The markings scattered his back, interlocking and over-layering to weave a tapestry of anguish and indescribable pain.
As she opened her eyes, the comforting smell of coffee and parchment filled her nose. For the first time in 5 years she had opened...
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Sirius paced back and forth in front of the fire, staring intently down at the floor. The Gryffindor common room was virtually empty apart from himself, Remus, and Harper. The other two Gryffindor sat on the sofa in front of him, not speaking a word but tightly gripping each other's hands.
"We should tell Dumbledore." Remus suggested quietly, shattering the silence.
"We should tell James, Lily, and Peter." Sirius stopped in his tracks. Harper pursed her lips, "The more people who know, the more people who get dragged into this mess. I shouldn't have told you two in the first place; this is all really dangerous."
"Don't be stupid, of course it's better we know. We can help... Although I don't know how." Sirius sat down in front of the fireplace, facing the other two. "Even if we can't do anything, we're here for you." Remus offered with the faintest trace of a comforting smile.
She sighed weakly, "Thanks, I suppose."
"We should tell the others though." Sirius drew their attention back to the matter. "What? Surely we should tell a professor first, they'll know what to do." Remus frowned. "James will be pissed if he doesn't find out." Sirius shook his head disapprovingly.
"Weirdly..." Remus scoffed, "I think that's the least of our worries at the moment."
"She could get expelled if any professors find out. Then Harper will be at home with a bunch of Death Eaters." "Charming." Remus tutted.
Harper ran her hands through her hair, "I told you two because I trust you most, but you're not being very helpful."
"Sorry." Remus spoke softly, leaning gently into her side as they sat on the sofa, illuminated slightly by the fire. "What do you want us to do?" Sirius asked.
"I think we should at least tell Lily. She might know what to do." Harper mumbled.
"I bet she'll say go to Dumbledore." Remus whispered under his breath.
It was nearly nine o'clock by the time Lily and James returned from their various head boy and girl duties. Harper, Remus, and Sirius had all remained sat in the common room, the anxiety biting away at any feeling of hunger.
"What are you guys doing? Looks like someone died." James laughed, throwing himself down on the sofa between Remus and Harper.
"Well, actually, Prongs..." Remus began slowly.
Lily frowned, tucking a long strand of her red hair behind one ear as she assessed the situation before asking, "What's wrong? Something is wrong."
"About that..." Sirius chuckled slightly nervously, glancing around the room.
"We should probably talk somewhere private. Somewhere where nobody can overhear us." Harper whispered, gesturing to some second and third year students that sat in the far corner of the room.
James furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What's going on?" "We can't explain until we're alone." Remus hissed.
"But-" "James." Lily spoke, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
"Alright, alright, fine." The boy pushed his glasses up his nose and then held his hands up in a surrender pose. James sighed, lifting himself to his feet and turning around to the younger students in the room, "Hey, listen, we need you all to go up to your dormitories now. I'm Head Boy so you kind of have to. Not sorry. Bye bye now." He waved off the other Gryffindor students as the huffed disapprovingly before leaving the group of Marauders alone.
"Thanks." Harper smiled softly at him. James sat back down and Lily stood behind the sofa, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Sirius took position in front of the fireplace, standing before all his friends. Even though it wasn't his story, he knew Harper much appreciated him explaining the situation instead of her.
"So... You guys know about the Death Eaters, right?"
"I think I'm going to be sick." James mumbled to himself once Sirius had finished explaining everything he knew in as much detail as possible. "Not helping." Remus swatted the boys hands down so he wasn't mimicking vomiting anymore.
Harper turned from where she sat on the sofa to face Lily who stood behind, "So now you know." She offered with a nervous laugh.
"Harper, I'm lost for words. I can't believe you went through all that and I never even knew." She whispered, her mouth hanging slightly agape.
"So, Evans, any suggestions?" Sirius folded his arms. The redhead turned to face the shaggy boy, "What do you mean?"
"Come on, Lils. We've come to you really, for your advice. I think we should go to Dumbledore." Remus explained. Lily hummed for a moment, in thought.
Harper tugged her bottom lip through her teeth, "If Dumbledore knows, then he'll be obligated to tell the Aurors at the Ministry. I don't want to see my family arrested." "That's a good point." James added, running a hand through his hair to spike it up more.
"Technically none of your family has done anything wrong other than your uncle. I'm sure there's no law against just having Voldemort in your home." Lily suggested, knowing that what she wasn't saying wasn't entirely true. If word got out that Harper's family had even entertained the idea of becoming Death Eaters, their reputation would be tainted forever. The Ministry would see Harper's family as a potential threat and could arrest them just for that.
"My grandparents though... They support that sort of pure blood mania... There's no way they'll admit they were wrong." Harper held her head in her hands, completely lost.
"It's late, Harper. I'm sure we're all tired. Let's... Let's sleep on it, have a brainstorm, and get back to it tomorrow. We'll figure something out. Just give us a bit of time to thoroughly think everything through, then we'll be able to figure out the best thing to do." Suggested Lily, leaning over to place a comforting hand on Harper's arm.
"Yeah..." Harper nodded, "Yeah, you're right. This is too stressful."
"Regrouping at breakfast then?" James pushed himself up to his feet, making sure the group were all in agreement, "And we'll catch Peter up too."
"Yeah where is he? I could have sworn he wasn't in the dorm." Sirius shook his head with confusion. Remus pointed out, "To be fair, we probably didn't look very hard."
"Right, night then." Lily smiled, "You coming, Harper?" "In a minute, yeah... You go on up."
Lily nodded again before disappearing up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Sirius glanced from Harper to Remus, concern etched over his features, before following James up to the boy's dormitory.
"It's weird being back. So much has changed." She mumbled quietly as she rose to her feet, stretching her arms out in front of her. Remus chuckled, "It's kind of scary this is our last year. Scary in a good way, I think."
Truthfully, the boy was painfully aware of how he would struggle in the working world with his lycanthropy. He dreamed of what he might do and what he'd love to pursue as a career, but knew he wouldn't be able to hold down a permanent job as a result of having to leave every month during the full moon. Yet now was far from the right time to share his concerns with Harper.
"Scary in a good way." She mused, "I have no idea what I'm going to do... Especially if I can't go home. I don't know what to do." Her face fell at the thought.
"Listen, it'll be fine. We're all here for you, Harp." Remus pressed a chaste kiss to Harper's forehead. She forced out a faint trace of a smile, "Thank you, really."
"Of course... We'd all do anything for each other." He spoke softly.
"I love you." Harper held her hands on either side of his face and guided his lips down to meet hers. Remus mumbled against her mouth, "I love you too." Before connecting their lips.
