The Marauders: Year Four

To the Bloody Woods

To the Bloody Woods

Sirius was curled up, in dog form, asleep beneath the duvet on his bed. He'd excused himself from the library nearly immediately after James had left before with Marlene and Emmaline. He'd put his palm on Remus's shoulder when he'd tried to follow Sirius, saying, "I'll be fine, I think I need to be alone right now, go on studying." He'd regretted it the moment he got to the dorm and had a seat on the bed in the silence of the room. It felt oppressive, and in it he could hear the cries of the Death Eaters echoing in his head... their gasps like ghosts... So he'd changed. The memories were further away as a dog, the echoes less intense, and when he dreamed, his mind was taken over by doggy dreams - images of running through the woods and hunting rabbits and warm summer nights bathed in the light of the full moon...

The dormitory door slammed very hard shut and one of the chairs' permanent sticking charms let go and it crashed to the floor.

Sirius rustled his way out from beneath the duvet, and it caught on one of his ears so that one stood to attention and the other was folded over as he turned to see James, angry tears streaming across his face, fists balled, pacing. Sirius barked once to announce himself.

James looked over, "I didn't know you were in here. Sorry if I woke you." He threw his wand and his glasses onto the nightstand among chocolate frog wrappers and firewhiskey bottle caps. Rubbing his eyes to clear the hot tears away, he muttered, "I would've been more quiet if I'd known. Sorry I'm just a bleeding idiot." James rolled over so he was back-to the dog.

Sirius changed back so that he was sitting on the bed, a human once more. "What the bloody hell happened?"

James shook his head.

"Potter.... C'mon. Talk to me. What happened?"

"Lily hates me."

"Of course she does, you're Potter and she's Evans, that's what you lot do - hate each other."

"No," James choked, "No, Sirius, for real, why doesn't she like me? Am I horrible?"

"Of course not!" Sirius said, "Blimey, you're one of the best people I've ever known!" He got up and went over to James's bed, sitting next to him and patting his shoulder.

"I love her."

"I know."

James closed his eyes. "It hurts she'd take a person like Snape over me. Time and again. I've tried so hard and nothing's ever enough..."

Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry, Prongs."

"Make it stop hurting, Sirius," James muttered. "Please tell me how to make it stop hurting."

Sirius at his mate a moment, then glanced at his bed, where the duvet was still messed up, covered with a good amount of black fur. He looked back at James. "Get up."

"What?"

"Get up. We're going."

"Going where?"

"To the bloody woods, where else?"

"What? Why?"

"You'll see. Just get up!" Sirius cried and he went over to his trunk and withdrew a bit of parchment, scrawling out the world's messiest, fastest note, and laid it on Remus's pillow. James was sitting up, his eyes rimmed in red, and watching Sirius in confusion. "C'mon," Sirius said, jamming his feet into his shoes. "Move. Let's go."

James got up, loosening his tie from 'round his neck and draped it over the end of his bed, "Alright..."

"And bring the cloak. We'll need it to get into the Shack."