of some sort and they were going to reappear and attack. But they didn't.
Remus was the first to move. He ran forward and fell to his knees next to the figure that lay crumpled on the ground. Peter took a few steps forward and then hesitated, looking back at James unsurely. James was rooted to the spot. He knew he should run forward, he knew that he needed to see the damage, but somehow he just couldn't.
Remus hit the ground hard but he hardly noticed the pain that radiated through his kneecaps. The figure was laying on his side with his back to him, protectively curled in on himself. Remus carefully rolled him over, feeling sick to his stomach. What he revealed was what they had all already guessed. It was Sirius. His clothes were tattered and he had blood on his face, his neck, his chest and his arms. Remus gasped out loud at the gruesome sight.
"Sirius?" Remus said gently. Sirius' eyes were closed and his muscles were limp. "Sirius, can you hear me?" No response. Remus raised his gaze and looked over at Peter and James. "Peter, James, get over here."
Peter immediately scurried into action at the command. He fell to Remus' side, his eyes wide and his face pale. "Is he…?" he squeaked.
"He's alive, we have to stop some of this blood flow," Remus said tensely. He conjured some bandages with a quick wave of his wand. "Here. Put some pressure on his chest." He indicated a particularly deep gash that ran diagonally across Sirius' chest. Peter immediately did as he was told. Remus looked up and was frustrated to find that James still hadn't moved. "James." James only stared vacantly, clearly in some kind of shock. "James! Come over here and help!" Remus' sharp tone finally seemed to break through to him and he mechanically moved forward.
James stopped next to them and looked down at the scene in horror. "What is this?" he whispered. "Why did this happen? Who would do this?"
"I don't know," Remus said. "We'll figure that out later. We need to get him out of here."
James very suddenly dropped to his knees, looking intently at one of Sirius' arms. He reached down and carefully picked it up as Remus and Peter watched. The sleeve of Sirius' white dress shirt had been shredded away below his elbow and the arm was covered in small cuts. James tilted it so they could see what he had found. At first Remus couldn't tell for the life of him what he was trying to indicate. Then he realized that the cuts on Sirius' forearm seemed to form a very deliberate pattern. The more he stared the more he thought he could make out letters.
"Toujours pur," James read.
"Isn't that Sirius' family motto?" Peter said, shock in his voice.
"Yeah. Always pure," James translated.
Remus' eyes fell to Sirius' other arm where his sleeve had also been ripped away in much the same manner. He slowly picked it up as he studied the lacerations, now trying to make something of it. These cuts were deeper than the ones on his other arm and Remus had to wipe away some of the blood to be able to read it. "Blood traitor," he read finally.
"You think this has something to do with his family?" James asked in disbelief. It wasn't a secret that Sirius didn't get along with his parents and didn't agree with what he described as their "Pureblood mania." He had gotten at least one Howler a year on the subject since their first year at Hogwarts when he had been Sorted into Gryffindor. But even so this seemed horribly extreme for something like a family grudge.
No one got the chance to answer. Sirius stirred just then, letting out a light moan as he started coming back around.
"Sirius?" Remus said quickly, leaning down closer.
Sirius made a mumbled noise as his eyes slowly blinked open and he looked around blearily. "Hey," he rasped.
"Hey, Padfoot," James said, relief on his face at the sight of Sirius regaining consciousness. "Stay still, okay? You're going to be alright."
"Should one of us go get help?" Peter asked.
"There's going to be no help in town," Remus said, looking at James and Peter. "We need to get him back to school."
"Should we really move him?" James asked worriedly, looking down at his friend's broken form.
"It'll take too long for one of us to run back, find someone in the castle and then bring them back here," Remus insisted. "He's losing a lot of blood and who knows if those people will come back with reinforcements looking for another fight."
"Yeah, you're right," James agreed reluctantly.
"Come on, help me lift him," Remus said.
Peter stepped back as James and Remus each took one of Sirius' shoulders and slowly pulled him up into a sitting position. At the motion Sirius yelp in pain, squeezing his eyes shut and gasping in air. James and Remus exchanged worried looks.
"Sirius?" James said slowly.
"'M okay," Sirius murmured. His breathing was suddenly labored and his features were lined with pain.
"Just hang in there, okay?" James said.
Sirius only nodded vaguely, his eyes still closed. Working together James and Remus lifted Sirius to his feet, trying to ignore his hissed protests. They each slung one of Sirius' arms over their shoulder, holding him securely between them.
"Peter, light the way," James instructed, finally feeling the fog clearing from his head so that he could think a little more clearly.
Peter scurried ahead as he lit his wand. Working together Remus and James carried Sirius back toward the alleyway they had come from in order to get back to the main street. Sirius hung between them like dead weight. James would have thought that he had fallen unconscious again if it weren't for the pained moans that escaped his throat every so often.
James glanced behind them just before they entered the alleyway and couldn't help but notice that they had left a trail of blood that was dripping from Sirius' open wounds that led back to a pool of blood staining the pavement where Sirius had lay. He was losing blood very quickly. There was a sick feeling that had settled in the pit of James' stomach. If they didn't get Sirius help soon he wasn't going to make it. That fact was painfully obvious.
The group moved very awkwardly back down the cramped alleyway. At one point Remus bumped into the wall, jarring Sirius suddenly and causing him to cry out sharply in pain.
"Sorry, sorry," Remus said quickly.
"Come on, we have to keep moving," James encouraged tensely.
They continued until they came out the other side of the alley and back out onto the main street. It was just as deserted as it was when they had left it about twenty minutes before. They were moving back toward Honeydukes when Sirius suddenly made a strange choked noise. James could feel him suddenly grip the back of his shirt tightly. Then he coughed roughly, sending tremors throughout his whole body, suddenly spitting up blood.
Remus looked over, paling at the sight. "There's blood in his lungs," he said softly, observing the blood now dripping off of his chin.
"What does that mean?" James asked quickly.
"It means we have to move faster," Remus said.
They picked up the pace slightly, but it was hard to do with Sirius' dead weight hanging between them. Finally they approached Honeydukes, finding the store darkened like all the rest.
Peter hurried up to the door, pulling on it to find that it held fast. "It's locked," he said, announcing the obvious.
"Well then unlock it!" James said a little more harshly than he had meant to.
Peter pointed his wand at the lock but his hand was shaking like crazy. "A… Alo… Aloh…" he stammered.
"Oh for crying out loud, Peter!" James spat impatiently. They didn't have time for this. He ducked out from under Sirius' arm, leaving Remus to support his full weight as he moved forward toward the door, pushing Peter out of the way. He didn't even bother with his wand, assuming that the store probably would have some kind of security charm against the simple unlocking spell anyway. Instead he took a running start and kicked out against the door as hard as he could. The glass panel in the door shattered loudly on impact. He carefully cleared away any sharp edges that had still clung in the frame. He turned back to Remus who was looking at him a bit like he thought that he had lost his mind. "Come on."
James ducked through the doorway first. Remus moved forward with Peter's help to support Sirius. As carefully as they could they handed Sirius through the gap in the door to James who stood on the other side. It was an awkward process that didn't spare Sirius any pain as he groaned with the effort. He seemed to try and stand on his own for a moment but his knees quickly buckled and he fell against James.
"Hurry," James urged as both Peter and Remus scrambled through the door.
As Remus moved to help support Sirius again he coughed up more blood, a bit more forcefully this time. James also noticed his grip was weakening. They were running out of time and they still had a ways to go to get him back to the castle. James quickly went over their options in his head even as they started moving toward the stairs that would take them down to the basement.
"Peter, you run ahead," James ordered as they approached the trap door. "Find the first teacher that you can and bring them to find us on the route from the one-eyed witch statue to the infirmary."
"Okay," Peter squeaked. He pulled open the trap door and quickly disappeared.
It wasn't ideal; Peter was by far the slowest among them. But he was also too short to properly help support Sirius so there was nothing more to do about it.
James and Remus slowly made their way down through the trapdoor and in to the secret passage that would lead them back to school. It was a narrow passage which slowed their progress considerably. Finally after several long minutes the end of the passage was in sight.
"Hang in there, Sirius," James panted, the effort of carrying his best friend starting to wear on him. "We're almost there." There was no response. He glanced over at Sirius to find that his head was hanging limply on his shoulders. "Sirius?"
"Just keep moving, James," Remus said tensely. James hadn't even realized he had slowed his pace upon finding that Sirius had lost all consciousness.
James pushed any morbid thoughts out of his head as they pushed forward. Finally at long last they made it to the end of the passage. Remus climbed out of the passage first through the one-eyed witch statue and then reached back down to pull Sirius through. James clamored up after them. They were quickly running out of time. That much was clear. Hurriedly they got themselves situated with Sirius between them again and started for the Hospital Wing as quickly as they could.
The corridors were darkened at the late hour and when they first spotted the figures moving in to the far end of the corridor and moving toward them it was hard to figure out who it was. It wasn't until they heard the familiar shrill voice that they realized Peter had actually completed his task.
"Potter! Lupin! What is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall sounded just like she did when she scolded them in class. Clearly Peter hadn't been able to convey the reality of the situation to her yet. It wasn't until she got closer and waved her wand to light more of the corridor that she seemed to realize the severity of what she had come upon. She stopped in her tracks and visibly paled at the sight of them, Peter skidding to a halt behind her. As a group, they must look a wreck.
"It's Sirius, Professor," Remus said breathlessly. They didn't break stride. "He's losing blood quickly and he lost consciousness about ten minutes ago."
McGonagall quickly remembered herself as she started moving with them. Without asking for any further explanation she moved closer to them began waving her wand in a complicated formation toward Sirius, murmuring an incantation under her breath. None of them bothered to ask what they were doing. They just kept moving toward the infirmary, knowing that their friend's life depended on getting him medical attention.
If it wasn't too late already…