The Bonds of Spirit are stronger than the Bonds of Blood

Chapter Twenty Eight

Sirius paced the floor of the Common Room, waiting for James to come back down the stairs. Remus was feeling rather ill, most likely due to the upcoming full moon. Peter was going to stay behind to watch over him, but there was still much of the castle to be mapped. They would have to take off the full moon night to watch over Remus, but they couldn't afford to skip any other days of the year if they wanted to finish their map before graduation. If they worked through every other day of the year, even the Christmas Break, they could potentially finish the map within the next year or two! Regardless, the sooner they finished the better. With Peter and Remus unable to assist, James and Sirius were going to sneak about under the invisibility cloak and try to map out all that they possibly could. Well, as soon as James could find the invisibility cloak that is. Sirius rolled his eyes, annoyed, as he remembered James' fumbling attempts at locating the cloak. How he could have already misplaced the incredibly useful cloak, Sirius had no clue. His pacing came to a halt as he heard the thump of a pair of feet rushing down the stairs. "I've got it! Not sure how I missed it before, but I've got it!" James whisper shouted. Sirius shook his head and said "Took ya long enough! How do you manage to lose something so valuable so quickly?!" James shook his head and said "Hey! Don't blame me! Sure it's my fault, but this thing is tricky to find! The second it gets even slightly wrapped around anything it goes invisible!" Sirius just sighed as James covered himself and Sirius in the invisibility cloak and said "Maybe you should make a secret drawer or something so that you won't lose it again. It'll stay visible, and if it doesn't then at least it's trapped somewhere where you can feel it without a problem." James paused, then said "Huh, you might be on to something there, Padfoot! But enough of that for now! Time to get mapping!" With that the duo set off to map out what they could over the course of the evening. Sirius found his mind drifting as they walked. He had mentally mapped these floors his first year to make sure he wouldn't get lost. Then again, getting lost was usually the best way to find the well hidden passageways and old, forgotten rooms. He had been absentmindedly wandering when he stumbled across the room he, James, and Peter used for their animagus training. Sirius shook himself from his thoughts as he and James passed by staircase number one hundred thirty eight. James marked the staircase on the map while Sirius began counting. He carefully walked, heal to toe, marking out the size of the room. This first room was the Armoury. Pacing along the walls of the room, passing the various suits of armour, he noticed just how varied the suits of armour were. While all of them were clearly ancient, relics of a time long past, they were unique to various time periods.

After the Armoury, the duo mapped out the Trophy Room. Once again, Sirius counted the steps as he paced along each wall. At each corner, he would give the number of steps and James would carefully draw out the line for the wall on the map. In the trophy room, the duo looked over the Quidditch Cup, proudly displaying the names of the winning team. Last year it had been Gryffindor. The pair traded smirks as they found their names among their teammates. They nodded, the unspoken agreement that this year they would win once more. Stepping away from the trophy case, they moved on to the next room. The Charms classroom was next in the hall, and was simple enough to map. They marked down the Clock Tower Entrance on their way down the hall, noting the size of the entryway as well as its distance from the rest of the rooms on this side of the corridor. Turning back, and pacing the walls of the corridor once more, James and Sirius found themselves facing the main entrance to the Library. James sighed and said "This is gonna be difficult to map out. It takes up two floors, so we'll need to mark out the stair cases as well... This might take up the rest of the night! You ready for this, Padfoot?" Sirius waved his wand in the shape of a backwards S and whispered "Alohomora!" The lock on the door clicked. When Sirius pushed it gently, it swung open just enough for the two boys to pass through. Sirius smirked at James and said "Do you even have to ask, Prongs?" James laughed and said "You're right. It was a stupid question." Once inside, James carefully closed the door before following Sirius. Sirius began counting quietly under his breath, as James slowly drew out the boundaries of the Library. Each time they passed a stair case, James made note of its location, including how far it was from the wall. After the first floor of the Library was completely mapped out, the duo headed upstairs to finish the job. To the tired teens it felt like an eternity of pacing and counting and mapping. But finally they finished mapping every inch of the Library and returned down the spiral staircase. The nearest rooms completed, the duo set about mapping out the rest of the Third Floor. With a bit of luck they would be able to complete this floor tonight. As they walked along the corridor, Sirius stopped to point out the One-Eyed Witch and the passage she guarded. James carefully jotted down the location, including a note on how to open the passage. Satisfied with their work, they continued on. Throughout the evening, James and Sirius mapped out the Third Floor Corridor, the Charms Corridor, the other Classroom, the floor's Storeroom, and the Gunhilda of Gorsemoor Corridor. As the night drew on, the pair took to double checking their numbers to ensure they had not miscounted in their exhausted state. Finally, the entire third floor was mapped out. Their mission a success, the two stumbled back up the many, many stairs to Gryffindor Tower. After convincing the Fat Lady to let them in, they staggered to the boy's dorm and collapsed on their beds. They were not going to get much sleep, but they figured it was a price worth paying for completing their work on time.

Lily yawned as she prepared for the day. Her hands fumbled with her tie as she tried to get dressed for breakfast, still half asleep. She had been having trouble sleeping lately. She kept having this reoccurring dream in which she lost everyone she cared for. In the dream, everything started out like the beginning of Summer Vacation; Petunia continuing to ignore her existence, while Lily makes plans to meet up with Severus to chat and enjoy the day. Then, all of a sudden, Petunia would come up to her and start chatting with her. She acted like she wanted to be close again, like they used to. Lily was overjoyed, but then, just as everything was going well, Petunia shoved Lily out of the way, crushing her heart once more. She shouted abuse before turning on her heals and marching away, ignoring Lily's pleas and remaining out of reach. Then Sirius was there, comforting Lily at first, before turning on her as well. He called her a fool, laughing at how she had thought she could form a family bond with anyone after her sister decided to leave her. Then he too turned and left. No matter how hard she tried to reach him, he always remained out of reach. Then Severus turned on her as well, saying she was unworthy of sharing the same space as him. Finally, Alice and Lydia took their turn. Each added to the insults of the other, dragging Lily down deeper and deeper into despair. She knew it was ridiculous to think they would ever act this way, but she couldn't shake the thought that if one's own family could abandon them over trivial matters than perhaps all the people she cared for could turn on her. Distressed, she snuck a note to Sirius during breakfast and returned to the Common Room early, citing a missing text book as her excuse. Sirius read her note, and quickly left the Great Hall. He muttered something about forgetting his favourite quill, too worried about Lily to make up a clear excuse. James, Remus, and Peter watched on, worried, but they figured he needed his space and would explain the situation to them later. Lily paced in the Common Room, waiting for Sirius to arrive. At least, she hoped he would arrive. The dream still had her shaken. Luckily everyone was down in the Great Hall and wouldn't pester her with pesky question. As her mind started to prepare for the worst, Sirius rushed through the portrait hole and straight to Lily's side. "Lily? What's wrong?! Your message wasn't very clear, what's bothering you?!" He said as he looked her over to make sure she wasn't physically hurt. Lily smiled at his concern and said "It's alright Sirius, I'm fine. It's just.... This is gonna sound utterly ridiculous, but I've been have nightmares. Well, one nightmare at least, every night since we came back." Lily sighed, somewhat shakily, before continuing. "It starts out like a normal day during summer vacation, then it shifts. All of a sudden, things change. Tunie tries to reconcile with me, and things go great, but a short while later she laughs at me and casts me aside. Then everyone starts abandoning me; Alice, Lydia, Severus, and... even you, Sirius. And it just kills me.... I suppose I couldn't help but worry that this might become a reality...." She trailed off as Sirius hugged her close. She returned the hug, trying not to cry, as he spoke. "Oh Lily, that will never happen! I'd never abandon you, no matter what! We're family, and family sticks together! You're friends won't leave you either, so you can just forget that entirely. I dunno about your sister, maybe someday you will reconcile, but for now you don't need to worry about her casting you out a second time. But your friends definitely won't leave you, and I never could either. Because I love you, sister." Lily hugged him tighter at this and said "I love you too, brother." Taking a step back, Sirius offered her his arm. Lily laughed and took it, allowing him to escort her out of the tower.