The day of our city trip was here. I couldn't wait to see Sonny and be able to go back home and tell Remus he had nothing to worry about. That we could go anywhere to reconnect with friends, that we didn't have to stay in our little village all the time.

Time had passed. Sirius, though cryptic, seemed fine outside of the village and he's a Black just like me. Our mourning and danger ended with Regulus. I can imagine the death of Reggie caused a stir, we're a well off family, the death eaters would not risk another death connected to the Black Family. It would be unwise.

I felt so excited to prove that we could see our friends that we left behind once more. That maybe even Sirius could settle without the desire to run off every time he makes an appearance again. The village didn't have to feel claustrophobic, like a place you could never leave if you decide to rest in it.

Change was coming, I feel it.

"Merlin I missed all this noise!" Marlene beamed as we stepped foot into London.

Honestly, all of the noise felt like a shock to my system. I didn't feel the euphoria Marlene was feeling. I kind of wished I had Remus' hand to hold and ground me.

The bustling of busy people rushing here, there and everywhere felt tiresome just watching.

Perhaps the slow pace of a village suited me just as well as it did for Remus.

Marlene grabbed my hand and we began our journey towards Sonny and Dorcas. The excitement was pushing me through the discomfort of London after all this time.

We wandered for a while. One tube ride and several U-turns because of road closures later, we found ourselves near Anderson & Son...the book shop I re-met Remus at.

I lingered, pulling Marlene back so that I could stop and reminisce. A warm feeling spread through my cheeks, the feeling of a memory so exciting that my heart rate almost mimicked the pace of thumped to on that day.

A vision of Remus from that day flashed through my head. Soggy hair sticking to his face from the rain outside. A tea towel in the hands that went outside to clear a drain, soaked through. I remember he threw the towel into the back room, an almost scowl on his face from the discomfort of dripping over the wooden floors...until he saw me and his face relaxed; admittedly in what seemed to be shock.

"Hi." I could still hear him say. Unprepared and boyish despite a frame that I wasn't used to at the time, my first sight of him as a man.

Marlene snapped me out of my reminiscent state.

"Oh my- no way!" She whispered in a shouty tone and next thing I knew I was being pulled into a jog and around the corner.

"Marlene?!" I hissed, tugging my arm from hers a massaging my shoulder. She almost pulled my arm out of the socket.

"I just saw Sirius!" Marlene said her eyes wild with confusion.

"What?" I asked, scoffing.

"He ran from us! He saw us!" Marlene threw her hands on her hips and frantically looked around the odd interwoven alley way she led us to.

"You're seeing things because we aren't supposed to be here." I said.

"You're not supposed to be here, I'm not seeing things. He was here." She said trying to figure out which way to explore.

"Why would he run from us Marl?" I attempted as she began marching off down the direction she felt drawn towards.

Suddenly she halted almost stumbling back. I crashed into the back of her, so much so I thought perhaps I had winded the blonde.

"Mar-" she shook her head, spinning around and cupping my mouth closed.

Pure fear.

She was scared.

Which was so out of character and so made me feel instantly uneasy. The hairs on my arms seemed to spike at her wide eyed look of fright.

She spun us around and pushed me to go out the other direction. Now I was in the lead, in the front and I felt insanely cowardly. The unknown of what we were quietly running from was invading each muscle. Fight or flight wasn't kicking in for me, freeze was and I was only moving because Marlene was in flight behind me. Again, unusual for her. She's a fighter.

We managed to make our way back onto the main street but Marlene was still silently marching.

"Marlene?" I asked seriously, pulling her to a halt.

"Peter?" She said back. My eyebrows furrowed together with confusion and then I realised she was looking just past me. I turned around and,

"Peter?" I also repeated.

"No, Peter!" She shouted as he approached the alley ways we had just escaped from. She ran up to him and pulled him aside.

He looked taken aback, his mouth gaping open as Marlene practically pounced on him.

"Death eaters!" Marlene gasped out.
"Don't go down there! "

Death eaters?

Suddenly Marlene's fear made sense. We had stumbled across a death eaters meeting. My heart sunk to the lowest part of my gut. Was Remus right? Was it too dangerous here? Was the safety of isolation in our village exactly what we needed to stay out of the mess that was the wizarding world currently?

To walk into a gathering like that, in such a secluded alley, would have been beyond dangerous. We would have died, killed instantly. Marlene was quick to catch on, she basically saved our lives with her hyper vigilance.

A focused attention seeking Sirius.

No...

He wouldn't have.

They killed Regulus, he wouldn't.

But why was he down there? The same place as the death eaters?

And then there's Peter. What the hell is he doing here too? What are we doing here?

"What are you even doing here?" Marlene seemed to ask for me as I was almost frozen whilst processing everything that had happened in such a short span of time.

Peter stumbled on vowels, muttering and spluttering as if he had never formed a sentence before in his life.

"Are you with Sirius?" I piped up. My face falling rather sternly. A mixture of anger and anxiety fuelling me.

"Sirius?" Peter questioned, cocking his head to the side like a stupid dog.

"He's down there. Maybe that's what that letter was about?" Marlene then span to me.

Peters spirit came back into his body.

"What are you doing here Peter?" I asked again. Not letting Marlene's disorientation distract us.

"I was following Sirius, the same as you guys!" He said. I could tell he was lying, Marlene's adrenaline pumping around her jumpy body seemed to dumb her down. She acted as she almost trusted Peter, which I knew to be questionable.

"We weren't following him." I said flatly.

"I don't know what to think of all this! You don't think he's..." Marlene winced and I could tell she had just had a similar thought to what I had.

"It wouldn't make sense." I hoped.

"I think he is." Peter piped.
"A death eater? I'm presuming? That's why I'm here. To find out."

Marlene looked at him quizzically.

"Is that why you've been so?" She gestured generally to him.

"So what?" He seemed confused and offended.

"Sneaky...a bit here, there and everywhere." Marlene said.

"What are you doing here Peter?" I asked again. He shot me a look, almost scared.

"What are you doing here Arty?" He returned it.

I stayed silent.

I knew why I was here. I was here to push out of my comfort zone, see old friends and start branching out life again. Testing the waters.

Peter wasn't close to Sonny or Dorcas.
Peter didn't have anyone telling him to stay at the village, though he was an advocate for us all staying put (most of the time).
Peter claimed Sirius had stopped writing to him. Sirius still wrote to James, even Remus received the occasional letter.

"So it's confirmed then? You saw Sirius joining the death eaters?" He turned to Marlene.

"Well I didn't see him there but...he went down there I guess and oh merlin, they were terrifying!" She said in a high pitched tone.

"Sirius isn't a death eater." I said factually. Bluntly. Interrupting the two bouncing off of each others heightened exchange.

"Arty, I saw him. I really did." Marlene said with sad eyes.

"We also saw Peter about to enter the same alley way. Are you a death eater, Peter?" I asked.

"What?! I told you. I was following Sirius!" He snapped angrily.
"I've had my suspicions. They've been proven! Marlene can vouch for me!"

"Sirius isn't a death eater. Something isn't adding up." I sighed.

-

We decided to call it a day and go home as soon as we could. It felt disappointing to not have followed through with friends but we all felt distressed and distracted, in different ways.

The letter repeated in my mind over and over.

Hunt or hide.

Hunt or hide.

What did he mean?

"ARTEMIS!" Remus' voice boomed through the house shocking me out of my thoughts.
"You went into the city without telling me?!" He questioned accusingly as he let himself into the bedroom.

I had taken myself to bed early. A huge headache thumping inside my skull. Stress induced presumably.

"Something isn't clicking." I said out loud, staring into the nothingness of the blank wall beside me and ignoring his presence.

"Peter told me everything. You could have been seriously hurt babe? Don't you see?" He softened and made his way over kneeling in front of me.

"He's a liar." I said numbly.

"He's my friend." Remus replied.

"Then you're blind."

"And you're stubborn."

"He's not a friend."

"Arty..."

"As silent as a mouse."

"What?"

"What's Peters animagi again?"

"What?"

"Is he a mouse?"

"A rat."

"A rat?"

"What's going on?"

"A rat and a mouse are kind of the same thing, right?"

"Arty, what are you on about? Are you okay?"

"It's feeding."

"Darling, I'm worried. What's going on?"

"Hunt or hide. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Babe, I have no idea what you're talking about. Talk to me? What's going on?"

"I can't hide. Not like you. I have to hunt."

"You have to go to sleep, it's been a long day."

Remus stared at me worryingly for a few moments. I could tell he came in to start an argument, scold me for acting dangerous and become overly protective and paranoid. He instead held my hand as I stared blankly into the wall through him, my mind racing.

"If you want to go to the city, please just let me come with you." Remus sighed and released my hand, beginning to stroke the side of my face that wasn't smushed against a pillow.
"We don't keep things from each other, remember?"

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"I'm just glad you didn't get hurt."

A mouse. It's feeding. Hunt or hide.

"I love you, darling."

A rat. It's feeding. Hunt or hide.

A rat. Who is feeding it? Hunt or hide.

A rat. Who is feeding it? I must hunt, I can't hide.

"Babe?"