I woke slowly. For a moment, I couldn't remember what had happened. Then the memory of the attack in the forest flooded back to me. I sat up quickly. That made me aware of just how much my head hurt.
I was in a stone place, and there was very little light. It was cold and damp.
"James?" I called. I heard a groan off to the side. "James? Is that you?" I'd headed for the noise but my hands felt bars in front of me. I heard the noise of someone pulling himself to his feet on the other side of the bars.
"I'm here, Lily," he said weakly. "You all right?"
"My head hurts, but other than that I'm fine. Where are we?"
"I don't know. Who were those people?"
"They must be working for Voldemort," I reasoned. "No one else would want to kidnap us."
"Well, we've got to get out of here." James felt the bars between us. "Go around the walls where you are. Try to find a door or something." I did as he said. On the third wall I felt bars instead of stone. I pushed hard against them, but they didn't give at all.
"It's locked," I reported.
"So's the one on my side." He let out his breath slowly. "So we've just got to wait."
"Great." I sat down against the cold stone. "I wonder if Mum has figured out that we're gone yet."
"I don't know how long it's been," James said. "But I'm sure she knows. She and Dad are probably heading here to rescue us right now."
"But what if that's what our captors want?" I worried. "What if they're killed?"
"We can't do anything, Lily," James said. "Let's talk about something more cheerful."
"Like what? All I can think about is my head, which hurts, and my stomach, which is empty, and my back, which is wet, and my feet, which are cold." I said sulkily. "You think of whatever you want. I'm going to pretend I'm dead."
"Oh, like that'll help," James said sarcastically. "Come on. Be cheerful. Mum and Dad will get us out of here. Dad will catch Pettigrew. We'll all live happily ever after."
"This isn't a fairy tale," I reminded him.
"How would you know?"
I tried to answer him, but just as I thought of something to say, light appeared in the dungeons. It was quite far off, and it wasn't daylight. It was the light caused by a burning torch, or a fire, red-orange rather than yellow-white. It was coming closer, too.
Suddenly, whoever was approaching must have turned the corner, for the dungeons were filled with light. I shielded my eyes. It wasn't very bright, but after who knows how long in almost total darkness, it was too much for my eyes. Once I was adjusted to the light, I looked at the man carrying it.
It was the small man who had led our abductors. He was smiling in an unpleasant way.
"I'm pleased to see you've woken up," he said. I didn't like his tone of voice. "So pleased to meet you. I don't believe we've been introduced? I am Peter Pettigrew." I stared at the man in revulsion. So this was the traitor who'd betrayed his friends, who was responsible for the years my father had spent in prison.
"I see you've heard of me," he said in a tone that was meant to be pleasant. "Excellent. That means I don't have to explain things."
"Why have you taken us prisoner?" James demanded.
"My dear boy, surely that's obvious? Insurance, of course. I don't want your father showing up while I am busy with my master's tasks. Don't worry. You'll be well treated while you are here. If you promise to obey me, I'll even let you out of the dungeons."
"Never!" James said firmly.
"As stubborn as your parents. Such a shame. All my old friends were stubborn, not that it got them anywhere. If they'd only bent a little… my master is most generous to those who serve him."
"Sure," I said. "That's why you spent thirteen years as a rat." His face darkened.
"Better than my old friends got," he hissed. "Better than being dead, or in Azkaban… or reviled by the wizarding world, like your mother and the werewolf."
"Werewolf?" James asked.
"So they didn't tell you? I suppose that's to be expected. My old friend, Remus Lupin, he is a werewolf. Doesn't like to talk about it, of course, but it's a shame he won't work for my master. Such a one as he would be welcome on our side. Instead, he allies himself with the weak, sentimental members of our society." He laughed at the looks on our faces. "I shall leave you to think things over now," he said. "When I return, we'll talk again." He left, taking the torch with him.
"Is he lying, you think?" I asked shakily.
"Got to be. He's lying through his teeth." James didn't sound as sure of himself as his brave words indicated though.
"Right, he's just trying to make us upset," I reasoned.
"But…" James seemed to think things over. "Well, I wouldn't trust what Pettigrew says, that's for sure. But –it does fit, you know. It was just the full moon, you know –and he did go off…. And there is something about him…."
"But he's a nice person," I said weakly. "And Pettigrew said he wouldn't serve Voldemort."
"That doesn't mean he's not a werewolf, though," James said slowly. "I don't know."
"We can ask Mum when she –when she and Dad come for us," I said, shivering a little from the damp.
"That sounds right to me. Anyway, if our parents are friends with him, surely they'll know. So if he's a werewolf, it must be okay. And if he's not, well, we already know that Pettigrew's a liar."
"James, we must be very careful," I said. "After a while in the dungeons, we might be tempted to do anything Pettigrew ask, just to get out, and we mustn't."
"We won't, Lily, we won't," James said firmly. "Just remember what Mum taught us, and we'll be fine." Neither of us spoke for a long time after that.
Staring into the dark, not speaking, my mind began to wander and come up with strange ideas. Was that a noise in the dungeons beyond me? Was something looking at me? What strange creatures would inhabit a stronghold of Voldemort? I shivered and pulled my knees up to my chest. The darkness was oppressive. We'd be trapped here forever, living out our lives in darkness, while above us, the world went on, uncaring. And Pettigrew would return, again and again, to mock us and offer us life, if only we would follow his master. And perhaps one day I'd be too weak to resist.
Suddenly, fear knotted my insides and I began to gasp for breath. I was panicking. What was I going to do? Mum and Dad would never find us, never get us out of here. For all I knew, they were dead already. For all I knew, Dad had been recaptured and was in Azkaban. Or, worse, we might see them again, but they would have turned to the shadow…
"Stop it!" I yelled aloud.
"Lily?" James asked.
"I –I'm sorry, James. I was just terrified there, a moment ago."
"So was I, until you yelled," James said slowly. "Ridiculous things, too, like Mum and Dad being on Voldemort's side."
"I thought that, too."
"Well, I bet that Pettigrew was behind that. Some magic designed to make us do what he wants us to."
"It won't work," I said.
"Did you hear that, Pettigrew? It won't work!" James shouted.
Jenny paced up and down the room at the Leaky Cauldron. When a knock came, she flew to the door and opened it.
"Oh, Remus, thank goodness you're here."
"I came as soon as I got word," Remus said. "How bad are things?"
"Pretty bad," Jenny said levelly. "We don't have any leads on where the twins are, the Ministry's convinced that Sirius kidnapped them, and Snape is hanging around like a ghoul."
"What's Dumbledore got to say?"
"Not much. He says we have to wait, that we don't have enough information yet. I don't want to wait. I can't sleep, can't eat for worry. What will Pettigrew do to them? They're so young!" She sat still except for her hands, which were knotting and unknotting a handkerchief. She didn't seem aware of what she was doing. Remus looked on, not really knowing what to say.
"I know, Jenny," Remus said heavily. "Where is Sirius? What's he doing?"
"I don't know," Jenny replied, staring out of the window. "He was hiding, but I think he's going to try to find the twins." The handkerchief lay on the ground now, completely forgotten, and her hands were clasped together so hard that her knuckles were white.
"I'll help him," Remus declared. "I'll go now, we'll track down Pettigrew." He half-turned as if to leave immediately
"Are you sure that's safe?" Jenny asked uneasily, causing him to halt in his tracks. "I'm sure that Snape is watching us. What if he finds you and Sirius together?"
"I'll make sure he doesn't follow me," Remus assured her, crossing the room and sitting in a chair near her. "We can't just leave the twins to Pettigrew, can we?" He essayed a small smile but it faded quickly.
"No, of course not." Jenny looked back at Remus. Her eyes were wet. "I'm so scared. They – I love them so much, I couldn't bear to lose them. For years, they were the only things I had, to make me live, to make me care." She bit her lower lip, trying to hold back the tears now about to pour from her eyes.
"We'll find them, Jenny," Remus promised. He took her hand in his and looked her straight in the eye. "Whatever it takes, we'll save them."
"Oh, I wish I could go," Jenny wailed. It seemed that Remus' gesture had made her lose whatever scrap of self-control she had possessed. "But I can't. Fudge and Dumbledore keep talking to me. Snape is sure that I'm up to something, I know he is. I have to stay here."
"We'll let you know as soon as we find something out," Remus assured her. He stood and began to walk toward the door. "You just do whatever you have to." Jenny nodded, unable to speak. Remus paused at the exit. He seemed as if he would speak, but shook his head and left.
Jenny stood at the window, looking down at the people passing by on Diagon Alley. She watched as a young boy eluded his mother's grasp to join his friends. She saw a woman comforting her daughter as the girl scraped her knee. She saw a young couple walking hand in hand. And a large family, mother, father, and four or five children, spending the day together. A tear ran down her face. Why are they so happy? she wondered bitterly. Look at them. Happy people, happy children, whole families. Look at me. My children are kidnapped by Voldemort. My husband is running for his life. Most of the people who I have loved in my life are dead. Why does this happen to me? Why?
Her mind showed her, again, the images that she'd tried to keep out, the pictures that haunted her nightmares. She remembered the Potters' funeral, remembered how they had looked when last she had seen them, lying together, dead. She remembered the headlines that had proclaimed to all the world that her husband had worked for Voldemort, had destroyed thirteen lives, had gone mad.
But then she remembered the years that she and Lily, her friend, had spent together, closer than sisters. She remembered the day that she had realized that she loved Sirius, the day that they had married. She remembered the day that her twins had been born. That had been a day of sorrow and joy mixed together.
There had been many days like that in the past twelve years. Her joy in her children had been mingled with sorrow that Sirius was not with her, that he was a criminal.
I don't have any business standing here feeling sorry for myself, she told herself. It isn't doing me, or the children, or Sirius, any good. Jenny sat down in a chair, sighing.
She had half-dozed off when another knock came on the door. Instantly she bolted upright.
The manager of the Leaky Cauldron, Tom, stood at the door. He was half-smiling, apologetically.
"There's some men who want to see you," he said. "They're downstairs in a private room."
"Thank you for telling me," she said, and followed him down. Perhaps these were Ministry workers with news about her children.
Three men stood in the room. They had notebooks and one carried a big camera.
"We're from the Daily Prophet," one explained. Jenny glanced at the other men. One was scribbling something in his book, the other seemed to be focusing his camera.
"I don't want to talk to you," she said shortly.
"Please, just a short statement. We've already spoken to the Minster of Magic. He's assured us that the hunt for Black has been redoubled. He also said that they don't have any current leads."
"I really have no wish to discuss the matter," she said again, and turned to leave. The cameraman got a picture of her before she could turn all the way away.
"Any comment on why Black may be trying such a move?" the persistent reporter asked.
"I don't want to talk about things," she said shortly, and left the room.
Remus Lupin returned to the Leaky Cauldron at midmorning the next day. He asked if Jenny was in her rooms or not.
"She's in her rooms, all right," Tom said easily. "Hasn't left. Suppose it'd be all right for you to go up, seeing as you're her friend." Remus climbed the stairs slowly, thinking of the previous day's futile hunt for Sirius.
Jenny didn't answer his knocks. After a few minutes, Remus opened the door. Jenny was sitting and staring out of the window. A newspaper lay across her lap, but she didn't look at it. She turned slowly and looked at Remus. A small smile half-heartedly crossed her face.
"I didn't know it was you," she said quietly. "I really don't want to talk to most people right now."
"Is something else wrong?" Remus asked worriedly.
"Look," she said, handing him the papers. Breaking News on Black Situation the headline proclaimed. Jenny's picture was on the front page, her head half turned away from the camera. It looked as if she were evading scrutiny. Remus read the story.
Recent developments in the Sirius Black case have been startling and rapid. We attempted to interview Jenny Anderson, the mother of the kidnapped children, but she refused to comment. The Ministry says it hopes to make a breakthrough soon, but has no leads as of this printing.
More startling is the information that the kidnapped children, Lily and James Anderson, are in fact Black's own children. Our source, though highly reliable, did not want to be identified. However, the Prophet has managed to confirm that Black and Anderson were married some thirteen years ago. The children, who are twelve years old, do not attend any school of wizardry, for unknown reasons.
The article continued in the same vein for several pages. When Remus finally put it down, he saw that Jenny was staring out the window again.
"This –this is horrible," Remus said weakly, not sure what he should say. "They call this journalism? It's scandal-mongering."
"Three guesses who their 'source' is," Jenny said bitterly. "It's amazing how wrong people can be."
" 'Oh, what fool these mortals be,' and that," Remus agreed. "But Snape should have the decency not to do something like this to you." He indicated the paper with a vague wave.
"I just can't take all this." Jenny stood rapidly, spilling the papers to the floor. "It's bad enough that James and Lily are kidnapped, bad enough that the idiots at the Ministry think that Sirius kidnapped them, but I do not need press people hounding me!" She brought her fist down on the table with a thump! "I want to be out there helping Sirius, trying to save James and Lily. Instead, I'm sitting here, waiting for the idiot who we've got for Minister to decide to tell me what's going on. They could be out of the country by now!" She looked at Remus, really seeing him for the first time. "Why are you back, anyway?"
"There's no sign of Sirius," Remus said heavily. "His bike's gone, too. I'm afraid he's gone off on his own."
"Blast!" Jenny muttered. "He's sure to get himself killed, or caught. And what about Lily and James!"
"Jenny, Sirius did manage to avoid being caught for almost a year on his own," Remus reminded her.
"But he wasn't going somewhere where, most likely, Voldemort is!" Jenny exclaimed. "That's what I'm so afraid of, that Voldemort is –wherever the twins are. If Pettigrew's bad, what of Voldemort? What might he do to the children?" She collapsed into the chair, her head in her hands.
"Jenny, I know how you feel," Remus said sympathetically. "Lily and James mean a lot to me, too. Those twelve years – the only happy memories I have are of spending time with you and your children. You're the closest I've ever come to having a family of my own."
"Oh, Remus," Jenny said quietly. "Have I ever thanked you for being there for me all those years? I could never have made it without you, and Lily and James, of course."
"And I'm here for you now," Remus said. "We'll get through this one, too."
Well, what's going to happen next? I'm not telling… Yes, I do know, and I'll tell you one thing –Harry may show up. Emphasis on may. I hope to get it up soon, but as writing this is depressing me –Jenny is just so miserable right now! – it may take longer than I'd like.
Disclaimer: J K Rowling is a wonderful author and I'm not claiming any of her creations as mine. I'm also not trying to make money off them. Please don't sue me.