"We're going to have to move on soon."
"Why?"
"They'll probably work out I'd go here. Besides, you want to go to London, don't you?"
"Yeah…then Hogwarts-"
"Hogwarts? You do know how difficult that will be?"
"Yes, but Pettigrew's there, we need to stop him…"
Elena marvelled out how quickly his 'I' had become a 'we'.
"Shouldn't we just be trying to get out of the country? Stay low?"
"No! We have to save Harry!"
"We don't need to do anything. You need to save Harry. I don't."
"Get out then!"
"This is my house!"
They stood there, breathing heavily, glaring at each other. Sirius spat on the floor and stormed out, transforming mid-stride as he ran nimbly out of the house.
Elena kicked the carpet, swearing angrily under her breath about stupid mutts, and sat down on the mattress. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd come back, but his temper tantrum cost time. "If he…really wanted to…get to…Hogwarts…" Elena grumbled, scratching at the carpet with her fingernails. "He'd stop moping…and moaning…and actually go…geez…"
In her mind, Elena knew rationally that the smartest thing to do right now would be to kill Sirius, dump his body in the ocean, take the wand and run. The Ministry would assume that they'd both died, and wouldn't be on such high alert, so she could sneak out of the country and start a new life for herself abroad. Also, she'd get revenge for him killing her boyfriend.
Elena knew she wouldn't do it. Firstly, she wasn't a killer. That was just another thing the Ministry had got wrong. Secondly, goddamn it she was too nice. Stupid, stupid Elena Munroe was going to abandon her hope of ever living under the radar and escaping being caught and sent back to Azkaban for a guy. Her father would be rolling in his grave, even if she wasn't doing for the reason he'd expect: there was a thirteen year old boy who was going to die if she didn't help save him.
Cursing her compassion, Elena stood up and snatched the wand up from the floor, turning to go upstairs to use the toilet, when the familiar chills washed over her, filling her mind with that horrible, draining dread. She froze, shaking, as darkness fell on the road out of the window.
Elena transformed on instinct, picking up the wand and scampering down the stairs. Despite that she was in her Animagus form, Elena was still cold to the bone, fur standing on end as she ran up to the front door, and nosed at it.
Damn you Sirius.
He'd closed the door behind him.
Elena could hear the Dementors swarming around the house, breathing rattling in the almost silence. Needless to say, it was terrifying.
Then it suddenly got louder, as if it was in the house. Elena let out an angry, outraged hiss.
The broken window in the kitchen.
Shit.
The Dementors swarmed into the house, swooping into the living room, up the stairs, and into the hall. They were only in there for minutes, but to Elena it felt like hours. Her feline heart was beating so loudly she was sure they could hear it, and were going to investigate. At one point, one of them peered down at the trembling cat huddled against the door with a wand in its mouth, and Elena thought she was going to scream or explode with fear, but they left without doing anything else. Elena watched them glide out of the open window and felt their presence lift off of the street, but it was still ten minutes before she could summon up the courage to transform back into herself again.
A sudden, frantic scratching at the door made her jump out of her skin, shrieking, and there was an urgent bark outside: Sirius. Elena yanked open the door, fell back against the wall so that she wouldn't be visible from the street beyond, and then slammed the door shut as Sirius ran into the hallway and transformed, eyes wide and frightened.
"Elena there were Dementors-"
"Yeah I know, they came into the house!" Elena spat, anger taking the place of fear. She was shaking violently as adrenaline coursed through her veins, and she felt weak and vulnerable. "And you shut the door behind you, so I couldn't get out!"
Sirius looked concerned for a second, but his reply was angry, like hers. "If you hadn't been stupid-"
"If you hadn't stormed out like a freaking lunatic-"
"If you hadn't driven me to leaving-"
"If you hadn't shut the door behind you like an idiot-"
"If you hadn't have said we shouldn't save Harry-"
"If you had've listened to me…"
They both stopped, and crashed together in what looked like a painful hug, fury fading into regret. "I'm sorry I shut the door."
"Good."
Elena squeezed him tightly, then let go, stepped back and pushed her hair out of her face.
"We need to move on."
"Where to?"
There was a second of pondering, urgent silence.
"Lily's sister…" Sirius looked up suddenly, face alive. "It was um…Prewett…number four…number four…Prewett Drive? Privet Drive? I went there with her once…Dumbledore would have sent Harry to there…they're his next of kin…what date is it again?"
"Um…end of July? Start of August?"
"So it's the summer holidays…he'll be there…"
"We can go…but what are you going to do? Pop into his bedroom, just casually say hi? Your breakout is probably all over the news. You're one of the most notorious mass-murderers the wizarding world has ever seen-"
"I didn't kill those people." Sirius sounded irritable. Elena bit back her desired response, which was: you did kill some people, though, didn't you Sirius? Like my boyfriend, for example?
"Yeah, okay, but that's not the point-"
"I just want to see him, and make sure he's okay."
"How do you even know that he's in danger?"
Sirius pulled out the scrap of newspaper from the pocket of his trousers. It was wrinkled and faded, obviously dried and being magically held together after their 'swim'. He pointed to a gangly by on the photograph, and at the rat on his shoulder. "Look at the rat."
Elena took the paper and lifted it up to the light, squinting at it.
"What?"
"He's missing a toe."
Sure enough, the fat rat was missing on his front paw, but Elena frowned.
"So?"
"He cut it off, didn't he?" Sirius sounded excited.
"All they ever found of Pettigrew was his finger…"
"Exactly!"
"Okay…it could be Pettigrew…and?"
"The article said that the rat's that boy's pet, and that boy attends Hogwarts, and he's in third year, and he's a Gryffindor…"
"Okay, so Harry is in third year, but you don't know if he's in Gryffindor…?"
Sirius scoffed. "Of course he's in Gryffindor!"
"Why of course?" Elena was confused.
"Both of his parents were in Gryffindor."
"So? My parents were both in Slytherin but I was in Ravenclaw."
"Yeah but…that's Slytherins for you."
"Excuse me?"
"Just…he's in Gryffindor, okay?"
"Whatever you say…"
"And so Harry will be in the same dormitory as this boy, and Pettigrew will have access to Harry."
"But why would he kill him?"
"What? He's one of Voldemort's followers!"
Elena tried to hide her flinch before she spoke. "He'll be at Hogwarts, right? Right under Dumbledore's nose. You-Know Who vanished after the Potters died on Halloween. He would gain nothing by killing Harry, would he?"
"But the thing is, he would! It was his betrayal that led to Voldemort's demise. The Death Eater's blame him for their master's disappearance. Faking his own death was clever, one to get the other Death Eater's off his back and two to avoid having to be subject to the Ministry's investigation that would most likely discover his guilt and my innocence. But killing Harry? Completing their master's final mission? They would welcome him back with honours! He would be a hero! He would be worshipped, and protected. He was never one to stand on his own two feet, Peter." Sirius sounded bitter, angry, but there was a note of wistfulness in his voice, of remembering. "He always wanted someone to look after him."
He turned his back on her, and Elena looked away, wanting to allow him his moment of weakness. When he righted himself again, his eyes were set, determined, and Elena nodded, voice sure.
"Okay. Okay. Let's go."
I hope you liked it! They're finally getting somewhere!
Fly xx