Chapter Twenty-Six: Blood Sacrifice: Pureblood
"Are you absolutely sure it's April thirtieth?" James asked Sirius for the hundredth time that night as they prepared to leave.
"Yes!" Sirius sighed. "You have nothing to be nervous about! Merlin, just shut up!"
"Well it'll be like suicide if it's not!" James hissed as Sirius rolled his eyes.
"This whole thing's suicide!" Sirius said. "Haven't you learned that by now? Come on, let's go."
Looking around for one last check in the dormitory, he stopped suddenly, realizing that one bed was left empty.
"Where'd Remus go?" Sirius asked quietly. Peter and Will were asleep.
"I think he said earlier that he was going to the hospital wing," James whispered back. "Do you have the knife?"
"Yeah," Sirius whispered.
"You sure we can't do the sacrifice by wand?" James asked. He knew it didn't matter to Sirius, as long as the Potion was done, but he was thinking more of his blood sacrifice.
"No," Sirius answered, "something could go awry."
"Big word for you there," James joked, trying to keep his own spirits up.
"Shut up."
James let out a sigh of relief when they found the Common Room empty. Tip toeing towards the Portrait, James jumped and hissed as he tripped over a forgotten cauldron. He realized then that he was being way more nervous than he should be. He mentally kicked himself, knowing that he had never really been this nervous about anything else.
Before he had even realized it, he and Sirius arrived in the empty classroom on the sixth floor they were going to use. But to their surprise, it was already occupied- by Remus and Aria. Sirius clamped his sweaty hand over James' mouth, knowing that he was about to cry out in either shock, anger, or annoyance. James pulled the hand off and motioned for Sirius to listen in.
The couple, not noticing the door siding open, were seated comfortably against the wall, looking as though they had been there all night. They seemed deep into conversation. And, James noticed, they were holding hands.
"I find this really funny, actually, Aria was saying.
"I know!" Remus laughed.
"I mean," Aria continued, giggling, "they actually don't realize you are disappearing every night?"
"I've been telling them I'm going to the Hospital Wing," Remus said, a trace of guilt in his voice, "you know, with the lyncapathy. I feel bad about it though. It's like I'm using it for the better, while I'm supposed to be fighting it. It feels weird. It's like second year all over again."
Then Aria said something unsuspected and uncharacteristic.
"But it works."
Remus nodded in agreement.
"It works."
James and Sirius exchanged a surprised glance. They both knew they had something to pick a fight with Remus about next year...
"They'd kill me if they knew I was here," Remus said after a moment of silence. "What time is it?
Aria gave him an odd look.
"You tell me."
"Oh yeah," he said, and glanced down at his wrist. "One A.M. Five Galleons bets that the others never even noticed me getting up. They wouldn't wake up if someone punched through all the windows, took everything, and left- very loudly.
"Same here," Aria agreed.
There was another moment of silence; the two looked like they were searching for new conversation after a night of talking.
"So...are you excited about the Cup?" Remus finally said.
"Excited?" Aria exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
No he's Sirius, James thought out of habit, and I'm going to kill you, Remus, when I get my hands on you-
"I'm so nervous you wouldn't believe it!" Aria continued. "I'm shaking just thinking about it! I mean what if I fall or drop the Quaffle- in front of the entire school?"
"You won't," Remus assured; he grinned, "and if you fall- there's always Sirius."
Now James couldn't help but to grin. He glanced at Sirius, who did not look amused at all.
Just as he would expect, Aria threw her hands up in annoyance.
"Oh that makes me feel so much better!" She cried. "Sirius Black- the savior of all world peace!"
"Speaking of whom," Remus said, glancing at his watch again, "it's getting late, and who knows what he and James are up to tonight, so I better go."
He started to get up, but Aria pulled him back down, and kissed him.
"See you tomorrow," she said quietly.
"Right," Remus said, smiling like an idiot, "'night."
Sirius scrawled. Tugging hard on James' arm, he motioned for them to leave.
"Those two make me so sick!" Sirius cried once they were out of earshot.
"You're just mad because they insulted you," James laughed.
"Did you see them though?" Sirius exclaimed. "Romeo and Juliet-"
"I thought that was my nickname!" James pouted.
Sirius just rolled his eyes.
"Let's just do the blood thing over here."
He pulled James over to a corner, where they were hidden by a statue of a old wizard with three legs. Sirius took the knife out of his robe pocket, placed it on his left forearm, but stopped when he saw Aria and Remus emerged from the room. He dropped the knife in shock when they began to walk in James and Sirius' direction. Pulling James over to another statue and picking the knife up, he grew dead quiet as Remus and Aria looked around.
"Did you here that?" Aria whispered, clutching Remus' arm.
"It came from over here," Remus whispered back.
Remus walked over towards the statue, but shrugged when they found nothing. As they walked off, Sirius threw off the cloak.
"You need to put some sort of spell on this so it doesn't get so hot under there," Sirius said, kneeling down and drawing the knife. "I can't see what I'm doing! We need to get into some light."
James lit his wand a little brighter.
"Do you have the bottle?" Sirius asked.
James nodded as he drew out a small green Potion's bottle, which he shrunk into galleon size. Sirius drew in a deep breath and brought the knife down harder on his skin, cutting it slightly. He brought the knife back, drawing a thin, red line. A few drops of blood fell, and James caught them in the Potion's bottle, and closed the cap tightly. Sirius muttered a spell, and the red line faded, leaving only a dim dot that would fade within the next few hours.
"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Sirius teased.
James put the bottle inside his robes, and stood up.
"As long as you tell me that incantation when it's my turn," James said, standing up, "now let's go before Remus gets there and realizes we were gone."
James and Sirius left, managing to make it up to the Gryffindor tower without being seen- or so they thought. What they didn't notice was Remus turning around, catching a glimpse of Sirius' leg as they slipped back under the Invisibility Cloak. And on the floor was the smallest drop of blood could still be seen.