I hope you are not under the impression that I am making any money off of this. 'Cause I ain't an' I would if I owned it but I don', so I'm broke.
RivanKnight you are wonderful (in the background are heard the pleas of flamers being tortured) The use of a good thick pillow and a strong whack with it up-side the head is music to my ears. TEN POINTS TO SLYTHERIN! For aggressively defending your house's honour.
Sunna was hyper. The pic is relevant to sub-chapter 42 http: //www .side7. com /cgi-bin /S7SDB /DisplayImg.pl? INO =259386
Chapter Forty-one:
Sirius didn't have much to do all day. The rest of the school was off limits, for obvious reasons, and he couldn't even leave his rooms while Snape had classes. Someone, for some reason, might step into the hall and catch him. Remus had gotten him several books and he was spending most of his time just reading and sleeping. It was proving harder on his nerves to stay in hiding than it had to stay on the run.
He heard the dinner gong sound and crept out his door into the hall that connected his and Remus' rooms to the rest of the dungeon. The halls of the dungeon were at best poorly lit, it hadn't taken long for him to learn his way to Lupin's door with out risking a Lumos. This time instead of heading for his friend's sitting room though, he softly padded his way toward Snape's classroom.
There was a slight sound of a shoe scraping on the stones, Black drew back into the shadows and waited to see who was missing dinner to visit the dungeons. Albus was the last person that he expected to see, and decided to follow him. 'Everything I've been reading about Plasti-juice says that Snape will have to get his next dose soon. If the six hour intervals are arranged the way I think they are. So what is Albus doing? Checking up on him?'
Albus knocked on the closed classroom door and got only a muffled, Go away. "Severus?" A long empty pause. "Severus what happened?"
The door opened and the blue eyed Snape leaned against the frame. His robe fell open to reveal the Garom uniform he still wore. "Nothing happened. I lost control for a second. I didn't kill anyone and he doesn't know. So nothing happened." A single eye defied both of the Headmaster's.
"Severus," he sighed, there was nothing more that could be said, so he changed the subject, "He needs to eat."
"That isn't my concern. Basic life functions are up to him. If that's all." He shut the door and Albus slowly walked back up the stairs.
'I was right about it?!' Sirius waited to hear the upstairs door shut then he crossed the hall and tested the Potions room door. It was unlocked so he cautiously opened it enough to squeeze past closing it as quietly as possible. It was in Snape's office and had left the door open. 'No this is too farfetched, I can't be right. I'm just going stir crazy.' He tiptoed to the open door and stopped just short of the pool of light on the floor.
It was sitting at Snape's desk with a band of cloth tied tightly around Its left bicep, one end still in Its teeth. Sirius watched as It pulled out a drawer on the other side of the desk and brought out something that he couldn't see from the doorway. The clock struck the hour and It fished in a pocket bringing out a small bottle. It took a sip and replaced the phial in Its pocket.
"Just a few hours," It spoke seemingly to Its self. "All I need is a few hours. " As It spoke It shifted on the chair so that Its left arm was laying on the desktop. "He asked this of me and I have to."
This provided Sirius with a clear view of what was going on. A small black case was what had been taken from the drawer. 'Harry mentioned a black case.' It deftly withdrew a modern syringe and filled it with a clear liquid from a bottle that had also been in the case. The fine needle easily slid into one of the swollen blue veins in Its left forearm, just down from the wrist. There was not even a flicker as the plunger was pushed and the drug was released.
-Bang-Bang-Bang-
The three solid knocks at the door made them both jump. Jerking the needle from his arm he spun to face the door and found Sirius Black staring at him. "Well? Get out of sight," he jerked a thumb at the wardrobe on the other side of the office, untied the rag/tourniquet, and moved to answer the door.
Serius stared for a moment, shocked, but as It pushed past him to get to the door he snapped out of it and ran to hide in the large cupboard amid the spare potion robes and safety smocks.
Because of the holes in his shirt he had only needed to push back the sleeve of his robe. Tugging the sleeve down and throwing the needle to the Expunge in the fireplace he opened the door and tried to act annoyed, rather than scared spitless. "Lupin," he was more than a little relieved that it wasn't the Headmaster. Moving aside, to allow entrance, he still managed to put a little bite behind his words, "It's the Werewolf, you can come out now."
The three faced each other a bit awkwardly. Sirius was slightly embarrassed that Lupin found him out of the safe zone of their corridor, and hiding in Snape's wardrobe. Remus really had no reason to be there at all except his curiosity over the uniform that It still wore and the impossibly powerful display of unframed magic that he had witnessed earlier. And 'Snape' was jittery because of the hit he had just taken.
He watched them watch each other and him, "I did say I would be leaving after dinner," he broke the standoff.
"Yah," Sirius grasped at the exit line, "Remus lets go, we can eat in your quarters." He grabbed Lupin's arm and tried to steer him toward the door.
"Just a minute," Lupin jerked his arm back, "I want to know where you got those clothes."
He winked, "I don't understand."
"I mean it all matches, I've never even heard of anyone having a complete matching set. Where did you find it?"
Sirius was waiting by the door and trying to act as impatient as possible.
"I still don't understand, what are you talking about?" he shifted slightly and the silvery buckles twinkled.
"Remus, something is getting lost in the translation, let's go." Sirius called, making a show of stepping out the door.
Frustrated, Remus grabbed the edge of Snape's robe and pulled it back, the Garom harness fairly sparkled in the torchlight, "I want to know where you got that," he jabbed with a finger at a strap that crossed Its chest.
With a snarl he slapped Lupin's hand away, in that brief instant of physical contact a levee was broken. Warmth, the same warmth as before, was tingling his fingertips. "I understand," it was a choked whisper. "I understand, but it- it has no form no substance." Dazedly he stepped away from Lupin. "I have always had this. It was mine, from the time before. That is all that I know, I feel more, but the rest doesn't have words." He headed for the Headmaster's office; something's just couldn't be avoided.
~
After dinner and his trip to the Library, Neville finally screwed up the courage to visit Snape in the dungeon. No one was there.
~
Remus shook his head again, "No. I'm telling you, it's impossible. You're crazy."
Sirius hit the table with his palm, "And I'm telling you, I'm right It is a Garom."
"Are you seriously suggesting that Albus Dumbledore has managed to hide a live Garom in the dungeons of England's premier school for Magic, for the past five-hundred years?!"
They had finished eating well before the food was gone. Once Sirius had mentioned his theory, their appetites were forgotten. Remus' knowledge of the Dark Arts was getting in the way of his accepting the ludicrous proposition. Sirius wasn't helping; he saw it as a matter of trusting their friendship.
The door chime sounded and Sirius reflexively ducked into the loo while Remus answered the door.
Remus opened the door to a cringing one-eyed Snape, or the counterfeit, it was impossible to tell until he/it unsquinted.
"Why can't you put your ears to better use? A bleeding Werewolf and he can't even hear a body pounding at the door. Are you two ready or what? It's not like I've got all night." He tilted his head to look Remus in the eye.
'Blue eyes, well one at least.' Lupin stepped back and held the door, "Sirius was going to transfigure some robes into Muggle clothes, come on in he'll just be a minute."
Sirius had one of his rare bouts of good timing and called from another room that he was done with the alterations and would Remus get his tail into the new clothes so they could go?
Chapter Forty-two:
Leaning into the wall across from the hidden door he pealed an orange while he waited. He had just gotten the last of the skin off, when they joined him in the hall. He ate one section while looking them over.
Sirius had on a nice fitting pair of black slacks a caramel colored turtleneck and a black blazer. He had also managed to make himself a pair of fashionable mirrored sunglasses.
Lupin was wearing boot-cut blue jeans and a quietly plaid button-down shirt, with the sleeves pushed up and the neck open to show the white long-sleeve T-shirt underneath. His sandy colored hair was tied back into a ponytail. He looked rather uncomfortable, but was trying to hide it.
He tossed them each an orange that he pulled from a robe pocket, "Here, you'll want to start those now." He headed down the hall before they could comment.
Remus quickly ate his piece of fruit, but Sirius was being stubborn. They had gone further than was advisable into the depths of the dungeons and the familiar atmosphere of darkness and potential for danger began to give way to something a great deal more Gothic.
"Black I suggest that you eat the orange. The Morlocks barely honour the treaty as it is. If you don't eat the orange I can only protect your life. If all they want to do is bed you…" he near physically raked his eye over Sirius' form, "I can't lift a finger to stop them." He turned to stare at a patch of slightly slimy wall. The bricks that were under his scrutiny began to shift, slowly at first, but more quickly as he continued to focus. An arched entrance (not unlike the one in The Leaky Cauldron) appeared before them.
"Morlocks?" Sirius quickly tore apart the peal and began to eat the fruit.
They hadn't gone far into the new passage when he halted again. "Lupin," he turned on the Werewolf. "If you don't stop walking like that, I'll leave you here."
Remus paled.
"Not in the tunnel. I'll take you back to the dungeon."
"I'm not used to such tight clothes," Remus sounded pathetic and Sirius laughed around his mouthful of orange.
His laugh echoed against the stones, but instead of getting quieter it got louder and turned to a cacophony of cackles and hoots.
"We could help the pretty-pretty with his tight clothes," a sickeningly eager voice called from a tunnel to their right.
"Thanks so much for the offer Shunt," one blue eye sparked. "But he is my pretty-pretty and I don't share." He grabbed a fistful of black jacket and white undershirt and pulled them both along. "They are covered by the treaty that your people took with the Lady Door, and you don't want to break that, with me."
~
They were followed for the rest of their trip through the tunnels. The Morlocks never approached them as closely as that first time, but they weren't far.
~
A smallish basement door that had been locked was all that stood between them and Hogsmead now. He had made short work of forcing the lock, it was getting easier with practice, and he waited until the other two had cleaned themselves up before opening the door.
"So, Morlocks live under the streets of Hogsmead?" Sirius remarked.
"We need to get to the port-booth without attracting another mob of spectators. You had better have learned from your last mistake," he checked both ways on the road and led the way out into the sleeping village. "There are Ministry agents here who would like nothing better than to catch you Black, and I have no treaty to beg off of with them."
~
All muggle telephone booths have a number. This is so that if, for some insane reason, a psychopath from the movies wants to play phone tag with the police, they can. It is utterly useless in nearly any other situation to memorize the phone number for a public booth. Some public phone booths though are not just phone booths they are also port-booths. Memorizing the number to a port-booth is immensely useful and has many helpful applications.
He calmly picked up the receiver and, after checking for a dial tone, began to punch in a long series of numbers. All the while his left eye kept tracking the ministry agent across the square. Lupin was trying to act like he was waiting to meet someone. Black, because of his dark jacket and slacks, was trying to blend in with the shadows without looking like he was trying to hide in the shadows.
'Black looks like he just crawled out of Knock Turn and Lupin looks like he's waiting for a hooker. They're gonna get themselves arrested before I can even get them to the Raven.' The line picked up and he dropped the receiver so that it hung by its cord.
Sirius ambled over and picked it up checking for the dial tone. As they had arranged before hand all he needed to do was hit the star key. The receiver to his ear, there was the familiar pull like with a port-key. Then he was in another booth, an ocean away from Remus and the thing that he was sure was a Garom.
For some reason he was slightly surprised to find that the sun was still fairly high on the horizon. 'Real smart Sirius, of course it's not as late here, it's only like five hours difference.'
Not long after Sirius stepped out Remus appeared within the glassy box. "Man I hate those things," he grumbled putting the receiver back on its hook and joining Sirius on the sidewalk.
"So, this is Toronto," Remus said after a few minutes.
"Yah," Sirius was getting tired of the noise of the Muggle automobiles.
When he finally appeared, he had changed his robes into a long midnight-green duster jacket. A black shirt was some how tucked into black jeans so tight they looked painted on. The scarf tied around his head (and over his bruised eye) was green and silver. To top it off he still had the gloves, boots, and collar from his Garom uniform.
As he stepped out of the booth he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and looked up and down the street, checking the traffic and pedestrians. 'Everything looks right. Now all I've gotta do, is keep them busy till Janet opens her doors for the night.'
They were staring at him and he let them. When he finally turned to them his face was as blank as if he were in a coma. "Well," the word slipped from his throat like a thin trail of smoke on a soft breeze. "We have a few hours to kill." He looked back down the street, his every move was lazily indifferent, "You wanna see what trouble we can get into before sunset or would you rather just lay low?"
"Exactly what kind of place is the Raven," Remus asked uncertainly.
He slowly blinked a few times before it sank in, "Oh, you mean," he looked down at his own attire with the shade of a grin. "Janet runs a respectable place. I'm not at all dressed properly for it." He watched a plainclothes officer approach a drug dealer and as the cop was cuffing the scanky punk he asked again, "So, what ya wanna do?"
"Where would we go if we said we wanted to get some trouble?"
Sirius was challenging him, and it was so stupid it was funny, but there was too much to pay attention to, to take the time to laugh. "A crackhouse I know of down the street."
"And if we want to lay low?"
"We go for ice-cream."
Lupin broke in, "What's a crack house?"
He led the way down the street as Sirius explained what little he knew of the Muggle drug scene.
They spent the next hour or so, sitting in a small diner eating the house specialty, triple fudge choco-mint Sundays. The two Gryffindor alumni sat on one side of the table, Sirius had tried to get the seat that faced the door but he stole it.
Slouching in his chair he watched them eat, he hadn't ordered anything, and watched the other customers as they ate.
"What do you see?" Lupin's quiet question was nearly lost in the ambient noise of the crowded diner.
Softly he answered, "I see eleven bodies that could be used as shields, they wouldn't fight back. The choice would of course depend upon which exit I decided to go for, and there are fourteen exits." His dusky blue eye continued to sweep the area, "I see two people who are carrying guns but only the woman would actually pull hers. Three tables to your right is a mother who abuses her six year old son, and a girl on the far side of the room is too young to be in the relationship that he is about to end. I think she'll get teary eyed and do something stupid and mild in retaliation. A delivery truck just went by for the third time, it's his first week on the job and he doesn't know the back entrance here. I see so many other things… but you wouldn't understand them."
~
They went to a park. Watched a pick-up basketball game, Sirius tried to explain the rules to Remus. They saw a street performer doing magic. Eventually the sun set.