Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Sirius Mystery Unveiled
The next morning as James and Remus got ready for class, Peter was already up and gone, Remus commented, "We should've just gone looking for Sirius when Lily went to bed."
"Yeah," James said still a little uncomfortable at the thought that his two best friends may be secretly going with each other. It wasn't the fact that they might be gay, but the fact that they didn't tell him. "But ten bucks says Lily stayed down there with a chair facing the door making sure we didn't sneak out."
Remus smiled and laughed, "Yeah, you're probably right."
Sure enough they were right. When they got in the common room Lily was sound asleep in a chair with a blanket over top of her.
"See," James said with a smirk. They walked over to her and James shook her gently.
"Wha-?" she asked waking.
"You fell asleep," James informed her.
"Oh, oh alright," She replied groggily and sleepily as she got up from the chair and walked upstairs to get ready for the day. They were going to wait for her before they went down for breakfast until they heard her scream. "James! Why didn't you tell me I have ten minutes to get ready! Five if I want to have time to eat!"
"Better thought, let's go wait for her in the Great Hall," James said and Remus nodded his head in agreement.
Reaching the main hall they saw Sarah about to enter the Great Hall.
"Sarah!" Remus yelled.
She turned and, when she saw them, scowled. Remus and James ran down the stairs to catch up with her.
"What?" she asked coldly when they caught up.
"We just have a question," Remus said.
"If you're going to tell me something from Sirius-"
"That's just the thing," Remus interrupted. "We haven't seen Sirius. Not since the other day. We were wondering if you did."
"Why would I have seen him?"
"Because he was going to go look for you and tell you how he felt about you." Sarah's eyes softened. She looked sad and guilty at the same time. "He- he was?" she asked.
"Yeah but I guess he never found you," Remus said sadly. "Well, see you later."
They walked past her but she stopped them.
"Remus, does- does Sirius really love me?"
Remus smiled, but his smile was sad. "Yeah, he does."
They could see the tears in Sarah eyes, "Oh, alright, bye then."
Remus and James started to walk away again and Sarah said, "I hope you guys find him." But they didn't reply, they didn't even stop, they just kept looking right in front of them and walked.
"Do you think she was telling the truth?" James asked when they were close to the Gryffindor table and far out of hearing reach of Sarah.
Remus nodded. "She wouldn't have looked so surprised otherwise."
They sat down sullenly, piled food on their plates and started to eat.
"Stupid boys," Lily muttered to herself as she walked into the bathroom on the third floor before her first class. Looking in the mirror she saw her hair was a mess. "That's great, just great. It's from sleeping in that chair." She pulled her hair into a pony tail muttering, "Never again. Who cares if they sneak out after hours? No one, then why should I?" She walked into a stall not a moment too soon. A group of Slytherin girls walked into the bathroom, one was talking and by the sound of her voice Lily knew exactly who it was.
"So, you did it?" Sam Knox asked skeptically. "You got Sirius Black out of the way?"
"Wait," the voice of Bellatrix answered. Lily heard walking and stopping in a pattern and realized what she was doing. Quickly Lily crouched down on the toilet seat. After a minute she heard Bella say, "Okay, all clear."
"So?" Sam pressed on.
"Well," a voice that Lily did not recognize answered, "yeah." The girls giggled.
"But it's not James," Narcissa pointed out.
"So what?" all the girls answered.
"Sirius is hot," Sam replied.
"But He doesn't want Sirius," Narcissa began to argue.
"Cissy, Cissy," Bella replied. "With our dear cousin out of the picture, James will be easier to get to. If you haven't noticed, he is now alone."
There was a silence. "Yeah, I guess you're right," Narcissa finally said.
"Now what I want to know," Sam said, "is where did you put him Kisstine?"
"Well," who Lily figured was Kisstine said a little quieter, "I put him in the dungeons."
"Where?"
"Ah, if I told you that I'd have to kill you." The girls all giggled again and left the bathroom. Lily came out of the stall shocked. She stood for a minute looking at herself in the mirror trying to process all the information she just heard.
"I have to tell the guys," she said aloud but at that second the bell rang calling classes to order. "Oh no," Lily groaned and she ran out of the bathroom and to class.
Lily waited until lunch to tell the boys what she found out, which totally annoyed Remus.
"Please Lily, just tell me," he begged.
"No, you'll just have to wait until lunch."
Upon reaching the Gryffindor table at lunch in the Great Hall, James was about to say something but Remus interrupted him.
"Quiet, Lily has something important to say." Sitting down next to James, so they were both across from Lily, they both stared at her intently. She sighed and sat too. Not being able to suppress her smiled, she said,
"I know where Sirius is."
"Yes!" Remus practically shouted.
"Brilliant," James smiled. "How did you find out?"
Lily recollected the conversation she overheard in the bathroom.
"The only thing is I don't know who 'Kisstine' is," she concluded. "Also knowing the exact location in the dungeons where Sirius is would help a lot too."
Remus thought. "Kisstine," he repeated under his breath. Then it clicked. "I know who it is! Kisstine could possibly be that Christine girl Sirius got with that one time."
"That's right!" James said trying to sound happy but was troubled at the same time. 'Why am I always the one people are after? What's so special about me?' he thought.
"Let's go get him!" Remus said excitedly.
"We can't, we've got class," Lily said but James pointed towards the door of the Great Hall. Remus looked to where he was pointing and all his troubled thoughts went away immediately. Turning to look too, Lily saw a girl with long brown hair walking out with a plate of food. "No time like the present," James said.
"But how do you know that's the right girl?" Lily asked sounding nervous.
"What other girl would be walking out of the Great Hall with a plate of food piled that high?" Remus asked.
"Not only that," James continued with a smile, "I've seen this Christine girl before with Sirius and that's her." Both boys looked at Lily intently.
Lily sighed, "Oh alright." Then the three got up and followed Christine out the Great Hall and through a door off the main hall where the Slytherins came from every morning and disappeared into every night.
Keeping in mind to stay far behind Christine, but not so far that they lost her, they followed her down the dungeon stairs and saw her go through a door. They rushed forward and Remus almost opened it but Lily stopped him. She placed her ear to the door and then walked to the next door and did the same thing. Going back over to them she pulled them aside and whispered, "Silencing spell. We can't hear her but she can hear us which means Sirius is probably definitely in there. Now all we have to do is wait until she comes out." They turned the corner and waited. Not long after though Christine came out and closed the door, locking it with a spell.
When she was out of sight and hearing range they ran over to the door. Looking around Lily pulled out her wand and unlocked it.
"Why does she lock it with a spell? Why not a key? With a key she can take it with her and no one can unlock it," James said.
"But Filch," Lily said. "Filch can open it with a key but not with magic. Anyway magic can open any unlocked door but a key can't. I guess she figures no kid or teacher will want to go in here and that's why she uses magic."
"Oh yeah, I forgot."
Opening the door they stepped in the room and made sure to close it behind them. There was a faint light in the room with which they couldn't see super well but well enough. They heard a groan. Spinning around they saw Sirius, dirty and weak with his chin on his chest, chained to the wall.
"Sirius!" James and Remus said running over to him.
"James, Remus, Lily?" he asked confused. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We're here to rescue you," Remus told him.
"No!" all three were shocked by Sirius' outburst. "You can't. She said she would kill Sarah if I left." Then he repeated the exact words Christine had said. Remus smiled.
"She said if you break yourself free. She didn't say anything about someone else breaking you free." With a flick of his wand Sirius was free. Since his legs were weak from lack of food and from standing for so long, he fell right to the floor. James and Remus helped him up as Lily went to the door to make sure the coast was clear. They all walked out together, Sirius with his arms around Remus and James' necks. Lily closed and magically locked the door before they walked away from it. They made it all the way down the hall and while walking up the stairs they heard footsteps other than theirs.
"Someone's coming down!" Lily whispered frantically. With no where to hide they continued upward hoping it wasn't Christine. Suddenly the feet stopped. After a moment in silence Lily, James, Remus and Sirius started up the stairs again. Turning a corner they jumped when they almost collided with-
"Peter!" Lily said.
"What are you doing down here, Wormtail?" James said getting frustrated under some of Sirius' weight. He was better off than Remus though who was practically shaking under the weight.
"I- I," Peter stuttered.
"Well?" James asked getting angry. All he wanted to do was finish getting up the stairs before both he and Remus collapsed.
"I just ca-came to warn you that a group of- of Slytherin's were on their way down. I set a distraction though that made it all clear."
"Thanks Peter," Remus said smiling. 'For once the boy did something good,' he thought. "Now would you please move?"
Peter moved out of the way and watched them help Sirius up the stairs until they were out of sight. When he heard the door at the top of the stairs open and close he let out a long breath and continued down the stairs.
Opening the door Lily made sure that no one was around before they walked out into the main hall.
"Our first priority," Lily said, "is to get Sirius up to the common room." James and Remus groaned.
"You know, I think I can walk now you guys," Sirius said. James and Remus let Sirius remove his arms from around their necks but were still poised to help in case he needed it. But he seemed slightly capable of walking on his own.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Lily asked concerned. Sirius found it amusing that she was so concerned about him. 'After all the fights we've been through, Lily still has a soft spot for me,' Sirius thought with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," is what he replied. "Anyway I'm not going upstairs till I get some food."
"Didn't Christine feed you?" Lily asked.
"Do you really think I'd eat anything a Slytherin brought me?" Both James and Remus nodded in agreement because they seemed to think Sirius did have a point.
"You better hurry then," James said looking at his watch, "Lunch is almost over."
Walking slowly but swiftly into the Great Hall they were met by Sarah, or at least Sirius was.
"Sirius!" she yelled jumping up from the Ravenclaw table and running over to him. All day Sarah had kept her eye on every door and her ears open for any signs that he had shown up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. When she heard him groan in pain from his sore, stiff muscles she let go and backed away a little.
"No!" they heard and Christine pushed Sarah out of the way. Looking him up and down she asked confused, "How- how did you-?" an evil grin spread across her face. "You did it this time Sirius Black. I told you if you broke free and left-"
"Correction, you said if I broke myself free and left," Sirius corrected her, a smile spreading across his face. "The thing is I didn't break myself free. I had help." Christine's eyes lingered on Lily, James and Remus. Her eyes snapped back to Sirius though when he said, "Maybe you should choose your words more wisely next time."
Christine jumped when she heard Sam's voice right behind her. "Let's go Christine, don't waste your time." She turned and looked at Sam, Bella and Narcissa. Sam walked past her with the two other girls following. As Christine followed, she stopped before she passed James and whispered, "You're going to get it Potter."
"Christine!" Sam yelled and Christine ran off to catch up.
The four walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Sirius started to quickly pile food onto his plate but before he could take more than two bites the bell rang.
"Great," Sirius muttered. Smiling though he wrapped some of the food in the napkins and placed them in his pockets to eat later. Standing Sirius saw that Lily and Remus had already walked the length of the Great Hall, but James was still sitting at the table staring sullenly at his empty plate.
"You okay James?" he asked concerned for his best friend.
"Why is it always me?" James simply asked. But before Sirius could answer him, he got up and walked away.