Three reviews? Hm..I was looking at my stats and it said over 55 people looked at it! Woo hoo! Anyways, the real Author's note is at the bottom, as always. Thanks to:
HeartBreakerGinny- It's always fun to hear from you.Yeah, I think Voldemort did look norman as he started out, but slowly began changing. Anyways, only two more chapters left! Excited?
Nikky- Ah, tons happeend in the last chapter. :) So you don't have any interenet access where you are? You know, that really sucks. (Understatement of the year, I know). Anyways, I really hope you can keep reading, especially since we're so close to the end. tear
RachelCordalles- HEy! I updated, see:) I know this chapter is extremely short and everything...please forgive me! Anyways, two more chapters left:) Oh, and did you post the story in German, or are you still waiting for me to be done?
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 31 The Horrors We Face Part 3
"Snape, what the bloody hell do you want?"
"To duel," Snape sneered.
"I don't have a wand," Remus said slowly.
Snape smirked and slipped Remus's wand in his pocket.
"What is this about?" Remus demanded, getting uncomfortable with the situation.
"You bloody Marauders," Snape spat angrily, "always get away with everything. Every prank you ever pulled...you always got away with it. And why? Because your the bloody heroes of the school? There's nothing heroic about you. And if Dumbledore won't do anything about a werewolf being at Hogwarts, then I will."
Remus took a step back, looking for a way to escape.
Sirius's Black father came storming into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him as he did so.
"What are you doing back here?" his father demanded.
"I was suspended," Sirius answered indifferently.
His dad looked positively livid. "We disowned you last year."
Sirius chuckled. "Trust me, dad, I never wanted to come back and see your face again."
A hard punch in the face brought Sirius back to his senses. He held his nose. Sirius had only a second to look up before his dad pushed him roughly into chest and shoved him on his bed. Sirius fell back, feeling incredibly uneasy. His dad slowly advanced on him.
'Why didn't I keeo my mouth shut?' Sirius wondered, closing his eyes.
James stared in horror at him parents and John.
"I-I can't choose!" James yelled.
One would live, two would die. How was it fair to make James pick? Something moving caughthis attention.
"Mum?" James asked hopefully.
Slowly and painfully, Mrs. Potter opened her eyes and sat up. She quickly took in her surroundings. She took one look at Voldemort and James before screaming.
"You said you would leave him alone!" she screamed. "You said you would leave him alone if we told you everything we knew!"
"Foolish woman," Voldemort laughed, "the moment you told me about the sacrifice, I knew I had to get my hands on the Heir of Gryffindor. That sort of power would do wonders."
Mrs. Potter opened her mouth. "The sacrifice?" she whispered.
Voldemort nodded and smiled coldly.
"NO!" she screamed. "JAMES! James...no..don't give him the pendant! You can't!"
James felt a largelump form in his throat. "Mum-"
"If you give it to him, there won't be any hope for any of us!" she screamed.
Just then, James father stirred behind him.
"Justin!" James mum wailed, shaking him roughly.
Justin Potter, who looked slightly dehydrated and weak from the lack of food, opened his eyes. His wife whispered something to him and he shot up, eyes opened and alarmed.
"Mum..what am I supposed to do?" James asked quietly, voice cracking slightly from all the emotions running through him. Relief that his parents were safe, frustration at having to pick who would die and live, guilt for falling into Voldemort's trap, but most of all, he was horrified of the realization that hit him like a ton of bricks. He glanced at the hour glass. It was half way empty. His time was running out.
"Don't give him the pendant!" his mum screamed.
"Crucio!"
James fell to the ground, screaming in pain at the curse he had been put under. Mrs. Potter was screaming his name and fell against her husband's chest, sobbing. When the spell was taken off, James was on his back, panting. Tears and sweat were both running down his face as his mum's sobs filled his ears. Embararrsed to be seen crying at age sixteen, James turned over on his stomach and quickly wiped his face on his robes. His heart was pouding furiosuly against his chest. He began to panic.
"Get up, Potter," Voldemort said, obviously amused.
'Why?' James thought, 'I don't have the pendant with me. I'm just going to die anyways.'
James stayed on his stomach, not wanting to get up and face the decision that would change his life forever.
Remus was thrown onto the ground. He inwardly groaned. He turned onto his back and was met with a wand, once again, in his face. Snape was standing over Rem us, wand pointed straight at his noise. He was panting slightly and looked a little insane.
"Snape..." Remus gasped, still trying to regain the breath that was shoved out of him when he fell, "Don't do something that will get you expelled!"
"What do you care?" Snape spat. "It just adds one more person to the list of people to bite once a month, Lupin."
After that, all Remus could see was red. Every emotion he had felt since that fatefull full moon night all let itself go at once. All the anger, hurt, betrayal, and pain he felt just came rushing at him all at once. Rage such as Remus never felt took over him. Letting out a roar ofanger, he tackled Snape to the gound. Remus pinned Snape down roughly.
"You bloody git!" Remus bellowed. "You have no idea what you've done! You think my life is a joke! You took away everything I had! I finally had a chance at living a normal life and you took it away from me! YOU TOOK IT AWAY! YOU TOOK AWAY MY FRIENDS! YOU DESTROYED THE MARAUDERS BECAUSE OF A BLOODY GRUDGE YOU COULDN'T LET GO OF!"
"THE MARAUDERS DETROYED THEMSELVES!" Snape roared.
From underneath Remus, Snape kicked him in the stomach. Remus fell off of him and onto his back, slamming his head on the floorin the process. Remus held his head in pain. Just then, all the anger left him and he was left with one feeling: desperation.
He wanted it to end. He wanted this to be over. He lost his friends and the security of knowing his secret was safe. Six years of friendship was all thrown away in one night. A few bloody hours. What did he have left? He couldn't forgive Sirius. He couldn't even look at him anymore. Remus began to feel overwhelming guilt.
'It's all my fault,' Remus thought, 'me turning into a bloody monster once a month. This all happened because of me..'
The loss of his friends hit him hard at that moment. He could see himself eating meals alone, sitting in the common room alone, but what hurt the most, was that he would now be spendning full moons alone. Remus covered his face with his hands, he overwhelming guilt finally became to much for him. He gave up. He friends were his life. Hell, he caused his mother pain, too. His dad walked out on them because he was tired of having to take care of a werewolf. Snape slowly advanced on him.
"Just do what you want," Remus muttered.
The mad glint in Snape's eyes normally would've made his sprint for the door, but Remus just laid on his back. He just wanted the pain to stop.
'I'm so sorry...'
Sirius moaned in pain. He rolled over, causing him to fall off his bed. Sirius wiped some blood off of his mouth. He stayed down, not wanting to ever get up. But his dad wasn't done with him yet. He gave Sirius one last kick in the side, causing Sirius to give a small gasp at the pain. He wouldn't let his dad hear him, it would only make him to it more..
"You're such a disappointment!" his dad yelled. "We raised you to be great! To make something of yourself!And what do you do? You make friends withmudbloods and mudblood lovers! We never should have sent you off to Hogwarts. When we first saw you off, you were everything we wanted you to be! But when you came back...those so called friends of your turned you into a traitor! Why you ever decided to become friends with such low-life's in society-"
"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!" Sirius roared.
In an instant he pulled himself up and threw a punch at the man he was supposed to call father. His father, knowing his son's actions, lazily grabbed the younger's boy's fist in mid-attack.
"Sirius," the man growled, throwing the hand back and causing the boy to stumble, "you try to defend others, you will never get anywhere in life! You must think of yourself and only that, otherwise they will be the ones stepping over you."
"My friends aren't like that," Sirius panted, glaring at the man before him. He began to feel quite dizzy.
His father laughed. "Sirius, you can't honestly believe that? They will turn on you if you don't turn on them! You must think of yourself, you come first-"
The Whomping Willow incident flashed through Sirius's mind. The immense guilt he suddenly felt made his stomach squirm.
"I tried that," Sirius spat, his voice just barely above a whisper. "I tried and it cost me my friends! I put myself first, my anger, my revenge, I didn't care who I used to get there, I just did what I thought was necessary for me." Sirius gave a bark-like laugh. "And you know what it got me, dad? Or, more like what is cost me? It cost me my friends and my freedom! I was put back in this hell hole because I was only thinking of myself! And look what it cost you. It cost you a son!"
"YOU WERE NEVER A SON OF MINE!" his dad roared.
"I WAS UNTIL I CHOSE NOT TO BE SOME COLD-HEARTED BASTARD WTH ICE RUNNING THROUGH THEIR VEINS!" Sirius bellowed, hoping that the anger he was feeling would get rid of them guilt,
Out of nowhere, his dad lashed out with another kick, hitting younger boy right in the stomach. Normally one kick wouldn't bring Sirius Black down, but with his dad's strength the all the others hit he had gotten, he was weak. The dark-haired boy fell in a heap to the floor. In an instant, his dad fled the room, slamming the door so loudly it made the door wobble dangerously on its hinges.
Sirius just stayed on the ground, not wanting to get up. Why was he still fighting? He knew what would happen and no one would save him this time. Not James, Peter, Remus..
Remus...
"I'M SORRY!" Sirius screamed at the top of his lungs. He gripped his hair and curled up on the floor, wanting the guilt, pain and loneliness to go away.
"I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath, "I paid for it...I honestly did. Just...please...someone make it go away...I dpn't want to turn out like..them."
He let go of his hair and leaned his head back He chuckled. Who the hell was he kidding? His friends would never forgive him. Hell, he wasn't even sure he would forgive himself. A new emotion came over him: self-hate. At this moment, the only person he was angry and hated was himself. Why hadn't he thought about it? Why did he have to use Remus? His friend trusted him with his most important secret and he told the one person he hated most.
Now, Sirius was just like them. He was just like his family...
This thought was enough to make hiseyes water, but he quickly tried to blink them away. He closed his eyes and the images of his three angry friends appeared before him. They were looking at him with such loathing-
The door burst open and his dad stalked toward him with a firewhiskey in his hand. He knelt down next to his son and pulled him roughly by the hair, causing the boy to yell out in pain.
"Tell me, boy, were your dear friends worth it? Are they worth the pain your going to go through while your here?" the man sneered menacingly.
Sirius stared back at the man with a defiant expression. "Do whatever the hell you want."
'I'm so sorry, Moony.'
James stood, shaking, in horror, as the last sand in the hourglass fell. He could've sworn his heart stopped. He could feel his blood turn to ice. He couldn't think, couldn't move. Panic just seemed to have frozen him to that spot.His parents looked fearfully at him, begging him with their eyes to just leave. Voldemort, however, seemed to be amused. He raised his wand and smirked at the young Gryfindor.
"Time's up, Potter."
Professor McGonagall stormed into Dumbledore's office, looking pale.
"Albus!" she cried. "Albus, Lupin,Pettigrew, and Potter are missing!"
Albus considered her for a moment. "Maybe they are at lunch, where all the other students are?"
"Albus," she reasoned, "they have been missing since yesterday at lunch! Neither of them returned to their dormitory last night or went to their classes yesterday or today! Yes, Albus, I know who we're dealing with, but they haven't been seen at all! I just got word from Lucius Malfoy that Severus Snape has been missing, as well!"
Albus looked out the window. His expression suddenly turned serious.
"Minerva," he said so sharply that it caught her off guard, "I want all the teachers to search the ground immediately. Have all the ghosts search the castle and warn the students that if either of these 'Marauders' are found, send them Hospital Wing at once."
"The Hospital Wing?" McGonagall asked curiously.
Dumbledore nodded, looking grave. "They'll need it."
"...So, if either Mr. Potter, Pettigrew, or Lupin are found, it would be most appreciated if you told them to report to the Hospital Wing at once." McGonagall had just finished telling the students what to do if they Marauders were found, The students, looking up from their lunches curiously, instantly started whispering.All the teachers stood up at once and walked out of the hall. Emma Jungher made eye contact with her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher before he smiled reassuringly and gave her a nod.
Emma stared at her plate curiously. The Marauders were missing? She should have noticed. The castle had been oddly quiet lately. But what about Sirius? McGonagall hadn't mentioned him. Emma bit her lip. She quickly stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. She was going to find them. Any of them. An image of Remus and Sirius flashed though her mind. Her heart felt as if it had skipped a beat.
'I'll tell them when I find them,' she thought confidently.
A/N. Yes, I know it's short..please bear with me. There you go! Only two more chapters left..yes! I'll have a small spilder on my profile by Monday, if you any of you are interested. Wow..this is getting sad. This story is almost over. :( Well...at least I'll have the sequel to fall back on! So, whereas we're in the final chapters of 'As Time Goes On,' a review would be most appreciated:)