Magic

12: Nah, She Didn't

Sirius sat on a chair and stared off into space. He sighed as the memories of his years at Hogwarts came to him again. He'd tried desperately to keep them away before because they'd caused him great pain, but recently he just let them come to him.

"Come on Moony, don't be so boring! We're only going to play a prank on the professors! Not like we haven't done that before. See, even Wormtail agrees!"

Sirius smiled at the memory, but then scowled at the thought of the filthy rat that had betrayed them.

"We don't care that you're a werewolf. It doesn't matter what you are, Remus, it matters who you are."

He heard the sound of foot steps and stood from his chair abruptly.

"No need to panic, Sirius, it's just me."

Sirius sighed and sat back down, rubbing his temples.

"What are you thinking now, Padfoot?"

Sirius smiled sadly. Hearing Remus call him by that nickname just brought back more memories. Although some were happy, others were not.

"Stop it Snape! Stop it! I hate you! I hate you!"

He still remembered the horrified look on Lily's face and the angry tears streaming down her cheeks. He still remembered the way she'd cried and screamed for him to stop, and how her eyes had been red and swollen for over a week. He even remembered how she'd desperately tried to hide her tears from James.

"Padfoot? Padfoot!"

Sirius removed his head from his hands and looked up at Remus with an apologetic look.

"I'm just thinking...about our time at Hogwarts, back when James and Lily were still alive." Sirius said. His voice cracked a little at the end. He struggled to hold back the huge knot in his throat. Remus remained silent.

"I'm going to go to the attic and look for Kreacher. He's gone missing again," Sirius muttered. He walked away.

Remus sighed and began to read a piece of parchment he'd brought with him to Grimmauld Place.

"Sirius?" he heard a voice ask. Remus jumped and looked around.

"Harry!" he said, looking throughly shocked. "What are you — what's happened, is everything alright?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "I just wondered — I mean, I just fancied a — a chat with Sirius."

"I'll call him," said Lupin, getting to his feet, still looking perplexed. "He went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again...."
Remus hurried out of the kitchen and towards the attic.

"Sirius! Sirius!" he yelled.

Sirius rushed over to him.

"What's happened?" he asked, worried.

"It's Harry. He says he wants to talk with you." Remus said, slightly out of breath. The full moon was approaching, so any movement tired him.

They hurried back to the kitchen.

"What is it?" said Sirius urgently, sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes and dropping to the ground in front of the fire, so that he and Harry were on a level; Lupin knelt down too, looking very concerned.

"Are you alright? Do you need help?"

"No," said Harry, "it's nothing like that...I just wanted to talk...about my dad..."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look of great surprise; Harry had never wanted to talk about James before. They listened as Harry nervously told them the story of what he'd seen in the Pensieve. When he had finished, neither Sirius nor Lupin spoke for a moment. Both were remembering what they'd heard James say in 7th year.