Getting Sirius

26.7K 1.2K 4.2K
                                    


Getting Sirius



Lily and James hurried through the dark of the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, their wands held high. James was trying desperately to think of how he was supposed to attract the attention of Sirius without getting that of Remus Lupin's as well. He hoped the boys hadn't decided to leave the Shack tonight as they'd done before... He clutched the parchment they'd torn down from the Fat Lady's frame in one hand, along with the Marauders's Map, his knuckles white as he gripped his glowing wand.

When they reached the tunnel, he'd thought of nothing spectacular to do, and so he decided the best thing was to unlatch the trap door and open it just enough to call for Sirius. "Stay low," he commanded Lily, pointing a few feet away, "Don't come too close. And if I say run, you bloody run. I mean it."

Lily rolled her eyes, "You're being far too dramatic about this whole --"

"Evans. For Remus's sake, okay? If I say run, you bloody run."

She didn't argue when he put it that way and she hovered a couple feet away from where he stood, half up the little ladder that led up into the Shack, his shaking hand on the latch for the door. He took a deep breath, and then pushed it open slowly. The door creaked and moonlight pooled in his eyes as he peeked through the small gap between trapdoor and floor...

"Are they there?" Lily whispered.

"Shh," James said, sticking a finger across his mouth to quiet her. He looked back up and saw, far off across the Shack, the lumpy form of two dogs laying before the ash-filled fireplace in a small nest of blankets - the grey wolf tangled about in the limbs of the shaggy black dog. A lump rose up in James's throat and he glanced back at Lily, wondering what she would think of Snuffles... trying to decide how he might warn her... or else warn Sirius that she was there so he could transform before she saw him... But nothing came to mind and he turned back to the two dogs. Please don't hate me if Evans finds out about you, he thought... Then he called out lowly, "Sirius... Sirius... Pssst. Sirius..."

The shaggy black dog's ear twitched.

"Sirius... come," James tried... and he smirked with humor.

Lily rolled her eyes. "He's not a dog, bloody hell, you can't just say come and expect a ruddy person to do it!"

James looked over at her, one eyebrow raised.

James had all he could do to bite his tongue.

He turned back to calling Sirius. "Siiiiii-riiiii-uuuuuus."

The dog looked up, lifting his head from the wolf's neck to peer through the dark with his grey eyes. The dog looked quite surprised to see James's face peeking out the trap door and so he got up, extricating himself from the knot of limbs he'd created on the bed of blankets with Remus. The dog shook off his coat on his way over to the trap door... James glanced down at Lily in the tunnel, then said, "Sirius, Lily and I are here."

The dog stopped.

"Peter's missing."

The dog's eyes flashed to look into James's.

"We need your help in rescuing Peter."

The dog looked back at Remus, still fast asleep by the hearth, and he hesitated... then turned back into a person. Immediately, Sirius held up his finger to indicate just one minute and James blushed to see Sirius was shirtless, wearing only his undershorts and he scrambled to snap up his clothes from various places they'd dropped about the room.

The Marauders: Year FourWhere stories live. Discover now