Dear Sirius...

Part 32

8 Years Earlier

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I all sit in the boys room. I lay on Sirius’s bed, Sirius sitting at the foot. James jumping on his bed, lost in thoughts about Lily. Remus tries to study out of our Herbology textbook. Peter just stared around the room, waiting for something.

"Guys," I say in a small groan. "I'm bored."

"Maybe if you did your homework that's due tomorrow," Remus starts.

"Nah," I said.

We all go quiet again. The only sound is James and his jumping. If Lily knew about half the stuff he talks about, they might actually be together.

Sirius walks over to his trunk. He ruffles through it for what seems like forever. I'm starting to get impatient with how long he is taking.

Finally he yanks out a small vile of a clear liquid. Remus sets his book down and stares at the vile in Sirius’s hand.

"Where did you get that?" He asks.

"Slughorn was making a batch and gave me a little," Sirius shrugs.

"What is that?" Peter asks. I'm glad he asked, I didn't want to be the only one that had no idea what that is.

"Veritaserum," Sirius answered.

I quickly move to the end of Sirius’s bed, interesting in the Veritaserum vile. This could be exactly the thing that we need to finally have fun.

"Wait," I say grabbing Sirius’s hand. Everyone looks at me, though James has a slightly more annoyed face.

"Well?" James asks.

"Butterbeer?" I ask them. "Cookies?" They all look confused. "It'll help add flavor to the Veritaserum potion."

I look over to Peter, if he agrees with me then maybe the others would go along with it. I know we could use the potion without food or drinks.

"Layla has a point," he says. I give a small smile, glad someone understands me. Though Peter can't pass up the opportunity for food.

"Me and Peter will go down to the kitchen," I jump off the bed, running over to Peter.

He cowers back a small bit. I ignore it and grab his arm, pulling him out the door with me. The boys in the room laugh after us.

"Wait," I stop in my tracks.

It's curfew, Filch and Mrs. Norris are going to be roaming the halls waiting for a student to bother.

I run back into the room, Sirius throws the bottle back into the trunk. I scared him.

"James," I say. "Can we borrow the cloak?"

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you," Sirius said with a small laugh.

I push him over while James holds out the cloak. I gently grab it from him and head back out the door. Peter was standing in the exact same spot. I throw the cloak over the both of us and we head out into the corridors.

Wasn't long until we brought five Butterbeers and a tray of cookies up to the common room. Having the invisibility cloak is a big help when sneaking around.

"Why did you want me to come with you?" Peter asks. "It's not like the Elves don't like you."

I look over at him. A sad look flitted across his face. I stop in my tracks. Peter didn't notice and the cloak rolled off me, making me noticeable to the world.

"Layla?" He whispers. "What are you doing?"

I reach out and take it off him. Both of us stand visible to the naked eye. An anxious look marks its way on Peter's face.

"Peter," I said, "do you feel like I leave you out of things?"

Peter ignores the question, looking around the corridors. Waiting for Mrs. Norris or Filch to walk around a corner at any moment.

"Peter?" I ask a little louder so he would answer the question.

"Yes," he said covering my mouth with his free hand.

I take a couple steps back, surprised by what he just said. He really feels like that? I never wanted him to think that. Yes, sometimes I do things without him, but I never would want him to think that I don't love him.

"Peter," I say softly. He still looks around nervously. "You know I love you right?"

He looks at me, confusion and sincerity glimmer in his eyes.

"Peter," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. "You're like my brother. I care about you and I'd do anything for you."

He gave me a smile, all the worry about getting caught seeming melted from his face. That is until we heard keys rattling from down the corridor. Peter starts freaking out, while I fling the cloak back over us. Some Butterbeer spills onto my shirt.

I close my free hand over Peter's mouth, it muffles his worries enough that if Filch was to pass us he wouldn't hear us.

Mrs. Norris walks down the hallway, Flich following close behind. Mrs. Norris stops right in front of us. Peter freaks out a little more but I focus on Mrs. Norris. I know she can't see us, but she has ears.

"What is it?" Flich calls to her. She stares at the spot with more force.

I look to the right a little. Her tail just inches from my foot. If I lift it and step down it'll land right on her tail.

"Peter," I whisper to him. "I don't see a good way out of this." 

This just made him freak out more, alerting Mrs. Norris that someone was definitely there. Mrs. Norris's hairs stand up on their end. Flich finally making it to our spot.

"Bloody hell, Peter," I whisper. "When I tell you to run, run." He nods his head.

Even though Mrs. Norris moved her tail to signal to Flich, her paw was still right there. I lift my foot and step on her foot.

She mows furiously while backing up a little bit. Flich gets distracted by helping his stupid cat.

"Run," I say. 

We both take off down the corridor. Turning down as many turns we could possibly find. As soon as I thought it was clear we stopped. Butterbeer all over my shirt by now. There goes the drinks.

"Can we go back to the common room now?" Peter asks out of breath.

I nod my head. As we walked towards Gryffindor tower, I looked behind us making sure we were alone. Glad to see that nothing was there.