Chapter One
“Would you stop doing that?” hissed Sirius, as he craned his neck around to see if anyone was around them.
“I’m not doing anything,” James whispered. “You need to calm down. We’re fine.” Sirius tried to bite his tongue as James stepped on another dry leaf, making a crunch sound.
“That. You need to stop doing that- it’s going to make noise, and Dumbledore said we have to be dead silent.”
“There’s actually nobody here, and the only person who’s going to hear me is-'' James stopped dead in his tracks as they heard a distant crack. Sirius stopped, too, clutching his wand in his hand, ready to throw a hex at whoever showed up. Though nothing but silence echoed in the alley, Sirius could still feel cold beads of sweat forming on him. After a few beats, they relaxed, and kept walking, though Sirius noticed that even James seemed to be quieter this time around. “Is you. Besides, Dumbles said-”
“Dumbles?” Sirius scoffed.
“Well, yeah, His name is too long, if you ask me.” James replied, nonchalantly.
“It’s only three syllables, mate. Just like mine- Sirius.”
“Which is why we call you Padfoot. If you haven't noticed, all of our friends’ names have max two syllables. Three was pushing it.” Sirius huffed out a short laugh.
“And I thought you called me Padfoot because I was a dog. Guess I thought wrong…”
“Thought wrong you did. Of course, that was what we wanted you to think. It’s all a part of our devious plan.”
“To what, wage a war against three syllable names?” The hairs on Sirius’ arm stood up. The air became still.
“Stupefy!” Roared a masked figure from down the alley.
“Protego!” Shouted Sirius at the same time. He braced himself for impact as red light filled the alley, but nothing came. Suddenly, he heard a thud next to him, and James hit the ground, his wand clanking across the cold pavement.
Shit, thought Sirius, with his head turned to James. Suddenly, bright white light absorbed his vision as a curse hit him. Before he could act, his wrist absorbed the force and he felt the bone split. Time slowed around him. For a single moment he didn’t feel the pain, except for blissful numbness, but then the pain shot up through his forearm and out his wrist, forcing him to drop his wand. A strangled, visceral scream tore through his throat as time went rushing past him again. A million thoughts passed through his mind. James to his left- bloody hell, James. James had something dark dripping out his mouth, making a small pool of what had to be blood, his body spread across the ground like a ragdoll.
Another curse smacked him in the face with brute force, breaking his nose with a sickening crack. Blood dripped down his face, filling his mouth with the warm, metallic liquid.
Sirius harshly dropped to the ground, and felt the skin on his knees break, blood seeping to the surface. He groped for his wand, but his heart missed a beat when he realized he couldn’t find it. It was too dark. He clutched a stone lying on the ground near him and lobbed it towards the attacker with his good arm. To his amazement, it collided with his face, and the man reached for his nose. Sirius threw himself to James’ body, gripping his arm, and apparated out of the alley.
When Sirius appeared again, he collided into the ground with his arm, sending waves of nausea through his body. He thought he was going to be sick, but he swallowed the feeling and crawled to James.
“James,” Sirius choked out. He could see the red now, in the street lamp. He must have bit his tongue or busted his lip, Sirius thought. With a shaking hand, he reached out to push James on his side so he wouldn’t choke. He straightened his body, sitting on the back of his heels. His vision was blurry, but he could tell that he hadn’t gone far. At least, he thought, he had gone far enough to escape certain death. He was so drained that he feared he might splinch himself if he went any further. Part of him was high on adrenaline, and the other part just wanted to curl up on the street and cry, but he couldn’t. Not here, not now. A familiar harsh voice sounded from the end of the street, the one that had attacked them. Only this time, there was another voice too, one that made the air around him go cold. One he was so familiar with that it sent a shiver down his spine.
“They’re over here- I heard him disapparate!”
Panic was setting in again. Desperate, he searched James’ pockets for a wand, but found nothing. That’s right, he thought. He dropped it. Perfect. And there was no going back to get it, that train had already left. Frantic footsteps from around the corner were growing louder with the sound of his pounding heart, and two figures came into his vision. He locked eyes with her.
“You! AVADA-”
He grabbed onto James arm to apparate, and then his vision went black.