Note: A one shot set during Meet the Order of the Phoenix.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Meet the Watchers

"You realise what this means of course, don't you?" Remus Lupin said as he set the hefty trunk down upon the floor with a thud, and from where she sat sprawled upon the bed, squinting through the dim light at the large roll of parchment upon her lap, Dora Lupin suggested:

"It means you're going to make mad impassioned love to me half the night long out of sheer relief that we've made it here safe and sound."

There was a distinctly long pause that suggested to the metamorphmagus that this was not entirely the response her husband had been expecting. Nevertheless the werewolf eventually said:

"I mean besides that..."

"Oh..." Dora said, puffing her cheeks in consideration. She shifted uncomfortably upon the musty bed linen, quill tapping thoughtfully against the parchment.

"We've not nearly enough money." Remus murmured gravely, reaching to push open the trunk in order to retrieve a small chest from within. As he flicked open the catch, his wife sighed heavily.

"Harry and Kingsley are missing, we've just emptied our entire house and evacuated the Order to Headquarters, a bunch of nutjobs want us behind bars and you're worried about money...!"

"I'm not worried, Dora. I'm...weary. We're so close to...to being on the straight and narrow, I was going to pay off the last of the Gringott's money next month and look now! You've lost your job, we've just blown half your wages from last month on medical supplies and Merlin only knows how long we're going to be here! We'll be begging the goblins for another loan at this rate, not paying off the last one! I...I don't want that! I don't want this!"

Before she could stop herself, Dora had pointed out:

"You're the one who threatened Roderick Mortell in public, love."

"If were up to you, you'd have hexed him!"

"I certainly would have. He's a creepy bastard, for starters, and if you're going to start a revolution of sorts you might as well do it with a bang!"

Remus peered down at the modest collection of coins in the chest before snapping the lid shut again.

"I wouldn't have him get such a strong reaction out of me. He can keep threatening to ruin me if he likes, I won't flinch..."

"I've no doubt you won't, Sweetheart."

"I wouldn't hex him, not for all he said."

"I'm sure."

"After all, if he wants to ruin you, my darling, I wouldn't waste time hexing him. I'd curse him stone dead."

Dora, reaching to dip her quill into the ink pot upon the dusty bedside table, very nearly upset the liquid all over the floor as her eyes snapped up to look at her husband.

"What did you say?" she said, eyes a little wide at his mumbling, but Remus merely set the chest back down inside the trunk and told her:

"Come on, we're going to be late for our first watch."

They were greeted on the dim landing by a face peering round another bedroom door at them.

Teddy Lupin eyed his parents eagerly.

"Are you going back to Eddington?"

"Yes, love." Dora said, and the young wizard drew an audible breath to speak, only for his father to beat him to it.

"Before you ask: absolutely not, Theodore."

"I just want to see her, Dad..." Teddy complained, slipped out from behind the door and folding his arms across his chest, and Dora sighed heavily.

"Dad's right, I really don't think that would be a good idea, Sweetheart." the witch insisted softly as Remus set off for the stairs.

"I know you don't, but..."

"We'll make sure everything's alright. Don't worry about it..."

"If you and Dad are going I don't see why I can't! I'm not a child! Why can't I go?! Why..."

"Because I forbid it!"

At this cast iron insistence, both Teddy and Dora turned to stare at Remus, who had turned to fix his son with such a firm look that the protest died upon the tip of Teddy's tongue.

Silence descended upon the landing for a long moment, before Teddy turned to look at his mother expectantly. To his clear astonishment, Dora swallowed a lump in her throat and murmured:

"Do as Dad says, Ted. Stay inside the house, we'll be back just gone midnight."

And with that, Teddy watched bemusedly as his mother slipped meekly off down the stairs after his father, whose footsteps stomped heavily upon every stair.

He sat upon the lonely bench atop the hill as she paced up and down behind him, waiting.

Their chosen rendezvous point, one of a long and hastily composed list of isolated locations deemed obscure and defensible enough to be considered safe, was uncharacteristically cold for summertime.

It was blowing a gale.

Dora reached to turn up her jacket collar against the wind, before coming to stand behind her husband, eyes distracted from their hawk-like inspection of their surroundings in search of signs of life, as she reached to slide her hands carefully over the werewolf's shoulders, draping her arms around his neck.

"Are you alright?" she murmured, face buried in his hair, and she felt him sigh heavily, his shoulders slumping. Despite this, Remus murmured:

"Yes, I'm fine..."

He gazed out across the windswept landscape, her fingers probing soothingly at the tense muscles at his shoulders, before he gave another sigh and recalled:

"This morning you and I sat in the kitchen at home, ate marmalade on toast and drank tea...and made plans to visit your mother tomorrow..."

"Mm."

"You wrote a...a shopping list for...for Ted to fetch today!"

"I did..."

"And look where we are now...!"

Dora let out a half-chuckle that, muffled by his hair, sounded more like a groan.

"Dora," Remus said gravely, "I wonder if I've...if I've done the wrong thing..."

"Ambrose Kraft is doing the wrong thing, Remus, and no matter how much our lives have been disrupted in the past few hours, you did the right thing. It's as simple as that. Better this than sitting quietly at home and hoping it all blows over! He'd come for me either way, I'm sure of it. He's had me marked from Day One..."

"Marked for what?" Remus mumbled grimly, and she gave his shoulders a squeeze and said:

"What does it matter? He's not going to get me."

When Remus merely sighed again, she reached with a thumb to tilt his head backwards until he was looking up at her.

"Don't falter, love." she whispered, thumb scuffing his cheek reassuringly. "Not now."

She kissed him then, with chilly lips punctured by warm breath, and for a moment they both seemed to relax...

Then they heard the explosion of red sparks and were brought back to the task at hand with a start.

Remus, straightening up, raised the wand he had kept a careful hold of since stepping outside of Twelve Grimmauld Place's front door. A crackle of fiery orange sparks shot up into the air and no sooner had they burst like glittering fireworks above them, a lone figure emerged from the trees below and set on up the hill towards them. Once in ear shot, Dora called:

"Lovely weather we're having, don't you think?"

Fleur Weasley squinted up through the late afternoon sunshine, considering this question for a moment, before carefully informing the couple:

"I was 'oping to 'ave a picnic!"

This brief exchange, the Order's chosen greeting for the week that would ensure Order members truly were greeting friend and not foe, led both Remus and Dora to pocket their wands.

"How was it?" Dora inquired as the silvery hair witch came to a halt before the bench, holding out the shimmery cloak that she had folded neatly over the crook of her arm. As Remus reached to accept it, Fleur failed to stifle a yawn.

"It eez perfectly quiet. Nobody has been to look for you yet."

"And Carrie?" Remus inquired, rising to his feet and passing the invisibility cloak to his wife, who promptly reached to unfurl it about her shoulders, her body entirely disappearing in a flutter of material.

Fleur's smooth features contorted a little in consideration, before she decided:

"Carrie is safe."

"Good," Remus said, though he did not sound entirely convinced. Nevertheless he offered Dora a half-hearted smile and suggested: "Ladies first, perhaps?"

And without a word, Dora disappeared entirely, accompanied by a soft pop.

Outside the Lupins' house the driveway was silent and seemingly void of life...

A sharp whistling from the pavement broke through the silence, followed a moment later by a response from somewhere near the bushes.

A loud wolf whistle.

Dora Lupin reached to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh as she set off carefully up the driveway, gravel crunching under her feet as she kept the invisibility cloak carefully over her. She could heard a second set of footsteps getting closer.

The invisible pair met somewhere in the middle of the drive.

"Steady on, Bill," Dora whispered in greeting, "I'm a married woman!"

"I won't tell if you won't." Bill Weasley suggested lightly, only for Dora to point out:

"I might've been Remus."

Bill gave a soft huff of amusement from beneath his invisibility cloak.

"He certainly wouldn't tell!"

"Go on, get going." Dora told him, turning carefully around to survey the empty street beyond the driveway. "We've got this now..."

She heard Bill's footsteps set off towards the pavement, only for both of them to freeze to hear the door to the Winters' house being pulled open.

"I don't know, Christine!" Mr Winters was calling over his shoulder to his wife as he stepped out onto the driveway, black rubbish sack in hand, "I've not seen her all afternoon! I expect she's in her bedroom..."

As the muggle went to dump the sack in the rubbish bin, from within the house there came the sound of Mrs Winters calling her daughter's name up the stairs. No sooner had Mr Winters disappeared back inside the house, Dora heard Bill on the move again.

"Bill...?" she hissed, trying to get his attention, but before she knew it he had stepped outside of the protective wards and she heard him disapparate with a pop.

She heard Remus' soft whistle in greeting some five minutes later and the two of them took up position side by side beside Mrs Winters' carefully pruned plant pots.

"They're looking for Carrie." Dora breathed after a minute of silence. "I just heard them, they've not seen her all afternoon."

"She must be here. Fleur said she was fine..." Remus whispered, only to fall silent as a couple of muggle teenagers went speeding past upon their bicycles, entirely oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.

They were silent for a few more minutes before Dora hissed:

"Come, love."

And with that she led the way carefully along the top of the driveway towards their own front door.

After a moment or so of fiddling with protective wards and a purposefully stubborn lock, the invisible couple slipped carefully inside and pushed the door closed behind them with a soft click.

They found their missing charge in the master bedroom, lying in a heap upon the floor before the open wardrobe, Remus' old travelling cloak clutched to her chest.

Remus and Dora stood by the foot of the bed and stared.

Carrie Winters, face pink from tears, let out a muffled, if somewhat half-hearted sob.

It made the watching witch's heart plummet towards her boots.

She wondered quite how long the girl had been there. Quite some time, the witch would wager, for she seemed to have quite run out of tears...

And Carrie Winters clung to the cloak as if her life depended upon it.

And the watchers watched.

They followed Carrie's stumbling progression back home some half an hour later and, once the girl had disappeared behind the front door, greeted by her parents' distinctly unimpressed exclamations of: there you are and where on Earth have you been, Remus and Dora returned to standing silently upon the driveway.

And Carrie Winters ate her dinner and went to bed.

And the watchers watched.

The hours dragged on and the street remained quiet and peaceful. The houses received no visitors, all was still as darkness descended over the town, and for the most part Remus and Dora stood watch in silence.

"When d'you suppose they'll come?" Dora whispered as under his cloak Remus observed that it was fast approaching eleven o'clock.

"I don't know."

"But they will, won't they?"

"I've little doubt."

Dora sighed, rocked back upon her heels. Her feet were beginning to ache unbearably.

"I've not missed this." she confessed wearily. "Standing around stock still for hours on end..."

"Indeed."

"We do four hour guard shifts at most at work, not six..."

"You wrote the timetable..."

"Shut up."

Remus did.

As the minutes ticked slowly by, Dora found herself thinking of just why they were there in the first place...

She thought of Carrie being in such a state, of having to simply stand by and watch...

"I wish we could say something." she complained, shifting uncomfortably under her cloak. "To Carrie, I mean..."

"We mustn't."

"I know, I wouldn't, it's just...the state of her! You don't think she thinks we're gone for good, do you? She can't really think that, can she?"

"Perhaps."

"She can't do. She knows better..." Dora scowled a little at the uncertainty that she found herself entirely unable to banish from her voice. She fidgeted a little more before deciding:

"Stay put. I'm going to check on her."

She waited for her husband to protest, yet Remus said nothing.

It was lucky, Dora thought as she carefully reached to close the front door behind her, holding her breath as it clicked into place, that muggles were quite deaf.

They had to be, having the television on that loud.

As she crept towards the stairs, casting a wordless muffling charm on the sitting room door as she went, the witch silently confessed to herself that this was not part of the plan.

Invading the house was not part of the plan. It was risky, for one thing; one of Carrie's brothers had nearly caught her earlier that day when they had first set the protective spells upon the house and Dora had thought to conceal a couple of emergency broomsticks in the twins' attic bedroom. Morally coming inside was not in the least bit sound either. This was, after all, the Winters' personal, private space, Dora had no right being here, spying on them...

And yet...here she was.

She wasn't quite sure she could help herself.

She had to do it.

She had to see.

She had to check...

Because finding Carrie slumped upon her bedroom floor, clinging to Remus' old cloak, had been like a physical blow to the chest, and Dora simply couldn't get the sight out of her head...

And so it was that Dora slipped carefully into Carrie's bedroom, intent on a mere glance before slipping away again.

The girl was lying curled up upon the bed, the duvet down around her legs as if she had kicked it off amidst a dream, and as Dora drew closer to the bed she saw through the darkness a deep frown upon Carrie's brow.

And Carrie Winters tossed and turned upon the mattress, her cheeks still damp and her closed eyes puffy.

And the watcher watched.

Dora couldn't seem to tear herself away.

She stood there for some minutes, wincing every time Carrie moved in her sleep with a mumble that the witch could not decipher, until the girl grew still, the duvet hanging off the bed from her kicking.

Carrie Winters shivered.

And the watcher held her breath...

She let the invisibility cloak fall to the floor, and as she heard it heap about her feet, Dora felt her heart thud against her ribcage. She chanced a brief glance over her shoulder at the door, finding it still ajar as she had left it, before turned back to look down at the sleeping muggle.

Carrie mumbled something and before she could think better of it Dora reached carefully for the duvet. She drew it carefully up over the girl, tucking it around her as firmly as she dared.

Carrie Winters stirred.

And the watcher reached to sweep the hair from the girl's brow...

"Shhhh..."

Hastily withdrawing her hand as Carrie seemed to relax a little, Dora bent down to snatch up the cloak again, throwing it around her shoulders. And before she could duck her head underneath the silky material, the witch found herself whispering:

"We're here, Carrie love. We promised."

A sudden light outside the bedroom window drew her attention, and Dora hastily pulled the cloak over her head, before sidling over to peer out of the window...

A dark figure was stood at the bottom of the Lupins' driveway, illuminated just a little by the lamp upon the Winters' porch. If she squinted, Dora thought she caught sight of a wand disappearing into a coat pocket...

The figure stared up at the Lupin house.

And the watcher watched.

Once the dark figure had turned to walk away back up the road, Dora slipped hastily back out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She tripped a little on the hem of her cloak as she went, but managed to make it back out onto the driveway in one piece...

She went to stand beside the flower pots and, after some time, whispered:

"Who was it?"

Remus took some time to reply and for a moment she thought he might not be there.

"Roderick Mortell."

"What was he doing?"

"Testing the wards."

The two watchers contemplated this for a long moment before Dora suggested:

"They know we've gone."

"They do now, yes." Remus agreed.

"They'll come back."

"I expect so."

"We should strengthen the wards."

"Yes...for Carrie's sake, at least. I don't think they'll break in looking for us."

"No, they'd know we'd have cleared the entire house out. It would be a waste of their time..."

"How was Carrie?"

Dora could easily detect a distinctly disapproving note to her husband's voice, but she refused to acknowledge it.

"She's safe." the witch supplied, her two chosen words telling the werewolf far more than Carrie's state of security.

Remus sighed heavily, the unspoken implications weighing heavily upon him.

"Don't do it again, will you?" he murmured, and his wife agreed:

"I won't do it again." After a pause, she confessed: "It...hurt."

"It all hurts, darling. It always did." Remus reminded her gravely, and Dora heard the click of a pocket watch being opened before the wizard observed: "Time's up."

"Shall I go first?"

"Yes."

"Alright then."

"I'll see you back at Headquarters."

There was a slight crunch of gravel before Remus felt a weight pressed up against his side.

"I'll hold you to what you said earlier." a voice breathed into his ear, and the werewolf sucked in a slow, deep breath in an attempt to smother a smile that nobody could see.

"Did you empty the bottom drawer in our wardrobe?" the werewolf wondered, causing his wife to let out a badly suppressed giggle.

"Oh yes. I certainly did."

"I'm glad to hear it..."

"Ron helped me carry the contents upstairs...he upset the box all over the landing..."

"Oh dear..."

"He went rather pink..."

"I can imagine."

"No you can't. How I choose to dress for bed never makes you go pink..."

"You wouldn't know, darling. You've usually turned the lights out by then..."

Dora's laughter was, by now, much too loud, and Remus was forced to insist:

"Hurry up and get going..."

"You are very keen, love..."

"Go, Dora."

And with that there was the crunching of gravel once again, shortly followed by a soft pop.

Remus Lupin rocked wearily back upon his heels, staring down the driveway.

And back inside her bedroom, Carrie Winters slept soundly in her bed.

And the watcher watched.