This Time - Chapter Eleven
Authors Note: I haven't forgotten, I swear! I wanted to get another update out at the end of August, as I can't update probably until November after this. I'm hoping you still all enjoy this - I'd love to hear what you think. I'm thinking I may do review responses at the end of the each chapter from the last one (if necessary) and thinking of maybe setting up a writer's tumblr sometime.
And now for a shameless plug: If you haven't already, check out my story 'The Scientist'. It's a wolfstar AU set in a non magic British Secondary school. Give it a read if you like my stuff, and unlike half of what I write, it's actually pretty good (so far).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Till next time... Thomas
It takes me a fair few minutes to speak. I'm stunned, shocked, furious, scared and full of rage all at the same time, an amount of emotions to feel at once I would have thought impossible.
That entire time, Sirius has be in his arms. "It's going to be okay." he whispers into my ear.
But will it? How can I sit here not knowing where Lily is but knowing full well that she's in danger. We've been best friends for a long time, I don't know what I'd do without her. She's always been there for me when I needed her. She was there with Sirius family before... And now it's time to repay her for that.
I make to stand up, Sirius seeing what I'm doing lets go and looks up at me.
"Leave anything we don't need in a locker here. I'm going to get my jacket and bike. We'll go check out this address." I say, more calmly than I feel.
Sirius just nods, closes his laptop and stands up. I head into the back room. I pick up my jacket and pull it on, take my keys out of my pocket and my phone from a locker. Sirius comes in and put's his laptop into the locker and shuts it.
"You don't need it?" I ask him.
"Got the info on my phone. You got everything?" Sirius replies.
"Yep."
We make our way towards the front door of the shop. However before we get there, a cough stops us. Minerva stands behind the counter. "I don't know what you two boys are up to," she begins, somewhat sternly, "but you both best be careful." Sirius and I nod at her and make to go out. "One moment, Sirius." she says.
He comes over to her and she whispers something in his ear. He nods. "Yes ma'am. Will do." She gives him a knowing look, and then we're out. Climbing onto my bike, Sirius behind me, I ask him.
"What did she say to you."
"I'll tell you later."
"No." I tell him seriously. "We don't keep secrets, you're my boyfriend. We're supposed to trust each other."
"I'll tell you, I promise. But when this is over so you'll appreciate it more."
"What the hell does that mean?" I ask him.
"Just wait and see." He tells me. "Right, we need to head to the centre."
I kick the bike into life and we're off. Sirius gives me directions on each street. Once we reach the centre we head down a street, take a few lefts and rights and pull up outside of a rather grim looking apartment complex.
"This is the place." Sirius says. "Room 128, which should be on floor 7."
"Right." I say, clambering off the bike. I attach it to a nearby lamp post with a lock. "Should we need a key or card to get in?" I ask him.
"Probably."
"Right. Okay, we'll go in. There's probably a concierge or desk person. I'll distract them by asking about something, then you go and sneak the keys from..."
"I was thinking we climb up the fire escape on the side and maybe break the door down." Sirius interrupts me, pointing to the metal staircase at the far side of the building which scales up to the roof.
"That works too." I say.
We walk round to the side of the building underneath the metal stairs.
"There's no way up." I say.
"Give me a leg up." Sirius says.
I put out my hands and he steps into them. I pull upwards and he grabs hold of the bottom of the railing at the side of the stairs. He climbs up over the railings and fiddles around. I crane my neck trying to see what he's doing. Something clinks and an iron ladder slides down to the ground.
"Thanks." I say, climbing up the ladder.
"You're welcome." Sirius replies.
We begin scaling the many sets of stairs, checking in the windows every now and again to see the room numbers.
"Here. Room 130." I call out to Sirius who's on the level below me. He comes running up the stairs. "The window's locked." I tell him.
"We're gonna have to break it then." He says, looking at the window like it's a puzzle.
"Okay. Well, I have a screwdriver I used to fix the machine at work somewhere." I rummage around in my jacket and pull it out. "Think this'll work?"
"Maybe. Ready?" Sirius asks.
"Okay, here we..." I began, and pull my arm back to swing at the window."
"Wait!" Sirius says suddenly. I stop.
A middle aged blonde woman had appeared from the room next to 130. She turns to lock her door and begins to walk down the haggard looking corridor. Sirius knocks on the window. The woman jumps, turns and see's us. She walks up to the window.
"Yes?" she asks, her voice muffled through the window.
"Hey. We got locked out of our floor window in a prank. We couldn't get back in this way could we?"
"Sure." she unlocked the window. "You could have just gone in through the roof door, it's always unlocked."
Sirius looks at me. "Right. Yeah, forgot about that one. Thanks a lot and have a good day."
"No Problem." She says, turning and walking down the corridor and round the corner.
"Well that was unnecessarily complicated." I say to Sirius, who nods. "Room 128 is just here."
The door is wooden with a haggard looking lock and an eyehole. Sirius eyes the door. "Hard to break down." he says. Suddenly, he starts patting his coat pockets. "Aha!" He pulls out a small box and opens it. Inside are some small metal instruments.
"You can pick locks?" I ask him incredulously.
"If you had the upbringing I had you'd want to know what was happening to. All the information was in my mother's study. I learned from Andromeda then, shortly before she escaped." he tells me.
"I see. I'm impressed."
"Give me a moment to concentrate." the lock clicks. "There we go. The fact that it's locked probably means nobody is in." Sirius looks up at me, smiles and pushes the door. It swings over revealing two beefy guys sitting on a sofa.
"Or not." I say as both of their heads snap in our direction.
In the moment before anyone moves, I survey the room. In the corner on a table are some bags of a dark powder, a couple of small bottles of solution and some wads of money. So at least we're in the right place.
One of the guys stands up. "You're not supposed to be here. I'd advise that you leave, now."
Sirius stares him straight in the eyes. "I'm just looking for some black magic."
The man's eyes narrow. "Then why pick the lock?"
"Just for fun." And Sirius tackles him faster than I can blink.
He's on the floor, Sirius on top of him. The other guy on the sofa stands up but I launch myself onto him. I smack his head into the wooden arm of the sofa then push him onto the floor. He connects with a satisfying bumping sound. I see Sirius in the corner of my eye punch the other guy and headbutt him, so I make to kick my guy in the abdomen. He catches my foot however, and I trip, falling backwards to the floor. A flash of something by his belt as he stands up - a knife.
I begin to panic as he stands over me, one foot on my chest, the other on my wrist. He makes to draw the knife back in a wide arc. An arm grabs his before he can bring the knife down and twists his wrist. I hear a cracking sound and the man yell. It's Sirius, who then kicks the man in the balls and pushes him backwards into the wall with a thump.
Everything is then still for a moment, quiet but for the sound of the man sliding down the wall. Sirius extends a hand which I take, pulling me up. Turning, I see the first man lying unconscious on the floor, the second slumped by the door into the small bathroom.
"Well that was a fun date." I say sarcastically to Sirius.
He rolls his eyes. "You okay?" he asks, stroking my cheek with his hand.
"I'm fine. I'll check the bedroom; see if anyone else is in. You check the bathroom."
"Good plan."
I head through one door, Sirius the other.
"Clear." He yells.
"Likewise." I reply. Inside the bedroom are two camp beds, a small table and a television. In the corner are some bags of substances, a couple of magazines and a few DVDs. On the table there's a small black tablet, which I pick up, and a piece of paper with a recipe scrawled on it.
"Nothing in the bathroom." Sirius says, coming in through the doorway.
"I've found a tablet and there are a few bags of drug stuff over there." I tell him. Sirius goes over to check and I press the button on the tablet. Miraculously it unlocks, opening to a page of emails. "Sirius." I say.
He comes over and looks at the screen. "Contacts, locations, local dealers and... there!" Sirius points at an email entitled 'Girls'. I tap on it and it opens.
To: jsto_ blackindustries_
From: rles_ blackindustries_mail .cd
- cc: lmal_ blackindustries_mail.cd
Subject: Girls
J,
I've picked up a new girl. Redhead, goes by the name of Lily. Feisty and pretty, should fetch a pretty penny. I'll hold her with the other two at the safehouse until the buyers payment comes through, should be about midnight. As per usual, 15% goes to you and M. Keep producing, I'll need another few lb of b.m by tomorrow night.
RLeS.
Email sent 2 hours ago. Encrypted - Do not directly reply.
Sirius scans the email.
"RLes will be Rodolphus I'm guessing. I'd also guess that LMal would be Lucius Malfoy, an associate of the family."
"That's great Sirius but we've hit a dead end. We don't know where this Safehouse is." I say, hearing the panic creeping back into my voice.
"I can find out." Sirius pulls out his phone and a cable and connects the phone to the tablet. Tapping a few times, a progress bar appears on the tablet screen. "This should locate where Rodolphus sent the email."
"How do you know this stuff?" I ask him. His affinity with technology surprises me.
"I did train to work in the business till I was sixteen." he reminds me. "It's easy enough, they haven't changed the encryption system so provided you know the TLD you can track anything."
"That was all just a jumble of words." I tell him.
Under the progress bar suddenly appears a map which centres on Queensferry. "It's just outside Edinburgh. We can get there." Sirius says. He taps on his phone a few more times and a pointer appears pointing to a spot on the coast. Sirius takes a photo of the location then unplugs and picks up the tablet.
"Best keep this." He fishes a phone out of the pocket of one of the guys in the other room and chucks it to me.
"Call the police, tell them they'res a drug ring operating in the hotel you're in and give them the address and room number. The phone will likely be untraceable, but we can throw it in the sea just in case."
I do as Sirius says, informing the woman on the phone that I've seen suspicious activity from the hotel. She informs me they'll check it out and I hang up. "They know." I call out.
Sirius, who has been moving between rooms picking up anything relevant or needed replies, "Cool. Now lets get going. It'll take about twenty minutes." He pauses then picks up the knife from the floor. "For shock factor, in case it's needed." he assures me. I just nod, help him lift the two guys onto a bed each then leave, taking the key and locking the door behind me.
We take the fire escape stairs once again, dropping from the last level to the ground. I unlock my bike an Sirius climbs on behind me, holding my waist with one hand, looking at his phone with the other.
"Ready?" I ask.
"Yep, just follow my directions."
The bike roars to life and we set off, heading through streets and out of the city. The traffic isn't excessive so we make good time, pulling up outside a warehouse on the coast a fair distance from the bridge.
We make towards the door, pausing before it. It looks abandoned. "They'll still be here; it's not yet ten o'clock. Just be ready, it may be a scrap." I nod. All I can think of is Lily in there. I don't care what happens. I'm going to get her out. And no one will get in my way.
I kick open the door, which swings open. Sirius and I dart in, looking around. The lights are on, but nobodies in here. Except, there is. In the corner. A girl sits up against the wall, dark hair cascading down in waves. She's wearing a night-out outfit, heels and a handbag. Yet when she looks up at up, there's nothing in her eyes. They're dead, blank, staring right through us. There are marks on her arms, needle holes smudged with a dark powder and a metal chain links her to the wall so she can't escape.
Looking around I see another girl, lying still on a bench, attached by a handcuff to it. Blonde hair identifies her as not-Lily.
"Over there." Sirius points and whispers.
I follow his finger and see a mass of Red hair and an all too familiar dress. Lily is bound to a metal girder in the wall, slumped and still. I run over to her and lift her hair from her face, then breathe a sigh of relief. She's fazed out, but breathing.
"Where's Rodolphus or anyone?" I ask Sirius quietly.
He shrugs, scanning the room over and over. It's eerily quiet, the only sound being Sirius and I breathing. I stand up. "We've got to get her out." I say. "And these other girls too." I look at her bindings - rope knotted complicatedly. Sirius hands me the knife and I make to saw at the bindings.
Lily suddenly jolts upwards, gasping loudly. She's awake, looking around terribly, eyes settling on my face. "Remus... You can't be here. It's not safe!" she half stutters half gasps.
"Lily, I'm going to get you out. It's okay, Sirius is here, everything will be fine."
"No, he can't be. It's not safe, Rodolphus... he planned this."
A sinking feeling. "What?" Sirius says, running over to us.
"Rodolphus, when he first put me... put me here. I overheard him talking as the drugs kicked in. They... They know you'd both come for me."
"Shit." Sirius says under his breath. "Remus, we're not alone."
My heart stops, and just as Lily's bindings come free, I hear it. All of us here are still, so it's not one of us.
The sound of footsteps.