╰┈➤✧.* IN WHICH
Sirius Black thinks about the Cave he's hiding in

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

"James Potter you are going to get us killed" Remus hissed from behind the rock he was using as a cover. The black haired boy took it in stride.

"if you would rather face Rosemerta and that weird guy we angered by running over his farms. be my guest, and walk out of here" James retorted, turning to face Remus.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "remind me again who's idea it was to do something so stupid?" he asked, leaning against the tree he was hiding beside, absentmindedly scratching his name onto the bark with a pebble.

"YOURS" the other three boys chorused, before suddenly realizing their mistake and hiding a little lower.

"I KNOW YOU'RE THERE" called the gruff voice of the man chasing them. Sirius tried to remember what his name was. 

"Oi Padfoot!" Peter called from behind Remus. "climb up that tree and check for someplace we can go"

Sirius frowned, but began climbing anyway. why couldn't my animagus have been something more convenient. he thought to himself. like a monkey. as soon as he was high enough to see, he paused, craning his neck to find a source of hiding. he grinned when his silver eyes caught sight of something that would fit perfectly. he began crawling back down.

"What did you find?" James asked him.

"Hiding place" he responded. "there's a cave a little bit away from here, we can make it till there"

"Lead the way then Sirius" Remus said.

"You're in Hogsmeade now. you're also a wanted criminal" Sirius muttered under his breath. "dumbass" he added for good measure.

He was crouched against an old withering tree. "stupid stupid stupid" 

He looked for a place to hide. mostly he just wanted to sleep. he had come running right from the tropical beauties of planet Earth into miserable England because some idiot wanted to kill his godson.

Deciding that there was no place he could go, except possibly dig a hole and spend the night in there, he stood up. his fingers miraculously brushed a familiar series of letters against the tree. he looked down and saw his name 'Sirius' staring back at him in the messy scrawl that had been his handwriting.

he could have danced with joy as the memories came flooding back to him. the cave. the cave could be his hiding place, no soul knew of it except The Marauders, out of which one was dead, the other hiding for the time being, himself and the nasty traitor he hoped had crawled into a hellhole to die. And the girls? They were all dead, insane or had their memories wiped.

'Lead the way then Sirius' was a faint echo in his mind. Quietly, he transformed into Padfoot and began his journey toward the cave, with the memory flowing back in pieces.

The boys had chosen not to use their Animagi to get around. they were in human form, shuffling against Hogsmeade Hill making their way to the cave. 

"Padfoot where the hell is it?" James softly demanded. 

"A little further Prongsie what's got your knickers in a twist"

"date with Lily, I suppose" Remus teased. 

"Fuck off Lupin, it isn't a date" James scowled, turning a scarlet shade. "Its just Heads Duties"

"Still can't believe one of us got Head Boy" Peter mused.

"Shut up all of you, or Felton will find us and we'll all be heads on a stick" 

"Here we are" Sirius declared, at the opening of a cave.

Sirius fondly smiled, standing at the mouth of the cave. he trotted inside, and let out a sharp bark, causing a lot of rats to go running. They had destroyed most of teh stuff left from the last time he'd been there. 

Turning back to human, he picked up the last rat trying to flee, envisioned it to be Peter, and tossed it out as far as he could.

He opened his meager possessions. a bag he'd nicked, some gold from the Black Family Gringotts Vault, and two rugs he'd picked in passing from a down trodden stall.

He laid out one of the rugs on the ground. He pulled his gold out of his bag, filled his pockets with it, and balled up the bag to use as a pillow. dragging the second rug toward him, he fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

"Peter talk to these rats would you? convince them to go away" Remus suggested as the boys filled into the cave. Peter looked skeptical but transformed anyway, and had a fast paced and squeaky conversation with one of the other rats.

suddenly he turned back to himself. "They're so mean they threatened to eat us"

Sirius rolled his eyes, quickly converting to Padfoot and barking a few profanities at the rats, who quickly scattered away.

"Well that's convenient?" James grinned.

"Its what stopped you from becoming rat food James show a little gratitude"

"Oh Padfoot, how will we ever repay you?" Remus sassed.

"Don't kill yourselves over me now, surely there's better ways to die" Sirius preened.

"Like?" prompted Peter. "choking to death? getting mauled in a battle? getting killed by an evil wizard?"

"Or dying due to common household items such as drapes" James snorted. "i call evil wizard"

"Or getting beheaded by Rosie and a mental farm owner" Remus snapped.

Sirius pulled his patchy rugs closer. His eyes flickered open, as hunger attacked his belly. deciding he would go out and scavenge stuff from trashcans later, he rolled over.

Tomorrow he would find parchment and send Prongslet a message. Tomorrow he would go out and quench his hunger. Today he would sleep.

His eyes caught a carving in the wall. big enough for a muggle projector.

"Why the hell are we here?" Lily's whine came from the makeshift couch that Alice had conjured. she was curled up next to James, who's fingers were stroking her hair.

"Its a surprise Lily" Marlene grinned, setting the projector up into the wall.

"Can we at least remove the blindfolds?" James sadly asked.

"Don't you dare" Dorcas cheerily responded.

Remus, Mary, Peter, Emmeline, Dorcas, Frank, Alice, Marlene and Sirius quickly made sure everything was set.

Mary flipped a switch on the projector which let out a stream of light displaying their story onto the wall.

"Okay, now" Alice smiled, helping James and Lily out of their blindfolds. 

Lily softly gasped when her eyes adjusted. The screen was playing the footage of her wedding.

"Well since most of us have no idea what conspired on the night you guys got married, we thought we'd watch the footage." Sirius explained. "and since we probably ruined a lot of it, we decided to make it up to you by putting on a show"

James laughed. "that's wonderful" he grinned. "thank you"

Sirius smiled to himself on the floor. these memories had been the only things keeping him alive all throughout the twelve years he spent in Azkaban. revisiting them broke him apart every time but he couldn't stop.

A tear slipped down from his eye and traced the side of his forehead before gently dropping to the floor as his eyes closed once more

a/n: what do you think??? i kind of like it? i liked the Remus one a bit more but this one is really sweet as well. i think the parallels between the fact that Sirius kept himself alive because of his memories while Remus tried his best to tamp them down is really interesting.

anyway i hope you guys liked it, have a lovely day 

ana ♥️