Draco seemed unperturbed. He had set to work buttoning his shirt in a leisurely fashion. 'I forgot,' he said.
'You forgot?'
He shrugged. 'I forgot.'
'I hate you,' she said.
'No you don?t,' he said, and smirked the cocky smirk that previously, she had wanted to hit.
She pointed her wand at him instead. 'Sobrietus!' she snapped.
Flying seemed to calm the anxious Buckbeak. Having taken off into the air, he seemed able to ignore the presence of Lupin on his back, and responded to Sirius? reassuring caresses with faint clucks that could only be interpreted as affectionate.
He tensed again, however, when they reached a dark stretch of forest. Lupin took a deep breath. The sight of the forest stirred within him memories of being Called; memories that weren?t really memories at all, but more primal than that. He knew the forest, knew the paths through it, knew, as he reached forward to tap Sirius on the shoulder, where they needed to descend to find the gray-towered castle surrounded by thickly leaved trees.
Chirruping with anxiety, Buckbeak allowed himself to be encouraged to land just inside the walls that surrounded the castle. As soon as Sirius and Lupin had been dismounted, he took off again into the air, wings pumping vigorously as he vanished over the treetops.
Sirius smiled wryly and touched the copper whistle around his neck.
'I guess he doesn?t much like this place, either.'
Lupin turned his attention to their surroundings. They were standing just inside the high gray walls that surrounded Slytherins castle. Without ever having been there before, Lupin had felt a stabbing sense of recognition as they approached, as if he revisited a location previously seen in a dream. The high walls were familiar, as was the overgrown garden that surrounded the castle proper. The sky overhead was pearl-blue, streaked with the faint violet afterimages of sunset.
Sirius tipped his head back and glanced around. 'So what do we do now?'
Lupin shrugged. 'This is as much outside my experience as it is yours. Why ask me?'
'Because. You're a problem solver. Your one of these people who will pick up a garden hose that's gotten all tangled up and spend an entire day untangling it. You like this sort of thing.'
'No, I don?t.'
'Yes, you do.'
'I do not.'
'Yes, you do. Sometimes I try to picture you sitting on a beach with absolutely nothing to do.'
'And?'
'And, the picture always ends with your head exploding.'
Lupin threw up his hands. 'I wish you didn?t know me so well.'
'We?re old souls. Get used to it,' Sirius grinned.
'I was only saying.' Lupin returned his attention to the castle and its environs. The black walls were smooth and towered above them, the few visible windows so very high up that there was no chance of climbing up to them. The only entrance he could see into the structure was the set of huge, intricately carved bronze front doors.
'Sirius. How are we going to get in? We can?t just walk up to the front door and knock.'
'Oh, yeah?'
Lupin glanced at him. Sirius had that look in his eye. That 'Who says I can?t ride my motorcycle on school grounds?' look. That
'Who says I can?t rappel down the side of the Astronomy Tower using Toothflossing Stringmints?' look. That 'Who says I can?t walk right up to the front door and knock?' look.
Sirius walked up to the front door, and knocked.
Lupin raced after him. He wasn?t sure exactly why, but he?d had some practice in preventing Sirius from getting killed before. If necessary, he felt he could do it again.
The door swung open, without the loud ominous creaking one might have expected from such a very imposing-looking entrance. A tall, hooded creature stood in the entrance, swathed in long gray robes.
Lupin saw Sirius go white, before apparently realizing that it was not, in fact a dementor. It wasn?t tall enough, and the hands that reached from the sleeves of its gray robes were long and spatulated, not scabbed and rotting. 'I am the Guardian of the Door,' it said importantly, straightening its narrow shoulders. 'What do you want?'
He opened his mouth to say something, but Lupin cut him off.
'I?m Remus Lupin,' he said. 'I?m a werewolf, and its, er my first time here.' He paused. 'I was Called here,' he added, as clarification.
'Yes, very interesting.' The creature waved a long, grayish hand at them irritably. 'Didn?t you read the sign?'
Lupin and Sirius craned their necks to look where it indicated. A bronze plaque was affixed to the stone wall, to the left of the door. It read Dark Creatures Being Called: Please Use Side Entrance.
'Oh,' said Lupin, grabbing at Siriusarm, and dragging him back from the door. 'Sorry. We?ll go around the side.'
'See that you do,' sniffed the creature, and slammed the doors shut.
