Chapter four: Carly
Sirius thought several things that were fairly unprintable as he hid round the corner from where the Death Eaters were. If he'd even thought that they were this active, that the place would be occupied, he'd never have come here. The anti-apparation wards on the building meant that he had to get outside before he could escape them – he would go Padfoot but the place was warded so tightly that slightest hint of magic was likely to make them aware of the intruder in their midst, and he couldn't defend himself in Padfoot form, as versatile as a dog was, it couldn't hold a wand.
Why on earth had he come here? Another part of his brain answered without thinking, it was the last place he'd tracked Wormtail to, before he'd given up the hunt to look after Harry. He'd hoped the building would provide him with some clues. Well it had provided clues to some extent – just not about Wormtail. He had no idea that the Death Eaters were still so active, nor (as far as he was aware) had anyone else. They had obviously been keeping their activities very quiet since Voldemort had disappeared.
Blast, they were moving. He moved quickly, but stealthily, away – what was that? It was a small opening at the bottom of the wall, just big enough for a man to get through on his belly – he crawled through.
"Ooph!" He had landed on top of something, something soft that had gone "Ooph". He raised his head slightly. It was a girl – a woman really, dressed in Muggle clothes but carrying a wand. He opened his mouth to ask her, well who was she, what was she doing and that sort of thing but she covered his mouth with her hand. Just in time, he heard the voices in the corridor above them.
"Where's the Mudblood?" The woman beneath him stiffened.
"I don't know. She isn't in the cell where we left her and I can't find her anywhere?"
"Do you still have her wand?"
"Um, I left it outside the cell when we locked her up, I'll go and look."
"Fool, she will have taken it! Search the building!" The Death Eaters separated.
Sirius and the girl stayed still and quiet, barely even breathing until they were sure there was no one left within hearing distance.
Sirius looked around "What is this?"
"Some sort of drainage channel I think, from the original castle." It was certainly a tight squeeze, Sirius started trying to shift himself so he wasn't lying completely on top of the girl, but then they heard noises in the corridor again – both of them froze. He could feel her breath just above his head, her chest rising and falling gently beneath him, in time with his own, slightly faster than normal but not panicked, not yet.
He studied her, she was pretty, early twenties he'd guess, she felt soft and, well, female, in a pronounced, although un-obviously displayed, way. He hadn't been this close to a witch for years: Harry, and keeping them both hidden, had taken up most of his energy. This girl, armed and dangerous though she looked, was not unattractive and he could feel himself start to react to being in such close proximity to her. Reactions he thought he'd all but forgotten. Reactions that he really wanted to take his mind off right now while there were Death Eaters searching right above them.
Silence reigned in the corridor at last. As soon as he was certain they were gone, the two of them could start to get out of there, and then he could think all he wanted about how soft and warm she felt, and about how she went in and out in all the right places and how she might feel beneath those sensible clothes she was wearing and about how she smelt of … no! Danger, they were in danger. He was not going to think about this. It was …
"This is sort of …" The girl paused, as if looking for the right word.
"Inappropriately erotic." Sirius supplied without thinking.
"Well I was going for awkward but you have a point."
He couldn't help it – he blushed. He hadn't blushed since he was twelve; it was a most unpleasant feeling. "Perhaps we should …" he started tentatively, then continued resolutely ignoring her raised eyebrow at his pause "try to find a way out?"
"I was hoping this drain might lead somewhere." She suggested.
"Right, Let's try following it." He looked at her expectantly.
"I would except I can't move as some bloke is lying on top of me."
"Ah, yes, of course." He shifted awkwardly so she could wriggle out from under him in the small, enclosed space. She did wriggle very nicely he found. 'Stop that Sirius' he said to himself firmly.
He crawled behind her, trying not to notice the way her bottom moved as she crawled along in front of him. Suddenly she stopped. He had been concentrating so hard at not looking at her rear end he practically crashed into it. "What is it?" He asked?
"Hole in the floor, large hole. I'm going to try and get down through it." With several false starts (and, not a little, muted swearing) they finally both managed to clamber down from the tunnel into a chamber below.
Now, at least, they were both upright. Sirius strode to the door of the chamber and peered out. His heart leapt. "I can see the castle exit." He said. "Looks clear of people at the moment, probably not for long though."
"Should we run for it?"
"Yes, and I think run is the appropriate word. Ready?"
She nodded. He grabbed her hand. "Stick together." He said firmly. "And wands out."
She complied. Just as they were about to run, there was a yell behind them. Sirius fired a curse over his shoulder; they heard a muffled thud but ignored it and started running. Death Eaters started to appear from all sides. Desperately they sprinted faster, Sirius started firing curses off in all directions, trying to force the Death Eaters to concentrate on protecting themselves, trying to distract them long enough to reach the outside of the anti-apparation wards. He heard her follow his example.
Sirius felt sure they had almost reached the outskirts of the anti-apparation wards when he was hit by a curse from behind. The world went dark.
He woke with a start and leapt to his feet, or at least tried to. His feet got tangled up in a blanket and he fell off the bed – hold on, that wasn't right.
"'Good morning' is actually a more usual greeting when one wakes up than 'aargh'." A pleasant female voice informed him kindly.
He looked up into the face of the young witch he'd encountered in the castle. "What …" he croaked.
"When you were hit I took a chance that we'd gone far enough outside the castle, grabbed your body and tried to apparate. It worked."
"Where are we?"
"My retreat. It's my holiday destination, I come here every year to get away from things, it's the only place I can always safely apparate to, no matter how exhausted I am. Breakfast?"
He looked around. They appeared to be in a one room wooden building. There was a bed, a sofa, a small table and some basic muggle cooking equipment and not much else. "Huh?" he said, suddenly realising she was looking at him expectantly.
"Breakfast. It's the meal you eat when you first wake up – usually in the morning. Did you want some?"
"Um …" actually he was, now he thought about it, rather hungry. "Maybe a little."
She turned back to the stove, politely averting her eyes from his awkwardness as he struggled out of the enveloping blanket. He made his way to the table and sat down. "My name's Carly." She told him. "What should I call you?"
That was odd. She hadn't asked, he realised, what his name was, merely what she should call him. "My friends call me Padfoot." He said truthfully.
She smiled at him. "Hopefully you'll allow me the same liberty then." She said. "What were you doing up at the castle?"
"Looking for something, someone. Not them." He added wryly. "They were unexpected. You?"
"I was out for a walk, thought the building looked interesting so went to have a look. Bit surprised by what I found. They captured me before I realised anyone was there."
He frowned a bit, realising that they must still be quite near the castle. She saw and guessed accurately the reason. "I think they've gone now, disappeared in the fear that we'd have told someone they were there." He grunted in reply, that made sense. "Unfortunately I haven't any Floo connection here, and I left my Owl at my London flat – when I say this is my retreat I do mean it! I would have apparated to somewhere to let someone official know but I didn't really want to leave you alone, I didn't know whether you were going to be all right." The way her hands were shaking he felt that she probably had other reasons for not apparating too, she can't have had much battle experience at her age, probably too young for the last war, and apparating while upset was likely to end with splinching.
She paused a bit, turning back to the food she had cooking. "Who were they?" She looked up at him, he looked a bit startled. "I mean you said you weren't expecting them so I wondered if you knew who they were?"
"Death Eaters." He said quietly. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"But … but …"
"I didn't realise you didn't know, but you must have been quite young when they were at the height of their movement."
She nodded, "I heard about them at school but …"
"They are still out there, not all of them were caught. Mostly they are too afraid to do anything much these days, too afraid to raise suspicion against themselves having escaped jail beforehand. I hadn't realised they still had such large meetings – Must be starting to get cocky again. Not a good sign." He was talking partly to himself, and suddenly noticed she was still looking at him as if shaken. "Or perhaps an aberration. Not to worry now, I doubt they'll come back here for a while. Think we gave them a bit of a scare. I hope so anyway."
The two of them ate breakfast, exchanging small talk. Sirius studied the young witch casually while he ate. Even though she still appeared quite shaken, she was, he realised, as attractive as he thought she was yesterday. Casually dressed, with untidy curls and no make up, not the sort of girl his family would have considered pretty, but still, attractive. Actually, much more his type than anyone his family would have considered pretty. A stray thought crossed his mind: 'James and Remus would have liked her. If we'd known her at school.' That was not what he should be thinking about, he reminded himself sternly.
"I should go." He said as he finished his breakfast. "Things to do and stuff. And you've been so kind."
"You saved my life." She pointed out.
"Goes both ways." He replied with a smile. "Still, I should … you slept on the couch?" He noticed a rumpled blanket, the twin to the one that had wrapped itself around him. "You didn't have to do that, you should have had the bed." He felt absurdly disappointed for some reason.
She smiled at him. "The bed was occupied, and you needed it more than I did."
The two of them were standing facing each other in the middle of the room.
"Thanks." He said quietly. "For everything." He reached out to shake her hand. A shock, like magic before a disapparation, went through him at her touch and he was reluctant to let go. Their eyes locked.
"No problem." She said hoarsely. "It's me who should be thanking you."
"Call it even." He suggested. Reluctantly he let go of her hand, but as he was about to turn to go he noticed her wincing as she lowered her arm. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm OK. Just a scratch I think."
"Let me see."
"If you have to go …"
"There's time."
She turned round, unbuttoning her loose shirt and exposing one shoulder. There was a nasty cut on it; she must have been caught by one of the Death Eater's hexes. "Sit." He ordered. "Do you have any medical supplies?"
"In the cupboard." Unthinkingly she gestured and winced again. He strode towards the cupboard and checked out her supplies. There were the basic first aid supplies you would expect in a wizarding household, plus a few Muggle remedies he never would have recognised if he hadn't spent the last nine years living as a Muggle.
"Better clean this wound out before closing it, just in case." He said softly as he gently slathered it with wound-cleaning potion. She really was very attractive, he thought to himself. Her skin felt smooth to his touch and her half unbuttoned shirt exposed the top of her breast. He felt his breathing get heavier and forced himself to concentrate. He reached for his wand and muttered a quick wound healing spell. "There." He said with a little more enthusiasm than he had meant to. "It should be all right. I'm not a qualified mediwizard or anything but I don't think it was too deep. If you get any problems, pop into St Mungo's and they'll check it over."
"Thanks." She said quietly, pulling her shirt back over her shoulder. "I guess I'm in your debt again!"
"Call it payment for breakfast." He grinned at her. She smiled back at him, their eyes locking again. Suddenly he found it difficult to breathe. She reached up with her hand and gently touched his cheek, the smile dropping off her face.
Then before he knew what was happening, his mouth was on hers, his hands were tearing at her sensible muggle clothes, her hands were pulling his robes over his head and nothing else mattered. They ignored the bed. They even ignored the relative comfort of the couch. Instead they comforted each other. And the floor, well it was more comfortable than the stone drainage channel at the castle, and pretty soon, the only things they could feel were each other anyway.
"Goodbye Padfoot, whatever your real name is." She whispered later as she watched him disappear down the path. "And thank you, I had fun. Maybe we'll do this again someday?" But deep inside she knew they wouldn't. It was just going to be another one night, or in this case day, stand in the life of Caroline Davidson. Someday, she thought to herself, someday maybe I'll meet a man who can be more than that. Not today though. It wasn't today. She stood staring down the path until the noise of a passing gull brought her out of her reverie with a start.
Carly apparated straight to the Ministry without going home and informed some complete dunderhead about suspicious Death Eater activity at the castle. For some reason, prudence, or something else, she left all mention of the mysterious Padfoot out of it. The dunderhead didn't seem to believe her. Irritated she went back home.
Greeting her flatmate's query of "Good break?" With a quick "OK. Tell you about it later." She buried herself in the newspapers she had missed in the last week. There, staring out of one of them, was Padfoot's face, a younger Padfoot but not essentially any different. Harry Potter found alive and well: but where is Sirius Black? Said the headline.
"Tine?" She called out. "Who is Sirius Black?"
"Oh God, I'm always forgetting you're Muggle-born. Well …" Carly listened in wide eyed disbelief to the story. That simply could not be true. OK she'd only known the man for a day, less than really, but it couldn't be. She looked down at the photo, which grinned back at her. The same grin, the same look in the eyes, the same … she reached out her hand and touched the cheek of the man in the photo. The strange tight feeling that had appeared in the pit of her stomach when Tine started her story, grew heavier and she sat down heavily. It just couldn't be.