Shelter • wolfstar au

51 ; resistant groups

He shook his head after a moment's hesitation. "I suppose not."

"And as your death eater folks have been attacking muggle places so frequently," she continued, "did you think it could still be passed off as a natural disaster or a freak accident? Don't you think people would start suspecting that something is up?" She laughed shortly. "We muggles aren't as dumb as you think we are, you know?"

A small smile appeared on Sirius's face. "You seem to know a lot about wizards, considering that you have learnt about them only recently."

"Well, you do learn a lot about a person who lives under the same roof as yours."

"Oh?" he cocked a questioning eyebrow. His fingers moved to lace themselves with Elizabeth's. "Please do elaborate."

She did.

Sirius didn't interrupt her as she spoke, not even to ask a question, and allowed her to continue freely, and he let himself get drowned in her voice. All the while, their fingers remained linked together, and she continued to draw circles over his palm, making his skin tingle.

Apparently, Sirius has been living under a rock. For, he learnt from her that several resistance groups have been set up all over the country to fight against Voldemort, and all of them have taken up certain areas to protect. It came as a shock to Sirius to know that the Order wasn't the only resistant group, though it shouldn't have been that surprising. After all, not everyone agreed with Dumbledore's plans or ideas, even though they were on the same side. And certainly the people who were part of the Order weren't the entire wizarding population of Britain.

"And this man," she continued, "Robbie is his name – he was gravely injured when he stumbled in front of our house and asked for a glass of water. We took him in, treated his wounds, though it took us an unusually long time to get the bleeding to stop. He remained with us for two days, waiting for himself to recover fully. And then, there was an attack."

She paused for a moment to inhale a deep breath. "Several houses were burnt down, but we were lucky, because our guest was able to use his wand to kill the fire before it could do any permanent harm. There was a fight, and it lasted half an hour before the death eaters fled. Then we watched as several wizards came and erased the memories of all of the muggles. Robbie told them that he would take care of us, but he never did."

They fell into a calm silence, broken only by the whooshing of the wind as it blew past them, and Elizabeth visibly shivered, though Sirius wasn't sure if it was due to the cold. He unlinked their hands, and lifted his to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. She leaned in to his touch and smiled a pressed lipped smile.

"Does he still live with you?" he asked after a while.

"Yes," she answered, nodding her head. "He did leave. Once. When he had recovered. But he was greeted with a destroyed house and a dead wife and son. So he came to us again, and he has been living with us since." She paused momentarily. "He isn't the only one either, though. He said several other wizards have taken shelter in muggle households as well."

Sirius wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't think there was anything that needed to be said. He felt light all of a sudden, the burden of secrets having been lifted off his shoulders. He felt what he had felt in the presence of Remus, with whom he could share everything, with whom he did share everything. He felt a strange hollow in his chest. He wished Remus was there to lend him a shoulder.

They left for home some twenty minutes later, but not before sharing a warm hug, and a kiss that Sirius placed on the top of her head. As he walked home, his insides weren't filled with the flutter that usually followed his meetings with Elizabeth, but rather with a mixture of emotions he couldn't quite get a grasp of. While he did feel happy for the kiss they had shared, he also felt an undeniable fear that gripped his bones and refused to let go. He wasn't sure where the fear had come from. Was it the fact that the wizarding community wasn't as concealed from the world as it would wish to be? Maybe. The fact that they couldn't keep themselves hidden from the muggles was a strong proof that the war was getting stronger and out of hand.

Nathan and Marlene weren't there when he reached home. Suppressing a sigh, he strolled over to his hammock and flopped down on it, before bringing his locket from inside his shirt. Another meeting, or possibly a fight, which he was missing out on. He had a sudden urge to scream.

Sirius had drifted off into a light slumber which was broken an unknown length of time later by the sounds of two consecutive cracks. He jumped up to a sitting position, his hand reaching for his wand, but he stopped himself when he heard the voices of his friends. They seemed to be arguing. Instead of interrupting them, he decided to let them be. The rows of crates that surrounded his hammock allowed him to remain invisible from their sight.

They were talking in hushed, controlled voices, but being a dog as an animagus came with its advantages, for Sirius was clearly able to hear what they were saying.

And he didn't like what he heard. He didn't like it at all.

"Nathan, we can't tell him," Marlene insisted, and Sirius could almost picture Nathan shaking his head in disagreement.

"No, Marls," he answered sternly. "You know how much Remus means to him. It wouldn't be fair on his part to keep it from him."

"But, Nathan, you know Sirius," she protested. "If he knows, he'll immediately go over and burst in to rescue him. We have to wait until Dumbledore figures out a way to get him back."

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damnit marls, couldn't have this convo somewhere else could you?

thank you for reading! <3