By: Sweet 16 Movie Buff!
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"Do you think we should tell Toby she finally won a bet?" Jillian asked as they stomped up the slope towards the school, careful not to trip in the night. The light of the gibbous moon was of no use tonight; it was cloaked in the folds of fluffy lavender-dyed clouds.
They moved quietly in the dark, the plan being to get Sirius to the Gryffindor common room before anyone suspected anything. The darkness was their friend tonight, cloaking their slow progress from unwanted eyes.
"Nah, we should make her sweat it out 'til the end of the year."
"I don't think I could pretend not to talk to you for that long."
"I don't think I could either."
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Jillian and Sirius tumbled to the grass, skidding a few feet down the hill as Jillian's wand flew from its place in her robes.
"Merlin's beard!" Sirius groaned, clutching his side. He hit his head against the ground, trying to banish the pain the tumble had erupted from his wound. Jillian looked up sharply as she heard cruel chuckles emerging from the darkness.
"Lumos." A burst of light illuminated the face of a hooked nose boy with greasy, unkempt hair, sneering down at them. Severus Snape.
"Snivellus." Sirius hissed.
He smirked again, "Well, well, well. If it isn't Black, consorting with Mudbloods and staying out after curfew. I should have known. Here you are, Bellatrix."
The heavy-lidded girl Jillian had only met last summer came into the light along with several other leering, smirking faces. Lucius Malfoy, a russet brown haired seventh year: Rudolphus Lestrange, and another fifth-year boy that looked remarkably like Sirius: Regulus Black.
"Thank you, Severus," she purred coolly. "Now go away, before we change our minds."
It was a clear threat that was left open ended, but apparently had the effect Bellatrix had intended; Severus slid from sight, out of the light and disappeared into the darkness.
"What do you want, Bellatrix?" Sirius asked quietly.
A foot came out of no where and connected solidly with Sirius's side. Regulus towered over his gasping brother as Sirius tried to collect himself.
"Filthy blood traitor! You disgraced our family!"
Sirius glowered up at him, "Did mummy tell you that or did you actually have an individual thought, Regulus?"
With an infuriated scream, Regulus kicked Sirius again, his foot connecting with Sirius's jaw and sending him rolling down the hill.
"NO!" Jillian struggled wildly as Rudolphus hoisted her to her feet by the wrists, her body trapped against his. Lucius approached, coming within inches of her flailing feet.
"Hello, Jillian. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"You would know," she spat, still trying to hit him, hurt him.
Bellatrix smiled and turned to the fallen Sirius and flicked her wand over him, "Mobilicorpus."
Sirius unfolded from the ground, twisting against invisible bonds. Bellatrix laughed, "Stop twitching, you know you can't break it."
Sirius called her something extremely foul that wiped the smirk of his cousin's face. Bellatrix, her eyes locked on Sirius, removed another wand from the folds of her robes, Jillian's own wand. She jammed it defiantly under the girl's chin.
Jillian gagged, craning her neck so she might be able to breathe apart from the wand's point jabbed in her throat.
Bellatrix looked up at the hovering Sirius, "Come quietly, Sirius, and nothing happens to her."
A flurry of curses erupted from Bellatrix and she hopped away; apparently Jillian had stamped rather forcefully on her foot. Rudolphus seemed to have received the same courtesy for he bent forward with a grunt. It seemed with great effort that he held onto Jillian, locking her wrists firmly behind her head.
"You'll pay for that Mudblood!" she shrieked at Jillian, still curled over her foot.
It was Lucius that stepped in. "Never mind her now, Bella! We'll deal with her inside. Remember why we're here."
"Good question," Jillian said rather loudly, not caring that she was being impudent. "Why bully a pair of nobodies and risk detention?"
Lucius ignored her and began to march up to the castle. Regulus followed behind him with Bellatrix and a struggling Sirius, gliding a few feet above the ground.
Rudolphus yanked on her hair, his voice hissing in her ear, "Behave, Mudblood, and maybe we'll go easy on him." He yanked harder, causing her to flinch, "Understand me?"
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"NO!" her voice came out muffled, the gag between her teeth proving effective.
"What? Is the Muggle-born scared of a little dark closet?" Bellatrix jeered as Rudolphus brought forth a struggling Jillian. Lucius had opened the door to a broom closet and was waiting with it drawn open like the gate to hell. They were going to lock her in. They were going to hurt Sirius and she'd be locked in a broom closet, helpless to stop them. She couldn't fight them. Not from in a broom closet.
Sirius too was fighting his captors, now safely on the ground and gagged, bound firmly with ropes and pinned by Regulus and Rabastan Lestrange, who had acted as a lookout at the door.
She dug her heels in to the ground, throwing herself violently back against Rudolphus as he steadily brought her closer to the door. She tried to sit on his feet.
He took another haggard step towards the closet.
She tried to elbow him in the jugular.
He brought her within the shadow of the door.
Jillian looked over her shoulder at Sirius who looked just as frightened as she felt. He dove again towards her, but what Regulus's smaller stature lacked in strength, Rabastan's age and brawn made up for.
Rudolphus brought her closer, her sliding feet brushing the bristles of a broom. Lucius's hand closed around her throat and the last of Jillian's throes ended. She was tossed carelessly into the dark and the door slammed shut behind her.
Angrily she tore the gag out of her mouth and lunged full-impact against the door, "NO! SIRIUS! NO! LET HIM GO! COWARDS! LET HIM GO . . ."
Her shoulder throbbed with the impact of the door, but she didn't care. They were going to hurt him, filthy bastards that they were. She pounded her fists on the door. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"Take him down to the dungeons. No one ever goes down there."
"SIRIUS!"
There was a shuffle of feet and robes. Jillian listened, her ear pressed against the door, hoping with all her might that someone had heard her screams, but there was nothing.
A door creaked and someone whispered, "Hurry."
"SIRIUS!"
Nothing.
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They threw him to the cold stone floor and removed the gag from his mouth. Regulus kicked him in the back. Sirius grunted with pain, a sharp pulsing in the spot where Regulus's shoe had connected.
He rolled onto his hands, wobbling as he tried to rise to his knees. Regulus hooked his foot under Sirius's arm and sent him crashing to the floor.
Sirius shook as he attempted to rise again. The side of his sweatshirt was damp and red.
"Scream. Call for help," Rabastan taunted, toeing Sirius with his foot and rolling him back onto the floor. "No one can hear you down here. Scream."
"You know he won't, brother," sneered Rudolphus as he circled Sirius. He paused and stomped on Sirius's arm, digging his heel towards the floor. Sirius let a small cry escape him and Rudolphus smiled his satisfaction. "He's too much a fool to try."
Lucius hefted him off the floor and shoved him against the wall.
"Move aside, boys," Bellatrix said coolly, studying the length of her wand. The four of them scrambled out of the cell, giving her room to work. She pointed her wand at Sirius.
"Impedimenta."
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"HELP! IN THE CLOSET! SOMEONE OPEN THE DOOR! HELP!"
Jillian rammed her shoulder against the door once more, the force rattling the brooms and mops. She choked back a frustrated sob by clamping her lower lip firmly between her teeth. She had to get help. She had to find Sirius.
"The map says he's down this way. With Bellatrix and Regulus and that lot."
"Do you suppose it's a family reunion?"
"I think not, Prongs."
Voices. Jillian's hopes rose and with renewed strength she flung her shoulder at the door. "IN HERE! HELP! HEL - "
The door flew open and she crashed to the floor. She scrambled to her feet, clutching her shoulder. Her rescuers stood around, looking down at her with questioning looks on their faces.
It was James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
"They have him down in the dungeons. They're hurting him. You have to help him . . . You have to get help," she gasped.
Remus looked to James in question. James' eyes hardened and he turned to Peter, "Wormtail, go and find a teacher. Filch, McGonagall, anyone. Go."
He nodded at Remus and the two of them took off down the corridor. Jillian fell against the wall, panting, holding her throbbing shoulder. It was stiff and pulsing. She couldn't move it. With a great amount of effort, she hobbled to her feet and trotted out towards the Entrance Hall.
She had to go find a teacher.
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"Impedimenta!"
Sirius flew across the cell and slammed into the bars of the cell, sending them into a fevered rattling. The bars buried into his back, pressed on bruises and bloodied scrapes.
Bellatrix laughed, "Look at you. You're pathetic. I'm personally glad you've wiped your hands of us. You were dead weight to Aunt Mortiana, a runt. You're worthless."
Sirius glared at her as he panted sharply against the agony that his body had become.
"Impedimenta!"
He soared across the cell and collided with the manacles bolted to the stone wall. The rusty metal bit through the sweatshirt and his bandages, scraping against his tender side. His face contorted with pain and he jerked sharply, rolling onto his side against the wall.
Bellatrix raised her wand to hit him again with the spell when Regulus cleared his throat from the other side of the bars. "You know, cousin . . . I still don't think he's learned his lesson yet."
"And what do you suggest?"
"Stupefy."
The Stunning Spell hit Sirius square as he tried to struggle to stand and he crumpled presently to the floor. Regulus, chuckling under his breath, kicked him out to the center of the cell and tipped him onto his back.
"I was thinking that the idea hasn't quite sunk in. Perhaps we should hurry it along."
Rudolphus strolled into the cell, rolling up his sleeves, "Something permanent?"
"Something that leaves a lovely scar," Bellatrix suggested, circling around Sirius.
"Perfect. Flagra - "
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Rudolphus's wand flew from his hand into James's. Angrily he tossed the wand aside, flinging it into the dark of the passageway.
Remus stormed through the arch, his wand leveled at Lucius and Rabastan, "Petrificus totalus!"
Lucius brought his wand up, "Protego!"
The spell bounced harmlessly away from Lucius and Remus fell low to the ground as it rebounded back. Rabastan fell to the ground, stiff as a board, clearly taken by surprise.
"Conjunctiva!" Bellatrix shouted at James. He rolled out of the way, the spell breezing over his shoulder.
He got to his feet in an instant, "Impedimenta!"
Regulus stepped before his cousin, "REDUCTO!"
The spell hit James square in the chest, sending him flying back into the stone wall behind him. There was a shatter of stone and dust rumbled into the dungeon like a blanket of fog. Regulus and Bellatrix straightened as the curse flew harmlessly past.
Chains spun through the air, wrapping around Regulus in a binding grasp. He wobbled unsteadily, trying to reclaim his balance from the momentum, but to no avail. He fell to the floor with a thud and grating of metal on stone.
"Accio wand!" Bellatrix cried and Rudolphus's wand shot through the air. Jillian snatched from the air before it even reached the bars.
She pivoted the wand turned to Bellatrix, "Stupefy!"
With a scream of fury she crumbled to the floor. Rudolphus came up suddenly behind Jillian and seized her about her neck, ramming her against the bars as he struggled for his wand.
Remus stopped in front of her and pointed his wand over her shoulder. "Impedimenta!"
Rudolphus flew back against the stone wall of the cell, his head connecting with a resounding crack. He slid to the ground unconscious.
"Thanks," she said, massaging her throat. Over his shoulder she could see Lucius raising his wand, eyes set on Remus. "Duck! Relashio!"
"IMMOBULUS!" roared a voice like a lion's.
James was caught mid-stagger, Remus mid-crouch. Lucius was caught firing a spell at Remus as fiery sparks shot towards him, burning like jets of flame from the end of Jillian's wand.
In the arch of the passage stood a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a flaming scarlet robe thrown carelessly over a richly henna-patterned negligee. He wore a gold turban wrapped around his head and his skin was the color of almonds. The students had come to know this oddly garbed man as Professor Subramani, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. At his side stood Peter.
"What is the meaning of this?" he thundered, taking in the students, some frozen on the floor, others firing spells at one another. With a wave of his wand the spells being fired disapparated and the Freezing charm was removed. "Why are so many students out of bed? Answer me!"
"Sirius," Jillian breathed, remembering why she had changed her mind so suddenly. She collapsed at his head and rested it in her lap, "Sirius . . . oh my giddy aunt. Ennervate."
"MISS MCKEE EXPLAIN!" Professor Subramani boomed.
"Are you all right?" she asked him quietly, patting his cheek. "Sirius, are you all right? Can you hear me?"
With a moan, he came to. He flashed her a weak smile; "I've been better."
"MISS MCKEE!"
"It's Sirius, Professor." She said loudly, her eyes never leaving Sirius's face. She bit her lower lip. He flashed her a weak smile, trying to comfort her.
Don't cry, he silently willed, I can't stand it when you cry.
She flashed him a small smile of her own, "Stop looking at me like that, Sirius. I'm not going to cry."
The bars rattled and when she looked over her shoulder to see James stumbling into the cell with Remus's help.
"Padfoot?" James asked quietly.
"I'm here, Prongs. Barely," he grimaced as he arched his back, trying to rise, "Bloody hell, I think I broke a few ribs."
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ABOUT THE SEQUEL . . .
I must confess, I'm balancing between two ideas at the moment. I have the majority of one plot laid out and the other is still forming. It all depends on what kind of fic you want to read. Will it be . . .
A cute switch-bodies fic
or
A more serious, dramatic fic with Death Eaters and everything (this one is mostly laid out and has a great deal more action to speak of)
Please, tell me what you think!
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THANK YOUS!Whimsical Firefly – I hope you were able to access Chapter 11, because maybe that sorta answers your question (why did Sirius kiss her). If not, here's another explanation: I characterized Sirius as a guy who let his actions speak louder than his words (this may or may not be right), plus all the guys I know don't usually admit to liking a girl if front of all her friends, it's real awkward.
It's so cool that you're Aussie, though! Major-ly wicked! And I didn't develop a thing for accents because of Steve Irwin; I don't even watch the Croc Hunter, it's mostly just CSI and Fuse.
Moon Burst – Yeah Remus! He definitely deserves to get a girl every once in a while and you can have him wholly to yourself since we're sharing Sirius (sharing is just fine with me!). I can't wait to read that story once you post it, but are you still gonna write the rest of that She Will Be Loved? I really, really liked that fic; it's one of my favs.
Kirie Himuro - ::Beats away man-eating rabbits:: Okay, call them off! Call them off! Here's your update! Sorry about the little mix-up with Ernie, I forgot about that, but I'm glad you liked Bellatrix and all the other characters I put in there, hopefully these too were okay.