Chapter Seven - Into the Shadows
31st of October, 1981
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
"Where are we going?" Remus asked as they hurried down the corridor. They made quite a party; Dumbledore in front, robes billowing, Remus rushing beside him, James with an unconscious Lily, Sirius with Harry's limp form, and Frank bringing up the rear, wand drawn and wide-eyed.
"Headquarters," Dumbledore growled as they reached a small secluded room containing only a bed and a fireplace. It was a worn mattress; a threadbare blanket sat neatly on top, but there was no one in it, nor did it look as though anyone had been there for some time, due to a think layer of dust that sat atop it. The fireplace looked as though it had had its time - its scorched wood showed years of gold use but the plaster and paint was peeling. The group crowded round it.
"Go!" Dumbledore commanded, and Remus stepped into the fireplace and was quickly sucked away by the flames. Sirius went with Harry after a nod from James, who went next, cradling Lily in his arms. Dumbledore nodded at Frank to go next. He stepped into the flames and was just twisting away when he thought he caught a glimpse of Dumbledore leaving the room at a high-speed, but told himself he must be just unlocking the door or something like that.
In fact Dumbledore was leaving the room. He ran outside and only paused for a few seconds to catch his breath (he was getting older, after all) before turning back to the building he had just vacated. He pointed his wand at the hospital, and pulled from the caverns of his mind a spell that he had learnt many years ago, from none other than Gellert Grindelwald himself. He almost smiled to himself at the irony of the whole business.
"Obliviatima Maxima!" he cried majestically. No one else but him saw the entire building light up; it seemed to glow with the spell. Then Dumbledore with a final satisfied nod, disapparated, with not one person able to tell of what had just happened.
Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix
"I thought you were right behind us!" Remus accused Dumbledore, as he walked into the front room of the small house the Order used as headquarters.
James had laid Lily down on the sofa and was stroking her hair, and Sirius had conjured up a cot and had laid Harry down gently and pulled some blankets over him.
"My apologies. There was something that I had to take care of, shall we say."
Remus and Frank exchanged a look.
"What was it?" Frank asked patiently, but Sirius had had enough.
"Look here Dumbledore, what in Merlin's beard is going on, because right now, I am not amused, ´shall we say´, " Sirius demanded rudely.
"I suppose I should tell you now," Dumbledore mused.
Sirius, who was still furious, opened his mouth to complain but Dumbledore cut him off.
"It may be a long story, but I'll start from the beginning. James, you were supposed to die."
The mens' mouths fell open.
"Bloody hell," James remarked, almost casually.
"As you know," Dumbledore began gravely, "a prophecy was made. I won't go into details, because frankly, it's highly dangerous knowledge for you all to have, but it concerned the downfall of Voldemort. I was there when the prophecy was made, and as the seer is not aware of what they said, I am the only person who knows the full extent of the prophecy.
But someone else heard part of it - and the information was unfortunately related back to Voldemort. As soon as he found out, he assumed it was your son, James, but it equally could have been yours, Frank. Now, if anyone can stop him, it's Harry, and that is why Voldemort has been tracking you, James, Lily and Harry for a year.
But of course, you know that. I heard that he was seeking you from the most trustworthy of sources, and related the information back to you; that's why you went into hiding. But why has Voldemort only found you now, after a year of searching. You were almost perfectly hidden, the only thing keeping you from being found was your secret keeper. So that is the only possible way he could have discovered you.
I'm afraid your secret keeper betrayed you to him."
There was a pause, a moment of silence before the shouting began.
"He wouldn't have! Working with Voldemort -"
"Sirius? You did this?"
"You're their secret keeper?"
James voice was the only quiet one in the room as he voiced what had been at the back of his mind all evening.
"I never thought he would do this to us."
Dumbledore silenced the room and turned to Sirius.
"Do you deny betraying them to Voldemort?" he asked quietly; the disappointment in his voice was very clear.
Sirius put his head in his hands.
"I might as well have, since it's all my fault anyway."
"Don't blame yourself mate. We all agreed," James said, a pained look on his face.
"What-" Remus started, a look of puzzlement on his face.
"I'm not their secret keeper." Sirius said. He said it like a question; it seemed to hammer in the fact that he felt he was responsible for the mess.
"Then who is?" Dumbledore inquired. He seemed surprised, his snowy eyebrows were sitting high on his forehead
"Peter. Peter Pettigrew," James said quietly. "So he's a death eater then, is he? Working for Voldemort?"
"It would appear so," Dumbledore said heavily.
"I'm going to kill that -" Sirius and Remus yelled, but they were silenced by Dumbledore's hand, unlike James who spoke quietly - very quietly - but venomously.
"I'll kill him for this if it's the last thing I do - not for betraying me, but for Harry. He's just a baby-" his voice broke and he looked away.
"Back to the point in question, I think," he said, not unkindly. "James, when Voldemort arrived, what were you doing?"
"I had been playing with Harry," James began softly, as if he was preserving the memories so they would live forever. "I was blowing bubbles with my wand, he loves watching magic, so we do something every night before he goes to bed. It's almost our version of a bedtime story, though Lily often insists on doing that too.
So we were on the couch, playing, then Lily came in. She insisted that he go to bed, saying that he was already over excited about Halloween, that she would get him a drink, then I could come up before he went to sleep. When she left the room, I got out my mirror, the two-way one, and I called Sirius. He had just answered when Voldemort arrived, blasting open the door. I chucked the mirror aside as I ran into the hall.
Lily was there, on the stairs, so I yelled at her to run. Voldemort shot a killing curse at me, but I'd misplaced my wand, so I fell to the ground to avoid it. Lily screamed, but ran. I rolled over and found the mirror. I yelled at Sirius to get help, and then Voldemort shot at me again.
I dodged it, ´cause I didn't have my wand. Luckily I remembered it was on the couch, so I ran back into the front room to get it. Then we were duelling, and I was getting really tired, I mean, I haven't done anything in the past year or so, and I've got quite sloppy. It was lucky that Sirius arrived when he did, because if not, I'd probably be dead."
Dumbledore nodded his head like that made sense. His eyes were closed in concentration, and he didn't open them to ask "So the mirror. Do you have it with you?"
"Yeah, it's right here." James handed it to him.
Dumbledore opened his eyes and looked at it, turning it over in his hands.
"Hello," he said experimentally.
"Try saying Sirius," James suggested.
"Sirius."
"Sirius." The word appeared to hang in the air, but it was just an echo from somewhere in the room.
Sirius pulled the mirror from his pocket, identical apart from the crack down the middle.
"Honestly, do you not take care of it?" Remus chuckled as he rolled his eyes.
"It's really lucky that I had that mirror there. We would all be dead, if it wasn't for the mirrors. Merlin's beard, she was right!"
"Who was?" Dumbledore asked absently, whilst examining the mirrors.
"Lily. Sirius wanted to use them again, and Lily was so determined to find it. She tipped the house upside down to find it. You know, I think she even said, "We need to find that mirror! If we don't find it, I bet we'll regret it." How right she was."
"Where did it turn up?" Remus asked, an amused smile on his face. James ignored him.
"A remarkably smart girl she is," Dumbledore stated, perhaps not hearing Remus's question. "And it would seem that she has her eye on the future. If she hadn't, shall we say, "forced" you, you and Lily would be dead. Because you found that mirror, the future is changing. But it can't. James, please come with me for a few minutes. I have information, information that is very important and that you need to hear, but I'm afraid that it is only for your ears."
James nodded, evidently confused, but he didn't argue as he stroked Lily's hair one last time and followed Dumbledore from the room.
Remus took James's now vacant seat beside Lily, Sirius picked up Harry and rocked him. He had an absent look on his face, as if he was away from the world, perhaps in happier times. Frank put his hands behind his back and began to pace - up to the window, then back to the door, up to the window, then back to the door.
"This is big, isn't it?" Frank said anxiously.
"Big? More like huge," Remus answered, his fingers twisting his wand nervously.
They fell into silence.
"Don't you get the feeling something bad is going to happen?" Sirius asked, almost startling the other two.
"I get the feeling we're going to have to do something - maybe something we don't want to do," Remus replied quietly.
A/N
Hi guys! As usual, I have a few things to say..
1) I'm so so so so sorry that I haven't written for so long! I've just been so busy and couldn't find the time or motivation to write, but then I suddenly had time, and I felt I might as well...and here we are!
2) I am also sorry about the length of this chapter, it's fairly short. There was supposed to be another bit attached, what Dumbledore tells James, but I've put it back to the next chapter. Also, i got some stick in my recent English essay for not using enough description, so I have tried to put it in here.. also I'm sorry, this may be a little dull, but it will be better next time, that's a promise.
3) Also, thank you for the reviews! It's great to read them, so thanks if you have reviewed!
To PuppyProngs - wait and see... :)
To hg2010 and the-kermit-kid - I could never do that! I'm too softhearted!
To Soccerisawesome19 thank you very much!
To Domoloversbff - haha! And I hope this answers your question! And really, I can't say - I have no idea what age levels American school grades are. In Scotland, you are in Primary from when you are 4/5 for seven years (so P1, P2, etc) and then Secondary for 6 years (S1, S2 etc.) I am starting S4 at the end of summer. It's really different from America where you are from, yes? So I can't say, but it seems like a younger grade, so that doesn't seem slow at all, especially if it was your first time. Also it doesn't really matter as everyone reads at different times and if you read more, you start to read faster! Sorry for rambling on!
Anyways, thanks for reading, I really appreciate reviews and who else is beyond excited for Fantastic Beasts?
Jenny xxx
