Chương 20: Ch 10 It's Your Duty Part 2
Using his almost half a decade of memories roaming these walls, as well as the infamous map in his hands, Ron was able to choose the quickest paths on the way and move towards the entrance hall without encountering any student, professor, or ghost, since most of them were at the feast.
He could have used the cloak for more stealth but that would have been far too slow and it would be much more useful on the way back.
When he finally reached the last corridor before the exit, Ron stopped and searched for an empty classroom. And he easily found one at the end of the hall and immediately entered it before closing the door behind him.
Placing his bag on a nearby desk, he began to rummage inside it before bringing out the first and most useful tool in his arsenal for the night's mission— The mirror.
"Sirius!" he whispered while holding the small mirror in between his finger and thumb. And almost immediately the mirror began pulsing and glowing as if it were a malfunctioning light bulb.
Sirius must have been keeping the mirror on his person because only a couple of seconds later, the blank surface on the mirror was replaced by the scene of a widely grinning Sirius standing in front of... an aisle of biscuits.
"Hey, Harry! How are you doing— Ron?" Sirius's grin immediately froze as he saw that the face on the other side of the two-way mirror was not his godson's, "Ron? What are you doing here—Where's Harry? Is he alright?" He hurriedly asked with a panicked expression on his face immediately assuming the worst.
"Calm down, Sirius. Harry's alright, I just borrowed the mirror from him because I wanted to talk to you," Ron said in a rush, wanting to quickly assuage the man that his godson was not in a life-threatening situation this time.
"Oh..." Sirius replied with a stunned expression before his face slacked in relief, "I thought..." The sheer trauma that flashed in the man's eyes for just a moment made Ron flinch, knowing that no one could ever understand what it was like to live with all that guilt.
"Um! So where exactly are you right now," Ron asked trying to awkwardly remove the awkwardness from the air.
"Oh, this..." Sirius replied distractedly while looking around, "This is some kind of a massive muggle shop called the... er... Mental store or something, and it's bloody awesome." He said with sudden wonder in his eyes, "You can find almost everything in here, from soaps to towels, to T-shirts, to snacks, to drinks... Everything!" he gushed in the exact same tone that a muggle child uses when he first walks into Diagon Alley.
"Mental Store?" Ron asked in a flabbergasted tone, he didn't of any store in the muggle world called the Mental Stor— "Wait! Do you mean the Departmental Store?"
"Ah! Yes. That's exactly the one," Sirius replied eagerly nodding his head, "I'm impressed Ron, I didn't think you could recognise what it was immediately. Have you ever been to one?"
"Er, No. It's just I heard Hermione mention it once, that's all," Ron said while looking away and scratching his cheek, "B-But is it alright for you to roam openly like this... Isn't it dangerous? What if someone recognised you?" As far as he remembered, even the muggles had an announcement about Sirius being a wanted criminal on TV a few years ago so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that someone remembered seeing his face.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I've been completely taken off the Ministry's watch list with Professor Dumbledore's help, and even the Death Eaters all think that I'm dead. Besides I was under a facial transfiguration just a few moments ago and only removed it while applying a notice-me-not so that I could use the mirror."
"Ah, that makes sense..."
"So... what did you want to talk with me about, Ron? What can this old dog do for you today?" Sirius asked with a warm smile before a confused expression appeared on his face, "And why are you not at the feast with Harry and here in an... empty classroom?"
"That is because I have a big favour to ask of you... Something that only you can help me with..."
"Eh! What is it?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow, "If it's something I can help with then I definitely will."
"I need your help procuring some stuff from Hogsmeade..." Ron said in a conspiratory whisper, "Stuff that's not exactly allowed inside Hogwarts... Do you get my drift?"
"Huh? There are a lot of things that are not allowed inside Hogwarts.... So which ones are you talking about?" Sirius had a weird expression on his face as he thought out loud before his expression abruptly changed, "Wait! Isn't it supposed to be your last day at Hogwarts? In fact, your last night there, so what could you want—" Suddenly out of nowhere Sirius's eyes lit up with enlightenment, "Ah! I get it, you guys want to have a party right?"
"Hehe, I knew you would get me immediately," Ron said while rubbing the back of his face with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Of course, I would," Sirius said puffing his chest proudly, "You think we didn't try to do the exact same thing back in my days? After our sixth-year final, James and I had this big plan to have a massive adult-theme party in our dorms..." he then suddenly shook his head, "but alas at the last moment Remus chickened out and told Lily... and since they had just started going out around that time, James was easily cowered into dropping the plan. Ah...that henpecked idiot," he said with a nostalgic sigh.
"So that means that we'd also be fulfilling the legacy of Marauders by doing this," Ron said with a cunning smile, "Then it is almost like your duty now to help me accomplish this, isn't it?"
"Of course, it is." Sirius said with a wide grin, "What kind of Marauder would I— Wait! Molly!" he abruptly gasped with a horrified look in his eyes, "W-What about Molly? What if she finds out about it... or even Minerva? She'll turn me into a rat if she finds out that I had a hand in supplying alcohol into Gryffindor Tower."
"But—"
"Oh, No, no, they will all kill me if they even get a whiff of this. Not to mention Remus or Dumbledore or..." Sirius's imagination was spiralling out of control as he imagined the worst-case scenarios, "The amount of people who would come after me is just insane... I'll probably have to back into hiding. I am sorry Ron, but it's just too risky and I-I am an adult now so I can't do things like this..."
"Oh, come on, Sirius. You've always considered yourself the funniest uncle, right?" Ron asked and Sirius hesitatingly nodded his head, as he had proudly held that title ever since Harry was in the womb, "Then you can't just suddenly shrink from your responsibility like this. You have a reputation to hold up to, don't you?"
"I guess..."
"And besides, no one's going to find out about it. And even if they did I promise that I won't rat you out." Ron said in a beseeching tone, "Please, you've got to do this."
"Ugh! Fine," Sirius finally accepted while scratching his head furiously, "I guess I can help you with this."
"Haha, Great," Ron said with a triumphant expression on his face, "So where should I go? The Three Broomsticks?"
"Of course not. Rosmerta's cool enough but she'll immediately give you up if she finds out that you're an underage kid trying to sneak alcohol into Hogwarts. No, you'll need to go to a less-know shop where the locals get theirs but first, you'll need a few things to help along the way. You'll of course need the Invisibility Cloak—"
"Got it, right here."
"And the Marauder's Map—"
"Here!"
"Good, it seems you're well prepared," Sirius said with an amused expression on his face, "You know you would have a perfect Marauder during my Hogwarts years,"
"I know," Ron said with a wide grin.
"Anyway, do you know the voice-changing charm,"
"I do,"
"Then what about any disguise? Know about any transfiguration or charm to help change your face?"
"Uh, no. But I got this cloak," he said while picking up a big dark cloak from his bag before wearing it, and completely covering himself so that his face was in the shadows. Covered from head to toe like this, he wouldn't have looked out of place in the Knockturn Alley amidst Hags and Vampires.
"Hmm... You're tall enough so there should be no problems, I guess," Sirius said before nodding his head, "Alright, you're well prepared. So we can begin immediately."
"Let's go get some booze then..."
///
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