𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ~ 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

𝐈𝐈 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐈

Sirius Black 

After thirty minutes or so of walking around aimlessly, searching for signs of Leah or his cousins, Sirius decided to give up his search. 

Leah was a smart girl, so hopefully she'd be fine. There was no point searching for Bellatrix and Narcissa, as they were probably already gone through the vanishing cabinet. 

The vanish cabinet. That was an entirely different story. What was it doing in Hogwarts? How did it work? Who placed it there? 

These questions swirled through Sirius's mind as he made his way back to the Gryffindor common room. He climbed up the steps in front of the Slytherin common room. He cursed himself for being so stupid. Why did he think taking Leah out of her dorm in late hours would be a good idea? Especially with the death eater after her. If she got hurt, it would be all his fault. 

By the time he made it to the Gryffindor common room, he was tired. Part of Sirius was hoping that Leah would be in the common room, safe. 

Sirius removed the cloak. As soon as he went through the portrait hole, he discovered his wish was very wrong. 

His friends were standing on one side of the room, their wands drawn. When they saw Sirius, their eyes widened, then focused again on something on the other side of the room. 

Sirius followed their gaze to find a masked Death Eater, a dagger in one hand, wand in the other. The mask gave him chills. Sirius now wished he never took off the cloak, so he could attack the Death Eater by surprise. 

"Well, well, well," the Death Eater said in a raspy voice. "Look who decided to show up," 

Sirius dropped the cloak and joined his friends. "You!" He shouted, his body full of rage. "You attacked Leah!" 

The death eater chuckled. "Your girlfriend? Yeah, I did. She proved tougher than I thought." The masked attacker advanced closer to them. James stood protectively in front of his friends. Remus and Sirius stood right behind him, and Peter was curled over in fright near the back. 

"Who are you?" James yelled. "What do you want?" 

Before the death eater could reply, he keeled over and fell with a large thump. James looked around, trying to find the source of the nonverbal spellcaster. Lily Evans popped out of the girls dorm staircase, holding her wand like a sword. Alice and Marlene trailed behind her. 

"Is he dead?" Remus asked the girls as they approached. The Marauders slowly inched closer to the fallen death eater, still suspicious. 

"No, Remus, I'm not a killer." Lily said, slightly offended. "Bewitched sleep. He'll wake up in a few hours. So one of you grab, his wand and dagger." 

Sirius ran ahead, taking the dagger and wand, then pocketing them. Lily stepped forward, and pulled the mask off. 

A young man's face was revealed, looking barely older than twenty. His eyes were shut in a magically induced sleep. 

Sirius didn't recognize him, but apparently the girls did. 

"Steven..." Marlene whispered. 

"Who's Steven?" James and Sirius asked simultaneously. 

"Christina's ex." Alice answered. "She was dating him while her family was on the run. Leah and Reagan got settled here again, Steven broke up with her. Christina never knew why," 

"I guess now we do," Lily said, staring in shock at Steven. "He was an undercover death eater the whole time, dating Christina for info on her family,"

"That's so sad." Marlene said. "Christina never knew,"