'Til The End

Up's and Down's - Part One

For the last week, since Harry's birthday, Sirius felt better than he had in the last two years. Having Hermione in the house helped too, it meant there was always a good distraction. Every time Sirius had met Hermione, with the exception of Harry's birthday, she had been uptight, but now she had let go. Her and Harry spent hours up at the beaches, wandering around town, at the skate park, they'd even been to a muggle theatre. Sirius was glad Hermione was there because she kept Harry occupied, too, both Sirius and Remus had been worried about the boy being lonely, but Hermione fixed that worry. 

But it was Ginny's birthday in a few days, which meant Molly was running around like a headless chicken. She had been going back and forth to the Burrow, Sirius and Remus' place, to Grimmauld Place at least four times a day for the last two days. It was the eighth of August today, and it was almost nightfall, so that meant there were really only two days until Ginny's birthday. She was turning fourteen, which, according to Molly, is a really important day. So when there was a knock on the door Sirius answered it, and Molly flapped past. 

'Hello Sirius, dear. Where are Harry and Hermione?' She asked, pulling out her wand and making the pile of stuff she'd dumped in the hallway earlier levitate behind her. 'They went out to see a muggle movie, do you need them?' Sirius and Remus trusted them both, but set a curfew. They were expected to stay together and be home by ten. It was half nine, so if Molly wanted to see them she'd have to wait. 'Yes, I need Hermione to come shopping with me for Ginny's present. We have a little extra money this year and she deserves something nice.' Sirius glanced at the clock again, he supposed he could get Harry and Hermione to come home... 'Right now? Molly it's half nine, when they get home it'll be ten o'clock... Could it wait until tomorrow?' Sirius had no idea where Remus was, but he needed him to get Molly to calm the fuck down. 'Well I really hoped to go tonight... Though I didn't realise it was that late...' Molly turned to look at the clock, her face fixed in it's now usual anxiety. 'I'll come back to pick her up at eight thirty tomorrow.' And with that Molly left again, the pile of stuff with her. 

'Molly again?' Remus called from upstairs. So that's where he went. Sirius bounded up the stairs and found Remus in their room, faffing about with some random shit. 'Yep. She said she's coming to pick Hermione up to pick a present out for Ginny tomorrow morning at eight.' Sirius screwed up his face trying to remember exactly what Molly had said. 'Early rise.' Remus commented. Sirius scoffed, 'Hermione hasn't missed a single Quidditch training session for four years, I think she'll be ok.' Remus nodded in agreement and set down a package, now with the words 'happy birthday' written on it. 'Come on, let's get ready to pretend to be mad if those two are late.' 

It turned out Harry and Hermione were late, but there was no way Remus and Sirius could pretend to be cross when they saw the state of them. It was almost eleven o'clock when they got back, and Sirius had been pacing the living room since five past ten. When he heard Harry's key in the lock he charged to the front door, both angry and amused, but scared when he saw them. Hermione was crying and Harry had clearly been crying recently too, and both had long cuts along their arms and were barely able to speak. Remus came running at Sirius' first yell, and, together, they cleaned Harry and Hermione up before settling them on the sofa with blankets and weak tea. Both Sirius and Remus' first instincts were to call Molly, but both teenagers had shaken their heads firmly. 'When you feel able to talk, we need you to tell us exactly what happened.' Remus said quietly, tucking another blanket around Hermione when he saw her shiver. Both were silent for a moment, still to shaken to speak, but Harry spoke first. 

'We were coming out of the theatre, it was before curfew,' he paused, swallowing, 'and just before we got to the park we saw these people.' A sob escaped from Hermione's mouth, and Harry gripped her hand reassuringly. 'They looked dodgy, so we took the back way home, thinking it was safer...' Harry stopped, and he and Hermione exchanged a glance. Hermione took a deep breath and nodded. 'It wasn't. We saw these same people, this time in masks.' Hermione's voice was steady despite her uncontrollable shaking, 'They knew who we were and wanted to hurt us. They called me a mudblood, and repeated all the things you should never say to anyone. Then they started mocking Harry, and I tried to yell for someone, but they silenced us. That's when they started to hurt us.' Hermione let out another cry, and Sirius saw Harry's grip on her hand tighten. 'They cut up our arms and legs,' Harry started, 'then they used the cruciatus curse.' Sirius drew in a breath. He remembered how the curse felt from his childhood, and swore he wouldn't let anyone go through it again. 'We got away after that.' Hermione said, and neither Harry nor Hermione had anything else to add.