It was not like the attack on the Hogwarts Express. This time, most students weren’t even aware that there had been any sort of attack, and even those who had been herded out of the Three Broomsticks by Peter and Remus weren’t overly concerned.
It had been three days since Sirius and Leda had stumbled out of the Shrieking Shack, and still Lily and James didn’t know what had happened inside.
“I only got there at the end of it,” Remus had said when, standing outside of the hospital wing, they had asked him. Inside, a still-unconscious Leda Wood was being looked at by Madame Pomfrey, while Annabelle fussed near her bedside and Sirius spoke to the nurse in an undertone. “You’d have better luck with Annabelle”she followed him in, even though he told her not to. By the time I came in, Leda was already unconscious, Annabelle was worrying over her, and Sirius was white as a ghost and laughing.”
“He”what?” Lily had asked. “Laughing?”
Remus had shrugged. “Well, yeah, I think it was stress more than anything. It wasn’t really happy laughter, you know…but whoever did it, they were gone.”
“You don’t know who it was?” James had said, eyeing him closely.
“I have my theories,” Remus had said, “but you should probably just ask Sirius himself.”
And now, Tuesday morning, that was just what Lily and James resolved to do. Leda was still in the hospital wing, although Madame Pomfrey said she was recovering. Most people, it seemed, just assumed it was some sort of Quidditch accident. But Sirius had stayed mostly to himself over the past few days. James and Lily had both woken early, and were sitting silently in the common room when Sirius came down.
Sirius halted, looking back and forth between the two of them. “Hi,” he said slowly. “Why does this feel like an intervention?”
“It’s not,” Lily said, as she and James exchanged a look. “It’s just””
“You want to know what happened,” Sirius said. “I know, I don’t blame you, and I would have told you sooner, it’s just…”
He trailed off, looking around. “Hard?” Lily offered, but he shook his head.
“You never know who’s listening,” he said, and James understood.
“Come on,” he said, standing up and motioning towards the portrait hole.
Ten minutes later, the three of them were walking around the far edge of the lake. It was another gorgeous day”though early, it was still warm, the sun melting the mist off the still waters of the lake. “I wonder how the giant squid’s doing,” Sirius mused.
“Why,” Lily teased, “are you looking for a date?”
“Oh, no,” Sirius said. “We all know the giant squid’s all yours.”
Both Lily and James scowled at him, and Sirius grinned. A moment later, however, his expression had sobered. “There’s a spy in Hogwarts,” he said, suddenly and without preamble. “I know we’ve thought it before, but it’s a sure thing. There’s just no way they could have known things they knew without inside information.”
“Who?” James asked quietly. “Who were they?”
With a sigh, Sirius sat down, somewhat gingerly, on the edge of the lake, and James and Lily settled in beside him. “There were only two of them,” Sirius began. “After we heard the screaming in the Shrieking Shack, I ran in there. I told Annabelle to wait outside. I just figured, you know, I know that building, I know where the secret passage is, I could sneak in and get out if I needed to. But I got in there, and, well…they were torturing her. The Cruciatus Curse. I’ve never particularly liked Leda, you know, but I couldn’t just let them do that…”
“So of course you gallantly had to jump in there to rescue her,” James said, sounding half exasperated and half proud.
Sirius shrugged. “You would have done the same thing,” he said.
“Why were they doing it though?” Lily asked, frowning. “Who were they?”
“Oh,” said Sirius. “Well. They were Death Eaters.”
“You’re sure?” James said.
Sirius nodded. “They were wearing those masks that they were wearing when they attacked the Hogwarts Express. Plus, I think I recognized one of them.”
“Come again?”
“Yeah,” Sirius made a face. “It’s hard to tell with the masks on and everything, but one of them might have been a cousin of mine, who definitely has Dark Wizard sympathies. And they were asking Leda questions. That’s how I know there has to be a spy here, because the kinds of questions they were asking…they were pretty specific.”
James was about to ask what kinds of questions he meant, but Lily had narrowed her eyes at Sirius, who was now looking away from both of them.
“And they just let you stand there and watch while they asked her these questions?” she asked.
“No,” Sirius said, “she passed out pretty soon after I got there.”
“So then what?” Lily said. “You fought the two of them off singlehandedly?”
Sirius looked uncomfortable. “No,” he said evasively, “but we got away eventually.”
Lily eyed him pointedly for a moment, then said, “Take your shirt off.”
Both James and Sirius looked round at her, not without some alarm.
“Aw, come on,” Sirius said. “I know you’ve always fancied me, Evans, but if you want to see me naked, don’t you think we should wait until your boyfr””
“Now,” Lily said ferociously, her eyes glinting.
“Okay,” Sirius said meekly, and, grimacing slightly, pulled his shirt over his head.
Lily gasped. James, his eyes widening, said, “Merlin, Sirius…”
“I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you about this part,” Sirius said glumly. “It’s not as bad as it looks, really.”
Beneath his shirt, his ribs were mottled with bruises. Some had turned a sickly yellow color, others so deep that large welts had risen on his skin.
“Oh, Padfoot,” James breathed. “What did they do to you?”
“Did you see Madame Pomfrey about that?” Lily asked, worried.
“No, I’ll heal,” Sirius said, shaking his head. “She had enough on her plate, what with Leda and all. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is!” James said indignantly. “How did this happen? Did you just get in the way?”
Sirius opened his mouth, then closed it again. He fiddled in the grass by his feet for a moment, throwing a few pebbles into the lake as though to distract himself.
“You had information they wanted,” Lily said perceptively after a moment, and Sirius looked at her, his eyes hollow, before finally speaking.
“It was about you,” he said reluctantly. “I don’t know why they chose Leda first…maybe they thought she was easiest to get to…but they knew she was our year, and a Gryffindor, and that she lives with you. And they were asking her questions about the two of you.”
“What?” James said, horrified. “What kind of questions?”
“Pretty ordinary stuff, really,” Sirius said. “Just about your habits and daily activities, things like that. But Leda…as far as I could tell, she didn’t tell them anything.” He paused, laughing ruefully. “She’s a Gryffindor after all, I guess. Anyway, once they saw I was there, she was nearly unconscious. And they knew who I was, they knew I’m close to you two, and I guess that was just too good of a prize to pass up.” He looked away from both of them again, seeming almost ashamed. “They caught me by surprise. Had my wand out of my hand before I even knew what was happening.”
“How’d you get out of that?” James asked.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. “It was Annabelle, actually,” he said. “She showed up, even though I told her not to. She Disarmed one of them while they were…busy…with me, and I managed by some miracle to get my hands on my wand and Stun him. And by then we could hear Remus coming up the passageway, and we would have had them outnumbered, so the one Death Eater grabbed the other and Disapparated, and that was that.”
“Did you tell all this to Dumbledore?” Lily asked, and Sirius nodded.
“Yesterday,” he said. “Most of it, anyway. I don’t know how much he believed me, about there being a spy at Hogwarts, but there has to be. No way those Death Eaters took Leda by chance. They wanted to know things, badly. And they want the two of you.”
Feeling suddenly cold, Lily wrapped her arms around her knees, leaning forward. “I wonder why,” she said quietly.
“I don’t know,” James said, looking over her, his expression just as uneasy as hers. “But we’ll fight them.”
Sirius grinned, albeit a little weakly. “Yeah we will,” he said.
Lily nodded. “Of course we will,” she said quietly. “I just wish I knew why we have to.”
---
Somewhat later that morning, while sitting at breakfast with his nose in a book, Remus was surprised to find a tawny owl sitting beside his bacon, looking at him quizzically.
“Been here long?” Remus asked it, lowering his book. The owl hooted softly at him, offering its leg.
Remus reached forward to untie the roll of parchment, offering the owl a bit of his toast as he went. It wasn’t that he never got mail…it was just infrequent, especially compared to his friends. James got something every few days or so from home, Peter got almost weekly letters from his mother, and Sirius was always compulsively sending away for various things he saw in the newspaper. Remus’s parents loved him, of course, he knew that, but the fact that he was a werewolf had taken a toll on them, as much as it had on him, and he had learned that it was best to leave them alone when he was at school. For the most part, he was on his own, and though he had long gotten over being bitter about that, it was another thing that his friends could never really understand.
As he unfolded this letter, one glance at the familiar handwriting told him who it was from, and he smiled. He didn’t write to Marlene Mckinnon all the time, but she was probably his most steady correspondent outside of Hogwarts, if only because she was working for Dumbledore, which was the only thing, really, that he could see himself doing once he left school. After all, not many other wizards would be willing to hire a werewolf.
Hi, Remus! the letter began. There was even something cheerful about Marlene’s large, round handwriting.
Hope your last year at Hogwarts is going well! I miss it there, and all of you, of course, so much. Anyway, I’m writing to you”and Lily, too”because I know your Easter holidays are coming up, and I thought I’d invite a few of you to come stay at my house. It would be lovely to see you all, although there’s a few other reasons you might want to come here…you’ll find out soon enough!
Sorry to be so cryptic, Dumbledore told me not to say too much in a letter. But I expect he’ll be in touch with you soon. I just wanted to write to let you know that I hope I’ll be seeing you over the holidays!
Lots of love,
Marlene.
Still smiling softly, Remus folded up the letter. A minute later, Lily appeared at his elbow, several pieces of parchment clutched in her hand.
“Did you hear from Marlene?” she asked excitedly.
“Yep,” Remus said succinctly.
“Me, too,” Lily said. “But I also just got this from Dumbledore.” She handed him the other letter.
He skimmed it quickly”it was a brief note, asking the two of them, James, Sirius, and Peter to come to Dumbledore’s office that evening. “Do you think this is what Marlene was talking about?” Remus asked.
Lily nodded. “I reckon it has something to do with what Marlene was telling us last year,” she said, lowering her voice. “You know, the Order of the Phoenix?”
“You’re probably right,” Remus said. “Did you tell James?”
Lily nodded. “And Sirius. They were with me earlier when I got it.”
“Yeah, he and James did get up early,” Remus said hesitantly. “So, I take it this means you talked to him then?”
Lily nodded. “You knew? About what happened to him?”
Remus shrugged. “I guessed,” he said. “He didn’t tell me in so many words, but he was in pretty bad shape when I showed up.”
Lily shook her head. “It was because of me,” she said sadly. “Me and James. He shouldn’t have had to do that, to go through that. They weren’t asking important questions, really, from what I gathered, he should have just told them what they wanted to know…”
Remus, to her surprise, laughed. “Of course he wouldn’t do that,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s not who Sirius is. He’s stubborn, he’s loyal almost to a fault…and he’s too tough to give in to something like that. Honestly, sometimes I think he’s got more wolf in him than I do. He’s a pack animal, Sirius, he takes friendship very seriously. You wouldn’t know it just to look at him, because it seems like he never takes anything seriously, but he does. If you’re his friend…if he’s decided that you’re one of his pack…he’ll fight for that till the end. He’ll defend it no matter what they throw at him. You and James are lucky, to have someone like that in your life. We all are.”
“I know,” Lily said quietly, and Remus turned to smile at her.
“I understand what you mean, though,” he said. “It’s hard, in a situation like this, to watch somebody fight for you, when you can’t do the same.” He paused, his brow furrowed in worry. “I just hope everything turns out okay.”
---
The topic of their discussion was, at the moment, lounging in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room, thinking about the Easter holidays. Sirius was too tall, nowadays, to fit comfortable in even the squashiest of armchairs, and so he sat slumped low, his long legs splayed out in front. He and James had been with Lily when she had received Dumbledore’s letter, and Sirius was by far more concerned about the meeting with the headmaster later than he was about any of his classes for the day.
He checked his watch somewhat impatiently; he had a free period now, but Transfiguration was coming up, and he was waiting for James, who had run up to the dormitory to grab his books. Sirius had been reluctant, initially, to talk about what had happened in the Shrieking Shack, but now that the secret was out, he found he was itching to discuss it with James in further detail.
A few seconds later, he heard soft footsteps on the other side of his chair. “Took you long enough,” he said, turning around, only to find himself face-to-face with Annabelle Fletcher. “Oh.”
“Hi,” Annabelle said, almost shyly, not looking him in the eye.
“Sorry, thought you were James,” Sirius said gruffly. “What’s up? How’s Leda?”
“She’s fine,” Annabelle said. “Doing a lot better, actually. She woke up, actually, I just came from talking to her. She’s a little shell-shocked. I told her what happened…she says to thank you.”
Sirius shrugged, a little uncomfortable. “Speaking of thanks…” he began, a little awkwardly. “I never””
“You don’t have to,” Annabelle interrupted him. “Seriously, I just did what anyone else would do.”
“Maybe,” Sirius cracked a smile. “You were pretty ferocious, though. I mean, I was a little scared, and I was just a bystander.”
“Yeah?” Annabelle said, and Sirius thought it was the first time he had seen her smile. She looked completely different when she smiled, the hard lines of her face softening. Her eyes seemed friendlier, somehow, more like silver than slate.
“Yeah,” Sirius said, hesitating. “It was brave.”
“Thanks,” said Annabelle. She paused too, looking down at her feet.
“You know,” Sirius said, breaking the tension, “for a fourth-year.”
“Oh, thanks,” Annabelle said again, sarcastically this time. “Anyway, I actually came to talk to you for a reason.” And she looked uncomfortable again, and so somber that Sirius sobered instantly.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s, well…” she said haltingly. “Leda was supposed to meet me in the Three Broomsticks, you know? She didn’t just end up at the Shrieking Shack by accident.”
“Yeah, I was kind of wondering about that,” Sirius said.
“Someone told her to go there,” Annabelle said. “And I think whoever told her to go there might be, you know…in league with the Death Eaters. Spying on us.”
“I knew it,” Sirius said, clenching his hands. “Do you have any idea who it might be?”
Annabelle bit her lip, turning away from him. She tugged nervously on the ends of her hair, before saying, “I…I think…”
“My Transfiguration book was shoved under your bed, Padfoot, no wonder I couldn’t”oh, hey,” James had bounded into the room, waving a book in the air. He skidded to halt, looking between the two of them. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“No,” Annabelle said hastily, getting to her feet, “no, it’s nothing, never mind, I have to go.”
“Wait”” Sirius called, jumping to his feet, but she was already out the portrait hole.
Sirius sank back into his chair, running a hand through his hair. “She moves quick.”
“What was that?” James asked curiously.
“I’m not sure,” Sirius frowned. “She wanted to tell me something about what happened, but she seemed kind of skittish about it.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll track her down later.”
“Sounds good,” James said, and checked his watch. “Hey, we should probably start heading towards Transfiguration…sorry I took so long finding that book.”
“Books,” Sirius sighed, shaking his head. “When will we be rid of them?”
James chuckled as they walked out of the common room together. “Oh, hey,” he said suddenly, “so about this letter from Dumbledore…”
Sirius grinned, feeling normal again.
---
Several hours later found them heading towards Dumbledore’s office as evening fell. They’d met up with Peter, Remus and Lily along the way, and Sirius was filling them in on his earlier conversation with Annabelle.
“Interesting,” Lily said thoughtfully, looking at him intensely.
“Right?” Sirius said. “She totally knows something. The longer I’ve had to think about it, the more curious I’ve gotten.”
“Oh, that’s not what I meant,” Lily said. “I meant, interesting that you and Annabelle managed to have a conversation without being at each other’s throats.”
“You do seem like you’re getting pretty friendly lately,” Remus grinned.
James looked at them, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You don’t think””
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Oh please. She just practically saved my life. After,” he added hastily, “I practically saved Leda’s life. That’s all.”
There was a pause while they all considered this.
“I have no idea what any of you are talking about,” Peter added, and Sirius ruffled his hair.
“And that makes you currently my favorite person in this hallway,” he said. “This weekend aside, I can’t stand Annabelle, and you all know that.”
“Okay,” said Lily. “Okay. So, you mean, you don’t like her at all.”
“Nope,” said Sirius. “Not at all.”
“You think she’s really obnoxious and stuck-up.”
“Yep.”
“She infuriates you.”
“Yep.”
“You find yourself thinking all the time about how much you don’t like her and how much she annoys you, and at weird times, like when you’re bored in class, and right before you go to bed.”
“Actually”yeah, how’d you””
“And,” Lily finished, “you’d rather go on a date with, oh, say, the giant squid before her?”
“Well I wouldn’t put it like that but”hey,” Sirius said, narrowing his eyes.
“You’re right,” Lily said innocently, threading her fingers through James’s as they walked. “It would never work.”
Even Peter had caught on by this point, and he and Remus sniggered as Sirius pointed a finger at Lily. James tried to keep a straight face, for his best friend’s sake.
“You know, just because you didn’t like James all that much before you two started dating doesn’t mean that every time two people don’t like each other they’ll””
“Fudge Flies,” Lily said sweetly, and Sirius was momentarily confused.
“It’s the password,” James said, indicating the staircase to the headmaster’s office, which had just slid into view.
“Oh,” Sirius muttered, following them up the stairs. “Right.”
Dumbledore was not in his office when they arrived. However, standing in front of it was, to Lily’s surprise, a politely confused looking Alice Rourke.
“Lily!” she said as they entered the room. “Hi, oh, do you know what’s going on? I got a letter from Dumbledore this morning, asking me to meet him here…”
“Us too,” Lily said. “I’m not sure why, although I got a letter from Marlene Mckinnon earlier””
“Oh,” Alice said, blushing prettily. “I got one from Frank Longbottom, about the Easter holidays, I was wondering if they were related…”
“That’s what we were thinking,” Lily said, but stopped a moment later, as Dumbledore entered the office.
“Ah,” he said, looking around at all of them, that telltale twinkle in his eye. “Right on time!”
“Good evening, Sir.”
“…Professor.”
Still slightly bewildered, they all murmured a greeting. Dumbledore looked fondly around at them all.
“I assume,” he said, “you’re all wondering why you’re here.”
“The question came up,” James said, somewhat cheekily, and Dumbledore beamed at him.
“Between the six of you,” Dumbedore said, “I understand you’ve been in contact with Marlene Mckinnon and Frank Longbottom”a previous Head Boy and Girl, in fact. And so I assume you have all heard something about the Order of the Phoenix?”
He waited until they had all nodded in assent, and then continued. “Ms. Mckinnon and Mr. Longbottom have indicated that, upon your completion of Hogwarts, the six of you may be, in fact, interested in partaking in the work that we do, as members of the Order.”
“Yes, sir,” James and Sirius said together, and then grinned at each other. Alice, Lily, and Remus had all nodded enthusiastically, Peter somewhat hesitantly. Dumbledore smiled around at them all once more.
“Excellent,” he said. “Then I believe it is high time you all visited the headquarters, just to get a sense of what we do. Now the entire Mckinnon family is part of the order, not just Marlene, and, in fact, our headquarters are currently at their house. You will need,” he continued, growing suddenly serious, “to hear the address from me.”
“We can’t just get it from Marlene?” Lily asked curiously.
Dumbledore shook his head. “I don’t have to tell you that this is a dangerous undertaking,” he said. “We are on the edge of a war right now, however subtle and silent the efforts. Much of what we do we do in secrecy, and great delicacy is required when dealing with Dark magic and those who wield it. And, to that end, the Mckinnon’s house, as headquarters, has been given every protection. You can get the address from me, and only me, and I imagine that you will understand why we proceed with caution.”
They all nodded again, and Dumbeldore’s seriousness broke. “Well then,” he said, standing up. “If you all would come to my office again at the start of your Easter vacation, we’ll get you on your way from here! Now off to bed. It’s getting late, and we wouldn’t want a certain caretaker to give you all detention.” And, his eyes twinkling, Dumbledore ushered them all from his office.
Sirius hesitated for a moment, as though wanting to say something to the headmaster, but then changed his mind and darted after his friends.
“What was that about?” James asked him in an undertone, hanging back at the end of the group and waiting for him to catch up.
“I dunno, really,” Sirius muttered back. “I kind of want to tell him about what Annabelle said…I mean, after Leda got attacked, I told him everything I was thinking, about there being a spy in Hogwarts and all, and I wanted to add that, too.”
“Why didn’t you?” asked James.
“Because it’s no real new information,” Sirius said. “I don’t want to bother him until I know something for sure.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t be bothering him,” James said.
“I know,” said Sirius. “But there’s no point, really. I want to talk to Annabelle first.”
James nodded. “Sure,” he said. “Besides, you’ll probably have plenty of time to talk to him over the Easter holidays, if you want to.”
Sirius grinned. “You’re right,” he said. “Your mum’s going to be mad, though…we won’t be at your house for Easter! That’s a whole week she misses out on fattening us up!”
James groaned. “Oh, you’re right,” he said. “How am I going to break it to her?”
“Count me out of that conversation,” Sirius joked. “I don’t want her to stop thinking I’m perfect.”
James swatted him. Sirius laughed, dancing away, and together, they ran to catch up with their friends.
Stars Apart by Willow Rosenberg
Chapter Notes: This is a pretty Sirius-centric chapter, so for those of you who like him, have fun!As far as this story goes...it's a little hard to tell at this point, but it looks like there's going to be maybe four or five more chapters, plus an epilogue. I have them all planned out and everything, so time willing, the last few should come pretty fast! Thanks everyone who reads, and especially everyone who reviews, you guys rock :) xxx
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