The Future

38: Jamie

Chapter 38

　　"And two of us should be chained to this," said Sirius, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."
　　"I'll do it," said Remus. Now why does that seem like a bad idea?
　　"And me," said Ron savagely, limping forward.
　　Black conjured heavy manacles from thin air; soon Pettigrew was upright again, left arm chained to Remus' right, right arm to Ron's left. Ron's face was set. He seemed to have taken Scabbers's true identity as a personal insult. Crookshanks leapt lightly off the bed and led the way out of the room, his bottlebrush tail held jauntily high. Anna and I walked in the way back, behind Sirius and Harry. He never even bothered to notice me...

　        I honestly had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Remus, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry and Hermione behind him, and Anna and I bringing up the rear.
　　Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Remus, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Remus still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. I held mine tightly in my hand, in case he tried something. I could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. I had the impression Sirius was making no effort to prevent this. I growled, but no one took any notice.
　　"You know what this means?" Sirius said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
　　"You' re free," said Harry, while I muttered the same. Anna have me a sympathetic look, which I shrugged off.
　　"Yes...," said Sirius. "But I'm also -- I don't know if anyone ever told you -- I'm your godfather." He completely ignored me.
　　"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.
　　"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. Yeah, he isn't Sirius anymore. "If anything happened to them..."
　　Harry waited. Did Black mean what I thought he meant?
　　"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."
　　Tears welled up in my eyes. So what if I had Remus and Snape? He could have at least offered, you know, because I'm his daughter.
　　"What -- live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"
　　"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd --"
　　"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's.
　　"Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
　　Black turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care.
　　"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
　　"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
　　Black's gaunt face broke into the first true smile I had seen upon it. Tear leaked from my eyes. I slammed my shoulder in front of Black and made my way up to Remus, who rubbed my back in an affectionate way.
　　Nobody really spoke again until we had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Remus, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches. I slipped behind them, in front of Black.
　　Black saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione and Anna to pass. At last, all of us were out.
　　The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. My mind was buzzing. How could my own father not even recognize me? I mean, after I figured it out, I noticed we actually looked a lot alike. Of course, when I made my hair black, but my pale complexion, and normally grey eyes.
　　"One wrong move, Peter," said Remus threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest. I quickly casted a spell that I remembered from a wand less magic book. It stopped your target from leaving a certain perimeter from the caster. So Pettigrew could leave a ten-foot perimeter from me.
　　Silently we all tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest. And then -
　　A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Sugary shit. Fuck. No. It's a full moon! Thank Merlin I casted that spell.
　　Snape collided with Remus, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry, Anna and Hermione stop.
　　I could see Remus' silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.
　　"Oh, my --" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"
　　"Run," Black whispered. "Run. Now."
　　But nobody could run. Ron was chained to Pettigrew and Remus. He leapt forward but Black caught him around the chest and threw him back. I quickly shot some charm that released Ron from Remus and Pettigrew.
　　"Leave it to me -- RUN!"
　　There was a terrible snarling noise. Remus' head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. I had never seen him transform before, and quite frankly it was terrifying. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away --
　　As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.
　　I stood there, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. It seemed Harry and Anna were as well. It was Hermione's scream that alerted us --
　　Pettigrew had dived for Remus' dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light -- and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang -- Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap. Oh hell no.
　　"Expelliarmus." Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Remus' wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!" Harry shouted, running forward.
　　Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass. He couldn't get far though. I swear I heard squeaks of pain.
　　There was a howl and a rumbling growl; I turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest --
　　"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled. I shook my head and pursed my lips.
　　Black was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.
　　Harry, Anna and Hermione dashed over to Ron.
　　"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only half-closed, his mouth hung open; he was definitely alive, they could hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize them.
　　"I don't know...."
　　Harry looked desperately around. Black and Remus both gone... they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair. I snorted and quickly went to the others.
　　"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come --"
　　But then, from beyond the range of our vision, I heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain....
　　"Sirius," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. Dammit Black.
　　Harry had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment.
　　Harry set off at a run, Hermione and I right behind him. Anna stayed with Ron to make sure he stayed safe-ish. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. We pelted toward it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean -
　　The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why -- Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. Dammit...
　　'Nooo," he moaned. 'Nooo... please...."
　　And then I saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them....
　　"Herrnione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, forgetting about me, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it --
　　I started to try and heal my father, but it was next to impossible to heal him with all the dementors around.
　　Harry began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"
　　Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.
　　"C'mon. Work stupid magic. Work already." I muttered angrily.
　　"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"
　　"Expecto --" Hermione whispered, "expecto -- expecto --"
　　But she couldn't do it. The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around us, and were getting closer....
　　"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
　　A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. At the same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse next to him. I couldn't help him, no matter how much I wanted to.
　　"Expecto -- expecto patronum --"
　　Harry hit the cold grass on his knees. Fog was clouding his eyes. With a huge effort, he tried to fight the dementors.
　　"Expecto patronum!" he gasped.
　　By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, He saw a dementor halt, very close to him. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist Harry had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside. Please don't die. Please don't die. I chanted in my head.
　　"No -- no --" Harry gasped. "He's innocent... expecto expecto patronum --"
　　I could feel them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both its rotting hands -- and lowered its hood.
　　Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle. I sucked in a breath, terrified of what was about to happen. Future Harry and Hermione! C'mon, hurry up idiots!
　　A paralyzing terror filled me so that I couldn't move or speak. Harry's Patronus flickered and died.
　　White fog was blinding me. He had to fight
　　But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Harry's neck. I felt the color leave my face. They were forcing his face upward.... It was going to get rid of him first...
　　And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter... He felt himself fall forward onto the grass.... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. The dementor must have released him. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him.... The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away...
　　Something was driving the dementors back.... It was circling around the four of us. They were leaving....
　　The air was warm again....
　　With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw two animals amid the light, galloping away across the lake.... My eyes blurred with sweat and tears, I tried to make out what it was.... It was as bright as a unicorn.... I watched them canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, I saw, by its brightness, two people welcoming them back... raising his hand to pat it... someone who looked strangely familiar ... but it couldn't be...
　　Harry finally gave up, and passed out.

The only thing I could think of while I waited for Snape to come with stretchers, was the two people. One was definitely Harry, but the other was a girl I could recognize. No one I had ever seen before.

A/N

Hey so I'm going to update a few more Jamie's POVs... Probably only 3 or 4.
Meh.

Luv you all

Tori Weasley <3