Bad Faith Island
A Harry Potter Pirate Story
by VG Jekyll
37. Another Loss
His lungs feel like they can burst any minute now, but Dennis dares not to slow down. The thought that somewhere behind him, his brother is being ripped to shreds by a werewolf, keeps haunting his thoughts.
Part of him screams that he has to get as far away from it as he can. The other part wants him to turn around and help his brother. It is however Colin's desperate scream for him to run that make his legs keep going.
When the brothers had found the cave, Colin had been adement about telling his captain. He didn't even want to explore it further by thermselves, saying that it was most important that Harry heard about it first.
Dennis tries to focus on that thought. It is better than thinking about what is currently happening behind him.
It seems like only moments later when he bursts out on the beach. The sudden change of surroundings make him halt and he stops for a moment to catch his breath. The beach is lit up with small fires around which the pirates are sitting.
He cannot find Sirius' face amongst them, though. Had they not been able to save him? Is he dead too?
That thought nearly makes his heart stop. Losing both Colin and Sirius in the same night would be something he couldn't survive. And Colin is dead, there is no doubt about that.
Then he spots Harry near a fire. He is laughing and Dennis figures that he wouldn't be laughing so merrily if his godfather was dead. He quickly runs to the man's side and nearly falls in his lap with exhaustion.
"Um kid? Dennis wasn't it? What is wrong?" Harry asks him confused.
"Colin! He's dead!" Dennis starts to sob and clings onto the bewilderd captain. He doesn't know Harry that well, but he knows he is the godson of Sirius, which must count for something. Colin also had spoken rather proudly of his captain, which meant even more to him.
Harry rubs him carefully on the back and gives Draco next to him a confused look before glancing around to see if he can spot Colin somewhere.
"Did you have a nightmare or something?" he asks the boy, who suddenly sits up.
"He's dead! Didn't you hear me! The werewolf got to him only so we could find your stupid cave!"
Harry immidiately grabs the boy roughly by his arms. "What did you say? Werewolf? Did it enter the camp?" Panic starts to fill Harry, but Dennis shakes his head.
"We were out in the forest," he confesses with a small voice.
Harry's mouth falls wide open and he lets go of Dennis arms. The boy starst to weep in his hands.
"Tell me what happened!" Harry orders and with a lot of hiccups, the story gets out. Dennis finally stops talking, exhausted as he is by his own emotions and earlier flight.
It is then, that he finally notices Sirius' unconscious form on the other side of the fire. He crawls to the man's side and lays down besides him. He is soon lost in a dreamless sleep.
Harry is silent for a while, and Draco merely stares at him, watching the dark emotions brew behind his emerald eyes. The slave doesn't really know how to react to this. Should he wrap his arms around him, like he'd done earlier that night?
Should he engage him in talk, so Harry can voice his emotions out loud? Or perhaps he prefered Draco to be silent. Draco is about to open his mouth, simply to ask Harry what he is thinking, when the other beats him to it.
"This is hard," Harry says as he briefly glances to Hermione and Ron, who are sleeping soundly in each others arms not far away from them.
"Looking at Sirius, you can see how brutal and undiscriminating the Wolf can be in his attack." He starts to tell. "Remus is no longer himself when he takes over. So, that leaves no doubt that Dennis is dead. Surviving such an attack would be a miracle."
"Sirius and Remus have been together for a very long time. When Sirius got send to prison, it nearly broke Remus." He chuckles without any real amusement in his voice. "He tried to break him out about three times. All failed. And then he tried to kill himself."
Draco glances at the sleeping Sirius and then at Harry. Why is he telling him this? To make him understand that Remus is a good guy? Even though he probably has killed quite some people today?
"My dad was Remus' anchor though. He found him just in time and has kept him going on. Without my dad here-" Harry's voice trails off and Draco starts to realize how hard it really must be to lose so many people in such a small amount of time.
"Draco, we must find Remus tomorrow. He will be himself again, but knowing him, he'll be filled with regret and sorrow. We must make him understand that we do not blame him, or I'll fear he'll be the next person I'll lose."
Draco finally gives into temptaion and wraps his arms firmly around the pirate. "It will be alright," he mutters, together with other nonsense words of comfort.
It is not before long when both fall asleep in each other's arms.
To Be Continued
VGJekyll: To yeh few but faithful; I'm intending to finish this story before New Years Eve!
And I know this chapter is rather badly written, but I want to upload it before I lose all desire to work on it. I swear the story will be re-written AND Beta-Read some day. Hopefully soon.