Not Alone After All

Chapter XVIII

"I-I can't," she said. Stop stuttering, she told herself. "I gotta get back to school. They don't even know I'm gone, I wasn't supposed to come with." This earned another smirk from Sirius, who had now walked to the broken bed in the room. There was a chair not too far from it, and Laura was mentally debating herself on whether she should go back or stay and listen as Sirius explained himself.

"Well, let me tell you something," he said, his voice coarse. "If you want to get out there without getting attacked by that crazy tree, you're gonna need my help."

"Why do you say that?" She asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"There is a small button you have to press inside of the tree if you want to get through it," Sirius explained. "Trust me, I've spent years of my life in those woods, I know them very well."

"Because of Moony," Laura guessed. "Every full moon." Sirius smiled.

"Yeah, because of Moony," he agreed. His smile turned sad, for a second, but he quickly faked a happy one, not wanting Laura to see him like that. Little did he know that she did notice, she simply decided not to comment on it.

"So I'm stuck here until you decide I've heard enough and that you'll help me?" Laura asked him. Sirius nodded. "You do see that whatever you tell me now, whether you're innocent or not, you are taking your dead best friends' daughter hostage, yes?" She told him with a smirk. Laura thought he was going to be scared of screwing things up and was gonna let her go, but instead, he just smirked back at her.

"I like you," he told her. "And I don't like a lot of people, you should be proud."

"I'm going to get in so much trouble," she murmured to herself. Laura shook her head, taking the chair next to his bed, crossing her arms and legs. "Go ahead, convince me."

Sirius took a deep breath, not really knowing how to start.

"I didn't kill your parents."

Bad start.

"No shit," she told him flatly. "I know you didn't, our friend the Dark Lord did. Tell me something I don't know."

"No, you don't understand," Sirius started again. "I didn't betray your parents. I was no longer the secret keeper when they were sold out to Voldemort," he said. "It was Peter Pettigrew." Laura frowned.

"I thought he was your friend," she said. Sirius nodded.

"As did we all. But apparently he was working for the Dark Lord all along. He told him where James and Lily were hiding Harry." Sirius looked down and took his head in his hands. "James was my best friend, I had to spend months away from him, not to let them know the place, just for Peter to go ahead and sell them out."

"So you attacked him," Laura guessed.

"I couldn't just do nothing, and I knew they were already going to throw me in Azkaban for your parents deaths.." he trailed out, lifting his head to take a long look at Laura. "You look so much like your mother," he commented, making her smile. "But that smile, that's your father's. I'm guessing you have his annoying laugh too, which is quite depressing, but at least you don't look like him," Sirius blurted out, earning a small laugh from Laura. "Yep, that's your father. God, how unfortunate you are."

Laura scoffed at him. She wondered how this man who had been through so much could make jokes at a time like this. He was a Marauder, after all, but he was being chased all around the country, even by the muggles. Everyone was after him, and they were ordered to shoot on sight, so to speak.

Laura couldn't quite explain how, but she had begun to trust him. She believed Sirius' story. He was her father's best friend, why would he kill him? But the again, so was Peter.

Laura turned back to Sirius, who seemed to be focused on the crest on her green scarf.

"You're in Slytherin," he sort of said out loud. Laura frowned.

"Really? You're the fugitive and you're judging my house?" She raised both her eyebrows at him.

"No I-"

"Shush, I don't wanna hear it," Laura shushed him. "Now come on and help me out of here, or I'll tell Moony what you've been up to lately."