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Escape from Grimmauld Place


Sirius had never packed so quickly in his life. He jammed all that he could into his bag - shrinking some of the larger things with a good reducio, like the record player and his broom - and hurriedly pulled the cloak ‘round his shoulders and head. He crept to the bedroom door and took a deep breath as he unfolded the penknife, revealing the blade, which gleamed in sunlight coming in his window. Out there, outside that very window, James and Remus were waiting for him. His hands were shaking with excitement and relief as he drew the blade into the crack of the door, and he held his breath, waiting for the click of the lock.

Click.

He’d never been so relieved to hear that sound in all his life. He peeked through the keyhole to be sure the landing was empty, then pulled open the door and stepped out into the stairwell, twisting the knob as the he closed the door behind him so that it wouldn’t make a sound reuniting with the frame. He crept carefully to the rail and looked down the spiraling center of the case, listening carefully. Far below, Walburga and Orion were talking in hushed voices. Sirius had to be very, very quiet if he wanted to make it out of the house. He took a deep breath, preparing himself.

You can do this. You can do it. You’ve gotten past Filch and Mrs. Norris and even Dumbledore himself in this cloak. You can do this. And at the other end of it is James. And Remus.

The first two steps were easy. The third had a creak on the left side so Sirius had to be very gently stepping on it. The fourth, fifth, sixth steps he took gently, clutching the rail, he carefully stretched his legs to skip the seventh and he stood on the landing one down from his room. Regulus’s bedroom door was shut, the light coming from beneath the door left a glow on the dusty landing. Sirius inched to the rail again and listened.

“....and it doesn’t matter that the old fool has disappeared and it’s not my fault he’s got some place to run. It’s still my head that rolls if we don’t find him! And the Dark Lord grows impatient! I let the Boy get away once already and now this --” Orion’s voice was worn and laced with stress. “I don’t know how much more he will take of it, Walburga.”

“I understand,” came Walburga’s whisper. “But he must be able to see -- must give you a chance to --”

"I’m on my last chance,” Orion hissed.

They were in Walburga’s library, the door pulled nearly to, only a crack open. Slowly, Sirius clutched the banister as he moved, knowing the stairs at the top of this flight were the noisiest of all. He held his breath… one… step… at… a… time…

His foot touched the second to the last step before the landing and it groaned. Loudly.

He froze. His heart hammered in his chest. He closed his eyes.

The door to the library swung open, pouring light into the dark stairwell. The silhouette of Orion Black filled the frame and he looked around, his eyes skimming the stairs. He breathed deeply, sniffing the air, and Sirius clung to the rail, basically hanging on by his fingertips to the slick mahogany, barely on his toes. Orion took a step forward, closer to Sirius.

Heart in his throat, Sirius squeezed his eyes as tightly shut as he could, knowing if he was found here, now, having overheard the conversation that his parents were having, he was as good as dead. They wouldn’t bother cruciatusing him. They’d just avada kedavra him and get it over with. He was so scared, he could almost see the green light of the spell, almost taste the blood in his mouth… Walburga appeared in the doorway behind him and she asked, “What is it?”

“I thought I heard the stairs just now,” Orion replied. He turned, looking up the flight, right past Sirius, who was holding his breath, certain his father could hear the pounding of his heart against his ribcage.

“Probably that blasted house elf,” Walburga answered, “Or Regulus.”

Orion hesitated.

“There isn’t anyone else it could be,” she said lowly.

Orion hesitated, “Yes… yes.” He turned and followed her back into the library, “I’m simply paranoid. The Dark Lord could tire of waiting at any time and come back from the Lestrange’s estate and when he does…” he shook his head and pushed the door shut behind him. Sirius heard the mechanism click.

He breathed for the first time in nearly a minute and felt the oxygen rush to his lungs and his brain and he lowered himself down to sit on the step for a moment while he recovered from the nervous panic he’d just entered himself into, rubbing his hands over his eyes. After a moment’s pause, he took a deep breath and stood once more, knowing he couldn’t afford to sit about. He skipped the step that had groaned and made it to the landing before the library door.

The front door was within sight - freedom just feet away. However, this was also the most tricky of the flights. Every step on this flight creaked from frequent use. To complicate matters further, there was a portrait of his mother at the foot of the stairs that had a fond love for shouting when disturbed. And one of the old Hogwarts Headmaster Phineus Nigelus Black, who also would not hesitate to give Sirius away if he was spotted.

But get through this and on the other side of his door was his freedom and his friends.

Step one… second step… third…

Behind him, a door opened.

Regulus’s door.

His brother stepped onto the landing and started thundering down the stairs with a confident sort of speed that Sirius could not afford as a run away. He panicked as he realized there was nowhere to go - the way Regulus came down the center of the steps, he was going to run into Sirius without a doubt. Sirius turned and tried to beat Regulus, taking the thundering of his brother’s footfalls on the stairs as cover to his own, but it wasn’t enough. The second to the last step, Regulus caught up and stepped on the edge of the invisibility cloak, tripping Sirius, who fell forward down to the dusty runner that covered the floor from the front door to the step, his head coming out from beneath the cloak as his ribs crunched on the floor.

“UMFPH!” Sirius grunted as he landed and Regulus tripped over the invisibility cloak and Sirius’s legs and he landed atop of Sirius with a shout of surprise at falling.

The two boys laid there for a moment, gathering their wits about them, and Regulus blinked at Sirius’s disembodied head for a moment, eyes wide with confusion. Then he let out a scream that echoed through the stairwell and into every corner of the house.

Later, it would occur to Sirius that Regulus probably thought his brother to be beheaded, given how he looked, mostly hidden by the cloak. Sirius scrambled and ran for the front door as the two portraits awakened and the door to the library flew open and Walburga came running from within and there was a CRACK! as Kreacher appeared at Regulus’s side. The commotion was the only hope that Sirius had. He stuck the penknife into the jam and fiddled it against the lock of the door and wrenched it open, the sunlight blinding him in comparison to the darkness of Number 12 that he’d endured all this time. He ran, the cloak still fallen back so that his head was all that showed, the liquidy silver fabric fluttering over his shoulders like a cape.

Across the street, on the bench in the park, James and Remus spotted him as he crossed over the reach of the Fidelus charm, and they stood up, Remus’s eyes wide with relief.

And then there was a shout behind him.

“GET BACK HERE! GET BACK HERE!” It was Orion. “Cruicio!

Sirius fell in the middle of the road, his body curling and he let out a cry, the cloak falling from his fists. Remus grabbed his wand from his pocket, “Protego!” he shouted, blindly aiming in the direction that Number 12 had to be in. A great white shield shot out from his wand, hovering like a bubble over Sirius’s writhing body, stopping the torture course from hitting him. James ran for his friend, grabbing Sirius’s arms and pulling him up. Sirius shook and his limbs were like gelatin, so James supported him up, tugging his arm ‘round his shoulder. “C’mon, come on, nearly gone now,” he said consolingly.

Stupefy!” Orion cried, aiming for Remus, but the spell hit the shield charm, deflecting it. Orion cursed and, refusing to let them escape, he ran down the stairs of Number 12. “Crucio!

The spell hit Sirius in the back, even as they were running, practically carrying him, and his fingers dug into their shoulders as he let out a cry, stumbling, his weight pulling the two of them in towards each other. Remus pointed his wand over Sirius’s shoulder. “Expelliarmus!” he shouted and the spell struck Orion’s wrist as he crucioed his son, his wand flipping out of his grasp and landing with a clatter on the street a few feet away from him.

“TIZZY!” hollered Remus, “TIZZY!” The tiny elf appeared suddenly with a crack before them and Remus begged, “Get us out of here!”

Orion was already scrambling for his wand.

“Hurry!” Remus added.

“Tizzy is only can be taking one at a time, Master Remus!” she said, “Where is I be taking you?”

Anywhere,” Remus replied, feeling Sirius falling against him, clutching to him, unable to stand on his own. “Anywhere in the bloody world, Tizzy. Here. Take Sirius first. Go!”

Remus had looked over his shoulder and seen Orion had his wand once more.

“Tizzy is be taking Master Remus’s friend Sirius!” she nodded and she grabbed onto Sirius’s arm and with a CRACK! Tizzy disappeared.

“Oh hell,” James said, looking back. He drew his wand out of his pocket and he and Remus stood shoulder to shoulder, facing Orion Black as he reached the edge of the park, rushing toward them. “You go next,” he said to Remus. “I’ll hold him off.”

“No, you go next,” Remus said.

“You,” James argued.

You!”

Orion raised his wand, “Immobilus!” he shouted, aiming for James.

James dodged the spell. “Stupefy!” he shot back.

Orion ducked it. “I’m done mucking about with you boys -” he said in a thick, threatening voice. “CRUCIO!

PROTEGO MAXIMA!” Remus answered.

The cruciatus struck the shield charm and deflected back, hitting Orion in the chest with his own spell. He fell to the ground with the force of it. There was a CRACK! and Tizzy was back. “Take James!” Remus shouted and before James could argue, Tizzy had grabbed his wrist and disapparated with another CRACK!

Remus stood there alone in the square at Grimmauld Place, his hands shaking, watching as Orion Black struggled to his feet. The man was positively pissed, his face as red as a beet and only growing redder. He aimed his wand. “Expelliarmus!” Remus’s wand flew from his fist, the spell burning his hand. Orion laughed as Remus ducked for the wand as it rolled away. “Think you can come here and take my son, do you? Think you’re so ruddy smart, all of what? Fourteen years old are you now? Bloody hell aren’t you an expert on life! Know everything there is to know, I’ll bet,” he taunted. “Accio wand!” Remus’s wand flew from the ground into Orion’s fist and he laughed as he snapped Remus’s wand in half and tossed the two pieces to the side. Remus’s eyes widened with fear. “S’matter? Not so brave now? And look’it there. No full moon. You ain’t goin’ to be turning into no wolf this time, are you?”

Remus backed away. C’mon Tizzy, hurry up Tizzy, please, he thought desperately.

Orion grinned and raised his wand, “Greyback will be most disappointed he wasn’t here to witness this. He’s got a hunger for your blood that burns his soul, kid. Maybe I’ll let him have your body… you ain’t goin’ to be needing it much longer.”

CRACK! Tizzy reappeared, grabbing onto Remus’s wrist, “Master Remus, I is back!” she cried.

“Go!” Remus shouted, grabbing onto the elf for dear life, closing his eyes.

AVADA KEDA---

CRACK!