James and I walked through the slim, cold alleyway, the large door coming closer and closer. I felt slightly claustrophobic with the walls in so close around us.
We arrived at the door, both of us shivering. James tried to turn the knob, but of course it was locked. I pressed my ear to the door. There was complete silence.
James drew his wand.
"James!" I whisper-shouted. "You'll get expelled!"
"Yeah, well what other choice do we have?" James whispered backs.
"Wait," I said. "My mum always has a whole bunch of bobby pins and shit in her pockets, and I'm wearing her coat…"
I rummaged through the pockets of the coat I was wearing, and then I found it. A small bobby pin.
"How's that going to help us?" James asked, putting his hands on his hips.
I rolled my eyes. "Honestly, have you ever cared to pick up a fictional book in your life? In literally every single muggle book, they use a bobby pin to pick at a lock!"
"And that's in a book," James said. "That doesn't mean it's going to work in real life."
"Worth a shot, and better than getting expelled," I said, and staring picking at the lock with the bobby pin. It took quite a lot of effort, more effort than I was expecting, but, after some time, I heard a click. I looked at James, who put up a hand.
"Before you open the door," he said, then reached into his coat pocket, his hand emerging with a cloak that was folded up so small it could fit in his hand, but when he unfolded it, it was massive. "This is an invisibility cloak. My father gave it to me when I first started at Hogwarts. I've never told anyone about it, but I think now is a good chance to use it. I mean, I've only ever used it to sneak into the kitchen…"
"OK, whatever, let's put it on," I said. He threw the cloak over the both of us, then gave me a thumbs up. I reached through the fabric and twisted open the knob, and pushed the door open.
As soon as the door was open, I could hear loud voices yelling.
"I CAN'T CHANGE WHO I AM, I'M SORRY… PLEASE!" came the pleading voice of Sirius.
"You're a disgrace!" came the voice of a young woman. "CRUCIO!"
Sirius's loud screams came echoing through the house. I looked at James with alarm.
"I've read about that curse," I whispered. "The cruciatous curse… it's the torture curse…"
"Bloody hell!" James whispered loudly. We followed the sounds of the screaming upstairs, and came to a slightly open door. I peered into the room and saw Sirius lying on the floor, with a tall, young woman standing over him, holding a wand. She had long, thick black hair, a strong jaw, and dark, hooded eyes.
James and I walked into the room. My mind was racing. What could we possibly do now? I looked around the room: there was a huge painting of a tree that went over all the walls, with faces of members from the Black family painted onto the branches, there was a window at the edge of the room… if it wasn't too high we could grab Sirius and jump…
"ONCE WE'VE CHANGED YOU UP, YOU'LL SIT THE SORTING CEREMONY AGAIN, AND BECOME A TRUE MEMBER OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!" the woman screamed.
"OK, OK…" Sirius sobbed.
I tugged on James's arm and led him to the window, and looked down. The floor was about five metres below… it wasn't fatal, but we would probably get injured. I looked at James, hoping he'd understand my silent message. He seemed to, because he nodded, then walked over to where Sirius was lying.
"Three…" James said, his voice barely audible. We crouched down, ready to grab Sirius.
"Two…" I said. We'd need to grab him, run to the window, open it quickly, jump, then make a run for it.
"One."
We clutched onto either one of Sirius's arms, and bolted to the window. To the woman who'd been torturing him, it must've looked like he was somehow moving while on his back. We arrived at the window, and bashed it open, and jumped.
I made contact with the floor, and pain shot through my body, but then I looked back to see the woman was jumping after us. The invisibility cloak had come off us during the jump, so we were in full vision.
"SIRIUS!" I yelled. Sirius was flopping around, being no help at all. "RUN!"
Panting, he nodded. James grabbed his invisibility cloak and the three of us started sprinting.
"What… are you guys… doing?!" Sirius panted as he sprinted beside us.
"We didn't hear from you, so we came to rescue you," said James breathlessly. "Less talking more running!"
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE YOUR FAMILY, SIRIUS BLACK!" the woman yelled from behind us. I looked back to see her draw out a silver dagger.
"NO!" I shouted, and pulled the other two into a shopping street. Sirius almost collapsed, but I caught him.
"D-do you think Bellatrix saw us turn?" he stammered.
"I don't know, let's go into this shop here," I said. "Come on, it's all going to be O-"
Just then, James let out a scream. I turned to look at him. The silver dagger that the woman, Bellatrix, had been holding had gone right through his shoulder blade.
"Shit," I muttered. I pulled the knife out. The blade was covered in blood. "No… no… no…"
Sirius tortured, James stabbed…
I grabbed the invisibility cloak and placed it over the three of us.
"Sirius," I breathed. "Can you run? Please, I need your help. I know you're hurting, but I need you."
"Yeah," he said, his voice shaking. We went on either side of James, and started running. James tried to run, too, but he was losing blood rapidly. We ran to the next street, and burst into a shop, taking the invisibility cloak off just before we went in.
"Help," I said frantically to the muggle shopkeeper. "Please… call an ambulance… he's been stabbed…"
The shopkeeper nodded, then picked up the telephone on her desk, and dialled the ambulance number.
"Hello, some kids have just come into my shop… one of them's been stabbed… he's losing blood quickly, thank you," she said all this with a calm tone, then grabbed out her first-aid kit. "What happened?"
"Got stabbed my some madwoman," I said.
"Did she get away?" the woman asked.
"Well, yes," I said, feeling slightly guilty. "We were were more focused on getting away from her, actually…"
"Fair enough," she said, wrapping a bandage around James's wound.
Sirius was shaking, and fell onto me, his head landing on my shoulder.
"Thank you for this," I told her. She was a bigger woman, with her hair dyed dark pink, tied back in a tight ponytail.
"No problem," she said. Just then, the sound of a siren burst through the shop. "Sounds like the ambulance is here, let's go outside."
We walked outside, James between Sirius and I, to see the muggle ambulance. It was a white and red truck, with flashing lights on top. The paramedics came out and put James on a stretcher, then pulled him into the back of the truck. Sirius and I climbed into the backseats of the truck, then it started driving so fast we were pushed to the back of the seats.
"Remus," Sirius said. "Thank you for coming to get me. You both risked your lives… I can't believe you did that for me… and James… I feel so bad… I'm so sorry…"
"He's going to be OK," I assured him. "I promise. And it's not your fault at all. It's the fault of… what was her name?"
"Bellatrix," Sirius said through gritted teeth. "She's my cousin… nutty as a fruitcake… she became a Death Eater as soon as she left Hogwarts… has a thing for the Dark Lord."
"Gross," I said, screwing up my face. "Out of all the guys she could've liked."
"I know right," said Sirius. "I would definitely of chosen a more sane guy… I-I mean girl."
"Yeah," I laughed. "Also, I'm really sorry about what your cousin did to you. Does it… does it still hurt?"
He shook his head. "It's fine, I'm used to it by now. She's been doing it every day since I got home."
"What?" I cried, my eyes wide. "But it's unforgivable! She should be going to Azkaban!"
Sirius shook his head again. "No, I'm sworn to secrecy… I wasn't allowed to tell anyone."
"Would you have told us?" I asked. "If we hadn't come today, that is."
"No," he said. "But… but now you know I guess… please don't tell anyone, though. Or it will just get a lot worse."
"But-"
"Remus, please," he said. His voice were strained and his grey eyes looked sad and desperate. "If you had a secret, I'd keep it for you."
"O-OK," I said, my voice quavering slightly. The truck came to a halt, and we clambered out and followed the paramedics to the back of the truck where James was. They rushed him into the hospital, and we followed in a hurry. The doctors came to help and they were all running into a room. I wished we were at St Mungo's Hospital instead, so they could have fixed James's wand straight away with magic.
The muggle doctors were good though, however much slower they were. They cleaned up James's wound in a calm but quick manner.
"Luckily it wasn't too deep," said the doctor. "And it didn't hit any major organs. You're gonna have a pretty epic scar, mate."
The surgery was over pretty quickly, and then James wanted to go.
"No, no, we must keep you overnight," the nurse said, taking off James's bandage and putting on a new one.
"But I'm feeling fine now," said James. "You all did a brilliant job, so we really must be off now…" he glanced at the clock, and so did I. We'd been away from home for three whole hours. My parents would definitely be getting suspicious.
"Can we have some time to talk?" I asked, a simple plan coming to my head. The nurse nodded, then left. "Do you still have the cloak?"
"No, I don't remember what happened to it…" James said.
"I've got it," said Sirius. "And whose invisibility cloak is this and where can I get one?"
"It's mine," said James. "My father gave it to me just before I started at Hogwarts. Anyway, let's go."
James stood up, his legs shaking slightly. Sirius threw the cloak over the three of us, and we silently walked out of the room and into the halls of the hospital. We got out successfully, then took it off and blended in with the muggles. It seemed to have snowed while we were in the hospital, because outside there was a thick blanket of white, fluffy snow.
"So, do we want to go back to your house?" James asked.
"We probably should," I said. "So my parents know we're safe."
"Please don't tell them about… about Bellatrix," Sirius said. "Please don't tell anyone you know. Because otherwise she'll literally kill me."
"OK, what are we going to tell them then?" James said. "And how am I meant to explain the wound on my back?"
"You should probably tell them you were stabbed," I said. "Or at least tell your parents. How does this sound — we were walking around the park, which is near the sweets shop, then we bumped into Sirius, then got attacked by some muggle criminals who got away?"
"Stupid, but OK," said Sirius. "And thank you."
"Oh and we'll get Peter in on the lie, too," James grumbled.
"Peter?" Sirius asked.
"He was going to come with us but chickened out last minute," I said.
"Oh," said Sirius glumly.
The Knight Bus didn't take long to come, once again, it zoomed up the street and pulled up next to where we were standing.
"Ehe! Bit slippery, don't ya think?" Monty said, grinning at us as he stood at the doorway.
"Yep," James said, and we climbed onto the Knight Bus and walked up to the top level, after giving him the address.
"Ugh," I said. "Now Monty knows where I live."
"We never specified that address was your address, though," said Sirius. "Plus, he'll probably forget."
We got back to my street, then rushed up the street to the sweets store, to find Peter and my parents in there. They looked to the door as we came in, and then they were off.
"REMUS JOHN LUPIN!" Dad screamed. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? YOU DISAPPEARed FOR HOURS! HOURS! WITH YOUR FRIENDS, AND WE COME TO SEE WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG, AND TWO OF YOU ARE GONE!"
"WE'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK!" Mum yelled, but then both my parents threw their arms around me, crying.
"We… we just went for a walk in the park," I told them. "Sorry, we probably should have told you…"
Then Mum caught sight of the bandage on James's back and shoulder, and asked, "What happened to you?"
"That's the other part…" I said. "We were attacked… by some mug- some criminals…"
I trailed off, realising the shopkeeper was watching us.
"WHAT?!" both of my screamed. Then they flooded with questions, asking how James had gotten the bandage, if the people who'd attacked had been caught…
"Can we… can we talk about this at home?" I asked, eyeing the muggle shopkeeper who was listening intently.
My parents nodded, then we exited the shop and walked back to the house.
"So, we went into a shop and got the shopkeeper to call the ambulance, then went to a muggle hospital, after I got stabbed," James explained, glaring Peter, who was standing behind me.
"You didn't come to get us?" Dad asked, crossing his arms. "And why didn't Peter come?"
"I… I wanted to stay at the sweets shop for a little longer," Peter said. At least he was backing up our lie. "And I didn't know where you'd gone."
My parents looked at each other, seeming to buy it.
"OK… well, how about the four of you got back to Remus's room and relax… we'll make you some tea so you can calm down," Mum said warmly.
"Thank you," I said, leading the other three to my bedroom. I closed the door behind us.
"So you got Sirius—" Peter started.
"Shhhh," I hissed, then whispered, "My parents can hear us."
"Oh, right," said Peter. "Fill me in later, then."
"No," said James angrily. "If you wanted to know, you should have come with us, not be such a chicken!"
"I'm sorry, but I had a point, I mean you got stabbed!" Peter said nervously.
"Guys, don't fight," I said. "There's already a war going on and if we start fighting between ourselves—"
"Well we're not fighting in the war, are we?" James yelled.
"Don't you go yelling at him, too!" Sirius said, shooting a look at James.
"I'M NOT, I'M JUST—"
"Everything alright in here?" Dad poked his head through my bedroom door, staring at us. "I heard yelling."
"Yes," I mumbled. "Just got into an argument… over school."
"Oh, alright," Dad said, laughing. "You guys should relax, you've been through a lot today. We'll be up with some tea in a minute."
Dad smiled, then closed the door as he left. James was fuming, crossing his arms and glaring at the three of us. We all sat in silence for what seemed like years before my parents came back into the room, holding four mugs. They handed them to us, then left, smiling widely as we all said a muffled "thanks".
"Guys, let's just get over this," said Peter, breaking the long silence.
"Get over the fact that you're a coward?" James snapped.
"At least I'm not impulsively irresponsible!" Peter shot back.
"At least I don't hide behind my friends and then don't help them!" James said, standing up.
"Guys…" I said.
"At least I don't go around bragging about my Quidditch skills!" Peter yelled.
"What Quidditch skills?" James snarled.
"YOU'RE A DUMB BULLY!"
"AND YOU'RE A COWARD!"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled. "James… please…"
"I GO AND GET STABBED WHILE HELPING MY FRIEND WHILE YOU JUST PIG OUT AT THE SWEETS SHOP!" James screamed. "YEAH, I CAN SEE WHO'S THE DUMB ONE!"
"DON'T CALL ME DUMB!" Peter shouted, pouting.
"DON'T DITCH YOUR FRIENDS!"
"YOU DITCHED ME!"
James tried to throw a punch at Peter, but Sirius grabbed him by the waist and shoved him back onto my bed.
"Remus is right," he said. "There's already a war going on — let's stop fighting."
"We're all alive, and we got Sirius out of there safely, that's all that matters," I said. "Please don't argue."
James inhaled a deep breath, still glaring at Peter. The two of them sat down on opposite sides of my room. Luckily, the awkward silence was broken pretty quickly by the announcement that Peter's parents were here to pick him up, then Peter left without saying another word.
"The little prat," James muttered. His parents weren't far behind Peter's, and the three of us rushed out to where they were. "Mum, Dad, can Sirius come stay with us for the rest of the break?"
"Of course, darling," Euphemia said in her posh voice. "Any of your friends are welcome at the Potters any time."
"Thanks!" James said, then turned to me. "See you at Hogwarts."
"See you," I said.
Sirius put his face against mine and said in a soft voice which sounded different to usual, "Thank you so much, Remus. See you later."
I tried to say goodbye, but my words came out choked, "B-B-By-ye!"
They left, and for some reason I couldn't wait to see Sirius again.