A Little Bit of Magic [siriusblackxreader]

10 - Learning Ways to Escape

"To Sirius," she started writing on a slip of paper. "Meet me by the gates at 9pm tonight. Bring your wand and wear something warm. Don't tell anyone. See you then." Y/n signed off the note and sent it with her owl, Feathers. She was very vague with what she wrote - she had started to be a lot more since the number of Dark Wizards was rising along with letter interceptions. Given it was only a note inviting him to practice apparation with her, it wasn't too important. However, she also didn't want another student to know they were 'sneaking out' because he gets into far too much trouble already.

It was early evening on a Sunday so she had high hopes that he'd be free but, for all she knows, he could be at a party or spending time with his friends or he might not want to go at all. 

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Nine o'clock arrived shortly, so she wrapped herself in a long coat and scarf. She collected the great ring of keys she had borrowed from Hagrid earlier in the day, and began sauntering down to Hogwarts gates. The view of the castle through the iron gates caused a sense of fear to flood through her as if she was doing something illegal; breaking a student out of the safety of the castle wasn't illegal per say, but she felt uneasy about it.

What if something were to happen to him? No one would know he was out of Hogwarts in the first place and, in that case, she'd receive the deserving blame. But the importance of succeeding in apparation overruled that - if he got himself into a nasty situation, he could simply 'blip' out. 

She hid behind a tree on the edge of the forest, breathing heavily, and holding the keys tightly against her chest to avoid them jangling if they got hit by the bitter wind. She couldn't be noticed by the wrong person, it would be awfully suspicious.

"Y/n..." she heard someone whisper. "Y/n..." they repeated after gaining no response. The voice was deep and she was pretty certain of whom it belonged to, but the whipping weather shrouded her confirmation. Yes it was probably Sirius given that it was currently 9, nevertheless, she remained wary.

Hesitantly, she turned to see a figure lurking on the opposing side of the gate, "It is you, Sirius, isn't it?" 

"Who else would it be, you numpty?" he quietly chuckled, "How do you intend for me to get out?" They met on either side of the bars - 6 inches between their faces. She noticed he was wearing a black leather jacket with a pair of jeans - he looked rather fine. 

"The keys. Hagrid let me borrow them in exchange for the family of Bowtruckles hiding in my garden hedge." she held them up for him to see. "I'll pass them through the bars and you need to put the right one in the lock."

Sirius reached through one of the gaps and grasped onto the ring. He didn't seem to anticipate the weight of the keys and ended up carelessly bashing them into the gate, a loud clanging sound vibrating off the metal.

"You buffoon! The whole point was to be quiet!" she hissed, frantically looking around to see if anyone had heard. Luckily not a creature stirred. He sent a dramatic eye roll to her, now focusing on the ring of keys.

"How am I supposed to know which one opens the gate?" he cluelessly asked.

"Well if you looked-"

"I did! It's just too dark-" he interrupted.

"Lumos." she uttered, pushing her wand through another gap until it hovered over the set of keys, "It's the one with HG engraved on the handle - Hogwarts' Gates."

Sirius closely inspected the keyring, flicking through the vast range keys, each very different from the last with their metal ornately sculpted for decoration. Supposedly the one for the kitchen had the little saucepans on, the one for the greenhouses had a screaming mandrake root on, and the emergency key for the Gryffindor common room had a roaring lion on.