Part Eight
Catherine was slowly going crazy.
He'd known all along that hawking her wouldn't work out well, but not even Lily could think of a viable alternative. At least they weren't cooped up in the little safe-house anymore. After much discussion, he reluctantly admitted that the safe-house was really no safer than his own home – although he did set Remus loose on his place to make it as magically impenetrable as possible – and that he didn't need his friends to move in with him. Ironically James and Lily were even more thrilled than Catherine to no longer be living in an only-slightly-larger version of the Hogwarts boys' dorm, complete with all of James's former roommates.
Which was how he had somehow managed to go from "casual dating" to "serious relationship" to "living together" in less than a year. James especially enjoyed ribbing him with snide remarks about how he'd be the next poor bloke shuffled off down the aisle. Sirius told James that he could take his snide remarks and shove them where the sun didn't shine. Nineteen was too young to be married. Besides the "living together" wasn't intended to be the sort of serious relationship step that James made it out to be. Catherine was only living with him because it was safer that way, even if he didlike the thought of the two of them under the same roof. In fact, things would have been rather wonderful if Catherine wasn't starting to get annoyed at having to have an escort every time she left the house.
To be fair, their little guard service was really only the tip of the iceberg. While that would have been grating on anyone, the fact that Catherine's roommate told Catherine's mum that Catherine moved out of the dorm to 'live in sin' with her boyfriend had created the type of family drama Sirius had, until then, believed only possible from the Blacks.
Sirius had long been well aware that Catherine's clean-cut family did not approve of him. When he first met them, her father had pulled him aside and made it quite clear that Sirius was not the type of man Catherine was supposed to marry. Apparently, wearing one's hair long, owning a motorbike, and not having a degree from Oxford or Cambridge were all signs that one's life was going nowhere fast. That Catherine was now living with him had set off quite the firestorm. Her parents' wrath only abated when Catherine's younger brother decided he wanted to be the family rebel and announced that hepurchased a motorbike by dramatically riding it down the street and parking it in his father's front yard on Sunday as the neighbors were returning from church. Catherine told her brother he was her hero. Sirius told Catherine he was jealous; Regulus would never have bought a motorbike in a show of solidarity.
"Prongs's birthday is in a couple of days," Remus's voice cut through his thoughts as they walked through the center of campus. "He thinks we're throwing him a surprise party."
"I toldhim we weren't throwing him a party this year," Sirius insisted. "Every year, we try to surprise him, and every year, he not only figures it out, but he gives us a list of instructions on what to do. It isn't a surprise party if you're helping to plan it. Besides, he'll insist on inviting Fabian and I'm still mad at him."
"You just spent the afternoon with him," Remus pointed out.
Sirius made a face. "Yes, well, that was Order business. Besides, we couldn't actually go through with our plans. Lucius came back from his board meeting early so we had to call it off." He paused, "How come you keep getting the cushy assignments and I keep getting the felonious ones?"
"There's nothing 'cushy' about translating hundreds of pages of dark magic spells written in ancient runes," Remus replied. "Trust me, I'd rather be breaking into Death Eaters' homes with the Prewetts. Besides, if you had paid attention in ancient runes, you could be on translation duty, too. It's not my fault I used my textbook as something other than a paperweight."
"I used my textbook for something other than a paperweight," Sirius protested.
"I'm sorry. You're right." Remus nodded sagely. "I had forgotten that you also used it to keep your dresser from rocking on the uneven floor in the dorm." He smirked, then changed the subject as they came to a stop outside the biology building. "So what arewe going to do about Prongs's birthday?"
"We could pretend that we forgot," Sirius suggested, "And then kidnap him and take him to the bar."
"And that's different from a surprise party how?" Remus asked, pulling a watch from his pocket.
"Because he'd actually be surprised," Sirius explained.
Remus made a noncommittal noise as he returned his watch to the pocket of his jacket. "Catherine's lab lets out at six, right?"
"Yeah, but it's always late." Sirius took a seat on the low, stone wall outside the building. "Well, she'salways late. I get the impression she's not very good at lab." He wasn't quite sure what 'lab' was, but it was most certainly the bane of Catherine's existence. If he'd been stuck in a class he hated for five hours, it would probably be the bane of his life, too. Sirius tried to imagine what it would be like to have to sit through five straight hours of History of Magic and shuddered. The only thing that had made one hour of that class bearable had been the fact that he'd sat next to James and they'd passed notes the entire time. "What time is it?"
"Five of." Remus hopped onto the wall beside him. Clearly amused, he asked, "So Catherine finally managed to convince you that you didn't have to sit outside the building?"
"Yeah. It's not like Regulus is going to go into a classroom with all those witnesses and kidnap her. Not even Regulus is that stupid. So, Peter used his lunch break to drop her off at lab since I was with the Prewetts, and Prongs was supposed to pick her up, but when I got done early, I told him we'd do it." Sirius paused. "How painful is poetry?"
"I enjoy it. Never could write it myself, but I enjoy experiencing how others express their questions, emotions, and experiences through their word and meter decisions." Remus looked even more amused. "You aren't thinking of writing some, are you?"
"No!" Sirius held up both hands. "Absolutely not. I just, I was thinking that maybe I could try suffering through a night of poetry for Catherine. We have one of those anniversary things coming up and..." He felt himself redden as Remus started to laugh. "You know, Moony, if it was a bad idea, you could have just said so," Sirius said sourly.
"No. That's not it." Remus calmed down. "I just…I never thought I'd see Sirius Blacktake his girlfriend to listen to poetry for an anniversary present. Oh, all those girls who were hopelessly in love with you during school are going to be devastated."
"First of all, girls weren't lining up to date me during school," Sirius said.
"I'm sorry? Did we go to the same school?" Remus interrupted.
"And second of all," Sirius ignored him, "There's this little art gallery opening up, and the artist is going to talk about his paintings and read his poetry and I just thought that Cat likes poetry and she really wishes she could study about art and she might enjoy it. I took James to a Quidditch game to celebrate him and Lily buying that house in Godric's Hollow. How is that different?"
"Because you like Quidditch and you hate poetry," Remus told him, matter of factly as the door to the building opened. "So I take it this is a surprise and I'm not supposed to tell Catherine."
"It's a surprise," Sirius confirmed, "And by 'surprise' I mean I haven't decided whether or not I'm actually going to go through with it." He saw Catherine's roommate come out of the building and start towards them. He groaned, then leaned towards Remus, "Wonderful. I swear she hates me, too." Forcing a smile, he straightened up and managed to get out, "Hello, Jill."
She gave him confused look. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"
Sirius blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Jill shifted her backpack. "Bobby Jefferson came in to class late, oh, it had to have been around one thirty, and said that some guy was outside and asked him to deliver a letter to Catherine. She read it, and started freaking out. She told the Professor that you were in the hospital and she needed to leave."
The world stopped spinning. Sirius felt the blood drain from his face as he stared at Jill. "What?"
xxxxx
The front door to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place slammed against the wall as he stormed inside. "REGULUS!" He was going to kill his brother. He was going to kill them all.
Without thinking, Sirius began pounding up the stairs. He was only vaguely aware that the house elf croaked out a surprised "Master Sirius?" as he stormed past it on the third floor landing and that he knocked over a family heirloom on the fourth. What time had Catherine left school? Was it right at one thirty? That was over five hours ago….
Reaching the top floor, he yanked at the handle to Regulus's door. It didn't budge. Throwing his shoulder against the door, Sirius forced his way inside. A quick glance around made it clear that Regulus hadn't been in the room all day. Where would he have taken her?
Tearing back out of the room, he started back down the stairs. The pantry in the kitchen was an excellent place to stash a hostage. As he rounded one of the landings, he noticed movement in a nearby room and spun towards it, wand drawn.
His father stood in the doorway to his library, shock written across his face. "Sirius?"
Without thinking, he pointed his wand dangerously in his father's direction. "Where is she?"
Slowly, his father raised both hands. "Your mother? It's Wednesday, Sirius." Despite the surprise on his face, his voice was calm and even. "She always has garden club on Wednesday. What's this about?"
"Not Mum. Catherine." Sirius gestured furiously with his wand. "Regulus has her. Tell me where he took her!"
"I don't know who Catherine is. Regulus is at a meeting of the Wizarding Cultural Board. He's been acting in my stead there for the past two months." His father's eyes glanced at the wand shaking in Sirius's hand. "Please put that down, Son. If you're in some sort of trouble…"
Sirius started to laugh. "Trouble? You think I'm in trouble?"
"SIRIUS!"
He took his eyes off his father long enough to see Remus charging up the stairs towards the landing. Sirius turned back to his father. The older man hadn't moved, and for a moment, Sirius was struck with how frail he looked. His skin was a sickly shade and his eyes had a sunken look to them…
And then Remus shoved his arm down and spun him around. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I…" Sirius couldn't really answer. What washe doing? "I'm trying…Moony, he's gone. He took her and he's torturing her and I have to stop him."
"Hexing your father isn't going to keep your brother from killing your girlfriend," Remus snapped.
"Regulus wouldn't kill anyone," his father said, a touch of anger in his voice.
"Death Eater, Dad!" Sirius whirled on him. "What do you thinkthey're doing, having a sing-song?"
His father's eyes darted away for a moment. He knew. He knew what Regulus was, what he did with his spare time.
"Where's Regulus?" Sirius asked again.
"I don't know," his father sighed. "He left at eleven this morning and told me he was going to handle some business and then go straight to the board meeting. He hasn't been back since."
"Come on, Sirius." Remus tugged at his arm. "Catherine's not here. Regulus hasn't been back since this morning. There's nothing here. Come on."
In a daze, Sirius let Remus lead him down the stairs. At the bottom, he glanced back towards the landing. His father hadn't moved from the doorway to the library. Sirius's eyes met his father's, and he felt a pang run through him as Remus pulled him out to the street.
The door slammed shut behind them.
