Dying
By: RemmysGal
*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
Victoria sat quietly on the couch by Remus as she listened to him speak of their late friends.
"I didn't know what was going on, they didn't tell me anything. I later learned it was because we knew someone close was feeding the Potters' information. They thought I was the spy.
"Sirius was known as their Secret-Keeper. You know that Dumbledore offered to be their Secret-Keeper. But James wanted Sirius. So everyone thought that Sirius was it."
"But he wasn't?" Victoria asked. Remus chuckled.
"I thought I asked you not to interrupt or we'll be here all night."
"Sorry," Victoria apologized.
"It's all right. So James was going to have Sirius. But at the last moment, Sirius persuaded them to use Peter. Voldemort was sure to go after Sirius, he never would have guessed it was little mousy Peter Pettigrew. So you know how it goes, Vic. Voldemort came on Halloween, and killed them. All but Harry. Then he fled. And Sirius showed up at their house. He was supposed to check on Peter. He arrived, and saw their bodies, what Peter had done, what he had done. Then he took Harry on his motorbike and fled.
"He met Hagrid and Hagrid and strict orders from Dumbledore to take Harry and leave him with his aunt and uncle. Sirius didn't want to let Harry go, but Hagrid convinced him in the end. So Sirius gave Hagrid his motorbike and left.
"I still don't know where he went, but he caught up with Peter the next day…"
*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
"Peter Pettigrew!" Twenty-one-year-old Sirius Black howled from across a cobble-stoned street.
A short plump mousy man turned around from the other side. His nose was pointed and his eyes were watery.
"Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius howled again as he began to jog across the street. Peter began to run also. People began to stare as Sirius chased Peter two blocks. As Peter ran across the street, a car screeched to a stop before it hit him. Peter stopped and turned to Sirius.
"Sirius Black! How could you do that?" he cried. "Lily and James! Your friends! Our friends!"
Sirius laughed. "You must be joking Peter. You know what you did."
"I haven't a clue what you're talking about Sirius. You must be mad. You are mad. You're mad to betray your friends for a little bit of power."
Sirius looked around. Yes, people were definitely staring now.
"Damn," he muttered. He wouldn't be able to use his wand with Muggles staring.
"Peter, you should know about power. You wanted the power. So you betrayed my friends. I notice you're using MY and not OUR. Were Lily and James not your friends, Peter?"
"You see! You're twisting my words! You—" Peter looked around at the Muggles, "—Murderer!"
Sirius became positively livid. "Mad!" he growled. "You crossed the line Peter," he began to walk towards Peter. Peter reached into his pocket.
"Peter, you're hopelessly awful at dueling, don't bother," Sirius said almost lazily.
"You killed them Sirius! Lily and James! How could you?" Peter squeaked. Sirius laughed again.
"Peter, don't be an idiot. No matter, I'm here to finish you now," Sirius growled. Peter whispered something. "Peter!" Sirius yelled, and fell to the ground.
There was a flash of light and then a loud explosion. Sirius had his head ducked on the stone, but he looked up and saw Peter shrink and then disappear. Then he heard screaming. He got up and looked around. There were bodies everywhere. The poor Muggles who had seen the fight that went on. Then he saw him. Peter. As a rat. And then he saw the finger. Peter's finger. And then it clicked, just as Peter the rat streaked off into the sewer.
Then Sirius laughed.
*--------------------------------------------------------------*
Victoria had clasped her hands over her mouth when Remus finished telling that story.
"I never knew!" she cried.
"I know, neither did I," Remus said, trying to sound comforting.
"I blamed him! And it was Peter! I…I…" Victoria couldn't find the words. Remus put his arm around her.
"I know," he said soothingly, "but that isn't all. Sirius would meet again with Peter thirteen years later."
"How?"
"Sirius was sentenced to Azkaban. You know about him being an Animagus," Victoria nodded, "well when he got to Azkaban, everyone went mad. So Sirius transformed into a dog." Victoria looked confused. "Dementors can only sense human emotions. So once he was a dog, his thoughts became less complicated. But the dementors thought he was going mad, like everyone else. But he heard things. Death Eaters, talking in their sleep. About how their double-crosser double-crossed them. They wanted revenge on Peter.
"Then one night, when the dementors came to give Sirius his dinner, he transformed into a dog and slipped by them. He swam off the island, and found his way to Hogwarts. He knew Peter was there."
"How?" Victoria asked sharply. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Remus smiled. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic came to visit Sirius. He gave him the paper. There was a picture of the Weasley family."
"Bill Weasley?"
"Yes, him and his family. There was the youngest boy with a rat on his shoulder. The rat didn't have a finger."
"Peter," Victoria breathed.
"Yes," Remus answered softly. "I was appointed as the professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. I was there when he attacked Gryffindor tower, looking for Peter.
"Why was he in Gryffindor Tower?"
"The young Weasley with Peter, Ron, was a third year there. He was friends with Harry; they slept in the same dormitory. Ron called Peter Scabbers. Everyone thought Sirius was trying to kill Harry, they didn't know about Peter. No one knew except me and Sirius, and I was currently out of the loop with the Secret-Keeper thing, so I never suspected it.
"Then Harry found the Map," Remus smiled slightly as he remembered.
"Your Map? The one you four made?" Victoria knew about the Marauder's Map, Sirius had explained it to her before he…
"The very same. There was an incident with Serverus Snape—"
"Snape? What's he got to do with your story?" Victoria interrupted sharply.
"Serverus teaches Potions at Hogwarts now, Vic," Remus explained.
"Why that greasy git—"
"Yes, he is, well anyway, Snape found the Map with Harry. You know how it starts writing things when someone insults it. Well, when Snape called me to inspect it, since it was "clearly full of Dark Magic", I saw it with the writings of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. I took the Map from Harry.
"Then, near the end of the year, a Hippogriff from the Care of Magical Creatures class was sentenced to be executed. I had a feeling Harry, Ron, and their friend Hermoine would go to see Hagrid, they were friends with him. I was examining the Map that night when a new dot appeared. The dot said Peter Pettigrew. I thought the Map must have been malfunctioning, he could never have been with you. Peter was supposed to be dead. But the Marauder's Map never lies. So Harry, Ron, Hermoine and Peter, or Scabbers, left Hagrid's hut. A large black dog collided with them."
"Sirius," Victoria whispered.
"Sirius," Remus said, nodding. "He took Ron and Peter down the Whomping Willow through a passageway that led to the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermoine followed.
"Once I saw them, I took off for the Whomping Willow immediately. I could hear voices from below me. Then Hermoine yelled and I knew I had found them. When I entered I saw Harry with his wand pointed at Sirius, who was lying on the floor, bleeding. Ron was on the bed, clutching the leg that had broken when Sirius pulled him and Peter down the tunnel. Hermoine was in the corner looking very scared. I Disarmed Harry, Ron, and Hermoine, and helped Sirius up.
"It took a while to convince them that Sirius was innocent, and we couldn't make Ron show us Peter in his true form, because Ron didn't believe a word of what we said. But finally we persuaded him to let us see Scabbers, who after performing the Animagi charm turned Peter back into a man. He was exactly the same. He had the same pointy nose and watery eyes. His hair was beginning to fall out in patches, probably from the stress of Sirius escaping.
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*21-year-old Victoria Rokaway shoved a few articles of clothing in a suitcase that sat on top of a bed that was in the middle of a bedroom. The bedroom was one room of a flat Victoria shared with Sirius in London.
Victoria ran out of the bedroom and to the bathroom, tears streaming down her cheeks. Lily and James. Lily. Dead. Victoria didn't want to believe it. And it was Sirius' fault. How could he do such a thing? Weren't he and James best friends? Did Sirius really value power over friendship? All of these thoughts went through her head as she collected her toothbrush, towels, shampoo, and other various items that Victoria claimed as her own. She ran back to the bedroom and threw it all in the suitcase. Then she closed it with a snap, picked it up, and ran out.
She didn't even bother to wonder where Sirius was. He wouldn't dare come home. Victoria would kill him before the Ministry of Magic had found him. But she couldn't stay. People would talk about her, everyone knew they were dating. Seriously dating. She would be the object of everyone's gossip. Victoria and her Benedict Boyfriend, Sirius Black. So she had to run. The question was where. Everyone in Europe would know about the Potters' death. It would eventually leak out that the murderer Sirius Black had squealed on them. Then they would learn about Victoria. So she took the only other available solution. America. She would leave, and never come back.
Abandoning everything she had ever known, Victoria placed her wand (maple and mahogany, 13 inches with the essence of Bog Myrtle) on the counter. She turned and walked out of the door. She Apparated to America, and her front door was the last she saw of her and Sirius' flat.
But she never stopped to think about Harry.
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*- "Peter admitted to being the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Sirius and I decided to kill him,"
- "You killed Peter?" Victoria asked incredulously.
- "No, we almost did. We would have, if Harry hadn't been so merciful and decided to send him to Azkaban," Remus said, shaking his head.
- "So Peter's in Azkaban?"
- "No, we never got that far. We left the Shrieking Shack, but halfway across the grounds, the clouds opened and the full moon shone." Victoria gasped. "I turned into a werewolf. Peter got away.
- "Sirius was locked in one of the Towers in the school. Harry and Hermoine rescued him on the back of the Hippogriff that was supposed to be executed. They rescued the Hippogriff too. I don't know where Sirius went, but it must have been somewhere tropical, the birds that the letters came with were very tropical birds. He talked about you a lot. I know you don't want to hear it Vic, but it's the truth. He wondered where you were, if I had spoken to you, where he would be able to reach you. I didn't know where you were at the time. Then Sirius came to live with me. Until he volunteered his home as the Headquarters for the Order of the Pheonix.
"The Order of the Pheonix?" Victoria asked. "The same Order as before?"
Remus nodded. "Voldemort has returned. Harry saw him return. But the Ministry, or rather Fudge, didn't believe him or Dumbledore. But Dumbledore collected all of the followers he could and reestablished the Order, now located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place in London."
Victoria yawned. Remus looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "Am I boring you Victoria? If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me to come here,"
Victoria laughed. "Yes, but I didn't think you would show up at—" Victoria looked at the digital clock, "—One-thirty in the morning." Remus chuckled.
"I suppose you're right," he agreed. "We can finish this tomorrow. Mind if I sleep on the couch, Vic?"
"Nonsense, there's an extra bedroom, go right in and you can sleep there, Remus." Victoria got up and stretched.
Remus looked up at her from the couch. "It's good to see you again, Vic," he said, standing. "You seem to have made a good life for yourself. Muggle now, are you?"
"Yes, I just can't seem to stay in a world that is exactly the same as wizards, only we have more subtle ways of betrayal and pain."
"Will you ever come back?" Remus asked quietly.
"I'm not sure I still have anything in me anymore, Remus," Victoria answered. "Good-night,"
"Good-night, Vic," Remus answered. Victoria turned and walked down the hall. She pointed to Remus' room, then walked into hers and shut the door. She heard Remus' door close and sighed in her bed.
"Rough night?" the mirror asked.
"You have no idea," she murmured before falling asleep.
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*It's a strange emotion this but there's still hope in this
As long as there's a breath...
I'm Dying and I can't live without you…
I'm Dying and I can't live without you again
*---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Author's Note: Hello! Wow, that was a really long chapter. Yeah, I know it was boring, but things have to be explained. I hope you liked it and it filled your "Pallate" (Lina, thanks for pointing that out!). There was a slight confusion in the previous chapter when Remus talks about Chocolate Frogs not filling the "pallate". It was spelled incorrectly and Lina pointed it out. Damn spell check corrected it wrongly. Well enough wasting your time, I'm out. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! Much Love, RemmysGal