Chapter 10: Unfortunate Events
Martha and her friends were in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class, when their teacher, Professor Lupin, looked out of the window, sighed and continued with the lesson, but Martha could see worry lines on his young face that hadn't been there before.
"Why do you think he's so worried?" Martha whispered to her friends.
"I don't know, but the moon looks full from here. I'm going to see." Adelyne replied, nodding towards the window, in which the moon was slowly becoming visible.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Adelyne." Christine said to her friend softly. "It'll just lead you into danger."
"I'm still going to see. Just a look, so we know what's wrong." Adelyne persisted.
"Adelyne, I can't let you do that, it's just not safe. Believe me; it really isn't safe for you to go out there on your own. Don't do it." Christine said. Adelyne sighed, shaking her head.
"No matter what you say, I am going to at least look. Nothing more." She said.
"You'll just end up getting yourself into trouble. Please don't do this, Adelyne." Christine pleaded with her friend softly.
Unfortunately, Christine's pleading didn't work, and Adelyne disappeared from the castle as she followed Professor Lupin that night.
Although Martha and her friends were worried, Christine offering to go with her halfway calmed them down slightly and they were able to get some sleep.
At least until a scream pierced the air, followed by a tearing sound. The remaining Maraudesses sat up straight and ran out of the Ravenclaw common room, out of the castle and into the grounds.
"Adelyne!? Christine!? Where are you!?" Martha called out, beginning to panic, her heart racing hard against her ribs. Suddenly, she heard a howl.
"Werewolves!" she heard Dora whisper, and she knew her friend was right; she didn't have to use her ears, either, because she could see them. There were heaps of them and they were surrounding them, snarling and snapping their jaws. Martha and her friends took out their wands and pointed them at the werewolves.
"One sec. Lumos." She whispered and her wand tip lit up instantly, illuminating the area within two metres around her. Then she saw something on the ground that made her stomach turn and her heart to beat slowly and fully. The thing she saw on the ground was a human figure, but Martha wasn't able to tell if the figure was Adelyne or Christine.
"Watch my back, girls. I think I found one of them." Martha whispered to her friends, who formed a circle around her and the unconscious girl. Turning her over, Martha saw it wasn't Christine at all. It was Adelyne, but she had cuts and scratches all over her face and neck, and her t-shirt was torn badly, revealing a large wound to her chest, where her heart was located. The werewolves had gone for the heart, but had been interrupted. But what yanked Martha's heart even more was that both of Adelyne's arms were held at funny angles, as was her head. Martha did what her mother had taught her and began checking her neck for any signs of broken vertebra. She suddenly stopped, tears entering her eyes as she felt the roughness of a broken spine. She knew there was no hope of saving her friend now; she'd been killed wanting to see what Professor Lupin was looking so worried about in that one Defence lesson. Suddenly, however, a large black dog came bounding out of the oak front doors of the castle and started attacking the werewolves. Martha instantly recognised this dog as Sirius, whom she hadn't seen for two weeks. Sirius managed to send the werewolves running into the Black Forest and ran over to her, transforming back to a human as he did so.
"Martha?" he asked her, kneeling next to her. "Is she okay, Martha?" he asked, indicating Adelyne. Martha shook her head, hugging him suddenly, tears soaking his shirt. "Take her up to your mother; she's awake and is rather worried about you and all of your friends." He said, standing up, picking Adelyne up gently as he did so. Martha followed suit, and all of her friends followed the two Blacks back into the castle.
Entering the Hospital Wing, Martha saw Natalie standing in the doorway of her office, looking worried.
"What happened, Martha?" she asked Martha, walking over to them, taking Adelyne from Sirius and laying her gently on the bed. "I want the whole story." She added, looking seriously at Martha, as she took out her wand and began healing all the broken bones.
"Mum, there's no point in healing her. She's dead." Martha said, but she noticed a small smile appear on Natalie's face.
"That's where you're wrong, Martha." She said. "Adelyne is still alive."
"But her neck was broken. You taught me that a broken neck kills instantly."
"It actually depends on the type of break. If the vertebra is broken, with no damage to the spinal cord, the person is still able to live life normally, but if the cartilage between the vertebrae is broken, the spinal cord will snap with it, and the person will instantly die. This break was only the vertebra, and her spinal cord remained undamaged. So Adelyne is still alive." Natalie explained, and by the time she'd finished, she was cleaning and dressing Adelyne's wounds. "But I still want a full recount of what happened from what caused her to go out there and why you went out there completely unprotected on the night of a full moon."
Martha sighed and began her story.
"Okay, well, it all started when we were in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and I noticed that Professor Lupin looked out the window and sighed, before turning back to the class, looking worried. I asked the other girls why they thought he was looking so worried, and Adelyne said she wanted to go see, because it was a full moon, but Christine started telling her not to, but she persisted and eventually Christine agreed to go halfway with her, but told her that they'd go back after halfway, but they only got a quarter of the way when they were ambushed by werewolves. Lannastar, Dora and I were asleep but were woken shortly after falling asleep by a scream and a tearing sound. We ran out into the grounds with our wands and were suddenly surrounded by werewolves, but only after I'd called out to Adelyne and Christine, asking where they were. Then I noticed Adelyne, but at the time I wasn't able to figure out whether it was Adelyne or Christine. She was face-down on the ground, and I turned her over, realising she had a large wound to her chest where her heart is and her head and both arms held at funny angles, so I did what you taught me and felt for any signs of a broken vertebra. I could feel one and then Dad suddenly appeared in the grounds and he chased the werewolves off, before instructing me to bring her up here to you." She finished and Natalie smiled slightly.
"Well you're lucky you and all your friends are all uninjured. Well, except Adelyne, that is." She said softly to her daughter, bandaging Adelyne's wounds.
"Lucky that Dad appeared, you mean. Because none of us would've survived if he hadn't appeared."
"Martha, he didn't realise you were in danger, but I thought you may have done something like that. Because apparently Madam Pomfrey saw you leaving the castle with your friends completely unprotected, so she told me and I woke your father and sent him down to get you, knowing tonight is a full moon." She said and Martha looked at her friends briefly.
"Thanks Mum, you saved our lives." Martha said softly.
Suddenly, Dean ran in, realising where Martha was and ran up to her.
"Dean, aren't you meant to be in bed?" Natalie asked him.
"I know, but I can't help it, this is urgent." He said, hugging Martha briefly.
"What's so urgent, Dean?" Martha asked him.
"Professor Talleo, Professor Dumbledore wants to warn you that there are some teachers who know that Sirius is in the castle and want to get him to the Dementors as fast as possible." He said, looking at her, a sorry expression on his face.
"What!?" Natalie exclaimed, shocked. "They know he's in the castle? But how?"
"Don't ask me. I didn't tell anyone about it. Someone must've let slip." He said.
"But no one I know of who knows he's here, are ever likely to betray him. At least I think they won't." Martha said, looking confused and worried.
"Apparently they seem to know he's staying here in the Hospital Wing." Dean said softly.
"That means we have to hide him. But will animagus form work?" Natalie asked him softly. "Do you know?"
"No. Apparently they know his animagi form and how to recognise him. And from what I was told, they're likely to keep surveillance over the whole castle." He replied solemnly. "It seems the only way to hide him successfully is to get him into the Forbidden Forest. Or have him under some kind of Disillusionment Charm to stop them finding him easily. I was told to warn you that they're planning on sending out some teachers to come here to catch him unawares. They'll be coming tonight."
"But they don't have any proof!" Martha said desperately. "They can't do this without proof!"
"Shhhh…they're coming now! Quick, hide him!" Dora whispered, peeking out the door. Natalie grabbed Sirius by the arm and dragged him into her office, motioning for the others to follow. Martha and her friends followed Natalie and Sirius into Natalie's office, and she told Martha and her friends to stand there, and told Sirius to get into his dog form and get under the bed in the corner. He did that, and Natalie whispered that she would pretend that they'd been caught out of bed and got into trouble.
"This is the fifth time this term that you four have been caught out of bed by me…I have no idea how many times other teachers have caught you, but this has gone far enough." She said sternly, just as several teachers walked into the room. "Oh, hello. Can I help you?" she asked them, looking up, her face now curious.
Gee, she's an incredible actor. Martha thought to herself, as she and her friends tried to look downhearted about what had happened.
"Yes, we've received information that Sirius Black is hiding somewhere in the Hospital Wing, and we just want to make sure that he isn't anywhere here." Professor Flitwick, a tiny wizard, and also the Charms teacher, said to her, looking around the room.
"Why would you think I'm hiding him here, Filius?" Natalie asked him, sounding and looking shocked. "Although I may have the surname Black, it doesn't mean I'm hiding him anywhere. Surely you don't believe that I'd go around hiding Black in my office, do you?"
"Not at all. We were just making sure. But if you happen to see him anywhere, Natalie, we would greatly appreciate it if you could let either myself or Severus know. We'll check back again in a couple of weeks." Flitwick replied, bowing to her as he and the other teachers left the room.
"Go check that they've gone, please Dora." Natalie whispered to Dora, who crept to the door and looked out into the ward.
"They're gone…I think. They're not interrogating Madam Pomfrey, because she's in the ward looking after Adelyne." She replied.
"Okay. Thank you Dora. Sirius, I think it's safe for you to come out now." She said, and the large black dog came crawling out from under the bed. He changed back to his human form, thanking them.
"You're welcome, Dad." Martha whispered, hugging him. "Actually, Mum," she said, turning to her mother, an idea coming into her head. "I just had a brainwave…how about if Dad stays in my dormitory during the day, and stays with you in the night. That way I'm able to keep an eye on him and he won't be seen by anyone." She suggested.
"Good idea, except that it would be too dangerous for him to be wandering around the castle. If he's to stay with you in the day, he's staying with you in the night, if that's okay with you." Natalie replied.
"That's fine with me, but he'll have to stay under my bed or in the common room when anyone in the dormitory is getting changed so he doesn't see anything." She said.
"But what about when you're in classes?" Madam Pomfrey asked walking in and looking curiously at Martha. Everyone jumped and looked first at her, and then at Sirius, who was a dog within a second. "Don't worry Sirius," she said, laughing. "I already know you're there. And I know you're innocent of your convictions, so you don't need to hide when I'm around."
Sirius looked relieved as he changed back to a man.
"Now, as I was saying, what is he going to do when you're all in classes? Your mother is going to be teaching a class of her own, and I'm busy, so what is he going to do then?"
"Ummm … I hadn't actually thought of that. What is he going to do when we're in classes?" Martha said, looking confused.
"Well, if I made an animagi form for myself as a Chihuahua or something small, I could hide in your bag." Sirius said, shrugging.
"Yeah, but what about the issue of your breathing?" Natalie asked him. "You still need to breathe, you know."
"I know. Oxygen mask?" he said, shrugging.
"What!?" Natalie exclaimed, looking at her husband incredulously.
"Well, it was just a suggestion." He said, cringing away from his wife, and everyone laughed, even Natalie.
"No, seriously, what are we going to do with you, Sirius?" Natalie asked him, sighing deeply.
"I don't know. Well I guess I could make an animagi form of a corgi or Chihuahua or something along those lines." He said.
"And what are you going to do when Martha's in classes?" Madam Pomfrey asked him.
"I don't know!" he said. "I give up, everyone's telling me off for any ideas I have. I may as well just let them catch me." He said, throwing his arms up in submission.
"No you won't Sirius." Natalie said sternly.
"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" he asked.
"What do you mean, Dad?" Martha asked her father softly.
"Martha, I'm the only one thinking of ideas, everyone else is just contradicting my ideas." He replied.
"Sirius, everyone else is trying to help you, but if you won't accept their help then there's no point in trying." Natalie said softly to her husband, looking into his eyes.