Ch. 5- Prowling in the Night
A/N: alrighty, here's the update! By the way, thank you to everyone who reviewed, I'm happy that there are some people out there who like my story...it's going to get more interesting as it goes on, like I said, and I OWN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! okay, I'm done, you can read the chapter now! ;)
I make a rich woman beg, I'll make a good woman steal
I'll make an old woman blush,
and make a young woman squeal
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone
Bad To The Bone- George Thorogood
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Sirius was standing in the middle of the room with just his jeans on. His upper arms and torso were covered in bruises, cuts, and welts. There were some that looked fairly fresh, but there were some that looked faded, as though they'd been there for a while. I stood there, shocked, for a minute watching him rub ointments and medicine over his body. Suddenly my problems seemed so pathetic.
"Sirius." I said, softly, closing the door. His head snapped up and his gray-blue eyes met mine.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, a look of shame on his face.
"I was looking for you." I said, taking a step closer to him. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing." He muttered, turning away from me.
"So, all of these welts and bruises just magically appeared?" I said, sarcastically. "Sirius, I am your best friend- you can tell me anything." I added in a softer tone.
"My dad was giving me my proper punishment for being a traitor of the Most Noble and Ancient family of Black." Sirius said, mockingly.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked, horrified.
"Since the beginning of summer." He muttered looking at the ground.
"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked, my voice rising slightly. "Why the hell did you go back?"
"Because I have no where else to go!" He yelled, looking up at me. He had such a fierce look in his eyes, that I took half a step back. "If I could escape that place I would!"
"No where to go?" I said, incredulously. "Sirius, what about James or me? Or Remus or Peter? We would take you in, no questions asked, in a heartbeat! You know that!"
"I told you I wasn't going to ask to stay with you after what happened last year." Sirius said, seriously. "And I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone."
"You wouldn't be." I said, quietly. "That's what friends are for."
"I know," He whispered, his eyes never leaving mine. "It's just…hard asking for help."
"Don't worry, we'll always be there for you." I said, smiling at him. He smiled back. "Here let me help you with that." I added, taking the ointment from his hands.
"Thanks." He said, as I began rubbing it over his back. "So I know that I'm not going back to my family. That was why I left early and came back."
"Good, I think I would've had to kill you myself if you were staying." I said, and I knew a smirk was playing on lips.
"Well, is your offer for staying with you and your dad still good?" He asked. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of dad.
"Um, actually, I don't think I'm going back." I said, putting the ointment down and turning away from him.
"Why?" He asked, turning around as well.
"Um, well, Dad and I kind of had a fight." I replied, straightening the medicine tray for the sake of something to do. "And it didn't end very well."
"Meaning…"
"Meaning I ran away." I said, still not looking at him. "I couldn't deal with him."
"Joie, one fight isn't worth disconnecting yourself." He said, softly. "I mean, you should talk to him, you know."
"I don't think he's going to listen." I said, turning around and bracing myself. "Dad's proven he'll get physical to prove his point." I added. Sirius frowned in confusion for a second and then his eyes narrowed.
"Your dad hit you?" He asked, raising a hand to inspect the damage.
"Yeah." I said, quietly. "'Cause I was talking back to him."
"What were you fighting about?" He asked, grabbing a bottle of ointment and rubbing it on my face.
"He wanted me to transfer- hell, he already had me enrolled in a another school! He said that I needed to start doing things that girls my age should be doing. That I needed to hang out with girls and stop hanging out with you guys." I said, trying to force back the tears in my eyes. "I told him that I'd do whatever I pleased and that he couldn't make me transfer. Then he backhanded me and told me to never talk back to him again. I owled James and spent the rest of vacation with him."
"That's unbelievable." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I mean, your dad is the last person I'd ever expect to do this. Your mom's death must've really taken a toll on him."
"Yeah." I said, quietly. Then, without warning, I was sobbing uncontrollably. "It's just so unfair!" I added between sobs.
Sirius put the ointment down and wrapped his arms around me. He was the only person I could ever cry in front of and not feel embarrassed. Not that James and Remus and Peter would hold against me, it was just that Sirius seemed to understand in a way that the other three didn't. So, we stood there, him letting me sob into his shoulder, rubbing my back in a soothing way. I felt a part of the weight on my shoulders had been lifted.
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"We need to talk." Remus said, the next day. I knew this would be coming.
"Alright, ask away." I said, not bothering to play dumb.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" He asked, looking intently at me.
"I'm afraid of seeing my mother being taken away again." I said, quietly, not meeting his gaze. "Every time I close my eyes, it seems, I dream about her and not being able to save her in time. I just can't deal with it. So, I just don't sleep."
"Sunshine, you're mom died, but that doesn't mean she's really gone. She's still in here." He said, pointing to my heart. "And even though it's hard, you've got to move on. Stop dwelling on it, she wouldn't want that. She'd want you to be happy."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I said, smiling at him.
"Of course I am." He said, and I laughed at him. But from then on I slept a lot better at night and I stopped having nightmares.
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"Hey, Sunshine, come here a sec." James said, one night in the common room. It was just a few days after school started.
"Yeah?" I said, walking over.
"I've got some news that's going to make your year." He said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"It's ready!" I said, trying to keep my excited voice low. "When can we do it?"
"Tonight hopefully." He said. "Peter knows, I sent him to find Sirius. I think we should tell Remus together."
"Yeah, I agree." I said, nodding. "Where is he, anyways."
"Library, he had to go look something up." He replied.
"Hey, Pete said you had some big news." Sirius said, coming up behind us, slightly out of breath.
"It's ready." James said, simply. Sirius' eyes got big and a wicked smile spread across his face. "Now, let's go tell Moony."
"We walked off to the library, as calmly as we could. None of said anything- we were all to busy thinking of what kind of animals we were going to be.
"Psst, Moony!" James whispered, loudly from behind a bookshelf. Remus looked around and gave James a quizzical look. James beckoned him over.
"I never thought I'd see the day where James and Sirius would actually set foot in the library." He said, when he reached us.
"Well, if you don't want to hear the news, then we'll leave." James said, shrugging.
"Fine, get on it with it, then." Remus said, somewhat amused.
"Everything's ready for the transformation." He said, excitedly.
"You're kidding! Where did you find the unicorn hair?" He asked, suspiciously.
"Hagrid has some, in his pumpkin patch." James said. "I figure if we nick four of them, he'll never miss them. See, I've the potion into the vials already. But, I think we should do it in the forest, that way we won't wake anyone up."
"But all five of us can't it under the cloak!" Peter said, frowning.
"I have an idea." I said, and they looked at me. "James, d'you remember that prank we pulled last year where we had to scale the walls?"
"Yeah," He said, confused.
"Do you still have the rock climbing gear we used?" I went in and he nodded.
"Wait, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" Remus asked.
"I'm thinking we can scale the castle wall." I replied, and they looked at me like I was crazy. "It's perfect! This way we won't have to walk through the castle and chance getting caught."
"Joie, have you lost your mind?" Remus asked, incredulously. "D'you know how dangerous that could be?"
"Not any more dangerous than half the shit we do most of the time." I said, shaking my head.
"Joie, I think Moony might be right about this one. I mean, we're seven stories up from the ground, what if we fall?" James said, slowly.
"Are you telling me that the Marauders are backing down from an adventure?" I asked, in mock shock. "What happened to the dare devil boys that I knew?"
"I'm with Sunshine." Sirius said, nodding. "I mean, we know the equipment works, because we've used it. And even though we have the Marauder's Map, there's still no guarantee that we won't get caught going through the castle."
"There's no guarantee that we won't get caught scaling the walls, either." Peter said.
"What about the time we tried to find the knot on the Whomping willow and that kid almost lost his eye? What about the time we snuck into the Slytherin common room to pull the Hot Pink Operation and Snape and Malfoy almost caught us? What about all the times we sneak down to the kitchens or the Room of Requirements?" I said, my voice rising slightly. "There were no guarantees then either. And quite a few of those times we didn't have the cloak. Were those times any more dangerous than this time?"
"Look guys, what the actual chances of any one being outside that late? Besides, they wouldn't be able to see us because there's a heavy cloud cover tonight- it'll be dark." Sirius said.
"Well, I have always wondered what it would be like to scale a castle wall." James said, giving in. Peter nodded as well.
"What about you, Moony?" I asked, looking at him.
"Do I have much of a choice?" He asked, and I shook my head. "Then I guess count me in."
At eleven o'clock, I snuck up to the fifth year boys' dorm. We'd decided to dress in all black- camouflage. There were four windows to attach our gear to, so two of would be sharing- Sirius and me. We were the fastest, so it made the most sense. The great thing about our equipment was we had magically reinforced it, so it decreased the chance of anything breaking immensely.
"Okay, so, we scale the wall, go to the forest, drink the potion, complete the transformation, and some back." Sirius said, putting a black hat on backwards.
"Easier said than done." Remus muttered, checking his harness.
"Oh, suck it up." I said, pulling on my black sweatshirt.
"Um, guys, I think I need some help." Peter said, nervously. He had hid harness all tangled and Remus walked over to help him.
"On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round, and they gazed in wide wonder at the joy they had found" Sirius started singing.
"The head nurse spoke, and she said leave this one alone, she could tell right away that I was bad to the bone." I continued.
"Bad to the bone, bad to the bone, b-b-b-b-bad, b-b-b-b-bad, b-b-b-b-bad, bad to the bone." We sang in unison.
"I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you, I'll break a thousand more, baby, before I am through. I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone, I'm here to tell ya, honey, that I'm bad to the bone." Sirius belted out, but before we could on, James interrupted us.
"Look, let's focus, shall we?" He said, hooking the ropes to the window as I braided my hair into double braids and put my own hat on. "We have to find a fairly large clearing to do this. I mean if we all transform at the same time, we have to have enough room. And remember, whatever animal you turn into is the one you get. We don't get to choose. So, no complaining." He added, looking pointedly at Sirius.
"What? I never complain!" He said, indignantly.
"Sounds good to me." I said, fastening and checking my harness and ignoring Sirius.
"I guess." Remus said, having had untangled Peter.
"Let's go then." Sirius said.
We went to our respective windows and got ready. I hooked my harness to the rope and opened the window. A gust of cold air stung my face as I calculated the distance down. It was a good drop, but it wasn't impossible. I climbed out the window so that the castle was parallel to me feet. Going down wouldn't be a problem, but coming back up was another story. The castle was made of stone, so there were some footholds and handholds, but still, it would be difficult.
I started to climb down. I pushed off the wall and unwinded some of the rope. Push off the wall, unwind the rope. I kept this pattern up until I reached the ground. I took a stake out of my pack, which was attached to my harness, stuck into the ground and attached my rope to it. Sirius was right behind me, then James, and then Remus and Peter.
"Alright, let's go." James said, quietly.
We hurried across the eerily quiet grounds to Hagrid's pumpkin patch. James and Sirius snuck up to the porch where there were a bunch of thin, shimmering strands of unicorn hair. They took four and we made our way into the forest. We lit our wand to see where we were going and the deeper we got into the forest, the wilder it became.
"Here, this should be good." James said, as we came into a wide clearing. He handed Sirius, Peter, and me a vial of the potion. We each added our unicorn hairs and drank it. At first I didn't feel any different; in fact, I didn't feel anything. Then, without warning, I felt my as though my bones were trying to tear out of my body. It was the most pain I'd ever felt. I could feel my muscles and limbs contorting and retracting, changing shape. And then, it was over and all I felt was a bunch of fur covering me.
I looked around and I saw a huge white stag, a gray rat, and a gigantic shaggy black dog. Remus was standing off to the side of the clearing, a look of shock on his face.
"Wow, you guys, it worked!" He exclaimed. I tried to say something, but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a meow. I was a cat.
"Of course it worked!" James said, changing back. He had been the stag. "Was there ever any doubt?"
"That was horrible! I've never been in so much pain." Peter said, changing back as well. He was the rat. And that meant that Sirius was the dog. Oh the irony.
"C'mon, Pete, it wasn't that bad. And besides, it was worth it." Sirius said, changing back at the same time I did.
"Yeah, I mean, we're animagus now!" I said.
"We should come up with nicknames." James said, excitedly. "Well, obviously, Remus will stay Moony."
"And Joie will always be that bright little ray of Sunshine." Sirius added.
"James should be prongs, because of his antlers." Peter said, speaking up.
"Yeah, I like that, and you can be wormtail, 'cause you're a rat." James replied.
"And Sirius can be Padfoot, he's got huge paws." I said.
"Okay, so it's decided, We shall be Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Sunshine." James said, confirming the names.
"Yep, sounds good to me." Sirius said.
We left the forest and made our way back up to the castle. We stayed in the shadows the best we could, just in case somebody really was awake. We made back to the ropes okay, and hooked them to our harnesses. We started climbing the wall- and it proved to be more difficult than I thought. Half the time I was trying to jam my fingers into the tiny crevices of the stone, as there were no stones jutting out. Then, about halfway up, there was a sudden flash of light. It hit Sirius' rope and it started to unravel.
"Stupefy!" I yelled, aiming my wand at the direction the flash had come from. "Here, grab my hand!" I added, to Sirius, reaching out for him.
He grabbed my hand just in time. I held onto him the best I could, and he pulled himself so that he was even with me. He hooked his harness to my rope and I let go of him. We continued to climb, and I hoped that whoever sent the curse was gone now.
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