Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

The End

A beam of red light hit an archway above their heads, and James covered Severus with his own body, shielding him from the debris that fell down around them. He felt a fist-size chunk of plaster hit him in the shoulder. People were running past their hiding spot, shouting, screaming spells. "Stop!" Someone yelled, but then there was that tell-tale crack, crack! As whoever was running managed to cross the invisible barrier and disapparate.

"James!? JAMES!?"

James jerked and lifted his head at the sound of Sirius's voice.

"Where are you!? If you can hear me, answer me!"

James, like Pavlov's dog, felt himself respond to the distress in Sirius's voice. He was about to stand up when Severus tightened his grip on James's hand; he looked more frightened knowing Sirius was nearby than he had when running from the Death Eaters.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered. "You can stay under the invisibility cloak if you want." He squeezed his hand and let go. He immediately spotted Sirius as he stepped out from underneath the cloak and around the desk. "I'm here. I'm okay."

Sirius stood alone in an empty hall, his wand held loosely in his fingers. The relief on his face was palpable. "I'm sorry," he blurted out, rushing forward. "You could have been killed! I shouldn't have let you run off like that! I was just upset and-"

He looked as if he was just about to throw his arms around James's neck when there came a sudden sound to James's left, and there appeared Severus's face and shoulders and legs, the cloak pooling around his feet as he slipped his hand into James's, pressing into the other man's side. In his other hand he held his wand, though it trembled slightly.

Sirius immediately staggered at Severus's appearance, his arms - still half-raised in their aborted hug - falling limply to his sides. His grey eyes flickered down to their joined hands, and Severus cocked his chin defiantly.

"Any survivors?" A woman's voice shouted.

Sirius stared long and hard for several seconds. "Two here!" He finally answered. "They look uninjured."

The look on Sirius's face was carefully cool as he handed back James's borrowed wand. James managed to shrink his cloak and stuff it into his trouser pocket just as an Auror rounded the corner, looking them up and down. "Best get them to a healer just to be safe," she said.

"That's unnecessary," Severus spoke up. The sudden appearance of another person had left him tense, his eyes focused on some distant corner of the room as he tried to push away that cloying anxiety.

"You are clearly a patient here. You're not getting discharged until a healer has seen you. And you-" She turned to James. She blinked. "Where's your shirt?"

James laughed awkwardly and didn't answer the question. "We can get there on our own. Is there a triage set up somewhere?"

"Go down the hallway there and just past the double doors. You should be safe. The Death Eaters have all cleared out of this section and there are Aurors stationed at every exit."

James thanked her and nudged Severus along, still holding onto his hand. He could feel the burn of Sirius's eyes following him as they left.

"You're not really going to make me go, are you?" Severus asked. He looked a little sick at the thought. The whole of St Mungo's was probably waiting through those doors. That would be more people than Severus had seen in over a year.

"We have to at least let them know you're still alive. I can't just kidnap you."

"Just throw your money at them. I'm sure the problem will go away then."