fatal love

chapter 85

Sirius transformed into Padfoot as soon as he was out of sight of the house, tearing through London as fast as he could. He had no idea where he was going, he just knew he had to get as far away as he could, as quickly as possible, without being followed.

Eventually, his legs started to burn, and he had to slow down. He felt like he'd been running for about an hour, more or less, but it was difficult to tell when he was a dog. He looked around, but he had no idea where he was. It was a London street, with high-rise blocks of flats lining either side of the road. Streetlights were shining down, but the sky was dark, and the area was deserted, quiet apart from the sound of engines a few streets down.

Checking one last time for hidden onlookers, he transformed back into a human. Crap, crap, what was he going to do now? He searched his pockets, but all he had on him was his wand. He knew he had no hope of surviving more than a couple of days on the streets of muggle London, and there was no way he could ever go back to Grimmauld Place.

He only had one option. He got out his wand, pointing it in front of him. The Knight Bus came whizzing down the street almost immediately, braking to a sudden halt in front of him, and the door swung open.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus," said the driver in a gruff voice. "Where are we taking you?"

Sirius hesitated for a second before stepping on board. "Um, the Potter Estate, please."

The driver looked at him up and down, taking in his appearance, his hair matted with blood and his robes torn and tattered, but then shrugged. "Eleven sickles."

"I, um, I don't have any money."

"No payment, no ride."

"Please, I don't have any other options, but I need to go-"

"Don't care," the driver interrupted. "Pay or get off."

Sirius felt like screaming in frustration. "Okay, okay! I can... I can... I'll give you my ring!" He pulled the Black ring off his finger quickly. "It's pure gold, centuries old!"

The driver eyed the ring. "Not giving you change or nothing."

"That's fine!" Sirius exclaimed, shoving the ring into his hand. He hadn't taken it off since he was twelve, and he felt very exposed without it, but he didn't have a choice. "Just let me ride, please."

The driver nodded curtly, and Sirius walked down the bus in relief. It took off before he had even sat down, throwing him to the floor, but he got up, clinging to one of the empty beds and climbing on top of it.

The journey took a long time. They made five other stops, and picked up three other passengers, before they arrived at the Potters'. Sirius' head was strangely empty the whole way there. He couldn't think about what had just happened, and he couldn't think about where he was going to go from here. He just stared out of the window, watching the countryside and the cities fly past him.

Eventually, they reached his stop. Sirius got off the bus, feeling slightly queasy, and walked fearfully up to the door of James' house. It was the middle of the night now, perhaps the early hours of the morning. Everyone would be asleep.

Fuck, what was he doing? He couldn't just turn up at James' and expect him to fix all of his problems. But his head hurt, and it was cold outside even though it was summer, and he had no other choice. He knocked on the door.

Two minutes later, and no one had answered, so he knocked again, but louder this time. Again, nothing happened, and he was just starting to worry no one might be home when he heard a thumping from inside the house, and one of the lights turned on.

The door swung open, and James was standing there. He took one look at Sirius, his mouth hanging open, and then yanked him into the house, clutching onto him tightly.