𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 [𝐑. 𝐋𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐧]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐀 𝐊𝐄𝐘

Hermione simply rolled her eyes, murmuring something under her breath before she walked away from Ron's side and joined Callisto. She was sitting right next to Remus, who was holding a large stack of keys, trying all of them one by one on the door.

"Did you use an unlocking spell, Prof-I mean, Remus?"

"Yes."

"Did it work?" Callisto mockingly asked Remus, letting out a dramatic sigh as she let her head rest on the wall. Remus tried yet another key, only for the door to remain closed. The woman's eyes trailed to the stack of keys, and she gently banged her head against the wall when she saw there were at least two more dozens of them.

"This is taking forever!" Sirius complained from the back. "And the attic fucking stinks!"

Ron gasped in outrage when Hermione didn't react.

"When the ex-convict says 'fuck', it's fine and a cool, but when I do, I'm improper and annoying!" He announced. "Are you picking favourites 'Mione?"

"Go shove a chess piece up your fucking arse, you ginger meatball!" Hermione snapped, her eyes narrowed into thin slits at Ron's insinuation of her picking favourites with Sirius.

Ron simply stared like an idiot while Harry burst into laughter, relishing in the glee of being the favourite of both friends.

Another key was deemed useless, Callisto's patience running short. Merlin, this was taking forever, and it did in fact, fucking stink.

No wonder you pretended this place didn't exist...

"37th time is the lucky charm." Remus joked, only being met with various groans.

"Step aside." Callisto finally said, gently pushing Remus to the side. Before he could react, she had aimed her wand at the lock, the door bursting open with a loud bang.

"Blondie, this is my property!"

That definitely didn't seem to bother Callisto all that much.

The group entered the attic the same way they would any sort of foreign territory. Callisto was stuck by Remus, who seemed to be the most relaxed out of all, as she looked at the objects around them. It seemed like while both muggle and wizarding attics stored junk, the similarities ended there. Here, there were no boxes filled with baby objects or old and unwanted gifts. There were no random ladders, old and wrecked machines or random things that had just been a victim of hoarding.

Instead, there were old broomsticks, objects Callisto assumed to be cursed, and funnily enough, a notable collection of things that looked like they would belong to Sirius.

"Oh, look." Sirius humoured, gesturing at the wall. "A family picture!"

A family picture, stuck on the wall due to a knife being driven through Sirius' face.

"We can put the gifts here." Callisto said absentmindedly, approaching an old, dingy closet. Two of the drawers had been removed, but the doors seemed intact. "It doesn't have a lock."

Remus frowned, looking at the closet suspiciously.

There was something off about it...

Time seemed to slowed down for him as he rushed over to Callisto, pushing her away. He was a moment too late though, because Callisto had already managed to push down on the handle, the doors of the closet bursting open as if a strong gust of wind blew behind them.

"Eh... Sirius..." Harry murmured, panic filling him as black fog started to fall into the room. Their only exit disappeared as the fog took over every single inch of the large, clattered room, a chilliness replacing the warmth of the blood running through their veins.