On December Something

The Last Time

June 15th 1978
The Leaky Cauldron

They just stood there. They were unsure of what to do. They were completely zoned in on each other and their needs. Sirius realized what he had to do and this is exactly as he had feared. He had been happy to see her there at the party but he knew that she wouldn't have been safe there. He knew it. This proved it.

As the curses flew by them, he knew he had to hide her and the only place safe for her would be in that very alley way. He pulled her hand, gripping it firmly, and hurrying her to the back of the alley to hide behind a mess of cardboard boxes. This was all he could do.

"I need you to stay here," he instructed.

"What about Lily and James?" Petunia asked, glancing nervously at the men in dark coats that were firing incantations at former students.

"I'm going in to find them. You can't move from this spot, do you understand?"

"Can't I help?" Petunia asked, clearly shaken.

"No," he stated firmly.

"But can't I-"

"No!" He shouted.

He hadn't meant to be so firm with her but he needed her to stay here. He needed her safe. He leaned in to kiss her forehead gently and placed his forehead on hers.

"Come back to me," she whispered.

It was so quiet that he almost missed it. He nodded and touched her cheek before hurrying off through a backdoor into the pub. Petunia just sat there. She sat there for a few minutes but it felt like hours. She couldn't stand it. She stood from her spot in the alley and hurried off towards the back door into the pub.

Opening the door, she was nearly hit by a blue light that had gone zooming by her head. She fell against the doorframe and hurried past the couple dueling in the corner. She looked around as fights were continuously breaking out, various colors of light zoomed past her in every angle as she searched the crowd for a familiar face.

James was dueling a few people in a corner that he was backed into and Sirius was fighting just as many. It wasn't until she saw Lily fighting on the loft above that she hurried up the stairs to help her sister. As soon as she got up there she saw Lily's wand fly out of her hand and land in front of her.

She felt helpless. She wanted to help more than anything but she didn't know how. The closer the robed witches got to Lily the more panicked Petunia got. She searched the room for something. Anything. Her eyes landed on the two windows behind them and wanted to at least try to break them. She ran forward to stand in front of her sister.

"Petunia! What are you doing?!" Lily shouted as Petunia shoved her out of the way.

At the sound of her name, Sirius looked up to see Petunia standing in front of several of the cloaked figures. His blood ran cold and he could have sworn that his heart stopped. He tried to hurry up there but he wasn't done with the ones that stood in front of him. They kept him blocked against the wall.

"Stay away from my sister," she threatened them.

They just laughed when they noticed that she wasn't holding a wand. Petunia closed her eyes and thought about their laughter, her sister on the floor shouting her name, and her boyfriend fighting for his life below her. All of the emotions ran through her veins and controlled her senses. She was going to break the glass and the shards were going to pierce them. At least, that's what she had planned.

Her hands lifted involuntarily and flames emerged in a circle around her and the cloaked figures. Her eyes widened and she screamed. This wasn't supposed to happen. They started to freak out slightly as their cloaks caught on fire and they didn't have a chance to escape. The loft was starting to give way.