the Horcrux Thief, james potter

xxii. repercussions and danger

"Noted," said James.

Peter excused himself to go to the bathroom at some point during the night. At this point, James and the others tensed up because a few minutes after he was gone, one of the men with Rookwood went to the loo too. Peter came back, quite pale, but assured them the man just went to take a leak and nothing happened, though the lad seemed to be trembling in his boots. Sirius passed him his glass and Peter downed the whole thing.

Then Rookwood took his leave, with the shifty fella along. The other two, the nameless one and Mulciber, remained for a couple more drinks and Mulciber met James' eyes once. He could've sworn he smirked at him, like a villain in a story. James turned to the others. "I think we better go."

"There's still half an hour before we have to," said Sirius looking at his watch.

"Pads, let's go," James said firmly, and the other three got the memo.

The four of them stood up from the table, paid for their drinks, wished the barmaid a good night, and left the pub, and all the whilst James' hand was shoved in his jacket pocket where he'd hidden his wand. They walked down the street, and James could feel them following after them.

As soon as they turned into a dark alleyway to apparate, the four of them turned, wands pointed at the two men that walked in after them, this time with their masks on their faces, wands pointed at them, and walking as if they'd just trapped them. But they were four on two, they had the advantage.

"Now, now," the tallest of them said, and James could hear his wry smile under the mask. He was quite certain it was Mulciber. "No need for wands, fellas. We're just here to talk."

"Oh, in that case," Sirius said sarcastically. "We were just heading home. Peter here lost his voice you see, and he's our spokesperson. We'll have to take a raincheck—"

"We want to make an offer," the second one of them barked, clearly not amused by Sirius.

James and Remus exchanged a look and James turned to the two Death Eaters with a tight smile. "That's very nice, but we'll have to refuse. Our parents told us not to talk to strangers."

"We're not strangers," said Mulciber, his wand shifting to point straight at Sirius. "We're friends of your family. Your brother just recently claimed a spot on the list in fact."

James felt his stomach sink as Sirius' shoulders squared, and his face paled. The other man let out a chuckle. "Why not reunite the family? The Dark Lord praises talent, you know."

"I seriously doubt that," said James with his jaw clenched as he stepped in front of Sirius who remained rooted in his spot like he was in shock. "You lot are with him. I'd gather his standards for talent are as low as he is—"

"How dare you—"

"Calm down, friend," Mulciber said as the second man began barking. "He's just a boy. Trying to rile us up. No matter, the offer still stands."

"And if we refuse?" said Remus, his shoulders squared.

"Oh. There's really no refusing, just ask Regulus Black—"

Before Mulciber could even finish uttering Regulus' name, he'd been blasted back by a nonverbal stunning spell Sirius had sent his way as he dodged out of James' back. Then everything went to chaos.

Fortunately, they had the advantage. Sirius and Remus joined together, throwing jinxes and hexes at Mulciber who was quickly up and fighting again and James focused on the second fellow, using Peter as his backup, the boy who was clever but not as adept with a wand.

Only as soon as James had been able to knock the second man out, break his wand, tie him up with a spell, and hit him with a couple more stunning spells to make sure he'd stay down 'till the Aurors arrived, Sirius had forgotten his wand and had taken the upper hand against Mulciber.

The man was shoved against a wall, his wand broken on the floor, his mask somewhere near, and Sirius kept punching him, whilst Mulciber merely grinned with every blow.

"Sirius, mate, leave him for the Aurors—" Remus tried to say. Sirius punched Mulciber in the stomach.

"Tell me you're lying, you scumbag," he shouted.

"I'm not. Little Reggie is a part of us—"

Mulciber grunted as Sirius decked him in the nose, whining in pain. "You fucker—"

"Pads." James forcibly threw Sirius off Mulciber before he killed him, though the bastard deserved it, Sirius didn't deserve that weight on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, it's true. I—"

"You knew?" Sirius staggered back, glaring at James, as Remus stunned Mulciber unconscious and tied him up.

James ran a hand through his jaw. "I did."

"What the fuck, Potter?!"

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Since when?"

"Pads," Moony tried to intervene but shut up when Sirius glared at him too.

"Did you know too?" He turned to Peter, who looked more scared than surprised. "Did you? Did everyone bloody know my brother—Regulus joined him?"

"They didn't know," James said. "Lily told me—"

"How the bloody hell did Lily know?!"

"Snape—"

"She talked to Snape?" asked Moony.

"He found her. He told her. And she told me."

"When?" Sirius said with a clenched jaw, glaring at James. And he just stood tall, because although he felt guilty, he knew he would've told Sirius, he just wanted to know if there was a chance for them. Before Sirius could react like he was now before he could start hating his brother when he might not know the full story.

"The Order Meeting," said James. "The one when Moody told us we might get a mission—"

James staggered back when Sirius' fist landed square on his jaw, and his head whipped to the side. He moved his jaw as he straightened again, ready for Sirius to throw another fist. Knowing he wouldn't fight back.

"What a bloody good friend you are, Potter," he said with a sneer and brushed Remus off when the other put his hand on his shoulder.

"Mate, I was trying to help—"

"You should've told me."

"I know."

Sirius seethed but he didn't say anything else. He turned to Peter who remained next to unconscious Mulciber, looking between them. "Will you get home fine?" Peter nodded. And Sirius disappeared with a pop.

"Fuck!" James groaned. "Let's go, Moons. See you later, Pete."

"I'll call the Aurors," Peter said and James and Remus disapparated to the flat.

He'd been ready to take some more of Sirius' shouting, even getting decked in the face again, but as soon as Remus and James landed on the hall, by the front door, which for some reason was ajar, they found Sirius still in the same place. The three of them shared a worried look before they glanced back at the open door. And despite Sirius still glaring at him, James ignored him, urging the others to raise their wands and be quiet.

They did, walking carefully through the silence of the flat, and James' heart started racing when he saw burn marks on the walls. It was too silent. They froze in the doorway to the living room. His heart dropped at the sight of the two bodies on the floor.

✦

author's note:

Ok. So. Just a warning: the story is going to get kinda angsty from this point on. i don't know if you got the drift but the "two bodies" are dead. so...

Yeah.

I'm not saying it'll be a depressive roller coaster cause it won't, it's just not going to be too happy for the next few chapters, but it will get better and happy again, and hopefully soon James and Amaya get together and yeah.

Also, thank you for reading, and liking and commenting, I really appreciate  it ;)