Chapter 10
October 24, 1976
By the time we climbed out of the Slytherins' hideout, it was already early morning and both Sirius and Lily had lost consciousness. We ran straight to the Infirmary with them. I'll never know how we made it. We knocked desperately on the door: we needed Madame Pomfrey to wake up. When she did, we quickly apologized and showed her the limp Sirius and Lily. She quickly took them inside and had us set them on the beds. She shooed us from the room afterward while she treated them. We all walked back up to Gryffindor Tower and spent the rest of the night sitting quietly together in the Common Room.
When the sun rose, we ran to the Infirmary as quickly as we had that previous night. Madame Pomfrey was less than pleased to see us again, but allowed us in to visit Sirius and Lily.
Sirius was lying down in bed, bandages wrapped all the way up both arms. He still seemed a tad groggy from all of the potions Madame Pomfrey must have given him, but aside from that, he looked much better.
"Hey Moony, I look like you!" he raised his arms for us to see. I rolled my eyes. James pulled out a chair and straddled it.
"How are you feeling, Padfoot?" he asked, a tone of urgency in his voice.
Sirius shrugged. "Oh well, you know."
"Oh…." His eyes wandered over Sirius's bed when he heard the news, over to Lily's bed. She laid on that bed looking cold and still. She was a pale, almost blue color. Dead to everything around her….
"How is she?" I lowered my voice to a whisper. Sirius warily eyed James before answering.
"They don't really know what's wrong with her."
"Well can't they find out or take her to St. Mungos?" Peter asked.
Sirius shook his head. "They won't take her there unless it's absolutely necessary." He looked to me for a change of subject. "What did that paper say, Lupin?"
I blinked in surprise. I had honestly forgotten all about the paper until he brought it up. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the folded pieced of old, dried parchment. Peter, Sirius, and I stared curiously at it, wondering what it would tell us.
"Well?" Sirius questioned excitedly. I looked at it again before slowly unfolding it, expecting it to turn to dust in my hands.
It was just as old as we had first suspected. Dirt and small rocks fell out onto the clean Infirmary floor, something we were all sure Madame Pomfrey would be pleased about.
The paper was still covered in thick layer of grime, though. I brushed the remaining dirt off into a nearby rubbish bin. "Don't tear it," warned Sirius. I stood up when it was cleaned better: there was really no need for fear of tearing it. It was easy enough to spot that, even with all the grime that still stubbornly clung to it, that the paper was already torn and tattered in many places.
"Well show us!" Sirius called me back to his bed. I carefully handed him the paper and Peter and I each went to one of his sides. While we had been talking, James had stood and walked to Lily's bedside, where he sat. He looked gravely worried for her as he ran his hand gently through her bright orange hair, and we really didn't have the hearts to call him away.
"This is crap! What are we suppose to get from this?!" snapped Sirius.
"There must be something, Sirius, or it wouldn't have been hidden like that," I continued scanning, trying to catch sight of something.
"I don't see anything, Moony," Peter shook his head.
"I doubt this is gonna help much," Sirius rolled his eyes and looked away, bored with the seemingly fruitless task. Peter looked me in the face. Our eyes locked for a moment before we turned our concentration back on the paper.
When I squinted, I saw it. A word.
I nearly tore it out of Sirius's injured hand in excitement. "See? See? See?! There!" I pointed madly at the word.
"I see nothing, Moony," Sirius continued to shake his head in doubt.
"There's a word right there! P-something-E-S-E-maybe another P-V-E!"
Peter blinked and asked to see the word. Sirius handed him the paper and he studied it quietly. "No, your second P is an R. You can see the line thingy at the bottom," he handed the paper to me and I studied the letter.
"The trouble is that Ps and Ds and Rs look so much alike. For all we know, we've got the wrong letters,," I shook my head in frustration.
"Well," Sirius began, "why don't you two go and try to figure that out. Clean the paper better or something. I'm tired."
"What about James?" asked Peter.
"He's not bothering nobody," and with that, Sirius practically shooed us away. We locked ourselves in our dormitory and I found my wand.
"Ready?" I asked. Peter nodded.
I pointed my wand at the parchment. "Scourgify."
The filth was gone, but most of it was either faded or torn away.
"Preserving spell?"
"What would they perform a preserving spell for?" Peter asked. I shrugged.
A/N- So a week early cos I apparently can't keep track of time. We Will Rock You in one week::runs around screaming at the top of my lungs until a wall jumps out at me:: NOW it is definitly gonna be two weeks cos I'm spending next Friday with the Canadians! Woot!