fatal love

Chapter 63

The Marauders spent their first weekend back at Hogwarts pissing about the castle. Saturday night Remus had Prefect duty, and he told them where he would be at what time beforehand. They used that knowledge to sneak safely around the castle, hiding fish under the floorboards in the classrooms of Professors that they didn't like, which would start to rot after a few days, and hopefully take ages to find.

It turned out that between the four of them there were a lot of Professors they had an issue with, and only got back to the dorm at two in the morning, well after Remus. By Sunday evening, they were all exhausted, and ended up going to bed at only ten.

It took Sirius ages to fall asleep though. He lay awake for hours, and he was just about to when he heard the insistent patter of rain hitting the window. His eyes snapped open immediately, and he jumped up, running to look outside. The rain was pouring down heavily, almost horizontal because of the wind. And then, like salvation, he saw a flash of lightning in the sky.

"UP!" he yelled. "EVERYONE UP! IT'S TIME!"

James was the first one to roll out of bed, falling over in his impatience, a wild grin on his face when he looked outside. "SIRIUS IS RIGHT!" he exclaimed. "PETTIGREW, LUPIN, COME ON! WAKE UP!"

Pete and Remus stumbled out of bed, and for a moment, all four of them just stared out of the window in shock. Sirius had been waiting so long for this, months and months and months, that he'd stopped believing this time would actually come.

"Okay," James said giddily, "okay, okay. Right - wands, we need wands! Everyone get your wands!"

"Then what?" Pete asked, scrambling over to his bedside table eagerly.

"Wands to our hearts," Sirius said, demonstrating. Was this really happening? It was, it was. Merlin, he prayed they'd done everything right. He couldn't go through all of this again. " Amato Animo Animato Animagus ," he whispered, and the words were holy.

For a moment, nothing happened, and his heart sunk. And then he felt it; a second heartbeat, that felt like it was hidden inside his real one, was beating firmly. Perhaps a little faster than his normal one, but it was there.

Suddenly, the room went black, as if he had shut his eyes. Out of the blackness, a huge, hulking figure appeared, as if emerging from a fog. Little by little, achingly slowly, it got clearer and clearer, until he could see what it was.

A massive black dog, shaggy with hair, was staring at him, panting. As soon as Sirius realised what he was seeing, it evaporated, and he was back in the dorm.

"Fucking hell," he murmured.

"Sirius?" Remus asked urgently, his face terrified. He was gripping Sirius by his shoulders, his face so close Sirius could feel his breaths, and his eyes were searching Sirius' face desperately. "Are you okay? None of you were answering me!"

"I'm fine," he said absently, still in shock. James and Pete seemed to be in some sort of trance, staring wide-eyed into the distance, eyes glassy. "It worked."

"What?" Remus gaped, still looking scared. "It worked? Are you serious?"

Sirius paused, and then grinned widely. "I'm always Sirius."

Remus froze for a second, and then lunged at him. Sirius dove away, laughing manically, as Remus started trying to beat him with his fists. "YOU! BLOODY! WANKER!" he cursed, hitting Sirius with each word, as Sirius carried on laughing. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE FUCKING COMATOSE, AND YOU MAKE A FUCKING PUN?!"

"But Moony," Sirius giggled, as Remus' hits started to slow down, "it's your favourite joke!"

"Guys..."