What Would You See?

What Would You See ?

a series of short stories by Ada Kensington

Got to get out of here... can´t be seen... or the Dementors... they´ll get me...

Sirius Black´s hollow eyes darted nervously from left to right and from right to left - searching, desperately, for a place to hide. If he didn´t find one soon - with all his recent luck - the Dementors would probably be slithering up through the Entrance Hall and up the stairs and... and...

...don´t think about it, Sirius said to himself - shuddering at the thought.

Then, a light flickered on in a room nearby. Sirius´s heart leapt into his mouth - and on a gut reaction - he dived into the nearest room, landing hard upon the wooden floor with a soft hiss of pain. Rolling, and staggering upright - he slotted himself into the space behind the door - his heart thundering in his chest, which was rising and falling rapidly, and he could feel his hot, ragged breaths condensing upon the cool, wooden door, which was pressed right up against his pale face.

This, he thought wryly, had to be the most stupid thing he´d ever done. Never mind that time where he´d tricked Severus Snape into visiting Remus on the full moon. Push to the sidelines, the time where he´d smashed all of Evan Rosier´s front teeth in with his beater´s club for fouling James - and take out of the limelight, the time he´d gone charging after Peter Pettigrew in a fit of rage, which had gotten him into this state in the first place.

No. This definitely takes the cake, he thought, with a grin. Breaking into Hogwarts right under the noses of Albus Dumbledore and the Dementors of Azkaban? What will you resort to next, Sirius Black? he thought to himself with a small smile.

His answer came much more quickly than he expected.

Footsteps were approaching the room - and fast. The torches in the brackets on the corridor walls outside flickered into life. The footsteps halted outside the room - and their owner fumbled for their wand and their keys. The door must´ve locked when he closed it behind him after running in here... but any minute now, they´d be in - and he´d be caught.

He hadn´t much time...

Sirius stepped out from his hiding place, his eyes darting wildly from left to right - searching, searching, searching desperately for a place to hide... searching desperately for something.

...and he found that something standing in a corner of the room.

It was a large, rectangular object - perhaps some kind of frame - or a very large door. Anyway, dimensions and possible shapes aside, it was covered from top to bottom with a large, mouldy, old dustsheet - and was placed with it´s back to a corner with a small space between the... thing...and the corner that was just big enough for a man to hide in.

That settled it. Without a moment´s hesitation, Sirius threw himself across the dark room and leapt into the little gap - throwing the dustsheet over him - covering himself completely - and waited.

~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~

Rage...

...blind, all-consuming, sickening rage.

Peter...Peter, you cowardly, slimy, damned, detested, despicable bastard...

Getting Peter was all that he could think about. It had consumed him. It had become an obsession. It was a need. But it was justified. He had to avenge James... had to avenge Lilly... and Harry, poor Harry. Poor, innocent, little Harry - who would now grow up without loving parents because of that spineless fucking rat...

He had followed Peter, tracked him down, chasing after him through day and night - forsaking food, sleep and all respite - needing to end him, needing to make him realise what he´d done...

...needing to make Peter pay.

Sirius rounded another corner, cannoning into two Muggle office workers as he staggered after Peter - jarring their shoulders - but unaware of the indignant looks that were thrown his way - only of his blood rushing dangerously through his veins, his feet pounding down the pavement - and of Peter.

He could see him! The bastard had turned down into the High Street...

...trying to lose me, eh? Not in this fucking lifetime, Pettigrew...

Impossible as it may seem, he increased his speed and sprinted - flat out - round the corner and into the busy High Street. Peter was now clearly visible, running down the crowded street - his thin hair blowing madly in the strong breeze, his eyes swivelling madly from left to right - wide with fear - pushing people out of the way as he fought desperately to lose himself from Sirius´s unrelenting chase.

Sirius was gaining. He was now much closer...twenty feet... fifteen... ten... five...

Peter had run across a road and whirled round wildly - breathing deep, rapid, ragged breaths.

...and they locked gazes - Pettigrew´s weak, watery blue, meeting squarely with Sirius´s smouldering dark.

The silence crackled and hummed. The air thrummed with unreleased tension. The grey clouds overhead were electrically charged with negative energy - and the sky churned and swirled rapidly, and the wind gradually dissipated - leaving only the stifling, humid air.

Something was about to break.

...and then - it broke.

Pettigrew, suddenly, came to his senses - and breaking from Sirius´s gaze, he staggered backwards and fell to the ground, shrieking:

"Stay away! K-Keep back! Don´t come any closer!"

Sirius started towards Pettigrew, striding across the road, reaching for his wand - ready to blow the little bastard back to hell - heedless of the toots from the horns of the angered drivers and of the crowd that was starting to gather at the scene.

"You filthy little coward!" he screamed hoarsely. "Stand up and fight like a man for once in your fucking life!!!"

Peter, shaking, stood up slowly - trembling from head to foot - with his wild, colourless hair over his face and pacing from one foot to another - his eyes darting from left to right - trying to seek any possible route for escape - his hands twitching visibly behind his back. Then...

"H-He killed them!!!" Peter shrieked - thrusting one hand out from behind his back and pointing it at Sirius. "HE KILLED LILLY AND JAMES!!!"

The crowd of people turned as one, to stare in wide-mouthed horror at the now rapidly advancing Sirius...

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Sirius roared. "HOW DARE YOU!?"

Sirius was nearly upon Peter. Just one more step and... there was a pause.

Time froze.

Peter jerked his hand in front of him. Then... there was a shriek of pain and a flash of crimson, as a finger was thrust towards the floor...and suddenly... a dazzling flash and an earth-shattering explosion which lifted Sirius off of his feet, bursting his eardrums, making dark bubbles burst in front of his eyes as his head was pounded by the fierce, sudden back draft - his skin curling with the fiery heat of the flames.

Landing some feet away on the ground, heavily, he felt a dozen strong pairs of arms grabbing him - restraining him, pinning him down - but he couldn´t fight back. There were cries and shrieks of pain and grief amidst the chaos. Pettigrew had caused it. He had caused all this pain. Lilly and James were dead... and he had failed them.

Then... the Aurors stunned him.

~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~ * * * ~

The footsteps had exited the room; their owners had extinguished the lights and had walked away down the corridor - searching in vain for Sirius Black.

After a tense few minutes, he stepped out from under the cover and hopped out of the corner space. However, he caught a corner of the dustsheet, and managed to take it with him - tripping and staggering ungainly out onto the wooden floor - falling noisily to the ground - wrapped in mouldy, old sheet.

Sirius cringed instinctively and froze - but heard not a sound. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned round, trying to untangle himself from the dustsheet - and only then saw the mirror.

Unsheathed, in all its grandeur and mystical glory - stood the infamous Mirror of Erised. Sirius knew the mirror by sight, as Remus had told himself and James about the time when he had accidentally stumbled upon the mirror in his first year at Hogwarts. Hell, he had even saw it - when he and James had come to rescue Remus from Filch´s clutches that fateful night when they had first become proper friends.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," he read, nodding to himself.

I show not your face, but your heart´s desire...

Peering into the mirror, Sirius´s ragged, emaciated figure appeared, rising smokily into focus. It looked at Sirius and gestured at him - inviting to come closer and have a look.

"No thanks," he said. "I don´t think I need your help in deciphering my heart´s desire..."

His reflection, however, did not seem to think so. An image appeared - that made Sirius nod, grimly.

It was Peter, lying on the ground - eyes open wide with terror - but glazed, unseeing and unmistakably dead. Bloody and broken, Peter was stretched out upon the ground and Sirius beheld himself, standing, looking down upon Peter grimly with... with James at his shoulder - not looking happy - but knowing that justice had been done.

Seeing James again, however, was a little too much for Sirius´s already heightened emotional state, and, for the first time in a very long time, hot tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and trickled down his waxen cheeks.

"James... James, I´m so sorry," he whispered, shakily. "I let you down. I let Lilly down... I let Harry down... I know I did. But I swear to you that, this time, I will not let you down. I swear to you, on my life, that Peter will pay. I promise, James...

...and I promise that your memory will be avenged."

Without a backward glance, Sirius upped and left - creeping out of the room, along and up to the corridor - the right corridor, fortunately - tapping the one-eyed witch´s hump and emerging, sometime later, from the back door at Honeydukes - and going up into the mountain - he disappeared into the night.

...I swear to you, James, that you will be avenged.