In Murray's Shoes
Summary: Growing up is hard, even in the wizarding world. Friendships are formed, thrive and endure, or fizzle out and fade away. Elizabeth Murray and her friend, Stu Dalton, along with a few other of their friends find out the hard way. A Marauders Era fanfic.
Rated: M for language and adult themes.
Chapter 1
The bloody cat was at it again.
It was the sixth time this month. Enough is enough.
"Gran!" Elizabeth yelled, with all her might. She had to, the house was embarrassingly big for just three occupants, and her grandmother was all the way downstairs.
A second later, her Gran – white haired, wrinkled, but taller than most men and built like a house – apparated in her room with a loud crack.
The older woman didn't have to ask the reason for her granddaughter's rage, it was in plain sight.
Footprints on the mattress. Again.
Wet, muddy, dirty footprints on her pristine white sheets.
Elizabeth waited, silently, seething with rage.
Her grandmother sighed. Pulling out her wand, she said, "Scourgify!"
And it was good as new.
"All done, dear," she said, putting her wand back into the pocket of her dress.
Elizabeth heaved a great sigh, her anger rolling off her with some effort.
"Thank you," she said, now feeling significantly calmer.
In response, her grandmother pinched her nose.
"You would do well to curb that temper of yours, my dear," she said, looking sternly at her granddaughter. "It may get you into a wealth of trouble someday."
Elizabeth nearly gulped. Nearly.
Oh you have no idea, Elizabeth thought. "Wealth of trouble – someday". For Elizabeth, the "someday" came a long time ago.
She let go, and immediately, Elizabeth was on the defensive.
"Gran, can't you keep that animal downstairs?" she asked. "Why does he need to creep into my room every chance he gets? I swear, he does it just to annoy me."
Her grandmother rolled her eyes at her. "He likes to climb that bloody tree," the older woman said, pointing outside Elizabeth's window to an old oak tree with its branches leading towards her window, "and you refuse to close the bloody window."
They had been over this a few times before.
It was Elizabeth's turn to roll her eyes. She wouldn't need to open the window if the rest of the floor didn't look like a mausoleum; dingy and dark with long curtains covering floor-length windows which always remained shut. There was very little light coming into the house. Not to mention the furniture was covered with white sheets to keep the dust off because no one ventured into certain areas of the house.
She blamed her grandparents for that one. Why choose a house at the end of the street of a muggle suburb where there was a looming concrete building blocking out most of the light on one side and not much space on the other or the backyard. It was all magically expanded.
As for the window that was always open in Elizabeth's room – her grandmother's garden was right below. Elizabeth loved that garden, because it showed just how much work her grandmother put into it. Fresh roses, lilies, daisies, daffodils, and a variety of magical plants and flowers, not to mention herbs and spices, could all be found in her grandmother's backyard.
She could smell all of it in her room. There was no way she was closing that window. But, Jonesy the Cat, loved climbing up the old oak tree, the branches of which were at a level to her window, which the cat used to get back into the house again. If that was all that he did, Elizabeth would not mind.
No. He just has to climb up on her bed and make a mess of her sheets after he came in.
"One of these days, I'm getting a dog," Elizabeth said, earning a snort from her grandmother.
"That would certainly make things more interesting," the older woman said.
Elizabeth slumped down on her newly pristine sheets.
"Are you all packed?" her Gran enquired.
"Almost," Elizabeth replied, perfunctorily.
As always, she didn't sound too enthused about her impending return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Something her Gran never failed to notice.
"Well, dinner's almost ready," her Gran said, looking back at Elizabeth on her way out, "so, come on down whenever you like."
"Thanks, Gran," Elizabeth said.
The second the door closed, Elizabeth dragged herself off the bed and threw her things together.
Her school robes were already freshly laundered and neatly folded, and tucked away into her trunk. As were her everyday clothes. Along with her textbooks, cauldron, scales, telescope, parchment, quills, ink, gloves, some left over potions ingredients, and …
Elizabeth made a mental checklist of all the things she needed. The Hogwarts letter flashed before her eyes, all the words crystal clear in writing.
She'd packed everything she needed, just her wand left.
Right now, it was on her study desk … along with her Charms homework for the holidays. She placed them both in her trunk and closed it shut.
She made a mental note to go over things again before she left for King's Cross tomorrow.
Then, she went down for dinner.
Sirius
Sirius Black, unlike Elizabeth Murray, relished putting his trunk together. Finally, he was leaving, going back to Hogwarts, saying good-bye to Grimmauld Place for the year.
Until next year.
He threw things pell-mell into the trunk, only really taking care to separate his robes from his ink bottles. That was just an accident waiting to happen.
There was a gentle knock on the door.
Sirius knew it was Kreacher, it was always Kreacher. No one else in this house particularly cared that Sirius spent most of his holidays outside or shut up in his room, other than the faithful house-elf. Not out of love or loyalty to him, Sirius knew that. Regulus was the apple of Kreacher's bulbous eyes. No, it was probably his mother's doing. Sirius didn't particularly care.
Sirius ignored him and kept packing.
A few more knocks sounded, and Sirius yelled, "Go away!" and then they stopped altogether.
Blessed silence, he thought, returning to the task at hand.
He emptied his trunk of old textbooks, and packed in the new ones. Lastly, he threw in his wand and broomstick, and he was done.
He closed it shut with a relish, and flumped down in his king-sized bed.
His room was very clearly ostentatious by design. Sirius both loved and hated it at times. However, it didn't stop him from making it his own.
He smiled toothily in the dim light of the room. He never quite liked the décor – and as he grew older, he liked it even less. So, he'd made some additions to the room over the years. It really set him apart from the rest of his family. He put up the Gryffindor colours of red and gold on the walls, over the expensive and yet still somehow hideous wallpaper. Rows upon rows of photographs were stuck to the wall – of him and his friends at Hogwarts and a few of them on the train.
It was the add-ons of this year that made him chuckle the hardest.
Thank you for the posters, Eric.
Eric Noth, Sirius's friend from the Muggle world (and he had quite a few of those), had generously provided him with a choice set of posters of several bikini-wearing Muggle girls.
He thought they were tasteful and elegant, but he wondered what his mother would think … and promptly burst out laughing.
It's probably a good thing he wouldn't be here when she noticed.
Apologies, mother, but they're never coming off, he thought, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
It was only when the clock struck twelve that he noticed the time.
Blimey, he thought. Time flies when you're not particularly doing anything.
His stomach grumbled as though in reminder that he hadn't eaten anything since lunch.
Sirius gazed at the door to his room, thinking about the knock on the door earlier. It was probably a half hour ago. He got off his bed, approached the door, and opened it.
And there it was.
His dinner, resting on the floor, under a silver cloche.
Kreacher …
It wasn't the first time the house-elf had brought Sirius's dinner up to him. There were many nights when Sirius refused to come out of his room, indulging in secret, the copious amounts of snacks and food items sent to him by his friends over the holidays. They kept him well stocked because they knew of his tendency to get in a row with his parents and then shut himself up in his room for days.
Sirius took his dinner back to his room, setting the tray on the bed.
Under the cloche, he found cold onion soup (appropriate), cheesy toasted garlic bread, and some pudding for dessert.
No doubt Kreacher had to make something that wasn't on the menu this evening just for him, considering the menu would contain all of Regulus's favourites the night before he left for Hogwarts.
As was tradition.
Sirius enjoyed his dinner nonetheless, surveying with some satisfaction the handiwork that went into improving his room.
Considering how hungry he was, he practically inhaled the soup and bread in a matter of minutes, and wolfed down the pudding immediately after.
Kreacher's cooking was delicious as always (though Sirius would never acknowledge it), but tonight Sirius barely tasted any of it. Being ravenous with hunger had little to do with it.
Sirius placed the now empty tray on the floor beside the bed and lay back against the pillows, arms under his head.
He hardly tasted it anymore. Mandrake, it was called.
The instructions flashed across his mind once more as it had done throughout his last month at Grimmauld Place.
The Mandrake leaf must be soaked in the drinker's mouth for an entire month without pause.
It was not an easy task. They had to start over a few times, given the danger involved in the process.
There was absolutely no room for mistakes.
The month was coming to an end.
They had decided that September 2nd would be the last day.
The Mandrake leaf tasted like raw potatoes, its flavour was intense the first few days. Sirius wondered how he was going to get through an entire month with it in his mouth. Fortunately, the taste subsided, or perhaps he'd just gotten used to it, Sirius didn't really care. He just wanted to get it done.
He wrote often to his friends, James and Peter, Remus was still mostly in the dark about what they were up to. But Peter mostly, he had trouble following the simplest of instructions.
So far, Peter had pulled through. James, champion that he was, didn't have any trouble with the Mandrake.
Now that he was close to the deadline, he began to wonder if they would make it all the way through. Two years of checking and rechecking the Potion, its ingredients and the process involved, and Sirius was fairly confident about it all.
Could they actually go through it with it?
Become Animagi.
Sirius reached under his bed and pulled out the stack of letters he'd written over the summer. To Remus, James, and Peter.
So far, they had kept the fact that they were actually making the Potion a secret from Remus. Telling him would be just as risky as attempting to brew the Potion.
Time will tell.
He rolled up the letters and stuffed them inside his trunk and locked it shut.
Yawning, he slipped back into bed and fell asleep within seconds.
Elizabeth
Dawn came earlier than expected for Elizabeth. She dreamed a lot of dreams, but couldn't remember a single one. She woke up feeling like her brain had been working the entire time she was asleep.
Ugh, she hated waking up like this.
Elizabeth stumbled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and headed downstairs.
She heard raised voices even before she reached the bottom of the staircase.
The voices belonged, of course, to her father and grandmother. They were arguing in the kitchen. A set of double doors behind the staircase led to the large dining room, which led to the kitchen which opened up to the living room, which circled back to the staircase.
Elizabeth went through the living room and stood in front of the kitchen door, wondering if she should make her presence known.
She raised a hand to push the door open, then she caught what they were arguing about.
Her brain was slow this morning.
" … you cannot do this," Elizabeth's grandmother said in a furious voice. "You absolutely can't. This year has to be different. Do you realise she is starting her fifth year at Hogwarts?"
"Mother, of course, I do," her father replied, sounding equally furious. "And Elizabeth understands more than anyone why I must continue my work."
"Your wor –"
Gran was so furious she could hardly get the words out.
"That's what this has become to you now, has it?" Gran spat out indignantly. "All these years of pain and suffering has now been reduced to – work?"
Her father sighed deeply, before replying with a note of urgency in his voice, "Mother, you know that's not what I meant. Evey needs me. Elizabeth knows that. It is the only way I can fix things."
"Sam," Elizabeth had never heard Gran's voice so utterly defeated before, "see her off to Hogwarts today. Perhaps you've lost all touch with reality or perhaps you simply don't want to deal with it, I don't particularly care at the moment. But your daughter is no longer a child, she hasn't been for a very long time now."
"In two years, she comes of age, and you would have missed her entire childhood. You've become a stranger to her, as she has become to you."
Elizabeth's nails dug deeply into her palms and she fought to hold back tears. Gran continued.
"I am not asking you to spend the entire day with her. See her off to King's Cross today, even if you don't want to drive all the way there. Speak to her, a few words is all I ask of you."
There was a long, drawn out silence.
Then, Elizabeth's father spoke. "Tell Elizabeth I hope she has a wonderful year."
She heard footsteps approaching the kitchen door, and she dived behind some thick curtains in the back just in time as the door swung open.
She saw the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed man, slightly hunched around the shoulders, slip out of the living room. A moment later, Elizabeth heard the front door open, and then close.
Sirius
It was a long silent car ride to King's Cross. Sirius sat at one end of the back seat of the old Jaguar that had been in the family for generations, while Regulus, Sirius's younger brother, occupied the other end.
Sirius kept his gaze on the passing view, his mind already on the train where he belonged – with his best friends.
For his part, Regulus hasn't said a word to him either.
Sirius preferred it that way.
The chauffeur for the day was sent by the Ministry – probably on loan from some Ministry Official relative of theirs.
It was a different one each year. Sirius was thankful that his parents had never bothered to make the trip to King's Cross. He was already free of them.
There were no goodbyes between him and his parents. He got up early, got cleaned up, went about his business, got dressed when it was time, and got into the car when the chauffeur showed up.
His parents wouldn't dream of being in a place packed with muggles for all the gold in Gringotts.
When the car came to a stop, Sirius got out immediately. Regulus followed suit, however, he immediately disappeared into the crowded station, leaving the chauffeur to deal with his luggage. Like always. This time, Sirius almost debated running after him and dragging him back to the car.
He was not a child anymore, he should take care of his own things.
The chauffeur didn't seem to mind. He was likely given his "instructions" for the day.
Sirius headed into the station and brought back two trolleys, which surprised the older man. Neither of them said a word. Sirius lifted his trunk out of the car and deposited it in one of the trolleys with some difficulty. Then, he and his trunk were gone.
Sirius was in such a hurry to get to the train he could see nothing else before him.
He melted through the solid stone barrier between platforms nine and ten, and came out in Platform Nine and Three Quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood waiting for him, ready to take him back to Hogwarts.
And there they all were. Remus, James and Peter.
With their families, of course, making last minute chit-chat, as time inched towards 11:00 a.m.
Sirius moved over to them, unable to stop the grin spreading across his face.
James spotted him through the crowd, yelled out his name, and waved him over enthusiastically.
James pulled him into a hug first, and then it was nothing but hugs and handshakes being exchanged for the next few minutes. Mr and Mrs Potter, who had always considered him a second son, were the last to hug him. Mrs Potter, looking concerned, remarked how thin he looked, while James rolled his eyes. She knew all about the his friction with his family.
Sirius promised to eat better once he got back to Hogwarts.
It was remarkable, the adults didn't seem to suspect a thing. How James and Peter had spent an entire month with the Mandrake leaf tucked in their mouths without drawing the suspicions of their respective families is something he wanted to know very much. At least, he got to avoid his family.
Then, Remus interrupted saying that it was time they got onto the train.
And so they did. As late as it was, they still managed to find an empty compartment to themselves.
It took some time to get all of their trunks loaded into the compartment, and by the time they were finished, there was less than five minutes left for the train to depart.
They said their goodbyes to the adults, not wanting them to linger around until the train departed. And mostly because they wanted to be alone.
They had to surprise Remus, after all.
Elizabeth
Neither of them spoke much as they wheeled the trolley into Platform Nine and Three Quarters. They had been tight-lipped since they departed from her Gran's house.
They still had a few minutes left before the train left the station. A lot of people turned to stare at her Gran, who was a bit of a celebrity, being one of the best Healers to ever work at St. Mungo's, and in her retirement had written several books on common magical ailments and Herbology.
Hogwarts had prescribed one of her books for Herbology in Elizabeth's third year. Elizabeth's parents were well known Healers, too. Her dad still was.
Needless to say, Elizabeth was in a constant state of pressure to be a model student.
Elizabeth looked around for her best friend, Stu, but since most of the students had already boarded the train, she decided to board the train herself.
"This is enough, Gran. I'll be fine from here."
Her Gran nodded, and magicked her trunk onto the train. Elizabeth got on and then turned around to say her goodbyes.
The words died in her throat. She was nothing but raging, swirling emotions.
Her Gran sensed her inner turmoil.
"Write to him, tell him what you feel," her Gran suggested. "Put it all in words, dear, and I'll make sure he reads it."
Elizabeth could only nod.
"Have a wonderful year, my love," Gran stated, giving her a small and rare smile.
"Bye Gran," Elizabeth said, and turned around. Another minute and she knew she'd start bawling right on the train.
And to think, she didn't consider herself the "crying" type.
When she looked back again, Gran was gone. She heaved a sigh of relief. As much as she didn't like going to Hogwarts, she couldn't help but feel a small sense of freedom in going it alone for a while. Up until Christmas holidays anyway.
She had difficulty trying to lift up her trunk. Then, she realised she had her wand in her pocket and magicked her trunk to float ahead of her.
"Make way," she announced, and the students loitering around in the hallway dived into the nearest compartments to avoid it.
Finally, at the end of the train, she found Stu.
Stu – was Stuart Dalton. Stu had started out as Elizabeth's neighbour when they were both toddlers, back when Elizabeth lived in a tiny cottage with both her parents in a closed off little hamlet near the woods outside London.
Stu had grown handsomer over the summer. He was always handsome, but now he was more so. He greatly resembled his Indian mother who was a very beautiful woman. Stu took after her – same features save for minor differences – dark eyes with a hint of honey in them, brown skin slightly lighter than hers, same inky black hair but his was pointed up in a widow's peak on his forehead, along with a jawline that looked like it could cut glass.
Up until the age of eight they had been inseparable, thick as thieves. And then, shortly before Elizabeth's ninth birthday, Stu and his family had moved away, and a few months later, Elizabeth and her father had moved into Gran's house.
They were reunited on the train to Hogwarts two years later.
He looked up just as she slid the compartment door open.
He smiled a wide toothy grin.
Elizabeth had to smile back. He stood up and she engulfed him in a tight hug.
"Gran's left already then?" he enquired as he helped her slide her trunk under the seat. There were already two under there.
"Lily's already arrived?" Elizabeth said, distracted.
Stu nodded. "She's up with the other Prefects in the Prefects' carriage."
"Right," Elizabeth said, remembering Lily was made Prefect of Gryffindor House over the summer. "I can't believe I forgot. And yes, Gran left."
"I think she would've liked to see you." Elizabeth sat down beside him, huffing with effort.
"And I her," Stu said, lying back with his feet propped up on the opposite seat. "I miss her."
"Better come home for Christmas, then," Elizabeth said.
"Done," he replied.
"Why are you hiding in here anyway?" Elizabeth enquired.
Stu folded his arms across his chest, scowling. "Just wanted some peace and quiet."
Elizabeth knew what that meant. Not least because she was feeling the exact same way.
"Did Lou get under your skin again?" Elizabeth hoped it was something trivial that's got him in such a state.
Stu kept his gaze fixed on the view outside the window. Then said – well, more chewed it out – "Gramps."
Of course. Stu's relationship with his paternal grandfather, who was his closest guardian, made Elizabeth's relationship with her father look practically desirable.
"And what's gotten your wand in a knot?"
Stu knew her too well. He could read her like a book.
"Dad."
They lay back, Elizabeth mimicking Stu's pose, not saying much else. They didn't need to.
A few seconds later, the Hogwarts Express started to move.
Elizabeth watched the station disappear and didn't know what to feel.
A whole new year of Hogwarts awaited them.
Thanks for reading!