jemina // sirius black

eighteen

You didn't think I'd make you suffer through a cliffhanger for two days, did you?

chapter eighteen - full moon

We were all out of the shack, sitting under the immobilized Whomping Willow. 

Sirius and Harry had turned back to us, my husband smiling widely as I raised an eyebrow to him. His entire expression was so easily readable; he was happy. 

I made eye contact with Harry as he started to come towards me. 

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Aubrey tell me?"

"I wanted to, of course, but... Albus forbade it. There are a lot of things that you don't particularly know yet. One day you will, but it isn't my place to tell you. I do hope that you know that I wish, more than anything, that we could take you in. No matter how much Sirius and I want you to be apart of our family, to live with us, you can't."

"Why not? Sirius just said -"

"I am sorry, Harry. Albus would never allow it, even if Petunia wanted nothing more than to hand you over to us, she can't. Our door is always open to you, but not for permanent residence. I wish I could have extended that to you much sooner, but... As I said, you must stay at Privet Drive."

Harry frowned as he looked to Aubrey, "You made her promise to tell me, didn't you?"

"I made everyone promise. Hermione and Ron have known... forever. I thought you would have found out by looking at the Daily Prophet. They ran far too many articles about how I lost James, far too many about how my husband betrayed us," I looked to Sirius again as he approached. I smiled weakly, "It's been a nightmare, the entire world believing that I married a monster. I've always known that Peter was their Secret-Keeper. It was my idea."

"Why?"

"Sirius was my Secret-Keeper. Voldemort wanted me dead long before you were even born. I knew that if Sirius was both of our Secret-Keepers, he would never be allowed out. Not even into our backyard. He would never see James, and I couldn't do that."

"Why weren't you the Secret-Keeper for my parents?"

"That's a story for anoth-"

"Mum!"

I looked to Esme who was staring into the sky. Her voice was laced with a panicked fear, and once I looked to the sky, I knew why. 

Not a single thought crossed my mind before I had my arms tightly wrapped around Remus, who was shaking. We had been through this before, but never in front of the girls. 

Never without wolfsbane. 

"GO! Sirius, you have to take them to the castle, NOW!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"I have twelve years of experience with this over you, take them now!"

Harry shouted my name, but it was too late. Peter had lunged forward, grabbed my wand from my pocket, and transformed back into a rat. He ran down the hill, and Harry went to go after him. 

"No, you need to go back to the castle, Harry! It's not safe."

Remus looked down at me and frowned as Harry went back to his friends and Sirius. I made eye contact with him, and he furrowed his eyebrows deeply. 

How long had it been since he had changed without wolfsbane? 

Even I couldn't remember. 

I could feel Remus' joints cracking, and he held back any noises as he watched me. I knew what he was going to do moments before he shoved me away from him, full force. It was the first time that Remus had ever been anything but gentle with me, but I understood why.