Veritas 15
I wasn't trying to be cruel leaving the last chapter where I did, but I was overcome with a guilt pang this morning since I do know what happens next. So here's a little more….
***
In later years when Sirius recounted what happened after he stepped from the spell circle to his son and Malcolm, Sirius was amazed at how long it took to tell the story, because it all seemed to happen in an instant. Griffin did accuse him, although with a smile, of exaggerating maybe just a bit, but Sirius vowed that some things need no exaggeration, even from him.
"Honestly, Griffin. Ask Remus if you don't believe me. You know he won't embellish anything."
Griffin laughed at him.
"Dad, really, I'm just teasing."
Malcolm just smiled the quiet smile he'd inherited from his father and grandfather. "This sounds about the same to the version I got."
"See?"
"Maybe the dog sounds a little bigger…."
"Malcolm, I am the one the blasted thing bit, so I should have a good idea of exactly how big it was."
"Sure you weren't preoccupied?"
"How can you be so annoyingly like your father after all the effort I put in?"
***
Sirius went to stand at the side of the spell circle opposite to Liz and Remus. He took one last glance over his shoulder at them, to make sure they were ready. They stood with their backs to him, eyes focused on the door, a few steps back from the edge of the circle so they would have room to cast a spell that wouldn't singe them when it came to the edge of the circle and faded.
Here goes nothing. Jump out, transform, call my wand, break the circle. All there is to it.
Sirius sprang forward. He felt slightly ill as he jumped over the spell boundary, but it let him through. As soon as he stood outside, he transformed and turned to the doorway.
"Accio wand!"
The instant he spoke, something huge ran inside the room. It was a dog of some sort, bigger even that Padfoot. Good god. Its eyes glowed yellow, showing that it had been charmed in some fashion. It ran forward, stopping only momentarily as the fireballs Remus and Liz conjured distracted him. But only for a second. In an instant it turned after Sirius with a snarl. Sirius moved to keep the spell circle between himself and the dog, trying to also watch for his wand. He saw Remus step forward closer to the dog, which did glance at him and barked, but made no move towards him.
Suddenly he saw his wand, and caught it. Thank you. He turned to face the spell circle, but the dog was moving again with frightening speed, barking so loud Sirius felt his ears ringing. All this noise will bring Pembroke up here very quickly… He wasn't near the spell marker; it was across the way, and Liz was between them.
"Liz! Step out of the way!"
She moved so quickly the dog took its attention of Sirius for a second, and he shot a spell at the marker. It flared up; Remus and Liz turned to avoid being blinded, but the dog got singed. That made it even more furious. It leapt into the circle, ramming into Remus who fell back, his shoulder hitting the edge of the spell. Because it wasn't down yet, Remus was badly burned. Sirius however, had to handle the dog. It had moved too quickly for him to stun it, and he only managed to get one arm up as the dog attacked, sinking teeth into his left arm that felt like they would bite it right off. Sirius fell down hard, but managed to reach his other arm 'round and punch the dog soundly on the muzzle to force it to let go before it did manage to tear his arm off. The dog let go instantly, but still had Sirius pinned.
He didn't hear Liz call out the spell, but he did see the dog suddenly go rigid, then its eyes went dark and it fell down, unmistakably dead. Sirius felt dizzy as the residual effects of whatever Liz had done to the dog touched him as well.
Sirius shook his head and pushed the animal off him and jumped up, ignoring the blood pouring down his arm and the pain from the bite. That dog's been cursed…. He instead reached out to Remus, who now had his own wand but was shaking and sweating from the effects of having run into the spell. Remus slapped his hand away, though, and moved towards the door.
"Move! Pembroke will be up here…."
Sirius turned to follow him, but Liz grabbed his arm and said a quick spell to bind it with a simple bandage. "You bleeding out will not help anything."
Sirius was starting to feel a little groggy on top of everything. "Liz, I think the dog's bite was cursed. I'm feeling very tired…." He heard the slur in his own voice.
Remus looked back at this, panting and pale, gasping a little for air as he fought the effects of the spell.
"Liz! Don't let him pass out or we'll never make it out of here."
Liz grabbed Sirius' good arm and brought him to stand next to Remus. "Remus, both of you took the worst of this. You stand right here, and I'll see where Pembroke's got to."
Remus started to say something, but Liz gave him a look that instantly shut him up. Instead he muttered something and passed his wand in front of Sirius' face. Sirius instantly felt a rush of adrenaline, although everything still felt thick.
Liz stepped into the corridor and charmed three very bright balls of flame, sending them down the corridor so she could see. The corridor, done in the same red as the hall downstairs, was empty. They all heard the footsteps running in the distance, however. Quickly she turned and grabbed them. Sirius heard Remus gasp at the pain and shock as well, but they moved back into the room as she slammed the door.
"Sirius, you're the transfiguration expert. Think of something right now to get us down out of here. We're on the second floor at least. I've got the door." She waved her wand and in an instant the door vanished and only wall was in front of them. Sirius didn't wait to be told again, but ran to the window. It was charmed shut.
"Remus! Remus, get the window open while I find something to get us out of here."
Remus went to work on the window, teeth clenched, shaking and white as a sheet. Sirius knew he couldn't look much better as he ran to the pile of odd furniture, grabbing and pushing at the stacks with his good arm.
"Sirius!"
He stopped only for a second as he heard Pembroke's voice in the hall.
"You're not going anywhere, and the others will be here any second."
Don't listen to him. He glanced at Liz, who stood facing the wall where the door had once been, wand raised and a very dark look on her face. I don't have time to think about that. She can handle herself.
"I'd stand back if I were you, unless this is how you plan to die. I'm bringing this wall down…."
Sirius grabbed the rug and pulled it off the pile to the window. Remus was still running through opening charms, and paid him no mind, completely focused on his own task. Sirius quickly forced himself to calm down. Breathe. You can't do successful transfigurations if you're distracted. The spell won't work, the spell won't hold. Just be calm, calm…. He was starting to feel like he was about to fall asleep again, though. The curse from the dog must have been very powerful indeed, to work so quickly through one of Remus' charms. He didn't dare to close his eyes to calm himself. He focused instead on listening not to Pembroke, who they could hear now saying an incantation, but on listening to Liz who had come up next to him, still not taking her eyes off the wall.
"Come on, Sirius. Come on…."
Sirius took a deep breath and finally tapped the rug. It twitched for a second, and then began to fall and shift, turning into a long rope. Remus glanced down and gave a ghost of a smile. Then suddenly he managed to get the shutters to fly off the window. Remus then put magic completely aside and just kicked out the windowpanes, sending glass flying into the darkness outside.
"Move!"
Liz grabbed the rope and tied it, with blinding speed, into a very secure knot around the centre strut and tossed the rest of the rope down the side of the house. She looked down.
"I can't tell if this is long enough, but it'll have to do."
Sirius stepped back towards the wall, which had now begun to shimmer.
"Sirius! Get out of here!" he could hear Remus say. Even when he's broken and bloodied, he can still use that tone of voice….
Sirius shook his head. "I've got to get Pembroke when he comes through here. He's the only one who knows we were here."
Liz now came over and grabbed his arm.
"You have no way of knowing that! He could easily have contacted any number of people. We'll deal with it later."
"And we have no way of knowing he did just that! If we leave him here, they know it was us for sure. Step back…."
The wall suddenly shimmered and vanished, where it had once been a door. The instant it fell, Sirius jumped forward, assuming Pembroke didn't have the good sense to step away. Almost immediately, he slammed into the other man and sent them both down heavily on the hall carpet. Ignoring the pain, Sirius slammed his fist across Pembroke's face. Dazed, Pembroke stared at him for a second, tried to reach up to grab Sirius, but Sirius moved faster, leaping back and off of him, as he heard Remus screaming at him to get off. As soon as he sat back, Pembroke was bound by Remus.
"What was that? You should have just bound him!" Remus yelled at him, grabbing at Pembroke's struggling feet and pulling him over to the window.
"Fastest way to stop him, and I couldn't see him to get a good shot."
Remus gave him a dark look, but didn't say anything. He did turn quickly and stun Pembroke to stop his struggling.
"How do we get him down from here?"
"We could just throw him out the window…."
"Sirius!"
Liz waved a hand for them to shut up. They stood there in silence…and suddenly heard voices downstairs.
Sirius, with one last look at Remus, did grab Pembroke, and with one look out the window into the darkness to make sure nobody was there, tossed him out. Remus stared at him, then looked back out the window, when he heard Pembroke hit the snowdrift under them with a thump.
"That was horrifying, even for that sad bastard," whispered Remus, as he grabbed the rope and swung himself out the window, starting down. Sirius said nothing and grabbed Liz, pulling her towards the window.
"Wait!" she whispered, and quickly recharmed the wall so that it looked like the door was back. Then she climbed out the window to follow Remus. Sirius kept looking into the darkness and listening for voices behind him. He saw nothing, and heard nothing, but as he was feeling more and more tired, and the buzzing in his head had started again, he couldn't be sure… Finally he saw Remus looking back at him quickly from the ground, and reaching to drag Pembroke out of the snow bank. Sirius swung himself out the window and climbed down after them.
He somehow managed to keep hold of the rope most of the way down. When he finally did feel it slip from his hands he only fell a short distance and the snow cushioned the fall. Immediately he felt hands grabbing the front of his jumper and pulling at him.
"Sirius…." Liz sounded like she was a long way off, and he couldn't focus on her. "Sirius, please…."
He started, and forced himself back into focus, hearing something he had never heard in her voice. He managed to look into her face, and was stunned to see that she was crying. Not Liz; she never gets upset….
"Sirius, move. We've got to get outside the wards. Now."
Sirius nodded absently at her. She gave him one last look then turned and knelt down next to Remus. Remus had fallen to his knees and was violently sick from the effects of the spell. Sirius could see him shaking, and took as hesitant step forward. But Remus sat back at that moment, and grabbed a handful of snow to run over his face. He accepted Liz's hand in getting up, then turned and grabbed the vines that held Pembroke still.
"Come on," he said in a hoarse voice. "There's no time now."
Liz grabbed Sirius by his uninjured arm with one hand, pulling him with her, and reached to help Remus with the other. As fast as they could manage, they moved across the snow away from the house into the total darkness of the woods. They had no idea how deep the wards were. Sirius focused on just moving one foot in front of the other, step by increasingly agonizing step. Finally, he saw Remus stop.
"Are we at the wards?" Liz whispered
"Yes," Remus replied, his voice still hoarse and broken. "I'll go first…."
"No!" said Sirius, amazed he could still speak. "Push Pembroke through, and see what happens."
Remus looked at him, though Sirius could barely see his face in the darkness. "That won't make any difference, if the wards are set to recognize him."
Sirius snarled, and gave Pembroke a kick. "Do it anyway, just to see."
Remus glanced at Liz, and then pushed Pembroke through the wards. Nothing happened.
"I'm next," said Sirius, and before they could stop him, he walked after Pembroke. Nothing happened. In spite of everything, he turned to smile at them. Remus and Liz lost no time in crossing after him, but Remus still managed to give him a peeved look. Sirius rolled his eyes, and Remus finally smiled a little.
They cast one look back in the direction of the house, and still saw no movement, nor any indication that anyone had seen them.
Sirius swayed a bit and sighed. "Marauder's luck still seems to have its old charm."
Remus smiled again. "Well, Sirius, I'd have to say we're not out of the woods yet."
Sirius laughed. "You can't be hurt that badly if you're up to saying things like that. How are we going to get Pembroke back with us?"
Remus looked down. "I suggest one of us goes to get Dexter and we let him take care of him for a while. I think he'll enjoy that. I'll go. We'll be right back."
Remus took his wand back out and apparated. Sirius finally sat down in the snow, grabbing Liz's hand and pulling her down with him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and sat there waiting for Remus to get back. Sirius suddenly realized that she was still crying.
"Liz? We're okay."
She just nodded, but said nothing.
"Liz?"
"Shut up, Padfoot." She said in a muffled voice against his chest.
Remus and Dexter showed up a few seconds later. Dexter seemed delighted.
"I've got him. You three get out of here right now and see to those wounds. I'll be over later to tell you what happened when Malfoy realized he'd been had."
Remus looked at Dexter as he and Liz helped Sirius to his feet. "Dexter, we need to make sure that Draco…."
"Dumbledore is already looking into that. Go."
They stepped apart and apparated back to the Lupin's home. Katie and Dexter's wife Anastasia came outside immediately to help them.
"Seems you have quite a tale to tell," said Katie, trying to keep her tone light. "Dexter has your Death Eater?"
Remus nodded, wrapping his good arm around her and crying out a little when she brushed the burn on his shoulder.
"Inside now. Let's get all this cleaned up. Remus, love, what is that?"
"Holding circle wasn't quite down."
"And Sirius?"
"I've been bit by a bloody great dog. You should have seen the thing; big as your car…."
"Was it really?" said Katie absently, helping Remus to sit down on a chair, leaning him forward so she could have a look at his injury. "Remus, I'm going to take off your shirt so I can get at that."
"Fine…."
Liz looked at her. "Katie, the dog was charmed. Sirius keeps almost nodding off."
Katie immediately stood up and came over to him. She unwrapped the bandage to have a look at the bite. Sirius had to turn away, fighting nausea as he finally got a good look at what the dog had done to his arm. Katie stood up and ran out of the room without another word. That can't be good….
Liz just sat there, watching him, pale and looking miserable. He could still see tear tracks on her face, but she seemed to be working very hard at regaining her usual composure. He tried to smile at her, but he was starting to go numb. Suddenly she stood up and turned away from him to go and tend to Remus. Sirius did manage to feel a sharp pang as she refused to look at him again.
Katie came back in a few minutes with a large goblet, which she helped Sirius drink. He almost gagged at the taste.
"God, Katie, what is this?"
"Just finish it now. First of many, I'm afraid."
He heard Remus give a small laugh. "Nothing wrong with a little disgusting tasting potion, Sirius. Be good."
Sirius glanced at him and noticed that Liz still had her back to him, quietly cleaning Remus' shoulder. He grimaced a bit seeing Remus' scars, but quickly looked away, knowing that Remus would be self-conscious enough, especially with Anastasia here.
But he wasn't fast enough it seemed. "Well, Sirius; at least you get an interesting scar out of all of this."
Sirius tried to laugh, but he just sort of hiccoughed. "How dare you insult your wife's abilities you cad." Katie did smile a bit at him as she started to re-bind his wound.
"Curse scars don't heal clean, you know that."
Sirius said nothing this time, as he was starting to feel drowsy again. He gave a start, trying to fight it, but Katie put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay now. You need to sleep, so you don't need to fight it anymore. You may sleep a little longer than usual, but you'll be fine. Besides, you need the rest."
"Alright Katie-girl,' he said slowly, hearing the slur come back into his voice. "Whatever you say. Only don't let me sleep too long. I think we need to celebrate all this. Not what we'd planned, but…."
He heard Katie laugh at that as his eyes drifted shut.
"Okay, we can throw you a big birthday party next week and celebrate then."
Sirius chuckled. And then he did open his eyes as he finally heard Liz speak again. She had come back over and was sitting on the back of the sofa, looking down at him with an unreadable expression.
"You're an Aquarius?", she said very softly.
"Liz, please don't disappoint me by saying you believe all that rubbish," he said slowly, desperately fighting to keep his eyes open to watch her.
"You being an Aquarius certainly puts a lot of the theories in doubt. What's your rising sign?"
She reached down now to push his hair off his face, and Sirius tried to smile at her. "Scorpio."
He heard Katie laugh as she finished bandaging his arm. "Well, maybe the rubbish does have some truth."
Sirius finally gave up his fight to keep his eyes open. "I thought you said you weren't any good at mindless chit chat to calm your nerves," he drawled, his own voice now sounding like it too was coming from miles away.
He didn't hear her reply as he fell asleep.