CW: Implied child abuse

"So… if your dad can't give her two thousand galleons, the containment of magical creatures will put you down?"

"Yeah."

James had lent me his mirror so I could speak to Sirius, and I'd explained the situation I was in to him, leaving out only the part that I wouldn't care much if the ministry put me down.

"Could you meet me at Flourish and Blotts in fifteen minutes?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, probably, but how are you intending on getting there?"

"I'll go through the fireplace," said Sirius.

"Won't you get in huge trouble?"

"They'll only yell at me, and anyway, do you think I care? This is an emergency!" Sirius cried. "I'll see you soon."

And then all I could see was his ceiling.

I walked out of the bedroom I'd been staying in and went downstairs to the living room, and grabbed a pinch of floo powder.

"Where are you going?" James asked, standing up.

"Diagon Alley," I said. "I'll be back soon."

"Do you want me to come?"

"Um… it's alright. I'll only be quick," I said, stepping into the fireplace. "Diagon Alley!"

I was coughing when I came out into the Leaky Cauldron. God, I hated the floo network.

I walked out of the pub and tapped the code onto the brick wall, then walked out and onto the street.

I'd been in such a rush to get there that I'd forgotten to put a coat on, so I was glad to get out of the snowing, freezing street and step into the warmth of Flourish and Blotts.

Sirius arrived around five minutes later, and despite what had happened earlier that day, I couldn't keep the smile off my face at the sight of him.

"Hi," I said, meeting him behind a bookshelf. As he walked toward me, I noticed him limping. "You OK?"

"Yeah. Sorry I'm late, I had to go through Knockturn Alley so my parents thought I was going there. God, I've missed you, though," said Sirius, smiling widely.

"I saw you literally forty-eight hours ago," I said.

"Forty-nine actually," said Sirius.

"OK then, Mr. Technical," I said, "But I've missed you too."

"Alright, come with me…" he said, leading me out of Flourish and Blotts and towards Gringotts. I stopped when I realised where we were going.

"Sirius, no."

"Sirius, yes."

"Sirius. I don't want to take money from other people," I said. "It's my problem, not yours."

"What, you think I'm just going to let them put you down?" Sirius said, raising an eyebrow. "Plus, it's my parents' money and I'm really pissed off at them at the moment, so their money can go to a good cause for once."

"Why, what did they do?" I asked.

"I really don't want to talk about it right now, but come on, let's get my parents' money, I took the key," he said and dragged me towards the bank.

"Do you want to come back with me after this?" I offered as we entered Gringotts.

"I'd love to, but I can't," said Sirius, "they'll come to James's house again and hurt him again, or hurt you, and I don't want to let that happen again."

"What if we go somewhere else? Somewhere less predictable?"

"They'll still go to James's house," Sirius sighed as we approached a goblin. "I'd like to access the Black family fault, please."

He raised the key above his shoulder for the goblin to see, who nodded and led us through to the carts.

"Sirius, if it's bad we need to get you out," I said as we climbed onto the cart and it started moving.

"It's fine," said Sirius. "Really, I'm fine."

We sat in silence for the remainder of the cart trip, and when we got to the vault and the goblin opened it, I couldn't even speak if I wanted to, because I was in awe.

I'd never seen so much gold in my life. Not just gold galleons, but also precious jewels and items I didn't know the names of as. How could someone be so rich?

Sirius walked in and grabbed a small portion of the gold galleons, putting it all in a bag, then muttered, "That's two thousand. Here you go, Remus."

He passed me the bag and I just stood there in shock. "I… I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it," said Sirius as we both climbed back into the cart. "It's my parents', and they don't need or deserve that much money, anyway."

During the trip back, I still couldn't stop thinking about the amount of money I was holding.

Sirius and I climbed out of the cart once we were back in the normal area of Gringotts, thanked the goblin, and I led Sirius into the bathroom and kissed him as a form of my thanks to him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," I murmured, and he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"I… I should go," said Sirius when we pulled apart. "They… I need to get home."

"OK," I said. "But remember if you need anything…"

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius, smiling. We walked together out of Gringotts and back to the Leaky Cauldron, and Sirius stepped into the fireplace.

"Bye," I said.

"See you soon. 12 Grimmauld Place!"

I watched him get engulfed by the flame, then stepped in myself once he was gone, and went back to the Potter's house, still holding the money Sirius had given me.

James was still in the living room when I got back, sitting on the sofa, and reading Quidditch Through the Ages, and looked up when I arrived.

"How… what… what's in there?" he asked, gesturing towards the bag.

"Sirius gave me so much money," I said.

"Really!?" James cried, standing up. "That's great!"

"Yeah," I said. "But I'm paying him back, and I'm paying you back, too."

"You don't have to…"

"But I will," I said as I took the bag up the stairs, then knocked on the guest room door.

"Come in," came Mum's voice. I opened the door and walked in.

"Sirius gave money," I said.

Mum burst into tears at that moment and wrapped her arms around me. "You said thanks?"

I nodded.

"He's a lovely boy, Sirius, isn't he?" said Dad, taking the bag.

"Yeah, he is," I said, gripping onto my mother and letting out a long breath.

"Well, I'd better go to the Ministry," said Dad, lifting the bag and leaving the room.

"We really thought we were going to lose you, Remus," said Mum, letting go of me and sitting on the bed. "Even if we hadn't gotten the money we would have gone on the run to keep you safe, but… anyway, you're OK. Everything's OK."

"Yeah," I said. We sat in silence for a while, until she got up to make dinner for everyone, and I went downstairs and sat down next to James.

"So," he said, placing his book. "How'd your trip to Diagon Alley to meet Sirius go?"

"Good," I said. "He got money out of his parents' vault."

"Well yeah, but did anything else happen?" James asked.

"No." It would probably be OK to tell him, but I'd need to check with Sirius first.

"Alright then, Moony," said James, and I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up… ugh… what's a stupid name for you…?"

James just laughed.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit!"

"This is not good…"

"No, it's not… SHIT!"

"But how… she didn't even have a wand!" I cried. It was the next morning, and all the adults were still asleep, so James and I had gone through muggle labour to set up the fireplace without magic, then gotten the Daily Prophet, and were now looking at the front page, which read:

DEATH EATER, BELLATRIX LESTRANGE, ESCAPES MURDER TRIAL

Bellatrix Lestrange, 23, was turned into the Ministry of Magic yesterday afternoon for a trial, but midway through her trial, she managed to break free by blowing the trial room up with non-verbal and wandless magic. Her current location is unknown.

"Shit," James said for the millionth time since we first saw the Prophet. "What if we ask Sirius if she's at Grimmauld Place?"

"Yeah, good idea," I said, and we both ran upstairs to James's room, and he grabbed the mirror, which showed Sirius's ceiling.

"Sirius!" James called. "Yoo-hoo, Sirius? You awake!?"

"Sirius!" I called out, but there was still no response. James and I exchanged a look.

"He's probably still sleeping," said James, but I could hear the worried tone in his voice. "Let's give him an hour, then try again."

An hour later, the adults were awake and drinking coffee in the living room. James and I went back to his room and grabbed the mirror again.

"Sirius!?" I cried. "Sirius, please respond…"

Silence.

"Sirius, come on, mate… it's nine in the morning, I know you wouldn't sleep in this much," said James.

"Maybe he's busy?" I suggested.

"Doing what?"

"Having breakfast, getting dressed, brushing his teeth…" I suggested, thinking out loud. "Or, you know, obsessing over his hair in the mirror…"

"Yeah, OK," said James. "We'll try again soon."

James and I tried to contact Sirius through the mirror once an hour all day, but every time he didn't respond we got more and more worried about him.

"Something's wrong, I know it," said James after our attempt at contacting Sirius at eleven o'clock that night. "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, can you hear me!?"

"Sirius, please, if you're there, just let us know you're…"

"Will you please be quiet?" came a voice from the other end. Someone lifted the mirror and James and I were face-to-face with Regulus Black. "I get you want to talk to my brother, but just be quiet."

"Where is he?" I demanded.

"I don't know, mother and father took him somewhere," said Regulus.

"Where did they take him?" I asked.

"As I said, I don't know," said Regulus.

"Well, when you say they took him somewhere…" James started.

"I mean they dragged him out of the house, all three of them screaming at each other," said Regulus. "And they locked me in the house alone so I couldn't come with them."

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"This morning."

"What… what are they doing?" James asked.

"I don't know," said Regulus. "I just know they're not here."

"So, you're home alone?" I asked.

"No, Kreacher's here," said Regulus.

"What, your house-elf?" James said.

"He's my friend."

"OK, whatever, so you have zero clue where Sirius is?" I asked.

"Zero clue," Regulus confirmed. I dropped the mirror onto James's bed and left the room.

James followed me out into the hallway where I paused, struggling to breathe.

"Hey, it's going to be OK," said James, but I knew he didn't believe his own words.

"We need to help him," I said, my voice coming out choked.

"Yes, but we don't know where he is," said James.

"Then we'll look everywhere around the whole world," I said.

"Remus, he'll probably be back at Grimmauld Place by the time we can do that," said James. "We need to stay calm and think about this."

"You know what his parents are like!" I cried, finding myself unable to breathe properly, and choking on my own spit. "They'll kill him! James, we need to find him!"

"And we will," said James. "Alright, Remus, let's breathe… OK… good job…"

Oh, shit, he's treating me a child now, I thought, but I tried to breathe anyway.

"Do you want me to get you a glass of water?" James offered, and I shook my head. "OK… but you need to keep a cool head, or we'll never get anywhere, OK?"

"OK, OK," I said. Breathing did help. "So… what do we do to find Sirius, then?"

"I don't know," said James. "But we will find him, though!"

"OK, OK," I said, breathing desperately now.

God, what would I do without James?