Disclaimer - It's not mine. It never was.
A/N - Okay, this is the last chappy for a few days, until I can get the next few written. I'll get back to you guys later.
Bye,
A.A.
Awakening
Sable had just finished packing the last few clothing items she would need and was turning down the hallway in her house that led to the kitchen when she heard a scream come from the living room. Not knowing what was happening, she turned around and began sprinting to the other end of the house. Random thought began passing through her mind. Thoughts of an attack on the house was most prevalent. But she reasoned that Dumbledore had set up enough protection barriers to keep them safe. But it wasn't enough apparently. As she turned the corner, she saw a black hooded figure pick up James by the throat and throw him against the wall. His body slumped to the floor and became completely limp as blood began to flow out of his mouth.
"Sable!!!!" yelled Remus from somewhere behind her, "GET OUT OF HERE!!! VOLDEMORT'S SENT DEATH EATERS TO KIDNAP YOU!!!! GET OUT NOW!!!" Sable looked around and saw that Sirius was lying on the couch in a pool of blood, and she froze to the spot. She noticed that Lily was crouched next to James, trying to wake him up, but failing. The Head Girl looked close to death herself. The closest Death Eater pointed his wand at her and began muttering an incantation. She felt herself fly out from in front of the curse and land on the floor. The curse never hit. On top of her lay the beaten form of Remus Lupin.
"Remus, what's going on here?" she asked, scared. His face was bloody and there were bruises starting to form on his arms.
"Sable, I don't know. But you've got to get out of here!" he rasped. "They've come to take you to Voldemort."
"But I won't go." she said. "I'm not leaving you guys here to die!"
"I know you don't want to." he said, pushing himself up off of the floor, "But I would rather see you alive and living the life of a death eater, than dead because I couldn't protect you." Sable saw the blood that had stained his t-shirt from the cuts and gashes he had receive.
"Remus, if I ever was a Death Eater, I would be dead." she said sadly. She felt herself being yanked forcefully up from the floor and threw towards the door. The tallest of the two death eaters grabbed Remus and threw him to the ground, taking advantage of his weakened state and taking his wand in the process. Sable's hands were quickly bound and she was pushed out of the way. The other cloaked figure looked around at the bloody forms and laughed a cruel high laugh.
"I hope you like what we have done to your friends, Sable." he smirked. "Because this is exactly what is going to happen to you if we don't get some cooperation out of you soon."
"You wouldn't touch me." she stated venomously. "Voldemort wants me in one piece and unharmed. You leave so much as a mark on me, and let him see it, and you'll wish you'd had the Crucatious Curse put on you!!" The Death Eater lowered his hood and she was not really surprised to see Severus Snape standing in front of her.
"Ah, yes. I'd forgotten how much of a sassy little bitch you can be." he said, "The Master does want you in one piece. However, he didn't say that the same principle applied to this rag tag bunch." Snape walked over to Remus and kicked him hard in the ribs. Remus looked up nodded gravely to her, mouthing the words 'I love you.' to her.
"Say goodbye to your little boyfriend." he said. "I never did like this bunch. They were all much below my station; except for you, of course." Sable struggled against her captor, but was not strong enough to escape.
"Leave'em alone Snape!!" she screamed. "They've done nothing to you!"
"They've made my job much more harder than needed." he said. "Besides, the Master said not to leave any witnesses. And I intend to finish my job. As you know, I am very thorough in my work." He pulled his wand out and prepared to cast a spell. Sable was completely distraught. She pulled and pulled, trying to free herself from the other man.
"Hold still little lassie," he chuckled. "I think you may actually enjoy the show. I know I will."
"You sick bastards." she spat. "How could you do this to people?"
"Easy." Snape said. "Like this." He muttered a curse and a green light flashed in the room, forcing her to try and shield her eyes. The twin laughs of cruelty rang through the room as Sable began to understand the price her friends had just paid for her.
******************************************************************************
Sable jerked awake as the green light exploded in her head. She quickly sat up in her bed and stared around to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Her head was covered in beads of sweat and her breathing was labored, if not forced at times. She laid her hand over her heart and noticed the rapid, but constant, thudding sound. 'Well, at least I'm not dead.' she thought cynically. She looked around the room and noticed that evening was drawing to a close. The sun would be setting in about a half hour, and it would be dark. The darkness was already beginning to overtake her room.
"Are you alright?" came the soft voice of Remus. Sable looked to her right and blinked, confused.
"You're still here?" she asked, surprised. He only nodded and grinned.
"I fell asleep." he said sheepishly. "Are you alright? What happened? You just started moaning and groaning in your sleep. I thought you were sick or something." Sable shook her head and frowned.
"Bad dream." she said simply. Remus nodded and looked around, trying to find something to calm her down. "Oh, God!" she said, "Remus, what time is it?"
"It's about seven in the evening. Why?" he asked.
"Where's everyone else at?" She asked, searching the room for any signs of the others. She noticed that her door had been shut. 'Oh God, I hope they're alright!!' she thought. Remus noticed that she was getting even more upset.
"Hey, calm down." he said. "They're probably downstairs in the game room." Sable jumped out of her bed and went to the door. Remus followed and was soon down the stairs. "Slow down, Sable!" he said, "They are fine. Dumbledore had barriers put around your house by the Ministry. If anything or anyone other than us tries to get in, we'll know." Sable seemed to realize that there really was no point in arguing, since he was right. She slowed her descent on the stairs and waited for Remus to catch up. They finished coming down that stairs and turned the corner that led into the kitchen.
Lily was sitting at the kitchen table with Sirius and James. The boys were sitting in front of a large plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, devouring them at a rate that Sable thought was completely inhumane. She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen.
"You're not hungry, are you guys?" she asked sweetly. Lily looked up and grinned. The boys only nodded and continued to eat. "I'll take that as a yes."
"How long have we been asleep?" Remus asked, stifling a huge yawn.
"About four hours." Lily said. She got up from the chair and went to the refrigerator, pulling out a pitcher of water. "I hope you don't mind us scrounging around for something to eat, Sable." she said. "The boys were hungry and we didn't want to leave you and Remus here by yourselves." Sable shook her head and shrugged.
"Nah, you're welcome to it." she said, grabbing a sandwich off of the plate. "Of course there probably isn't much to choose from."
"It's okay." Sirius said through a mouthful of sandwich, "If there is food around, we'll find it."
"Yeah, that's one of the normalities in life." Remus chuckled. "If there is food, Sirius and James will find it." Lily shook her head.
"Hey, we're growing boys." James said, munching on a mouth full of food. Lily shook her head and frowned.
"Yeah, growing boys with no manners." she said. "James, chew your food up before you speak. It's disgusting to see pieces of half masticated bread coming out of your mouth when you speak." Sirius looked confused and James only shook his head.
"Pieces of what kind of bread?" they asked. Sable rolled her eyes and put a hand on the shoulders of the boys.
"Don't worry about it, boys." she said sweetly. "Just mind your manners and momma Lily won't correct you again." The boys seemed to cheer up and Sable grinned at Lily. Remus had sat down and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and was now in the process of eating like the other two. Sable and Lily walked into the living room and sat down in chairs.
"Have you finished packing what you needed?" Lily asked. Sable nodded and looked out the window.
"Yeah, I'm finished." she said quietly. " There was only a few things I wanted to get anyways. I finished packing them and went into my room to get something. Remus and I got into a discussion about old times and we both wound up asleep." Lily only smiled in understanding.
"Well, we let you guys sleep. I think you both needed it."
"You're right, we did." she said. "Or, at least I did. I don't know about Remus."
"It didn't hurt him. I promise. He's been worried sick about you since everything happened. It did him some good to get some rest." The two girls smiled and turned to hear the crashing of cups in the kitchen. Sable jumped up and ran back in. She found Remus sitting at the table, finishing his food and James and Sirius rummaging through the cabinets.
"What are you looking for?" Sable asked.
"Cups." they answered. Lily walked in and laughed.
"Have you tried looking on the floor?" she asked. There was half a dozen broken cups littering the floor at Sirius' feet.
"Ooops." He said. Lily grabbed a broom out of the corner and swept the broken glass up off of the floor. When she had finished, she turned to the boys.
"So, are we ready to get back to Sirius' place?" she asked. Everyone nodded and stood up, ready to go.
"Hold on a second. Let me go get my suitcase." Sable said, running up the stairways. She walked up to her parent's room and grabbed the suitcase. She drug it down the stairs and plopped it onto the floor. "Ready." she said. They left out of the house, Sable locking the door behind them and hiding the key under the rug outside the house. James noticed this and smirked.
"Real original, Sable." he said. "Hiding it under the door mat." Sable just shrugged and smiled.
"Hey, use what works." was all she said before stepping down from the steps and heading for Sirius' house down the road.
∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇∇
That evening flew by in a blur for Sable. When they made it back to Sirius' house, dinner was ready and waiting for them. They ate and took showers before settling down for the night. Sable and Lily were sharing a bathroom, and Sable was the last one to take a shower. As she came into the lavish bedroom, she noticed that it was starting to snow outside. 'Guess the bad weather decided to follow us.' she thought. She toweled off her hair and dried it with a spell. Putting on her warm pajamas that consisted of a long sleeved blue flanneled shirt and matching pants, she went outside onto the balcony. Her thoughts had turned to her friends and family this evening after she awoke from that horrible dream, and she needed some time alone. She cast a lighting charm and watched as small orbs of white light began to float to the four corners of the little balcony, bathing it in a soft glow. It was cold outside and she quickly went back in to put on some slippers and grab a blanket and a book she had been reading. She sat down on the chair and looked out over the grounds of the Black Estates one last time before turning back to her book.
Remus went to find Sirius after finishing his shower and putting on his clothes. He found his dark haired friend crouched over a box of gadgets in his room Remus entered and sat down beside him.
"What you got there, Sirius?" he asked. Sirius beamed and pulled out a handful of fireworks.
"They're a new type of Filibuster Fireworks." he grinned. "Guaranteed to scare the living daylights out of anyone within a hundred meter radius of the explosion." Remus looked a little dubious, but said nothing. He could tell that the little wheels in Sirius' mind was reeling with the unexpected work of figuring out a plan to use the new pranking devices. When he got like this, it was impossible to get him to talk about anything else. Remus did not feel like getting caught up in a plan to prank the other Houses. 'Not now, anyways.' He exited the room and walked down the hallway to where Sable and Lily's rooms were.
He walked up to the door to Sable's room and knocked. No answer. 'Where is she at?' He tried the doorknob and found that it was unlocked. He needed to talk to her, and now was as good a time as ever. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, feeling as though he was intruding into her space, even though it was Sirius' house. He did a quick glance around the room and noted that she was not near. He was about to go look for her when he heard a noise from the balcony. It was Sable's voice. He quietly walked over to the sliding glass doors and pulled the tapestry back. She was sitting on a chair, wrapped up in a blanket and reading some book. He pulled the glass doors back and walked out onto the balcony.
Sable said nothing since she already knew who it was. The heightened senses still hadn't gone away yet. She continued to read her book. As she came to a familiar passage, she read it aloud.
"The emergence of this concealed, basic wildness is the theme of the book: the struggle between Ralph, the representative of civilizations with his parliaments and his brain trust (Piggy, the intellectual whose shattering spectacles mark the progressive decay of rational influence as the story progresses), and Jack, in whom the spark of wildness burns hotter and closer to the surface than in Ralph and who is the leader of the forces of anarchy on the island, is also, of course, the struggle in modern society between those same forces translated onto a worldwide scale." William Goldstein on his novel, Lord of the Flies
She turned to face Remus with a sad expression on her face.
"Goldstein was right, you know. He hit closer to home than he realized." she said sadly, closing the book and looking out over the grounds. Remus stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"How so." he asked.
"Our world is broken, Remus. Broken into pieces. I have a feeling that our world, the wizarding world, is about to begin a struggle that will last for many years to come. Pretty soon, there will be an all out war between the good and evil sides of the world........of our world." Remus blanched and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. He didn't know what had put her into such a melancholy mood, but it must have been serious.
"Don't talk like that, Sable." he said, taking her hand, "Nothing is going to happen to us." Sable just shook her head.
"It's already started, Remus. Stop and look." she said quietly. "The struggle between Good and Evil has begun. People like Ralph, Dumbledore and McGonagall for instance, will lead the Good. While this mysterious wizard who calls himself Voldemort will lead the Evil. Like Jack in this book, Voldemort is the force of anarchy. The one who will rebel and try to make a gathering of sadistic, blood thirty savages to do his bidding. The decay of our society into chaos and uncertainty is slowly progressing with each attack on a Muggle or a wizard . The drive for power will keep this Voldemort going for a long time." She looked over to Remus through her bleary eyes. "What can we do to stop it, Remus?" She turned from him and wrapped herself tighter into her blanket, trying to fend off the cold that had seeped through.
"Sable, Goldstein understood human nature when he wrote Lord of the Flies." he reminded her. "He knew that people get power hungry and strive to be the best. He realized that ambition can be a useful trait. But he also realized that it can be a burden. In the end, those who rebelled see the light, and the error of their ways. They are rescued from their island Hell by the cruiser. Even Goldstein knew that Good will ultimately triumph and save the ones who are strong and stand up for what they believe in. The ones who will not back down from a fight will be rewarded in the end, no matter how long it may take."
"But at what costs, Remus?" she asked, wiping away a stray tear that had escaped her eyes. "How many people must die before Good triumphs? How many good people will give up their lives to protect the morals and values that they believe in, the people they love?" Remus realized then and there that she was not talking about society as a whole. She was talking about losing her parents.
"Your not going to lose your parents, Sable." he said. "They are in good hands. The doctor knows what he is doing, and they are safe in St. Mungos."
"I know that." she said. "But I'm not worried so much about them anymore. I'm worried about us."
"I don't understand." he said slowly.
"Remus, because of what you and I are. We are prime targets for Death Eaters, especially me. The attack on us a few days ago should be enough to prove that."
"You mean the lycanthropy."
"Yes. Werewolves are still considered creatures of the Dark side. And I see no way of changing that opinion in the near future."
"I still don't understand." he said slowly. He was afraid that she was about to go over the deep end of something. She never talked like this, and he did not like what he was hearing.
"Remus," she said slowly, "I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me. You, Sirius, and James nearly got torn to pieces because of something that should have never concerned you. Dumbledore can't protect me for the rest of my life. If I was gone from Hogwarts, there would be one less reason for the Death Eaters to be near the school." Remus jumped up from his seat and stared blankly at her.
"You did not just say that!" he said violently, realizing she was talking about leaving. "You are not leaving us!!"
"Remus, I don't want to see any of you hurt. They are after me, not the rest of you." she pleaded, trying to make him see reason.
"That doesn't matter! You can't leave us!" he said loudly. "You'll be in more danger away from us than when you're with us."
"I'm putting everyone else at that school in danger by being there." she said quietly.
"Sable, please. Don't do this." he pleaded. "There has got to be another way."
"This is the only other way, Remus." she conceded, tears beginning to stream down her face. "I've thought of everything possible; I don't know of anything else."
"So your just going to get up and leave?" he asked sarcastically. His anger was starting to mount, and it was obvious. He was getting scared that she would actually leave them again. Sable nodded. "Even after what you said about us this evening before you fell asleep in your room, next to me. After we both admitted to what we said to each other a month ago. Your just going to give everything up and run. Leave everyone, even me?" Sable shook her head in frustration.
"Remus, I don't want to take a chance............." she began, but he interrupted her.
"Sable, don't you understand that life is nothing but a chance." he said. He pulled her up from the chair and hugged her. "Every time you step out of your house, you take a chance. You never know when you will take your last breath, so be happy while you can. Life is too short to spend it alone and unhappy, you know that as well as I do. Everyone will die; that is unavoidable. But, to me, it's better to have lived a life with people who love and respect you than to spend it cowering behind fears. You took a chance with the Marauders when you first met us seven years ago. I am not about to back down when you need me the most. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" She nodded in defeat. There really was no hole in his logic. She wasn't going to win this fight, and she knew it. 'Besides, I don't think I could ever really leave them. Not again.' she thought.
"Yeah, I think I do." she muttered. "Basically, I'm in over my head. Right?"
"More than you know."
"So does this mean I need to cancel those plane tickets to America I had on order for after the holidays?" she asked with a grin. Remus smiled at her.
"If you don't, then I am." he said. "And if you don't, do you honestly think I wouldn't go to the States and drag you back here?"
"I wouldn't put it past you." she grinned. She turned and grabbed her wand from the table. With a swish, the little orbs of light disappeared and darkness covered the balcony. She grabbed Remus' hand and led him back into the warm confines of her bedroom. She deposited her blanket and book on the bed and shut the glass doors. Remus sat down on the big four poster bed and held his arms out to her. She smiled and sat down next to him, returning the warm embrace. They stayed like that for a while, before Remus decided that it was time to sleep. He got up from the bed and Sable looked up to him.
"Don't go, Remus." she asked. "Stay here with me, please."
"Sable, are you sure that's a good idea." he questioned. "This is Sirius' house after all." Sable shrugged and grinned.
"You're the one that said let'em talk." she teased. "And it probably is not a good idea. But it makes me feel better. It's easier to go to sleep when someone's with me. Makes me feel safer." Remus grinned and went back to her.
"Then that's a good enough reason for me." They climbed into the big bed and were soon asleep again, holding onto each other for dear life for the second time that day.
A/N - Okay, fluffy little moment there at the end, but I couldn't help it. It kind of wrote itself.
Anyway, please remember to review. I want to know what you guys are thinking.
The next few chapters should be out in a few days. So, until then,
Later,
A.A.
Oh, and I don't own the rights to the book Lord of the Flies. That belongs to whatever company published it.
