Author's note - This chapter's predecessor was very annoying to write
because there was so little creative freedom. This one was a little better,
as the scene is quite ambiguous in the book. Thank you to all reviewers,
keep reviewing.....never stop reviewing!!! I make my best efforts to read
your stories from start to finish, I really do. If I forget, just send me
an email and I'd be delighted to take a look.
On a personal note, I really, really like this chapter. The blurring of previously written material and new stuff is just so much fun to play about with. _______________________________________________________________
Chapter VI
It was the literal middle of the night. Not late evening, not early morning, but the middle of the night in the unembellished sense. Even Severus Snape lay fast asleep on his bed, his blue nightcap pressed lightly against his long greasy hair.
The castle was so quiet.....so still.....that even the spirits themselves were silenced by it. Peeves floated harmlessly and peacefully down in the dungeons, for once causing little mischief. And up in the Gryffindor dormitories, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas all slept soundly. Each lying in the centre of their huge four-poster beds, each with the drapes tightly closed around them.
Sirius stalked slowly up the stairs of the tower, his knife hanging from his left hand and the scrap of paper from his right. He reached the Gryffindor common room entrance with ease, having spent his childhood years practically living in there.
The fat lady was gone, unsurprisingly, and has been replaced by a strange knight who was waving around a spear expertly. Reading the password clearly, the portrait swung open after a moment's hesitation, and Sirius found himself inside the common room. It was a mess.
Masses of multicoloured streamers and abandoned party food littered the floor and tables, but thankfully the party had long since ended, and not a single student lay awake. The dying fire was still lit and the carpet was stained with spilled drinks, but it was quiet.......and that was all that mattered.
Leaning over to stuff his pockets with some of the discarded food, Sirius slowly made his way across the room and towards the right hand staircase that would lead to the 3rd year male dormitory. The claret carpet of the common room ended, and he found himself making his way slowly up the cold stone steps.......the moonlight shining in through the windows and illuminating his shadow against the wall.
The steps winded upwards, steps that he had spent his childhood gleefully playing on.......but now, his intentions were far from innocent. His goal was not to reveal Peter's presence and prove his innocence, but instead to brutally murder Pettigrew and flee back into the night. After Wormtail was dead, nothing would matter. He would be obsolete......his mission in life completed. He could go where he wanted; he could do what he wanted.
Having his soul removed would be a tranquil and pleasant ending to his life, because in those last few moments as all his memories were removed forever, the one, which would linger longest would be that of retribution.
Sirius stuffed the scrap of paper with the passwords back into his pocket, and tightened his grip on the knife. He reached the top, and found himself confronted with the five huge four- poster beds, surrounded by deep red-velvet drapes.
Sirius stepped forward, raising his knife and glanced down at the huge trunks on the ground. The white label on the nearest read 'RON WEASLEY'. Sirius stopped momentarily, recollecting the name from his newspaper article. It was too dark to draw it out and check, but he was confident this was the boy who currently owned Wormtail. Not hesitating, Sirius strode forward and ripped into the velvet drapes, looking around desperately for that scurrying movement of a rat, but it didn't come.
He slashed again, and the ginger haired boy on the bed rolled over. Outside, the sky rumbled and lightning struck, filling the room for a split second with a bright flash in which Sirius made eye contact with the now- awake boy. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Sirius turned abruptly and fled......the boy's screams filling the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The image of the boy's terrified face etched into his memory forever, he could hear voices behind him as he sprinted down the stairs back into the common room, and then threw himself out of the portrait door and down the corridor.
Transforming as he ran, his canine legs bounded forward, several steps at a time and he soon reached the statue of the one-eyed witch. Transforming back, he whispered "Dissendium", her hump opened and he leaped through the narrow opening, transforming back yet again and running off down the alleyway. Exhausted and sweating heavily into his shaggy coat, he eventually stumbled out into the basement of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade village. It had been years since he had last taken this route to exit the school, but under the circumstances, he had no choice.
Using his final ounce of energy to transform back into a human one last time, he fell downward against a barrel and into a deep sleep. He had failed. Pettigrew was still alive.
*
Over the following months, Sirius felt a distinct embarrassment and dent to his pride whenever he relieved the events of that night. It had, in essence, been a disaster. He had come close to being caught, and had been seen in what was evidently an extremely compromising position by the ginger boy.
For 4 months Sirius lived alone again in the forest, with yet again his thoughts being his only companion. He found the fantasies of multicoloured surnames surging through his dreams again, even though the dementors were far away. No longer were organic creatures provoking his madness.
It was now being provoked by his loneliness.
The ginger cat was helpful. It continued to bring food and helped collect water from the lake. Sirius had almost given up hope though, and spent his days leaning in the tree hollow ignorant to the goings on in the world.
In early June, the cat brought word of exams at the school. At first Sirius brushed away the thought of acting whilst the teachers would be so prominently active, but the thought of giving it one last shot was too tempting to resist.
So on the evening of June 6th, he tidied his makeshift shelter, and set out towards the school. He was either going to succeed or fail. Twice he had tried and been unsuccessful in striking down Peter, but as they say.....3rd time lucky. He would rather accept the consequences of failure then return to the forest to keep trying again.
Having his soul removed by a dementor would probably be healthier then spending the rest of his life alone in a wood.
*
Darkness was falling, and the light was fading from the sky. Crookshanks, the ginger cat, walked slowly across the grassy fields scouting for teachers. Padfoot followed, a hundred metres behind, and cautiously keeping a close look out.
Then......out of the shadows came a sound. Squeals, loud squeals, loud enough to instantly alert Sirius to the presence of a rat.
The cat had also noticed, and continued to walk forwards slowly.
Suddenly, in the distance, the rat appeared out of nowhere. Flying through the air and landing on the ground, scampering away at high speed. A second later, the ginger boy also appeared, and pelted after him.
Just as things were getting confusing, ANOTHER two children appeared seemingly out of midair and gave chase after the rat.
"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here-"
The air was filled with a mixture of shouts and squeals as the boy leaned over and stuffed the rat into his pocket. A brief respite almost signalled the end of the situation, but not until Sirius had claimed his prize.
He bounded out towards them, no longer caring for the consequences, only caring about one thing.
Pettigrew.
A wand was drawn, but not fast enough for Sirius, who slammed it aside and then sprang onto the ginger boy.
His animalistic instinct taking over, he opened his jaws and closed them over the boys arm, the other two children grabbing and pulling at his back.
Meanwhile, the Whomping Willow had become involved in the brawl, and leaned over, striking the bushy haired girl to the ground. Sirius tightened his grip on the boys arm and pounced for the gap in the roots of the tree.
He would head for the Shack.
TO BE CONTINUED.......
On a personal note, I really, really like this chapter. The blurring of previously written material and new stuff is just so much fun to play about with. _______________________________________________________________
Chapter VI
It was the literal middle of the night. Not late evening, not early morning, but the middle of the night in the unembellished sense. Even Severus Snape lay fast asleep on his bed, his blue nightcap pressed lightly against his long greasy hair.
The castle was so quiet.....so still.....that even the spirits themselves were silenced by it. Peeves floated harmlessly and peacefully down in the dungeons, for once causing little mischief. And up in the Gryffindor dormitories, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas all slept soundly. Each lying in the centre of their huge four-poster beds, each with the drapes tightly closed around them.
Sirius stalked slowly up the stairs of the tower, his knife hanging from his left hand and the scrap of paper from his right. He reached the Gryffindor common room entrance with ease, having spent his childhood years practically living in there.
The fat lady was gone, unsurprisingly, and has been replaced by a strange knight who was waving around a spear expertly. Reading the password clearly, the portrait swung open after a moment's hesitation, and Sirius found himself inside the common room. It was a mess.
Masses of multicoloured streamers and abandoned party food littered the floor and tables, but thankfully the party had long since ended, and not a single student lay awake. The dying fire was still lit and the carpet was stained with spilled drinks, but it was quiet.......and that was all that mattered.
Leaning over to stuff his pockets with some of the discarded food, Sirius slowly made his way across the room and towards the right hand staircase that would lead to the 3rd year male dormitory. The claret carpet of the common room ended, and he found himself making his way slowly up the cold stone steps.......the moonlight shining in through the windows and illuminating his shadow against the wall.
The steps winded upwards, steps that he had spent his childhood gleefully playing on.......but now, his intentions were far from innocent. His goal was not to reveal Peter's presence and prove his innocence, but instead to brutally murder Pettigrew and flee back into the night. After Wormtail was dead, nothing would matter. He would be obsolete......his mission in life completed. He could go where he wanted; he could do what he wanted.
Having his soul removed would be a tranquil and pleasant ending to his life, because in those last few moments as all his memories were removed forever, the one, which would linger longest would be that of retribution.
Sirius stuffed the scrap of paper with the passwords back into his pocket, and tightened his grip on the knife. He reached the top, and found himself confronted with the five huge four- poster beds, surrounded by deep red-velvet drapes.
Sirius stepped forward, raising his knife and glanced down at the huge trunks on the ground. The white label on the nearest read 'RON WEASLEY'. Sirius stopped momentarily, recollecting the name from his newspaper article. It was too dark to draw it out and check, but he was confident this was the boy who currently owned Wormtail. Not hesitating, Sirius strode forward and ripped into the velvet drapes, looking around desperately for that scurrying movement of a rat, but it didn't come.
He slashed again, and the ginger haired boy on the bed rolled over. Outside, the sky rumbled and lightning struck, filling the room for a split second with a bright flash in which Sirius made eye contact with the now- awake boy. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Sirius turned abruptly and fled......the boy's screams filling the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The image of the boy's terrified face etched into his memory forever, he could hear voices behind him as he sprinted down the stairs back into the common room, and then threw himself out of the portrait door and down the corridor.
Transforming as he ran, his canine legs bounded forward, several steps at a time and he soon reached the statue of the one-eyed witch. Transforming back, he whispered "Dissendium", her hump opened and he leaped through the narrow opening, transforming back yet again and running off down the alleyway. Exhausted and sweating heavily into his shaggy coat, he eventually stumbled out into the basement of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade village. It had been years since he had last taken this route to exit the school, but under the circumstances, he had no choice.
Using his final ounce of energy to transform back into a human one last time, he fell downward against a barrel and into a deep sleep. He had failed. Pettigrew was still alive.
*
Over the following months, Sirius felt a distinct embarrassment and dent to his pride whenever he relieved the events of that night. It had, in essence, been a disaster. He had come close to being caught, and had been seen in what was evidently an extremely compromising position by the ginger boy.
For 4 months Sirius lived alone again in the forest, with yet again his thoughts being his only companion. He found the fantasies of multicoloured surnames surging through his dreams again, even though the dementors were far away. No longer were organic creatures provoking his madness.
It was now being provoked by his loneliness.
The ginger cat was helpful. It continued to bring food and helped collect water from the lake. Sirius had almost given up hope though, and spent his days leaning in the tree hollow ignorant to the goings on in the world.
In early June, the cat brought word of exams at the school. At first Sirius brushed away the thought of acting whilst the teachers would be so prominently active, but the thought of giving it one last shot was too tempting to resist.
So on the evening of June 6th, he tidied his makeshift shelter, and set out towards the school. He was either going to succeed or fail. Twice he had tried and been unsuccessful in striking down Peter, but as they say.....3rd time lucky. He would rather accept the consequences of failure then return to the forest to keep trying again.
Having his soul removed by a dementor would probably be healthier then spending the rest of his life alone in a wood.
*
Darkness was falling, and the light was fading from the sky. Crookshanks, the ginger cat, walked slowly across the grassy fields scouting for teachers. Padfoot followed, a hundred metres behind, and cautiously keeping a close look out.
Then......out of the shadows came a sound. Squeals, loud squeals, loud enough to instantly alert Sirius to the presence of a rat.
The cat had also noticed, and continued to walk forwards slowly.
Suddenly, in the distance, the rat appeared out of nowhere. Flying through the air and landing on the ground, scampering away at high speed. A second later, the ginger boy also appeared, and pelted after him.
Just as things were getting confusing, ANOTHER two children appeared seemingly out of midair and gave chase after the rat.
"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here-"
The air was filled with a mixture of shouts and squeals as the boy leaned over and stuffed the rat into his pocket. A brief respite almost signalled the end of the situation, but not until Sirius had claimed his prize.
He bounded out towards them, no longer caring for the consequences, only caring about one thing.
Pettigrew.
A wand was drawn, but not fast enough for Sirius, who slammed it aside and then sprang onto the ginger boy.
His animalistic instinct taking over, he opened his jaws and closed them over the boys arm, the other two children grabbing and pulling at his back.
Meanwhile, the Whomping Willow had become involved in the brawl, and leaned over, striking the bushy haired girl to the ground. Sirius tightened his grip on the boys arm and pounced for the gap in the roots of the tree.
He would head for the Shack.
TO BE CONTINUED.......