Chapter 40
Sirius was breathing heavily, looking down at me with worried eyes. I couldn't seem to recover from my shock and sat gaping up at him with wide eyes.
Finally, he heaved a great sigh and sat down next to me. For moments neither of us talked, listening to the sound of rain fall through the canopy of trees.
"So… you're a dog" I stated lamely, instantly cringing at my phrasing.
Sirius, who whipped around to look at me with a concerned expression as soon as I started talking, let out a quiet laugh. I studied his face and saw that he looked relieved.
"Yes," he began, "don't worry though, I'm more human than dog. An animagus to be exact."
"You're a what?" I shifted my body to face him in surprise. He drew his knees up and locked his arms around them before turning to me with a quizzical expression.
"You just saw me transform Bells. What other explanation could there be?"
"…Right." I mentally smacked myself for my stupidity. "Wait a second… that's seriously advanced magic Sirius! To think as a student… this explains how you're so good at Transfiguration!" I grabbed his arm in excitement as a puzzle piece connected in my head.
Sirius chuckled at my enthusiasm. He looked down at my hands which were clutching his upper arm, then lifted his gaze to my face, eyes soft as they met mine.
Before I could ask what he was thinking, he ducked his head slowly and kissed me languidly. I felt my cheeks heat and my blood boil, even in the sopping rain.
"I'm sorry" he whispered with his forehead pressed against mine.
"For what?" I whispered back.
"For being an ass to you." He drew back, "I was a right git shouting at you like that."
"It's oka-"
"No, it's not." He interrupted, looking at me with something akin to exasperation. "You're too good Bella. You forgive too easily."
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have judged you so harshly, I feel so bad Sirius. I hope you know I'm truly sorry."
He took one of my hands that was still on his arm and kissed it, "don't feel bad, I understand why you thought what you did and I don't hold it against you."
I sighed and curled up closer to him, "see, you're too forgiving." I smiled into his shoulder as he chuckled.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, he started, grabbed my shoulders to face him and looked at me with a stern expression.
"I'm glad we've sorted this out Bells, but don't you ever come charging into this forest like this again, even if I'm missing!"
I scoffed, "there's no way I'm promising that."
"Bella," He emphasised, "do you have any idea what could have happened? It's the middle of the night, storming on top of that!"
"What would you have done if I had gone missing and you knew I was in here?" I retorted.
He stared hard at me, and I levelled his gaze with one equally immovable until he sighed and let go of my shoulders to run a hand through his hair.
"You're impossible."
"Don't run away again," I whispered. "Even if you're upset, just… don't scare me like that please."
He looked at me and his eyes widened. I felt the tears pool at the corners of my eyes and I knew he could distinguish them from the rain drops.
Immediately he reached for me and enveloped me in a fierce hug.
"I won't," he rasped, "I promise."
We sat there for a long time together before my teeth started chattering.
"Let's go before we both get hypothermia" Sirius got up and stretched out a hand. I took it and allowed him to haul me to my feet.
Despite the pouring rain, neither of us wanted to part ways yet so we made the walk back up to the castle as slow as possible, our joined hands swinging between us.
"Sirius… Is Remus a werewolf?" I asked quietly.
He stopped in the middle of the grounds and I turned to face him.
He looked at me for a minute, deciding what to say.
"Yes," he finally answered.
We were both quiet for a few moments before I took his hand and we resumed our slow walk.
"How did you figure it out?" He asked.
"It took a while, but there were lots of things I've been noticing since the start of this year. I just sort of pieced it together."
He didn't say anything, only hummed.
"Why did you tell me? You could have lied." I asked him.
"I don't ever want to lie to you."
I felt my heart leap at his instantaneous reply. He said it with nonchalance but I knew he meant it.
"So Remus is a werewolf, and you're an animagus… I'm guessing James and Peter are also animagi and you all run off together through the whomping willow when he turns?"
"Right again," he ruffled my hair with a grin, "I guess it's my fault for dating a damn clever witch."
"What do James and Peter transform into?" I asked eagerly.
He laughed, "now don't expect to get all the answers tonight love."
"But-"
"You're going to have to figure that out too. No doubt you will soon enough."
"Fine… But Sirius, I know we just made up but I have to tell you what's on my mind." I gripped his hand to stop him once we reached the cover of the castle. There wasn't a soul about and I knew there would be no prefects patrolling this part of the castle.
"Of course, shoot." He steered me towards a low window ledge and we sat.
"Your brother is involved in something to do with.. with.."
"With what?" His gaze had darkened and his grip slightly tightened on my hand.
"With Voldemort" I leaned in and whispered, even though there was no one around. "That nasty wizard who thinks everyone but the purebloods are scum."
Sirius stared. "How do you know about this?"
"I kind of caught him talking to Thaddeus and have been trying to look out for him since then. He often looks scared or stressed. And then one day he just told me about how his – your family are involved in Voldemort's plan and so are a lot of pureblood families."
I looked up, assessing his face. Sirius' jaw was taught, and I could see his brows draw in slightly in tension.
"I'm sorry." I whispered when he continued to stare at the ground, saying nothing.
He eventually lifted his head and met my eyes.
"Well I'm glad I got out when I did." He stated, no hint of amusement on his face. "Bloody hell" he muttered and turned away again.
I remembered how shocked I was when I found out, I couldn't imagine what it was like for Sirius to digest the news that his own brother was involved in such a thing.
"I need to talk to him. I've got to pull him out of this no matter what."
I nodded and we looked at each other gravely for a moment before eventually heading up to the common room.
"So how's Pierre?" I asked as I mixed sugar into my cup of coffee, watching the steam rise and disperse into the cold air.
"Why do you insist on calling him that?" my sister Eve asked with a roll of her eyes.
We were nestled in a cosy booth in the Three Broomsticks. Eve and her husband Peter were visiting England for a few weeks and we had decided to meet up – something I was incredibly excited for as we hadn't properly spent time together in a few months.
"Because he's French and Peter is a boring English name."
"How many times do I have to tell you, only his dad is French."
"Still. When I think about my sister marrying an exotic French bloke, it's easier to imagine Pierre or Jean-Paul."
We both laughed as the waitress came over with our lunch.
My sister was working as a healer after she graduated Hogwarts. She quickly exceled at the job and a couple of months in, she was assigned a patient – a handsome lad with a leg wound. He had been visiting a relative and saw a couple of teenage wizards tormenting a muggle kid. He stepped in and gave the boys a taste of their own medicine and rescued the muggle, before suffering a cheap shot to the back of the leg when he turned his back on them.
My sister couldn't help but be charmed by the man and would find excuses to delay his acquittal, so she could spend some more time teasing "the French auror who was bested by a couple of brats". He saw through her excuses and flirted shamelessly and promised to keep in touch after he was eventually healed.
He kept his promise, even visiting her numerous times before eventually whisking her away to France as his wife.
It was like something out of a fairy tale, which James and I often teased her mercilessly for.
It was easy see how Peter charmed her since he charmed our whole family, and I was keen to hopefully catch a glimpse of him before they had to leave for France again.
"Get this B, I was tending to a patient last week, an old lady who speaks French so fast that I can barely understand her. She starts yelling in French and panicking as I'm about to fix a wound on her hip – nasty fall down the stairs, fell right on her wand so she couldn't fix it herself – and she reaches over and snatches the wand right out of my hands! Turns out I was about to heal the wrong hip, the broken hip was on the other side."
"What! How did you get that wrong?" I sputtered out with a laugh.
"I told her 'sorry, this one looked broken to me' before I could stop myself"
I burst out laughing, choking on my coffee.
"She was not impressed. I should have spoken in English." She grinned.
"Gosh I've missed you Eve! Did you bring me that French chocolate I liked last time?"
"That was from Belgium Bella, so you'll have to settle for French fudge instead."
"Good enough for me!" I exclaimed happily, reaching for the wrapped fudge.
"Don't eat it all, share some with Sirius too. Though, you probably don't need to with all the sweet rendezvous' you both go on to the kitchens." She said with a wicked gleam.
"Eve! We do not go that often!"
"Sure you don't. Have you been in a broom closet yet?"
"EVE!" I whisper-yelled, mortified as she cackled. "I'm sure you and Pete found your way to a few closets at St Mungo's every time he visited too."
She immediately coloured. "Nonsense, we spent our time in the break room….mostly." She winked while I pretended to gag.
Our conversation continued mostly in the vein during lunch. We wrote each other often but I hadn't kept her up to date on everything I had learnt from Regulus.
"Eve… there's something I need to tell you. Something that I couldn't trust to put in a letter."
"What is it?" She asked, immediately sensing the change in tone.
I filled her in on everything I had heard about Voldemort, watching her face grow tense and her body rigid.
"Bells… I know what's been happening. It's horrible. Mum, Dad were planning to talk to you about it this holidays."
"You knew?" She nodded and there was silence for a few moments.
"Bella…" She brought her voice down to a whisper.
I looked up at her immediately.
"What? What is it? There's more isn't there? Tell me."
"Peter and I aren't here just for a holiday. He's here with the head of his auror department for a meeting at the Ministry of Magic to discuss the threat from You-Know-Who."
"Why don't you call him by his name?"
"I don't want to draw any attention. These are dangerous times B. You can't know for sure where his supporters are, so I don't want anyone knowing we're talking about this so for goodness sake keep your voice down."
"Okay," I agreed, "so are they discussing how to take You-Know-Who down at this meeting? Who else is attending? Do you know?"
She sighed. "The Minister has reached out to the wizarding authorities in every country. Only a few have responded to my knowledge. France, Brazil, Japan, North America and Uganda. This is a serious threat that needs to be extinguished or it could well spread beyond England soon."
I gasped at the panic at the back of her eyes.
She looked as though she wanted to say something else, but decided against it.
I let out a frustrated sigh, "tell me what else you were about to say Eve, just tell me everything you know, I have to know!"
She worried her lip before eventually giving in.
"Bella, the attack on mum and dad was no coincidence."
I stilled. I opened my mouth but no words came out.
"It was You-Know-Who?" I whispered in disbelief.
She nodded mutely.
"But why? Why would he target a pureblood couple if his goal is to eradicate every one else?"
"Have you heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"
"No… What's that?"
"It's a secret group of witches and wizards that are fighting You-Know-Who and his supporters. And mum and dad are a part of it. So are Pete and I. Mum and Dad and the Potters defeated a large number of pureblood supporters weeks before the attack on our home."
Pride warred with worry and panic as I received the news.
"They've doubled the protective spells around the hills and surrounding area around our houses so there's no need to worry" she continued. "You cannot tell anyone Bella. Not even your closest friends and especially not Sirius.
"Why?" I snapped immediately, then in a lower voice in response to the panicked flash in her eyes, "because of his parents? Trust me Eve, he is not like them. He would never – "
"It doesn't matter. This is too big B, let the authorities handle it for now. They don't want word getting around to the students and causing panic. They want to wipe out this coup before it becomes too widely known and people join his cause out of fear."
"But I saw it in the Quibbler!"
"No one reads the Quibbler do they? The Ministry is bribing the Daily Prophet and the other major papers from publishing on it but they won't be able to stop the news for long. Just wait Bella. I trust James and Sirius, we all do. But they are rash and too easily angered. Don't tell them for now. Promise me Bella, don't make me regret telling you."
"….Fine. I promise."