373 Bank Street
While their captors laughed, Peter whimpered and closed his eyes again. Glancing at Sirius and Remus, James quickly adjusted his glasses to better watch the people standing above them, who shoved each other in their mirth.
"If the stumpy little man did leave 'em for us, you'll have to thank him!" the witch poised on top of Peter said, cackling.
"There's four of them!" another high voice piped up. "A good deal, that!"
"A little older than we like, but nothing too harmful," someone else added, and Sibuna flashed a grin of his long, yellow teeth. The stench of rotten meat came to James' nose, and he grimaced before speaking up.
"You know who . . . I mean . . . you're Sibuna?"
Growing quiet for a moment to peer at him, the group waited for Sibuna's next move. "Did he tell you everything about us, then?" Sibuna asked loudly, and James drew back at his sharp tone as the hulking man began to advance. "Told you what he was selling me, did he? What else did he say? What did he guess?"
"I—I don't know, sir!" James responded quickly, and he finally dared to breathe again as the wizard straightened.
"Sir?" he guffawed, and a few of the crowd members behind him snorted, spat, and snickered in equal measure. "Now that's a first! I've heard brute, soulless, wretch—the whole lot before, but sir?" As the others laughed openly behind him, he grinned again and let another wave of nausea overtake James. "What's your name?"
Turning his head to gag silently, James composed himself and choked, "Er, Kennedy. Cassius Kennedy."
"And your friends?" Sibuna growled, and James stared at his roommates as his head spun.
"They're . . . er . . ."
"Not their names, brat!" Again, the rest of the tunnel burst into jeering, and James and his friends sank against the wall. "How did you get here? Are there any more of you?"
"No, it's only us," James stammered out, but he quickly corrected himself and pointed at Sirius when Remus turned towards him incredulously. "But his uncle will be looking for us!" Their laughter suddenly quieting, the watching throng drank in James with their glowing eyes, and he wondered if he had made a mistake.
"His uncle . . ." Sibuna repeated slowly, turning his eyes towards Sirius, and James wondered if he would leap at him before he broke into a grin. "Too bad that he won't be able to find you." As the others cheered behind him, he crossed his arms and stated, "No one ever gets in here except our kind, and fools unfortunate enough to enter never breathe a word about it. They fear our reach."
"And rightly so!" a high voice cried from the back, and the crowd sniggered again, exchanging a series of shoves.
"Should we lock 'em up?" the witch holding Peter inquired, smirking up at Sibuna. "It won't be long to wait now—they have terrible timing."
"What do you say, sirs?" Sibuna spoke up, raising his hands towards the others. "Should we have a bit of fun tonight?" Whooping, the spectators jostled each other and started to advance on the boys, and James pushed himself farther against the wall as Sirius cried out.
"Wait, what happens tonight?"
Bumping to a halt, the crowd of people grinned at him as they shifted back and forth, now much closer than before. James got his first good look at them, and he realized that Peter's captor was not the odd one out among the company; all of the leering faces showed evidence of cruel scuffles, some with jagged scars that disfigured the shapes of their jaws and large chunks of skin taken out of their noses. A stone suddenly dropped into James' stomach, and he felt his mouth go dry as he stared up at Sibuna. As a bead of sweat crept past James' hairline, the towering wizard grinned down at Sirius.
"Have you been watching the moon for the last few nights?"
The throng began to howl with laughter again, taking delight in the pale faces of their prisoners. Clenching his fists to keep himself from glancing at his friends, James steeled his body against the wall.
"So you understand now?" Sibuna chortled. "Tonight is the full moon, gents, and you just stumbled into where we werewolves call home!"
"You're—you're all werewolves?" James managed to force out, his voice hoarse. "Sibuna—all of you? You live here?"
"Our home is ever-changing," Sibuna answered, tilting his head with a smile. "We have to keep under the public eye. This isn't even our largest sanctuary, not by a long shot. And as an aside," he added, flashing his teeth, "you can stop calling me Sibuna. That's merely a name I use when I have to deal with people like your runaway friend. Everyone here knows me as Fenrir Greyback, the most powerful werewolf ever to live in the British Isles!"
As the other werewolves cheered, the one holding Peter lifting her fist with a yell, James gasped out a response. "But I thought that werewolves didn't—I mean, I thought that you didn't purposely attack people!"
Narrowing his eyes, Greyback stared down at him. "You didn't? What sort of stories were you told as an infant?" Talking over each other, the werewolves behind him conversed loudly as Greyback spat to the side. "Did your parents try to teach you a fair view of us? Is that it? Well, let me correct you, Kennedy," he said, crouching down until his face rested only a hand's breadth away from James. Overcome with his reek, James held his breath as the werewolf leaned closer and sneered. "We live for blood. That's all this world wishes upon us, so why would we want anything different for them?" Just when James thought that he would vomit from the stench, Greyback straightened and laughed. "That's the truth, whelp. Don't you forget it!"
"So you really are allied with the Death Eaters!" Sirius accused, gritting his teeth as the werewolves stared back at him. "You've been inflicting people to help them?"
"That's right, handsome," Greyback replied, his lips curling into a smile. "The Dark Lord pays our kind a little more heed than the rest of the wizarding world, even if it's only because of our . . . unusual abilities." As the other werewolves laughed, he explained, "We're hired to hunt out Muggle supporters, Mudbloods, defectors, and the like. If there's ever a family that angers the Dark Lord, we're the ones that go after them." Smiling, Greyback picked at his teeth with a long, yellow fingernail. "Of course, in doing so, we get what we really want out of it. Most of the people you see here were turned at around five or six years of age."
"You attack kids?" James exclaimed, and Remus gave a dry sob as Greyback leered.
"I've always considered that the best way to do it!" he gloated. "Turn them while they're young, and teach them the true colors of wizarding kind! Isn't that right, Louella?"
Smirking, the witch crouched over Peter faced the boys sitting against the wall, and James noticed for the first time how young her features looked beneath her wounds. In fact, he guessed that she was only a few years older than him, perhaps still young enough to attend Hogwarts. As he glanced around the rest of the corridor, James realized what he had originally mistaken for the werewolves' short stature was caused by the relative youth of the mob. At standing height, James might have overtaken a few of the crowd, with only a handful of older individuals dotting the cavern. Still, even the older werewolves were thin and wiry, and Greyback was easily the largest of the group. Spotting a boy much smaller than himself with a makeshift eyepatch, James glanced and tried to ignore his shaking hands.
"That's right," Louella answered Greyback, grinning. "It's best to collect them when they're at their most impressionable age." Glancing back down at Peter, she noted, "Unfortunately, these four are a bit past that, but it only makes them stronger for the transformation."
"I'd almost like to lock them up separately," Greyback said, smirking down at Peter as he whimpered. "Pair each of them with one of us and see how well they fight to make it through the night! But I can't imagine this one lasting that long—he'd likely only turn out a bloody mess on the floor. What do you think, boy? Think you can put up a fight?"
"Leave him alone!" James yelled, clenching his fists as a tear rolled down Peter's cheek. Howling with laughter, the werewolves slapped their sides and shoved each other as Greyback stalked up to Remus instead.
"Or what about this one? Looks awfully close to falling to the floor," he provoked, grabbing Remus' hair in a fist and pulling his head back. Refusing to look up, Remus swallowed as the werewolf loomed over him. "I'd like to sink my teeth into that white neck of his . . ."
Trailing off, Greyback frowned down at Remus, only turning to Sirius when he yelled at him. "We're not afraid of you!"
Joining Louella and the other werewolves in raucous laughter, Greyback bared his yellow teeth at him. "Aren't you, now?" he mocked, and he reached down and grabbed Sirius by his neck in a swift, fluid motion. Swinging above the ground, Sirius struggled to remove Greyback's hands as the werewolf grinned. "As much as I'd like to tear through that pretty face of yours, I think I'll save you all for tonight. Put their wands together, fellows!" he commanded the other werewolves, who quickly tossed the boys' wands to each other. "You can claim them for your own after tonight!" Turning to his captives with a flash of his rancid teeth, he grinned. "I'd like to give them a fighting chance—after all, between the four, at least one of them is bound to survive the night." As James and the other boys cowered on the floor, Greyback raised a hand to his followers. "Take them down!"
Snapping their jaws with a cheer, several of the oldest werewolves bounded forward and yanked James and Remus down the corridor after a rough game of back-and-forth tugging. Louella got up and forced Peter to stand with a little less brutality than the other boys received, but Peter trembled all the same. After watching the proceedings with a grin, Greyback turned and lugged Sirius down the hall.
Crying out every time that a loose stone or stray kick hit against their ribs, James, Sirius, and Remus struggled pointlessly while Peter stumbled along behind them, crying quietly as Louella marched him along at the point of a wand. Behind her, another werewolf clutched the boys' wands in his fist, and he treated them with about as much care as their owners, nearly snapping them several times as he laughed and bounced against the other werewolves.
When the group had returned to the flaming fountain, Greyback turned abruptly and headed down a corridor directly across from the lonely fireplace. The werewolves did not seem to need light to know where they were going, and they continued chattering as first Sirius then the others were dragged down a rough flight of stairs. In the darkness, a few different feet knocked against James as he fought to keep his head from smashing open against the stone steps, and he almost lost his glasses when someone kicked the frames in their hurry.
Whenever James thought that the jolting pain in his head and ribs could not get any worse, he was proven wrong as the staircase continued winding down. Every step became an agonizing ordeal, and he allowed a few moans to escape his lips under the commotion, hoping that the stairs would come to an end. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the parade finally dropped onto another floor, and James found temporary relief in the flat surface until the werewolf dragging him tossed him over on his old bruises. Wincing, James bit his tongue as he recovered next to where Remus had been thrown.
"We'll keep them here until tomorrow night," Greyback dictated, and James rolled over to face him. After Louella had forced Peter forward, Greyback held Sirius back for a moment with a smile. "Don't get too comfortable, good-looking. I'll be back."
Tripping over James' leg as he was shoved backwards, Sirius fell over and scrambled away from Greyback as the brutish man laughed and slammed a caged door behind him, encasing the boys in a small room of stone and metal. Cackling, most of the other werewolves followed Greyback down the hallway, but a few pressed their leering faces against the bars.
"How do you like the guest room?" one of them mocked.
"Feeling cozy?" a young boy jeered, baring his teeth. Too fatigued to sit up, James lay still as the werewolf holding their wands placed them on a table on the other side of the bars.
"Don't lose them!" the wizard snapped at a few of the younger werewolves when they rushed forward to pick them up. "You heard Greyback—you can have them after tomorrow!"
"But they'll be gone by then!" one of the smallest girls complained, waving around Peter's wand like a wooden sword. "The older ones always get them first!"
"That's because they've waited longer than you," Louella admonished her. "It's only fair."
Grumbling, the girl turned away as one of the older werewolves snarled at Louella. "You're being soft with them," he accused. "They shouldn't get to play with other people's wands if they're not going to keep them."
"Shove off and let them have a little fun, Baines!" Louella snapped back, baring her teeth. "I don't remember you being so irritable when I nearly clawed your leg off last month." Scowling, Baines turned away as Louella turned to a boy playing with James' wand. "Careful!" she hissed. "You don't want to explain a broken wand to Greyback, do you?" Immediately lowering his hand, the boy growled at another child when he snatched James' wand from his grasp, and the two engaged in a short shoving match as Baines glowered.
"They're too young for magic, anyway," he muttered before addressing Louella with a smirk. "Glad to see that you hold some respect for Greyback, at least. Scared that he'll finally grow tired of your coddling?"
"I'm only scared for your wellbeing when Greyback finds out that you've been threatening the young ones," Louella replied, sneering, and a few other werewolves chuckled. Gritting his teeth, Baines slunk away from the cage bars with one last glare aimed at Louella. Holding his gaze until he left the room, Louella watched the roughhousing kids until a small girl broke away from the other children and tugged on her sleeve.
"It—it hurts," the girl complained, holding her stomach, and Louella's gaze softened.
"I know," she said, taking the girl's hand and leading her after the other werewolves. "I think that we still have a bit of Sanguine Solvent left. Maxwell brought in another batch of Mandrake leaves a couple weeks ago, and if these enchanted cauldrons work the way that they're supposed to, it should be enough to quell the ache until nightfall."
As she and the little girl walked towards a tunnel entrance, a few of the other children abandoned their captives' wands and scampered after them, chattering amongst themselves. Before running to the tunnel, two boys stopped in front of the cage bars and stared at James and the others.
"Pathetic," one of them spat, and the two shoved each other as they turned away and ran off after Louella. Their attention brought to the cage, a few of the other children stayed behind and made faces at the prisoners, laughing and beating the bars with their stolen wands. Closing his eyes, James did his best to block out the sounds of their jeering and Peter's quiet sobbing behind him.
James did not know how much time had passed since he and his roommates had first arrived at the warehouse, but he guessed that their time was running low judging from how Remus was deteriorating. Remus had started off their capture in silence, huddled against the far corner of the cage, but he had begun to mumble under his breath and stare blankly ahead after several hours, almost as if he had forgotten about the others in the room. The only light coming into the cage came from a single blue torch, which remained unchanged throughout the night and into the next day, so the boys had no way to tell the time.
Every now and then, a series of barking laughs would echo from the nearby passages, making James' heart jump. The group of young werewolves had eventually grown bored of their captives and tromped upstairs, leaving behind the pilfered wands on the nearby table. But until a few minutes ago, James did not have the chance to confer to his friends, because a few of the older werewolves returned to watch them through the cage bars. Taking turns to leer and make catcalls, they had cycled in and out of the outer room all day, and only now had the boys been left alone.
Swallowing as best he could with his abnormally dry throat, James released his one-handed grip from one of the cage's bars and turned to face the others. Pacing back and forth like he had been for the last hour, Sirius paid him no heed as Remus rocked back and forth on the ground, breathing in short bursts. Peter had stopped crying, but his tears had left descending lines on his dusty face, and he glanced at Remus every few seconds from the opposite corner.
After looking over his shoulder once more to make sure that they were alone, James cleared his throat. "We have to get out of here," he stated, and both Sirius and Peter turned to him, although the former kept pacing. Purposely looking away from Remus, James continued, "We're almost out of time, so we've got to act now. I just need you to think of a way to escape from Portree."
"How about this cage?" Sirius asked, letting out a forced laugh as he walked back and forth. "That seems a mite more important, doesn't it?"
Reaching into his pocket, James pulled out Snape's wand. "I have this," he explained, and Peter gasped as Sirius broke his steady rhythm to examine the wand.
"Whose is it?" he questioned, all the sarcasm in his voice gone.
"Snape's. I've had it in my pocket all this time. The werewolves never thought to check me after taking my wand."
"Well," Sirius sighed, raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck with a small smile, "this certainly changes things. My motorbike should still be parked outside, if we can get through unseen."
"That's the best part," James said, reaching into his other pocket and bringing out his Invisibility Cloak.
Jumping up, Peter clapped his hands and immediately brought them to his sides again as the noise echoed through the room. "I forgot you still had that!" he whispered loudly, grinning.
"But will it be enough to cover all four of us?" Sirius questioned, and the other two slouched as they looked at Remus. Their friend had not looked up yet, although he murmured with more urgency in between shivers.
"It'll have to be enough," James answered. "It's all we've got. You two can grab your wands as soon as I open the door, and be ready to use them." Lowering his voice, he shot another look at Remus and said, "I think that we might have to do most of the dueling if it comes to that."
Nodding, Sirius and Peter stood by the bars as James walked to Remus' side and dropped to a crouch. "Hey, Remus," he coaxed, tilting his head to look into his eyes, but Remus continued to stare at the floor. "Remus, you've got to listen to me," James tried again, speaking firmly. "We're going to get ourselves out of here, but you have to stand up. Can you walk? Remus? Are you listening? Can you stand up?"
Staring at him, James paused and wondered if his words had had any effect. After a lengthy pause, Remus twitched and looked up at James. Breaking into a smile, James leaned closer and took Remus by the arm.
"We're going to try and escape, okay? I have a wand with me, and we can use my Invisibility Cloak to sneak upstairs. There's a ride waiting for us at the surface. Do you understand? Can you walk for me?"
Remus' eyes broke away, and he gave a small nod. Standing, James helped pull Remus to his feet and led him towards the others, who stood waiting by the front of the cage. Taking the Invisibility Cloak from James, Sirius nodded towards their wands sitting on the table outside.
"We have to move quickly. Once they realize that we aren't here, they'll be scouring the place for us."
As Peter gulped, James lifted Snape's wand and aimed it at the cage door. "Alohomora!" Jumping in his hand as if attempting to escape, the wand nevertheless buckled and caused the door to spring open, squealing on its rusty hinges. Grabbing the door to ease its progress, Sirius allowed the others outside to grab their wands. Standing watch, James turned his head at a faraway thudding sound and pocketed Snape's wand in favor of his.
"Do you think that you can remember the way back?" James asked the others.
Nodding, Sirius pointed at an adjoining passageway. "I think so. It wasn't very complicated coming down, if uncomfortable."
"Get in," James commanded, raising the Invisibility Cloak over his head.
Rushing underneath, Sirius, Peter, and Remus huddled closely and allowed the Cloak to fall. Frowning, James saw that the edge of the fabric hung just above their ankles, but he had no time to worry as he shuffled towards the passageway that Sirius had indicated. Stopping just in front of the doorway to listen, he stared up at the shadowy flight of steps before glancing over his shoulder at the others.
"There's only just enough room for us all to fit," he said. "If anyone comes from upstairs, we're going to collide. Be ready to use your wands."
"Let's get this done with quickly," Sirius responded, and the boys started up the winding stairs at a jog.
After a minute or so, they had to slow a bit to catch their breaths, which seemed to echo at a dangerous volume up the stairs. Concluding a whispered conversation between James, Sirius, and Peter, they continued to climb at a slower pace that gradually morphed into a tiptoe, partially out of fatigue but also in apprehension of reaching the surface. The journey to the lower floor had seemed unbearably long, and James began to think the same of the way back. He reminded himself that they were progressing much more slowly the second time, pausing every now and again to listen to noises from above, but his heart fluttered faster with each passing minute; every second they spent climbing was a second closer to having their disappearance discovered.
Following an anxious period of silent climbing, James was finally able to hear an exchange of voices, although the words were muffled and indecipherable. Having relied mostly on feeling their way up the walls of the stairwell, the boys moved faster as the blue light of the stone fountain flickered into the passageway. Upon spotting the top of the stairs, James stopped the others and bent forward to peer around the corner, glimpsing several werewolves gathered in the corridor leading to the fountain.
"I don't reckon that the Death Eaters are going to let us have our way anytime soon," one of the werewolves spoke to his nearest companion, massaging his bare foot as he sat against the wall. "Can't expect any respect from them, see."
"For all their talk, they really don't give a damn about us, do they?" the other snorted, wiping his face with his sleeve.
"As long as they depend on us for blackmail, we'll stay in good shape," another of them spoke.
"Hopefully they won't rely too much on any alternatives," the first werewolf commented, curling his lip. "They won't be nearly as effective as we are, even if they don't have to wait until the full moon to—"
At the same time, both the werewolves and the eavesdropping boys jumped as a loud clamor of voices came from down the stairs, ending with a howl. Pressing against the wall, James shared a wide-eyed glance with his roommates as someone spoke from the outside corridor.
"It's them kids!"
"They got out? How?" another snarled.
"Well, they isn't gettin' far!"
Throwing another glance down the hall, James watched as the werewolves leapt to their feet and raced towards the fountain, a few of them ducking down closer passageways before they could reach the boys' hiding place. Looking back at the others, James yanked off the Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it into his pocket.
"There aren't that many of them!" he hissed as Remus and Peter shied from the top of the staircase. "Come on, we can take them! I'm counting on you!"
Whipping out his wand with the hope that the others would do the same, James shot out of the passageway and faced the group of oncoming werewolves, who skidded to a stop as they spotted him. "Flipendo!" James shouted, and the front werewolf fell while the others bared their teeth and raced forward.
Jumping out to join James, Sirius raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" Ducking to the side, the lead werewolf misdirected the jet of red light to his arm, but he still yelped as his body was slammed backwards.
As Sirius downed him with another spell, the other werewolves slowed and drew their wands as Remus and Peter both appeared from the staircase, their wands in hand. In a few seconds, the room was lit up with an array of red, purple, and blue jinxes that rocketed between both parties.
"Impedimenta!"
"Depulso!"
"Confringo!"
"Locomotor Mortis!"
In a matter of moments, the duel had ended, James and his friends coming out as the victors. The element of surprise had been on their side, but James knew that their luck would not last; even now he could hear several more voices shouting from the tunnel behind him. As he and the others started to run towards the stairwell at the end of the corridor, they had to fight off a handful of enemies who clambered out of the adjoining passageways.
"Petrificus Totalus!" James exclaimed while his roommates fired spells behind him, and the werewolves hit the ground before they could take more than a single bound in their direction. Panting, James halted again as Sirius blasted another two werewolves with Stunning Spells when they leapt out of a nearby doorway.
"We'll never make it through there!" Peter panicked, and James eyed the dozens of doorways between them and the exit with a sinking feeling in his chest. Even as Peter spoke, he could hear several more shouts coming from the passages ahead, and he faced the others as his skull pounded.
"Any ideas?" James asked, clutching his wand as the yelling drew nearer from all directions. Lowering his head, Sirius glanced away as Remus stared hollowly ahead. Gritting his teeth, James demanded, "Come on! There's got to be a way out!"
Suddenly, Remus' eyes shot up and refocused, and he mumbled something to himself before stuffing his hand into his pocket. "I—I have this!" he announced, thrusting his trembling fist towards James. Reaching out, James watched as what looked like a pile of sand fall into his palm, and he squinted at the green color.
"Floo powder?" he asked.
"I—I was going to bring you back," Remus stammered, staring at the grains left in his shaking hand. "There—there should be enough."
Clenching his fist around the Floo powder, James wrapped Remus in a fierce hug. "Remus, you're a genius! Why didn't you just say so?"
As Remus smiled slightly, Sirius jerked James away. "There's no time! Let's go!"
Running back to the flaming fountain, the four boys raced towards the empty fireplace on the left side of the circular cavern, their feet pounding as the sounds of snarling grew louder behind them. Upon reaching the abandoned hearth, they dove onto their knees, and Remus began fumbling with the pockets of his robes.
"Where do we go?" Sirius demanded as Remus reached his quaking hands into his clothes. "Does the Floo Network extend to Hogwarts?"
"Remus came from the History of Magic classroom, didn't he?" James answered, his voice also at a near-yell. "It should work going back!"
"It had better!" Sirius replied, and he pulled Remus' shaking hands away from his pockets. "Here, Remus, let us do it!"
Together, James and Sirius turned Remus' pockets inside out and grabbed as much of the Floo powder as they could before it hit the floor. Sweeping up the remains, James dumped a small pile into Peter's hands and shoved him towards the fireplace, which only had room for one.
"You go first!" James ordered, and Peter started to clamber into the hearth just as several pairs of feet jumped into the circular room on the other side. Spinning around, James and Sirius shot a few spells at the snarling werewolves and sent them diving behind the fountain. When a few of them drew their wands and returned fire, James cast a Shield Charm and flinched when the hexes blasted into the invisible film.
"Go, Peter!" he turned and yelled, afraid that the rest of them would not be able to escape in time.
Before he could throw the Floo powder to the ground, Peter yelped and covered his head as a jinx from one of the werewolves clipped the top of the fireplace, showering the inside with crumbling stone. Having shielded himself as well, James did not have time to react as a blue light come barreling towards him and slammed into his wand arm. Although he did not go flying back, James felt his arm go limp, and he had to switch his wand to his other hand after trying unsuccessfully to raise the first. Opening his mouth to yell a warning at Sirius, he was cut off when Louella leapt out from behind the fountain.
"Suffleo!"
"No, no, no!" Peter cried a moment later, snatching at the air as a gust of wind blew the Floo powder from his fingers. James had lost his handful of powder when the spell had hit his arm, and he backed against the fireplace as Sirius stood, the only one between the werewolves and their chance at escape.
Out of the corner of his eye, James spotted a dark figure rush out of the doorway just to the left of the fireplace and behind Sirius' line of sight. Before he could shout a warning, Fenrir Greyback was on top of Sirius, bringing several more werewolves with him out of the black passageway. Yelling, Sirius dropped his wand as Greyback lifted him from the floor for the second time that day, letting his feet dangle underneath him.
"Thought that you could get away, didn't you, pretty boy?" Greyback taunted as the other werewolves chuckled, and he leaned closer to Sirius with a smile. "Don't you know that it's unwise to anger a wolf?"