The Marauders and the Eye of Merlin (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter Eight: Gringotts

It was the last day before they went back to Hogwarts. Sophie and Sirius were sitting alone in the kitchen eating breakfast. They had made plans with their friends to go to Diagon alley together on their last day of the holidays. Sophie was super excited to see her friends again after their long time apart. It had been almost three weeks since she'd seen any of the others in their friend group. However, Peter and Storm weren't going to be joining them, as they were busy going on a date together. She did wish that they were coming but she was happy for them, they'd been trying to get together for so long now and she was happy it was finally starting to work out for them.

"We should get going soon", Sirius said to Sophie, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah", she replied, finishing up her breakfast and wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Sirius copied her action and the two of them made their way back up to Sirius's bedroom to get dressed. Sophie put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and Sirius got dressed into a similar looking outfit. As they were walking out of Sirius's bedroom she could hear his parents arguing in their own bedroom just down the hall. They both stopped in their tracks listening intently. 

"Enough", she could hear Sirius's mother saying, "this task is too important for regulus to pass up."

"It's dangerous", Mr Black replied, "he shouldn't, if he gets hurt there will be no one to blame but ourselves."

"He can do it", Mrs Black assured him.

Sirius grabbed Sophie's hand and held her back so that they could keep listening. Her heart skipped a beat when their hands connected. She felt herself beginning to get nervous as their hands remained linked.

"I don't like it", Mr Black continued, "I should do it, not Regulus."

"Regulus is more than capable", Mrs Black snapped, "you're just looking to make yourself look good in front of the dark lord."

"I am not!", Mr Black shot back, anger evident in his tone.

"He won't be alone", Mrs Black reassured him, "he can do this. If he proves himself he'll be able to move up the ranks faster than we can."

There were a few moments of silence as Mr Black thought. Sophie barely dared to breathe as they listened. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest as they stood. The mention of the dark lord made her want to shiver but she'd held back.

"I want to at least be there", Mr Black said finally.

"No, Regulus has to do this alone", Mrs Black told him, "we have to trust him."

Fear sunk into Sophie's chest as they listened. This was undeniable proof that Sirius's family were followers of the dark lord. Something big was about to happen and Regulus was going to be playing a part in it.

"Come on", Sirius whispered, pulling Sophie by their interlocked hands. The two of them ran past Mr and Mrs Blacks bedroom and down the stairs to the fireplace. Once Sophie was sure they were out of earshot she let out a large breath of air.

"Sirius", Sophie began.

"Not here", he cut her off quickly, "come on we've got to get out of here."

The two of them continued to run down the halls of Sirius's house until they entered the living room. Sitting on the couch, both with their school books open, were Jock and Regulus. As they looked up from their work Sophie involuntarily flinched. Regulus was a follower of the dark lord, a death eater, and here he was sitting on a couch with her brother. She had to warn Jock about Regulus and his allegiances.

"Hey guys", Jock said, smiling at Sophie and Sirius, "what are you two doing today?"

Sophie wanted to reply but she felt the words get stuck in her throat. Her eyes were glued to Regulus. He was staring right back at her and she felt as if Regulus was completely aware that Sophie knew his secret. He set his quill down on his piece of parchment without moving his eyes away from Sophie.

"Nothing really", Sirius told Jock quickly, "just meeting up with some friends in Diagon alley before going back to school."

"Hey us too", Jock said, "we were going to do some studying first, but why don't we just go with you guys now"

"Yeah that sounds good", Regulus agreed.

Sophie felt like she was going to be sick. Regulus was a death eater, she couldn't go anywhere with him. She felt absolutely frozen with fear. She'd never seen a death eater in real life before and the whole situation was terrifying her. If Regulus was a death eater, how many of his friends were death eaters too? It was one thing to have a petty school rivalry with some Slytherins, but if those Slytherins turned out to all be death eaters? Sophie and her friend's death sentences had almost definitely been signed.

"No", she said before she realised she was speaking. Jock immediately looked hurt.

"I mean", Sophie continued quickly, "erm, that you guys should keep studying, we're going to meet our friends so we wouldn't be able to hang out with you anyway."

"Yeah", Sirius agreed, "don't rush yourselves just for us."

"It's no problem," Regulus said, smiling at them and standing up, "just give us a minute to tidy up our things and we'll be ready to go."

Sophie felt her entire body go numb. She looked over at Sirius, he didn't look frightened at all of his brother, instead, anger was almost radiating off of him instead. Sophie however, could barely keep her breathing steady. Without thinking he reached for Sirus's hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting go of it. Sirius sent her a smile and then pulled her over to the fireplace. He grabbed the vase of floo powder and poured some into Sophie's hand.

"You go", he told her, "I'll be there in a minute I promise."

Sophie couldn't help but give in to her desire to leave. She threw the Floo powder into the fire and stepped inside. Sirius was smiling at her reassuringly, but she'd known him long enough to know that his smile was fake.

"Diagon alley", she said. The flames flared up swallowing her up and obstructing her vision of Sirius and the living room. She felt her feet float off the ground and get spun around wildly as she travelled. The sensation was then gone and her feet touched the solid ground. Stepping out of the fireplace Sophie could see the bustling streets of Diagon alley before her. She could see many Hogwarts students, here for their last-minute school supplies before heading back to school.