DAMASCUS GATE

CHAPTER SIX-SNEAKING OUT

REMUS.

We looked at Sirius.

"Are you joking?" Lily cried. "We could get into serious trouble!"

"We can use James' Invisibility Cloak, since neither of us can Apparate yet," Sirius continued ignoring Lily's comment.

"You really are crazy," Lily said throwing her hands up into the air. "And where would we start looking huh? We have no idea where she'll be! And aren't you afraid of getting suspended?"

I was silent through this whole thing. I began agreeing with Sirius. I wasn't going to just stand by and not look for Kelly.

"I agree," I said quietly. "Where would we start looking?"

"Thank you!" Lily said relieved.

"Well, I can change into the dog and pick up her scent," Sirius said simply. "We can track her down that way. By using the Invisibility Cloak, no one would see us sneaking out of the castle."

"Sounds good," I said.

Lily looked at me like I was mad.

"You too?" she cried. "I don't believe it."

"You in?" Sirius asked turning to Lily.

"Yeah," Lily grumbled.

"Let's go," Sirius grinned mischievously.

Sirius headed into the boys' dorm and came back with the Invisibility Cloak.

Lily and I huddled close to Sirius and he swung the cloak over us. We snuck out of the common room, down the corridor and out of the school.

The cold night air whipped at us as we crossed the grounds.

We left the grounds and were now out of the vicinity of Hogwarts.

KELLY.

I was chained up against a cold cobblestone wall. I was gagged and blindfolded. My wrists were chained up against my ears. I had no idea where I was, but the smell was so horrible. The place smelled of decay and sour, like churning meat.

I blinked against the darkness of the blindfold.

I heard something coming toward me. I froze and felt my body shaking violently.

"Are you sure this will make him come?" a voice demanded.

It sounded cold and lifeless.

"Oh yes," another voice, horrible familiar said panicky. "He cares very much for this one."

"Very good, Wormtail," the cold voice said.

Peter! I don't believe it! I thought as horror and anger rolled over me. What on earth is going on?

I sensed someone crouching down in front of me and a cold, clammy hand touching the side of my jaw.

"Oh yes," the cold voice crooned. "I can see why. This is a pretty little witch."

"W-What do you want?" I stammered.

"Your friend will join me," the cold voice sneered. "Or else I will kill you."

"Who?"

"The in-human,"

Remus! I thought. Why on earth would someone…Oh. My. God. Lord Voldemort!

"He will join me for the war," Lord Voldemort's voice rasped. "Werewolves are a respectable enemy."

"He will never join you," I said.

"Then you will perish," Lord Voldemort said simply.

He got up and then I heard him walking away.

"Peter! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU, YOU TRAITOR!" I screamed.

There was silence.

REMUS.

Once we were well away from Hogwarts grounds, Sirius slipped off the cloak. He changed into the black dog and trotted alongside us, sniffing eagerly at the ground.

"Do you really think we're going to pick up her scent? I mean if the person portkeyed…" Lily began uncertainly.

"It's worth a try," I said quietly as we walked along.

The cold oddly didn't bother me. But I could see Lily was shivering under her robe.

"I should've worn my cloak," she muttered tightening her robe around her.

"Here," I said as I pulled off my robe and handed it to her, leaving me only in my gray sweater vest with the Gryffindor colors embroided along the V-neckline, my slacks, tie and long sleeved shirt under the vest.

"But you'll get cold!" Lily said shocked.

"I don't feel the cold like you think," I said. "Werewolves are pretty much immune to it."

"Thanks," Lily said gratefully as she pulled my robe around her tighter. "Much better."

As we walked, I was in deep thought about Kelly.

I didn't realize just how much she meant to me until now. She was taken and there was nothing I could've done. I felt completely helpless.

A snow had begun falling, sticking to the ground and our hair.

Sirius began barking suddenly.

"I think he found something!" Lily said shocked.

We were now a mile from Hogwarts.

The black dog vanished and Sirius changed back into his human form.

"I found her scent," he said eagerly. "Whoever portkeyed out of Hogwarts landed here and continued on foot from here."

"Where are we?" I asked confused.

"I think Oxfordshire," Sirius said stunned. "Or on the outskirts. I know there's a castle around here somewhere. It was abandoned hundreds of years ago."

I too, picked up Kelly's scent.

"I've got her scent too," I said urgently. "Let's go."

KELLY.

I couldn't believe Peter would do such a thing. How could he? After all that we did for him he just turned his back on us like this and joined the most evil wizard in the world. It was really unnerving and shocking really.

I was starving and thirsty. I hadn't eaten or drank anything in hours. I felt weak a little too.

I didn't know what time it was. The place where I was was freezing cold. I heard the wind howling outside. A violent shiver ran through my body, making me tremble.

I heard someone coming several minutes later. It might've been a half hour or an hour I couldn't really tell.

I froze and listened intently.

"Kelly!" I heard Sirius whisper.

Instant relief flooded over me.

Someone crouched down in front of me and pulled off the blindfold. Remus.

"Are you okay?" he demanded anxiously as he pulled out the gag too.

"Oh God," I said. "You've got to get out of here! You-Know-Who wants you to join him!"

Remus' expression changed.

"Peter is here too! He joined him!" I continued. "You've got to leave! If you don't join him, he'll kill me."

"He'll do no such thing," Remus said firmly.

His hands moved onto my left wrist that was chained. He pulled out his wand and tapped the lock. The cuff opened up and my wrist was free. He leaned over me and pressed the tip of his wand against the second cuff. Our faces were inches apart.

I gazed into his face as he kept his eyes on the cuff. The cuff sprang open and both wrists were freed.

I tore my eyes away from his face and rubbed my wrist.

Sirius and Lily helped me up.

"How'd you guys get here?" I asked shocked.

Sirius showed us the Invisibility Cloak and grinned.

"How'd you find me though?" I asked.

"Sirius found your scent," Remus explained. "Whoever took you Apparated a mile from Hogwarts. We picked it up and followed it here to the castle."

"You guys snuck out of the castle?" I asked incredulously.

"Yep," Sirius grinned proudly.

"That was really stupid," I said shaking my head. "You could've gotten caught."

"How?" Sirius demanded. "No one saw us."

He gestured to the cloak.

"Still," I said reprovingly.

"Still nothing," Remus said suddenly. "Our best friend was taken…we weren't about to stand by and let anything happen to her."

I looked at him.

"He's right of course," the cold voice crooned from the entranceway. I was in some kind of dungeon.

We all turned around.

Lord Voldemort was standing there with his wand aimed at me.

"We don't want anything to happen to such a pretty witch," he smirked.

Sirius pushed Lily behind him protectively and Remus pushed me behind him.

"What do you want?" Remus demanded keeping his eyes on Lord Voldemort.

"For you to join me," Lord Voldemort said as if explaining something simple to a 2 year old child. "Werewolves make wonderful allies."

"I would never join you," Remus spat.

"Then say good-bye to your precious witch," Lord Voldemort said moving his wand around Remus. It was aimed at my legs.

"Crucio!" Voldemort said.

I screamed and felt my legs buckle beneath me.

The pain was horrible and excruciating.

REMUS.

Kelly's legs buckled beneath her. She was screaming in pain. A sound that went through me.

"STOP," I yelled.

Lord Voldemort moved his wand off of Kelly.

She stopped screaming and I felt her grab onto the back of my robe, pulling herself to her feet again.

I felt her grabbing a handful of my robe on my back and I felt her pressing her face into my back and I heard her sobbing quietly into the back of my robe.

"Leave my friends alone," I demanded narrowing my eyes.

"Join me then," Voldemort said. "Or the next time, I will kill her."

I glanced at Sirius and Lily. They were watching fearfully and worriedly.

"Fine," I said turning my eyes back onto Voldemort. "But let me kill them by myself."

Sirius' expression was shocked and terrified, but I had plan.

Voldemort's face smirked.

"Very well. Go a head," he said bowing and backing away.

I spun away from Kelly. She stood, completely stunned as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Lily pulled Kelly over and the three of them huddled close together.

With my face pointed away from Lord Voldemort, I mouthed to Sirius.

"The cloak," I mouthed.

It took him a minute to register what I said then he nodded.

I mouthed the count down.

"One…two…three,"

On 'three', I stepped forward and Sirius swung the cloak around us, vanishing us from sight.

"WHAT?" Lord Voldemort exploded rushing forward.

We quickly dodged him and tore from the castle undetected.

Once we were well away from the castle, Sirius pulled off the cloak.

"You really had us going there, Moony," Lily said relieved. "You looked so serious!"

"I had a plan," I said frowning. "Don't you guys trust me?"

"We were stupid," Sirius admitted. "Of course we trust you."

"I would never turn to him," I said as the snow picked up heavier now. Small blankets covered the grass.

KELLY.

Remus and I walked side-by-side as Sirius and Lily did.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

"Yeah thanks for saving me guys," I said relieved.

"We were so scared for you!" Lily gushed. "I saw a light in the room and then you vanished. We checked all over the school and couldn't find anything except the horseshoe necklace you always wore."

"Dumbledore was alerting the Ministry, but we couldn't leave it up to them," Sirius continued. "We had to find you on our own."

I smiled.

Shortly before we hit Hogwarts grounds, Sirius threw the cloak over us and we snuck back into school.

We snuck into the entrance and froze.

Professor Dumbledore was standing on the staircase.

"Oops," I heard Sirius mutter.

"I would like to see you all in my office," he said.

We couldn't tell his tone, whether it was angry, amused, or what.

We glanced at each other and followed Dumbledore up to his office.

Once inside the office, we sat around his desk.

Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, clasped his hands on top of the desk and peered at us from behind his half moon spectacles.

There was a silence before he spoke.

"What you three did was very dangerous," he said, speaking to Lily, Sirius and Remus. "Why did you do it?"

"Because we couldn't just stand by and do nothing," Sirius replied. "She is our best friend and we didn't want anything to happen to her."

Dumbledore regarded him for a moment.

"I take it that you were careful?" he asked quietly and meaningfully.

"Yes," Sirius said. "We used James' Invisibility Cloak. It came in handy."

He glanced at Remus.

Dumbledore picked up on that.

"What happened exactly?"

Lily began explaining everything to him, including Peter and what Lord Voldemort wanted.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said scratching his beard. "I'm guessing that because you tricked him, he'll be after you now even more. This is bad."

"I'm sorry, sir," Remus said. "But Kelly was in trouble and we had to get her. She means a lot to me."

We looked at him startled.

"I mean…to us," he finished quickly.

"I understand why you did it," Dumbledore said kindly. "You're not going to be punished…but be aware that this isn't over."

We nodded and he dismissed us from his office.

We headed back to the common room to try and get some sleep.