I jumped up. He was gone! Where was he?
"Ok, James, calm down," I thought to myself. "He probably just went downstairs for breakfast." I ran down the stairs, not caring if I woke my parents up. I skidded around a corner, thankfully not running headlong into the wall. I ran down the hallway, stopping when I reached the kitchen.
I hadn't needed to worry about waking up my parents, they were already awake. In a sick, ironic way, I had been right. Sirius was in the kitchen, but he was most certainly not eating breakfast. Definitely not.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix shrieked. I fell to the floor slowly, writhing my way down. I was screaming. I knew and I didn't care. They were all seeing me at my weakest and I couldn't care less. All I could think about was the pain. It was unbelievable. It was pure, excruciating agony. Almost as soon as it started, it was over. I was released. But the pain didn't go away. I still lay there, twitching, cowering.
Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa's boyfriend, chuckled. "Sectumsempra!" He said, almost lazily. I gasped with pain as blood splattered my clothes and hands. I'd known that curse could be said in the mind (we stole Snivelly's notebooks once), but apparently it had a much worse effect if said aloud.
"Wait," a small voice said. I looked up, it was Regulus. My brother. Lucius Malfoy raised an eyebrow at Regulus, threatening him. Regulus backed away and said no more.
"Here, dear," Narcissa said, breaking the silence. She handed Malfoy something. Malfoy quickly hid whatever it was in his pocket. "Well, cousin," Narcissa continued, "Are you going to start staying away from your 'friends' or are we going to have to begin washing their slime and filth off you ourselves?"
I said nothing, but I shook my head. They obviously took my meaning. Narcissa dragged me up by my hair. Malfoy yelled, "Sectumsempra!" and at the same time Bellatrix cried, "Crucio!" My brother did nothing.
After a few more dunks, and more "Crucio"s and "Sectumsempra"s, I passed out. It was all darkness; pure bliss, no feeling, wonderful.
I stared in horror. Sirius was slumped over the kitchen table, he was pale. And I mean pale, not just his face, but his whole body was void of color. Except, of course, where he was bleeding. The charms my mother had performed over him had not worked. Blood had begun once again to pour freely form his veins. I didn't have to look at his face to know that he was unconscious.
A part of me was glad that I hadn't woken to see this, but another part of me had wished I had been there. I know there wouldn't have had been anything I could have done, but I feel strange, almost guilty, at not being awake at my friend's side. While he slipped slowly away from the real world, I had been peacefully (relatively speaking) dreaming.
My parents were standing on either side of him. They were looking at me, gazing at me as if probing for a reaction. I couldn't do anything. I stood there frozen, pretty sure my face showed nothing. Some of the relatively mild, unproven worry I had been feeling earlier, maybe. But nothing could show what I was feeling. This feeling of complete horror was impossible to display on any human face.
I swallowed down tears, "Mum, Dad," I said, my voice strangely even, "We have to bring him to St. Mungo's"
I woke up lying down in the middle of the kitchen. A puddle of soapy water had formed around me, soaking my back. I was alone and grateful for that. I looked at the clock, and my heart jumped; it was already ten o'clock. I could hear people beginning to leave. But not everyone was leaving.
I winced as I heard footsteps. I heard the door open, and recoiled, my head turned. I wasn't about to let whoever it was see the pain I knew was in my eyes.
"Dear God. Sirius!" A voice said. I looked up. It was my Uncle Alphard. He was one of the only people in my family who were kind to me. He had stayed in touch with my favorite cousin Andromeda who was disowned for marrying a muggle-born. And now, he helped me.
"Sirius, what has happened to you?" I explained all that had happened, wondering why he hadn't known, and then remembering he hadn't been there. Alphard's face hardened as I neared the end.
"Now listen here Sirius, and you listen good. Nothing would've come from you sticking up for your friends. You should've stood down, they might have been less hard on you if you did." This raised my temper again.
"But Uncle, they would've done the exact same thing if I hadn't said anything. They probably would've taunted me about not saying anything. I wasn't about to let them mess with me. I show my emotion and I'm proud of it. You know that!" My last sentence came out almost pleadingly. My voice and mind begged for him to understand, for at least one person in my family to understand me.
He looked at me for a moment. There was pity, almost disgust in his eyes. "I knew it!" I cried, "I knew you wouldn't understand! No one ever does! Look at me! This is what happens to me because I'm different!" As if for emphasis, I tripped in my own puddle. Not exactly dignifying, but it made my point. I straightened to a crouch, burying my face in my hands. Tears had sprung to my eyes by now.
"So run away," Uncle Alphard spoke gruffly, quietly. And with that, he stomped out of the kitchen, shutting the door. He was right. Sneaking up to my room, I packed clothes, enough to last and yet enough for Padfoot, my dog form, to be able to carry in his mouth with ease. I was out of the house before the adrenaline from my emotions died down, leaving me drained of energy. It had also started raining while I had been unconscious.
Gathering any energy I might have left, I trotted towards the Potter's until I half collapsed. My body was racked with pain, a sign that I was being forcefully changed back to human form as my body ran out of the energy and power it took to keep me in my dog form. Gasping from pain, I stumbled through Godric's Hollow. Finally, I collapsed through the door of James' house.
"Sirius!" I heard him cry, and then: Darkness.
