the secret of Erised {s.b.}

chapter 26: the truth

It felt like a déjà vu, waiting outside the Hospital Wing until he could see Esmeralda.

Only a few hours ago Sirius had noticed that Esmeralda wasn't playing with the Thesrals like he was in Care of Magical Creatures. He asked James and Remus if she had told them that she had to go to the bathroom or something, but they had no idea where she was. That's when he noticed that a particular group of Slytherin students weren't in class either. Immediately, Sirius began to search for Esmeralda close to where the class was taking place, but not too far. James and Remus followed their friend close behind.

He knew that the only way to find her quickly would be to transform into his Animagus form. That way he could follow her smell. Hopefully, she had just gone up to the castle without saying anything to him, but he had no idea how wrong he was.

Sirius shifted into his Animagus form and his nostrils were filled with Esmeralda's scent a couple of meters deeper into the Forbidden Forest. James and Remus looked over their shoulders just to make sure that no one had seen Sirius change and then followed him as he followed Esmeralda's scent.

They quickly reached a clearing where three Slytherin students were close to a body laying on the ground. Sirius barked loudly at them and they jumped back, revealing that the body belonged to Esmeralda. Although Sirius wanted to shift into his human form again, he knew he had to remain disguised as a dog in order to keep their secret safe. He growled at the Slytherin students and they turned around.

"Snivellus," James said once he recognised the greasy-haired boy, "Step away from Mer."

"What did you do to her ?" Remus said as he quickly approached the witch's unconscious body.

"Potter, Lupin," he said, "We're only here because we saw her leave the class. She was running in this direction by herself. We didn't want her to get lost or anything of the sort."

Sirius furiously growled at them.

"Keep your bitch calm, Potter," Walden Macnair, another Slytherin boy, said.

"Shut it, Macnair," James replied, "What did you do to her ?"

"We did nothing," Macnair replied in an innocent way, "We found her like this."

By now, Remus had carefully picked up Esmeralda from the ground and walked back to where James and Sirius were.

"C'mon, Prongs, we have to take her to the Hospital Wing," he said.

James glared at the Slytherin boys in front of him and so did Sirius.

"Alright," James accepted, "But don't think for one second that I'm not unto you, Snivellus."

"Please, Potter," Snape replied, "Why would we bother in causing that blood traitor any harm ?"

"The real question is; why wouldn't you ?" James snapped back.

With one final glare, James, Remus, and Sirius (who was still in his Animagus form) turned around and began to walk out of the Forbidden Forest. Once the Slytherins were out of sight, Sirius turned back to his human form. They quickly yelled to Professor Kettleburn that they were going to the Hospital Wing when they passed their class.

Sirius wanted to be the one to carry Esmeralda to the Hospital Wing, but he knew that if he stopped Remus just to say that he'd be delaying Esmeralda's arrival to the Hospital Wing. The best thing he could do was run to the Hospital Wing as fast as he could to warm Madame Pomfrey. He was not pleased about the similarities between what had just happened and the events that unfolded after Esmeralda got out of the Mirror. He wondered if she would have to stay in the Hospital Wing for months as she did back in December.