Sirius was running.
Faster than he'd ever run before. The city flew by him, then it was golden fields of corn, then it was a desolate beach, waves lapping hungrily at his feet. One thing remained the same though, Regulus running just in front of him, an arm's width away. Sirius reached out, his fingertips barely brushing the fabric of his shirt.
"Reg!" he cried out, the sand getting softer beneath his feet.
Regulus didn't turn, nor did he slow down.
"Reg please!" Sirius called again, tripping over the sand and yelling out when he started to sink into it rapidly.
Before he knew it, he was up to his neck and Regulus just kept running.
"Reggie!" Sirius called one more time before sand filled his mouth, blocking his airway and-
Sirius jerked awake, gasping for breath before turning over, immensely thankful that it had been a dream.
Just a dream, it was only a dream, he chanted in his head, keeping his eyes shut and tugging the blanket closer as any urge to sleep oozed out of him.
"-doing in Dauntless?"
Sirius cracked open a bleary eye, the winy tones of Snape making want to shove his fingers in his ears.
"Fuck off Snape."
Lily's voice this time. Sirius opened the other eye, blinking as he moved to get up.
"You really wanna be talking to him like that Stiff?"
Evan's voice.
Truly awake now, Sirius tossed aside the blanket.
"Why don't you go back to your Stiff family?" Snape sneered, "Or don't they want you? Is that why you left?"
Evan and Snape laughed, large guffaws that made Sirius want to punch both of them.
"Oi!" he called as he walked to stand by Lily. The laughter stopped, morphing into smug smiles.
"Keep walking Black," Evan spat, "This isn't your fight."
Sirius scowled, "Don't call me that, and by the looks of you Evan, you're not in any shape to fight anything."
Evan's hand lifted towards his face, a mottled canvas of black and purple, both eyes puffy and bruised from Fenrir.
"You shut your mouth Sirius," Snape sneered. "You don't deserve the Black name anyway. Just as bad as the Stiff you are."
Sirius took a step forwards, smirking when Snape stepped back almost immediately.
Coward.
"Do you want end up like your buddy Zacharias?" Sirius asked, "Cause I can get James over here right now."
Evan glared, "Three against one? Bit unfair."
Sirius laughed, "And two on one isn't? Get out of here."
Sirius wasn't sure what they saw on his face, but it must've made them scared enough to scamper out of the room, leaving Lily and Sirius alone.
She turned to him, long red hair up in a ponytail, her cheeks flushed with anger.
"I was handling it fine," she said.
Sirius held up his hands in surrender, "I can't defend my friend?"
She sighed, shaking her head, her green eyes softening, "Sorry, thanks for helping me. It's just that I don't want them to think I can't defend myself."
Looking down at her, her fists clenched and eyes alight, Sirius thought someone would have to be insane to pick on her and expect quiet submission.
"I'll just stand behind you next time," Sirius said, "Look menacing while you give it to them yeah?"
She laughed, and Sirius could see why James was smitten, "That sounds perfect." She reached up suddenly, brushing her fingers along Sirius' cheek. He winced, forgetting about the two punches he'd taken there. It must've bruised badly. "This looks like it hurts," she said, dropping her hand.
Sirius grinned, "Nah, not really," he said as they started walking towards the training room. "You ready for your fight?"
Lily sucked in a breath, "I hope so."
They reached the door and went inside, Lily stopping mid step, a look of absolute horror on her face.
"What?" Sirius asked, following her gaze to the chalk board.
Lily - Severus
"Shit," he said.
"Shit," Lily agreed.
James appeared in front of them, an empty muffin wrapper in his hand and his mouth full. "What's going on?" he asked. "Besides Peter getting his ass beat of course."
Sirius glanced towards the ring just in time to see Marlene delivering a swift kick to Peter's side. Sirius winced.
"Everything is shit," Lily said furiously.
"What's shit?" James asked, spraying crumbs everywhere.
Lily groaned, "I'm up against Snape."
James looked at her so earnestly Sirius wanted to look away, "Don't worry Lily. I'm sure you'll do great."
"I dunno..." Sirius said, watching Snape slink closer to the ring, greasy hair tucked behind his ears, face downturned in a scowl, "He seems pretty determined."
With a thump, Peter was out cold, Marlene looking down at him with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah Marlene!" Sirius whooped as he ran up to help James drag Peter out of the ring, the boy already regaining consciousness, blinking blearily as he slumped on a chair.
"Sorry Pete," Marlene said as she joined them, her face shiny from sweat.
"Dn't wrry 'bout it," Peter slurred, sliding down the chair. "Jst hrts a'bit."
James rolled his eyes, pushing him up and holding him there.
Sirius' gaze flicked to the ring, which Snape was walking into, and where Moony and Fenrir were waiting on the outside. Moony had his arms crossed, the silver scars shimmering like moonlight on his skin. As if he could feel Sirius staring, he turned and their eyes locked.
For what felt like forever, Sirius just...looked at him. Looked at the tiny smirk. Wondered what it meant. Looked at the scar across his nose. Wondered how he got it. He looked and looked until Fenrir shouted out.
"Lily! In the ring, now!"
He ripped his gaze away from Moony and watched as Lily walked into the ring, wiping her hands on her legs nervously.
"Come on Lily," Sirius whispered fervently, like a prayer.
Lily stepped into the ring, widening her stance as Snape smirked at her, flicking the greasy hair off his face.
"Come on," Fenrir snarled, "Fight! We don't have all day."
Snape glanced at Fenrir, and that was enough of a distraction for Lily to dart forward, punching him in the throat, her hand moving like lightening. Sirius grinned as Snape gagged, his hands flying up to cup his throat as Lily kneed him right in the stomach.
"She's brilliant isn't she?" James sighed.
Sirius glanced at Marlene to see him already looking at him, her face twisted as though she was trying not to laugh.
Sirius cleared his throat, "She's certainly something mate."
"I scnd' tha'!" Peter called from behind them, slumped so far down his chair he was practically sitting on the floor.
Snape cried out, not in pain, but in anger, and he came hurtling towards Lily, pushing her hands away and punching her in the jaw. Sirius winced, his breath escaping through his teeth as her head flew to the side. She stumbled backwards, away from Snape. But he followed her, kicking her in the stomach, causing her to fall flat on her back.
"Get up, get up!" Sirius whispered, hands clenched in fists in front of him.
Lily did get up. Scrambling to her feet and ducking below another one of Snape's punches, wrapping her hands around his middle and throwing them both to the ground, punching his side again and again until Snape exclaimed angrily, shoving her off him and kicking her to the floor again, hard.
Sirius glanced at James beside him. His eyes were wide and he looked torn between running and pulling Lily away and running and punching Snape.
"She'll be fine James," Sirius said, turning to Marlene, "Right?"
But Marlene's gaze was fixed on the fight. Sirius followed it to see Lily's head getting dragged up by her red ponytail. She kicked her feet but Snape's grip didn't falter as he punched her square in the nose. She screamed, and the sound hurt Sirius' ears as her hair was released, blood oozing onto the mat.
Sirius looked at Moony then. The man was glaring at the ring, his knuckles white where they gripped his other arm. Sirius wanted to run to him, beg him to stop the fight, but he knew that he'd have to go through Fenrir, who was watching Lily and Snape with a sickening gleam in his eyes.
Lily cried out again as Snape kicked her side over and over, Lily defenceless, her hands raising limply before falling to her side.
"They have to stop it," James said, "She's down. They have to stop."
But Snape just kept going, his teeth bared like an animal. It kept going and going until Moony looked at Fenrir, disgust flitting over his features.
"That's enough!" he shouted.
But Snape kept going. He just kept kicking her. Lily wasn't moving at all now.
In a flash, James was running up to the ring, Sirius and Marlene hot on his heels. But Moony beat both of them, slapping Snape hard across the face, startling him into stopping.
He gripped Snape by the shoulders, "If I tell you to stop, then you'd better fucking listen to me!" he yelled in his face, shaking him slightly.
Snape was wide eyed, rigid in Moony's grasp.
"Take her to the hospital," Moony said over his shoulder, "Now."
Afraid, and slightly in awe, Sirius grabbed Lily's feet as he helped James and Marlene carry her off. Remus let go of Snape, pushing him a bit and striding past them out the doors, his hands in fists beside him.
~~~~~~~~~~
The hospital was larger than Sirius imagined, and more clean. Whilst the rest of Dauntless had an underlying sense of grubbiness, whether it be the walls, or the floors, the hospital looked and smelt clean. It reminded him a bit of his house really, maybe that's why he felt a bit uncomfortable.
Lily laid on a bed, on top of the sheets. The nurse had said that there wasn't anything to be worried about apart from a few broken ribs in the place where Snape kept kicking her, but the nurse had patched that all up.
Just thinking about Snape made Sirius want to scream, or throw something. His face when he was kicking Lily was drawn onto his brain in permeant ink that he couldn't scrub off. He knew James felt the same. The boy sat next to Sirius, looking at Lily like she was dead. Which she wasn't. When Sirius told this to James, he laughed half heartedly.
"I know that you prick," he said, "But she could be. That bastard could've killed her. And Fenrir would've let him. He was letting him."
On the other side of the bed, Marlene hummed in agreement, "Fenrir's fucked up," she said, "There's something seriously wrong with him."
"I second that," Sirius said.
"I third that," came from Peter, holding an ice pack against his cheek miserably. He had joined them not much more than ten minutes after they arrived.
Marlene winced, "Sorry about that Peter," she said, "All part of the game y'know?"
Peter nodded, "Don't worry about it, doesn't hurt that much anyway."
Sirius grinned fondly at the obvious lie, snapping to attention when Lily's hand moved on the bed.
"She's waking up!" James exclaimed.
Lily's eyes opened slowly, blinking even slower as she looked around, finally settling on Sirius.
"Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital," Sirius said, "Got a pretty good beating from Snape."
James swatted his arm, "Sirius-"
But Lily just laughed, stopping once she realised that it made her face hurt. Sirius' face hurt just looking at her. She was lucky her nose wasn't broken, but both of her eyes were black, and her lip had split right down the middle. He couldn't see the bruises on her side, but he could bet that they wouldn't fade for weeks.
"God, I won't ever be able to look at him again," Lily groaned, squeezing her eyes shut.
Marlene laughed bitterly, "I'll be able to look at him," she said, "Look at him when I'm chopping his balls off."
Sirius snorted, and a rush of affection for Marlene flooded through him.
Lily cackled, "Please let me watch."
Marlene nodded solemnly, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"How're you feeling Lily?" James asked, his fingers twitching towards her hand.
Lily shrugged, "Apart from every muscle in my body screaming out in pain, I'm fine."
James blanched, "Screaming out in- Do you want me to get the nurse?!"
Lily laughed, reaching to pat his hand, "I'm exaggerating James, calm down."
James took a deep breath, his eyes flitting towards Lily's hand on top of his every two seconds.
"Oh!" Peter exclaimed suddenly, "I was gonna tell you guys that you missed an announcement from Fenrir. We're all going to the fence tomorrow as a kind of fieldtrip."
Sirius frowned, "The fence? Why?"
Peter shrugged, "Something about learning about Dauntless jobs? I don't really remember."
James nodded, "Sounds interesting. Thanks Pete."
Pete brightened at James' praise, and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Dauntless jobs..." Marlene pondered, "Imagine doing all this training and ending up cleaning the floors or something."
Sirius grinned, "I don't think the floors get cleaned."
"If anyone's gonna end up being a cleaner it's gonna be me," Peter said, hanging his head, "I'm useless."
James clapped him on the shoulder, "Don't say that Pete, you just need more practice."
Peter shook his head, "If I ask my parents to take me back on visiting day, do you reckon they would?"
Lily looked at him softly, "You want to quit?"
Marlene looked at him not so softly, "Even if you did, that's not how it works. You've chosen your faction, there's no second chances."
Sirius nodded, liking Marlene more and more every time she opened her mouth.
Peter shook his head, "I just need some food, I think we're missing dinner. Lily, do you mind-"
Lily waved a hand, "You guys go, I'm fine."
"You sure?" James asked.
Lily rolled her eyes, "Yes James. Go."
And so they went. But Peter's words about visiting day stuck in his head. He knew what it was of course. In less than a week, families of the trainees would come and say hello to their children. The dauntless initiates would of course, be greeted by their whole family without a doubt. But for transfers it was always a gamble. Families might not want to see the children who had left them behind.
Sirius knew for a fact that his Mother and Father would definitely not be coming to visiting day. The mere thought of Walpurga standing in Dauntless made him want to laugh. No, they would be with darling Regulus in the Erudite compound, showering him with praise and gushing their pride to anyone who so much as looks at him.
Sirius told himself that he didn't care, and he didn't. He was glad they weren't coming. Dauntless was a place that was wholly untainted by Walpurga Black, and he intended it to remain that way for as long as he stayed there.
Still, he imaged that visiting day wouldn't be the happiest he's ever been. In fact, the thought of meeting James, Peter, Marlene and Lily's parents made his heart clench painfully. He would never wish any of them to be in his shoes, but of course it would be nice to talk to someone who understand the burden of transferring not only because you feel as though you belong somewhere else, but because you need to escape.
His thoughts jumped suddenly, to Remus Lupin. And in that moment that was who Sirius wanted to talk to. That was who Sirius knew understood what he was feeling.