"ʟɪꜰᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴄɪʀᴄʟᴇ, ᴡɪᴅᴇɴɪɴɢ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ɪᴛ ᴊᴏɪɴꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄɪʀᴄʟᴇ ᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇ."
— ᴀɴᴀɪꜱ ɴɪɴ
Chapter Fifteen: In Circles, Truth
Ruby had never Apparated before. It was like being sucked through a tube the size of a needle; she was squeezed in at all sides, pressed impossibly small.
All of a sudden, she was being squeezed out, like liquid soap through a dispenser, and poured back onto the pavement. As soon as she got her bearings, she checked frantically that she had all of her fingers and toes.
"This is London," came Tee's voice from behind her. He was scratching the back of his neck and regarding Sirius with an irritated expression.
Ruby glanced towards the slate-roofed, Victorian-era townhouses on either side of them. He was right.
"Can't Apparate that far in one go," said Sirius breathlessly. "We'll all get Splinched, and we'll be no good to anyone then."
He was brushing off his shoulders, as if expecting something there. "Could have sworn there was a bramble..."
"What now, then?" asked Ruby. Why here?
"Go inside." Sirius slapped the side of one of the townhouses. "Go through the Floo."
"The Floo―"
"The Floo, the Floo Network. Getting into one fireplace and climbing out the other. Mother's should still be connected."
Houses Number Eleven and Thirteen sprung apart at Sirius's words, and Number Twelve appeared between them as if it had been there all along, with its red lacquer door and shiny house number emblazoned on it in brass.
"My family put every protective spell known to wizardkind on that house," said Sirius. Something in his voice sounded sour, like milk gone bad.
Tee gave Ruby a weird glance and followed Sirius up the steps to the door. At a touch, it swung open, and they all stepped inside.
What lay inside was straight out of a Gothic novel. The hallway was dark, and old-fashioned gas lamps magically sputtered to life as the light from the closing door disappeared. Dust and cobwebs coated the hallway; Ruby could smell a lingering aroma of rot and camphor.
She didn't get a chance to continue admiring the furnishings of the house, because soon after the door swung shut behind them, a deafening voice erupted from the walls.
"CHILDREN OF FILTH, DEFILING THE HOME OF MY ANCESTORS—"
Tee and Ruby stood rooted to the floor in shock.
"Here we go again. Pleasure to see you too, Mother."
Sirius strode over to the painting as if this was perfectly normal.
"-BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND VILENESS, UNNATURAL HALF-BREED FREAKS—"
"Grab the other curtain, you two, would you?"
The three managed to pull the curtains over the shrieking painting with great difficulty.
To be absolutely fair, Tee and Sirius did most of the pulling.
Ruby thought that she might have incurred serious hearing damage in the process.
The heavy velvet curtains managed to muffle most of the screaming.
As they turned away, breathing hard, Ruby felt a pair of eyes burning holes into her back.
She turned.
Facing her was a small, humanoid creature, dressed in rags. It had a bulbous nose, bloodshot eyes, and white hair sprouting out under its bat-like ears.
A brownie? she wondered, unable to tear her eyes away.
"Dirty Master Sirius has come home," said the strange creature in a raspy, deep voice like an old man's.
"Dirty is what this house is," said Sirius. He reached out and snatched an enormous cobweb from the bottom of the nearest gas lamp, balling it up in his hands and flinging it towards the creature. "It's not been cleaned for years, you miserable creature."
"Where's your mother?" asked Ruby, hoping to diffuse the tension. "Why's she trapped in the painting."
"Dead," said the creature, quivering with fury. He pointed an accusing finger at Sirius. "Died in this house, all alone. After Master Regulus and Master Orion-"
"Regulus?" Sirius had gone white as a sheet. Ruby could only think of the boy she had seen Voldemort offer up to the monsters, the boy she had watched being torn apart.
He must be Sirius's brother. They looked alike, too. Same eyes.
She felt sick. Sirius should never know, never had to see that too.
"My poor brother." The anguish tainted every word. "Soft enough to believe everything he was told... probably died serving Voldemort. There were lines, though... lines he wouldn't cross... got himself killed."
The creature pressed his lips together, observing Tee and Ruby.
"He joined at sixteen years old." Sirius shook a finger at Tee. "Younger than you, imagine that? My brother!"
He was hysterical. Ruby found herself edging closer to the wall, but could not escape the creature's gaze.
Sirius had slumped against the wall opposite, his head in his hands.
He died trying to stop Voldemort. Ruby wasn't sure if she wanted her lips to move or not. If she could explain how she had seen things she wasn't supposed to see.
"We need to get to Hogsmeade." That was Tee, of course.
The creature ignored him. "Filth," he uttered, glowering at Tee and Ruby with his terrible eyes. "Filth and a blood-traitor. Oh, how my mistress would weep."
"Shut up, creature!"
"Sirius, can you ask the house-elf?"
He looked up for a moment, his head hanging miserably between the sharp points of his bony knees.
"Get me the Floo powder, creature!" he barked.
The creature scowled, then snapped his fingers, a ball of orange light appearing above his hand. Then, he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
"Creature?" asked Ruby incredulously. "You call him creature? Doesn't he have a name?"
"No," said Sirius. "Not creature. Kreacher. He's ancient and mad, and gone even madder since everyone died, it looks like."
"But what is he?" pressed Ruby. "A brownie?"
Tee snorted, and Sirius appeared to be suppressing laughter.
Annoyed, she said: "What's so funny?" perhaps more furiously than she meant to.
"Nothing, nothing," said Sirius, still chuckling a little. "Suppose you slept through that lecture of Binns'. No one's seen brownies for centuries."
Tee, on her left, was in the process of lighting a cigarette.
"Can he smoke in here?"
Sirius waved a hand dismissively. "The story's simple enough. Every magical family had a brownie living in their house back in the day; they were strange little Dark creatures who did the housework while you were asleep, as long as you paid them for their services; they were partial to cake, apparently. If you didn't pay them or managed to offend, they'd fly into a rage and make a mess before leaving forever. One day, wizards decided they were tired of the arrangement and cursed the brownies to stay bound to a home forever, regardless of offence or lack of payment. And now we have the utter terror that is Mother's insane house-elf... Kreacher."
Just then, a shout came from further down the hallway. "The fireplace is ready for dirty Master Sirius and his filthy friends!"
"Oh joy," said Sirius, getting to his feet and rubbing his hands together. "Let's go."
They followed him into the darkness. More of the mothball aroma enveloped them.
"Put your hands on the bannister as you go up," Sirius instructed. "I'm going to get a light — don't be scared."
What?
She immediately stumbled back in horror as a candle hissed to life. A row of shrunken, ghoulish taxidermied house-elf heads stared down at them.
"Beheaded when they got too old to carry a tea-tray. Lovely family tradition started by dear Aunt Elladora. Aren't you two coming?" asked Sirius, quite casually, one hand on the bannister of the grand, moldy great staircase, turning towards them with almost the sort of casual elegance he'd had in the memories.
I'll come, thought Ruby uneasily, averting her eyes. But I'd rather not have to look at... those.
Gloom hung above them, even on the first floor.
The living room, or what she assumed more accurately was a proper drawing room, was gloomier still, perhaps because of the contrast between its current state and its original glory. There was a grand piano laden with a clear centimetre of dust on its lid, its ivory keys stained yellow with age, a forest-green tapestry from which a particularly pungent aroma of mothballs exuded, several filthy, once black and green patterned sofas, and black velvet curtains on either side of a large window overlooking the street.
However, the most notable feature of the room, by far, was the grand fireplace; nearly as tall as Ruby, and decorated all over with carved roses and thorns and extremely ugly gargoyles. A roaring fire was going in the fireplace, and Kreacher was crouched in front of it, holding a swan-shaped urn.
"Ever travelled by Floo before?" asked Sirius, in a low voice.
Ruby hadn't, but she had a good guess.
"I didn't think we had to go through while the fire's lit," she whispered. "Won't we burn up?"
"But that's how it works. Take a pinch of Floo powder, and speak very clearly, Hog's Head Inn."
"Hog's Head Inn," she repeated. "What if I get it wrong?"
"Oh, you'll just come out through another fireplace and we'll have to try again. Just speak clearly the first time, it'll be less hassle for all of us."
Tee, seemingly oblivious to the conversation, stepped forward and took a handful of emerald green powder from the urn.
"Which fireplace?"
"Hog's Head Inn," said Sirius. And to Ruby, "Watch him do it."
Tee tossed his handful into the fire. Immediately, the flame turned the same emerald green as the powder and rocketed up to the top of the fireplace; Ruby backed away, but felt none of the expected heat.
He strode into the fireplace, and shouted: "Hog's Head Inn!"
He had disappeared, and the flames were normal once more.
Now, Sirius nudged her forward. "Keep your elbows in and your back straight. Don't be scared."
Well, lucky for him, I'm only terrified.
She tossed the handful of powder into the fireplace, and watched the flames turn green again. It was a lukewarm, tickling sensation once she stepped inside, but nothing like burning.
"Hog's Head Inn!" Ruby managed to stammer out, despite the ash making her want to sneeze out her lungs.
It was worse than Apparition; like being sucked down a metal drain upside-down and spinning around very fast like water going down it. She desperately wanted to get out, but there were brick walls pressing constantly on either side of her, and even with her elbows tucked into her chest there seemed to be barely enough room to squeeze through.
Finally, a rush of musty air hit her, and she tumbled forward onto a mucky, stone floor.
She was inside a grimy pub, so dingy and dirty that even daylight refused to travel through the windows. People in cloaks sat around wooden tables, each lit by stubby candles and spoke very loudly. An old man was standing behind the bar, wearing a greasy apron and polishing a glass with an equally greasy rag.
For a second, the old barman's eyes met hers, and Ruby quickly turned away.
He couldn't have recognized me? Could he?
She tried to arrange her hair to cover her face, as Spot emerged from the fireplace behind her and trotted out the door.
Where's Tee? Did he get out at the wrong fireplace?
She needn't have worried; he was outside already, watching the empty street
All of a sudden, she found herself tumbling to the ground, and falling hard on the stone. Ruby tasted blood and gravel.
Tee had shoved her down.
"What'd you do that for?" she groused, scrambling up.
"Protego!"
Ruby got to her feet, ignoring her stinging knees, and turned around.
It was Peter Pettigrew, the Death Eater. He was wearing a mask, but she could still tell, from the remarkably small stature and the thinning, mousy hair.
No. This can't be happening. He can't be here. Not when we're so close.
He regarded them triumphantly, but didn't attempt to break Tee's shield. Spot was bristling and snarling, and had moved in front of both of them, glaring at Pettigrew from behind the shield.
"The Dark Lord was right," said Pettigrew, the mask distorting his voice. "If you want to track something down, send out the hound. I almost lost you so many times on the way here. But my reward from the Dark Lord will make it well worth the effort."
He pointed his wand at Tee. "Drop the shield, boy, and I'll spare you."
"What makes you think I need to be spared?" snapped Tee. "Don't you know who I am?"
Ruby looked up at him anxiously. Yeah, who are you, Tee?
Voldemort wants you dead.
Her hand had gone slick with sweat around her wand. She could barely hold onto it.
She could dash back into the Hog's Head Inn; the door was a manageable three feet away. Was Pettigrew crazy enough to follow them in there and try to kill her in front of everyone?
He wouldn't, he wouldn't.
Her heart was pounding. Her fingers were on the doorknob—
"Expelliarmus!"
Tee had dropped his shield, springing forward as lightly as if there was a gust of wind behind him; nearly flying, Pettigrew's wand soaring through the air and into his grasp.
"Now, Sirius!" she whispered frantically,
The dog rushed at Pettigrew, striking down with his heavy paws, mouth open in a fierce growl — Ruby saw Pettigrew fall as Spot's fangs loomed closer, but then he faltered, massive body shuddering under Pettigrew's desperate kicks.
"Do something!" snapped Ruby, whirling on Tee.
"I'll hit Sirius — you try aiming at a moving target!"
Something sounded unconvincing about that, but there were bigger problems to worry about. Pettigrew was inching his sleeve up with his fingers, reaching for the black skull and snake writhing on his forearm.
Her hand shook. The wand was about to slip from her hand. Even she knew what happened when a Death Eater touched the Dark Mark.
He'll come.
Pettigrew had managed to get out of reach of Spot's foaming and snapping jaws.
It's now or never.
"Petrificus Totalus!" she shrieked, her voice resounding up and down the street. Pettigrew went as stiff as a stone, his fingers a mere inch from the Dark Mark.
She had broken out in a cold sweat, as the wand finally dropped from her grip, clattering against the cobblestones with a dull thud. Ruby bent over and dry-heaved, her heartbeat thudding in her ears.
Her vision was fuzzy. She could see nothing but fear.
Voldemort... Voldemort was almost here.
"I'm going to kill him. I'm already accused of his murder, after all." That was Sirius. "When he wakes up, he'll run back to Voldemort and tell him what he's seen."
"Don't you think Voldemort would have thought that you would try to kill him?" prompted Tee. "Wouldn't he have planned for that?"
"And what do you know about Voldemort's tactics?" asked Sirius.
"It's getting close to night," Ruby interrupted, "and it looks like the snake on the Dark Mark is getting lower and lower." She didn't know quite how she had figured the last bit out. "It's like a clock. Once it gets to midnight and the snake's on the level of the highest turret, the school will be attacked. We've not got the time to stand here arguing!"
Sirius turned away from Pettigrew with a pained expression, before he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. "I'm going to regret leaving him alive."
He steered them towards a rickety building, which might have once been a small house, but now had its windows and doors covered in hastily-nailed boards.
"Make a hole big enough to crawl into," instructed Sirius. "We'll fix it later."
"Lumos," whispered Tee, once the hole had been made and they had all made it in.
Inside the shack was a dusty, dark room; the yellowed wallpaper was peeling off, and the old wooden furniture had been smashed into bits. When Tee flashed the light around, Ruby noticed an animal's claw marks were strewn over the wallpaper, which seemed out of place.
Sirius gestured over to a dark hole in the floor, amidst more claw marks. Lockhart's wand had switched hands from Tee to him.
"Right," he said, tugging off his cloak. "We go through that tunnel; it leads out to the Whomping Willow. The idea is that I go out first, casting a Patronus. Tee can shield his mind from the Dementors, so he'd be the less attractive target and keep to the edge of the shield."
I wonder why he didn't do that before, wondered Ruby.
"The more attractive target — Ruby, that's you."
Her heart sunk to the bottom of her stomach. She remembered, with a cold fright, the hopelessness, how the Dementors had sapped all desire to carry on living from her.
"You'll stay right with me," said Sirius, "in the middle of the shield."
The way through the tunnel was narrow and damp and dark, and made of pressed earth. The soil was packed tight over her fingertips as she felt her way through the passage after Sirius.
"Ready?"
Sirius turned. In the faint light, she saw the determination in his face, in the set of his jaw and the steely glint of his eyes.
I just want it to end. Ruby shut her eyes and thought of the Dementors. She was trembling all over.
"Ready," she whispered, nonetheless. Maybe I keep my eyes closed and stay close to Sirius. If I can't see them maybe they'll scare me less.
A faint whirring sounded above them, and then the cool night air was rushing in.
"Expecto Patronum!" shouted Sirius, a silvery half-dome billowing at the edge of his wand like a bubble, then bursting out.
"What now?" asked Tee, his voice unusually measured.
That must be whatever shielding thing he's doing.
"Now?" She heard the first hints of fear in Sirius's voice as he stared out into the darkness. "Now we run."
Ruby's first thought as she emerged from the roots of the Whomping Willow after Sirius was that the night was beautiful. The Dark Mark glittered like an emerald constellation in the velvet, new night and the sight of Hogwarts after so long filled her with the comforting warmth of a homecoming.
Then, she tore her gaze away from the castle.
She had never imagined so many. Never truly considered how many Dementors it would take to surround Hogwarts Castle.
Hundreds of dark figures, silhouetted by the light cast off Sirius's Patronus, turned towards them. It looked as if they had been wary of the tree.
"Run!" shouted Sirius, catching her by the arm.
They stumbled through the grass, feet thudding against wet ground, and the Dementors followed.
The castle was still so far. We'll never make it.
The monsters were reaching for her with their hungry hands. The colour drained from the world as one of them caught her by the back of her shirt, and she screamed, screamed loud enough to make her ears pop and blood run in her throat.
Five metres, maybe. One flat-out sprint, and she'd be safe. But it felt more like five hundred miles of distance.
One Dementor. Ten more Dementors.
Sharp fingers scrabbled at her face, her hair...
Are they squabbling over who gets to feed on me?
She couldn't find the strength to care.
She could hear frantic shouting, see jets of light.
I just want it to be all over.
Yes...
Its cold mouth hovered mere inches from hers; she felt her body start to go limp...
The Dementor drew back, making confused, clicking sounds, like a raven clattering its beak.
Is it over?
Her head fell to the side.
Someone was coming their way.
Not someone. Something.
Her fingers and toes began to ache with the pain of frozen limbs becoming warm again; a silver wolf galloped towards them, clearing a path that Dementors dared not tread, and tossing aside any that strayed too close with a twist of its powerful head.
"Hurry up!" called a voice from the distance. "They'll get inside!"
Ruby felt herself being picked up in a fireman's carry.
She desperately wanted to slip into the deep, comforting blackness of sleep.
Must stay awake.
The surroundings turned from dark to light, and the dread began to recede. Someone shut a door with a loud sigh.
"Let her down," said a voice she didn't recognize. "Back against the wall— there, that's right."
Ruby opened her eyes slightly more, moving her hands under her legs to stop the shaking. "Who are you?"
"Chocolate. Here, it's good for the nerves. Take a piece, I promise I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble just to poison you."
"That sounds like something Dumbledore would say," she said, after a bite of the chocolate, feeling slightly more lucid. "But you're not Dumbledore."
"No..." The stranger trailed off, and her vision finally seemed to focus on his scarred face, keen gaze, and patched robes.
"You're Remus Lupin," said Ruby, thinking of Sirius's memory. He seemed too young for the faint touches of grey at his temples. The werewolf. So that wolf Patronus that saved us...
"And you're..." Remus looked suddenly quite upset. "Ruby Potter."
He stood up then, glaring at Sirius, whose face was obscured by his hood.
"What are you hiding?" Remus flicked his wand towards Sirius, no light threat, given that he'd cast that Patronus.
"My identity, clearly—"
"Take off the hood!"
Without waiting for a response, Remus flicked his wand and the hood flew off.
Now, he gazed at Sirius's starved, sunken face. Remus let out a horrified gasp, seeming to falter.
"You!"
"Me," Sirius agreed. "Remus, listen—"
"Listen to what?" snarled Remus. Ruby saw that Tee was following the argument with wide-eyed interest. "More lies? Oh, how paranoid you got those last couple of months, all the while plotting against them—"
"If I ever meant anything to you, then listen," pleaded Sirius. "I made a fatal mistake, but not the one you think!"
"And my last kindness is that I deal with you here instead of leaving you out there with the Dementors." His voice shook, and Ruby thought he might not have yet made up his mind.
"I think you should listen to him," said Ruby. "No one except him knows what happened that night."
"He might not have killed Peter, but that doesn't make him any less a killer, Ruby. Don't be fooled like I was fooled."
What about me? Aren't I a killer?
She wondered what Remus would think if he knew she'd killed Vernon...
"How did you escape?" asked Remus, his voice paper-thin. "With the Death Eaters? With them? With him?"
"I..." Sirius faltered. "Look, it's not important what happens to me. The castle is going to be attacked at midnight."
"Did Voldemort send you?"
Just then, a clap of thunder resounded above. It had begun to storm and rain.
They all turned at the sound of steps on the stairs leading down to the Entrance Hall. Professor McGonagall was coming down the stairs, but she had stopped half-way down in shock.
To Ruby's surprise, she was not staring at her nor Sirius, but past them and directly at Tee, whose jaw had dropped open. Sirius drew the hood back over his head.
No one spoke.
"Professor McGonagall," started Remus.
"Minerva?" asked Tee, in a pale, almost disbelieving voice.
Before Ruby noticed anything else, a jet of fiery red light had hit Tee squarely in the face, and he slumped to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
"Don't look so despondent, Remus," McGonagall scolded, tucking her wand away and hurrying down the rest of the stairs, appearing not to have noticed Ruby behind Sirius and Remus, "he's only Stunned. Now—"
A loud clatter resounded from the top of the staircase; a knight's helmet bounced down each step and fell to the floor with a tinny ring.
The sounds of arguing followed.
"It's no point bothering with the Cloak now, they've heard us!"
"But it's already past curfew—"
"I want to see who—"
Someone darted out from behind the wall, standing in the middle of the staircase, and McGonagall whirled around to face them.
"Potter—"
Ruby scrambled to her feet and pushed past Remus and Sirius.
"—as I heard Goldstein advise you earlier, it is past curfew. Return to your dormitory at once."
Harry had begun to turn away, but he hesitated, freezing as if he'd seen a ghost.
She saw his mouth move, but he did not speak.
"You shouldn't have come back!" he finally shouted, and though he was angry, it filled Ruby with shuddery, cold relief to hear his voice. "Can't you see it's dangerous here?"
"Voldemort's coming, Harry."
He was making his way down the stairs, running to meet them. Ron and Anthony had emerged from their hiding-places.
"But don't you see?" asked Ruby. "He'll be here at midnight."
Harry stopped short, and she saw McGonagall take a step back.
"You shouldn't be here," Harry repeated. Something in him seemed to relax. "But I'm glad you're here, anyway."
And then, suddenly, he was hugging her, and Ruby was crying, realizing, all of a sudden, how much she'd missed him.
Latest on the disaster that is my life: a university-wide power outage. Hopefully I will have reliable Internet next week.