Courage

-71-

Book: Courage
Chapter 71
Word Count: 5221

As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, Layla's mood began to drop. She'd enjoyed her Christmas spent with the Weasleys, with her dad, with Sirius, with Tonks...

For Layla, going back to school would mean placing herself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence; there was no Quidditch to look forward to now that she had been banned, there was every likelihood that their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer.

On the very last day of holidays, Ginny came barging into Layla's room, causing Layla to jump and immediately push something under her bed.

"Oh! Gin, can't you knock?"

"Sorry," said Ginny guiltily. "Was that the Cedric box that you were looking at...?"

"Yeah," said Layla vaguely, shrugging. "Um, what's up? Did you need something?"

"Right," Ginny seemed to remember why she had barged into the room. "Snape's here."

"Huh?"

"Snape," said Ginny. "He's just come inside. Come on, he might still be in the hall."

So, the two girls hurried out of the room and to the staircase. They looked down, spotting three figures downstairs. It was easy to identify Snape's long black cloak and hooked nose. Layla noticed that the other two down there were Sirius and Harry. Sirius looked furious, Harry confused. Snape's long oily hair hid his expression. Snape led the way down the corridor out of sight, the other two following close behind.

"What do you reckon that's all about?" wondered Ginny, but Layla had no clue.

Ginny was distracted, however, a quarter hour later when Mr Weasley returned from the hospital with Mrs Weasley.

"Dad!" she said brightly. "They fixed you then."

"Sure did," he hugged his only daughter.

"We should go find Harry," said Mrs Weasley. "I'm sure he'll want to know that you're okay."

They went downstairs and opened the door to the kitchen.

"Cured!" said Mr Weasley happily. "Completely cured!"

They paused. Sirius and Snape both had their wands pointed at one another, and Harry was clearly trying to force them both apart. Layla wasn't sure why she was surprised.

"Merlins beard," said Mr Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, "what's going on here?"

Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands. Layla looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel and swept back across the kitchen, leaving. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.

"What's been going on?" asked Mr Weasley again.

"Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends." With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. "So... you're cured? That's great news, really great."

"Yes, isn't it?" said Mrs Weasley, leading her husband forward to a chair. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she added, rather menacingly.

"Yes, Molly, dear," said Mr Weasley meekly.

That night's meal should have been a cheerful one, with Mr Weasley back amongst them. Layla could tell Sirius was trying to make it so, yet when he was not forcing himself to laugh loudly at Fred and George's jokes or offering everyone more food, his face fell back into a moody, brooding expression.