Authors Note:
Another chapter already? Yeah. I felt I kinda misled you with the summary so I thought i would move on with the actual story.
Okay, so chapter 2. Warnings for Sirius' disownment and a little bit of h/c for that.
I still don't own anything.
Six Years Later...
Unseasonable rain poured from the sky, bouncing off the ramparts of a white stone manor in the English countryside. Flashes of lightning arced across the starless black sky, illuminating a hunched figure shuffling up to the manor. A single trunk and cage were his only luggage, and the wind buffeted his slumped shoulders from all angles. In a private sitting room inside the Manor, flames burned merrily, casting shadows on the royal blue and gold walls and scarlet furniture. James Potter dropped his head onto the armrest, a long groan escaping his lips. His hazel eyes slitted open, fixing his companion with an accusatory glare. "So Lily officially still hates my toerag guts." Rose smiled encouragingly and tossed a cushion at his head.
"You asked, Prongs."
"And you've never heard of lying?" James waved a hand around, annoyance punctuating his movements. "You're a Marauder, Rosie. Surely you're familiar with the notion. We lie all the time." He adopted what Rose assumed was supposed to be an imitation of her voice. "No, professor we didn't jinx the Slytherin toilets. I have no idea who hid behind the fake wall in the Charms corridor yelling out rude Christmas Carol lyrics. It must've been Peeves. No, Professor I'm sure it couldn't possibly have been Sirius. Yes, Professor, he and James were with Remus, Pete and I in the library." James raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes, as if he felt that his point was made. Rose sighed and shook her head. Lily had barely forgiven Rose for the disastrous aftermath of the Defense Against The Dark Arts OWL. The first week of the summer had been awkward, but after Marlene, Hestia and Dorcas turned up it got better. Rose was almost sorry to leave in the third week to come and visit James and the Potter's. But visiting James was brilliant, his parents doted on having the Marauders around, and Remus was coming in a week so everything was looking up. The only problem was the complete communications blackout from Sirius; they hadn't heard from him since he got off the train at Kings Cross. It wasn't really like Sirius to be incommunicado.
"Are you worried about Sirius?"
"Yeah" James agreed, tone immediately guarded. Rose knew that Sirius told James (his best friend) things he either couldn't or wouldn't tell the others. What he had told them was bad enough; the lot of them were Blood Puritans who hated everything Sirius believed in and stood for - and he hated every part of being stuck with them. The best part of a month with no word from him was more than a bit not good. "Well, we've got Moony coming soon, so hopefully he'll have heard something. Pads hates writing letters, he probably just forgot. Or Archie flew into a window again."
"You didn't believe Siri when he said it, don't feed it to me now" Rose glared, spilling her tea all over herself as the echoing thunder of a knock reverberated around the Marauder sitting room. James leapt up, fire flickering in his eyes. He had personally set the charm to alert them to any future visitors.
"Who in the blazes?"
"Maybe it's Snivelly coming to declare his undying love for you?"
"Don't even tease about such things" James shuddered dramatically. "You coming to get the door?"
"After you, Mr Prongs" Rose invited, getting to her feet and pulling her dressing gown closer around her. James mocked a bow, acting much like Sirius would've, and leading the way out. As usual, they playfully bantered as they walked down the hall, cheerfully planning for the upcoming school year (their sixth) and the 'epic' start-of-term prank Sirius was eager to start planning and implementing. James waved off his family House Elf Pip, and opened the door himself. Shock froze his features, and Rose didn't think she'd ever forget what was on the other side of the door.
Sirius was illuminated by the entranceway torches, his hair plastered to his head, nasty bruises to rival Moony-inflicted ones on his unusually pale but still handsome face. He was still dressed in his Heir to House Black clothing, that too sodden from the downpour outside. He didn't look as if he could concentrate on much, his eyes still focused on James and only James. "I couldn't take it anymore, mate, I had to leave. They'll have disowned me by now. It was all I could do to grab even this much."
"Well, you're bloody well staying here from now on" James announced, Rose having the unwelcome feeling that they had discussed this before. Sirius let out a relieved sound that was uncomfortably close to a sob, James catching her eye and silently begging her to go and let him deal with it. She hated the very thought, but knew Sirius well enough to know his remarkable overprotective streak where Rose was concerned. She slipped away, hearing the two words they'd been fearing since they realised the true extent of the darkness coming over the wizarding world; Death Eaters.
Rose stared into the fire in the Marauder sitting room, the thought of Sirius almost being forced to join the Death Eaters weighing heavily upon her. It was no wonder James and Sirius had kept it from them; Voldemort was gaining power, and soon enough the whole wizarding world would be in a state of hysteria over him and his followers. Rose hated the thought of Sirius being at the heart of that mania, even if it had given them an insight into what they would all be facing soon enough. "Mrs P fixed me up" Sirius announced, sounding more than a little awkward. "James wanted to tell you all, but I put my foot down. Don't be angry with him."
"I'm not angry with anyone, Sirius" Rose sighed, still resolutely looking into the flames. "I understand why, you know. We'd have worried even more than before, sending you back to that place. Someone tried to initiate you?"
"They tried" Sirius agreed, something dark hiding in his voice. "It was worth it, though, finally escaping them. James's parents have let me stay, so there's some good come out of it." Rose nodded, still unable to look at him and see anything other than the Sirius that she knew and cared so deeply about.
"They could've killed you."
"But they didn't" Sirius returned evenly, clearly he'd already been through this with James. "I've got excellent reflexes. Probably from all that time spent running from Minnie and the thinning lips of doom." Rose couldn't help it, she laughed at that, finally turning to see him. He hadn't lied, he looked just like normal, if normal for him included wearing faded pyjama pants and a slightly torn t-shirt for punk wrock band B'Witched. Tired though they were, his grey eyes sparkled at her. "What does a Marauder have to do to get a hug around here?" Rose laughed again and pushed herself to her feet, feeling Sirius' arms wrap tightly around her. "It'll be better in the morning, Rosebud. We've come out from behind the clouds, the next move is all ours."
"No more secrets, Siri" Rose said quietly. "We're the Marauders, we can take whatever they're going to throw at us, just as long-"
"As we do it together" James finished, standing in the doorway. "I couldn't have put it better myself, Rosie." Sirius rolled his eyes, but looked relieved. Rose knew he was still worried about his brother, no matter what Regulus said or did, he was still Sirius' brother, and Sirius still cared deeply for him.
"Do you really think I'm going to get away with any more secrets from you lot? Moony only lasted two years before we cottoned on." James gave him a look, and Sirius shrugged. "Okay, so maybe it was about eleven months, but we were only sure in our second year."
"Padfoot is right, Prongs" Rose grinned, needing to lighten the atmosphere. There would be plenty of time to talk to over after Remus arrived. "Remus was very good at covering his furry tracks." James chuckled despite himself, by the look of it, his head shaking fondly at them both.
"We should get to bed, Moony's coming tomorrow instead of next week."
Loud bangs echoed from the Marauder Wing of the Potter Manor, cursing and yelling following. "Stay still, damn you! Incendio!" Another bang, followed with the crackling of fire. "Bugger! Augamenti!"
"Well done, Padfoot" Remus drawled, green eyes rolling. "You set fire to another priceless piece of furniture." He waved his wand lazily. "Reparo." Sirius flipped him the V's as he overturned another chair in his search for his missing Chocolate Frog.
"Where did the bloody thing get to?"
"James just ate it" Rose smiled, struggling to remain serious in the face of Sirius' almost comical disbelief. "Didn't you notice how he just left the room?" Sirius took a moment, breathing in deeply and centering himself. Then, he ran to the door, ripped it open, and pelted out, yelling as he went.
"Get back here, you knave! Stand and fight like a man!" Remus scrubbed a hand over his face, hiding the grin Rose knew was showing.
"Sometimes I don't even know why we bother. Sirius just got chucked out by his own parents, and those two are running around, hexing each other, trying to set fire to magical confectionary, and generally misbehaving."
"We're the Marauders, Rem. We solemnly swear we're up to no good. And we generally are."
"But as you so often remind us, Rosie, just because we're the Marauders, doesn't mean we don't have feelings like normal people." Remus peered at her over his copy of 1,000 Magical Herbs and Fungi (although why he was reading it, Rose had no idea). "He's going to have to talk about it at some point the future."
"Just let him have some time, Rem" Rose sighed, looking away from him. "It's an adjustment for all of us. He's safe now, there's no rush for him to tell us what happened. He told James , that's enough for now." Remus looked at her long and hard.
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
Sirius and James trooped back in half an hour later, trailing mud and with several new rips in their clothing. "If Evans was here, she'd be yelling about our immaturity."
"Technically, I'm an Evans" Rose felt the need to point out, emulating Remus with her head in a worn copy of Pride and Prejudice.
"Yeah, but you're on our side, Rosebud" Sirius smirked, grey eyes sparkling. "Immaturity is our middle name."
"Actually, mine's John" Remus offered, sounding terribly apologetic. "And Rosie's is Marianne, right Rosie?"
"Technically" Rose agreed, biting her cheek to stop from laughing at Sirius' disgruntled expression. "And Prongs' is Harold, isn't it?"
"Don't call me Harold" James glared, shuddering for effect. Sirius snickered and kept repeating the name, even Remus gleefully adding in a Harold or two of his own. "I'm being serious!"
"And you're doing an awful job of it mate" Sirius smirked, mischief in the air. "I'm Sirius." As quickly as his laughter came, a dark expression came into his eyes. He pushed off his chair and walked out, Remus shooting Rose a significant pointed look. James ruffled his hair and sighed. After nearly six years together, give or take, they could read each other like they were reading themselves. Their combined worry for Sirius was tangible in the sitting room.
"He's dealing with it, but right now, the last person in the world he wants to be is Sirius Black." James glanced out the window, determination glittering behind his glasses. "We'll give him until the evening. After Mum and Dad go out to their Ministry do, he's telling us the whole story. No more secrets."
"No more secrets" Remus echoed solemnly. Rose stared out across the cultivated Potter gardens, wishing she knew what to do to make this better, knowing despite it all that only time could heal this particular wound.
Sirius avoided the coming conversation for three whole days. The first night he spent climbing deep in a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey, the second and third they were with Moony and his Furry Little Problem. On the fourth night, however, it seemed as if even Sirius knew he could avoid it no longer. As usual, the Marauders (including Peter who was just back from Paris with his overprotective mother) gathered up on the roof, bottles of Butterbeer and bags of sweets littered between them. It was a cool night, but they didn't notice. What they were about to hear was going to change their lives forever. "We had just had dinner, it was a big family affair" Sirius announced, voice quiet but somehow carrying better than if he had been yelling it. "My parents were talking up their pure blood mania, and Bellatrix and Regulus were egging them on. Orion turned to me and asked when I was finally going to grow up and start doing what was right. And I told him to his face that he and I had very different definitions of what was right. As you can imagine, that didn't go down well at all. Orion started ranting about how it was about time I went to Durmstrang, where I wouldn't be forced to associate with blood traitors and mudbloods." He laughed bitterly. "Dear Reggie and Bella have been keeping them up to date with my unacceptable behaviour while at Hogwarts. Mo- Walburga said that they believed they had been patient and understanding for long enough, that it was time I took my place amongst the family." Sirius kept his voice a scornful monotone, but it didn't hide the anger and pain they could all hear in it. "I think I stood up about then. I don't remember much after that. I remember telling them that the blood traitors and mudbloods they accused me of consorting with were more my family than they had ever been. I told them I had had enough of hiding who I was. I was never going to be the person they wanted me to be, and I think they realised it. I told them that they could take their pure blood ideals and shove them right up their arses - in less polite words - and I grabbed what I could and I got the hell out of there. I knew that I would never be welcome there again. And all the while I kept thinking how I wanted to be right here with my real family." Rose blinked back the tears from her eyes, it wouldn't help Sirius to see her sad about it. He took his gaze off the night sky, and there was a seriousness that they'd rarely seen - except for when they told Remus they couldn't care less about him being a werewolf; they couldn't be afraid of a bloke who folded his socks. "There's going to be a war, and it's coming closer than we think."
"We know that, Pads" James said solemnly. "We'd put that together with what you told us in the past." Sirius shot him a look that said he knew that, but this was more.
"Bella doesn't speak his name, but it's Voldemort. He's amassing an army and keeping low until he's got enough followers to fight the war. But it is coming. They wanted me to join him and I couldn't. Because if there is a war coming like we think, I'm going to be firmly on the other side from that maniac."
"And we're going to be right there with you" James stated, Remus, Rose and Peter just nodding like there had never been any other option.
So, thoughts? First reviewer gets sneak preview of next chapter - if you want it