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Caged Wolf
Chapter 4: Gold and Silver
by Amphitrite
Chapter 4: Gold and Silver
James swallowed nervously, hoping it didn't show. Lily hadn't moved since he'd spoken the two most important words; she was staring at him unblinkingly in shock. After several moments of complete silence, James’ knees were starting to ache from their prolonged contact with the dormitory floor. He shifted restlessly.
“Lily?”
Finally, she blinked, and her eyes slid down from his face to the box still in his hands. James could see the light sparkling off the precious stones and the metal, the reflections dancing in Lily's emerald eyes.
“James…” her throat stuck, and the sparkles in her eyes increased from their watering. She brushed at them slightly impatiently, then reached out and held James’ hand under the ring box.
“James Tiberius Potter…” Was she mocking him by using his middle name in that wondrous tone of hers? “Your sense of timing is utterly impeccable.”
He chuckled slightly, knowing that in normal circumstances there would be doubts about their age and experience. But then again, these circumstances were definitely not normal.
Yet absolutely none of this is ’normal’ to a Muggle. Magic, werewolves… So this is abnormal even in abnormal terms.
“I know it is,” he said, “but you still haven't answered me.”
They gazed at each other, the understanding of all that James had been thinking about before passing between their eyes. The time that they lived in was dangerous, but the two of them could be responsible enough when needed.
Well, Lily's responsible all the time, and playful when she needs to be… I'm just the other way around.
There were to be no questions about compatibility or any other such nonsense. War was going on in the Wizarding world, people were dying, and even friendships were falling around them. This particular friendship, however, would not fall. This relationship was to be cemented permanently.
“Yes.”
At that one word, James’ face split into a huge grin as he slid his right hand out from between the box and Lily's hands. Lifting the redwood ring box slightly, he turned it around so he could pick out the thinner ring from the soft red velvet cushioning.
“Thank you,” he told her sincerely, gazing into her beaming face. He slid the ring onto her left ring finger, and sensed the charms on it activating. The thin golden band moulded itself to fit perfectly around Lily's finger.
“Oh James…” she breathed, staring at her left hand while the other one caressed it and examined the new adornment. The gold band, with the ruby and diamonds inset, shimmered beautifully on her elegant finger. “It's beautiful… where did you get it from?”
James didn't think that the grin stretching across his face would ever come off.
“It's a family heirloom… been in the Potter Vault for ages. I took it out during the Christmas break, and I've been carrying it around. I hadn't fully been preparing to do this, but I guess I just decided to be equipped in case suddenly I wanted to.” His smile became even wider, despite the fact that it had seemed to be impossible to do so earlier. “And I'm pretty damn glad that I had it this morning.”
Lily grinned impishly at him. “Me too, James…me too.”
James just had enough time to place the ring box onto a bedside table. Any later and it would have dropped onto the floor, when they both started discovering exactly how glad the other had been.
Peter smirked to himself as he scurried through the common room in rat form.
James should know better than to retrieve a suspicious-looking box, go out, return with Lily, send me out and cast Silencing charms on the room.
I meant it when I told them to keep it at least marginally tidy in there.
Still chuckling inwardly, Wormtail ran across the large room, hardly taking in the scents his nose was reporting to him. If he had been focusing, he would have noticed a very familiar scent that was slightly distorted… out of character…
But he was concentrating on one scent only, and he followed that one up the girls’ staircase, noticing at the last moment possible that Danger wasn't the only person asleep in the common room.
So Danger and Letha are down here, Lily's up in our dormitory with James… I do believe that the two of us will get some free time together.
He scurried into the fifth year girls’ dorm, thankful for the half-open door that allowed him to enter without attracting attention. On the right hand side, talking among themselves, were three girls sitting on the centre bed. Peter vaguely placed one of them as Amanda… Smith? Smythe? Something along those lines. Another one was Celeste White, who he remembered because of the numerous jokes about having a Black and a White in Gryffindor Tower, and the last one was…
Selene something? Oh well. I never was good with names.
On the left side of the bedroom were two four poster beds, identical to those in the boys’ dormitories. The closest one was Danger's bed, but Wormtail made his way in the shadows under that four poster and quickly scurried towards the last bed in the room, which Evanie was busy tidying up.
Probably straightened up Danger's stuff first, knowing her.
He ran up to her pillow, making sure that he kept her between himself and her chatting roommates. He did not want to discover their reaction to a rat in the dormitory. Thankfully, when she spotted him, Evanie only started slightly before recognition dawned in her eyes. She glanced around the room imperceptibly, her eyes lingering for a moment on the other door in the room. She looked back at him, still sitting obediently on her pillow, and then gestured towards that door with a slight incline of her head.
She wants me to go in the bathroom?
He looked between Evanie and the open door, asking for reaffirmation in his eyes. Once she'd nodded slightly, he rubbed against her hand, which had conveniently come to smooth out the pillow, then leapt off behind the headboard. Soon, keeping to the shadows, he came to the bathroom door and scurried inside.
A few seconds after he sat in the middle of the tiled bathroom floor, Wormtail heard Evanie's voice floating in through the doorway.
“Have the three of you all done with the bathroom?”
“Huh?” came the intelligent response from one of the chatterers— Peter thought it was Amanda—”I mean, yes, we're all done. Anyway,” she had clearly moved back into her conversation, “You won't believe the fuss that some of my aunts made over me when I was born. I mean, you'd think they hadn't ever seen a—”
The rest of the talk was blocked out when Evanie stepped into the small bathroom, closing the door behind her. The moment that the lock clicked, Peter transformed back into a human, sitting in the middle of the floor.
“So,” he said, standing up. “Their window has blown up, they've had the Head Girl come to say that they can't even go downstairs yet… and all they can talk about are their families?”
Evanie giggled slightly wearily as she cast a low-level Silencing charm on the bathroom door. “Don't ask me. All I know is that when I came in, Celi was talking about how her uncle and his twin brother had managed to blow up a couple of their windows somehow or the other.”
“And that's how their conversation moved on to families?”
Evanie nodded.
Peter shook his head. “Girls and their logic— I'll never get the hang of it.”
“I think you already have.”
Peter put on his most shocked expression. “Oh Merlin! Say it cannot be so! I, a Marauder, understand girls? Oh, heaven weeps upon this day…”
Evanie snorted. “Well, James might weep, but right now I'm just thankful that heaven wasn't weeping when the windows blew. The wind was enough without rain as well.”
“True enough.” He paused. “Did they ask anything about Danger?”
“They asked me where I'd been, and I said that the two of us had been helping Lily to clear the common room for a favour, and Danger stayed behind. Anyway…” Evanie looked at him questioningly. “You never did say why you came over.”
Peter grinned, and sat on the toilet seat in a lazy position. “James and Lily are in our dorm.”
“And?”
“I think something's happening.”
Evanie raised her eyebrows.
“Nothing that they shouldn't be doing… yet. At least, I don't think so.” Peter grinned. “However, I did spot a small box around the right size and shape for a traditional pureblood engagement ring box lurking in James’ pocket…”
“What did you just say?”
“Lurking in James’ pocket.”
Evanie growled. “Peter!”
He adopted his most innocent expression. “What?”
She glared at him.
He tried glaring back.
A corner of her mouth began to twitch slightly.
Before long, the two of them were laughing maniacally in the small bathroom, thankful for the Silencing charm that Evanie had placed on the door.
“So James is proposing to Lily?” Evanie asked once she'd recovered her breath. “About time too… though not the best of situations, you have to admit.”
“I know.” Peter sighed, the laughter lines disappearing as he tensed and slumped slightly at the same time.
I didn't know anyone could do that…But I'm ’special’, as James and Sirius tell me…
“What do you think about Danger, and her core?” he asked Evanie.
“Her magical core?” She shrugged slightly, frowning. “I don't really know that much about it, but what Letha said did make some sense. I read a theory about something like that a while ago— they thought that there could be magical ’latents’, who are people born with magic but it never comes out. There was a complicated part of the theory, about Squibs being latents born into magical families, and Muggle-borns being the children of a latent or two.” Her forehead creased. “Am I making sense?”
“I'm following. I think.”
“Well, they said that if a latent experienced a severe shock, say, being in a life-threatening position or suddenly losing very close family members unexpectedly, their magic, which had always been repressed, would flare into existence. When Letha was talking about Danger's soul going inward and multiplying out her magical core, I thought of that theory.”
Peter's forehead furrowed as he considered what Evanie had just told him. “But wouldn't that mean that every time any witch or wizard gets a shock, they get a power boost?”
“I took it to mean that releasing magical powers is almost ’reserved’ for latents, because they have the magic, just are completely unaware of it. Because of that, their magic has a lot of potential and that makes them pretty vulnerable to shocks, because any slightest disturbance of their soul would crash into their magical core. But with us, our magic is already at its full potential, and shock affects us in the way it affects any normal muggle.”
“So when Letha said about the magical core growing during puberty, that wasn't expanding to its full potential, but just getting honed and refined because of learning spells and magic and such?”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“Speaking of magical cores, do you know what the core of a latent would show up as?”
Evanie chuckled. “I've got you really intrigued with this all, haven't I?” Peter nodded, sheepishly. “But as for your question, I haven't got a clue,” she said frankly. “I suspect that it will just be a tiny bit of magic, almost small enough that it'll just show as an anomaly on magical tests if anyone cares to run one on what would seem to be a random muggle. But in that tiny bit of magic is probably a lot of potential, should it be released.”
Peter nodded absently, thinking hard. He could vaguely sense Evanie looking at him questioningly.
”Danger's core has always been rather average, if a bit low”…
Her parents are muggle dentists…
So she's a muggleborn who had a relatively small magical core, but it's suddenly increased due to a shock…
“Evanie,” Peter said slowly, “Do you think that Danger could have been a latent, but with her magic half repressed, and half unleashed?”
“I—” Evanie's breath caught, as though the idea suddenly made too much sense. “Yes…” she said slowly, her eyes widening. “Yes! I think you've got it, Peter!” Her tone became faster and more excited. “Her magic was only half unleashed, which means that there was still some potential left in there, which meant that her soul could still fiddle around with it… Yes! And so, because there isn't as much potential magic waiting to be set off, it'll take a lot less than the usual required shock to release the last of the magic… I'd say that, with her strong soul and loyalty towards her friends, this sort of incident would almost equal something completely terrible, like her parents dying, if she was just an ordinary latent and her powers got unlocked!”
“And so those ’special powers’ that Letha mentioned would be because the magic Danger already had was pretty much mostly refined and matured, the extra ’wild’ magic couldn't manifest itself as normal magic, so it became rather special, unusual magic?”
“Yes!” Evanie's face was beaming, and Peter could feel his own grin stretching from ear to ear. “We've figured out what happened to Danger— we have to tell Letha and Lily!”
“Agreed.” Peter felt the grin sliding from his face. “But we're going to have to wait—Lily's probably having the time of her life right now, and Letha's asleep in the common room. I think Lily spelled her asleep.”
“How do you know?”
“Animals have a very acute sense of smell.”
“Ah.” Evanie sighed. “Poor Letha… If for nothing else, Sirius deserves a beating for doing this to her.”
“Agreed. Again.” Peter sighed. “How did we get from being so happy to so gloomy in such a short period of time?”
“Beats me.”
Aletha Freeman awoke with a start. Judging by the way that the rectangles of light on various parts of the common room had barely moved, she probably hadn't been asleep for long.
Taking deep breaths, she sat up slowly.
I guess that Lily expected me to sleep for a little longer than this…
She looked around the common room. Nothing much had changed… Danger was still there on the sofa, the fire was still burning brightly in the grate, and the furnishings and carpet still looked the slightest bit windblown.
So why did I suddenly wake up?
The nerves in her right hand provided her with the answer almost immediately. She discovered a long thin chain of silver metal that was burning cold, almost as though it had just come out of a freezer.
But I gave my ’Truth’ necklace back to Sirius…
Ignoring the lurch that her heart gave when she thought of his name, she instead lifted the chain up.
Letha frowned when she saw that she was holding the ’Star’ necklace. And it was still burning cold, even the part that she had clutched in her hand.
Something's not right.
Lily and James had cooled off a bit, and were now back to cuddling on James’ bed. Lily was leaning back on James, and his left hand, which was curled around Lily's waist, now sported the second ring in the box on his fourth finger.
Lily sighed blissfully.
“Is it legal to be this happy?” she asked, feeling the gentle repetitive thump of James’ heart on her back.
“If it's illegal, then we have yet more proof that the law is complete and utter rubbish,” he replied.
Lily's breath quickened slightly as she caught the tone of slight bitterness in his voice.
Please don't think about that… this is our perfect moment, and I don't want it ruined…
James probably sensed the slight tensing of her muscles, and quickly moved on.
“So, how do you think your parents are going to react?” he asked.
Lily chuckled. “A lot better than they reacted to Petunia's marriage, most likely. They don't know you that well, but Merlin knows I've written enough letters home about you.”
“I didn't know that you write home to your parents about me.”
“Sure you didn't. And you've got no clue about what the first six years’ worth of letters were like.”
“Oh, let me think… something along the lines of ’He's such a big-headed prat?’”
“Something along those lines, yes.”
“How'd they react when your letters changed all of a sudden?”
Lily smiled slightly. “Apparently, Dad burst out laughing and started yelling that he knew that it was only a matter of time before I realised—”
“How perfect we are together.”
“Yeah.” Lily snuggled down further into James’ arms. “What about your parents? How are they going to react?”
She felt him snort slightly. “We're not completely traditional purebloods, but my parents still like the idea of getting married early. They practically encouraged me to get the rings ready last holidays.”
Lily smiled smugly. “Well, you already know how glad I am that you had it today…”
James grinned. “I know.”
Their small conversation ended as they returned to previous activities.
”We're going to have to go soon,” Evanie said regretfully. “They're going to get really suspicious if I spend too long in the bathroom.”
“Point,” said Peter, moving away. Evanie caught a small glint of light at his neck, and reached out to touch it gently.
“What's this?” she asked, feeling what seemed to be a metal chain.
“What?” Peter looked down at where she was indicating. “Oh, that…” He pulled the chain out of his robes. Evanie immediately noticed a gold ring dangling from the chain. “The ring was my dad's wedding ring. When he died, mum gave it to me.” He looked at the ring with an odd expression on his face. “I didn't even know him that well…” He shrugged noncommittally, but not before Evanie caught the small flash of pain in his eyes.
“I'm sorry,” she said quietly.
“No matter.” He shrugged again.
“I've got a bracelet that my mum gave me,” Evanie told him, trying to lighten up the conversation. “It was my grandma's— I really like it. It's not too gaudy, but it’s pretty. I'll have to show it to you some day.”
“I'd like that.” Peter smiled at her.
Aletha stared around the empty dungeon, her eyes frantically flitting from corner to corner of the dark room without noticing how out of breath she was.
He's not here… Oh Merlin, where is he? Where on earth did he go?
The last time she came down here, she had made it pretty fast by storming down the stairs. This time, she had made it even faster by sprinting from Gryffindor Tower down to the dungeons. She didn't even know why she was so panicked— only that she could sense that there was something really wrong with Sirius right now. So, instead of running to the dungeons to scream at him, she had flown down, panicked, to try and see what was wrong with him.
But how can I help him if I don't even know where he is?
Aletha didn't even think about the fact that barely half an hour ago, helping Sirius Black would have been the last thing on her mind. But it seemed as though an external, almost spiritual force was driving her on.
Go back to Gryffindor Tower! Get help!
But who in the tower could help her right now? It wasn't as if anyone could try to locate him within two minutes…
For heaven's sake, Letha, think! Who in Gryffindor Tower can help you right now?
Could someone just wave their wand and know where he had been—
Letha smacked herself on the head.
Of course! James, or Peter! They're Animagi— they can scent Sirius out!
Quicker than a flash, she darted out of the dungeon and was tearing across the corridor, almost flying up the steps and in the entrance hall before she knew it. Without breaking stride, she raced up the marble staircase and thanked whatever deity was listening for the endless Quidditch practices and matches that she had gone through, keeping her in good shape.
I don't even know what he's done this time, only that he needs help…
Blurred portraits and suits of armour went whizzing by behind her.
He's in trouble. I haven't the faintest idea of how I know, but I need to get there now…
She sprinted up a flight of steps, tossing a silent word of gratitude to the deity that the stairs were co-operating and not being a nuisance.
Just hang in there, wherever you are…
In her hand was still clutched the ’Star’ necklace, which she hadn't let go of ever since she had woken up with it mysteriously in her hand.
Wait— that must mean that Sirius came into the common room and put it there while I was asleep! It can't have been that long ago— his scent's probably still all over the place!
She increased her pace.
Her dressing gown had become loose somewhere across the way, and the two ends of the waist tie were streaming along behind her, moving up and down in accordance to her strides.
Why is this castle so damned big…
She reached the fourth floor, and hurtled towards the next staircase.
I'm pretty lucky that it's still rather early. Too early for most people to be up, and the few teachers that are awake are probably dealing with various Snape or Lupin business…
The waist straps of her dressing gown were almost jumping up and down behind her, giving her the feeling of wings beating to keep her flying through the caste.
Soon, but not soon enough for Aletha, she turned into the corridor leading to Gryffindor Tower. Skidding to a halt before the Fat Lady, she spat out the password and dove inside without even noticing the eyebrows raised at her from the canvas.
The common room was exactly the same as she'd left it.
Well, obviously, since you didn't even leave for that long…
Biting back a growl of frustration, Letha punched back the sarcastic voice in her head.
This is NOT the time!
Looking around desperately, she tried to think of a plan. Unfortunately, though, with the sarcastic voice in her head shoved out of the way, it seemed as though all the others had gone with it as well.
Vaguely, she noticed Danger still asleep in the corner, with the sofa where she had been sleeping beside it. On the small table next to it was her wand, which she had put there before Lily cast the sleeping spell on her.
My wand… How on earth did I forget my wand?
However, before she could fetch it, she heard slight footsteps coming down from the girls’ staircase, and duly bolted towards them. Running up the steps two at a time, she turned a corner and almost crashed into a now fully dressed Evanie.
“Letha! I thought Lily'd put you to sleep—”
“Have you seen Peter or James?” Aletha interrupted, not listening to a word Evanie had said.
A rat climbed onto Evanie's shoulder. “James is in the boys’ dorm with Lily, and Peter's here… you know there are alarms on the girls’ staircases, right?” Evanie frowned. “Letha, what's wrong?”
“There's something wrong with Sirius!” Aletha didn't know how loudly she'd spoken until Evanie grabbed her by the shoulder and started tugging her down the stairs. She lowered her voice slightly as they carried on down, making sure that girl and rat were both listening to what she was saying. “I don't know how, or where, or why, but I do know that he's in some sort of life-threatening situation, and he needs some help right now!” As soon as they re-entered the common room, Wormtail jumped down to the floor and started sniffing around. Aletha carried on explaining to Evanie. “I got woken up because the necklace suddenly got really cold, but I'd—” she paused, “—given my ’Truth’ necklace back to Sirius, and the necklace I have is the ’Star’ one, which means that Sirius must have come in here some time when I was asleep and put it in my hand…”
Wormtail was looking rather alarmed by now, for a rat, and had clawed his way up to Aletha's hand that was enveloping the silver necklace, wordlessly asking for permission to have a smell at the scents that Sirius must have left on there. She opened her fingers to allow the silver ’Star’ to show through, and the rat poked his nose at it, sniffing the word and the chain around it.
His beady rat eyes grew big, and he hastily turned around and jumped off Aletha's arm. When he landed, he was human again on all fours. Looking very shaken, he twisted slightly and sat down heavily.
“Shit,” he whispered, looking so disturbed that it was no wonder he had lost control of his Animagus form. “He's suicidal.” Peter looked up at the two girls. “He's bloody suicidal!”
Letha felt the blood draining from her face. “Oh my…” Her breath and heartbeat started quickening. Her two hands went up to cover her mouth, and she spoke barely loud enough for Peter and Evanie to hear her. “I told him to… to go jump in- in- in the lake…”
Peter swore, raising his eyes to the heavens. “Sirius, you bloody idiot…”
And he was out of the portrait hole, Aletha barely two steps behind him and Evanie barely two steps behind her.
“How could you tell?” Letha asked Peter as she ran through the castle yet again.
“Animals can sense emotions,” he replied shortly, then took a sharp right turning, brushing aside a tapestry and charging down the staircase behind it. Aletha followed, and when they came out she noticed that it had taken them down at least three floors.
“Letha?” Evanie called from slightly behind her, sounding a bit out of breath. “What… exactly… did you say to him?”
Aletha angrily shoved down a sob, thankful that running was making her breath come out in short bursts anyway. “I… said to… get out of our lives… and go jump in the lake… or something…”
The castle had never seemed as big as it was while the three of them were running through it. Aletha felt as if every gap between her feet hitting the floor lasted years. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity but could only have been a few minutes, they were clattering down the marble staircase and into the Entrance hall.
The big oak doors were swinging open.
Peter turned rat for a few seconds, then back to human.
“He was definitely here,” he told them, his voice a mixture of anger, exasperation and worry. “And I'm pretty sure that he still had the same thing on his mind.”
With a frantic cry, Aletha bolted out of the open doors. She ignored the birds singing in the forest, and the dewdrops on the flowers, focussing only on the grey patch of the grounds that was the lake.
It looks so calm, and serene…
How deceiving.
A large grey rat ran out in front of her, its nose stuck to the ground.
Is he following Sirius’ scent?
The rat turned slightly left to where she had been heading.
That's a yes, then.
Her eyes caught sight of the large beech tree which the Marauders seemed to like so much.
Oh god, the Marauders…they've already practically lost one of their members—their brothers—and I'll be damned if I let them lose another one!
But… if I don’t get there in time…
Aletha violently punched back the wavering, uncertain voice in her mind.
I’ll get there, make sure he’s alive, kiss him until we nearly pass out, then kick his sorry backside into next year.
And he will be sorry, all right.
Wormtail was at the water’s edge, scurrying left and right across a small stretch of the bank. He transformed back just as Aletha caught up with him, panting and subconsciously clutching a stitch in her side.
“He went in here,” Peter said shortly, his eyes betraying his worry. “And it’s been between five and ten minutes.”
Aletha growled under her breath in frustration once more, then waited only to take a deep breath before she shed her dressing gown and ran into the water. Vaguely did she hear Peter and Evanie’s shouts of surprise, but the moment she was deep enough she flung herself forwards into the cold January water.
All sound from outside—Peter and Evanie’s shouts, the birdsong coming from the forest—immediately ceased. The water was pressing into her eyes, causing her vision to blur and her eyes to sting. Her pyjamas were becoming waterlogged and heavy, weighing her down…
Wincing as a small grain of sand floated into her left eye, Letha finally remembered her wand—which was still upstairs, lying on the small table next to the sofa she went to sleep on.
Really helpful, right now…
Of course, now that she had thought of her wand, all the discomfitures that could have been eased with magic were now emphasized. She could feel the water pressing in around her face, and her pyjamas sticking to her skin in a distinctly uncomfortable feeling, and her heart pounding rapidly in her ribcage, and her lungs, burning and screaming for air…
A sharp kick of the shingles sent Aletha flying upwards, allowing her to break the surface and gasp for oxygen.
Life exploded into her senses: Peter and Evanie talking loudly by the lake edge, not having noticed her; the wind blew past her face, making her shiver; the sun, just rising, flashing into her eyes…
She took another deep breath, expanding her chest, and dove back down again into the water. She tried to clear her vision in vain by blinking a few times, and looked around frantically for the second time in half an hour. Being restricted to blurry vision within five feet was not helping.
Where IS he, damn it!
Her legs were protesting, having run so far and then propelling her so fast into the lake. She could see absolutely nothing helpful— only the grayish green water around her and the pebbles beneath. Her lungs were starting to send signals at her again just as she spotted a dark object ahead, floating slightly above the lake bed.
Oh God, please let it be him…
Asking her lungs for just a little more time, she kicked her quickly wearying legs behind her and swam towards the dark object.
Let it be him, please, she prayed as she swam.
Before she even reached it, she knew something wasn’t right. The object was the wrong shape and the wrong colour to be a human being, but she kept swimming anyway. Just in case…
It’s a log.
A hollow log, floating just above the bed. When she approached it, she caused the water currents around the log to turn it around and sink slightly.
Her lungs burning from lack of oxygen, her heart filled with disappointment and terror, Letha shot skywards again.
Her senses were once more assaulted by the sudden change, and she noticed that she was much further away from land than last time.
I didn’t swim that fast, did I?
Taking several deep breaths, she saw that Evanie was standing alone by the lake edge. Bending over her knees and catching her breath, she was watching a small grey streak heading towards the castle. Her back was turned to Aletha, who took one last deep breath and dove down, again before anyone could see her.
She went down at an angle this time, instead of straight down like last time. By now, even her arms were reacting sluggishly, and she knew that she was losing energy.
This is Not Good.
Let me find him now, she desperately begged the deity who was hopefully still listening. I just want to find him, kiss him and hit him, and mark all this as the worst part of the worst day of my life so far…
She closed her eyes, still swimming, to let a tear ease out between her eyelids and mingle with the surrounding lake water.
Just don’t let this day get any worse that it can possible be…
She opened her eyes.
She blinked a few times.
She was looking into the face of an incredibly pale and beaten up Sirius Black.
Danger looked around in confusion. Where was this place? Once she had heard that poem—which, she found, she could recite off by heart already—the voice had simply faded away and she left in this… greyness. Which was all that it was: grey.
So… this just leaves the question of what in the name of heavenly Merlin is going on, and how in the name of heavenly Merlin I got here…
What was the last thing she remembered?
Dreaming of transforming into a wolf and playing with wolf-Remus under the full moon…
Remus. The name struck a chord in her memory, like it was trying to remind her of something. But what?
Okay. Associations…
Remus. The Marauders. Peter. James. Sirius.
Peter…
Oh. He woke me up this morning… he must have woken Evanie up after I went out, because she came down with him afterwards…
James…
That conversation in the common room… he said that they were all, excepting Remus, Animagi—which I already knew…
Sirius…
Oh Merlin… he betrayed Remus! He told Severus how to get into the tunnel… if only we’d finished the Animagus spells earlier!
Remus…
He’s at the Ministry, isn’t he…Oh my Lord, this is all a bloody mess. I wonder if he knows everything yet? Either way, I wish I could be with him right now…
As if her thought had been a trigger, the surrounding greyness changed. Subtly, imperceptibly, but it changed.
Wait—is this a dream?
She stamped her foot down, and was rewarded with the ground yielding slightly, like taut fabric.
She smiled.
Well, this simplifies things, doesn’t it?
Quickly and efficiently, she modified her surroundings into something more colourful and friendly. Then she blinked in surprise.
A beach? I guess my subconscious is after the sun right now…
She had a feeling that if she’d tried to do that earlier, to the first greyness, she wouldn’t have succeeded.
In fact, she realized as she settled down onto the sand, she had a lot of feelings right now. Little flutterings nagging at her brain. Such as the one telling her that something was about to happen…
Right about…
Now.
A huge wave rolled up from the sea, almost drowning her and pulling her down into its depths. Only a hastily thought up thick rope, attached to a tree and clung to with both hands, prevented her from being swept away from the beach. Because she had been looking out at the sea, the wave caught her right in the face. Of course, once she’d turned around and still managed to keep hold of the rope, the wave was turning around and she caught the backwash right in the face. Once the water had receded, she peeled her soaking hair away from her face and spat out a mouthful of salty seawater.
When I thought that something was going to happen, I did NOT expect that!
A click of her fingers dried herself. A second click Vanished the rope. A third removed all other traces of the mini tidal wave.
Well, THAT was exciting.
Before she settled back down onto the sand, her ears caught the sound of a small groan a few metres to her right.
Now, what is that…
Instead of walking towards the source of the groan, which she now saw to be a black shape on the sand, she grinned to herself and snapped her fingers a fourth time. In her place now stood a tan wolf.
It won’t be long until I can do that in reality now…
Smiling inwardly, wolf-Danger bent her head down and started sniffing her way to the mysterious person.
Her human mind picked up the thought that this person was a separate, real individual, who was somehow, for some reason, sharing her dream.
But that’s never happened before, ever…
The wolf shrugged.
The mysterious black object came closer, and the wolf could now see brown hair on the top of a head facing away from her. Even from this distance, her nose could smell the salt and water in his clothes and hair which strongly suggested that he’d been hit by the tidal wave.
And considering he wasn’t here before, the conclusion is the he was swept in by the wave.
The wolf shrugged again, still sniffing its way closer. She was now in scenting range.
Familiar… very familiar… know him. Know him well. Friend, Pack, mate…
Danger stopped short.
Mate? Did I really just think that?
So that must mean…
She came up to the person lying on the sand, and used her nose to nudge his head over to face her.
Sure enough, she was looking into the face of Remus Lupin.
This is… interesting.
He groaned again, while Danger the wolf was still examining him curiously.
It was right about when Remus’ eyes began to flicker that her human side started sending warning signals to the wolf, but the animal shrugged them off.
Remus opened his eyes slowly.
His eyes inevitably fell on the wolf looking at him quizzically.
He blinked a few times.
The warning vibes were getting increasingly frequent.
The wolf waved them off again.
Remus yelped and flung himself away.
The sudden loud noise assaulted Danger’s sensitive wolf ears and caused her to spring backwards herself and transform on the way.
Because landing flat on my back in the sand is so dignified…
“Easy,” she groaned, sitting up and rubbing her ears. “It’s only me.”
Remus was standing a few feet away, one hand on his chest and the other trying to simultaneously brush his wet hair out of his face and rub the sand off of his head. The clothes he was wearing were completely drenched and sticking to his body. His eyes were as round as galleons. “I didn’t know you were an animagus,” he finally said.
“I’m not.” She grinned cheekily at him. “Yet.”
His hands moved on to try and brush the sand off of his waterlogged clothes. “But—the wolf…”
“Let me help you with that,” Danger interrupted. Before Remus could ask, she clicked her fingers a fifth time and he was completely dry and sand free.
“What—how?” Remus’ eyes went even wider as he looked down at his clothes, hands feeling through his dry hair to check for sand grains. “Is this real?” he asked her at last, looking around the beach.
“As real as you are,” Danger replied chirpily, grinning and lounging back on the sand.
Remus shot her a glare. “Not very helpful right now.”
“Why not?” she asked him innocently. “Other than the fact that you just got swept in by a tidal wave and I managed to dry you with a click of my fingers?”
“I got swept in by a tidal wave?”
“Empty beach. Nobody except yours truly. Sudden tidal wave. Extra person lying on the sand. Point, evidence, analysis, you got swept in by a tidal wave.”
Remus stared. “Right.”
“So…” Danger felt the playfulness ebb away from her. “How are you doing?”
He snorted. “Just bloody great. Last thing I remember is being told, in a RCMC holding cell, that last night, I’d—” He broke off, looking suddenly afraid and worried.
“Don’t worry,” Danger reassured him, “I know about your fluffy little problem.”
Remus raised an eyebrow, then groaned. “It’s been broadcast everywhere, hasn’t it?”
“No!” Danger said quickly, then she paused. “At least, not that I know of.”
Remus winced. “So… how do you know?”
“I’ve known for ages,” Danger said, subconsciously moving her hand to touch the little lump in her robes that she knew would be there. “But everyone else found out this morning, when James told us…”
“James told everyone?” Remus looked a cross between alarmed and ready to throttle every best friend he had.
“No! Just Letha, Lily, Evanie and me.”
Remus groaned again and buried his face in his hands. Then he sighed, took his hands away and lay back on the sand, the very image of defeated. “Why am I even worrying? The whole world will know pretty soon anyway…”
Danger sighed, the very last of her playfulness disappearing.
“Look,” she said, turning the small patch that Remus was lying on into a stone paving slab. “Stamp on that.”
Remus raised an eyebrow at her again. “I didn’t know your transfiguration skills were so good.”
“They’re not. Stamp.”
“Yes ma’am.” Remus sighed and rolled his eyes, standing up. A hard stamp of his left foot caused the hard stone beneath him to yield slightly. He looked at her questioningly. “Am I supposed to understand what this means?”
“It’s a dream,” Danger clarified, returning the slab back to sand. “I’ve always been able to control my dreams—I thought everyone could do it, but my mum told me that it was a special talent passed down on her side of the family. So I’ve been sculpting my dreams my whole life, and I know the difference between my dreams and reality to be the soft ground, and that I can actually control the former.”
Remus sighed, settling back down onto the newly returned sand. “Must be nice to control reality.”
“Seconded. But I have never, ever, shared a dream with anyone before. Because this is a shared dream, and I have absolutely no idea in hell what’s going on.”
“That makes two of us. And I don’t even know what’s going on outside dreams.” Remus then took a deep breath, sat up, and looked at her. “So, other than the fact that I seem to have invaded it by being swept in by a tidal wave, how has this dream been different from any other?”
“Funny you should mention that, actually…” And she told him about the strange whirlwind of colours and sounds, then the poem, and the greyness…
“A poem?” Remus enquired. “What was it like?”
“Like I said, all I saw was grey.”
“What about the voice you mentioned? Male, female, old, young?”
“Male, and relatively young, I’d say. Twenties or thirties.”
“And what about the poem? Can you remember it?”
“I think so…” Danger thought for a bit. “Yes, definitely.”
Remus looked at her. “You can remember it, word for word?”
“Yes.”
“But you only heard it once…”
“I know. But it’s literally drumming through my head and won’t ease up…”
He looked bemused. “Okay, let’s hear it then.”
Danger took a deep breath.
“Though virtue is its own reward,
Your loyal
love’s a two-edged sword.
It brings you pain, and wild
might,
Which helps you end the wolfish
night…”
Remus, who’d been trying to keep up, interrupted her. “Wait. Can you either slow down or write it for me to see?”
“Can’t you remember it?” she teased.
“Nope. How long is this poem?”
Danger considered. “Around… fifteen to twenty lines. I can’t tell exactly without seeing it in front of me.”
“Okay…” Remus raised his eyebrows. “Write it down then.”
Danger clicked her fingers once more, and bent over the paper that appeared. Picking up the quill, she began to write without even needing to use ink.
Though fool he was, and fool still be,
The darkest star
deserves his plea.
Forgive, move past, but do not let
Yourselves or him the truth forget.
While she was writing out the words that her mind was dictating to her, she sensed Remus getting up from his patch of sand a few feet away and coming up behind her.
These four: yourself and mentioned three,
Must speak the
words to set you free.
To bind you, with a solemn oath,
To
those who now have plighted troth
And scurrier and scarréd
maid,
For only thus will you gain great aid.
Neither of them noticed his hand coming up to rest on her shoulder while reading what she was writing.
The royal stars will help you hide
The strength to words
that you supplied.
And so this tangle, tightly spun,
Ends
better than it had begun.
Once she had finished, she blew the ink dry and read over what she had written.
“Eighteen lines… all correct,” she confirmed, sensing Remus standing behind her, his eyes skimming over the lines of her semi-tidy scrawl.
“This looks like a prophecy to me,” he said at last. “The referrings to people we know, addressing you specifically, and various statements which seem to be telling us what to do…”
There was a silence as they both regarded the lines written on the parchment. Eventually, Danger sighed.“Well, let’s get to figuring out what this iambic tetrameter guy in my head is trying to tell us, shall we?”
Chuckling, the pair bent over their work.
James couldn’t remember feeling so happy in a long time.
In fact, considering I didn’t feel as happy as this even when we pranked all of the Slytherins’ hair and clothes to flash red and gold…
Yes, I’d say this is the happiest I’ve ever felt.
The source of his happiness was the gorgeous redhead leaning back on him and, of course, the ring he was wearing on his left ring finger as well as the one he could see on Lily’s.
He sighed happily for the thirty-eighth time in five minutes.
I didn’t know I was counting.
He felt his sigh echoed from Lily. He could almost feel the happiness emanating off her as well.
“Are we going to go public with this information, or shall we wait a bit?” he asked her.
“Wait,” Lily said immediately. “It’s already been a roller-coaster of a day enough; we don’t need to make it even more by telling everyone else.”
“True.” James paused, savouring the last few moments of this paradise. “We should go down,” he said reluctantly. “They’ll be wondering what on earth is going on by now.”
“You’re right.” James could hear the same reluctance in Lily’s voice. “I should check up on Danger as well.”
They stayed sitting for a little while longer each unwilling to stand up. Finally, Lily moved away, her face saying ‘might as well’.
“Must we?” James’ voice had now moved from reluctant to downright whiny. When Lily fixed him with a glare, he gave another sigh, this time of unwillingness, then uncurled his legs and slid off the bed.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Lily asked him teasingly. James rolled his eyes at her, then leaned down slightly and gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Let’s go down, then, shall we?” He turned around, grabbing her left hand with his, and started tugging her towards the door.
Lily laughed at him, and walked forwards a few steps before she stopped, frowning down at their clasped hands.
“What?” James followed her gaze, and saw his ring pressing into Lily’s hand. Her eyes shifted to her own ring, and she reached for her wand.
“If we’re not telling our friends about this,” she said, pulling her wand out, “we don’t need them to see these. Hold out your hand.”
Oh, right.
He held out his left hand just as Lily tapped her own ring, silently disillusioning it. She moved on to his, and his ring seemed to vanish; only feeling it pressing down into his skin convinced him it was still there.
“Ah well. At least the rings have temporary sticking spells on them, or they might fall off without us realizing it.”
“Helpful,” Lily agreed. “Come on.”
Hand in hand, they walked through the door and down the stairs.
When they emerged in the common room, Lily headed immediately for the corner where Danger and Letha were sleeping. James followed her.
“Odd,” Lily frowned when she reached the sofas. “Letha’s not here.”
James caught up with her. “Very odd. Well, you did use the weakest possible sleeping spell— with good reason— so maybe it wasn’t enough and she woke up, then went for a walk.”
Lily leaned across the sofa and reached onto the small table. She held up a wooden stick, around a foot long. “Without her wand?”
“Ah.” James frowned. “Well, in that case, I’ve got no idea.”
Lily shrugged, pocketing the wand. “She probably did just go for a walk, either deciding that she wouldn’t need her wand—” James snorted, “—or forgetting it. And don’t snort again; she’s not exactly in the best of moods or in the most organized frame of mind.”
James sighed. “Fine, fine… and didn’t you want to check up on Danger?”
“Thanks for reminding me.” Lily eased herself between the sofas until she was next to Danger. “I wish I could do that spell that Letha used— it sounds really interesting.”
James rolled his eyes. “Always the mini academic, aren’t you?”
“Yup. And that’s why you love me.” Lily grinned at him.
James laughed. “Hurry up and check up on Danger already.”
Lily, still smiling to herself, turned to the sleeping girl and cast the basic diagnostic spell.
“Any change?” James asked.
“Yes.” Lily removed the spell. “Very slight— she’s not sleeping as deeply any more. I’d say that she’s dreaming normally by now.”
Before James could say anything, a large bang from behind them caused them to wheel around and see Peter bursting into the room. Not noticing the highly affronted expression of the Fat Lady, he charged right over to the two of them, looking very out of breath.
“Wormtail—what?”
“Lily—James—you’ve got to come—Letha and Sirius—down by the lake—“
“The lake? What in the name of Merlin are they doing down by the lake?” Lily asked.
Peter, instead of answering, shook his head, breathing deeply, and gestured for them to follow him.
James looked at Lily, silently asking for her opinion. She shrugged, and started walking after Peter.
What the hell. Might as well.
He started following Peter as well, and as soon as they were out of the portrait hole Peter broke into a run. The newly betrothed pair found themselves jogging, then running, then sprinting to keep up with their leader.
“Peter, what is going on?” Lily shouted after him.
“Just come on!” Peter flung back at them. “Get there as quickly as possible!”
James and Lily exchanged mystified looks, and continued tearing through the corridors.
When they exited the castle through the huge oak doors, they were all getting out of breath. James couldn’t help but notice the dew on the grass—he himself was fine, wearing his shoes, but Lily was only wearing her dressing gown and slippers.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, motioning towards her slippers that were quickly getting wet.
Lily smiled at him. “I’m fine.”
James cast a drying charm on her slippers anyway.
“Will you two lovebirds please pay attention?” Peter yelled back at them.
“Pay attention to what?” James shouted.
Wordlessly, Peter pointed forwards, at the lake. More specifically, at a small part of the bank, where Evanie was standing, and…
What on earth?
A little way into the lake, a tall black person was making her way towards land, her movements as hasty as possible with her pyjamas obviously drenched and her limbs weary. But James’ eyes were drawn to what was trailing behind her: a bundle of black robes, and the person wearing them…
He’s not breathing…
“Oh my…” James heard himself speaking aloud.
The swimmer reached shallow depths, and she stood up, dragging the second person behind her. They reached the bank just as Peter did, with James and Lily not far behind.
“Letha!” Lily exclaimed as the black girl all but collapsed onto the grass. “What happened?”
James was watching the other person.
He’s far too pale…
“Stupid… bloody… idiot… tried to kill himself…” The tone of her voice, though tired, still left no doubt as to which stupid bloody idiot she was talking about.
Kill himself…Holy Merlin…
James started swearing in the privacy of his mind, standing stock still and staring blankly at his pale best friend. Lily dropped to her knees beside the soaking wet Sirius Black, first drying his clothes and then casting the diagnostic spell yet again. She growled, then flipped him over and draped Sirius over her knee. She started thumping him on the back, with a face that seemed to cast doubt on whether she was thumping him to get the water out of his lungs, or hitting him as hard as she physically could for being so idiotic.
Thump… thump…
James was still staring blankly at Sirius’ pale face, reverberating with each thump of Lily’s.
Did he really just attempt suicide?
Thump… thump…
Aletha was struggling to sit up, a few feet away from Lily and Sirius. Evanie and Peter moved to either side of her, helping her up. Evanie pulled out her wand and cast a heat spell, causing Aletha to look up at her in gratitude.
Thump… thump…
James’ mind, previously numbed, started processing thoughts and feelings once more. Worry was predominant over disbelief and anger… What if they were too late?
Thump… thump…
Aletha, now dry, seemed to be getting the same idea and panic clouded her features. Forgetting her tiredness, she clambered over to her two friends and helped Lily beat at Sirius’ back.
THUMP… Thump…
James fell to his knees, shuffling his way towards his unconscious best friend.
“Sirius…”
Abruptly, the thumps stopped as Aletha threw aside Lily’s hands and flipped Sirius over onto the ground. She used one hand to cover his nose, and placed the other one on his chin, lowering her head down to meet his.
“Don’t give up on me now,” she growled into his face, before attaching her lips to his.
Is she kissing him?
Lily was kneeling next to them, massaging her knuckles, looking on anxiously. When she noticed James’ raised eyebrows, she mouthed something at him.
She’s… breathing for him? James shrugged. Muggle thing, I guess.
All four pairs of eyes around the water edge returned to regard the last two of their group nervously. James didn’t know how long had passed, until—finally—a long, hacking cough raked Sirius’ body and Letha sat up, looking ecstatic but even more fatigued.
The group watching them all heaved a huge breath. James saw the massive smiles on relief on Lily, Evanie and Peter’s faces, and knew that his own must be similar. Lily took a long stick out of her pocket and handed it over to Aletha, who murmured a word of thanks. She leaned over Sirius and ran her wand first across his black eye, then the large bruise forming across his left cheek, smiling in satisfaction as they faded.
Sirius, still coughing, turned onto his side and started spewing out water, coughing and choking in hacking breaths. Letha rubbed his back as James started crawling towards him again.
“Sirius Black Copyrighted Really Dumb Idea number two within twelve hours.” James rolled his eyes as he reached Sirius, who expelled the last of the water from his lungs and lay back, exhausted. His eyes were closed and he was breathing shallowly, but he was breathing. “You are the most stupid, reckless, air-headed idiot I have had the misfortune to call my best friend.” James paused, sitting down on the ground and stretching his legs in front of him. “Then again, you’re the only stupid, reckless, air-headed idiot of a best friend I have.”
And he snatched Sirius up into a hug, never wanting to let go.
In the words of our great PAGE: And thus the cliffie is resolved. But we still have problems. Then again, what fun would a story be without problems?