Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter eighty-two

a/n: again, if Peter becomes a death eater, it will be written out in detail

December 12, 1980 - Grimmauld Place 

Sirius had always hated Grimmauld Place. His entire life, he hated how dark that house was, with barely any windows which allowed for very little light to penetrate the walls, the way it was always cold, even in the middle of summer, the decor and those damned house-elf heads lining the walls... He hated it. 

The only reason why he had moved back in was for Nephera, the protection of the house was a hail-mary when your girlfriend was wanted dead by pretty much both sides of the war. Over time, more people moved in, Remus had stayed for a few weeks when he'd gotten kicked out of his apartment and couldn't find a new one, Peter often stayed the night, Dorcas and Marlene were staying there when Nephera had been obliviated by Riddle... And of course, James, Lily, and Harry had taken up permanent residence for the past few months. 

Through that, the house had seen more life than ever. Nephera's crystals lined the walls, the hammock hung up in the living room that he had brought over from their old house, their pictures all over the walls, Harry's toys and baby stuff strewn everywhere, James's cooking smelling heavenly from the kitchen. 

It was all changing now, though. Now, everything was changing again. It had been a tough few days for the group of five, trying to come to terms with the prophecy, with what the prophecy meant, with the fact that two of their friends would be going into hiding (Alice, Frank, and Neville had left yesterday, with Molly Weasley as their Secret Keeper, much to the charging of Dumbledore). 

They were all sat in the living room, none of them speaking yet, none of them knowing how to start the conversation. James, Lily, and Harry would be going into hiding that night, and Merlin knew when they'd be out, "Alright," sighed Nephera, breaking the silence, "Is the house set up?" 

James nodded, "Yes, we'll be going tonight. About Harry-" 

"Sirius and I will go to Knockturn today, get all we need," she explained, "You two shouldn't be here during this-" 

Lily slammed her coffee cup on the table, "I told you, no. We'll be there for it," 

"Lily, I don't think you understand how-" 

"What? How brutal it can get?" she snarked, "My son is personally wanted by Voldemort, Winchester, so don't talk to me about brutal," 

For once, the brunette didn't snap back when someone spoke to her that way. She couldn't understand exactly how Lily felt, but she could imagine, and it had to have been horrible, to say the least, "Love," said James, pacifying her for a moment and reminding her that they were all on the same side, "Walk us through it again, please," 

Nephera sighed, downing the rest of her drink and leaning forward, pulling open a couple of books, "Some of the spells are here," she pointed to a couple of different pages, "Some of the stuff I already have in the house, others we need to go get. It- there's no knowing how he will react, it'll hurt, but I'll try to be as gentle and quick as possible-" 

"What about a pain relief potion?" asked Lily, "I can whip one up-" 

"It's best not to mix magic of this kind with potions, the research is too little, and there's no way of knowing how they will react with each other," she said sympathetically, "After it's over, he might grow a fever for a couple of days. That's normal, and you can start treating it with potions after 12 hours. Don't worry about excessive crying, any redness or rashes, his magic might even start acting up," 

James nodded, holding Lily's hand tightly in his own, "Okay, okay. You- you go get the stuff, we'll pack the final boxes, and-" he couldn't finish the sentence, dropping his head down and trying to take some deep breaths, mostly unsuccessfully, "What the fuck are we doing, how the hell did it get to this?" he asked no one in particular