Again, I'M LOOKING FOR A BETA READER FOR NEW UPCOMING STORIES. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED PLEASE EMAIL ME AT I would like one beta reader per fic so I'm not dumping the whole thing on one person. Lists of the fics that I need to be beta read is on my bio page. Summaries for them are coming shortly. Thanks to:
Rachel Cordalles- Thank you so much for your email! It nearly made me cry. Yes, I did get your email and I sent you one back. Thank you so much! I really would love to hear from you again soon!
Queen of the Elfs- I'm so glad you like it! I hope this and the next chapter will answer some of your questions. But I can tell you one thing for sure: Dumbledore won't save him! I would feel like that's too much like the actual Harry Potter series and I'm sort of trying to get away from that. Anyways, enjoy and I hope to get a review on what you think of this chapter!
hpever-You won't see Lily in this chapter, so I'm afraid this chapter won't answer your question. :( Sorry! But you will see what happens to James and his parents!
Frenchtruffles- I'll keep that in mind! Thanks for the vote.
HeartbreakGinny- Sorry about the flashbacks! I'll try to keep them at a minimum for future chapters.
Niky- Why can't you go on until september? It's summer! Anyways, here's the update. I hope I made it in time and that you'll be able to read it and hopefully review. If not, well, then by the time Septemer comes my sequel will be up, so check that out! Also, I emailed you, did you get it?
Leela74- I added a bit more of Sirius in this chapter so I hope you like it!
Remember everyone, read and review:)
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
Don't stop looking, you're one step closer
Don't stop searching, it's not over
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
Hold on
-Good Charlette 'Hold on'
Chapter 30- The Horrors that We Face Part 2
It was a beautiful Thursday morning when Sirius Black stepped onto the lawn of the number twelve Grimmaul Place. He had left Hogwarts the night before, causing him to get to his house awfully early. James had stayed loyal to what Sirius ahd told him to do and didn't see him off. Sirius was somehat disappinted. He was actually hoping they would all make up before he left, so he would have something to look forward to. Obviously, the idea of the four making up wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He took a deep breath, dreading what he was going to have to face inside. He hated Dumbledore for making him do this.The Headmasterknew just what his parents were capable of. Grabbing his trunk, Sirius dragged it toward the door. He pulled out his wand and used a special charm to unlock it. The door slowly opened, causing Sirius to suddenly feel ill. It was empty. His father was probably at work, but his mother...
Sirius heard banging from the kitchen. He found her. Leaving his trunk, he slowly made his way down to the kitchen. He tried to be as quiet as possible. Finally, he entered the kitchen. Sure enough, with her back to him, stood a fairly good-looking lady. She was, however, until she turned around, a cold scowl suddenly appearing on her face, making her seem a lot older than she was. They locked eyes for a moment.
"Hi,mum," Sirius sighed warily.
Needless to say, she didn't look too pleased.
"LET ME OUT! SOMEONE HELP ME, PLEASE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
Peter Pettigrew looked around, desperate for an escape. He had passed out for a moment, that was it. When he woke up he was placed in a very small, dark room, causing him to grow uncomfortable. Peter was clasterphobic and couldn't stand being held in tight places. Getting a sick feeling in his stomach, he had an idea that his attacker knew it. Just when Peter was about to give up, a single torch suddenly lit up, giving him little light. Footsteps could be heard outside. Peter shrunk back in fear. Sure, he was a Gryffindor, but he was sure he didn't get in because of his bravery.
A man walked into the room, closing the door and placing all sorts of locking spells on it. Even if Peter wanted he couldn't escape. His wand had been taken from him. Peter had his back against the wall, his breath becoming shallow. Never in all sixteen years of his life had he been faced with something like this. Sure, he ran around with a werewolf once a month, but that was only because James and Sirius were there also. The man stopped in front of him.
"How much did you see?" the man asked coldly.
Peter gulped. He knew exactly what he was talking about. "E-enough to get you kicked out of H-Hogwarts forever!" he said determinedly.
He had seen Sirius and James use this tactic all the time. When being interrogated, threaten to get the person in trouble and they would back off right away. The man grabbed Peter yanked him off the wall and threw him back into it, causing his head to hit the stone wall hard.
"Mr. Pettigew, I do not believe you know the situation you are getting yourself into," the man sneered.
Peter just stared, scared stiff and wondering why the man wasn't running away in fear at his threat.
He was thrown against the wall again. "You will not repeat what you say to anybody!" the man roared.
Maybethe manwas a little scared. This made Peter feel a little braver. "W-what did you do with Lily?" he demanded.
Personally, he didn't care much for the girl. But Prongs seemed to care about her a lot, so he felt the need to find out anything he could. Then man just smiled insanely after hearing Lily's name. Peter felt his stomach drop.
Maybe the subject was better left unspoken.
Remus Lupin stepped into the Great Hall for breakfast. He quickly scanned the room for his fellow Marauders, but didn't spot them. Not thinking much of it, Remus sat at the end of the table alone and he began helping himself to some toast.
"Oy, Lupin, I see your mates finally ditched you! How does it feel to be a loner again?" A Slytherin boy called over to him.
Remus frowned at this comment, but chose to ignore it. This seemed to make the Slytherin boy even angrier.
"Oy, Lupin! I'm talking to you! Haven't you ever been told to respect your superiors?" the boy yelled.
All Remus could do was roll his eyes and snort.
"But don't worry," the boy snapped, starting to get angry at the fact that Remus seemed unaffected by his taunting. "I'm sure someone, somewhere will take you. What about that mudblood and her friend? What was her name, Emma Jungher? From what I hear about her, all you need is to pay her a couple of galleons and she'll take you into a broom closet, no questions asked!"
Remus dropped the fork he had been holding. He spun around in his seat angrily. A brunette with spiked brown hair glared at Remus. Remes knew this boy, Kenny Kuper, he think he was called. Remus opened his mouth angrily to retort, but it was just then that the bell rang, signaling that class started in ten minutes. Kenny smirked at him. Remus picked up his bag and walked overto him.
"Don't ever talk about her that way," Remus said dangerously, which was quite out of character for him.
"You just don't want to admit that for one split second you actually thought about the offer," Kenny snapped quietly.
Remus and Kenny tried to glare each other down. People that were behind them stared at the scene. It was then Remus noticed they were blocking the aisle. Blushing slightly, he mumbled an apology and walked out of the room. Many girls giggled at how adorable he looked. As Remus made his way out of the Great Hall, he realized that he hadn't seen James or Peter come down the the Great Hall for breakfast. Glancing at his watch, Remus began to hurry down the corridor, thining nothing of it.
"Wake up, Gryffindor. Don't you want to see your parents again?" a voice drawled.
James Potter groaned and slowly opened his eyes. His head was pouding and his stomach began to churn. He suddenly felt ill and looked around to see if there was a bathroom to vomit. Groggily, he looked around and remembering what happened, sprang to his feet in fear. He reached inside his pocket for his wand, but nothing was there. James groped the inside of his robes, beginning to panic.
A voice laughed. "Did you honestly think we would let you keep your wand, boy?"
James tried his best to look brave, but inside he felt as if every bit of hope he once held was disappearing.'That's it,'he thought, terrified, 'I'm dead."
"Who are you?" James shouted, a bit relieved that his voice sounded strong. "Where are you?" James asked, a little quieter after studying his surroundings.
It looked the same as it had in his dream. The place was completely dark, exceptfor the torches that made a large circle in the middle of the room. James squinted, trying desperately to see what was inside of the circle.
"Take a look, why don't you? I expect you would want to see your parents one last time," the same person laughed, obviously getting amusement out of this.
James cautiously walked closer to the circle. It took every bit of courage he had to do so. He stood a few feet away from the circle and looked it. His eyes widened in shock. His parents and John lay unconscious in the circle. He wished he could see their faces. Rage took over him, pushing all his fear away.
"What have you done to them?" James bellowed, running toward them.
When he should've entered the circle, it was as if a forcefield was around it. He tried to run in, but he just bounced off, as if he had run into a brick wall. James fell back and hit his head hard against the ground.
Laughter rang throughout the room. James heart sunk. There was more than one other person in the room.
"I didn't do anything they didn't deserve," a voice said coldly.
James began to turn red with anger. "They didn't deserve this!" he shouted angrily.
"Ah, but your wrong there," another replied, sounding amused. "They have been very, very selfish, trying to keep all of Gryffindor's power to themselves."
James froze.
"Now, be a good schoolboy and give us the pendant. If you do, we'll even give you a five minutes head start to run," the voice mocked him in a very childish voice.
James hands balled into fists. "I'm not going anywhere," he spat determinedly.
"Ah, trying to be brave, are you? Well, it's fine. We were almost expect you to be foolish."
James stood where he was, too afraid to move. Just then, a hand shout out of nowhere, shoving him forward. James collided with the forcefield and got shoved back. A little trail of blood began to fall from his nose. Instant laughter could be heard.
"Oh, you hilarious," James mocked, willing his anger to come back. It seemed that once his anger took over, his fear went away. That was what he needed if he was going to get out of here alive.
The laughing stopped instantly.
"Why don't you show yourselves?" James demanded.
It was silent for a moment. Just then, rustles of cloaks could be heard. The lit torches had illuminated enough light to where James could see. About a hundred or so Death Eaters came out of the shadows all around the room. James was trapped. His heart began to pound against his chest. One figure stood out in the box of Death Eaters.
He stood on the opposite side of the cirle. He wore brilliant dark green robes and he was the only one without a mask. The man, he couldn't be more than twenty-five, stared back at him, his eyes showing a hunger for power. These made James take a step back in fear. An aura of power could be felt so powerfully from him that James shrunk back.
The man had messy jet black hair with ice cold eyes, James wasn't sure of the color, and stood at least six feet tall. He was a handsome man, with the exception of the hate and power-hungry look in his eyes.
"Who are you?" James asked quietly. "Are you Voldemort?" (1)
Anger flashed through the man's eyes. "You dare speak my name?" he asked dangerously, but quietly.
James found himself too tongue-tied to speak.
"Tsk, tsk. I suppose I'll have to teach you some manners. Your mother didn't appear to have done a very good job," Voldemort mocked, holding up a wand.
James wand, to be exact.
"You-you filth! What the hell are you doing back here?" Mrs. Black snapped.
"Trust me, it wasn't by choice," Sirius snapped back.
His mum rose from her chair. "So, I see the Potters finally got sick of you, did they? They finally got to know what scum you were?"
"No, mum," Sirius said angrily, "James dad was taken long ago and his mum won't sleep until she finds him. But I'm sure, with your excellent ties to the Ministry, that you knew that already?"
"Yes, I believe I may have heard something about that," Mrs. Black said nonchalantly. "Why do you care about their family so much?"
Sirius grew angrier at her indifferent tone. "The Pottters were more of a family to me than you ever were," he snarled. He knew he was making her angry, but he didn't really care. He had so much anger, hurt, and frustration that he had to take it out on someone.
Mrs. Black's eyes flashed angrily. "You ungrateful piece of filth!" she screamed. "We gave you everything! We gave you everything any little boy would want-"
"And you took it away once you had figured out I was placed in Gryffindor!" Sirius yelled.
"You disgraced the house of Blacks!"
"I was the only decent, sane one in the family!"
"Look what you turned into! How could I have raised such an ungrateful brat? Where did I go wrong? Look at you! You're everything we didn't want you to be!"
"I never wanted to be like you. I wanted to get away," Sirius said dangerously.
"Then what are you doing back here so early? Regulus doesn't come home for another month," she snapped.
Sirius paused for a minute before replying, "I got suspended."
Mrs. Black's eyes widened in anger. Her face turned red. Sirius hated that look. It used to scare him horribly when he was little.
"You-you-you traitor! You filth! You scum!" she screamed and grabbed a nearby broom. Alarmed, Sirius took a step back until he had his back against the wall. "First you disgrace our name by refusing to switch houses! Then you disgrace yourself by running along with mudbloods and mudblood lovers! I can't believe we ever let you come back here every summer! I can't believe we ever let you be part of this family! You disappointed us, Sirius! You could have been so much better!"
Sirius gave her the dirtiest look he could muster. "I hate this house and I hate this family. You never gave me anything anyways. I'll only be here for a little awhile and after that, I'm never coming back here again. You whole lot can take your bloody money and rot in hell for all I care."
SLAP
Mrs. Black had slapped Sirius across the face, hard. She was shaking in anger. "You...you bastard! After everything we did for you-"
Sirius didn't even bother to rub his sore cheek. He stood up straight and looked down at his mother. "Oh yes, mother," Sirius said mockingly, "I suppose I should be incredibly thankful for all the putdowns you've given me after I came home every summer. I suppose I should be thankful of the many slaps you gave me when I was little when all I ever did was asked a simple question. I suppose I should be thankful that the moment I decided to take a different path than the rest of you lot you all turned your back on me. Oh, right," Sirius laughed humorlessly, "and thank you ever so much mother for all the times you let father send me to school with the bruises and cuts on my back."
Mrs. Black was red and shaking in fury. Sirius was panting heavily as if he had just one the mile.
"Go to your room," she hissed at him venomously.
Sirius had to ball his fists to stop himself from hitting something. He bowed. "As you wish, mother," he said mockingly.
Leaving his shaking mother behind, Sirius grabbed his trunk roughly, quite angry himself. He got a little satisfaction at know that he had made his mum angry and upset. He made his way upstairs to his old room. He hated it there. He opened the door, shoved his trunk in, and slammed the door loudly behind him.
"Just so you know," his mother screaming up at him, her voice shaking slightly due to her anger, "Your father will be home any minute."
Sirius, who was leaning against the door, paled slightly. He slowly slid his hands over his chest and around his back, feeling the old scars and vbruises. Just then, as if one cue, a door slammed and the sound of breaking glass filled the house. He heard a voice that he knew belonged to his father.
"The boy's home!" a voice bellowed through the house."WHERE IS HE!"
Sirius closed his eyes. He knew what was coming next.
Peter's mouth was hanging open in shock.He tried to register the information he had just received. "You just broke about fifty school rules!"
The man laughed, obviously amused at how much he was making Peter sweat. "Yes, well, after Ms. Evans had served her purpose, I felt the need to..dispose of her. All I needed from her was a couple of hairs to make the Polyjuice potion."
Peter stepped closer to the wall, terrified, knowing now that this man was capable of murder. "W-where's James?" he stuttered.
"Probably facing the same fate as the lovely Ms. Evans did. Then again, this wouldn't be the first time I gave the Death Eaters his whereabouts."
"What a-are you talking about?"
"I told them where they could find the Auror, John, I think his name was?"
Peter's eyes widened at the memory. He grabbed his own forearm, remembering the huge bruise that had been there after the fight. "How did you know the Death Eaters were going to attack James at his m-meeting with John?" Peter stuttered, a bit wary, as if he didn't really want to ask but was doing it just for the sake of being able to bring this information back to James.
"I'm the one who gave them Mr. Potter's whereabouts."
"H-How did you know?"
"Mr. Potter dropped a letter from the fool saying they wanted to meet. It didn't take me too long to figure out where."
"You're the reason we stopped playing our pranks!" Peter said, voice shaking slightly out of fear.
The man nodded nonchalantly. "So I was. In fact, I remember one incident that was probably my most brilliant work yet. Mr. Potter and Mr. Black were playing Quidditch and I remember quite distinctly using the Imperius Curse to have Potter attack Black."
Peter's mouth fell open. "W-why are you telling me this?" he asked quietly.
The man smirked once again. He took his wand out and held it against Peter's throat.
"I want you to send Potter a message for me," the man said dangerously. 'Assuming he lives after tonight.'
Peter closed his eyes tightly, balling his sweat hands. 'Why didn't I listen to mum when she told me curiousity killed the cat?'
Remus quickly began to put his things back into his bag. It was the end of Transfiguration class, everyone was heading to lunch, and neither James or Peter showed up for class. He began to worry. He quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out, completely forgetting the fact that he had left his wand on the desk.
It took Remus a total of twenty minutes to search the castle, but there was still no sign of either of his friends. Remus quickly made his way to his dormitory, mentally kicking himself for that not being the first place he looked. He opened the dormitory door.
"Jamse! Peter!" Remus called. He took quick glance around the room. No one was there. Sirius obviously wouldn't be...
Remus's stomach churned at the thought of Sirius. Just then, he spotted a piece of parchment on his bed. It had his name on it. He picked it up and opened it quickly.
Remus,
I have something ti discuss with you. Meet me down in the Shrieking Shack immediately.
James
Remus looked at the note, worried. Was James in some kind of trouble? Not wasting another moment, Remus sprinted out of his dormitory, out the common room, out onto the grounds, and finally making it toward the Whomping Willow. He was panting heavily from all the running. Remus took a quick look. No one was watching him. Not one single person was out on the grounds. They were in the Great Hall, eating. He took a long stick and prodded the knot. Slowly, he made his way through the tunnel. Something was telling him to turn back, that this wasn't right. But he couldn't just abandon James.
Remus opened the door to the Shrieking Shack and walked in. There was little light in the room, even if it was the middle of the afternoon. Remus walked to the middle of the room.
"James?" Remus called out. "James, where are you?"
A door slammed shut behind him. Remus whipped around. "James?"
The person in the room was the last person he'd expected. Severus Snape stood in front of the door, wand pointed straight at Remus's chest. Remus's heart sunk.He stood in front of him, completely livid.
Snape looked ready to kill.
"What are you going to do?" James asked quietly.
"Oh, no, Potter," Voldemort said quietly, "I'm not doing anything. You see, I want the power you posess and I'll do anything to get it. The room is not set up this way because I like it. It's set up for a...sacrifice."
James began to sweat.
"In order for me to gain the power, I need the pendant, the Heir himself, and a living relative of the heir. You see, I now have all three," Voldemort smiled cruelly.
James stayed silent, not quite understand.
"You don't understand, Potter? Alright, I'll explain. When the heir sacrifices one of his own blood, power would instantly go to another heir, meaning, me. Now, as generous as I am, Potter, I will allow you to choose which adult you would like to sacrifice."
James looked from his mum, to his dad, to John.
"I'm not picking!" James yelled out angrily.
"Ah, but Potter, if you don't choose one, I'll just kill them both. Why live without both parents when you could at least have one?" The sick jerk was getting pleasure out of this. An hour glass suddenly appear out of nowhere. "Potter, you have until the last sand falls."
James just stared. How the hell was he supposed to choose?
Emma Jungher stood poking at some steak. It was lunch and she didn't feel like talking. Not that it mattered. None of the Marauders or Lily were present. Just then, a brown owl as Emma recognized as her parents flew down next to her. Emma looked down, confused. The owls had given people their mail at breakfast. Emma slowly took the letter from the owl and read it.
She shut her eyes quickly, trying to stop the tears that had began to prick at the back of her eyes.
'I have to tell Sirius and Remus,' Emma thought, 'next time I see them. They have to know...'
A/N. There you go! Wow this is a short chapter. Anyways, I hope this is getting exciting for you all. I really want to finish this before the next HP book comes out. So, as always, please review! It really gives me a motivation to write faster. Look at my bio page for info regarding updates.
(1) The way they describe Voldemort in the Harry Potter books, I don't think he looked like that when James and Sirius were around. He'll change slowly, he'll go from human looking to someone really gross. But I think when he started out, he still looked human, not someone as white as a skull with red eyes. He'll slowly change into that person, but not for awhile.
Amour Lily