Dreams:
I don't own Sirius, James, Peter, Lily, Dementors, or Azkaban. Or anything else in this story.
The island was dark, desolate. It was in the middle of the sea of mist, barely visible.
The dark-haired first year glared at the green table, or more specifically, at the people sitting there, as he made his way up to the hat. He carried on glaring defiantly, right until the hat was over his ears. A few minutes later, he was sitting proudly at the red one, with a couple of boys. He spared one last glare at the people sitting at the green table, who were all looking shocked, and then turned around to look at the boy he had met on the train, and joined in the conversation about Quidditch.
On the dark island, a man moved in his sleep.
A dark-haired boy walked to the library with two of my friends. All three of them were serious, a rare occurrence. They paused at the table where a sandy-haired, tired looking boy was sitting, doing his transfiguration homework.
"Remus, we need to talk.," said the scrawny-looking messy-haired boy to the one at the table.
The other boy nodded and put down his essay. "What about, James?" He asked, looking puzzled at his friends' solemn expressions.
"Why didn't you tell us?" hissed the mousy haired, plump boy.
"What, Peter?" asked Remus again, looking slightly annoyed. "If this is some sort of joke, go away, I really need this essay done."
The dark-haired boy glowered slightly. "This is no joke, Remus. We're serious. It would have been better if you just told us."
Remus shifted nervously. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Sirius."
James frowned. "I'm quite sure you do."
Remus shifted again. "Nope. No clue."
Sirius glared at the boy at the table. "Why didn't you tell us you were a werewolf?" I whispered angrily.
The boy at the table froze. His expression was scared, then hurt, and then cold. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it would matter to you. Of course, I was obviously mistaken." He started to get up, and James immediately blocked his way.
"We're not done talking yet," he said, his voice angry.
"Let me go," Remus said, his voice trembling. He looked... scared?
"Chill Remus, we just want to know why you didn't tell us," Sirius said.
Peter nodded. "I thought we were you're best friends."
"But obviously we're not." concluded James sadly.
Remus looked at them with a strange expression on his face. "You don't care that I'm a werewolf? You just wanted me to tell you instead of you having to find out?" he asked.
Sirius looked at him incredulously. "You didn't actually believe that we cared about what you were, did you?"
"We just wanted to know why you didn't tell us," said Peter in a small voice.
"We would have accepted you for who you are, Remus." James told him.
"So... we're still friends?" Remus asked, amazement creeping into his voice.
"Duh!" exclaimed Sirius. Then he yelled out, to the library at large, "MARAUDERS FOREVER!" before engulfing the others in a group hug. Then they were kicked out of the library.
The man was thin, exceedingly thin. His wild-looking filthy black hair was all over his pale, gaunt face.
"YES!" a thirteen-year-old boy burst into the dormitory.
His friends looked up, amused. "I assume you are the one of the new Gryffindor beaters?" asked one of them.
"Yeah! Now James can't boast about being the only third year on the team!" He paused. "Speaking of which, where is James? I have to tell him about this!"
A short, plump boy shrugged. "I'll go look for him, Sirius."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Need to talk to professor McGonagall about Hogsmade anyway."
"Ok."
Sirius turned to the boy sitting on the bed. "So, Moony, wachadoin?"
The boy sighed. "Well I was working. How about you get some work done as well?"
Sirius gasped. "Remus Lupin, how could you?"
Remus raised an eyebrow, and Sirius sighed. "Oh, all right. I'll start with my Defence essay."
After a while, Sirius looked up. "Where's Peter gotten to?"
Remus looked worried. "I think we should go look for him."
Sirius nodded, and they left. They searched everywhere- McGonagall's office, the charms classroom... then they bumped into James in the library, where they told him what had happened. James took out the Marauder's Map, and they found Peter in the dungeons... surrounded by a bunch of Slytherins.
xoxoxoxox
They were gasping for breath by the time they reached. Peter was backed into a wall, surrounded by sixth and seventh years.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" yelled Sirius.
His cousin Bellatrix looked up and sneered. "So how is the ikle blood twaiter doing?" she said in her nasty, whiney voice. "Come to save your friend, have you? Well then how about we tech you four what happens to blood traitors and scum!" Her voice became grating and harsh.
"GET THEM!"
Sirius, Remus and James formed a protective circle around Peter. The Slytherins closed in. Lucius Malfoy was smirking at them, raising his wand casually. But the Marauders were faster. The whipped out their wands and stunned five of the Slytherins before their wands were taken from them.
Bellatrix was delighted. "Well well well. It seems like my baby cousin and his friends have been caught," she sneered.
Then she pointed her wand at Sirius. "Cucio!"
James was about to jump in front of him, but Sirius quickly pushed him away. The spell hit him head-on. He drooped to the floor, his cries of pain echoing throughout the dungeons. When the pain subsided, he lay on the floor, panting.
"That is what you get for leaving your family for filth like that," Bellatrix gave him one final glare before turning around to walk away, with the three others that were standing. But she had forgotten the other marauders. The Slytherins fell to the floor, stunned.
xoxoxoxox
When Sirius woke up in the hospital wing, he saw his friends peering at him anxiously. He grinned at them.
No one said anything.
Then Peter whispered, "Thank you. And I'm sorry." Sirius grinned again, "It's no big deal."
James stood up. "It's ok? IT'S OK? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT'S OK?"
"James is right, Sirius. How could any family do that? There's something you're not telling us..." Remus looked thoughtful.
"TOO RIGHT THERE IS! I'M GONNA TELL DUMBLEDORE AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT!"
"Shhhh!" hissed Peter. "Unless you want Madam Pomfrey coming and skinning us alive!"
Sirius saw sudden realisation dawn on Remus' face and flinched.
"Sirius... has this happened before?"
"Ummmm... would you believe me if I said no?"
"Nope."
"Well then... yes." Sirius glanced at James' face and then hastily added, "But honestly, it's not that bad, in fact, you almost get used to it after the first few times and-"
He stopped at the look on the other marauder's faces. Peter looked terrified, and he was actually trembling. Remus looked like he was going to be physically sick, and James... the look on James' face made him wince.
"THOSE BL-"
"SHH!" came three voices immediately.
"-oody #$%^!&* $#%!$*! how could they do that? Those frigging $$#*(%$! How can you put up with this, Sirius? How can you bear those #$%&* you call family-"
Sirius spoke in a soft, cold voice, and a dangerous glint came into his eyes. "Don't you dare insult my family."
Peter looked confused. "But I thought you hated-"
"They are the most important people in my life, and more than my family. They're my friends, and if I ever hear you say anything against them ever again.."
"Sirius, are you feeling quite well?"
"Never felt better, thank you Remus."
"James was still standing there, his mouth open. "But I thought you hated Bellatrix and all the rest..."
"I do."
"Then what...?"
"Guys, you are my family. We're marauders, remember?"
He grinned at the look on their faces. Peter was actually tearing up. then he said, "Now. How about we leave? POPPY!"
Madam Pomfrey rushed out of her office. "Well, Sirius, since you've been lying here for two days, I suppose you're good enough to leave. Now get out before you wake the other patients."
"Thanks, Poppy. C'mon guys."
as they walked out, James turned to Sirius. "Don't think I haven't forgotten about the whole 'telling Dumbledore' thing. Because I haven't."
"I wasn't expecting you to, Potter. I wasn't expecting you to."
The man seemed to smile slightly in his sleep, as if he had just remembered something pleasant. A strange sight on the godforsaken prison island.
"I think I've got it... just about got it.. AARGH! UGH! OOH! OOOOWW!"
"Sirius, are you all right? It didn't say that the transformation hurt in any of the books I went through, or else I wouldn't have let you all do it..."
"Chill, Moony, I'm fine...But don't you think that sound effects make it more dramatic?"
"No. Stop it."
"Do you know what I'm gonna be? I mean, Prongs gets to be a stag. I have to be at least as big as him."
"Sirius, you do know that you're animagus form is the same as your patronos one?"
"Yeah. But I hope it's a big dog."
"You're supposed to concentrate, Sirius, and you too Peter."
"But Remus, It's so difficult!"
"Sirius stop trying to imitate Peter, you're not doing a very good job."
"But it's funny!"
"Sirius..."
*Squeak squeak*
The two boys looked around the room of requirement. The one with black hair burst out, "I CAN'T BELIEVE PETER GOT IT BEFORE ME!" And then he transformed into a jet black, bouncy, annoyingly playful, shaggy haired dog.
Two of the other boys in the room also transformed into animals. The one with messy hair and glasses transformed into a magnificent stag, with enormous antlers and hazel brown eyes. The other one, who was plump and had mousy brown hair turned into a tiny brown rat.
The other boy stood in the middle of the room and stared at the animals around him.
He whispered, "I have the coolest friends ever!"
The man shifted again, the slight smile still on his face, if slightly wistful now.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!"
"I SAID I WAS SORRY! AND I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO IT, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY!"
"WELL IT WASNT! AND YOU NEARLY GOT SOMEONE KILLED! HOW DOES THAT FEEL TO YOU?"
"I WASNT THINKING, OK?"
"THAT'S THE WHOLE #^($*^ PROBLEM, ISNT IT? YOU NEVER #^(&*^ THINK!"
"I KNOW AND I SAID I WAS SORRY! I EVEN #^($*^ APOLOGISED TO HIM! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?"
"YEAH, CUZ THAT'S ALL YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW, ISNT IT? YOU NEARLY GAVE AWAY MOONY'S SECRET! WHAT IF THE SCHOOL FOUND OT? HE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE THEN! HE WOULD NEVER GET A JOB, HE WOULD DIE ON THE STREETS! AND IT WOULD BE ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"I know."
"AND YOU ALMOST KILLED SNAPE! IF HE HAD PRESSED CHARGES, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SEVERELY PUNISHED! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN EXPELLED! OR THROWN INTO AZKABAN!"
"I know."
"AND THEN-"
"I SAID I #^($*^ KNOW!"
Both the shouting boys were breathing deeply.
"I said I was sorry Prongs, and I really am. Peter has forgiven me. Remus has forgiven me, and it's his secret. Will you forgive me, or will you take away my marauder-ship? It's your choice. I was an idiot and I know it, but now it's up to you."
"Damn it, Padfoot, why do you have to go all serious on me?"
"I am Sirius, remember?"
"Oh, ha ha ha."
"So I'm forgiven?"
"Yeah. Anyway, how could I outcast my own brother?"
The two boys walked out of the secret passage on the fifth floor and headed down to dinner.
The man seemed to be waking up, but he squeezed his eyes shut as it trying to go back to sleep. After all, who would want to wake up to this awful place?
Sirius rapped on the door of the huge mansion, and spoke to the boy standing inside.
"I need a place to stay."
"Have you done it then?"
"Yep, I've finally cracked. I've run away."
The man turned over again.
"Prongs?
James?
Ja-ames?
Prongsieeeee!
Jaaaammmmeeeessss!
Jamie!
Prongsssss
Jamesie...
Pro-ongs!"
*slap!*
"Ow!"
"You OK? You spaced out for a second. No. An hour."
"Lily kissed me."
"WHAT?"
The man smiled again.
A messy-haired, spectacled man came running out of the maternity ward at St. Mungo's. "Lily's had a baby!"
"Oh my god, that's wonderful!" yelled the werewolf sitting outside.
"Congratulations!" exclaimed the tall, shaggy-haired man next to him.
"Yes! It's a boy."
"What's his name?"
"What does he look like?"
"Harry. Me. Lily's eyes."
"I think he's fainted."
"Yeah."
*splash!*
"Now he's awake again."
"Padfoot, you didn't have to chuck water on him!"
The man on the floor opened his eyes. "Sirius..."
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, next time I'll punch you in the face instead of throwing-"
"Will you be godfather?"
The hooded guard nearby felt confused. It could sense emotions, and why were happy emotions drifting out of the cell nearby?
Sirius knew nothing except raw anger. How could he betray them like that? He found him, and the rat made stupid accusations. Sirius laughed. The very idea of him betraying Lily and James was absurd. Then the street blew up; Peter transformed and hid. Sirius laughed some more. Laughed at the entire stupidity and ridiculousness of the entire thing, laughed because he was too tired to cry. He knew what would happen soon
Sirius Black's eyes snapped open. He felt the dementor nearby, and tried to empty himself of feeling. It was hard. Because just then, he remembered what he had lost. He blinked the tears away from his eyes, and listened to the shrieks coming from the other cells. He prepared himself for another long couple of hours- until he fell asleep again. Because in the bleak and empty prison of Azkaban, he found solace only in his memories of the past, in his dreams.
One word: R-E-V-I-E-W.
Because reviews make my day :)
xoxox-
bookwurm7.