Sirius ran a weary hand through his hair, a gesture reminiscent of James when he was stressed. He laughed ironically and shifted the sling that supported his arm that had been dislocated. It was the day after the attack on the muggle town and the remains of the wizarding camp from the Quidditch match were in uproar. News had spread quickly through the campsite that there had been an attack in the town and that some wizards and witches had been there to fight them back and raise the alarm. Sirius was sat next to his best mate's temporary bed. The injured of their group had been tended to by a medic while some of the more severely wounded had been sent to St Mungo's. They had considered transferring James but Mrs Potter had talked them out of it. She wanted him to be accessible to her and St Mungo's would be packed. The teenagers had been quarantined in the tent that Dorcas and the girls had been in. James looked pale and still under the covers. His face and body were covered in half healed cuts and bruises. The medic had simply checked him for major trauma and used spells on his injuries to ensure they started healing correctly before moving on to the next person.
According to the medic Prongs had broken several ribs, but luckily had no internal bleeding, had a concussion and a whole load of smaller cuts and bruises. The medic couldn't work out the spell that had caused the dark cut across his chest but had done his best, although he suspected it would scar. Euphemia had woken James up periodically throughout the night to check he would still wake up after his concussion but in the wee hours of the morning had been given the all clear to just let him sleep. Sirius had been by his bed for the last hour, a tired Remus had sat with him until about five minutes ago when he had left to find something to eat and check on Peter. Sirius regarded his best friend. Why did he have to go and be the hero? Sirius should've been there to make sure he didn't end up hurt like this. He should've struggled harder against that stupid binding spell. But no, that was a spell the Marauders had come up with themselves. Only the caster was able to release the person it was cast on or designate a trigger to release them. And James had had the audacity to cast it on Sirius.
"Stupid, noble prick," Sirius muttered at James' sleeping body. "Using our own spell against me... James bloody Potter, I'm gonna beat you up once you're better."
"Oh Padfoot," Came James' amused croak, "I knew you cared for me." Sirius jumped.
"Prongs! How are you feeling?"
"M'okay, my head hurts like- ow!" He broke off as Sirius thumped him on the arm.
"You prick!"
"Jeez!" James said, shifting to a more comfortable position. "Just go and injure me again as soon as I come to why don't you!"
"Why did you bind me to the others?" Sirius demanded. "I could've fought! I could've helped you not get so bloody injured."
"I did what I had to Sirius." James said calmly, his voice hoarse. "You had a dislocated shoulder. You and I both know that in a duel, you need to have full use of all four limbs. If you'd come you would've been even more seriously injured, or even killed! I won't let you take that risk."
"That's not your decision to make!" Shouted Sirius.
"Well you wouldn't have listened if I had tried to talk you into it would you?" James shot right back, raising his voice and wincing as his head throbbed. "I'm sorry Sirius. I'm sorry you got injured and couldn't fight. But I'm not sorry I bound you to the others." Sirius opened his mouth to retort but James cut him off. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't have done the same if our roles were reversed." Sirius opened his mouth but then shut it. He sat back in his chair sighing angrily. James leaned back, he'd won this one. He suddenly felt very tired.
"How is everyone?" James asked, "did everyone make it to those trees? And what about Tobias and everyone else?" Sirius grimaced internally.
"Well..." He began, but cut off when James sat bolt upright, ignoring the lance of pain that shot through his head when he did so.
"Don't tell me someone died Sirius, I-" Sirius calmed him down and spoke again.
"No one died!" James relaxed slightly. "Well no one that we know anyway."
"What about my dad? And Remus? And Peter and I haven't seen Marlene since-"
"James!" Sirius interrupted him. "Stop prattling on and let me update you on everyone." James swallowed and nodded, running a hand through his still dusty hair. "Your parents are fine. Your mum's furious that the aurors didn't come quicker and is on a warpath. Your dad's ok, the healer sorted him out, but he didn't respond to the spells as well as he should have- probably due to his age but he's got a load of potions he needs to take so should recover well. Remus is fine, tired and scratched up, but fine. Peter was banged up pretty badly, he's sleeping at the minute and will need to have regular check ups at St Mungo's for the next few weeks. He's got a bad concussion and had a broken arm and fractured ribs. Alice and Marlene will be fine. They're both pretty shaken up, especially Marlene."
"Evans." James suddenly said. "How's Evans?" Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Evans is fine, she had a nasty gash on her head and a load of cuts and bruises but she'll make a full recovery." James nodded, that was good. He then frowned.
"You haven't mentioned Dorcas. How is she?" Sirius' face turned somber.
"Her leg is on the mend, it was a clean break but a bad one. But..." he hesitated.
"Sirius..." James said worriedly. Sirius ran a hand over his face.
"It's Cassian... he's alive but…"
"But what?" James whispered, his face pale and drawn.
"He's in a coma James. He won't wake up."
It all happened very fast. Sirius and the others had just made it to the outskirts of town. Sirius looked back worriedly. He was still pissed off at James. Their group sat down, Dorcas propped against a tree, her eyes shut. Peter had his head between his knees, his breath coming in short gasps. Alice was warily watching Cas and Pete, occasionally rubbing Peter's back and checking how he was feeling. Remus was staring stonily at the town, looking at Peter periodically, ready to intervene if he took a turn for the worst.
"I guess now we wait, right?" Sirius asked through gritted teeth. Remus nodded. It had been about five minutes when Sirius suddenly heard shouts coming from the town, his head whipped towards the sound. He could see Cassian and Tobias, back to back, firing spells at... muggles? Sirius slowly got to his feet to get a better view. There was a group of about 20 muggles swarming around them. Their faces were blank and they were silent, advancing on the wizards with clawing hands. Sirius saw one muggle teenager take two direct stunners to the chest before falling. Others were ripping off conjured ropes, they seemed unstoppable and it sent shivers down Sirius' spine. Cassian and Tobias ran into a nearby house, Sirius could see them stunning the muggles as they came through the door. Unconscious bodies were piling up in the entrance, but the others just climbed over them, continuing with a disturbing determination.
"We should help," Sirius said. "They're outnumbered and we're just sat here." He turned to Remus, appealing to him, the werewolf looked miserable. He was gnawing on his lip anxiously, he looked torn.
"We're bound together, we'd have to all go..." Remus started.
"We can't," Alice said suddenly. Sirius whirled on her.
"Yes we can," he spat.
"It's too dangerous," Alice replied, her eyebrows knitting.
Sirius spluttered, "that is Dorcas' family! We can help them! They're in danger, and you want to sit here and watch!"
Alice stood angrily, "what do you think those muggles will do if they get their hands on us? They're under some kind of imperius curse or something. They will kill us if we can't overpower them. Maybe strangle us or beat us to death. Tobias and Cassian will have a plan, if we charge in we could make it worse! They could get hurt trying to help us!"
"We know it takes two stunners to take one down, we could thin them out from a distance," Sirius said.
"Two stunners from older, more powerful wizards."
"We can do something!" Sirius roared.
"We can stay safe!" Alice shouted back. "How is Cassian going to feel if we injure his daughter even more when trying to help him, when he probably has a plan!"
"Guys!" Remus interrupted, a death eater had apparated into the street and blasted the remaining muggles out of the way. Sirius looked on in horror as the maimed muggles attempted to continue crawling towards the wizards whilst they bled out. The death eater let a few more spells fly, blowing debris out of the way of the door through which Cassian and Tobias were. They were a short distance away but Sirius recognised the disturbed laughter from where he was. Bellatrix was here. Sirius snarled and ran forward, only to be stopped by a sharp tug around his waist that sent him falling to the floor, landing on his bad shoulder. He suppressed a shout of pain and got to his feet, his good hand curled into a tight fist. He could only watch as Bellatrix blasted a hole in the building where they were. Tobias dived out, Cassian got out of the unstable building as well, but tripped, he hit the ground awkwardly and his wand fell out of his hand.
"We have to help!" Shouted Sirius again, turning to Alice, who was watching, transfixed. Bellatrix was taunting Cassian while she held off a desperate Tobias. Sirius' heart was thudding.
"Alice!" Sirius made another run for it and fell again, he yelled in frustration. His shout startled Remus who snapped into action.
"We're helping, I'll get Peter, we need to get Dorcas and go together, we can't leave her here on her own." Sirius nodded and ran to Alice, shaking her. She was still staring at Bellatrix.
"Snap out of it!" Shouted Sirius in her face, she turned to him.
"Crucio!" Shouted Bellatrix gleefully. Cassian's screams rent the air. Alice's face tightened and she finally spoke,
"I'll get Dorcas. We go quietly, we need the element of surprise if we want to stand a chance," she said quickly, Sirius nodded. They moved closer to the Meadowes'. Dorcas levitating next to them, blissfully passed out. They advanced painstakingly slowly, Sirius was desperate to do something. Bellatrix was focused on torturing Mr Meadowes and his screams were getting to Sirius.
Tobias looked up from where he was struggling with some ropes and met Sirius' eyes. Sirius put a finger to his lips, Tobias nodded, eyes wide. Alice was making her way over to a sheltered spot where Dorcas would be safe. A weak but determined Peter dizzily made his way to a sheltered doorway where he would be out of the way but still able to contribute in a fight. Remus, Alice and Sirius made their way to partially concealed spots that were spread out. Sirius began levitating a rock above Bellatrix's head, which he would all too willingly drop on her when it reached a good height. Remus and Alice readied their wands, the rock was almost at a good height when suddenly everything started to go wrong. Dorcas stirred and whimpered, Alice's eyes widened at the noise and she rushed over to silence her. She wasn't able to aim a silencing charm at her as Dorcas was hidden from view. Bellatrix whirled around at the sound, aiming a wand at Alice. Remus distracted her with a stunner, which she dodged but this meant that Sirius' carefully placed rock was in the wrong position and when it fell, it only glanced off her shoulder. It still caused a considerable amount of pain but didn't put her out of commission. Suddenly the air was alive with spells. Peter it seemed, had managed to free Tobias who had joined the fray. Sirius was viciously duelling with his hateful cousin, ignoring the throb in his shoulder and ache in his leg as he clamped his bad arm to his side and favoured his good leg.
"So, the shame of the House of Black crawls out of the woodwork," she taunted. "We all hoped you had died."
"Keep hoping, bitch." Snarled Sirius, Bellatrix's face tightened.
"How dare you speak to me like that blood traitor!" She screeched. "You embarrassed our family in front of the Dark Lord!" She had Sirius on the defensive, who was dodging spells desperately, the pain in his limbs jarring his concentration. Tobias and Remus were contributing to the fight. And Bellatrix was slowly backing away. Alice meanwhile was trying to keep a disorientated, agonised Dorcas out of the way. Dorcas had seen her father's prone from and was trying to crawl towards him whilst Alice was trying to restrain her. A stray spell suddenly smashed into the dodgy building behind them and a piece of debris landed on Dorcas' bad leg, she screamed in pain. Bellatrix turned at the sound and sadistic glee lit up her face as she saw Dorcas making her way to her dad's groaning body. Sirius desperately attempted to taunt her to distract her.
"Tell your Dark Wanker that he can go fuck himself! Or I suppose you do that for him don't you, you cheap whore!" Bellatrix turned back to him, anger contorting her features.
"How dare you!" She threw a spell at Sirius which sent him skidding across the ground, jarring his shoulder and scraping his skin. She fired a killing curse towards a dazed Sirius and turned back to Dorcas, not checking to see if it hit. Green light filled Sirius' vision but suddenly a piece of debris blocked it. It exploded, showering Sirius in fragments. Sirius looked to the caster and saw a furious Remus rushing over to him.
"You bloody idiot," Remus spluttered, dropping once again to his knees beside a friend.
"No." Sirius gasped out, "get Dorcas." They both turned to their fellow Gryffindor. Dorcas had tears streaming down her dusty face. In slow motion Sirius saw Bellatrix cast a non verbal spell at Dorcas, it was a burning flash of purple fire. Tobias threw a shield in front of his sister which Remus reinforced, Sirius meanwhile threw a sectumsempra towards his cousin and the fringes of it managed to make contact with Bellatrix before she apparated away. The purple spell was still aiming for Dorcas and it broke through the shield. Seconds before it hit Dorcas, Cassian managed to jump in front of the spell. He was thrown backwards into the unsteady building and the force of his impact caused half the building to crumble.
"No!" Sirius shouted, hurling a cushioning charm towards his body. It wasn't enough. Cassian Meadowes was buried by a mound of brick. Alice had rushed to a bereft Dorcas and the boys started desperately levitating debris off where they thought he had fell. They managed to uncover him fairly soon after. He was almost unrecognisable, the burly, loud man was now broken and bloodied. Tobias was pale as he checked his pulse.
"He's alive." He whispered, immediately starting to try and stabilise his father. Sirius, Remus and Peter who had unsteadily come over stood guard, keeping quiet whilst Tobias did his best. Not long after that the aurors arrived. A medic rushed straight to Cassian and after running a few diagnostic spells told Tobias and Dorcas, whose leg was still mangled, that Cassian needed to go to St Mungos right now. Tobias immediately said he'd go with him and Dorcas begged him to let her come too but Tobias told her to find their mum and Marcus and let them know what had happened. Dorcas had struggled but eventually gave in, sliding to the floor, her shoulders shaking with heart wrenching sobs. The remaining Gryffindors had seated themselves next to her with Alice on one side and Sirius on the other and simply stayed.
Not long later they got escorted back to the camp site and the rest of the Meadowes had been reunited. Dorcas' leg got fixed and immediately they made their way to St Mungo's.
A muttered swear word from James jolted Sirius out of the memory as he told James what had happened.
"So you saw her too then." James said quietly.
"Who? My cousin? Yeah."
"She almost killed us. Me, my parents and the girls. She's got some insane dark magic in her. It seemed like there was nothing we could do." James was staring at his hands.
"She was always good at martial magic, but yes, she seems to have gotten more powerful," replied Sirius bitterly.
"She used the torture curse on me." James confessed quietly. "She was aiming it at my mum and I just- I didn't really think I just jumped in front of it." Sirius looked at James. His grey eyes were filled with anger. There was sadness and shame but anger was the main emotion filling his gaze.
"I hate her," he said honestly. "I truly hate her."
"What was the death toll Sirius?" James asked.
Sirius sighed, "last I heard, it was 10 witches and wizards dead. 18 badly injured."
"And the muggles?" James asked. Sirius sighed again, and lowered his head, shutting his eyes.
"57 badly injured, 31 dead, over 200 needing obliviating." James sighed, looking at Sirius sadly.
"So what now?"
"I guess we just have to wait. People need to recover. You included." James leaned back against the pillows.
"I hate feeling so damn useless," he said angrily. "I want to learn how to fight, properly. How to defend myself against death eaters and protect people I care about."
Sirius nodded in agreement and added, "maybe we can talk to Dumbledore when we get back to school."
James bobbed his head. "We weren't expelled were we? For using our wands?" James asked, Sirius laughed.
"Crap I forgot. Some daft old wizard came stumbling in saying something how everyone present in the town was excused for underage magic because it was extreme circumstances."
"Great," James said, managing a grin. "That means we just have to worry about results now." Sirius groaned, punching him in the arm again.
"Prongs! You prick! Why did you have to remind me."
A/N: What did you all think? Was the writing on the action ok? Leave a review to let me know what you think of the Potters and the Meadowes or if you enjoyed :)