James woke to the sound of water dripping overhead, and the dank, dewy smell that was like the deepest dungeons that had been sealed at Hogwarts long ago. Groaning softly he lifted his head out of the cold puddle and looked around. The room was cavernous, and dark, lit only by a single lantern that flickered overhead. Sirius was nowhere to be seen. He clambered stiffly to his feet and found he had to crouch, bent double, in order to avoid scraping his head along the low ceiling that was made of craggy, sheer cut rock.
From the damp walls, the smell, and the lack of light, James had already deduced he was underground, most likely in someone's cellar...but who's? And where was Sirius?
A loud, agonized scream made him jump and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Sirius," he muttered under his breath. He winced as the shrieks became strangled and hoarse, then cut off altogether. "SIRIUS!" He yelled, rattling the iron gate that seemed to be the only way in or out of the cellar. "SIRIUS!"
The silence that met his ears was deafening. James felt sick, what were they doing to his friend? If they'd hurt him. he was going to...At least Lily and Harry were safe, he thought, a small relief. At least his family were somewhere else.
"Hey!" A loud voice snarled, making him jump, "he's awake!"
"Where's Sirius?!" James demanded, pressing his face to the metal bars, "what have you done to him?!"
The Death Eater chuckled humorlessly.
"Nothing much...yet."
James's blood ran cold.
"If you, don't you-don't touch him!" He fumbled for his wand only to find himself being blown forcefully through the air and crumpling against the rocky wall, gasping in pain when something hard dug into his leg.
"The Dark Lord doesn't approve being made a fool of, Potter," he hissed, "give up the Stone now, or you can watch your friend and your family-" he spat the word "-die. Starting with your son."
He strode away, leaving James panting on the floor. Careful not to make too much noise, he slowly pulled the blood red stone from his pocket. It shone in the faint light, but otherwise seemed fairly worthless considering the mess it had caused. But he knew otherwise, he knew it could combat death and could've saved Severus and Poppy. He only hoped they'd been able to find a remedy at St. Mungo's.
Besides him there was a soft pop.
"Gah!" James yelped in surprise as a small, dirty-looking creature dressed in what appeared to be a tea towel, apparated next to him. And Draco.
"Draco?" James gasped in astonishment, "how did you-"
"Ssh!" Draco pressed a finger to his lips quickly, "we don't have much time!"
"Time?" James whispered. Draco rolled his eyes. Wow, for a Professor he really was quite stupid. He hadn't realised he'd spoken out loud until he saw James raise an eyebrow at him and he blushed.
"Sorry Professor, but we need to leave, quickly, before my Dad comes to get you next!"
"Wait, what, leave? You mean you can apparate into and out of this cellar?"
"Yeah, with Dobby."
"Dobby? The-"
"Hello sir," the elf was bowing low to him, staring at him adoringly, "Master Draco says such nice things about you."
"Thank you," James said, bemused. "But how can you apparate in here, I tried and-"
"You a, don't have a wand, and b, this room is warded. It's impossible to apparate or disapparate into or out of here," the blonde interrupted hurriedly. "Now, come on we need to..."
The doors banged and loud voices could be heard down the corridor.
"Dobby now!" Draco hissed, just before the cellar was enveloped in darkness, and James felt a small, long fingered hand wrap around his own before they were squeezed into an unpleasant sensation of nausea.
They emerged in a large room, empty, with high ceilings and dark, shiny wood floor, and...
"Sirius!" James cried, running forwards. His friend was lying in the centre of the room completely still, his long wavy hair thrown across his face.
"James?" He croaked.
"Sirius, oh Merlin, what have they done to you?" James was nearly shocked speechless before a wave of anger flooded over him. Sirius coughed.
"Nothing a good long nap couldn't heal," his friend tried to joke, but it came out weakly.
"It was the Cruciatus curse," Draco said softly, staring at the form of Sirius Black, "but not as bad as usual, Dad must have managed to make them lay it off a bit."
"Why would your Dad do that?" James asked as he levitated Sirius up into the air.
"Dad's a spy, Dumbledore's orders. The Death Eaters have started re-grouping, so usually it would be Professor Snape, but he didn't want the job this time round," Draco explained in undertones, watching the room warily. James was slightly gobsamcked.
"You're only eleven!" He finally choked out, "how do you know so much?"
"Dad always says you can defend yourself better if you know the truth and what's going on. Although," Draco muttered under his breath, "that still doesn't make him a very nice person."
"Are we at your house?" Things were starting to click into place. Draco nodded.
"How did you find us?"
"Dad sent Dobby and instructed us to come get you out. Obviously he can't do it, he's busy pretending to be the enemy," the blonde boy snorted.
James was about to reply when a terrible screeching began grating above their heads.
"That's the alarm," Draco paled, "they know you're not in the cellar. We need to go."
"Dobby?"
"Yes Master Draco?"
"Dumbledore's Office, Hogwart's School."
"No! We need to go to-" James protested.
"Hogwarts," Draco said firmly, "trust me."
Dumbledore's Office was empty. James ran a hand through his hair in agitation, walking to the door and then back again.
"What now?" He realised he was asking an eleven year old boy who hadn't even had his first day at Hogwarts for a plan, but he'd gotten them out of the Malfoys, hadn't he?
"We can Floo to St. Mungoes," Draco said confidently, "that was Professor Potter's plan, anyway."
"Lily?" James was weak with relief. "She's okay?"
"Fine," Draco nodded, "she's scary, by the way, when she wants something."
James concealed a grin behind his hand.
"Oh really, what happened?"
"Well, the Healers were being quite rude and skeptical, you know Severus doesn't have the best reputation, and she...kinda got..a little...mad.." Draco's cheeks flushed. James laughed.
"Is he okay, though, Severus?" He asked, feeling a bubble of concern rise in his chest for his friend.
"He will be," Draco's eyes looked haunted. "He was screaming though, horrible things," he looked shakily at his Professor, "it makes you have nightmares, terrible...nightmares," he whispered.
James walked forwards and hugged the small Slytherin.
"He'll be fine, Draco," he said gently, "you're formidable Head of House will be back sooner than you'd like."
Draco laughed softly,
"he's not really that bad," he mumbled into James's chest, "he just wants people to think he is."
James chuckled.
"Severus enjoys terrorizing the younger years, I think it's his favorite hobby."
"Unfortunately for us," Draco muttered. The Professor squeezed him for a moment before stepping back and beginning to pace in front of the fire.
"Is Harry okay?" He asked, frowning slightly. The blonde nodded and carefully took a small handful of Floo powder from the silver pot besides the fireplace.
"Dobby?" He looked at the small, ugly but sort of cute, house elf who gazed back at him with undisguised devotion.
"Yes Master Draco?"
"There's no need for the 'Master' bit," Draco said hurriedly, blushing.
"Of course, Master," Dobby bowed low, "Dobby understands." James grinned at his student who looked unhappy with his title.
"Tell Father we're at St. Mungo's," he instructed, "thank you," he added after a pause. The elf nodded his head and snapped his fingers; gone before you could say house elf.
"Draco?" James asked quietly, "what's the real reason that you and Harry came to be together last night?" Draco was silent for a long time before saying,
"I think it's better if Harry tells you that; it isn't something that I think he'd want other people talking about without him...it's quite...sensitive," Draco mumbled.
"I see," this was becoming more worrying by the second, "why were you not in your common room?"
"I, er, you see," Draco stared hard at his feet, "I, erm, I kinda, maybe stuck up for Harry in my, in my common room, and, and I said...I said that people shouldn't judge before they really, they really know," he stammered, "and they didn't, erm, didn't take it...well."
James regarded the young blonde Slytherin thoughtfully.
"Thank you," he thanked sincerely, "for doing that. You didn't have to. It takes a good deal of bravery to stand up to your own House, and I only know one other man who has done the same."
"Who?" Draco was curious.
"That is for him to tell you if he wants to," James said gently, "but we need to go."
The fireplace flared green, and both of the wizards stepped through the flames, carefully supporting an unconscious Sirius between them, to St. Mungos' Hospital.
St Mungo's was packed with witches and wizards sporting every kind of strange and wonderful magical injury; from blue boils that exploded with stars, causing the person to light up unintentionally, one witch had a kettle mutating out the side of her head and was muttering to herself, a wizard who was dancing up and down because his feet were so hot, a heavily cloaked person, who was, on closer inspection, a dwarf, and who had extremelly long toe nails and very prolonged front teeth, causing him to look like a rabbit. A man was dragged through with only one leg: the other was a mixture between a horses front leg and a troll's arm, by the looks of it. A small child who was tearfully clutching a tiny shrunken witch, who appeared to be her mother, and a baby who was flying around the ceiling with wings the size of tents.
"Wow," Draco breathed, "it's crazier than earlier!"
The witch at the reception gave them a bored sigh and pointed at the sign behind her irritably.
"Magical disfigurements, spell injuries etc...on floor 1, Magical creatures and plant injuries floor 2, in-patients...blah blah you can read, go on, I have dozens of stupid people waiting..."
"Come on," James took Draco's arm and pulled him to the side out of the way.
"This place is nuts," Draco stated, taking in his surroundings with wide eyes. James laughed.
"Don't let her hear you say that!" He whispered, nodding at the grumpy reception desk. She glowered at him in return.
"Long night?" James asked innocently.
"First floor," she snapped, jerking her wand at Sirius who was currently floating unconscious above everyone's heads, "Irene'll take him."
A petite witch in white robes smiled at him warmly before tapping Sirius's foot with her wand and vanishing off down the corridor.
"Thank you!" James called after her, waving. "At least someone who works here is nice," he added in an undertone to his student, who giggled.
"Not being rude, are we James?" A loud voice said from behind him. He spun around and came face to face with a very angry looking Lily.
"Lily!" He gasped, partly in fear, partly in relief. "You're okay!"
"Of course I'm okay," she shot him a withering look. "Come on, Sev and Poppy're down here."
She led him down a wide corridor to the left of the grumpy receptionists desk, shooting him a look of death when he waved cheerfully at 'Violet', the irate receptionist name tag read.
"Oh leave her alone!" Lily snapped. "Give her a break."
"She's so grumpy!" James grinned, wrapping his arm around his wife. He immediately backed off at the look he was given.
"Lesson number one," he stage whispered to Draco, "always obey your wife's facial expressions!"
Lily just shook her head and stalked ahead, pointedly ignoring the two now laughing wizards following in her wake.