Room 101 | Chapter Three
A Harry Potter Fanfiction By Majokai Yukiko
Pairing: Sirius + Remus
Warning: Slash. Death of Major Character
Rating: PG-15, going up soon
Spoilers: A 'what-if' story following Prisoner of Azkaban
This is an amateur effort and does not intend to infringe on the rights of J K Rowling, Scholastic Books and their associates.
A/N: Wrote this chapter mainly for the murder scene. The party parts of it ended up longer than the murder.
Dedicated to Ally. Merry Christmas 2003---
"We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." O'Brien to Winston, 1984He was in that room again. Everywhere was dark. But instinctively, he knew where he was. His shoulders twitched uncomfortably. Every cell in him was screaming for him to get out of there. Being a natural predator, he knew when he was being hunted instead of hunting.
Filled with fear or anticipation, he had a hard time deciding which one it was, he waited. He did not have to wait long. Soon, the dragging of the chains started again. He spun around when the noise got louder…and louder. Yet the echoes in the empty darkness made it hard for him to pinpoint the exact source of it.
Then he realized where he was. It was that place, the place he had not even thought about for twelve years. Why was he here again? What had triggered it this time?
A voice came, rising above the chains. Was it his? Or was it his?
"Long time no see, Romulus."
***
Close to the end of July, the Black-Lupin house was decked with brilliant decorations. Both Sirius and Remus had put in much effort in decorating the place, wanting to give their godson a birthday to remember. Harry was sent off on a visit to his best friend's place at the Burrow, all the while with the thought that his guardians had forgotten about his birthday. Ron, of course, knew all about the party, but he was, very sternly instructed by his mother not to breath a word of it to Harry. It was therefore understandably hard on Ron, having to endure Harry's countless complaints about his birthday being forgotten again, and to keep the secret that would silence all these whining once and for all. Nevertheless, the party had managed to be kept top secret from the birthday boy.
Almost everybody in the wizarding world was invited to the party. Well, everybody that was at least on speaking terms with the party-throwers, of course. That included the entire Order of the Phoenix, most of the Gryffindors in Harry's year, friends of Marauders when they were back in school and the teaching staff at Hogwarts. Professor Trelawny, the Divinations teacher, was not invited though. Neither Sirius nor Remus was keen to risk having the supposed seer predicting everybody's death at the party.
Remus leaned back against the arms around him and smiled; taking in the work they had done with the decorations. A large banner hung over the dining table, the flashing red and gold words of 'Happy 13th Birthday, Harry!' painted magically across the cloth. With Dumbledore's help, the ceiling of the dining room was enchanted to look like the sky outside, just like the way the Hogwarts Great Hall was like. Candles were placed around the house, ready to be lit with a quick flick of the wand. The place was set for the party the next day, invitations were sent out almost a month ago. Everything was perfect.
Sirius smiled too, and nuzzled into his lover's hair. Remus closed his eyes, turning around slightly so that their lips met in a sweet kiss. After all the trials and tribulations they had to face in this relationship, they finally had everything they wanted, everything that they had been fighting for. The sight of this quiet respite, the feel of being in each other's arms, giving themselves a mental pat for a decoration job well done, nearly brought tears to their eyes. Remus originally thought it was just he, until Sirius took out his wand and turned off the light switches powered by the modern electricity Sirius had installed. The room was suddenly filled only with starlight, moonlight, and the light of love shared.
Remus marveled at how the celestial light caught at the highlights of his lover's dark hair, accenting his already handsome features. He frowned when he saw the unshed tears, raising his hands to want to wipe them away. Sirius caught the hand, shook his head and kiss Remus again, slowly lowering his lover onto the plush carpet.
"I want to make love to you in the moonlight. May I?" Sirius whispered against Remus' soft lips, and then pulled away slightly to watch Remus' reaction. He had only see Remus looking like this once, glowing in the light of the almost full moon, looking so beautiful and vulnerable at the same time. The first time he saw it was when they were fifteen, he thought he must have fallen in love with the boy there and then. Now, as Remus nodded and wrapped his fingers around the long black hair gently, Sirius swore he was falling in love with him all over again.
Permission granted, Sirius allowed himself to be guided down to kiss Remus once more.
"I love you." They had no idea who said it. But it did not matter. They both felt the same anyway.
***
July 31st came silently. Harry sat at the Weasleys' dining table with a frown on his face. Mr. Weasley had just informed him that he would have to return back to Grimmauld Place that night, regardless of whether Sirius and Remus would be in or not, as the family had something on. Drawing bits and pieces of incoherent groaning by the twins, Harry figured it was some sort of magical ritual that bonded the entire family together.
His thirteenth birthday; Harry had thought birthday that year would be different from the many previous birthdays spent with the Dursleys; at least this year he would be spending it with people who actually care that he was turning thirteen. Guess he was wrong. Sirius and Remus did not breathe a word of it when they dropped him off at the Burrow a week ago, nor did they say anything about having Harry back on his birthday. For all you know the lovers might be secretly rejoicing that they would be able to spend the entire week alone with each other, without any pesky teenager around to interrupt them with his demanding needs.
The Weasleys left in the afternoon, with Ginny waving goodbye shyly before she jumped into the fireplace. Harry was left alone in the empty house (well, not unless you count the ghost above Ron's bedroom) to entertain himself. He read the books Percy had lent him once through again and then sat around and brood when there was nothing else to do. By eight at night, he was totally bored and figured it was probably time to go home, praying under his breath that he would not interrupt his guardians in any form of horizontal activity when he arrived.
I should have owled them this morning, Harry mentally chided himself. He removed his spectacles and folded them into his shirt pocket. He shrugged his jacket on, grabbed some of the green sparkling dust from the bag beside the fireplace and threw it into the fire.
"Grimmauld Place," he spoke loudly and flooed.
Traveling by floo sucks. Harry thought, swirling round and round in the green flames and thick black smoke. He never liked this method of travel, probably because he never figured the finesse for it, often landing at his destination in a less than decent condition.
It was the same this time around. Harry coughed and wiped at the dirt on his face, and then gasped, landing on the floor of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place with a 'thud'.
"Really, Harry, anyone would have thought you would know how to travel by floo by now!"
Hermione?
"What? You mean the great Harry Potter never knew how to travel by floo?"
Wait a minute, Seamus?
"Smile for the camera, Harry!" Harry blinked confusedly as a bright white flash enveloped him. Colin Creevey???
When he opened his eyes, all he saw was bright lights all around, and the presence of many, many blurred figures in his living room. Frantically, he retrieved his glasses and put them on.
"Happy Birthday, Harry!" Sirius yelled, smacking a conical birthday hat onto his godson's head, chuckling at the astonished expression on the boy's face.
Harry looked around wildly. The living room of Grimmauld Place had been transformed into a fairyland. A gigantic birthday cake was on a table in the middle of it. Not only so, everybody was there! His schoolmates, his teachers, the Weasley family (Bill included), and some other adults he did not recognize…he stared at his godfather with a look of incredulity on his face.
"How? Do you like it?" Sirius asked.
"Like it? I love it!" He threw his arms around Sirius, a wide grin splitting his face into two. "Did you do it alone?"
"Remus helped, of course. But I did most of the work."
"Well," all heads turned to the kitchen, where Remus had stepped out from with more spaghetti. "That is if you consider work as sitting around and looking pretty."
Harry thought it was obvious that Remus had deliberately dressed up for his party. The robe the brunette had on was the best in his entire wardrobe, possibly the only one that did not look threadbare, or terribly old. The boy could not help but grin, appreciating the effort his guardians had put in for this. How silly he was, to think that they had forgotten all about his birthday when they had something secretly planned all along!
He turned around, wanting to share his stupidity with Hermione when he noticed her frowning and biting on her lower lip, looking from Sirius to Remus and back again.
"What's wrong?" He whispered. But she only shook her head, and walked a few steps up to Sirius, asking him if she could take a look at the collection of books in his library. The dark haired man looked shocked.
"Oh sure," he replied. "But don't you want to party with the rest?" She shook her head again. "If you insist," Sirius shrugged. "It's the fifth room from the left, on the third level. You can read anything you want, but stay away from the Dark Arts books. Some of them may be cursed. I haven't gotten around to sorting through them yet."
Harry watched his best friend nod and dash up the steps, a determined expression on her face, and wondered what extracurricular project had she accepted from one of the teachers again.
***
She sat alone in the near darkness, nervously flipping through a book, guided only by a dim candlelight. It must be here somewhere, and she had to find out. Nobody would believe her if she did not show them some proof. Likelihood was that she would not believe her hypothesis if she was not proven right.
Unknown to her, a single dark figure was slowly making his way towards her, moving soundlessly across the thick carpet that covered the floor of the library. The room was dark, but even without the candle, he could see clearly where she was.
"Here it is!" Hermione exclaimed loudly, scanning through the large chunk of text quickly. There it was…all written in black and white…so she was right…the girl let out a gasp, tearing out the page of the book, wanting to bring it downstairs. Surely Sirius would not mind, not when the issue was as important as this.
"Found anything?" She spun around at the familiar voice, a hand over her heart to calm her racing heart. He could probably hear her heart beating loudly against her ribcage. Slowly, she got her breathing back to normal, only to speed up again when she saw it.
The smooth silver barrel of a gun shone in the darkness, reflecting the wee light from the candle flame.
"You wouldn't. They will hear you if you do."
The figure shrugged, casting a quick glance at the Uzi in his hand.
"What can I say?" He smiled. "I've got it modified into a silencer." The smile on his face grew wider. "And well, the party's in full swing. I don't think they can hear you…" he looked around the room, absently tracing some vague pattern on the carpet with his feet. "Not when the carpet hides the noise."
She had all the reasons in the world to be afraid. Inwardly, she knew he was right. Even with the party downstairs, the library they were in was like a dimension cut off from the rest. Even when she first walked in, she had wondered if there was a silencing spell cast over the room. Now she knew better, mentally cursing Sirius for indulging in modern carpeting and having a library on the third level.
Looking around she weighed her chances of escape. Perhaps if she could make it to the door in time and scream…
Hermione had no chance of completing that thought. A soft bang had ended it for her. Rising the gun, he clocked the safety back on, blowing away the smoke from the barrel theatrically.
He crossed the distance between him and the corpse, retrieving the torn piece of paper from the girl's clenched fist, and held it over the flame.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" he whispered, crumbling the ashes in his hand, ignoring the sting of the fire. He picked up the book from where Hermione had dropped it and put it back onto its shelve. "Put out the light…" he blew out the candle with a light huff. "And put out the light."
***
"Hermione sure is taking her own sweet time," Ron commented, looking up again over at the landing for any sight of his other best friend. Beside him, Harry grinned, patting the redhead casually on the back.
"You know the way she is, Ron. She spends hours in the library."
"Yes…but still…"
Remus walked over to where the boys were, placing a gentle hand on Harry's shoulders with a smile.
"Harry," the brunette started. "Do you want to cut the cake now?"
The dark haired boy frowned, checking the time on his watch. It was about time for the cake. Any longer and it would have been past midnight. It would have been the first of August instead of his birthday. They should really cut the cake soon. But…
"Hermione is not back yet."
"I'll get her!" Ginny volunteered, thrusting her drink and plate of food over to her brother and ran up the stairs. Harry watched her take two steps at once; pounding up the two sets of stairs and disappeared into the corridor. A few seconds later, they heard her scream.
"GINNY!" The Weasley brothers exclaimed at once. Sirius looked up from where he was talking to Arabella and caught Remus' eyes. His lover gave him a worried frown, and the whole lot of them rushed up the stairs at once, with Harry in the lead.
They found her standing outside the open door to the library, face hidden behind her eyes, shoulders shaking as she sobbed uncontrollably. Harry shook her lightly, and followed her finger as she pointed…
…At the limp body of Hermione on the floor of the carpet…
The originally light gray carpeting was stained dark red with blood. Remus pushed through the crowd from behind, running straight into the library to turn the body over. Hermione's eyes were wide open, her mouth slightly parted as if in mid-scream. The gunshot wound in her chest poured copious amount of blood onto the carpet and Remus' robe, dyeing his Sunday best into red. Remus gritted his teeth as he placed a hand over the girl's eyes, gently nudging the eyes close.
"Why…why didn't we hear anything…" Lee Jordan choked. Nobody knew how to answer him, so they all looked over to the one who could. Sirius entered the room, placing a comforting hand on his lover's shoulder, knowing how hard he was for him to see one of his best students dead. Behind him, some of the students were already crying, the teachers were trying their best to keep tears in check. When he answered, the reply came as barely a whisper.
"This room was soundproof…" Sirius looked away. Of course it was. His ancestors had made sure the walls were made with wood sandwiched between two thick layers of cement; the floor was carpeted with the thickest fabric available, and it was the room most removed from the rest of the house.
It was a library, and libraries were meant to be silent. They had not counted on having a murder committed there unknown to the rest of the world.
***
Harry's thirteenth birthday passed without the symbolic cutting of the cake and the singing of the birthday song. Not that he particularly cared. He still felt like twelve as he tucked his legs under his chin, staring out at muggle London from his room window. His birthday was his best friend's death day. How ironic…he thought, as he dashed a hand across his eyes again, wincing slightly from the pain in his red and puffy eyes.
He did not care that boys should not cry. In his humble opinion, anyone who had lost a best friend would have cried like this. She…he could not even bring himself to say her name now…was murdered! In his own home! If he ever found out who the culprit was, he would tear him or her from limb to limb without any hesitation.
Of course, he could not say that to Sirius, who had promised to step up on the investigations with the other Aurors. He would keep things from him if he knew about Harry's vengefulness. And Harry would not want that to happen. Whoever that bastard was, he wanted to know.
Remus came into his room frequently after that night, not saying anything but just sitting down there on his bed, listening to him cry, offering a shoulder to cry on whenever he felt like he needed one. In a way, Harry was grateful for that. He did not want anybody to grind him about how he was feeling, which he thought for certain that Sirius would have done so.
If not for Remus who had sternly instructed for the man to stay away from his godson if he had nothing better to say than 'how do you feel'.
Tomorrow; the Hogwarts letter had already came for him. Tomorrow Remus would bring him over to Diagon Alley to get his books and other school supplies. Unlike previous years, Harry felt no excitement at all, no reason to look forward to a brand new year at Hogwarts.
Without Hermione, Hogwarts would never be the same again.
***
End of Chapter 3
Continue to Chapter 4
