A/N: Hello again dear readers! A big thanks to the reviewers/favoriters/alerters! You guys give me the drive to keep going! Thank you for bearing with me for the last three chapters! Oh yeah! Anyone else who watched E3? XD
XxX
After paying up a rather large amount of money, the trio left Madam Malkin's bogged down with bags and boxes (mostly in James's case) of clothing. After finding an outfit for Remus, Sirius had ordered more of the same outfit, which amounted to a large bill. James had found several bowlers, top hats, and tweed caps. So many that Remus had to carry a good portion of the boxes while Sirius refused to even carry one box.
"You shouldn't have bought so many," he snorted and crossed his arms, turning his nose up at James.
"Not fair! You ruined my coat! Take some responsibility and carry a box!" James hissed as he balanced the boxes on his shoulders and arms.
"If you bought a coat, then I would've carried it. As far as I can see, you haven't bought a coat, so I'm not obligated to carry anything." Sirius deadpanned and adjusted Remus's uniforms that were draped over his arm.
"Says the person who bought out Honeydukes at least once a month!" James retorted and narrowly stopped one box from falling in the gutter.
"Honeydukes...?" Remus asked, looking first at James and then to his boss.
"Where we went to school, Hogwarts, there was a quaint little village about an hours carriage ride away. There were tons of shops there, one such shop was called Honeydukes, the best confectionery shop in existence!" James went starry-eyed for a moment, Sirius just sighed.
"This guy here," James nudged his best friend playfully, "usually bought out the store when he got his allowance. 'Hero of the Dormitory' is what the rest of the boys called him!"
"Those boys were awfully easy to please..." Sirius commented and unlocked the door to the funeral parlor. He stepped aside to let Remus and James walk in, however, he was knocked across the room when James dropped all of his parcels and sprinted to the sofa.
Remus got the impression that James acted like a child, while Sirius was rather well...Serious. It was especially apparent in their banter, Sirius sighed in exasperation while James would carry on with whatever he was doing. He wondered how they could get along so well, with being as different as they were.
"Seems it's getting late, Remus would you like me to walk you home?" Sirius asked while he placed all but one uniform on the sofa beside his best friend. Before Remus could decline his offer, James sat up and latched onto the younger's arm.
"I'll take him, the streets are dangerous at night and you still have to lock up!" The bespectacled teen took the lone uniform out of his friend's hands and marched Remus to the door.
"What about these hats?" Sirius gestured to the many parcels that littered the floor, James just shrugged.
"I'll be back in the morning to get them before you open up!" James called over his shoulder as he opened the door for Remus.
"Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, we still have to catch up!" With that the bespectacled noble closed the door and walked onto the cobblestone street with his friend's employee.
"So, any questions about your employer?" James asked, kicking a lone stone in front of him.
"He's so...Serious, his name is quite fitting." Remus commented and looked at the older with confusion when he heard an amused cackle.
"His name isn't spelled 'Serious', like 'are you serious'? It's spelled like, 'Sir' 'I' 'Us'. The best way to put it is like the Dog Star, Sirius. He's actually quite the prankster, believe it or not. He's just trying to act all prim and proper because he thinks he should be an example. Though, if you ask me, I think he grew up too fast." James strained a smile and his eyes looked a little crestfallen.
"If you don't mind me asking, why?" James just shook his head.
"Let's just say, his family isn't the best." He spoke lightly and made it apparent that the matter was closed for discussion.
"Anyway, he's easy to talk to and he's a nice guy, just don't make him angry..." The noble trailed off and handed the uniform over to the younger teenager whom stopped in front of his decrepit home.
"See you soon, and be careful when you're walking home from now on. Somebody might rob you!" He smiled and waved, Remus offered him a small shy smile and disappeared into his home.
Immediately, James's smile fell and he looked quite tired. He began walking to the tavern he and Sirius always went to when they had time. The Leaky Cauldron was a rather old place, cobwebs were on the wall and the furniture was wooden and creaky. Nevertheless, the company was usually composed of hardworking men whom had just finished their days on construction sites or any other type of manual labor. The drinks were another thing entirely, they only offered one type of alcoholic beverage and that was ale, but the ale was to die for.
James waltzed into the tavern and immediately sought out his best friend. Sirius was sitting in the corner, smoking a cigar and cradling a tumbler of ale in his pale pianist fingers. James made a beeline to the bar and ordered an ale himself, once that was done and he to cradled his ale in regal fingers did he finally make his presence known to his friend.
"'Ello..." Sirius drank and nestled his head in his palm, he looked downright exhausted and tired. James noticed and refrained from voicing it, he didn't want to further sour his friend's mood.
"Hello dear friend, may I ask what's wrong?" James questioned, preparing himself for the incoming onslaught that would surely come from his friend.
"I...I'm not quite sure myself..." Sirius looked down and sighed in irritation, James raised an eyebrow.
"Sirius not being sure of himself, this is a first." James took a drink and winced when it burned his throat.
"Shut up, I was going to tell you what's bothering me but not after you opened your big mouth!" Sirius growled, James put his hands up in mock defeat.
"Sorry sorry, go on please." He apologized and took another drink of his ale. Sirius sighed and fiddled with his cuff before going on.
"I...I feel sick to my stomach...I think I may like my new employee..." He muttered and averted his eyes while James forced himself not to laugh.
"You like...Remus? Remus who is not only a male, but an East Ender and a commoner. Tough luck." James took another sip and nearly spit it out when Sirius's palm made contact to the back of his head.
"Ouch! No need to do that! Look, I like Remus like a friend, but if your parents find out, you're as good as dead. Do you want that?" James asked, peering at him challengingly.
"Says the boy who's courting Evans!" Sirius groaned and pointed an accusing finger at his friend, whom just shrugged.
"What about her? She's technically Nobility." James retorted carelessly.
"Technically she's not, she just got adopted into a noble family! She's technically still a commoner!" James slammed his palm down to quiet his friend.
"Don't talk that way about Lily! I don't care if she is or isn't a commoner! I love her and that's all that matters!" James hissed venomously. It seemed to be Sirius's turn to put up his hands in mock defeat.
"I apologize James, I took it too far..." Sirius amended and pushed his tumbler around the wooden table.
"It's...fine, it's fine. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that...Anyway, I've been needing to talk to you about something important." James slyly looked over his shoulder to see if they were any eavesdroppers listening to their conversation. When he was satisfied that no one listening, he went on cautiously.
"Your little...Hobby." James prodded, Sirius looked at him quite unamused.
"What about it?" He deadpanned and drank from his cup again, looking down at the now empty container.
"Does anyone now? Has anyone mentioned it?" James asked, nervously shifting in his seat.
"Not as far as I know, I just have a rather swell name. They call me the 'London Phantom', nice right?" James whistled and chuckled.
"I leave you for month and you start killing people. Unbelievable!" James snorted in amusement and downed his own ale to the last drop.
"Nice name, I have to say. I wonder what my 'killer name' would be...? Something fear-inducing no doubt!" He chuckled and slammed down the cup rather giddily. Sirius just watched his drunken antics with faint amusement.
"Four-eyed killer, I think that rather fits." Sirius joked and yelped when his friend flicked him on the hand.
"That's not funny!" James hissed and crossed his arms with a pout, Sirius rubbed his sore hand with a scowl.
"It's getting late," Sirius remarked with a yawn.
"And?" James shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window.
"And that means that I have to go now, I have an early day tomorrow." Sirius got up to leave and fixed the cuffs on his coat.
"Why?" James whined as he latched onto his friend, much to the annoyance of the said friend.
"Because some idiot left his hat parcels in my Funeral Parlor." Sirius said and pulled himself free and began to walk away from the table.
"Sirius...?!" Sirius turned around and was met with the anxious face of James Potter.
"Yes?" He asked his friend with a raised eyebrow.
"Be careful okay?" James said and averted his eyes to look at his leather shoes instead of his best friend.
"Okay." Sirius smiled gently and nodded, turning back around to leave the Leaky Cauldron.
"Who else would pull pranks with me?!" James called after him in a sudden burst of humor, Sirius gave his signature bark of laughter and closed the door of the tavern and ventured out to the foggy English night.
A cold breeze blew past him and he pulled his black overcoat closer to his body, shivering slightly. He sighed and decided to take a detour from the path and soon found himself in an alley way.
He looked around, trying to remember if he had been this way before. It was no use, everything looked the same in the unforgiving night. He shrugged is shoulders and began to walk forward something latched around his neck and waist. The eighteen year old grunted in surprise when he felt these bonds that felt like human arms tightening around his body.
"Just give me your money and I'll let you live," the voice beside his ear hissed. Sirius couldn't help but grin in delight. He was quite pleased that his latest victim had delivered himself to Sirius's awaiting clutches.
XxX
Remus was sitting on his bed with the window opened, the cool breeze and full moon helped him unwind from the day. His mother had finally fallen into a fitful rest thanks to the neighbor Charity Burbage, and everything was still in the broken down home.
Yawning, Remus listened to the outside sounds and grew pale when he heard a distant scream. He shook his head and closed the window, London was quite a dangerous place after all. Although fretfully, Remus decided to pay the scream no mind. He knew that he could do nothing for the person whom uttered the blood-curdling sound. He was weak.
"I'm just weak and frail." Remus said to himself and stretched upon the unmade bed tiredly. He immediately fell asleep, twisting and turning, losing himself to the dream world he so often visited.
'Where am I?' Remus thought as he surveyed his surroundings. He was unnerved to see that it was where he had been earlier in the day, he could make out Madam Malkin's shop. What unnerved him was the eerie emptiness of the street, the pitch black and fog didn't help either as he anxiously made his way up the street to some unknown goal. Each step that he took echoed loudly, making him cringe before every step. After a few minutes of walking He could sense two figures waiting, what they wanted was any ones guess. All that Remus felt that he could do in this situation was to wait for them. After what seemed to be an eternity, his anxiety left him and he bolted towards an unspecified direction. He blanched to see that he had ran straight into a dead-end. It traced it's cracked pale fingers across Remus's cheeks and for some reason tears fell from the younger's eyes in rapid pace. He tried desperately to draw away from it, but his back was flat against the stone. "Please...Stop..." Remus coughed out and flinched when the fingers stopped. When nothing happened, Remus looked up and nearly screamed when he saw a figure behind the one that was in front of him. It had glowing red eyes, like angry coals in a dying fire. In it's hands was a glinting knife that slashed down and made the figure that had his face disappear in thick black smoke.
It was figure-less until it was only an inch away from Remus's face, then it morphed hideously into what seemed to be an older version of himself, complete with wrinkles and graying hair.
To the brunette's horror, it seemed that he had inhaled the black smoke. It restricted his breathing until he fell to his knees, clawing at his throat for mercy.
The last thing he saw was the red-eyed figure standing above him, but it seemed that it didn't have it's knife with him.
"Why...?" He buried his head into his knees and tried to wipe his tears on his night shirt.
"Why now?" He looked down and willed the tears to stop following, they didn't.
He sighed and buried his head in his pillow, trying with all his might to forget the nightmare that afflicted him.
"Father...?"
XxX
A/N: I changed the summary for my story since it wasn't fitting to the storyline I had laid out for myself so I decided to change it, sorry DX
