Disclaimer: Oh, wait. Let me check . . . hmmm. . . let's see. . . nope. Still don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it.
A/N: This is yet another takeoff with my character Cambri. As you might be able to tell, I'm rather fond of her. Basically what I do is I put her in hundreds of different scenarios, then I pick the most fun and well-written ones and submit them to So, I'm sorry if it confuses you, but what you basically have to do is remember the basic character of Cambri, with none of the ties or plots connected to her. Oh, and if you don't like AU stuff, please don't bother with my stuff. Or, rather, do, but don't flame me for getting dates and people wrong and such. Thanks very much!
Cambri lay where she was a moment, with her hand on her neck, feeling her heartbeat as she always did in the mornings. By how much sun was on her face and how light her room was, she could tell that she had overslept. She was never going to get done today. Sighing, she swung her legs over the bed and stood. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked around.
The room was messy, very much so. She would have liked to keep it clean, but she was too busy, and refused to let anyone do it for her. And in the corner was Kingsley, waiting for her to wake up.
"Hello, Kingsley," she said blearily. He laughed.
"Maybe, Cambri, you should get some more sleep," he suggested.
"No," she answered, this time with a more muffled voice. She was in her closet, looking for something clean to wear. "No, I've kept them waiting long enough."
When she was finally dressed and ready, she walked out of her room, Kingsley next to her, and they made their way down the simple hall towards what everyone called the Throne Room.
The Throne Room, ironically, had no throne; in fact it didn't even have a proper chair. There were 12 stools all around a square table. It was one of the few things Cambri had used her power to obtain. They had wanted a round table, but she had told them that if their dream had ever become a reality, the cliché would drive her absolutely mad.
James caught up with them just as Cambri was yawning. "Kingsley," he said accusingly, "I told you to let her sleep in."
"I did try, James," Kingsley answered, "But you know how stubborn she is."
Cambri smiled. "I'm fine, actually. I got just as much sleep as I needed, and I really didn't want to keep the Assembly waiting."
"To tell the truth, they haven't been waiting long," James informed her. "We let the other nine members sleep in too."
"What is with the conspiracy?" she demanded.
"We knew how long it had been since you'd gotten a decent nights' sleep," Kingsley said.
"You were exhausted," James answered. "You're no good to any of us dead, and that cough was getting worse."
"Oh, my cough," Cambri said, annoyed. "It's so clichéd."
They arrived at the Throne Room, and Cambri walked in, making sure to first erase any tiredness from her face. Today that wasn't much of a challenge.
Once Cambri had called the meeting to order, and they had gone over the niceties of the meeting, she looked around at all the somber faces.
"All right," she demanded, "what's going on?"
There was a long pause and it was Lily who spoke at last. "It's about Remus," she said quietly, not looking at Cambri.
Cambri's stomach dropped, and she cleared her throat, mostly because she didn't trust herself to speak, but also to hide the fact that she needed to cough.
"What about Remus?" she asked, looking at Lily intently.
"He's MIA. We lost contact with him around one last night and-"
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Cambri demanded, cutting Lily off. "Why wasn't I woken up? I could have-" This time she cut herself off, coughing.
"That's why." This time it was McGonagall that spoke. "You're sick and all your potions aren't curing you, Cambri. You needed the rest; you're working yourself to death."
Cambri opened her mouth to protest, but so many members of the Assembly were nodding their heads in agreement, that she sighed. "All right, I'll concede to that, but only because it's not important. Now, tell me about Remus."
It was sometime before they could decide what to do. Cambri wanted to go herself, but she had been voted down. She still tried to use her vetoing powers to go anyway, but they voted her down on that too.
"Wait, that's not fair," she said. "You're not even allowed to do that."
"Cambri, we need you here." This was James. "Please, don't you trust us to go and get him?"
She sat a moment, and then recognized her defeat. "All right," she said quietly, "I do trust you. Please find him. James, choose two other people. You'll go in there and get him. Just remember, no heroics, please."
"Right," said James, "we'll just sneak into the Castle of Mutilating Evil, find Remus, and sneak him out right under their noses. No heroics. Got it, Cambri."
"You know what I mean," she snapped. "Apparate first chance you get, James. I mean it."
"I know you do. Don't worry. I won't take any chances with him."
As it turned out, however, whether inadvertently or purposefully, it was that very day that spies from the other kingdom were found out, and since policy dictated that they had the right to be tried by all 12 members of the Assembly, it was nighttime before anyone could go anywhere. And by that time, Cambri forbade them to go.
"Cambri, come on," James demanded. "We'll be careful."
"You know what kinds of creatures haunt the streets at night, James, just as well as I do," she had answered. "If Remus is still alive," she paused. "Then he will still be alive in the morning. You will go then, and I will stay up all night if it means stopping you from committing this suicide."
James and his companions exchanged glances. Cambri couldn't afford to stay up all night. "Okay," he said. "Cambri, you win. I swear to you that we won't leave this place till morning."
"Until the sun rises," she demanded.
"Until the sun rises," he repeated.
As it turned out, however, they didn't need to go anywhere. Cambri, despite her promise to Kingsley, couldn't sleep that night. She was wandering around the castle, and entered the throne room at about the same time as someone else was entering from the front door.
Cambri, following her instinct, ducked down behind the table. Whoever it was in here was carrying a heavy burden. Peering through the table and stool legs, she saw that it looked suspiciously like a body. She waited until the person was bending over to unload their charge to jump up and speak the spell that lit up all the torches.
She saw at once who the two other people were. One, the one lying on the ground- "Remus," she said, and hurried over to them, with her wand out, because the other, who was crouching down, looking like the proverbiallittle kid whose hand had been caught in the proverbial cookie jar, was . . .
"Sirius Black," she said, her voice full of disgust. "On your feet."