Elena ran down the middle of the road, thankful for the absence of cars, ignoring the sting in her paw as she sprinted across the warm tarmac. She ran until her small feline body was near to collapse, and then limped across to a driveway on the left of her in the middle of the completely unfamiliar road. As she slunk down into the shadows between two of the houses, a single magpie, startled by her movements, gave a loud squawk and took flight. The sun was still relatively high in the sky, so there was time to kill, but her stomach was full from hunting earlier in the day and she wary of getting lost so Elena stopped for a moment to deliberate her next moves.
A woman opened the front door to the house, making Elena jump as she folded a newspaper under her arm. She went over to the rubbish bin and opened the lid, motioning to put the paper inside, but stopped as she caught sight of Elena, crouching down and smiling. She was young, early twenties, with long brown hair and energetic eyes.
"Come here, puss. Come on!" She clicked her tongue enticingly, and Elena humoured her, slowly approaching the woman and dipping her head under the woman's outstretched hand, purring as she was stroked. Elena laid down on the pavement and let the woman pet her, not noticing that her manner had changed entirely as she scanned the front of the newspaper. Elena noticed her hand pause suddenly, mid-stroke, and looked up to see the woman intently reading the front page, looking down at Elena every few seconds in what looked like fear.
Shit, Elena cursed mentally. She's reading the Daily Prophet. Shit.
Wriggling out from under the woman's hand, Elena tried to leave, but the woman grabbed her around the middle, dropping the paper, moving faster than Elena would have anticipated her to be able to. Elena hissed and clawed at the woman's hands, but the witch whipped out her wand, casting a quick look around, then immobilised Elena and picked her up.
"Sorry kitty," The witch whispered as she carried Elena around past the garage, opened the door in the fence and took her out into the garden. "I've just got to make sure you're not something other than a cat."
With that, she opened the door to the shed, placed Elena on the floor and slammed the door shut, locking the door with the same heavy, jangling keys she'd used to open the backdoor to the garden, letting the padlock hit against the old wood. Elena waited, frozen on the floor, until she heard the back door bang shut, then swelled up all of her strength and pushed.
Elena transformed, panting but thanking Merlin for her Animagus form, then stood up quickly and hit the door of the shed with both hands frantically. It shuddered but didn't move too much, so Elena's fingers scrabbled at the small part of the padlock she could see in the crack between the door, and she winced as the rust cracked and broke off, driving up into her fingernails and making them bleed. The metal looked weaker from the rust, obviously very old, and the wood was rotting. Stepping back, Elena took a deep breath then kicked the keyhole once, then twice, then for a third time, until the wood in the area splintered. Fighting her urge to barge the door with her shoulder like she'd seen in movies, she kicked it again, then did a run up and kicked it as hard as she possibly could. The completely rusted over lock broke, the wood breaking, and Elena squeezed through the crack, cursing loudly as she was scratched by the wooden splinters.
She fell, swearing, onto the grass, and transformed again. A scream from inside the house startled Elena into looking up, and the woman was standing, looking horror-struck on the other side of the glass back door, hand frozen in the movement of reaching for her wand again.
Elena ran for it.
Sirius was nosing at some old fish and chip papers that had blown out of one of the wheelie bins when Elena came skittering to a stop next to him, and nudged him urgently. He looked up slowly, ignored her and went back to sniffing at the wrappers, so Elena bit him.
He yelped, hackles raising as he jumped away from her, and she darted across to the bush.
"What the hell is wrong with-"
"Sorry, sorry, but a woman found me, she had a Daily Prophet, she put me in a shed, she's contacted the Ministry, we have to go."
Elena looked at him pleadingly, eyes full of fear, and he nodded purposefully, anger gone.
"Okay, I've got the wand, so we can…no, no, no we can't go."
"What?" Elena paused in collecting their empty tins from the hedge. "Why not?!"
"Harry." Sirius said it simply, as if they weren't risking their capture by staying.
"But Sirius!-"
"We can't leave him with the Muggles!"
"But we'll be captured!"
"But he'll be in danger!"
"Sirius, you won't be any help to him locked back up in Azkaban!"
He shook his head angrily, almost growling under his breath. "You don't understand."
"Maybe not! But I do know we need to go!"
"Elena, we can't-"
"Stay, then! But when you get caught and Harry gets killed by Peter Pettigrew because you wouldn't listen to a cat, don't blame me!"
"Oh you're such a bitch…" He hissed, but they both froze as the sounds of running footsteps filled the road. "Shit-"
Elena grabbed his arm, he scrabbled on the ground for the wand and they Disapparated with a quiet pop. They landed in the middle of a grimy, dark alleyway, and Elena relaxed, but Sirius shook his head. "No! Again!"
When they landed beneath a willow tree in the middle of sprawling park, Elena scanned the area for people and then collapsed on the grass beside Sirius.
"Where are we?"
"Spinner's End." His face was dark, stormy, closed off. "Lily used to live here when she was a kid. Come on." She followed him as they snuck past the empty playground and into the mass of trees that were swaying gently in the breeze.
As they trekked through the woodland, Elena could sense Sirius' anger simmering just beneath the surface, and she knew he was going to explode as she began to speak tentatively.
"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry-"
"If you hadn't run off like some insane idiot-"
"There was a reason for that!"
"What's that then? Go on, I'm dying to know!"
"You made me bleed and I was reminded of when-"
"Seriously?" He laughed scornfully. "Everyone's got their problems, Elena!"
"Well you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"
He rounded on her, eyes fiery, like burning coal. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Elena couldn't take it anymore. "Normal people don't go around killing people's boyfriends!"
The wind whistling through the leaves was the only sound as Sirius' face settled into grim, pale surprise. "So that's what this is about. Elena-"
"I could turn you in." She held up the wand she'd taken off of him. "Give evidence against you for the murder of Jayson Nott. I know your name now. You'd get another thirteen years. Maybe more." Elena was shaking.
"You wouldn't do that."
"Wouldn't I?"
"No, you wouldn't." He said in a quiet voice. "Because you know who that man was. What that man was going to do."
"I don't care!" She screamed, voice breaking. "I didn't care!"
"You were in danger, Elena. You could have died."
"I wish I had!"
Elena broke down in tears, sinking to her knees and bringing her arms up over her head as she cried, breathing cracking and hiccoughing. Sirius took a few deep breaths, eyes flaring and furious, then regained his composure, getting his temper back under control. He squatted next to her, and she threw her hand out, pushing him aggressively away.
"Get away from me! You killed him! You killed him! You…killed him…"
She sobbed, and Sirius edged closer to her again. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't enough!" She shrieked, hitting at him, and he braced himself, letting her.
"He was putting you in danger. You would have died. He might have killed you."
"I KNOW!" She screamed. "I know!"
"I'm sorry Elena. I'm sorry."
"You killed him. You killed him. You killed him!" Her breathing was speeding up. "You…he's dead…he's dead…and I went to Azkaban bec-because of you!"
Sirius winced, closing his eyes. "God I know…I'm sorry…"
Elena took a deep breath, wiping her eyes and nose, eyes angry.
"I should k-kill…kill you."
His eyes flickered with panic, but his posture and voice was calm.
"Probably. You probably should. You can, if you want. I've got nothing to live for, apart from my godson, and I can't help him anymore. I don't have anything apart from him to live for. Kill me if you want. Kill me if it will make you feel better. Kill me if you will stop you from hurting."
Elena hiccoughed. "No…you can't let me…you're supposed to hurt…I wanted you to hurt…he was going to…you killed him…you killed him…he's dead…dead…his blood was everywhere…it even got in my hair…all over the floor…all over the floor…you killed him…you killed him…"
"I know-"
"NO! You don't!"
"No, I don't." Sirius spoke gently, carefully, as one would talk soothingly to a wild animal to stop it biting. "Just breathe-"
"I'll breathe if I want to! Not because you told me so!"
"Elena," Sirius sensed her rising hysteria, just how Remus used to get when he was too stressed. "Stop. Just stop for a minute."
"Stop what? Being mad? Oh I'm sorry, you only murdered my boyfriend!"
"Elena." He held her shoulders as her eyes darted around, hyperventilating, and she froze, yanking herself out of his hold. "Elena, you need to calm down."
"I don't need to do anything!" She said shrilly, and he put his hands on his shoulders, holding her still. "Yes, you do. Stop, Elena. Stop this. Calm down."
"I…I…I…you killed him! You killed him! You-"
Sirius went to take the wand out of her frenzied, flailing hands, and she snatched it out his reach.
"Oh! Oh! That's what you want! The wand! Well-"
She was cut off as Sirius tackled her, grabbed the wand and Stunned her, then sat back on his haunches, breathing heavily.
A magpie perched in a tree overhead let out a loud, raspy squawk, and it sounded like a scream.
Elena and Sirius' confrontation! What did you think? I hope you liked it!
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