Chapter 24: Voldemort's warning

Our afternoon class was History of Magic. And it would turn out to be my first encounter with Voldemort. And it would certainly not be my last.

Binns was droning on as usual, and as usually I entered the classroom and promptly put my head down on my desk. I'd been up late the previous night and so I feel asleep rather quickly as usual. James was snoozing next to me, and Peter was drooling. Only Remus sat, head straight, quill moving across the paper.

Suddenly, I was thrown out of my desk and onto the floor by the explosion that rocked the castle. Binns looked up, his usual serene face gone as confusion and shock flashed across it. Another explosion sent me sprawling across the floor, as students rushed out the door, frantic to get out. We joined them in the mad rush to escape the trembling castle. McGonagall flew past us, her gray hair slipping from its tight bun. She grabbed James's collar and dragged him along, shouting at him not to dawdle. We hurried to the Entrance Hall with the rest of the school.

As we reached the Hall and were almost to the doors, they flew open and in strode a tall man, skin pale as snow and eyes glowing with a power that haunted my dreams. There were screams as he grinned manically at the school that stared in terror.

I knew who he was. For an instant, I could see him grinning madly like that as he used the Cruciatus curse on my father, as the green light streamed from his wand following the whispered words "Avada Kedavra", aimed for my mother's heart.  I had never seen Him but I knew it had to be Him. Lord Voldemort. He laughed, a high-pitched shrill sound, and raised his wand. Green light shot out of it and hit the nearest student, James. He fell to the ground slowly, his eyes still wide with shock and fear. I stared at him as more light shot out and students began to fall all around me. Remus fell and Peter. Lily and Erin were next. Even the teachers, Dumbledore and McGonagall. Even Snape. No one moved but to fall to the ground, and stare at me with eyes wide with shock, horror, terror, betrayal. Finally I was the only one left standing, my school lying dead around me. I closed my eyes but the images wouldn't stop. Voldemort laughed, that high ringing laugh.

"Let this be a warning, Black. Join me or lose everything you hold dear." He laughed again, and I dropped to my knees, my eyes shut and my hands covering my ears, trying desperately to block the sounds, the sights from my mind. But the laughing never ended. It pushed its way into my mind, my memory and from somewhere far away, I could hear a woman's scream mingling with the laughter. I didn't know which was worse.

Even as Voldemort vanished, the laughter hung in the air as I knelt on the floor, rocking back and forth, trying to shut out the sounds. I began to cry, to sob, anything to block the laughter, which still penetrated my mind.

"No, no, no, not true, no, please no!" My voice did little to drown out the laughter, but another voice added to the din in my head.

"Sirius?" I didn't move, didn't trust it. "Sirius?" Was that my name? Was that James's voice, calling to me?

"Can't be. Dead." I shook my head.

"Sirius! Wake up." Some one slapped my face and suddenly the laughter died.

"Sorry Padfoot." James's voice again, softer this time. Someone's hand felt my forehead.

" Are you okay?" Remus, still alive. I opened my eyes. I saw faces above me. They blurred together, but slowly focused until James's glasses and messy black hair filled my line of vision. I blinked, realizing I was laying in the cold stone floor, James propping me up. Remus was kneeling next to me, his hand on my forehead. The rest of the class stared at me from the circle they had formed around me. Professor Binns floated behind them.

"Are you alright, Mr. Navy?" he asked.  He never did remember my name, but I had never cared less.

"Wha, what happened?" my voice was hoarse, shaking.

"You just sort of fell out of you chair. I thought you were asleep but I couldn't wake you up." James helped me into a chair, moving my carefully. The rest only watched.

"What about the explosion and Voldemort?" James and Remus glanced at each other.

" What are you talking about? There wasn't an explosion."

"And Voldemort isn't here." there was a small gasp as James said the name.

"Perhaps you had a dream. You were sleeping and disturbed my lesson." Binns said in that drab dry tone of his.

" No, I just, I need to get out of here." Before anyone could say anything I was out the door. James, Remus, and Peter were on my heels.

"We told him were taking you to the nurse's." Remus said when they caught up.

"Great." I muttered, not caring in the slightest.

"Padfoot, what happened?" I sat down on the top of a staircase, unable to walk on my shaking legs. They sat down next to me, James and Remus next to me and Peter down the step.

"I'm not really sure." I began hesitantly. I told them, slowly, and hesitantly, about the dream. The evil voice echoed in my head. I would never join him of course, but still. He had taken both my parents. I knew what he was capable of. James looked shocked when I told him that he was the first to fall.

Remus bit his lip and then stood up. He pulled me to my feet.
" What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything. You are going to see Professor Dumbledore." Without another word he dragged me to Dumbledore's office, James and Peter in tow.

"What was the password?"

"Err, Chocolate Frogs" James said, "They just added him the cards," We walked through the door. No one was in the office, with the exception of the headmasters and the head mistresses of old Hogwarts. Several waved, and others glared down at us.

"Oh well, no one here. Guess we'll have to come back later." I turned to leave. Remus and James grabbed my shirt.

"I don't think so, Padfoot."

"Oh come on, Prongs."

"Sit." He pointed to a chair in front of the desk. " We wait." And so we waited.

It was almost an hour later when Dumbledore strode in to the office, his eyes on some papers folded in his hands, his expression troubled. He walked across the room and sat down at the desk without looking up or saying a word. After a few minutes Remus coughed and Dumbledore looked up, almost surprised, but I had the feeling that he knew we had been there the whole time. .

"How did you boys get in here?" he asked, leaning back and pressing his fingertips together.

"Err, the door?" James responded. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a reason you are here?" Remus nudged me.

"Actually, Professor, something happened to me in class." I told him what had happened. When I had finished, he stood up and paced back and forth behind his desk.

"Thank you, Sirius, for bringing this to my attention. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you four should hurry back to class. You've missed enough as it is."

 Despite our protesting, Dumbledore shooed us out of his office. We left the office with no more answers than when we had entered. Just as we reached the hall leading to the common room, Dumbledore's voice magically echoed through the halls.  " Will all the teachers please report to the teachers lounge after class."

We looked at each other and grinned. Remus shook his head, but didn't say a word. Peter started to whine but he was silenced by a look from the rest of us. James took off at top speed and was back in less than five minutes with the invisibility cloak.

"No James. You can't spy on the teacher's meeting." Peter protested. "You'll get caught."

"Fine Peter, if you don't want to go, don't. That's more room for us then." And he pulled the cloak over himself, Remus, and me. Slowly we walked down the hall into the teacher's lounge. We had to wait till another teacher came, so as not to look odd when the door opened by itself. We snuck in behind Professor Sprout and slipped into the corner behind one of the large high backed chairs. .

There was a lot of chattering between the teachers. No one seemed to know why Dumbledore had called them there. The Headmaster himself had not arrived yet.

"Professor Flitwick? Do you know what this is about?" McGonagall asked the tiny Charms Professor.

"No, I don't, Minerva. I would have thought he would have told you at least."
"No. Not a word." Just then Professor Dumbledore walked through the door.

"I would like to thank you all for coming here." he said, smiling, though his blue eyes did not twinkle behind his moon shaped glasses. "Something has been brought to my attention that requires our immediate response."

"What?" They clustered around him, eager for news.

"I believe that Voldemort" there were gasps and screams at the name," may be trying to lure students out of the safety of the castle, trying to force them to join him, to scare them. Today marked the third such incident that has been brought to my attention."

"Who? Which student?" McGonagall asked, breathless. Dumbledore glanced at the corner in which we were hidden.

"Sirius Black."

"Honestly, headmaster," Beaker spoke from his chair. "you really believe that boy and his lies? Black craves attention. I wouldn't put it past him to make the entire thing up."

" The boys came to me today to report Sirius having some sort of vision in History of Magic. It involved the school being attacked and everyone being killed. Voldemort spoke to him. He said it was a warning." Beaker scoffed.

"Headmaster, both Black's parents were killed by the Dark Lord. How do you know this is not just some figment of his overactive imagination, feeding on the death of his parents?"

"Because I spoke to both Orion and Fiona Black a few days before their deaths. They both related a dream in which Voldemort killed everyone they loved. This is a trait of his, to feed on the fears of his victims. He will try to kill this boy."

"But why?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Why Sirius?"

" I don't know." Dumbledore paced back and forth. "Though I fear his dream might have been a warning as to what Voldemort will stoop to, to get a hold of him. I want security increased. The boy isn't to be left alone anywhere. I want a teacher near him at all times possible."

"But professor, you know those boys. They can get away from anyone anytime." Flitwick said, wringing his hands.

"Are you going to tell him?" Professor McGonagall asked.

" There is no need. He already knows." Dumbledore's eyes flickered to our hiding place and I remembered with a jolt, that he could see through the cloak. " This only means Voldemort is getting closer. And it is not just Sirius I worry about. That boy is very loyal to his friends and those he cares about. Voldemort knows this. He may try to use it against him. I want you all to keep an eye out and let me know the moment you see something suspicious. Meeting adjourned."

We waited till the room was empty and then left. No one said anything, but we had to go back up to our room and then back downstairs and outside for Care of Magical Creatures. So we ended up being late for class. Professor Kettleburn yelled at us. He told us we were banned from all trips to Hogsmeade that term. But I think it was more of an excuse to keep us inside the castle, to follow the Headmaster's orders, which, for once in our lives, we planned to do. For a while, at least.

Chapter 25: The Girls Know

That afternoon we managed to get away from Professor McGonagall who had insisted on staying in our common room while we were doing our homework, to "keep us out of mischief". It was a Hogsmeade weekend, but we couldn't go, not legally anyway. We finally managed to slip away by saying we were going to down to the Quiddtich Pitch and sneaking through the halls under the invisibility cloak. We waited by the Three Broomsticks, the tavern at Hogsmeade, for the girls. They arrived right on schedule. They sat down at our table. We made idle chitchat, but nothing of real meaning was said. Before long, James got up and motioned for us to follow him.

"Come on. We have something to show you." We walked up the path to the Shrieking Shack. Everything was quiet. Even the crickets has stopped chirping. We knew there was nothing to be afraid of, we knew Remus was the "ghost" everyone was so scared of. But still there was something in the air that sent a shiver up my spine. Dumbledore has done an excellent job, casting repelling charms on the house.  Erin leaned close to me and I put my arm around her.

"Sirius, why are we here?" We had stopped in front of it. James motioned and we moved forward. We slipped through a broken window we had found earlier. We came here every full moon but we always used the secret entrance. So beforehand we had looked for another entrance. The girls stayed close and were almost shaking with fear, but they didn't question why we were here. They sat down on the moldy old couch while Peter took the chair and Remus and I used the floor. James paced for a few minutes in front of us.

 "Lily, Erin. We have something to tell you. Now no matter what you hear tonight, you must promise not to tell another living soul for your entire lives."

"That bad huh?" Lily smiled. We didn't smile back

"Please Lily. This is serious." For once, no one laughed at the pun. They only nodded.

" The first thing you need to know is about Remus. Otherwise, nothing else will make sense."

"Remus?"  Lily and Erin turned their gazes on Remus.

"Yes, I'm, I'm." He couldn't seem to get it out. I gave him a reassuring smile and he swallowed hard, forcing the words out.  "I'm a werewolf." He looked ready for the bomb to drop, but it never did.

Lily and Erin looked at him for a moment, then glanced at each other, grinning.

" Is that all?" Erin asked. " I thought it was something important."

"Yeah, something we didn't already know." Lily laughed.

"What?" the four of us stared at the girls in amazement.

"Do you think we're stupid? We saw the signs. We didn't say anything to protect you. We knew you'd tell us when you were ready."

"You mean, you don't care?"  Remus was still unsure, wavering between doubt and joy.

"Oh Remus, of course we don't. You are our friend. We love you." He smiled.

"Thank you. " he whispered as both girls leaned down to give him a hug.

"Now can someone tell me, why you brought us here to tell us this?" Lily asked. "This place is haunted, you know." Remus grinned them

"It's not haunted. Everything you hear. That's me. There is a tunnel under the Whomping Willow that leads too here. We come here every full moon."

"We?" Lily asked

"There is something else. After we found out about Remus we found out a way we could be with him during the full moon." James continued.

"But James, werewolves are dangerous to humans."

"To humans, exactly." James said with a smirk on his face. Lily frowned and James turned to me. " Padfoot. Show them."

"Why do I have to. Why can't Peter or you?"

" We already talked about this. Because I'm the better talker and it'll take Peter forever."

"Hey, I'm not that bad." Came the indigent reply.

" Yes, you are. Fine, but I'm not doing any tricks."

"But you're so good at fetch."

"Remus, if you don't shut up I will bite you. Then you'll have to go get rabies shots. How do you like that?"

Remus only stuck out his tongue and grinned.

"Padfoot." James warned.

"Changing." I closed my eyes and almost instantly I felt the change happen. Though we'd discovered that over time, as we became used to it, the pain was less and less.  I still had to reach out and hold onto the arm of the sofa for support as I changed this time.  I was soon sitting there on the ground, my tongue falling out of my mouth as it always did, my tail waving happily. The girls sat back in shock.

" He's, he's," Erin stammered

"An animagus. We all are." I gave James a look that I hoped said can I change back now.

" No you can't." he told me. I gave him my best puppy dog face, which, since I was a dog, must have worked very well on the girls.

"Oh, he's so cute." They reached down and started to pet me. I rolled over and Erin scratched my belly. I changed back. It was much less painful to change back.  In fact it felt like a relief as my bones shifted into their natural positions.

We stayed there for hours talking and telling them everything. At first the girls were annoyed at us for keeping them in the dark for five years. But soon they let that go. We even told them about giving up a year. Peter, hearing it for the first time, never said anything. But for a faction of a second I saw something odd, like he'd swallowed something sour, cross his face. It was directed at me. But it was gone a second later and I forgot about it.