October Twilight

October Twilight
Chapter Ten
“The Torch”

October 23rd, 1976
6th Year

The ringing alarm clock snapped Dorcas from a content slumber. She blinked blearily and groped blindly for the shrilly ringing Muggle contraption. The yellow velvet hangings around her bed shut out all light and the Imperturbable Charm cast on them blocked out the sounds of her still sleeping dorm mates.

She finally managed to find the alarm clock in the mass of bedclothes. Yawning widely, she threw back the curtains and squinted at the bed to her left. Annabel was snoring lightly, unaffected by the alarm clock. The sun had not yet peaked over the horizon, and the sky was just changing from black to blue.

The shock she received from the cold cellar room made her want to crawl back into her toasty, comfortable bed, but she resolutely waved her wand at the duvet and staggered towards her trunk as the bed made itself. She nearly lost her balance pulling on her trousers and tried to stick her head through the armhole of her vest three different times. Finally, she pulled on her yellow-lined robe bearing the Hufflepuff crest and prefect badge. Deciding that she could not possibly do her tie right when she was so sleepy, she stuffed it in her pocket.

After Dorcas grabbed a small satchel from its place in her trunk, she crept out of the dormitory and eased the door shut. She emerged into the hallway and immediately took the stairs up to the hallway connecting the girls’ dormitories with the common room.

The black and yellow room was deserted except for a single house-elf stoking the fire. He bowed low to Dorcas as she passed, quite used to the girl finding him in the middle of his duties. He had nearly died of fright and shame the first time they’d seen one another, but Dorcas had kindly explained that she had to get up this early for her friend.

“Miss is kind and loyal and ….” The house-elf had squeaked and bowed for so long that Dorcas was almost late. Since that day in third-year, she and the house-elf had been on amiable terms.

Dorcas pushed aside the tapestry hanging behind the bust of Oliver the Obstinate and slipped into the hallway. The podium the bust sat on slid back into place as did the tapestry without Oliver ever rousing from his slumber. She often wished Hufflepuff had a different guardian for their dormitory. When he was awake, Oliver was a right pain, and when he slept, he refused to wake for anyone but Professor Sprout.

By the time Dorcas had mounted the stairs and crossed the entrance hall, the sky was rosy pink, and the only stars still visible were dull and in the far western sky. Rather than wrestling with the heavy magic that locked the front doors during the night, she took a detour up the marble staircase, down the Defense corridor, and slipped into a niche guarded by two suits of armor. They turned their heads to observe her, creaking and clanging as they did so.

With a tap of her wand on the right stones, the floor turned into a trapdoor and Dorcas descended down the staircase with her wand lit. At the end of the short tunnel, she whispered the password and emerged onto the grounds through the hole in the castle wall. She had no idea how Remus had found the passageway out of the castle, which stones to tap, and the proper password, but it made her task a lot easier.

She hesitated by the castle wall and drew her cloak tighter around herself. Her breath misted in the cold morning air and the frozen grass crunched beneath her shoes. Dorcas marched across the grounds towards the large, ominously swaying tree. She pointed her wand at the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow.

“Remanius!”

An invisible force pushed the knot and the branches froze. Dorcas slipped into the tunnel and hurried towards its exit in Hogsmeade. It was warmer inside the tunnel, but that didn’t give her any reason to appreciate it. She hated bugs and slimy things, and the tunnel was full of both. When she finally arrived at the exit, she threw open the trapdoor into the Shrieking Shack and shook out her hair and cloak, just in case any creeping thing had attached itself to her. Just the thought gave her the chills.

She forgot her disgust with the tunnel a moment later. There were voices coming from the room overhead where Remus usually lay down to rest for the day. Her heart stopped beating and her breath caught in her chest for a single moment, and then both returned in full force, pumping adrenaline through her system. She pulled out her wand and began shuffling towards the stairs.

She didn’t know how anyone could have gotten into the Shrieking Shack unless they were told about the tunnel. Dumbledore had placed all kinds of enchantments on the building to keep Remus … and everyone else … safe. A shudder passed down her spine when she thought about what would happen to any unsuspecting person who stumbled into the place at the full moon. And even worse than that, she thought, what they could do to Remus if they found him the morning after in his weakened condition.

“… Get Madam Pomfrey.”

“Are you insane? She’ll tell McGonagall …”

Dorcas rolled her eyes and dropped her wand arm. Irritated, she opened the door leading to the bedroom. Black, Potter, and Pettigrew spun around, all three with wide eyes.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she stated flatly.

“Oh, and you are?” Black replied acidly.

“Actually, I have permission directly from Dumbledore,” Dorcas answered haughtily.

The three boys exchanged bewildered glances as Dorcas moved across the room and settled herself next to Remus.

“How are you feeling?”

The werewolf grunted and motioned vaguely towards his head. Dorcas pulled out four vials of potions and handed them to Remus. She then healed several cuts on his arms and shoulders and loosely bandaged them.

“This isn’t as bad as it usually is,” she commented. “Anything new you should tell me about?”

Again, Remus only grunted. Dorcas’s eyes shifted suspiciously towards the other three Marauders, but she didn’t comment on their presence. They hadn’t ever come to visit Remus after the full moon before, and as curious as she was, she knew she couldn’t get the truth out of them unless she used Legilimency. When Dumbledore had found out that she’d taught herself Legilimency, he’d lost his temper and made her swear to never use it again on her fellow students. Seeing Dumbledore angry had frightened her so badly that she’d promised instantly and never considered reneging.

“All right then. Take this.” She passed him a bubble gum pink potion. “You should sleep until about four o’clock. I’ll bring you your homework after dinner, and Professor Vector hinted that we’re having a quiz next week, so we can study Arithmancy if you need to.”

“Thanks,” Remus whispered, settling into the pillows.

Dorcas shuffled the young men out of the room and shut the door behind her. They moved to the stairs, casting her curious glances as they descended the steps. Potter and Pettigrew slipped into the tunnel first, and like a real gentleman, Black moved in front of Dorcas.

“What happened to your leg?” she asked.

Black glanced down instinctively, completely unaware of the congealed blood staining his trousers. For a moment, he looked startled, but tried to shrug it off.

“Oh, that. Nothing ….”

Dorcas grabbed his upper arm and held him back from entering the tunnel. “How long have you been here?”

“We got here just before you did,” he replied.

Dorcas wondered why he refused to meet her gaze. It was almost as if he knew she would be able to tell if he was lying. She steered him into the sitting room adjacent to the hallway and pushed him onto the dusty old sofa.

“Was that before or after Remus was human again?” she demanded, searching through her knapsack.

“He’s always human!”

Dorcas looked up sharply. “No, he’s not.” Black seemed to lose some of his superiority under her harsh glare. “He’s my friend, and I’ll love him regardless, but he doesn’t turn into a cuddly puppy every full moon. For whatever reason you’re here, you need to realize that too.”

Dorcas severed the bloody material of Black’s trousers and revealed a long, wide gash matted with black fur. She almost asked about the fur, but decided it wasn’t as important as healing the cut. She traced it with her wand twice.

“You’ll need to take salt water mixed with dittany twice a day for a week to prevent scarring and infection. It’s a two-one-two ratio. Madam Pomfrey could make it for you, but I don’t think you’ll want to explain this to her.”

“Why are you doing this?”

Dorcas looked up, surprised by the question. Black was gazing at her incredulously, pinning her with his soulful gray eyes.

“I mean, just yesterday, you took twenty-five points because I sat in your seat in Defense.”

Dorcas’s jaw worked silently. She couldn’t explain to Black why she had mended his leg and was telling him how to tend it himself. Well, she could have, but it would have revealed things about herself that she rather Black wasn’t privy to. Knowing him, he would exploit her every weakness to his greatest advantage.

“Because, Black, as much as I think having a peg leg would deflate your ego to a reasonable size, I don’t want it on my conscience that your leg had to be amputated when I could have done something about it.”

Despite the cold scowl and determination on her face, Black wasn’t able to suppress the cocky smile pulling at one corner of his mouth.

“A peg leg, huh?”

Dorcas tried her hardest not to crack a smile, but the absurdity of what she’d said was too humorous for her to resist the natural smile. Black chuckled softly as he rose from the sofa.

“Hey, Meadowes … sit with me at the Halloween Feast.”

Dorcas paused on her way to the door. “One joke doesn’t change anything, Black. I can’t go with you.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

Dorcas breathed in deeply, debating how she should answer. She could respond harshly and end the discussion immediately, but something held her back. She only snapped at him when his ego got out of control, and he was behaving acceptably at the moment.

“I’m already going with somebody else.”

Dorcas was sure she’d imagined it, but she thought Black looked heartened by her answer. She chided herself silently. People like Black who thought the whole world revolved around themselves didn’t look ‘heartened.’

“Then you can come to Hogsmeade with me next Saturday.”

Dorcas physically bit her tongue to keep from lashing out at him. Any mention of Hogsmeade from Black’s mouth brought back traumatizing memories.

“No, I can’t. I’m going with Elijah, my boyfriend.”

Black swallowed thickly. “Diggory’s your boyfriend? I … didn’t realize that. I wouldn’t have asked.”

He moved past her and out the door. Dorcas followed behind, impressed with his answer. She hadn’t thought the word “boyfriend” would have quelled his intentions so quickly. She made a note not to take quite so many points from him. At least he wasn’t a scoundrel with other people’s girlfriends.

“It’s all right. It’s not like we pay that much attention to each other’s private lives.”

Black didn’t respond. He ducked into the tunnel, leaving Dorcas to wonder if she hadn’t said something wrong.

*~*~*

April, 1979

Heavy mist hung in the late spring air, bringing with it an unnatural chill and a feeling of deepest dread. Dorcas wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and began walking more quickly towards the pinpoints of light in the distance. Godric’s Hollow looked eerie with the orange light from the streetlamps casting distorted shadows through the dementors’ mist.

Never had she imagined the day when she would be anxious to set foot inside James Potter’s home. After seven hours of lectures, two exams, and a twelve hour shift with Dedalus Diggle, Dorcas was sure that even a night spent with Potter couldn’t be as painful as her day had been.

The mist was so thick around the Potter’s house that she almost walked into the picket fence only to stumble sideways into Sirius’s motorbike. He hadn’t told her he would be at Potter’s house, but she should have known he would be. Lily had demanded she take a night off from studying and help pick out bridesmaid’s dresses and flower arrangements. It made sense that Potter would spare himself the agony and pretend to be making wedding plans with his best man.

Potter opened the door a few moments after she knocked for the second time. A shiver passed down his spine as he surveyed the dreary atmosphere outside.

“Did you hear about Marlene?” Potter asked quietly. Dorcas nodded solemnly. “She was a friend of yours, wasn’t she?”

“Kind of. I mean, we ate lunch together, but we weren’t that close …”

Dorcas trailed off, not wanting to think about Marlene or any of the McKinnon family for that matter. She had been completing her Practical Studies class in the closed ward of the Creature Induced Injuries department when the McKinnons had been brought in. Goosebumps sprung up on her arms just thinking about their soulless eyes and blank expressions. The dementors’ mist had been spreading since that first attack, and it wasn’t showing any signs of stopping.

In the drawing room, Pettigrew was recovering from a lost game of Exploding Snap, and Sirius was unwrapping a new deck of cards. Lily was perched on the couch, flipping through a three inch thick bridal magazine, and Remus, trying to stifle a yawn, was nodding vacantly. When he saw Dorcas he jumped up from his place and practically shoved her onto the couch, looking very relieved.

“Finally,” Lily huffed.

Dorcas opened her mouth to retort, but Remus and Sirius both shook their heads grimly. To her immense surprise, Potter sat on the other side of Lily and peered over her shoulder at the magazine. The models were twirling and spinning in vibrantly colored dress robes, flexing their fingers to show sparkling jewelry, and bees buzzed around floral arrangements with long-lasting, scratch-and-smell spells.

“I like that one,” Dorcas said, pointing to a pale yellow dress robe.

“The colors are purple and silver, Dorcas!” Lily cried, tears brimming in her eyes. “Why doesn’t anyone pay attention to what I say?”

Remus’s and Sirius’s shoulders slumped, and Pettigrew sank into his chair. Dorcas glanced around the room, wondering what had happened to put Lily in such a foul mood. It wasn’t like her to snap and get overemotional.

“Okay, purple is nice.”

“Yeah, I love purple,” Potter agreed, a grin plastered on his lips.

Sirius had a sudden coughing fit that subsided the moment Lily narrowed her eyes. This in turn caused Remus and Pettigrew to choke on stifled laughter.

Lily, Dorcas, and Potter spent the next hour looking at dress robes. Dorcas thought she saw Potter’s head nodding a few times, but whenever Lily asked for his opinion he gave a predictable, noncommittal answer. Dorcas thought that was a clever idea and quickly adopted it, as her every honest comment only seemed to make Lily more irritable. She even went so far as to agree to wear a hideous purple robe with three layers of frilly silver lace and a matching hat.

“Okay, well that’s settled,” Lily said, smiling widely.

Potter sighed softly and made to join his friends playing Exploding Snap on the floor when Lily pulled out another magazine thicker than the last one.

“Now we just have to find dress robes for the groomsmen. I don’t think we need you for this, James.”

None of the young men looked thrilled that Lily and Dorcas were going to decide on their robes without their consultation. Potter reluctantly joined his friends on the floor, very put out that he had been forced to endure an hour of bridal magazines only to be sent away when it was time to pick out his own clothes.

Lily skipped past the robes that Dorcas thought were the most acceptable and flipped straight to a horrible cut that anyone who had grown up in the wizarding world knew had gone out of style a century ago. She tried very hard not to laugh as Sirius and Potter sent her imploring looks.

“That’s … an interesting style,” Dorcas commented, biting her lower lip. “I especially like the slit up the left leg. Sirius will look very sexy in that.”

The young men were so dismayed by the thought of wearing dress robes with slits that no one mentioned Dorcas’s comment about Sirius. She herself didn’t realize what she’d said until much later.

After half an hour of debating, Lily decided on a more classic robe and put away the magazines. Just when Dorcas thought she’d escaped maid of honor duties for the rest of the night, Lily returned to the sofa with a stack of loose parchment.

“Seating arrangements!” Lily announced.

The last deck of Exploding Snap blew up in Remus’s face, ending the fun for one night. Everyone was now condemned to planning the wedding without distraction. While Remus repaired his eyebrows, Potter passed around fresh butterbeers, and Sirius turned on the WWN.

“I left space in the front row for your dates,” Lily explained, glancing at the sheet.

“Dates?” Sirius asked, choking on a mouthful of butterbeer. “You didn’t say anything about dates.”

“You can’t go to a wedding alone, Sirius!” Lily exclaimed.

Dorcas regarded him curiously, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Am I hearing correctly? Sirius Black is worried about finding a date?”

“I’m not worried,” he replied, trying to sound casual.

“Then what’s the matter?” she laughed.

“Nothing,” he said, shrugging his shoulders again.

All other conversations had ceased, and their friends were focused on Dorcas and Sirius. Pettigrew looked completely baffled by the exchange, but Potter, Remus, and Lily were on the edges of their seats. Sirius kept scowling at them.

“I’m going to get some crisps,” Lily said, standing up.

“Me too,” Potter and Remus chorused. “Come on, Pete.” Pettigrew followed them, questioning them about why it took four people to get a bag of crisps.

“So, who are you going with?” Sirius asked, fiddling with the corner of the seating chart.

“I asked Elijah Diggory,” Dorcas responded absently, looking at the doorway curiously.

“Piper Robins is coming with me.” He leaned back in his chair, tossing the parchment aside.

Dorcas turned sharply at the name. “That stupid know-it-all Ravenclaw leech? You can do better than that!”

The words had left her mouth before she could stop them. Sirius didn’t seem at all perturbed that she’d just insulted his date. Rather, he shrugged calmly and a knowing smirk spread across his lips.

“Didn’t know you cared so much about who I dated, Meadowes.”

When their friends re-entered the room, a frosty atmosphere had settled between Sirius and Dorcas. She couldn’t believe he had called her by her surname. She didn’t understand him at all. They had been getting on so well for almost four months, and then out of the blue, he starts treating her like an acquaintance again.

The last week of April and the first two weeks of May passed by quickly for Dorcas. She went to class during the day and preformed Order duties at night. Nearly all her free time was spent with Lily, planning for the caterers, trying on dress robes, and calming her nearly hysterical best friend.

Dorcas was questioning the wisdom of having asked her ex-boyfriend to go to a wedding with her. Elijah was a nice man, but so much had changed since their fifth-year at Hogwarts. On top of that, she was constantly agitated by the fact that Sirius--or Black, as she had started calling him again--was bringing Piper Robins to the wedding. Lily had mentioned once that Piper had never done anything to them, but dropped the subject when she saw the deadly look in Dorcas’s eyes.

The wedding was a simple affair. Lily had insisted that the ceremony was held in a Muggle church and that the guest list was kept to a minimum. There were some wizards she didn’t trust to not use magic in front of her Muggle relatives. Dorcas had grudgingly put on the horrid bridesmaid robe and stood with her best friend, trying her hardest not to think of what she must look like in the purple lacy mess.

More people had been invited to the reception, and Dorcas couldn’t help but notice that the tables full of Muggles had been liberally supplied with wine and champagne. When Dedalus Diggle shot stars out of his wand, half the Muggles roared their approval and the other half looked curiously at the empty bottles on the table.

“Toast!” Lily’s great aunt Daisy cried. Some inebriated wizard conjured a piece of toast and Professor McGonagall had to vanish it in mid-air as he chucked it towards Daisy Evans.

Dorcas stood up from her seat, prepared to lie through her teeth. Even on Lily’s wedding day, she couldn’t stand Potter. Her mood wasn’t improved by Piper Robins clutching onto Black’s arms like a blonde parasitic virus sucking the newfound humanity out of him. The venomous analogy startled her, so she turned her attention back to her speech.

“If you had told me, or anyone who went to Hogwarts with Lily and Pot--James, that we would be sitting here today celebrating their wedding, you would have been committed to St. Mungo’s and taken straight to the fourth floor.” The wizards in the room chuckled, and the Muggles glanced sidelong at the champagne bottles again. “In the past year and a half, we’ve all seen how much Lily and James care for each other. Even if it’s been a shock, I think we’ve realized that what is important isn’t the fights over House points they used to have, but the beautiful relationship they have now. To Lily and James!”

The guests lifted the glasses and drank to the newlyweds. Black stood up next, shrugging off Piper’s leech-like grip.

“James has been my best mate since our first train ride to Hogwarts and like my brother for nearly as long. I’ve always wanted what was best for him, and I didn’t always agree that that was Lily. James carried a torch for a long time, and it burned him every time he asked Lily on a date. He always told me persistence would pay off one day. It might not have worked for anyone he recommended it to, but it worked for him. To James and Lily!”

With the toasts complete, James jumped to his feet. “And now, it’s time for the traditional best man-maid of honor dance!”

Dorcas’s smile fell slowly. Most of the guests seemed similarly perplexed. Not to be deterred, James grasped Sirius’s elbow and lifted him out of his chair. Black, cursing under his breath the whole time, approached Dorcas. Lily prodded her best friend until she stood up just to get away from Lily’s aggressive fingers and followed Black onto the dance floor.

“I haven’t seen much of you the past few weeks,” Sirius commented.

Dorcas glanced at the numerous pairs of eyes watching their dance. She really wished Potter had chosen a song that wasn’t by Full Moon Blush, because now every time she listened to her favorite band she was going to think about Black and this stupid dance.

“Oh, so sorry the world doesn’t revolve around you, Black,” she snapped, emphasizing his surname.

He remained silent for a few moments, pondering what he had said wrong. “Actually, I haven’t seen you at all. I thought after Marlene … well, you know. I thought you might come by the Ministry during your lunch hour.”

“Sure, Black, I’ll do that when I have a moment between classes, exams, and Order work.”

Sirius blinked a few times, trying to reconcile her hostility with his statements. “Why are you using my surname again?”

Dorcas fairly glowered at him. “Do you ever listen to yourself or do you just like the sound of your own voice so much that you ramble on, never considering your own words, just becoming more enamored with yourself?”

“That was an awfully long sentence for someone lecturing about piety.”

Dorcas’s jaw worked silently, her brain so full of angry retorts that she couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

“And Dorcas, if you don’t want me to call you Meadowes anymore, just say so. Problems are a lot easier to solve if you actually talk about them.”

She huffed indignantly. “Well … fine. Why don’t we talk about your problems with me.”

Sirius raised one eyebrow. “I didn’t know I had a problem with you.”

“Then why did you bring Piper when you know how much I dislike her?”

“Why did you bring Diggory when you know how much I dislike him?” Sirius countered.

Dorcas opened her mouth, ready to retort, but lost her train of thought. “You don’t like Elijah? Why not?”

He averted his eyes, but couldn’t hide the wounded expression on his face or the frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. “I thought that would have been obvious.”

Dorcas was saved from having to answer by Professor Dumbledore clearing his throat. The song had ended and from the amused faces staring at the dancing pair, it had been over for quite some time.

Dorcas returned to her seat and accepted the glass of champagne Elijah handed to her. She was preoccupied with Sirius’s comment for the rest of the day, and it didn’t escape her notice that he didn’t dance with Piper Robins at all.