Chapter 4
Sirius helped him pack and plan. He- of course- couldn’t know all of the details. He knew that he was going to Northern Ireland because some person lived there that he needed to talk to. Sirius wasn’t too keen on Remus hunting down some rando to integrate them on some secret project that only he and Dumbledore knew the details of so to make sure they couldn’t trace him back Sirius suggested he make a fake identity. Remus luckily took the idea and started coming up with a story.
Remus also told him to get a second wand. Apparently when he was out someone had told him to keep a second wand on him because if his is taken you’ll have a second one on you. Sirius ended up buying another wand that day and told everyone else to do the same. They all took the idea and were grateful for it, especially Lily and Mary.
They took the next few days to pack and plan. Sirius was mainly in charge of packing, he had asked Effie and Monty to double check on certain things and Remus went through it as well. Remus trusted Sirius with packing for the most part so he spent his time figuring out exactly where he needed to go and how to get there.
Remus left the day they were supposed to go to Effie and Monty’s for supper. He had a bag with him filled to the brim with water, food, money, healing kit, clothes, and a lot more stuff. Sirius had known an extension spell that he had learned so it would be easier to lug his stuff from Grimmauld to Hogwarts and eventually get out of Grimmauld.
Remus left in the morning with the promise he would write to Sirius to let him know he was doing well. Sirius wasn’t able to stay in the house longer than an hour before throwing on his leather jacket and getting on his bike to go somewhere that wasn’t empty.
Sirius rode his bike down London's streets and got off the road and went onto a trail that would eventually lead him into the dense woods. Technically he wasn’t supposed to do this and when the order found out he had been Moody had quite a few strong words with him but he didn’t listen to them. Half the time they weren’t allowed to use the floo and Sirius needed an easy way to get from the middle of London to where his friends lived.
Half way down the forest trail Sirius flicked open a black cover and pushed the small red button that it hid away. The bike sped up and slowly started to hover off the ground. Every time he did this he nearly hit the tops of the trees but he never actually did.
Sirius always liked flying, broom, motorcycle, it didn't matter. He hadn’t been allowed to play quidditch his final years at Hogwarts so he hadn’t been to fly too much those years.
Though in sixth year James and him had been able to buy a mostly legal flying carpet. McGonagall had found out about it a week later and got scolded for having an illegal magical artifact.
Sirius tried to tell her he stole it from his house and his mother had bought it before they were illegal but McGonagall was not having any of it. Monty and Effie were not happy to find out what their sons had done.
That was the same day he had met Remus’ parents. Not the first impression Sirius was hoping for. Though he has done worse.
Sirius rode through the air, high enough that the trees that once towered over him looked like a toy you could buy at a corner store.
After a while the green hills had houses popping up in them and it turned into a town that he spent the better years of his life living in.
Sirius flew up to a more isolated house and went straight over the gates to land on the pathway that led the rest of the way up to the house. He parked his bike and didn’t stop to knock on the door and he let himself in.
“Effie, Monty! It’s Sirius!” He calls out and closes the door behind him. Effie came out of the sun room to see him and Monty was nowhere to be found.
“Estrella!” She cheered and wrapped him in a bear hug.
“What are you doing here so early? I wasn’t expecting you until five.” Everything she said was in a warm tone so it didn’t make Sirius feel like he wasn’t welcome.
“Remus left for his trip and I got bored.” Sirius answered with a grin.
“I see, sad he won’t be able to have supper with us. You guys will just have to come over again once he gets back.” Sirius nods in agreement with her words.
“Now, have you eaten?”
Sirius hadn’t eaten yet as a matter of fact. He had spent his morning helping Remus get ready and practically immediately after rode over here.
Effie made him breakfast, Sirius wanted to protest but he learned a long time ago that Effie preferred to make her children and guests meals.
He remembers one time that he and the rest of the Marauders had gone to get midnight snacks and when Effie eventually caught them she insisted on making them French toast.
“Where’s Monty?” Sirius asked, taking a bite out of the fried eggs she had placed in front of him.
“He’s at the Ministry. Though he should be back by eleven or so, we were going to go to Diagon Alley today.” Sirius immediately felt a guilt rest in his stomach. He felt bad for intruding on Effie and Monty’s plans.
“Sorry-“
“No no no no NOPE!” Effie spins around and says the words quickly, popping the P.
“Do not apologize for being here, I’m very happy you came over.” She turned back around and cracked another egg open on the pan.
Effie had a tendency to overcook. Just about triple what anyone could eat. Sirius ate until his stomach couldn’t handle anymore and he excused himself for the bathroom. He intended to go there but he noticed the inside of an unchanged room.
It was James' room. There were quidditch posters on the walls and his quidditch gear was there on his dresser but he had taken his broom with him. Half of the clothes in his dressers were missing which Sirius had found out a month after James had already left.
His desk was a mess with random quills everywhere and old school books scattered about. James was always odd with books. If you asked anyone, they would say James has never finished a book in his life. Sometime in sixth year he walked into the dorm, didn't say a thing and laid down on his bed and started reading a book.
Sirius remembers close to nothing about the book; it was some form of mythology but he does remember that James not only finished it but finished it in a week. It had been hundreds of pages and Sirius was thoroughly convinced a demon had possessed him that week. It eventually made sense when him and Lily started to date.
Wedged between his desk and his wardrobe were several albums that didn’t have a spot of dust on them. Though nothing in his room had dust on it, James had figured out a few cleaning spells during Christmas in second year and he immediately used them on his room so Effie wouldn’t have to bother him about cleaning his room. Most of the charms you had to redo after a little while but not the dusting charm. It would stay strong and you had to undo it if you wanted it gone.
“Are you missing him?” A voice asked from the doorway. Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin before realizing it was Effie. Sirius nodded and Effie took a single swift step before wrapping her arms around Sirius.
“I miss him too.” She rocks a little bit and Sirius rocks with her. It’s weirdly soothing, Sirius doesn’t understand why it is but there's a lot of things he doesn’t quite understand.
The thing about the war is it made Sirius realize how powerless he was. Which was odd because he thought he would have gotten used to the feeling considering where he grew up but this was a different type of powerlessness. At Grimmauld he had been able to protect the people he cared about but he couldn’t protect the people he cared about from a war.
“You know he’ll come back.” Did he know that? Sirius wasn’t completely sure anymore.
“The sun sets but it always rises again Estrella.” She says sweetly.
“Well it's been a long time, I want it to rise soon.” Sirius says calmly, staring at the messy desk from the corner of his eye.
James' space was always messy. So was Sirius, it had driven his mother and father crazy, but his mess was always just a mess. James stuff was an organized mess, he could find anything in the pile of random stuff beside his bed.
“You can see the stars when the sun is down.” Effie mentions.
“The stars are still there when it’s up.” Sirius adds. Effie gave him a soft kiss on the forehead and hugged him tighter.
“Let’s go get ready.” She says and pulls away from him. Sirius agrees and he closes the door on the way out.
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There were a few small towns near Antrim Castle. Six to be exact. The first one not much had happened, he had asked around and no one had ever heard of someone named Raven Crux. the second one several people hit on him, which he thought was odd. Though a memory engraved into his brain is all of his friends confessing that they have had a small crush on him at some point which annoyed Sirius to no extent.
The third town he still had no luck, but he did have one of the best meals he’s had in his entire life there. Most of the time when he asked people gave him confused looks. A lot of people asked what he was doing looking for this person, probably making sure he didn’t have the intent to hurt them, so Remus had defaulted to saying that he had a package for them but hadn’t given him the address to drop it off to. Most people suggested he drop it off at the post office while a few wished him luck. He ignored the suggestions and luck wasn’t real so he moved on.
Remus was shocked to find out how looped together these towns were. He would ask someone if they’d seen Raven and a half hour later when he asked someone different they already knew his name and had an answer prepared for him, which was no. Someone had bought him a beer and paid for his room at the inn he was staying at because a friend of his had said Remus was a nice fellow and the stranger had wanted to help out.
Remus wasn’t all that used to that random kindness, sure he had spent the first eleven years of his life on a farm but to many people's surprise his family hadn’t been rubbing elbows with everyone in a 100 mile radius. That was mainly to do with the fact that Remus was a werewolf and partly because his father hated people.
He wrote to Sirius about everything that would happen and he was able to find out what Sirius had been up to. He had been spending most of his time at Effie and Montys house, even spending a few nights there. A few days after he left Sirius had gone out for a few drinks with Marlene and Peter and they ended up getting thrown out for making too much of a ruckus. Remus wrote and told him to stop being a nuisance with the other two knowing none of them would listen to him.
The fourth town was more or less the same as the other three and he wanted to go home back to Sirius and go out drinking. He had been gone for a little over a week and he missed them. He hadn’t seen them much before he left either and he was starting to miss them more than he usually did, but finally the fifth town was when things finally started to look up.
It had started more or less the same. People not having a clue who he was talking about and moving on with his day. At around lunch Remus decided he’d check into an inn and get some food into his system. The inn he had gone to had a bar attached to it and as a long shot he asked the bartender if he had seen them.
“Oh yeah, they pop in and out every once in a while, says it’s the only place to get a good drink.” He says with a proud smile. He was cleaning up the morning drinkers glasses and setting up for the lunch visitors.
“Though they don’t have black hair anymore. It’s blonde and in braids, and has a bunch of clips and trinkets in it.” He had to make sure to remember that, and didn't want to keep saying the wrong information.
“Do you happen to know where they live?” Remus asked knowing it was a long shot.
“Why the hell do you need to know that?” He asked skeptically.
“I’m dropping off a package for them and they didn’t give me the address.” Remus held up a cardboard box he had designed specifically for this lie. The man looked at it for a long while before he shrugged.
“I don’t know where they live. Somewhere near the west side of town, they're usually out and about with their pal at this time. You’ll probably bump into them.” Great, there was a second one he’ll probably have to talk to. Remus thanked the man for his help and took the man's advice.
Remus got a quick thing to eat from the restaurant down the street from the Inn before he headed over the west part of town. The walk there took an hour, his hip started getting buggy at that point and he had to use his walking stick. Remus hated using his walking stick, his mother had gotten him after she heard one too many comments about his hip affecting him.
It had random stuff all of it, each item a gift from one of his friends. Sirius had tried to convince him that he should hallow it out and put a sword inside of it, the idea was backed up by both Peter and James but Remus still denied the idea. That year the three of them would be super excited for him to open the gift the three of them had gotten for him.
Remus walked around and asked a few more people if they had seen Raven Crux but this time giving the new description and still no luck. He waltzed into a food market and started looking for food he could eat during his stay here. A part of the market was inside and Remus figured it would be a good place to find some paper because he was going to run out of parchment soon and he didn’t know how long he’d be in this town. Remus was looking through some and he spotted a short woman a stall away from him.
She was trying to get something from the top shelf but she was much too short to reach it. Remus walked over and grabbed the item that had been a laundry softener. He handed it to her and she gave him a grateful smile.
“Thank you dear!” Her face wrinkled together when she smiled but she seemed full of energy. Remus hadn’t really liked how happy everyone was when he first started the hunt for Raven but it grew on him as the days went by. It was nice to see everyone so full of life although it also made him rather angry.
“You’re welcome.” Remus said. She started to turn away but it hit Remus to ask her.
“Wait ma’am, I was actually wondering if you have met someone named Raven Crux, they have-” Remus wasn’t able to finish his sentence because he was cut off by the woman laughing.
“Oh lord have they got another one?” Remus was confused and she continued to laugh to herself.
“Raven is friends with my neighbors, though they practically live there.” The woman explained and it clicked in Remus’s head that the neighbor was probably the ‘pal’ the bartender had mentioned.
“Let me find my husband and we’ll take you there.” She turned on her heel and walked out into the bustle of people that were walking in between stalls.
Remus followed the woman around and eventually he was introduced to a new man who was her husband. Remus hadn’t been able to get their last names but everyone around them called them Salt and Pepper. It wasn’t too weird but Remus wasn’t expecting the woman to be Salt and the man to be Pepper, but it didn’t actually matter.
Salt and Pepper walked out of the market and onto a dirt road surrounded by trees. Remus isn’t one to follow random people into a semi secluded woods but they were old and muggles so if was somehow in real danger he would easily be able to defend himself.
Salt was chattering away about Raven and the people they lived with. It was two men, both of them were rather nice and were often together. The three of them would help others with things they may have trouble with and Salt said that they had been blessed when they moved in next door a couple years ago.
Remus was glad to hear the information though it wasn’t too much to spread across the hour long walk there, it would have taken Remus a lot less time if he had gone on his own. They passed half a dozen driveways before Salt and Pepper stopped in front of a driveway.
“This is our house.” Salt said and pointed to the house down the driveway. It was a very nice house. Everything looked well taken care of, the lawn looked like it had been mowed only a week ago and the hedges were trimmed.
“Raven’s house is just down that road. Usually one of them is home.” Remus thanked them and the couple began to walk up the driveway to their own home.
When Remus got a look at Raven's house his jaw nearly dropped. It was a gorgeous two story brick house that had a sunroom which would lead to a garden that was filled with purple lupins and large orange flowers he didn’t know the name of. There was a small river that cut across their yard and had a stained wood bridge going across it. There was a sitting area outside on a deck that had a fire pit in the center of the deck. More importantly Remus could sense magic. It was a soft presence but it was definitely there.
Remus walked up the driveway and noticed the large back yard that was hidden by the huge house. Remus went up the steps and landed on a doormat that said something he couldn’t read because it was in a different language. French funnily enough. He knocked on the white door and waited.
He heard rustling inside and soon enough the door swung open. A very happy man, who seemed to have been expecting someone specific, opened the door and when Remus saw his face the air left his lungs.
Remus thought the next time he saw him his body would be in the form of a corpse being eaten away by small bugs, he expected to watch a coffin with the rotted corpse inside to be lowered into the ground. Remus was so happy to be wrong that it made his head spin and his stomach turn. He was breathing and holding the door open.
“James-” He eventually said. Remus could now understand why people had been smiling so much in the towns he had visited. None of their loved ones were dead, and now that Remus knew that none of his were gone, he smiled too.