Note: Thank you very much to all of my reviewers! I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but later chapter will be much longer...and of course I like my cliffhangers...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
3: Knockturn Alley
Carrie Winters had first experienced the excitement and wonder that was shopping in Diagon Alley at the age of thirteen, when Remus and Dora had consented to taking her with them whilst they went to buy Teddy's school supplies for the coming year. Since then, the muggle had only been invited on a couple or so other outings to the wizarding shops, and so when Teddy had knocked on her door to ask her if she would like to join his family for ice cream in Diagon Alley, she had felt instantly excited.
And so it was that she found herself stood in the Lupins' hallway, rocking back and forth excitedly on her heels as she watched Dora pull on a pair of boots whilst Teddy shrugged on a jacket.
"So...are you going to sort that this morning?" Dora called down the hall as Remus locked the back door and windows with a wide sweep of his wand. Carrie watched him wander down the hallway, engrossed in his examination of a letter that he held in his free hand.
"Mm." the werewolf said, at last glancing up as Teddy reached to pull the door open. "We'll have ice cream first. Then you can get Teddy's dress robes adjusted and I'll go and...sort it."
"Sounds like a plan." Dora agreed, snatching up a bag from the floor before ushering the two teenagers out of the door in front of her. "So," the witch said, voice instantly brightening like the sunshine that greeted them outside. "What's your favorite kind of ice cream, Carrie?"
"Strawberry." Carrie supplied as they began to crunch their way down the gravel driveway, only for Teddy to snigger and inform her:
"That's a bit dull."
"Oh?" Carrie said, glancing sideways to offer him a raised eyebrow. "What's yours then?"
"Honeycomb with clotted cream." Teddy announced, expression somewhat faraway at the mere thought. His face fell a little when Dora recalled:
"They didn't have that last time we went." As Remus caught up with them, having paused to lock the front door, the pink haired witch reached to take hold of his hand. "They don't do as many flavours as they used to when I was a kid. It's always been like that since what happened to poor Florean."
"Who's Florean?" Carrie wondered aloud, and she glanced back to see the two adults exchange a distinctly dark look.
"He used to run the shop until...well..." Dora murmured, shaking her head. "Nasty business, that." She concluded as Remus took a turn at shaking his head too.
"What happened?" Carrie asked, and Remus' gaze dropped to his shoes as Dora said:
"Voldemort happened, that's what."
"Oh..." Carrie hastily turned back to gaze up the road ahead of them.
"Florean's nephew runs the shop now." Remus explained as they trooped down the little alleyway that served as a safe apparation point away from the prying eyes of the surrounding muggle neighborhood. They came to a halt and Remus turned to peer back down the alley to make sure that the coast was clear.
"Ladies first." the werewolf decided, and Carrie had barely watched a wide grin materialise upon Dora's face before the witch reached to grasp hold of the muggle firmly by the arm and all of a sudden the girl felt a sickening pulling sensation and the alleyway around her seemed to disappear entirely. As she felt the ground beneath her feet become distinctly uneven she blinked hard, and with that she found herself stood at the cobbled back entrance of the Leaky Cauldron pub. As Remus and Teddy appeared just behind them with a soft pop, Carrie heard movement from within the building and a balding man stuck his head out from around the open back door.
"Alright, Tonks?" the man called as Dora turned to offer him a bright smile. "How're you doing?"
"Good, thanks Tom." the Auror told him as Remus and Teddy turned to offer greeting smiles too. "How about you?"
"Ah, not so bad..." Tom mumbled, gazing over her shoulder as he observed: "Tagged along this time, eh Remus? I'm glad to see you, as it happens...I wonder if I might ask a favour of you? It's worth a free whiskey or two, if you have a moment."
"We're not in a hurry." Remus told him, and the barman grinned, revealing a large number of missing teeth.
"There's a boggart under the bed in Room Three." Tom explained, huffing in a distinctly irritated manner. "Bloody nuisance it is, scared Tiffany Wolding's girl half to death when she woke up this morning! And they say you're handy with boggarts, they do."
"Who're they when they're at home then?" Dora asked, as Remus glanced up at the windows of the pub's upper floors.
"Well plenty of people, I reckon." Tom said as he leant against the door frame. "Half of 'em his ex-students, the other half of 'em wishing they were his ex-students...funny you should show up actually, I was just talking to Alicia Spinnet, she was saying about Hogwarts, how there's talk of complaints about the Defense professor. She said to me just now, she did, they ought have you back, Remus. And them you show up, what a coincidence, eh?"
"Yeah, well," Dora said, reaching to give Remus a small push forwards towards the door. "That's not going to happen, which is a shame. The right people never know a good thing when they see it, do they love?" When Remus shot her a rather weak smile, she grinned at him and said: "Still, don't tell them that will you? Can't have you and Ted prancing off to Hogwarts together, I'd miss you far too much. We'll be ordering, okay? C'mon then, Ted, Carrie..."
The row after row of brightly coloured tubs of ice cream made it difficult for Carrie to imagine just how many different flavours had been available when Florean had run the shop, indeed it was almost inconceivable that so much ice cream could fit into such a small space. The muggle strongly suspected that there was magic involved in one form or another.
"Don't tell me you're going to have strawberry!" Teddy teased as he stood watching her eye the selection with wide, amazed and all together delighted eyes. In the end Carrie did indeed choose a different flavour, though she did not quite see how strawberry could have been deemed a boring choice – after all there did appear to be at least six different varieties of strawberry ice cream, from strawberries and cream to strawberries mixed with Every Flavoured Beans.
They sat outside around a little round table with an umbrella, watching people go about their shopping whilst they ate, Teddy grumbling about his upcoming trip to Madam Malkin's to have his robes adjusted.
"Would you rather not bother then?" Dora asked him as he scooped up a large blob of icecream upon a wafer biscuit and took a large bite. "You know, we can just leave them as they are, you can show up at the party and spend the day tripping over the hem and dipping the long sleeves in people's food."
"Can't I just wear a shirt and my school trousers?"
"Not a chance, love. Your Gran bought you those robes, and by Merlin, you're going to wear them."
Carrie stifled a snigger at Teddy's huff of irritation, only to have her attention diverted by Dora glancing past the two children, eyes growing suddenly wide.
"Sweet Merlin!" the Auror exclaimed as both children twisted in their chairs to see what she was staring at. "What happened to you?"
As he reached to draw an empty chair out from under the table, one hand clutching a distinctly crimson-looking handkerchief to one side of his forehead, Remus' lips were pressed together into a thin, distinctly bad tempered line. He dropped down onto the chair, ignoring the stares of a few passers by, before tossing the bloody handkerchief down upon the table and reaching for his waiting sundae.
"It wasn't a boggart." he muttered darkly, snatching up his spoon.
"Oh..." he wife said, putting down her own spoon so that she could lean to squint at the long gash upon his forehead with a deep frown. "What was it, then?"
"Merlin knows. Something with claws." Remus mumbled, shoveling an oversized spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, only to let out a shudder at the sudden cold.
"No kidding." Dora agreed, and when Teddy sniggered she shot the boy a warning look.
"I managed to stun it and lock the room up. Tom's going to have to owl the Ministry."
"What was it like?" Teddy asked excitedly, and Remus opened his mouth to reply, only to wince as Dora reached to press a clean handkerchief to the wound, offering him a raised eyebrow in apology.
"It made the most hideous, shrieking sound, like..."
Eeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
At the sudden, if a little muffled sound, both children jumped in surprise and Carrie managed to catapult ice cream down the front of her dress. She paid her mishap a mere moment's glance however, before turning towards the source of the sound, just in time to see a squat, ragged looking man with messy ginger hair hurrying past them, a large box clutched in both hands. At the sight of him, Dora got abruptly to her feet and shout:
"OI! 'DUNG!"
The shifty looking wizard paused in his hurrying to glance around at them, a grimacing smile upon his lips as he gave a cough to clear his throat.
"Nice day, ain't it Tonks?" he greeted, grinning toothily in a way that rather reminded Carrie of Tom back at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Yeah, sure." Dora muttered impatiently, folding her arms firmly across her chest as she demanded to know: "What's in the box?"
The man let out a hurried cackling laugh, grip upon the box visibly tightening.
"Eh, Remus," he chuckled rather nervously. "Help a man out, won't you? Your wife, she's got it in for me, she has...always has done...no way to...to treat a fellow Order member, y'know?"
Dora let out an exasperated sigh, reaching to grab hold of Remus by the chin, turning his head so that the gash was visible to the man, who Carrie was struggling to identify as a fellow Order Member.
"Just tell us if it's poisonous." the witch suggested pointedly.
"How's young Ted, then?" Dung asked, eyes darting over to the youngest Lupin in an attempt to change the subject. "Who's this then? Got yourself a girlfriend, Ted?"
Carrie felt her cheeks flush pink at the suggestion, only for Dora to speak before Teddy had the chance.
"Come on, Mundungus! I just want to know whether or not Remus is about to drop dead or not!" the witch gave an exaggerated wink as she said: "Go on, help your fellow Order members out, won't you?"
Mundungus adjusted his grip upon his suspect cargo.
"Got yourself a charmer there, ain't you Remus?" he said, raising a filthy eyebrow before glancing up at nothing in particular and muttered: "Is that the time? Gosh, flies, don't it?" And with that, he turned on his heel and carried on up the street, twice the speed of before.
"Dumbledore would've been ASHAMED!" Dora shouted after him, and her words made the crook hunch his shoulders.
"Dumbledore would have expected no less." Remus murmured, turning his attention back to his ice cream. "Don't worry, I'll have it out of him before we leave."
Half an hour later, Carrie found herself stood waiting outside of Madam Malkin's whilst Teddy had his robes adjusted, and after five minutes of watching the witches and wizards of Britain bustling in and out of various shops with weird and wonderful window displays, the muggle was feeling a near irrepressible urge to wander off on her own. But of course Carrie was sure that going off without Teddy or one of his parents would not be the most sensible idea that she had ever come up with, no matter how inviting the shops of Diagon Alley were. She sighed heavily and leant back against the window frame of Madam Malkins, turning left and staring past the cobbled street to the vast pearly white giant that was Gringotts Bank, through whose doors she had watched Remus disappear through a short while earlier. Perhaps he wouldn't be very long, she thought hopefully, after all her parents never took long when visiting the muggle bank. Then Carrie might persuade him to take her to a few more of the most interesting shops, like Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Quality Quidditch Supplies.
She finally spotted him about five minutes later, descending the bank's steps at a swift pace, only to pause at the bottom to adjust the dark summer cloak around his shoulders. He glanced up the street towards Madam Malkin's, and Carrie waved excitedly at him. But then he reached to pull the hood up over his head, his face seemingly disappearing into shadow, before shoving his hands deep into his pockets and setting off up the street in the opposite direction.
Carrie stared after him for a long moment, frowning in confusion at the way that he seemingly shoved his way past a couple of grim faced, haggard looking wizards who were stood beside a sign upon the wall beside the entrance to a second, narrower street. Intrigued by the uncharacteristically shifty behavior and drawn by the realisation that there was a second street that she had never been down before, Carrie abandoned her waiting and set off down the street at a brisk walk, dodging witches and narrowly avoiding walking into wizards as she tried best to get free of the crowds and catch the werewolf up.
"Remus!" she shouted as she finally broke out of the main thronging crowd and paused at the entrance to the next street, glancing up at the sign that identified it as Knockturn Alley. "Wait for me!"
The buildings in Knockturn Alley seemed to be much older and taller than the ones back in the wide street of Diagon Alley, and as she hurried along past them it seemed to Carrie that their dirty, decaying bulks seemed to lean inwards, casting the grimy street in shadow, despite the bright sunshine of the sky above. A great number of the shops appeared to be boarded up or abandoned, and Carrie attempted not to dwell on just how unsettling the whole place was as she kept her eyes fixed ahead of her searchingly.
Black cloak, black cloak, black cloak...
As she slowed her pace in order to avoid walking straight into the back of a thin, grizzled old woman with a shock of tangled grey hair that appeared to reach her ankles, Carrie couldn't help but realise that black seemed to be the cloak choice of colour for the shoppers in Knockturn Alley...
In fact, the young muggle had absolutely no idea where Remus had gone.
Or even quite where she was, if truth be told...
Carrie came to a halt, eyes darting searchingly around her surroundings and as she observed a tall, burly looking man wearing a filthy set of brown robes and a crumpled looking top hat appeared to be staring at her from his position stood casually in a shop doorway, she wondered just what she had gotten herself into.
Maybe, she thought frantically as her heart began to pound in her chest, she might just shout Remus' name at the top of her lungs, and he might hear and come running...
She began to slowly turn on the spot, eying every person that she lay eyes upon, counting two dwarves, the man in the top hat, a squat wizard smoking a pipe and two witches who were whispering amongst themselves in a corner, and decided that shouting for Remus was not an option. In the eerie quiet of Knockturn Alley, shouting would only draw attention to herself.
Or more attention. The man in the doorway was still staring. So were the two witches, come to that...
Option Two, Carrie thought frantically as she stopped her pivoting and eyes a grimy shop display of what appeared to be shrunken heads in what she hoped was a vaguely interested and no horrifically alarmed manner, just turn around and walk back the way you came...
What way had she come, then?
She had managed to come to a halt in a little cobbled square, and there were two streets leading off of it, both looking identically ominous as far as Carrie was concerned. After all that turning she could not for the life of her remember which one led back to Diagon Alley...
Don't panic, Carrie, just...just don't panic...
Option Three, she thought desperately, jumping at the sound of movement behind her as somebody exited one of the shops, look for a friendly face...
A rather mad part of her wanted to laugh out loud at this suggestion, for she was pretty sure that whatever horrible and strange place that she had stumbled upon, there would be no friendly faces here. She was just musing grimly that the wizard with the pipe had paused in his smoking to stare at her too when somebody stumbled past her carrying a large cardboard box.
"Mundungus!" she squeaked, relief flooding over her at the sight of the crook, who paused to look round at her in a distinctly accusing manner. Carrie drew in a deep, hopeful breath as she asked: "Have...have you seen Remus, anywhere?"
"Have you seen Remus, anywhere?" the wizard mimicked, scowling at the question and shaking his head. "Seen him? Hmph! So much for comradeship!" he muttered moodily, turning on his heel and carrying on up the street.
"Is that a yes?" Carrie called after him desperately, but when he came to a halt again he did not turn to face her. Instead, his disapparated with a loud crack.
Carrie liked to think that at the age of fifteen she was much braver and less prone to tears than she had been during her previous run ins with the less savory aspects of the Wizarding World, but as she gazed despairingly at the spot where Mundungus had stood mere seconds previously, she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming urge to burst into tears.
The wizard in the doorway was distracted from his staring for a moment by the appearance of a man behind him inside the shop, and Carrie watched as he was handed a small cloth bag. He tipped his top hat to the dark figure inside the shop before straightening up and beginning a slow, loping walk across the square towards the muggle. But Carrie's attention was diverted by a sudden hand on her shoulder, and she spun around to find herself faced with the two wild-eyed witches who had been huddled in the corner.
"Looking for somebody, are you?" the taller of the two asked her as she stumbled backwards a step in surprise, and she could not help but notice that the shorter witch still had her hand on her shoulder as she asked:
"Did you get lost, dear?"
"Um..." Carrie opened and closer her mouth several times, attempting to splutter fierce denial, only for the claw-like hand to tighten upon her shoulder and the tall witch to suggest:
"Perhaps we could help you."
"Yes, why don't you come with us?" the other one asked, and at last Carrie managed to find her voice.
"No...no thank you!" she managed to say, and with that she took a large step backwards, wrenching herself free of the hand, only to feel her back collide with something and before she quite knew how, the muggle found herself sprawled upon the floor with a loud crash.
As the man in the top hat cursed under his breath and dropped down upon his haunches to gather up the array of metallic items that had just tumbled out of the bag he had been holding, Carrie scrambled into a sitting position, eye wide in horror at the three faces that were now looming over her.
"S...sorry..." she stammered as the wizard positively glowered at her, the two witches both taking a step forward. "I...I didn't mean to...I'm very sorry..."
"Stupid child." the wizard muttered as he scooped up the strange objects and shoved them back into the bag. "Somebody ought to teach brats like you to watch where they're going!"
"I'm sorry..." Carrie mumbled again, acutely aware that one of the witches appeared to be leaning down towards her, hand reaching for her shoulder again. "I...I um..."
A heavy hand clamped down upon her shoulder, and it was not until she had been yanked somewhat roughly to her feet that Carrie realised that it had not been the witch's, but somebody stood behind her. As she swayed a little and attempted to plant her feet more firmly upon the cobbles, Carrie felt a sudden rush of dizziness at the thought that she now appeared to be completely surrounded...