Disclaimer: Can't you tell I'm JK Rowling in disguise? Oh wait, no I'm not!
Chapter Eight: BlindsightedSirius was content to merely walk down Diagon Alley, looking in the shop windows as he went. Whistling softly to himself, Sirius nodded to Benjy Fenwick in greeting as he passed the tall man.
Fenwick was posted on auror duty in Diagon this afternoon along with four other aurors placed strategically. It had taken a couple of months but the Ministry had finally authorized the auror guards at magical stations after the attack on the Muggle Parliament building.
Some rampant Death Eaters had thought it ingenious to recreate the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the attempt to blow up the Parliament building but Fawkes was foiled. The Death Eaters had been slightly more successful, collapsing the roof on half of the government building and killing three muggles inside.
Not only did the muggles take notice of this event and were now asking questions, but shifts at the ministry had been extended and Sirius and Remus were being sent out at all hours of the night to patrol the streets.
Sirius paused outside of Quality Qudditch Supplies and looked longingly at the newest Comet model. He hadn't been able to fly much since he had graduated from Hogwarts and he sorely missed the Gryffindor House Team Beater position he had filled for six years.
Sirius gazed heavenward as he felt a tickle on his neck and a snowflake drifted onto his nose. Sirius opened his mouth and let a few fresh snowflakes drift onto his waiting tongue.
Looking at his watch and finding he had time to spare, Sirius pushed open the door to the Quidditch store and examined several Puddlemere and Appleby Arrows posters. Christmas was coming and maybe Prongs and Remus would like some souvenirs of their favorite teams.
Sirius fingered a Ballycastle robe before exiting the shop. Nothing decent to spend his money on in there, not yet at least. The Christmas shipment hadn't arrived yet.
The next store to catch Sirius' eye was the joke shop the marauders had kept in business during their school days. Sirius shook his head and continued on. Maybe once he got this stupid gift buying thing out of the way he could stop off there and get something to prank Moony with.
Sirius smirked at the image. 'I always did love Moony's face when he got surprised. The time in fifth year was the best, the rubber snakes springing out of his breakfast cereal was a classic.'
Sirius' head whipped around as an enormous bang sent a shock wave down the street and caused several people to loose their footing on the slick snow. Sirius teetered on his feet and grabbed the nearest lamppost for stability. Hysterical screaming was coming from the direction of Gringotts.
Sirius watched for a moment to make sure it wasn't a false alarm but when a green light shattered a window and knocked into the wall of Madam Malkin's, Sirius drew his wand and sprinted towards the bank.
Attempting to stop, Sirius skid several feet past Benjy Fenwick, wind milling wildly to stop himself from falling over. Fenwick who was organizing a small group of aurors consisting of Dorcas Meadows, Caradoc Dearborn, Remus, and James who had apparated from the office.
Sirius regained his footing and ignored the sniggering from Dorcas. Fenwick looked up to see Sirius jogging over to the group. "Black, excellent. I was just going to go send Dearborn to look for you. Listen up! Ten Death Eaters have invaded Gringott's so far no casualties but that can change. Black and Potter, take the left entrance. Lupin you're with me for the main entrance. We're decoys, give the Death Eaters something to shoot at while Black and Potter can get a clear shot. Dearborn and Meadows put on Disillusionment Charms and follow right behind Lupin and me. Everyone ready?"
Five nods.
Dorcas and Caradoc vanished into thin air behind their charms and the group set off.
Usually Sirius would take this rare opportunity to talk to James having not seen him since the last Order meeting but the older wizard was all business and Sirius wasn't much in the joking mood either. 'They're attacking Diagon Alley, in broad daylight with aurors on the streets? What are the trying to prove?'
The screams grew louder as the aurors approached Gringotts and James and Sirius separated from the group. Fenwick made a motion with his hand and Sirius yanked the door open at the exact moment Remus did.
James and Sirius barreled through the door and immediately started shooting off curses at the five Death Eaters within viewing range. James hit one with a Stupefy and Sirius hit another with a cutting curse, making the Death Eater's wand arm go limp.
Remus ducked a Crucio and fired a Petrificus Totalus and missed, narrowly side-stepping another curse. A Death Eater stumbled forward with a cry of pain and Dorcas whooped with victory. Bad move. The other Death Eater spun around and started shooting random Avada's in Dorcas' direction.
The invisible auror would have to be constantly moving to avoid being killed
Sirius forced himself not to think about it and instead focused his thoughts on the other five Death Eaters coming through the vault doors.
James got knocked backwards by a curse and would have fallen had Sirius not instinctively reached out and snaked an arm around his friend's waist. James pushed himself up with a grunt and muttered thanks.
The hairs on the back of Sirius' neck stood straight up and he spun around only to get hit with a cutting curse that sliced through his shoulder. Ignoring the throbbing pain, Sirius leveled his wand at the Death Eaters.
Remus grit his teeth and fired another curse despite the stinging pain in his leg.
"Crucio!"
Remus' eyes widened and he managed to put up a feeble shield in time. Another Crucio came just as fast as the first and he leapt out of the way, rolling into a crouch as he did so.
He happened to land in the wrong place.
"Caecus Dolus!"
Remus began to spin around to put up a shield but the curse hit him in the back and sent him sprawling forward.
The last thing Moony remembered was the ground rising to meet him and the world spinning in a flurry of colors before darkness crashed into him.
There were only three Death Eaters left James realized. He was choosing to ignore the searing pain in the back of his head and right knee but James forced himself to train his wand on the smallest Death Eater. "Stupefy!"
The Death Eater squeaked and procured a shield charm. James' charm flew into the ceiling causing dust to come raining down. James swore under his breath and tried again but where the Death Eater had once been, was now empty. James whipped around to find the other two but Fenwick and Sirius were looking just as dumbfounded by their lack of opponent.
The Death Eaters had simply vanished into thin air.
James swore again.
For the time being Gringott's was closed, for the first time in five centuries.
Two goblin corpses had been recovered. Avada Kedavras had killed both. Permanent looks of horror crossed both of their faces.
Slowly the other goblins emerged from where they had taken cover during the attack to give their accounts. James let the late coming aurors deal with sorting things out as he walked amongst the bits of rubble and scattered currency with a look of disgust on his face.
James bent down to retrieve a knut. He looked at it for a moment and then let it fall back to the ground. 'Goblin's can only perform basic spells and some special goblin techniques. The Death Eaters were just looking for a good slaughter; they didn't even bother to take any money or anything. Disgusting.' James looked up and saw Sirius limping towards him.
"Hey Prongs." Sirius said with a half-grin half-grimace. James took note of his friend's torn and bloodstained jacket.
"Find Caradoc or Dorcas yet?" James asked half-heartedly looking over his shoulder as if hoping to see the two wizards running toward them with smiles.
Sirius shook his head. "Nah, they're probably just unconscious and can't undo the charm just now."
"Yeah probably." Neither of them wanted to admit what might have happened.
Both aurors looked up as Fenwick hurried up to the two of them and gave them a skeptical look. Out of all the aurors present Benjy had fared the best with only minor scratches and cuts, which were already bandaged.
"What are you two doing here? Medi-witches have been tearing this place apart to find you. I've got another squad of aurors heading out here in a couple of minutes and I want you two to head over to the first aid tent, get patched up, and head home. That's an order." Benjy turned away, giving both marauders a wink and walked off towards a group of goblins.
Obeying their senior officer, James and Sirius headed back to the main atrium. The two walked in comfortable silence when Sirius tripped and landed flat on his face. James laughed and offered his friend a hand up. Sirius turned to James, his face had gone ashy.
James frowned and withdrew his hand. "What's wrong Padfoot?" Sirius wordlessly drew his wand from his jeans' back pocket and tapped an invisible something on the ground.
The ground in front of Sirius shimmered for a moment and then materialized into Dorcas Meadows. She was staring straight ahead with glassy eyes and a look of fear was etched onto her face.
James reached down to help Sirius up. One Order member dead. Another missing. This was not a good day.
Sirius sat staring stonily at the first aid tent flap. His shirt had been removed and he was sitting on a cot with his right shoulder wrapped in a bandage and a sling. His broken ankle had been healed with a swish of the wand.
He was waiting for James with news of Remus. Apparently the medi-witches had never seen the spell Moony had been hit with before and the only way to tell what to do about healing him would be to wait for him to wake up and tell them what was wrong with him.
James walked into the tent with the aid of a crutch and stared at Sirius, a disbelieving look in his eye. "He woke up. There was a side effect from the curse." Sirius didn't let James finish and sprinted to Moony's tent.
He pushed the tent flap out of his way and stepped in. There were two wizards with Remus, the St. Mungo's emblem adorning their lapels. Both of them jerked their heads up at his sudden arrival.
Remus, who was sitting on a cot, turned and looked at Sirius. Or rather in Sirius' direction. Sirius almost fell over but caught himself on a trolley of medical supplies.
"Moony…" Sirius choked out, his eye sight blurring.
Remus' eyes, which were normally a deep blue, were now gray and emotionless. Remus had gone blind.
One of the healers rushed over and steadied Sirius. "Auror Black. It is all right. Yes Auror Lupin has sustained injury to his eyesight but we have deduced that it is only temporary. He will be able to go about normal life with just a little assistance and we're estimating a recovery time of about a week from now."
Sirius almost fell over again from relief. He grinned broadly at Remus who was sitting on the cot with a bemused expression on his face, having guessed Sirius' reaction to his appearance.
Remus was staring at the wall behind Sirius when he spoke. "Hey Padfoot?"
"Yeah Moony?"
"Let's get out of here. I want to go home."
Sirius grinned and went over to help Remus up. "Sure mate."
Two Days Later
Remus gripped the banister tightly. 'Left foot, now right.' Remus squeaked as his foot missed the step completely and almost fell down the stairs. 'Don't fall down the stairs now Moony. Sirius would never let you live it down. Merlin being blind is hard!'
Remus finally made it to the bottom floor of his apartment complex and opened the door to the busy street. Remus paused and using his werewolf smelling abilities, tried to locate Peter and Sirius. 'About a block away. I can wait inside until they get here. I don't want to risk getting hurt going out on my own.' Despite a few slipups here and there, Remus was adjusting to being blind quite well.
Him, Sirius, and Peter had gone to Dumbledore yesterday to discuss the holidays. Finally, after much pleading and begging it was agreed that the three would be allowed into Godric's Hollow to see the Potters for four hours so that they could have Christmas together.
It was a great relief to them all. Christmas had always been a time the marauders had been together.
Of course they would have to take a few complicated portkeys to get James and Lily's house but it was well worth the extra hassle.
More Days Later
It was Christmas Eve and Sirius woke slowly, luxuriating in the early morning laziness. 'No auror duty today, I have the entire day off. Later I head over to Moony's to pick him up and then meet Worms at Godric's. I love Christmas.'
Funnily enough Sirius had only been able to say that for the last three years. Every year before that had always been spent at the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Not the most cheery place at Christmas time. Or…any other time for that matter.
Black Mansion: Third Year, 1974Sirius sat on the couch watching as Regulus shook another present. From where he sat he could clearly make out the words 'To Sirius' on the tag but that didn't stop his younger brother.
Sirius sighed and sank deeper into the cushions. He already missed the marauders and he had been home from his third year at Hogwarts for a total of 27 hours. He was miserable.
Kreacher, the house elf Sirius loathed and who loathed Sirius back, slunk into the room and sank into a low bow. "Little Masters are requested in the Dining Room for dinner."
Regulus jumped to his feet and ran out the door. Sirius followed, at a much slower and lazier pace.
As Sirius neared the dining room, his mother got one look at him and grabbed him by the collar. She pulled him into an adjoining room and steered him in the direction of his bedroom.
"How dare you think you can come to the table looking like that? Just because you spend your time running around with half-bloods and blood traitors does not give you the right to look sloppy at my dining table. Now go! Put on the new dress robes. The green ones with the Black emblem. And do something with you hair before I burn it off your head ungrateful head." She hissed at him, fearing if she shouted the company down the hall would hear her.
Sirius slouched toward his room. As always his mother had impeccable parental skills. He hated how she kept referring to his friends as blood traitors (James and Peter) and half-bloods (Remus).
Sirius slammed the door to his room open, starting a portrait in the hallway of his great-aunt screaming. Downstairs he heard the yelling of his father to shut the damn thing up. Sirius smirked to himself, glad to be able to cause some mayhem, and walked over to his dresser.
He wrinkled his nose as he pulled out the dress robes. They really were nice robes but they were Slytherin colors. Obviously his parents hadn't quite forgiven him for being sorted into Gryffindor.
Everyone at school knew it; they sent him a howler every two weeks saying as much.
Sirius pulled on black dress pants and slipped the robes on overtop. Looking himself over in his door-length mirror, Sirius sighed. His hair really was becoming quite unruly.
Sirius grinned. Maybe Lily was right and he was spending too much time with James. Sirius's grin disappeared as quickly as it had come, knowing how his parents wanted his hair to look like. Slicked back with perfect manners, like Reggie. Reggie never hesitated with the formal greeting like Sirius did.
With a soft growl Sirius ran his hands furiously through his hair making it even messier than it was before. Smirking Sirius left the room. "Wait'll they see me now." He said to himself.
The table was set for nine and with a heavy heart Sirius noticed cousins Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa with their parents Aunt Druella and Uncle Cygnus.
Bellatrix smirked at him and bit into a forkful of turkey. Sirius grimaced and sat in between Andromeda and Regulus.
Uncle Cygnus sent him a scathing look. "What in the name of Merlin did you do to your hair?" Sirius flushed and sank into his chair. Upstairs it had seemed like such a good idea to piss them all off, now he wished he had never done it.
"It's okay Daddy." Andromeda piped up. "It's the latest style at school. Sirius is just staying in time with the newest fads." Sirius shot Andy a thankful smile and Andy returned it with a 'You owe me' look.
Sirius stared at his plate. He could feel his mother glaring at him but chose to ignore it.
Aunt Druella started the awkward conversation. "So Regulus darling. How is your first year at Hogwarts going so far?"
Regulus beamed at the attention and of course responded with the perfect answer. "Just great Auntie. Thank you so much for asking. I've met both Antonin Dolohov and Patroclus Nott."
Uncle Cygnus raised his eyebrow and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Two very promising young men. Well-done Regulus. And you Sirius? Who are you friends with?"
Sirius nearly choked on his spoon. "Umm, er. Well James Potter." His aunt made a 'tsh' sound and Sirius' shoulders slumped. James would have been the only one they might have approved of.
"And Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. Sir." He added the formality almost as an after thought, trying hard not to forget the etiquette lessons he'd had as a child.
His uncle gave him a searching look and then turned to his parents. "Tell me Orion. Why is it that your son continues to make a mockery of the Black name? First he becomes a Gryffindor and now he is associating with blood traitors? And this Lupin fellow. I have never heard of their family."
"That's because Lupin is a half-blood Daddy. His mother is a muggle and his dad is a disgrace of a wizard. They're really poor." Narcissa helpfully told him, sending Sirius a malicious grin when her father had turned away.
'Thank you Narcissa.' He thought bitterly. His father gave him a glare and turned back to his brother-in-law. "Do not worry Cygnus. He is being taken care of. As for his friends of choice." His father eyed Sirius warily. "I see no reason why he shouldn't just leave them and find new ones. Respectable ones."
Sirius jumped up in fury. "I will do no such thing!" He cried. He felt Andromeda pull on his robes to make him sit back down but he ignored it. "They're the greatest friends I've ever had! Ten times better than those arrogant brats you've been teaming me with!"
Orion Black stood up, his hands on the table and his face livid. "Sit. Down. Now."
Sirius shook head. "No. You have no right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with."
His mother stood up so quickly her chair fell over. "You disgusting brat! We have raised you and fed you and taught you the ways of our society. You should be so lucky! You never deserved any of it! Shame of my flesh! Little traitor! That's what you are Sirius, look at what you have done to this family! You're a disgrace to us all."
Turning so no one could see his eye swimming with angry tears, Sirius left the room.
As he walked quickly to his room Sirius could hear his parents apologizing profusely for their selfish son's behavior and Bella's and Narcy's snickering.
Once he reached his room, Sirius threw himself onto his bed and swiped at his eyes angrily with his sleeve.
Sirius sighed and turned over onto his stomach, letting his head rest on his arm. Sirius' bedroom door was kicked open and Sirius jerked out of bed, clumsily falling to the floor, hopelessly entangled in sheets.
Remus Lupin stared at him for a moment and then started laughing hysterically.
"Ha ha." Sirius said sarcastically, trying to disentangle himself. "I thought you were a bloody Death Eater. Aren't you supposed to be blind?"
Remus ignored Sirius' comment and walked over to the dresser. He pulled out a pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red button up long sleeved shirt. Casually tossing them over his shoulder, Remus started walking towards the kitchen.
"This morning when I woke up, I could see. And the first thing I thought was, who should I share this spectacular day with? And then it hit me. Sirius would be almost awake by now, I should go over and share the news." Remus pulled a box of cereal from the cupboard and eyed the crumbs still left inside.
"Thanks so much for sharing Moony." Sirius grunted, tugging on the jeans over his boxers.
"What have you got to eat?" Remus asked, shaking an empty box of crackers.
Sirius emerged from his room yawning and stood behinf Remus. " I Dunno, I have to go shopping soon. I'm running low on Licorice Wands."
Remus laughed and emerged with a Chocolate Frog in hand, staring at the wizard's card that came with it. "Mr. Moony would like to imply to Mr. Padfoot that it's not healthy to be so addicted to Licorice Wands."
Sirius snatched the half-eaten frog out of Remus' hand and walked away munching on it.
"Mr. Padfoot would like to say that Mr. Moony is a know-it-all git with slow reflexes and Mr. Moony is also addicted to chocolate so he shouldn't talk about Mr. Padfoot's addictions."
Remus tackled Sirius from behind and reached around him to grab the Chocolate Frog. "Never touch my chocolate Padfoot." Remus said seriously and popped the last bite into his mouth. "Oh, and what were you saying about slow reflexes?" Remus smiled.
Pocketing the card, Remus tapped Sirius on the top of his head. "Padfoot. The only food you have in this house is candy. You are not three years old."
Sirius pouted. "Aww, you take the fun out of everything Moony."
Remus smiled a toothy grin. "That's what I'm here for Padfoot. Someone has to be the responsible marauder and make sure you get a good breakfast."
Sirius snorted. "Yeah, that way you get to have to the chocolate filled breakfast that I provided with my hard earned wages and I end up lying on the floor with you sitting on me. GET OFF!"
Remus got up quickly, laughing loudly. "C'mon Padfoot, we have to go to Diagon Alley. I forgot to buy the second part to Peter's two-part gift." Remus wiped a tear from his eye.
Sirius feigned surprise. "Nooo, Remus J. Lupin actually forgot something. Shock of all shocks!"
Remus kicked Sirius in the leg on his way out the door.
Author's Note:
Poor Sirius and his less than satisfying past. Remus' blindness was just a passing thing and will in no was have an effect on the rest of the story. I have no idea if Benjy Fenwick, Caradoc Dearborn, or Dorcas Meadows were actually aurors. I do know that they were Order members who all died or vanished.
On the Harry Potter Lexicon they have a full and detailed Black Family Tree so the names of Sirius' relatives are accurate. Did you know his Dad's name was Orion and his mom's name was Walburga? Yuck. But then again, Sirius was this close to being Valentine Eridanus Black. How much would that of sucked?
By the way, the Latin translation for the curse on Remus is roughly "Blind Pain" which I found very fitting and is the name for this chapter.
Oh yes, I have changed the update time from Monday until Sunday because I am busy on Monday until late at night and don't want to update then any more.
Next Chapter: Christmas Time and a late night discussion
PLEASE REVIEW
