Sirius began, "On August 22, Dad went to work, same as always. He's an Auror, I'm sure you know that. When he got to work, there was an owl for him. A Dark Wizard had been found in Little Whinging, which is in Surrey."
"Right, that's where Vernon lives," Imuttered. Sirius stared at me. "Soory, muttering about my own problems, wich is really not the point of this conversation, is it?"
He continued, "Well, when Dad got to Surrey, he had a team of five wizards, including himself, to get the one Dark Wizard. Well, there wasn't just one. There were thirteen. Dad and the others tried as hard as they could to fight them off, but none could. Only one man survived, and that was because after Dad died, he went to get reinforcements," Sirius put his head in his hands.
I rubbed his back, and asked, as gently as I could, "Did Dumbledore say you couldn't stay back?"
He nodded. "When the man killed Dad, he first stopped and-" he resumed crying, and I waited patiently until he felt well enough to begin again. "He stopped and used the Cruciatus Curse." I gasped. This was unforgivable- literally, it was one of the three Unforgivable Curses.
"Then, he spit in Dad's face. He laughed and mocked Dad, and how great he was. He said that the rest of his… his blood-traitor family would go the same way, even me. Then, he killed him." Sirius stood up. "He killed my father. That man is going to pay!" He tried to run out of the compartment, but I grabbed on to his arm and held on tight. He tried to shake me off. "Lily Evans, let go of me! I need to find the man who killed my dad! I need to torture him like he tortured!" No matter what he said, I held on.
"Sirius Orion Black! You can't go avenge James's and your father, no matter how much you want to! Think of your mum and James? What would they think, if you died too? Both of you gone in two weeks! You have to stay alive for them, if for no one else, you hear me?" Sirius slumped back in his chair as the train pulled to a stop.
I stood on the seat to pull the trunks down. "In about one hour, I have to go and meet with Professor Dumbledore. I expect Remus will have to come with me. Are you going to be alright?"
Sirius shrugged. Well, that settles it. I am going to get him to go home for his father's funeral, no matter how long it took.
Well, that was that. The dorm room I was going to be staying in was absolutely lovely. It had turned itself bright purple, with enough scarlet in it to be distinguished as a Gryffinor Head's room. There was a gigantic bookcase in it. A note left on the shelf stated that it would take out and return library books whenever I wanted. The common room was, if possible, even bigger than the one in Gryffindor Tower! I absolutely loved it, but it was strangely empty.
As I had finished settling in, I started to Professor Dumbledore's office. On my way there, I saw Remus and Peter heading toward the feast. "Remus, can you come with me?" I asked. "Professor Dumbledore wanted James and me to come to his office tonight, and I expect that while he's gone, you will take his place."
Remus replied, "Yes, of course. See you at the feast, Peter. Save me a seat!" We began our walk to Dumbledore's office.
I asked quietly, "How is Black doing?"
Remus sighed. "Look, I don't know what you said to him, or what he said to you, but it seems that he is even more miserable than when we started on the train."
"I'm going to ask Professor Dumbledore to let him go home for the funeral. It's tomorrow morning, right? Then he'll have enough time to get back home!"
Remus looked at me with respect- more so than usual. "You would do that for Sirius?"
I blushed and sighed, "If it was my dad, I would want him to do the same for me." I came to a stop in front of the gargoyles at the entrance of Dumbledore's office. I said the password, and entered the office. When I came to the door, I knocked, admiring the intricate detail of the knocker.
Dumbledore came to the door and opened it, a grim look on his face. "Ms. Evans, welcome. You brought Mr. Lupin with you, good, I had forgotten to ask you to do that. Please, come in."
We sat on the comfortable chairs in front of his desk. Dumbledore sat on his throne-looking chair, and folded his hands on the table.
"It has come to my attention, Ms. Evans, that you and Mr. Potter are not on the best of terms. When he returns, I quite expect he will be devastated. We must agree to work together for his well-being. You understand?" he asked.
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore. About that… I actually wanted to know if Sirius Black could go home and go to the funeral." Dumbledore looked as if he was about to speak, so I pressed on, "He's devastated, sir. Sirius was as much Harold's son as James was. He needs to be there. Sirius was absolutely distraught on the train, and it will be that much worse tomorrow. Please, sir," I begged. I was going to continue, but Dumbledore held his and up, and I slouched back in my chair. I had done all I could do.
Dumbledore told me, "I understand. In any other circumstances, I would refuse your request, but since I personally have seen Sirius and Harold in action, I will have to agree with you. When we are finished, come back with him and you can Floo to the Potter's house with him, Ms. Evans." I didn't expect that. "I expect that James will want your support, any way he can have it." I did expect that.
"Thank you, sir," I said.
"Now, about your duties. Remus, when Lily and Sirius leave, I am putting you in charge of all of their duties. When you return, Lily, I expect that you will relay them to James." We both nodded.
"Patrols around the castle occur from nine at night until six in the morning. You will be given a free period for your first class, so that you can get a bit of shut-eye in between patrols. You must assign each prefect their patrol nights. Two prefects a night, preferably. You two will be called to my office once a month to plan new activities for younger students, but also the once-weekly meeting with Professor Slughorn is required.
"For your first assignment, the faculty asks that you plan a ball for all grades. No theme, but it must occur by October 10, so that you can properly prepare for the Holloween feast. That is your main priority until then." I grinned. This was going to be so much fun!
"Professor, since Remus is going to be filling in for James, can I ask Marlene to fill in for me? I think it's only proper that there will be two Head, or in this case, sub-Heads." I asked.
Dumbledore appeared thoughtful for a moment, then replied, "I would actually prefer it if you would ask Alice." I smiled. Alice would have a much easier time planning the all, as Marlene didn't really care about those sorts of things, and Dumbledore knew it.
"That's all I needed to say. Good luck!" All three of us stood. "Ms. Evans, please return quickly. I will send your trunks soon after I send you and Sirius."
Remus and I ran as fast as we could to the Gryffindor common room. I got ahead of Remus and rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
"Sirius! Guess what? " I cried. Sirius peeked his head out from underneath the covers.
"What is it? I'm trying to sleep here!" he groaned. I sat on the edge of his bed.
I told him, "You're going home, for tomorrow morning! Dumbledore said that you can go home!"
Sirius sat up in bed. "I can go home?" I noticed the tear stains on his cheeks, but didn't mention them.
"Yes, you can go home!" I cried.
Sirius reached over and embraced me tightly. "I don't know whether to be happy or sad! I can go home!"
I replied with a grin, "You can decide on the way. Now get a move on. Dumbledore wanted us to hurry!"
"Us.. you're coming too?" Sirius asked. "Well, I guess James would have asked that you come as well."
"James?" I asked. "He didn't ask for you to come!"
Lupin butted in, "Lily wanted for you to come, and she didn't ask to go herself. Dumbledore said that Prongs might want to see her."
Sirius thought about it, then nodded. "Yeah, that might be best. Now, come on! I want to go home!" he whined. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I laughed, and shouted goodbye to Alice and Marlene, who were sitting in the common room.
Sirius was going home.