Chapter 65
Sirius awoke in the morning and headed to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. When he was finished, he headed toward the stairs, passing the dining room along the way.
"Sirius!" his mother called in her usual biting tone. Sirius sighed and went to the door leading into the formal eating area. He had temporarily forgotten that Snivellus was staying with them for a few days. Though Snivellus was occupying his usual seat at the table, Sirius felt some pleasure in the fact that, despite the other boy's beliefs, he did not appear to fit in with the family. His posture and clothes spoke of a lower class than the Blacks and, while that had not ever mattered to Sirius before, he felt a sort of grim satisfaction that he would not be so easily replaced. He supposed that was rather selfish, since he wanted nothing more than to be free of his family.
"Yes, mother," Sirius replied.
"Where were you yesterday?"
"Well, I came downstairs to eat breakfast and then I went back to my room." Sirius was thinking quickly to come up with some cover story. He decided that the less he said, the better.
"And then where did you go?"
"I can assure you, I didn't step foot in any other room of the house. I was only in my room – and my bathroom." Sirius was rather pleased with how he'd circumvented that question, though he didn't know if it would actually work or not.
His mother looked at him suspiciously. "Why didn't you answer when I called you down?"
Sirius shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. "Maybe I was sleeping."
"Lazy boy," Mrs. Black responded, more out of a habit of criticizing him than because she actually believed him.
Snape was staring intently at Sirius. "Maybe," he began, "he snuck out. He's been known to do that at school."
Sirius' fists clenched in anger and he glared at Snivellus.
"Hmm," Mrs. Black smirked at her son. "Yes. He's been known to do that here, too." She seemed to think for a moment about what to do. "Kreacher, search his room."
"What?!" Sirius yelled indignantly.
"Something to hide?" Mrs. Black asked. She was beginning to look dangerous. All mirth at having caught her son doing something wrong was being burned away with the anger of his betrayal and disgrace to the Black Name.
Sirius stood his ground, saying nothing; his own anger beginning to flare. He waited from his position in the doorway for no less than twenty minutes. Mrs. Black, Regulus and Snivellus were seated around the table finishing their breakfasts, occasionally casting glances at him.
When Kreacher returned, he was holding the jeans and t-shirt Sirius had worn the day before. He handed them to Mrs. Black. "Kreacher finds these between young master's mattresses. Young master also hides muggle money in his pockets." Kreacher cast Sirius a disgusted look.
Feeling's mutual. Sirius waited for yelling to commence. He only hoped that she would at least take him to a separate room, rather than displaying her displeasure in front of the only person who could make his chewing-out more unbearable. He wasn't so lucky.
Mrs. Black's eyes bulged at the sight of the muggle items. She slowly rose from her seat, as if standing would help to inflate her lungs and free them from any obstructions that would dampen the effect of her voice. Then she started yelling.
It had been a long time since Sirius had had the "pleasure" of one of Mrs. Black's lectures, and he was a bit out of practice at shutting out the considerable volume and sound of her voice. At one point in her tirade, she ordered Kreacher to burn his muggle clothes and money. He wasn't really listening to what, exactly, she was saying, but the fact that Snivellus was sitting with front row seat to this spectacular show, and wearing an immensely smug grin, made the whole experience rather humiliating. Sirius stood, staring at a spot on the floor a few feet in front of him, willing her to stop.
To Sirius' surprise, it was his father who finally rescued him. Mr. Black walked into the room and, during a pause in the yelling – no doubt Mrs. Black needed to catch her breath – he spoke to his wife, "Walburga, don't forget about the appointment today." Sirius wasn't sure if his father had really come in just to remind his mother of the appointment or if he couldn't take the yelling anymore either, but Sirius was grateful anyway.
Mrs. Black looked confused for a moment, having to redirect the flow of her thoughts. "Oh yes," she said in an almost pleasant voice. "Boys, go get ready," she directed her comment to Regulus and Severus. "As for you," her voice returned to a malevolent growl, "you will return to your room. Kreacher – you're back on guard duty."
As Regulus and Snape caught up with Sirius as they all headed upstairs, Snape chuckled. "Not so special now, are you, Padfoot?" he whispered.
"One of these days, Snivellus," Sirius whispered back, "you'll find that extra long nose of yours is going to get you into trouble. And Snivellus," Sirius added as an afterthought, "only my brothers get to call me that." Sirius cast a quick glance at Regulus before turning away to go to his room. He was being outright belligerent, he knew, but Regulus had done nothing over this holiday to indicate they had ever been brothers. However, Sirius was hurt and humiliated, so he lashed out at whom he could and by the look on Regulus' face, he knew the comment hit its mark.
As he sat in his room, he decided that, really, the day of fun and freedom had been worth it. Yesterday gave him hope for what the future could bring and he would cling to that "better tomorrow" until he escaped from this prison. He also made a note to himself to ask Addison for a few of his magazines so he could decorate his wall and really irritate his mother.
The rest of the holiday went by without incident. He was not able to venture out again, and he spent the time in self imposed solitary confinement, but at least he didn't have to deal with anyone, family or snake.
The train ride back to the school was the first time he was really able to relax, though.
"Did you get in trouble?" Remus asked.
Sirius snorted. "You know, I almost got away with it, actually."
"Really?" Remus spocked his eyebrow.
"Yeah. You'll never believe who hammered the nail in my coffin." Sirius waited to build the anticipation. "Snivellus."
"What?" James was aghast.
"Slimy git. He stayed for a few days as a friend of Regulus'."
"Well, this calls for some payback, I do believe," James said eagerly, causing Sirius to smile.
Remus stood up.
"Where you going, Moony?" Sirius asked.
"Nu-uh. I can't hear this. I'm going to visit Aden."
James smirked. "Nice excuse, now sit down. We haven't planned anything while you were around all year, we won't start now – though thanks for the help on a few of those get-aways."
Sirius added, "Besides, I haven't heard about your time with Aden yet and I'm feeling rather cheated."
Remus rolled his eyes, but he smiled and sat back down. "There's not much to tell, really. We had a nice time with her family. I was able to meet her parents and her brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts… It was a bit overwhelming, actually." Remus' smile turned slowly into a frown.
"What is it?" Peter asked.
"Her family is very close… And Aden hinted that she was looking forward to a large family of her own."
"Whoa. Little young for that aren't you?" Sirius asked.
Remus gave him a look like he was being an idiot. "Not right now, obviously, but… I don't really think she's thought about what life with me would really be like."
"Okay, I repeat… Aren't you a little young to be thinking about that?"
"Padfoot, just because you haven't gone on more than one date with any girl, doesn't mean that the rest of us haven't thought about… oh, I don't know… the future. Besides, this is the year that we plan our career course and pretty much decide what job we want." Peter moaned at this thought, causing James and Sirius to snicker. "Why not think about the rest of the future, too?"
"You're not planning on proposing or anything, are you?" Sirius asked, sounding a bit like a five-year-old who still believes girls have cooties.
"No. I'm just saying…"
"Have you talked with her about it?" James asked.
Remus frowned again. "No."
"Well, maybe you should before you start jumping to conclusions."
"Right." Remus sat, lost in thought for a few minutes. "I gotta go. I have rounds for the second half of the trip. See you at the castle."
James watched Remus leave, a frown on his own face.
"What?" Sirius asked.
James shook his head. "I really hope Aden's thought about what she's doing, or it's going to tear him apart."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Sirius announced, "I'm bored."
James smirked. "Shall we?"
The three Marauders got up and started traveling the length of the train. They visited friends, chatting and joking along the way. They convinced a couple of first-years that the [nonexistent return of term ceremony was much more interesting than the sorting hat, and a bit dangerous. At least, they had them convinced until Lily came around and found out what they were doing. She immediately went about calming the first-years and threatened to hex James and Sirius if they didn't leave the younger students alone. They took this warning to heart and instead turned to the compartment that had Regulus and Snivellus in it. Deciding that subtle was best with both Remus and Lily on patrol, they sealed the compartment door closed.
Laughing on their way back to their own compartment, Sirius said, "I hope they didn't have too much pumpkin juice earlier."
During the first week back to class, Professor Whistler announced the next assignment. All of the theoretical work from the previous term would now be put to the test. The cement egg was in play, meaning that the first house to be able to steal it from Whistler's own fortifications, would then be responsible for protecting it as long as they could. Due to the fact that first-years would not have a chance against seventh-years, the professor had decided that the entire house would work together to guard or steal the egg from the other houses. Whichever house had the egg at the end of the term would receive points toward the house cup in addition to classroom points. The team that managed to hang onto the egg the longest would also receive points. In order to ensure that all students learned something, they each had to turn in a paper explaining what their house did to both steal and protect the egg, as well as the mistakes that had been made. Since the younger students probably wouldn't be much help against the older students, this way they could at least learn what had been done, even if they couldn't duplicate it yet.
The only rule was that the egg could not be hidden in the common rooms. It would not do well for students from other houses to gain entrance in each others' common rooms.
The seventh-years of Gryffindor soon discovered that they had a wealth of resources at their disposal. Remus and Lily were among the smartest and the most capable researchers of their year, if not their house. Sirius and James had a talent for magic, as well as a talent for thinking out of the box. Peter was uncanny in his ability to gather intelligence on the other teams (he found his rat form helped him immensely). And the bravery of Gryffindors in general meant they were willing to take risks that many other students would be too intimidated to take.
Each of the other teams had their strengths as well. The Ravenclaws were incredibly good at planning and figuring ways past defenses. What the Hufflepuffs lacked in book smarts and power, they made up for in tenacity and teamwork. Slytherins used any means necessary to find out what they could, and they had some very talented witches and wizards. They also had one advantage the other houses didn't have, at least against Gryffindor. Despite the fact that Regulus did not quite match his brother in talent, he was still smart. He also had some years of pranking with and against his older brother, so there were times he could anticipate what Sirius was going to do or how he would handle an obstacle. And Snape was talented at more than just potions. He had taken much more of an interest in creating his own spells of late, which added a bit of unpredictability to the Slytherin defenses.
The Ravenclaws were the first to get the egg. Sirius suggested that Gryffindor wait to snatch the egg until the other teams had gotten a hold of it. This would give them an opportunity to study the other teams' defenses and see what worked and what didn't, allowing for a stronger Gryffindor defense. The only concern was if a team got hold of the egg and held onto it for a period of time. Peter suggested that they don't let any one team hold the egg for more than a week. They could find subtle ways to lower the defenses of the holding team and/or give hints to the other teams trying to grab the egg. That way, nobody would have the egg for too long, and Gryffindor would still get a chance to size up its opponents.
There was stunned silence following this suggestion, as everyone wondered where Peter had come up with the idea. He was quickly patted on the back and congratulated by his fellow housemates for his cleverness, and the plan was put into action.
By the first Saturday of February, no team had managed to hold on to the egg for more than a week, and few had it that long. Gryffindor was just about ready to make their move when they got… distracted. It was time for Gryffindor's second quidditch match of the year. Having lost the first one, this game was vitally important if they wanted any chance of getting to the Quidditch Cup. Slytherin had lost to Ravenclaw, which increased Gryffindor's chances of still making it in.
James practiced with his team regularly. The entire team had discussed the mistakes from the last game, as well as the more spectacular moves. James continued to have random extra "practices," which varied from an organized game of football to a snowball battle. Anything he could do to build awareness and camaraderie, he tried at least once. And the team was responding.
Up until this year, James knew he was popular but, if asked who his friends were, he would only name three. He now considered the entire Quidditch team to be friends and, with the on-going egg project, he had never felt more connected to the rest of his house as well.
So when the second game came around, the egg project took a back seat as everyone rallied around their Quidditch team and its captain. This game was against Hufflepuff. The Slytherins were rooting for Hufflepuff due to its long-standing tradition that Slytherin would never cheer on Gryffindor, and Gryffindor returned the favor, never cheering on Slytherin. Ravenclaw was somewhat divided on who to root for. Having lost to Hufflepuff this year, many of them wanted Hufflepuff to lose. This kept the teams fairly even in their chances of making it to the Cup. But several Ravenclaws just didn't believe that the young Gryffindor team had a chance.
They were very wrong. In what turned out to be the shortest game of the season, Gryffindor trounced Hufflepuff 170 to 10. The game ended after about fifteen minutes, thanks to the Gryffindor seeker, Jules.
The Gryffindor stands erupted in applause and cheers, and the students quickly streamed from the stands to congratulate the team. The party went on long into the night. Sirius and Remus snuck out to bring back butterbeer for the party, and Peter went to the kitchens to grab some food. James would have helped but, being the captain of the team, his absence would have been noticed. He didn't mind, though. He suddenly had an audience of students, especially younger students, hanging on his every word, wanting to hear stories about Quidditch matches and a recap of the game. As the night wore on and the younger students nodded off, either in their dorms or in various places throughout the common room, James found himself surrounded by students of the female persuasion.
"And Evans thought he had a big head before," Sirius whispered to Remus. Remus snorted his agreement. Peter was hanging around the fringes of the group that surrounded James, listening to his every word.
Finally, at around eleven, James pulled himself away from his adoring fans, grabbed Peter with an arm around his neck, and came over to the other two.
Sirius gave him a measuring look.
"What?" James asked casually, still grinning.
"I'm just surprised your glasses haven't broken."
"Why?" James took off his glasses and examined them.
"With the way that head swelled today, I would have thought they would have snapped in half," Sirius grinned.
"Ha ha." James made a face at Sirius and sat in the armchair that had pretty much become known as "James' chair."
"So I was thinking," Sirius turned to look at Remus. "We should leave the shack on Wednesday."
Remus, who was drinking the last of his butterbeer, choked and coughed. Sirius patted him on the back a couple of times until he finally got the coughing under control. "What?"
"Uh… I think you heard me, and I don't want to repeat it and cause you to choke again."
"Are you insane?!" Remus exclaimed.
Sirius looked over at James who was frowning, but not in a disappointed way, more in the deep-thinking kind of way. "I don't think so. Look. Prongs and I are more than capable of keeping you in line. And think of the places we could explore. We'd stay away from the school… and the village. We could go to The Forbidden Forest."
"You're daft," Remus said weakly. This was crazy. Dangerous. And crazy. He couldn't actually leave his sanctuary. Not just for his own protection, but what if… What if he got away from James and Sirius? And Dumbledore. Dumbledore trusted him. He was only allowed to attend Hogwarts because he'd agreed to follow the guidelines that had been laid before him. He'd never once considered breaking them before. And yet… He glanced over at James.
James was looking between Sirius and Remus, both of whom, it seemed, were looking to him to make the final decision, or at least try to persuade the other to his viewpoint. He knew it could be dangerous, but he had to agree with Sirius. They could both keep Remus under control, he thought. And it would be the most exciting adventure any of them had ever been on… maybe ever would be on. It was at this thought that James started to grin.
Sirius got excited, while Remus sank lower into the couch, and Peter stared wide-eyed at James for even considering it. Remus might have been able to hold off one of them, but he knew he wouldn't stand against both. And part of him didn't want to. He'd spent his whole life rigidly following rules - rules, he admitted, were in place for very good reasons. But what would it be like to be free? He glanced at Peter. By the look on his face, he was the only one not in complete agreement, but Remus knew that Peter would never fight a decision made by James or Sirius. He seemed to have complete confidence in them.
"Moony," James began.
Remus held up his hand. "No. We… I can't. You know that. It's too…"
"Dangerous?" James finished. "Like Padfoot said, we can handle you. Besides… Think of the adventure. And if… if… something should happen… The three of us," here James swept his arm to include Sirius and Peter both, "can certainly stun a werewolf. Or one of us could return to the school and get help. But nothing's going to happen. Not when we're with you."
Remus sighed. "Prongs, we're risking people's lives…"
"Not if we stick to the forest," Sirius jumped in. "There won't be any people. It'll work. You'll be fine. And no one will know. Come on," Sirius pleaded.
"You really are a dog, Padfoot," Remus joked. Sirius nodded his head in an exaggerated, but very dog-like, manner. "Let me think about it."
"Yesss," Sirius hissed excitedly.
"I didn't say 'yes,'" Remus cautioned.
"Close enough," Sirius replied. "Besides, who one can resist this face?"
Remus rolled his eyes, while James grunted. Remus had until Wednesday to try to talk them out of it, or be talked into it. He had a feeling he knew which way it was going to go anyway.
- - - - -
A/N - Okay. I know that Snape used Sirius' nickname in this chapter. I also know that in Rowlings books - in canon - Snape did not recognize the names on the map. I know that some people don't like when the nicknames are used "publicly" in a Marauders story, but there are several reasons why I chose to take the other angle, not the least of which being that if Snape could figure out something was up with the boys leaving once a month, he would also figure out they had nicknames whether it was public knowledge or not. Plus, it's just easier to use the nicknames than not. :) So, I apologize for straying from canon here. Maybe the confounded Snape later in life and he forgot the nicknames. Ooo... I might have to use that. Hee hee.
Anyway, thank you all for the wonderful reviews and words of encouragement. Welcome newcomers. And thank you to my wonderful support team - mom, mei mei, and J.A.Carlton. I hope y'all had a lovely Christmas, whether you celebrate it or not.
