Just like it says in the summary. I was intrigued by the 800 word prequel JKR recently released and immediately set out to imagine how and why it took place. It didn't help that James and Sirius are two of my most favourite characters in the HP fandom. ;)

Disclaimer: All characters, terms and settings in this story are the copyrighted content of J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing around and am not profiting from this work in any way.

In addition, some of the events and sentences in this story are exactly the same as they are in the actual prequel (this needs to be followed by a long 'duh!'), and I'm stating explicitly that those words are not mine. The rest of them are, though. :)

A Day in the Order

by CascadingCrimson

The alley was dark and discomfiting, but Sirius did not stop to think as he took a sharp turn and scrambled into it. James was right at his heels, and the two of them ran a few metres before pausing, wands still held aloft. The only sound now was of their own heavy breathing, as James held out one hand against the crumbling wall and bent over slightly to gain control of his breath, Sirius attempting to do the same.

"An ambush!" James rasped, his voice hoarse, "We should've known! I can't believe we fell for it!"

"To be honest, mate, we didn't fall for it," Sirius whispered back, still taking sharp gulps of air. He felt as if his lungs were on fire. "Doge made sure the distress call wasn't fake. Obviously they had someone under the Imperius - or something worse."

"Frank and the others!" James said, struggling to keep his voice low, "Did you see where they went?"

"I risked a look behind me and noticed them getting away from the right end of the field," Sirius said in an equally low voice, ears trained for any sign of disturbance. The darkness that pressed upon them from all sides did not spare any chance for vision in the immediate vicinity, but he squinted towards the mouth of the alley anyway, trying to discern any movement. "But I think they got away safely. They were all firing stunners, and I'm sure I saw a couple of Death Eaters fall down behind me."

James managed an grim-faced smirk in the dim light pouring into the alley. "That's the Order for you."

"Mm." Sirius had finally caught up with his breath, and he stood up straight, keeping his eyes fixed firmly at the mouth of the alley.

"You know, as much as I love kicking Death Eater butt, this sure isn't how I imagined I'd be spending Saturday nights after school," James said, grinning as he straightened his glasses.

Sirius snorted. "Get used to it, Prongs, we signed our lives away, didn't we?"

"You have to admit it's got its appeal. I mean, I bet even Aurors don't get to have this much fun -"

Sirius looked down at their torn, dark robes. "I'm pretty sure they don't go through new sets of robes everyday though. Too bad we couldn't save these," he said, indicating his dilapidated state of clothing.

"I think we should take them off," James shrugged. "They're too much of a hindrance when we're running. Besides, we're in a muggle area now."

Sirius fingered the trailing sleeve of his robe and said, "I don't think it's gonna matter whether the muggles see us, really. But yeah, we should."

"We couldn't have worn anything more conspicuous underneath, could we have Padfoot?" James grinned as both of them disposed off their robes in the nearest bin and stood up straight. Sirius had to resist an urge to laugh when he saw that their Order of the Phoenix T-shirts stood out brightly against the little light permeating into the dank alley.

"I dunno, I think they look pretty cool," Sirius said, flicking his head backwards to brush his hair out of his eyes, and grinning back, "I bet the Death Eaters will love -"

But he shut his mouth when he realised James had gone eerily still, his wand held high. He pressed a finger to his mouth and sent a warning glance towards Sirius.

"Did you see where they went?" A voice yelled.

"I think so! They were headed that way, I'm sure of it!"

And now footsteps were bounding off the stone pavement, and Sirius held his breath. They seemed to be getting closer. Sharing a brief look with James, he raised his wand silently and poised himself so that he was ready to mutter an incantation at a moment's notice, James doing the same behind him.

"They might have gone in here!" The voice was close now, so close Sirius was sure they were right at the starting of the alley. He tensed and did not even move for fear of making a noise and giving away their position.

"What if they went straight ahead?" The other voice yelled back.

"Fine, you go ahead! I'll check in here."

Sirius relaxed and would've shaken his head resignedly if he'd had the opportunity. Beside him, he heard James suppress a snort of laughter.

"Are you in there, blood traitors? Surrender and show yourself immediately!"

"Stupefy!" James and Sirius roared at the same time, and the two jets of red light hit the oncoming stranger straight in the chest. He slumped onto the ground and rolled over, unconscious.

"Right bunch of idiots, they are," James said, toeing the fallen Death Eater to check if he was out.

"Okay, there's got to be more of them coming," Sirius whispered, "and if this fool doesn't return, they're bound to get suspicious."

"Hmm."

"What d'you reckon? What if we change into Prongs and Padfoot -?"

"Yeah, a stag galloping away in muggle London has no chance of being noticed, does it -"

"Okay, okay. Stupid idea. Next?"

James twiddled his wand in his hand impatiently. "What we need is transportation. Our best option is to fly."

"Brooms?"

But James shook his head. "No, mine's at Lily's place. It'll takes ages. Where's your motorbike, Padfoot?"

"It's going to take me some time to summon it," Sirius said, gripping his wand more tightly. "You keep watch while I call it."

"Hurry," James muttered, but he had already stepped around the fallen Death Eater and taken guard near the mouth of the alley.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius concentrated. His motorbike was parked at James' place, and that was a fair few miles away. Picturing it in his mind's eye, he muttered permissio accio under his breath, repeating it until he was sure that it had started to fly.

A few seconds passed in silence, but Sirius kept his eyes closed and his mind trained on the bike.

"Padfoot!" An urgent whisper sounded from a few feet away, from where James was standing.

"Shut up, Pro -"

"Sirius!"

There was a bang and a shout and suddenly the alleyway was filled with a bright, convalescent light. Sirius opened his eyes and let out an 'oomph' as he felt a hard force knocking him aside, and he flew into the wall on the side. He felt his wand flying out of his hand and hitting the ground with a clatter, and he sat up, feeling dazed for a second. He shook his head roughly.

It was all he needed to ascertain that a spell hadn't hit him, and he scrambled onto his feet, heart thudding painfully as he clumsily picked himself off the ground. The light that had flashed momentarily had gone, and the alleyway was pitch black. A spell whizzed by his ear, so close he felt his hair singing. But Sirius did not care, he searched the darkness desperately, but there was no sign of a standing person anywhere near him...

Another spell buzzed by, though this one missed him by a quite a few inches.

"Risera!"

"Linsoria Totalis!"

"Crucio!"

There were two of them, Sirius realised, feeling his lungs constrict as he barely dodged these jets of light. These spells were deadly; they were practised by none other than those who immersed themselves completely in the Dark Arts. To get hit by them would mean certain death, or worse.

"Wand, wand," he muttered angrily as his fingers fumbled around the dirty ground. He suppressed his revulsion as his fingers scabbed against what was obviously not just dirt or mud, but it was impossible to see anything in the darkness. A few more spells whizzed by. The darkness was serving as both an advantage and a disadvantage. It was obvious the Death Eaters were not waiting to check whether they were hitting their quarry.

"Here!" he heard James hiss, and he felt a wand being thrust into his hand. It was James's, Sirius realised, and he directed his voice vaguely in his direction. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Now do something before we're both Bowtruckle food!"

As if on cue, a spell bounced off the wall and nearly hit the area where James had been sitting. Sirius let out a roar of frustration, pointing his wand straight to the opening. Against the dim light, he could make out the figures of the Death Eaters clearly. He yelled, "Confringo!"

There was a cry of pain as one end of the dilapidated building exploded, burying a Death Eater and shrouding the entrance with dush and rubble, but Sirius did not stop to congratulate himself. Instead, he fired spell after spell, aided by the light filtering from the end against which the remaining Death Eater was silhouetted, until he was sure the other one had fallen as well. The moment he was done, he muttered 'Lumos' and pointed it towards the ground.

"James!"

James was sitting up against the grimy red-bricked wall, his left arm covered in blood. His teeth were gritted in pain and his glasses were askew, but he looked up and said, "Where's your bike, Padfoot?"

"It's coming," Sirius said shortly, bile rising in his throat as he stared at the blood gushing out of James's arm. "Prongs, you're bleeding!"

"Brilliant observation there," James muttered, but Sirius ignored at his sarcasm. This was not a time to be joking.

"Look, I can take care of this for now," James said, "Give me my wand."

Sirius did as told, scouring his eyes across the ground for his own. By the time he had scooped it off the ground, James had muttered a short non-verbal spell, and the wound closed itself.

"There," James said, "All done."

But it wasn't. Right before their eyes, the gash opened up and James winced as fresh blood started pouring down his arm again. His hands were fisted and Sirius could see the sweat clinging to his brow. Sirius clenched his wand tightly as he kneeled down and pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Hold still," he said, gripping James by the shoulder and muttering 'Ferula' under his breath.

Bandages appeared from the tip of his wand, complete with a splinter which bound itself tightly around James's arm. "This is exactly why you shouldn't try to act all noble and push me out of the way to get in the line of fire," Sirius mumbled as he created another tight set of bandages to stem the flow.

"You're welcome," James said dryly, rolling his eyes. But the bandages held this time, and James rolled down his bloodied sleeve as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Scourgify," James muttered, and the mess of blood disappeared. He raised his eyes to meet Sirius's. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"I don't think you should -"

But Sirius stopped abruptly as he heard that familiar whirring of an engine, and his heart leapt. And it came with a sudden crash, bumping its way across the narrow alley, and the sight and noise couldn't be more comforting to Sirius. He pulled James up, making sure he was not touching his left arm, but James wrenched himself out of his grasp.

"I'm fine!" James said hurriedly, "Now come on!"

They mounted the bike, stowing their wands into their pockets. Sirius jumped start the bike and it was roaring to life beneath them, and he was about to take off when James, who was riding pillion, hissed in his ear, "Sirius, we can't fly! Dumbledore gave us explicit orders -"

"And since when have we ever obeyed Dumbledore? Or anyone else for that matter?" Sirius retorted testily, but he hesitated. "We need to get you help -"

"I said I'm fine!" James said exasperatedly, "Now come on, I can hear them!"

He was right; Sirius could hear them too. He revved up the bike and charged forwards, just as James levitated the fallen bodies of the Death Eaters into the air and high above them so that they could pass freely, and the wind was rushing through his hair as he leaned forwards –

There were a multitude of Death Eaters blocking the exit, and James swished his wand and muttered 'Locomotor personis' under his breath. The unconscious bodies that had been hovering midair flung towards the standing the Death Eaters, so hard that three of them were knocked over.

Sirius stepped on the accelerator, and heard the familiar whistling of air in his air as he shouted, "Breaching the first line!" The remaining were forced to scatter as the motorbike shot at them at top speed.

He heard James laugh behind him, and they had broken past the Death Eaters now, spells raining down upon them. James twisted slightly and cast a strong shield charm behind them so that most of the spells were deflected before they could reach them, the others too slow to catch up with them.

Sirius glanced at his rearview mirror at the same time as James swore and turned forwards. "We've got a problem, mate!" he yelled in Sirius's ear, his voice swamped by the rush of wind against them. "Some muggles in a car with flashing headlights are tailing us."

"We can outrun them easily!" Sirius shouted, pressing harder on the accelerator.

"We would, except for one thing!" James shouted back, "The Death Eaters've got brooms!"

Sirius swore loudly. This was going to complicate things. He had been planning on a clean getaway and getting James some help, but obviously they were going to be stalled. He ran their options through his mind quickly; they could either vanish and hope that the Death Eaters would bypass the muggles entirely, or stop and use the situation to their advantage. Option number one seemed highly unlikely; if Sirius knew anything about Voldemort's supporters, they would never pass up an opportunity to torture muggles in some way or the other.

Behind him, James seemed to have come to the same conclusion. "We've got to stop, Sirius!" he shouted loudly in Sirius's ear.

Sirius took a split second to survey his surroundings and come to a decision; leaning forwards, he yelled, "Hold on!" He could feel James tighten his arms around him, could feel the splinter digging into the side of his waist, could hear the sound of screeching tires cut through the air as they took a sharp turn into the alleyway between what looked like two large, derelict warehouses. One of the warehouses jumped out of the way and Sirius let out a loud bark of laughter as he felt a sharp burst of adrenaline course through him.

They had stopped, the engine of the motorbike dying down as they came face to face with a towering brick wall. Sirius could hear the sirens of the oncoming muggle car, and knew they had a matter of a few seconds left to take some action.

"I'm sending a message to Dumbledore now," James said as they sat still the bike, his eyes closed in concentration and wand raised, "He can inform the Ministry."

The bright flash of white light illuminated the street suddenly as a silver stag burst out of the end of James's wand tip and cantered away; just then, the car in front of them entered the alley, bright blue lights flashing upon them.

"What d'you reckon?" James muttered from the corner of his mouth as they watched the car stop, though the lights were still flashing upon them . Sirius exchanged a glance with him as they pocketed their wands behind them.

"Distract them," Sirius muttered back. "Talk about some shit and don't let them know anything."

James's eyes were canvassing the dark alley as if perusing their options, and his eyes widened suddenly. "The car!" he whispered, tossing Sirius a mischievous look.

"You come up with the best plans, mate," Sirius said, smirking as they faced the muggles squeezing out of their car. They were obviously some kind of law enforcement officers, as they were currently shouting at James and Sirius to get off the bike. Sirius decided to comply; they needed to keep the officers busy anyway. He swung his leg off the bike and stood up straight, James doing the same beside him.

"No helmet!" one of them yelled, pointing at his and James's heads. "Exceeding the speed limit by - by a considerable amount! Failure to stop for the police!"

"We'd have loved to stop and chat," James said, "only we were trying -"

"Don't get smart, you two are in heaps of trouble!" snarled the other officer. "Names!"

"Names?" Sirius repeated, exchanging another smirk with James. I'll play along, James told him silently, eyes twinkling, and Sirius turned his attention back to the officers. "Er - well, let's see. There's Wilberforce...Bathsheba...Elvendork..."

"And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or girl," said James, keeping the humour out of his voice, for the most part anyway.

"Oh, our names, did you mean?" Sirius said as the officer spluttered in rage. "You should've said…this here is James Potter, and I'm Sirius Black!"

"Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little -"

Sirius had barely a second to chuckle at the pun, but James was nudging him and he trained his eyes at the sky, just above the alley. Three Death Eaters were approaching them, mounted on brooms, and he reached for his wand, whipping it out of his back pocket with a flourish.

"Ready?" James muttered, and Sirius gave the briefest nod. He could hear the muggles shouting something but he ignored them, jerking his wand as he heard James shout, "Now!"

"Mobiliarbus!"

It worked; it was as though invisible strings had taken hold of the front of the car, and Sirius grinned as he saw the oncoming Death Eaters smash into it, now standing completely on its rear tires. He glanced at the muggles, who were stumbling over each other in disbelief, and let out a bark of laughter before turning on his heel and mounting his bike. James was laughing behind him, and the moment he felt his arms around him, he revved up the bike and turned it to 'flight mode'.

"Thanks very much!" he shouted over the throb of the engine, "We owe you one!"

"Yeah, nice meeting you!" James called, "And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!"

"It won't matter if they see us now," Sirius said, grinning as they started to rise, "They have to get their memories modified anyway."

"Yeah," James said in his ear. They were flying now, gaining height steadily as Sirius stepped on the accelerator. "But seriously, Padfoot, Elvendork?"

"Don't blame me, you were the one who kept repeating that it's unisex!" Sirius shouted over the roar of the engine and the cold wind, "Did you ever consider talking about it with Lily? Good name for your kid, huh?"

He only had time to duck as James aimed a hit to his head, laughing.

"Didn't you hurt your arm or something?" Sirius hollered, "Good time to forget about that, is it?"

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of fight left with me!" James shouted back, and Sirius spent the rest of the way back trying to dodge his best friend's attempts to get him in a headlock.

Fin.