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2ND PLACE WINNER OF 4 GALLEONS - RONSMYMAN
A Duel of Dual Emotions
<<CRACK!!!>>
The bone broke and the young red-headed boy toppled into the tunnel, onto Sirius’ back. His tired frame sagged almost to the ground under the weight of the boy and the weight of the guilt that toppled upon him as heavily as the boy had. He had only meant to hurt one person tonight, and in order to get to that one person he was having to harm more people than he had planned on.
The thing that weighed most heavily on his heart, however, was the face of his godson. For the first time since James’ and Lily’s deaths, Sirius had gotten a close look at the product of their procreation. His resemblance to James had sent shivers down Sirius’ back. In his moment’s pause of contemplation he heard a bit of shuffling outside the tree. The Whomping Willow was trying to attack something. Sirius knew that if Harry had even an ounce of James’ valor, he would find the way into the shack and save his friend.
Sirius' goal flooded back into his mind and with renewed energy he rushed down the tunnel, the red-headed boy’s arm still held tightly in his teeth. He slipped through the opening and through the first room. As he arrived at the foot of the stairs, he heard the voices of Harry and the girl as they dropped into the tunnel. For a brief moment, pride for his godson surged through Sirius. The feeling was soon wiped away, however, by the urgency of his mission.
He dragged the poor shocked boy up the stairs, trying not to jostle the battered leg too much, finally reaching his destination, he deposited his prize on the floor next to a splintered bed frame occupied by a shredded mattress.
A slight movement rustled the boy’s pocket and hunger for revenge flooded Sirius’ mind, throwing out all thoughts of his pursuers. He backed up on all fours, transfiguring as he did so. Soon instead of his quiet paws, the rustle of his dirty rags were heard on the floor as he crawled backward, licking his lips hungrily. He didn’t notice the boy’s eyes widen in horror as the person he’d been taught to fear almost as much as the Dark Lord appeared before him. He didn’t notice that the footsteps and voices of Harry and the girl were getting closer and closer. All of his attention was focused on the small lump in the boy’s pocket. It was starting to move more and more, as if it sensed the gaze, and felt the hatred flowing from the Sirius' eyes.
It was only when the two pursuers burst into the room and his captive started talking in a loud frightened voice that Sirius was summoned back to the reality of the situation. These three children would have to be dealt with somehow. He stood up as the red-headed one was warning the others to run away, with a swift motion he shut the door, and pointed the boy’s wand at the trio, thankful that he had not been too distracted to take it from him. He quickly disarmed his young, unprepared opponents.
Still pointing the wand at them, Sirius approached the trio, concentrating his gaze on Harry. “I thought you’d come and help your friend. Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I’m grateful...it will make everything much easier...”
The words came out hoarse and sinister, Sirius hadn’t spoken in ages, and what was meant as a sincere comment came out as a cruel taunt. He knew that Harry had seen it as such. His godson's face was clouded with hate; he was fighting to free himself from the grasp of his two friends, to physically attack Sirius.
Suddenly the red-head hoisted himself into a standing position, broken leg and all, and declared that Sirius would have to kill them too if he was going to kill Harry. The young boy stirred memories of Sirius’ own youth and the countless times that he had stood up for James in like fashion. He had never had to offer his life, but if the opportunity had arisen, he would have jumped at the chance. Then the memory of the dreadful truth came to him. He had been offered the chance, and he had turned it down, had given it to another, weaker being, who had sold the chance for a bit of power. His resolve cemented, he looked back into Harry’s eyes.
He quietly told the red-haired boy to lay down and save his leg, but the boy’s resolve seemed to be as firm as his own. As he tried to convince the trio that only one murder would take place that night, Harry’s rage erupted and torrents of accusations were spewed upon Sirius, adding to the guilt of his conscience, and throwing his emotions off guard. His godson hated him, for good reasons perhaps, but still the evident hatred had not hit him so hard until it had been articulated. Suddenly Harry lunged at Sirius who was unprepared for this physical attack. He was thrown to the ground and punched incessantly, until the Azkaban-born demon inside of him awoke and swelled momentarily to the surface. He grabbed Harry’s throat and squeezed, forgetting himself, forgetting his duty to the human being he was depriving of air.
Then in a split second the tables turned. Before he knew what had happened, Sirius’ air was knocked out of him, the red head was lying in subdued convulsions of pain, having thrown himself on Sirius’ wand arm, and Harry was standing in front of him, wand in hand. The power he held in this position made the young boy look a lot taller than he had a few moments earlier. He yelled at his friends to move, his wand pointed directly at Sirius’ heart, an organ which was thumping heavily with fear that he might die before accomplishing the one thing he desired above all.
He looked into the boy’s eyes and tried to explain, Harry would hear none of it. Harry's eyes continued to be trained on Sirius’, but the expected spell didn’t come. Moments crept by and still they remained in that position. Sirius could tell that Harry’s determination to kill him was melting little by little, he knew that the Potter blood flowing through his veins would not allow him to make himself as bad as his enemy. Quite suddenly, just as Sirius could see the last bits of Harry’s resolve dripping to the floor, the door burst open, and one of the people that Sirius had least expected to see rushed in.
Remus Lupin had always been an intelligent bloke. Top of the class, grades wise, and there was no one who could disarm someone by the book better than Remus, who always had stuck to the rules unwaveringly. This once-friend, whom he hadn’t seen since his incarceration in Azkaban, disarmed his opponents and turned to him with a renewed look of trust and friendship. Remus, who was probably James’ closest friend after Sirius, was standing up for the man that was thought to have killed him. Sirius gazed at the Lupin in shock.
Lupin then opened his mouth, and suddenly Sirius understood, Lupin knew. Thankfulness coursed throughout his body. Never in his entire life had he been so grateful for the Marauder’s Map, not even the time that it had allowed the four friends to avoid capture by an entire herd of professors as they strategically searched the school, looking for the four absent boys.
The three students wore disgusted looks on their faces as their gazes passed between the two grown men. Sirius was more aware than ever of the hatred Harry felt towards him, and he knew that with Lupin’s help he could change Harry’s opinion in favor of him, but he didn’t have the time. The lump in the red-headed boy’s pocket was beginning to wriggle more and more desperately. If they didn’t act soon it would surely free itself from the confines in which it was held and escape with Sirius’s innocence forever.
The thought that he would not be able to justify his unjust imprisonment threw aside all of Sirius’ godfatherly thoughts, and he positioned himself to lunge towards the redhead. Lupin, however, felt differently. Since he had not been unjustly incarcerated for the last 14 years, his emotions were not quite as deeply tied to the small wriggling piece of flesh before them. After Lupin handled the difficult task of calming the children down, Sirius allowed Lupin to tell them the true story, as he stared at the outline of the small creature which held his fate in limbo.
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"GUILTY!!!!", Azkaban Winners Announced!
evlpez "GUILTY!!!!" May 25 2004, 11:27 AM
May 25 2004, 11:27 AM
