GOOD DOG || Sirius Black

(Thirty Four: Abditory)

Abditory: a place into which you can disappear, a hiding place.

{===}

Alex woke up the day after the full moon in the bunker under the Fawley House.

It had been made during the Cold War to withstand a nuclear blast, so the concept of a slightly pissed off teenage werewolf hadn't been that daunting in the Fawley's search for a secure lockup. She groaned as she pulled herself upwards, entire body aching from the beating her kidneys had taken in the transformation. It was always the goddamn kidneys.

The insides of the bunker were pale and cold-looking, as if something had leeched all the colour from the walls. All the furniture had been moved out, so Alex was left with the frozen benches that had been cut into the sides. A small safe rested at her feet. She wondered if her wolf-self had been playing with it like a dog with a ball, but she quickly dismissed that theory.

The one good thing about werewolves- they're really bad at tapping in key codes. She unlocked the safe quickly, pulling on the change of clothes just inside and knocking on the large steel door at one end of the room. 

Her dad opened it, paintbrush tucked behind his ear, two coffee cups in hand and a grin on his face, "What's the time, Mr Wolf?"

"Time you got a new joke." Alex smiled tiredly at him, "You've been using that one for ages."

Her father looked aghast as he handed Alex her mug and tapped her on the top of the head, ushering her upstairs, "Mini-Fawley, I am offended. We have rules in this house. Respect your elders."

"'Respect your elders'?" Alex quoted back at him, climbing the stairs. There was a blanket and a pillow on the floor outside the bunker. Alex thought with a pang about her dad sleeping out there all night, waiting for her, "Is that why you broke Grandma Fawley's vase last week?"

Mike Fawley gave her a stern look, "Not a word to your mother."

"Scouts honour." Alex promised.

"The thing was ghastly anyway." Mike continued, "'We all have darkness inside of us. We need only find those who give us light'? Who puts that on a thing for putting flowers in?"

"Apparently Grandma Fawley." Alex thought with a shiver. Along with the Black siblings, she had scoured the entire house for clues and hidden messages yesterday, and nothing. Not a word or a picture or a conveniently placed 'How to destroy Dark Lords: The Protagonist Manuel for the Unwillingly Recruited Good Guy'. Alex was really starting to hate her Grandmother.

Mike clapped her on the shoulder when they reached the ground floor, "Straight up to your bedroom, Scamp."

"What?" Alex whined, making puppy dog eyes, "But I want breakfast. I'm hungry."

As if to illustrate her point, her stomach growled.

"See?" Alex implored her father beseechingly.

Mike Fawley sighed, clearly divided, "Your mother has a guest over. You need to be upstairs."

"Why would she invite someone over today?" Alex grumbled, stomping up the stairs.

"To be fair," Mike Fawley commented, following his daughter, "He invited himself more than anything."

Alex's ears pricked up at that. Death Eaters. This was her chance to prove to Sirius, once and for all, that her family wanted nothing to do with the Dark Lord. She waited until her dad had bustled off somewhere to finish a drawing before slipping through a side door and back downstairs.