Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter characters.
West of Here
Chapter Four: Uncomfortable Reunion.
BLAM-BLAM
He twisted in the air, log rolling horizontally to the ground whilst his twin colts fired down into the startled eyes of the vampire that had just tried to cleave him in half with an ancient looking scimitar. The sword missed as he'd rolled right over the blade as it swung in an arc beneath his rotating body, managing only to cleave empty air as his assailant brought both colts to bear and fired two shots point blank, one to the head the other two into the heart.
The vampire never had so much as a split second to scream before he burst into flame and was no more than a smoldering pile of ash as Jamie's booted feet hit the lawn. Without missing a beat he twisted his trunk missing the slash of another vampire's clawed hand, firing another burst of two rounds into the creature's chest, lifting him up into the air where he burst into flames, screaming as his body imploded and disappeared like dust motes on the breeze.
Remus' wand had just dispatched the last of the feral brood, never having a so much as a split second for Jamie to assist his transformation into a werewolf as the vampires had lain in wait for them and attacked the moment their port key deposited them on the Goyle estate.
Snict-Snict-Snict-Snict….
Remus watched mesmerized as his friend reloaded his revolvers with mechanical precision. He never grew tired of it as Harry's fingers danced deftly about their work like a ballet dancer upon a stage.
His attention to detail was staggering and for the many something time Remus wondered just what his younger friend had gone through that seemingly every moment was devoted to combat readiness as if he expected life threatening danger around every corner.
He did.
It was that expectation that had insured his survival thus far. He told Remus that grave yards were filled with those that relied on luck. The good lived a might longer. The cautious longer still and the very good became living legends; Living being the goal in that statement.
Remus shook his head as he surveyed the still smoldering carnage around them. He'd felled maybe three or four of the vampires on his own, but his friend had accounted for the rest and in the same space of time as himself. Jamie had dispatched some sixteen vampires, among them a master and a couple lieutenants.
By all accounts a very good night's work, but their night was only beginning.
"Just how many bullets did you bring with you?" Remus asked incredulously as by his accounting Harry should have run out of ammunition long since.
Jamie smirked at the question. "Enough for tonight and maybe another skirmish or three. After that I'll pop over to the states to procure what I need for the long haul."
"Pop over to the states? You can't just pop over to the United States, no one can apparate that far?" Remus asked doubtfully.
"Don't be so literal." Jamie chastised. "I never said I was gonna apparate, mind. I plan on making other, more reliable arrangements."
"You planning to fly over?" Remus assumed.
"Uh-huh" Harry agreed vacantly to which Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation, deciding he probably didn't want to know the logistics as it undoubtedly held an element of danger that he wouldn't approve of.
Most things with Jamie Black, or Harry Potter, depending what he chose to call himself from one day to the next, was that most of his activities held a certain modicum of risk, though he seemed to be oblivious to the fact. Either that or he was lucky, but as Jamie seemed to discount luck in anything he did. Remus realized after time that Jamie was just extremely capable and radiated the confidence inherent with this.
"Are you sure what we're looking for is here?" Remus asked uncertainly as the rest of the estate, including the manor house seemed ominously dark as if abandoned.
"Looks are deceiving; you know that better than anyone, Remus." He returned, eyeing the mansion across the unkempt lawn of the estate.
The fact that he was referring to the taboo associated with Remus' lycanthrope as not being the measure of the man had touched Remus greatly and he nodded his thanks toward his younger friend.
"While we're on the subject you want me to transform you? I could set you loose in the manor house to raise wholly hell with whatever fools are lying in wait for us. They wouldn't be expecting a werewolf without a full moon. The results could be quite interesting?" Jamie conjectured, smiling evilly at the notion.
"Merlin, what goes on in your head?" Remus asked, shaking his head dubiously. Though he had to agree that the suggestion had tactical merit, it was still a nasty business to turn a werewolf loose on mere humans. Even someone like Fenir Greyback, who could partially transform without a full moon, would be no match against a fully transformed werewolf.
Remus nodded agreement though he felt some pity for what he was about to reap.
Jamie's hand drifted towards his medicine bag expectantly before Remus grumbled. "I wish I could transform on my own already?"
"You'll be able to soon enough. I'm getting you some help that should get you over the hump."
"Who?" Remus asked curiously as Jamie began rubbing the ashy paste he used so frequently on Remus forehead, drawing a unique runic configuration that Remus, and even Hermione, had yet to be able to decipher.
"A friend. I think you'll appreciate what they have to offer." Being facetious, he never bothered to intimate that it was a mutual friend he was referring to as he didn't want to give away the surprise.
"How do you know there's a horcrux here?" Remus asked uncertainly, hoping they weren't risking themselves needlessly.
"I can feel it this close, but to answer your question we've got friends who have been keeping tabs on Voldemort's activities and the locations of all of his horcruxes are already known."
"What friends?" Remus asked for the seemingly hundredth time regarding the mysterious assistance that Harry seemed to have for practically every venture.
"Good friends" Harry answered adding in reassurance that…"You'll see, just be patient a day or two longer."
"Then what?"
"Then we'll see what there is to see." Harry conjectured.
"Git" Remus skulked to which Harry just shrugged indifferently.
Harry finished his runic drawing and chanted low under his breath in a strange language that both Remus and again-Hermione, had yet to decipher.
Remus could feel the need to change growing in the pit of his stomach and spreading outward making his extremities tingle in anticipation. The changes that Harry was guiding him through were becoming easier and less painful with each new attempt. Remus was close to managing the transformation on his own, he could feel it bubbling just beneath his skin, but as yet he'd not managed it. He was blocked and was stumped how to get past it, though he seemed to have a niggling in the back of his mind that he should know what he needed to do. It was like some lost memory that he couldn't quite recall and it was making him barmy trying to remember.
He wished Sirius and James were here as he could use their animagus expertise just now. That and he missed them terribly, though Harry was helping immensely to fill the hole that their passing had left in his heart. Harry was great and all, but he wasn't his father or Godfather. It wasn't that Remus wasn't grateful for what he had, he was and immensely so, but.. it just wasn't the same.
Jamie seemed to pick up on this, but out of respect he didn't bring it up and Remus appreciated that more than he could say. Having disillusioned themselves to be on the safe side, the two made their way stealthily across the Goyle Manor grounds until they were perched at a service entry off the kitchen.
Remus considered using the front door, but figured the open space of a foyer would be the most heavily fortified as it allowed for a greater number of Death Eater bodies over a more confined space like say- a kitchen. Hell, most purebloods didn't even know where their kitchens were located, never deigning to do a day's menial labor in their over privileged lives.
"Do you think there's anyone guarding this area?" Remus whispered as the window shades were all drawn so tightly that they couldn't get so much as a peep inside the kitchen.
"Why don't you see for yourself and take a peek in the door?' Harry suggested smirking. Though Remus couldn't see his face, he knew by his tone that he was being a smart arse.
"Thanks no, I like my head still attached where it is." he returned drolly.
Harry smirked again and before he even gave so much as a "heads up" he kicked the door in and ducked as a barrage of reductors and AK's sailed over his head and blew out the windows, showering them with glass shards.
"Not very friendly." Harry groused.
Remus heard a strange scratch like sound followed by a continual hiss like a snake. His first thought was that Harry was going to use his talent at parselmouth to have a snake reconnaissance the area.
A hissingl flaming trail tumbling end over end through the door way had him dropping and covering his head with his arms.
Crazy Bastard! He groused silently in alarm.
KA-BOOOM!
The stick of dynamite Harry had thrown into the kitchen leveled the place tearing a great hole into the wall beyond giving them a view of not only blood stains, body parts and wounded Death Eaters dragging away their wounded bodies, but a great deal of hurried movements and shouts of alarm from the adjoining dining area. Notably, none of the wounded were rescued by their fellows, but were seemingly left to the clemency of their adversaries.
Harry canceled the disillusionment spell on himself, with Remus following his lead a moment later.
"You could've warned me?" Remus groused.
"And spoil the surprise?"
Remus rolled his eyes as Harry grinned evilly, the moonlight glowing off his exposed teeth.
"You're up" Harry announced, hitting Remus with a transformation spell that was so fast Remus never even saw him use a wand, one of the many mysteries concerning his best friend's son that he just begrudgingly accepted. Begrudgingly, as Harry would never offer any explanation when Remus asked.
"Don't bother with the wounded; just kill, wound, or at least scare the piss out of as many Death Eaters as is inhumanely possible-Got it?" Harry commanded to which the werewolf growled low in his throat by way of an answer.
"Alright boy- sic em!" Harry barked, chuckling at his own joke to which the werewolf paused low enough to growl menacingly at Harry in a show of no appreciation.
Remus launched himself through the debris that was once a beautifully kept and well stocked kitchen with a howl of predatory delight. It wasn't more than a few scant seconds later that menacing growls and barks began to herald desperate cries for help and pleas of mercy that were blood chillingly silenced by the gurgle of throats being ripped out.
"NO-NO…Please-Arggggg!"
Ahhhh-Roooooo
Harry shook his head at the irony that Remus deigned to assume he was the more ruthless of the two, not that it was a matter of contention, more like a competition.
Harry drew his pistols and jumped into the fray. He kicked a broken chair out of his path and rounded the door to the right and into the dining room.
"H-Help me…p-pleaseeee?" a hand ghosted up from the floor and grabbed at his leg begging pathetically for assistance.
"P-Puh-lease…I d-didn't do anything." The female gasped, her face and hair splattered with blood and gore and her other arm was missing and both legs were badly mangled from the dynamite blast.
Harry snatched up the wand that was laying just out of reach and waved it before her vacant eyes asking.."Yours?"
"Y-Yes" she managed to croak out, her voice puzzled despite her pain, but still hopeful that she would be spared the fate of her fellows who were lying in pieces around her.
Harry waved his hand over the wand casting a supposedly wandless prior incantatum.
The wand displayed two previously cast AK's.
Harry scowled down at the pleading female. "Didn't do nuthin huh?" he snapped the wand in two and tossed the pieces down atop the now sobbing wretch and moved on without a backward glance.
A glow to his right caught his attention and Harry threw himself forward and rolled over the dining table as a cruciatus curse blew past the spot that he'd just vacated with extreme expedience. He banished the entire oak table back in the direction the curse had come from and was rewarded by a grunt of pain from the disillusioned Death Eater that had tried to ambush him.
Not bothering with niceties Harry fired several rounds into the exposed underside of the table about a foot below where he gauged the sound had originated from.
The scream and gurgle following the wood splintering beneath his lead rounds told him he'd guessed right.
He didn't bother to explore further as the enormous table toppled over on top of his victim pinning he or she beneath a half ton of heavy oak where whoever it was moaned piteously in anguish.
Harry tipped his hat in good bye and left the villain to their well-deserved fate not sparing a moment to waste a bullet for mercy's sake.
In his experience most threatened and bragged until they were met by someone a might tougher than themselves, after that it was begging and whining that they themselves had too often relished or at least ignored. He wouldn't spare a second thought for this sort of foul ilk.
AHHH-WOOOOO
"OMIGOD! No…Don't…!"
Grrrrr
"Mommyyyyy-urk!"
Harry shook his head incredulously. He couldn't blame the man for being scared shitless, but really…'Mommy?'
Now really, what good does it possibly do to cry out impotently to your mother as if she can possible help you let alone is even in the near vacinity?
"Jimmy….Jimmy..where are you sweetheart? Omigod…Noooooo!" a womens voice echoed down miserably from above.
Harry shook his head again, this time at the irony. I stand corrected.
GRRRRRR
"Get away you beast…Jimmie…Help meeee!" the woman scream out in terror.
Must be a family trait? Harry considered in morbidly.
Harry sidled up the stair, keeping his back to the wall and his guns trained in opposite directions up the stair and down the way he'd come.
His eyesight had barely cleared the top of the last step when a glint of silver caught the moonlight at the end of the hall in the direction of Remus' thrashing and barking.
Uh-ohhh…can't have none of that now. Harry worried over his friend, knowing that in his feral distraction he'd never see his own demise until it was upon him. It was shattering that something so overwhelmingly deadly as a werewolf could be dispatched by even the merest contact with silver to its blood stream.
As good as he was reputed to be and his own faith in his abilities notwithstanding, he knew he'd never hit the rat's paw as it scurried along; what with its speed and distance away coupled with the poor angle he had and the scant amount of time he had to work with, only two options were viable. He'd either have to kill Pettigrew outright as he could easily hit a rat , even at this distance, or he could wait until Peter transformed back into a human and eliminate the threat his silver hand posed, hopefully before he managed to strike Remus with it.
One was a bit of a gamble, the other a sure thing. The gamble would provide several opportunities if successful, the sure thing nothing more than the satisfaction of knowing Peter would destroy no more lives through his treachery.
Resigning to the fact that he could still kill Peter outright if he couldn't get a clean shot at his hand, Harry launched himself down the hall drawing his navy colt from beneath his right arm just as he threw himself into a feet first slide down the polished hall floor. He slid into the doorway just as Peter transformed back into his human form, poised to strike the werewolf's unprotected back with his silver hand. He couldn't quite get the angle he wanted so he put a round in Peters right shoulder that spun him around and gave him a clean shot at his silvered hand.
BLAM….BLAM
The first shot twisted the pudgy man around, his eyes blinking in shock, not registering the wound to his shoulder just yet.
"Aiii-YEEEEE!" Peter screamed as his silver hand ripped from his arm in a spray of blood instantly drawing his attention just as the pain from his shoulder registered.
"Uhhh-errrr-ohhhh" Peter mewled as he dropped to his knees cradling his stump as he looked on in growing horror as his life spurted away onto the manor's floor.
"GRRRR" Remus growled low in his throat, recognizing the sight and scent of his once friend and stalking forward to finish the vermin off.
"No" Harry barked smoothly rising to his feet. "I've got plans for him that we'll both appreciate." He promised.
Harry chanted something under his breath and his navy colt's barrel heated up until it glowed red.
Without preamble he yanked Peter's bleeding stump forward by its forearm and rolled the burning steel across the gapping wound, cauterizing it instantly.
SISSSS- The flesh burned and cauterized, stopping the bleeding. Peter screamed in pain, his face paling as he slumped to the floor unconscious.
"Wuss" Harry grumbled under his breath in disgust. To make sure he stayed unconscious, Harry spun his colt around and bashed Peter across the side of the head with the butt of his gun.
Remus cocked his canine head in surprise as Harry explained. "Stunners can be nullified, this can't and besides… this is more fun."
A quick miniaturizing charm and Peter was safely pocketed away-literarily so.
Now Harry couldn't be sure but the way the werewolf leered and hissed a bark, he could swear that it was laughing.
Snict-Snict-Snict….
Harry quickly reloaded his colts and suggested.. "Find us some more playmates would ya?"
The werewolf barked once and loped off down the hall with Harry following after, his eyes carefully scrutinizing every nook and cranny for any possible unwanted surprises.
The place had been a trap from the get go as evidenced by the obvious number of assailants lying in wait: A vampire clan guarding the perimeter and a large numbers of Death Eaters strategically placed within the manse.
He was just grateful that the opposition hadn't brought a dragon into the mix though he wasn't necessarily discounting that unwarranted possibility just yet as there was quite a bit of mansion to go over yet.
AHHHH-ROOOO
Ah , hell what now? Harry griped as he hastened toward the werewolf's alarmed baying.
The sound of violent crashing about sent him into an uneasy trot. Harry rounded the corner to find Remus tearing and clawing his way up a troll's arm to get his slavering jaws close enough to rend the brute's throat.
Harry wouldn't have paid the troll a second glance as he was quite confident that Remus could easily dispatch a single troll, his fellow, however, was another story.
The first troll howled and slapped at the werewolf trying to knock it off its shoulder. Its club lay forgotten on the floor, discarded in its blind panic to escape the maddening pain of the werewolf's claws.
Its fellow appeared the smarter of the two as it was lining up its club for a killing blow utilizing the werewolf's distraction and it's comrade's victimization as bait.
Honest to Pete, just how many flunkies does that turd Volemort have?
With an impatient sigh Harry drew his colt and called out. "Hey, Dipshit! Have a looksee at what I got here!"
The troll looked up stupidly, taking its piggy little eyes off its intended prize just long enough to give Harry a perfect shot.
BLAM-BLAM
No more piggy little eyes, just two gaping holes as the troll fell face forward without so much as a groan as it was dead before it even started to topple over.
That damn thing was about as bright as Malfoy, speaking of.. I wonder when I'll run across that little prick?
He figured it was more of a when than an- if as undoubtedly the ponce had sided with his daddy and daddy's evil turd of a master.
He was distracted from his wistful musings when the floor shook beneath his feet as the first troll had fallen to its knees and pitched forward gurgling its last as Remus finished ripping out the thing's throat.
Harry pulled a face at the carnage, wiping a sleeve across his sweat stained brow before he trotted off after the werewolf as it had gotten wind of something or other down the far side hall.
Probably that dragon I was hopefully discounting? He considered bleakly as the werewolf howled again, more alarmed than previous.
A titanic roar shook the walls and floors, shattering the windows and knocking pictures from the walls.
The werewolf howled in panic and came scrambling back his way just as a gout of flame shot across the railing, singing the creature's retreating backside.
Yipe-Yipe-Yipe
Jesus-Jessup-Palomino!... What a stench. Harry complained silently as the smell of burnt dog assaulted his nose.
Another roar echoed from down the hall.
Now how in the hell did they get a dragon in there? Harry wondered as the rooms ahead trembled as something titanic shifted its weight and bellowed in challenge.
Remus, having satisfied his initial curiosity, was whimpering from under a bureau cabinet down the hall whilst liking it's burnt backside soothingly. Harry being naturally curious himself, decided to have a look for himself just so that he could save the memory of what a dragon stuffed in a sitting room looked like.
Cautiously he made his way down the wall toward the railing across from the crashed in door, his colts cocked and poised, though what good they were against a dragon he couldn't guess, but still- they made him feel better.
He peeked around the edge of the door, his eyes going wide in surprise.
Well,… that aint no dragon. He finally decided after sever moments of fearful scrutiny, but just what the hell it was he didn't have a clue.
It was big and ugly, that was for sure. What he thought was a tail ended up being some sort of large serpent that twisted and writhed like it was trying to slither out of the furry thing's arse.
The beast twisted around looking for prey and Harry got a good look at its face, or faces as the case may be. It looked kind of like a lion's face blended into a goat and … awe Christ!
Harry dived to the side just as a gout of flame incinerated the wall he'd been standing in front of.
A chimera. At least that's what he thought it was as even Hagrid hadn't been fool enough to bring one of those damn things to class.
Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, Harry pulled out another stick of dynamite from the folds of his overcoat. He broke the ten second fuse in half, lit it and threw it around the edge of the door frame before he beat a hasty retreat.
FOOOOM
Harry skidded to a halt and turned to admire his handiwork. Blood and gore littered the hall behind, so much so that a team of elves couldn't clean up that mess in a month of Sundays.
Deciding he'd had enough of falling into one trap after another, he walked back the way he came deciding he'd grab up the horcrux and deal with the rest of the joint's surprises all at once.
He paused at the cabinet that Remus was cowering behind. "Come on Moony yah scared-e-cat, it was only a chimera!"
Remus' werewolf form peeked out and after deciding it was safe to do so, joined his companion with a growl at the slight.
He couldn't blame him, a chimaera was something he was not hoping to see again –ever!
Two floors up he found what he was looking for in an old trunk that wasn't even locked let alone warded. Begrudgingly he admired Voldemort's cunning as the famous Hufflepuff cup looked nothing so much as a tarnished old family heirloom in a trunk full of mismatched goblets in varying states of tarnished disuse.
Deciding to take advantage while he could; Harry transfigured another steel goblet into a box that he tossed the horcrux into and then dropped a lit half-stick of dynamite in. He ran off to the other side of the room with Remus hot on his heels. Harry conjured a brick wall and he and Remus had just enough time to duck their heads down when the box blew sending shards of white hot metal careening across the room, blowing out windows and tearing into walls.
Harry peeked up over the brick wall in time to see a groaning cloud of black shite dissipate into the cool night air as the sky outside was just starting to lighten to gray on the horizon.
That done, he decided to make use of the blown out windows to make good his escape without having to pick his way through the house of horrors below. He rubbed some of his pasty ash on Remus' furry forehead, drawing an intricate rune whilst the werewolf growled, grousing from the contact, but otherwise not threatening anyway else.
"Shut yer hole" Harry warned. "Or I'll turn ya inta a poodle, yah furry ingrate."
GRRR
Harry smirked at his friend's displeasure as he articulated the command for change.
Remus' body elongated as he stretched upward stepping forward into his human form.
He shook himself to work out the kinks, checking his limbs to make sure he was all there.
Harry snorted at the look of relief that ghosted over his friend's face every time he gratefully found himself completely hole.
Without further comment the two apparated back to the ground outside. Remus was about to apparate again, but Harry held him back.
"Gimme a minute."
"What for?" Remus asked in surprise, eager to return to Hogwarts to get some food and rest.
"I can't leave the place a mess." Harry balked, thumbing toward the heavily damaged manor in near ruin.
Remus's surprised face turned to one of mischievous glee when Harry extracted the rest of the dynamite from his coat, tied it together in one bundle that he lit a fuse to and threw into one of the manor's broken out windows.
"There, that's better." He smiled in satisfaction as the two apprated away laughing fit to bust.
The two figures ambled up the early dawn path to Hogwart's front door conversing over the night's events with a distinct note of satisfaction.
Eventually Remus got around to asking that which he was most curious about.
"How exactly did you learn to do wandless magic and can you teach me to do it too?"
"I thought wandless magic was supposed to be impossible?" Harry deflected.
"Apparently not." Remus countered pointedly.
"But I'm not doing wandless magic." Harry denied, seemingly sincere.
"Then how in the world are you doing it?" Remus shot back suspiciously.
"Ah,.." Harry shrugged. "That's easy enough,.. I'm using a wand, er,..sort of."
"You are not." Remus shot back sarcastically. "There isn't anything in your hand when your casting. In fact, the only thing I ever see you use is your…oh?" A distinct look of dawning realization brightened his friend's puzzled face into one of revelation.
"You didn't?" Remus gasped pointing knowingly at his friend's waist.
"I did and I'm glad I did as it has proved extremely handy."
"That's genius, sheer genius." Remus complimented.
Harry had taken his wand and fashioned it and another one into the wooden grips of his colts. All he needed to do was make contact with one of the handles and he could cast with the other hand or directly through the gun he held. A bit of concentration and he could transfigure his bullets from led to wood and so on, but that usually took more time and finesse than he could afford especially whist in a pitched battle.
The two were strolling down the path toward the waiting castle and the promise of a hot meal and a warm bed when Remus suggested tentatively.
"I think we were set up. The whole night went from'out of the frying pan and into the fire', if you ask me."
"You got that right." Harry agreed without adding anything further.
"Do you think we have a traitor among us?" he asked his young friend in growing concern.
"Traitors more like." Harry conjectured.
"More than one?" Remus' gait hitched as he asked warily, growing more concerned by the minute.
"Yup" was all the more of an acknowledgement that Harry would offer.
"What're we gonna do?" Remus prodded.
"Kill two birds with one stone." Harry left off mysteriously, though the knowing grin on his face betrayed his sense of confidence that the matter would be quickly remedied.
Remus immediately relaxed. He had learned well enough, since Harry's return, that when he looked like that he was already in the process of solving a worrisome problem.
"I'm gonna eat til I bust then sleep for a week." His stomach grumbled hopefully along with his eager expectations.
"You're gonna eat light and then we're gonna finish your training after we've gotten a few hours sleep." Harry corrected.
Remus' face fell. "Can't see what difference s if we fill up and get a good night's sleep?"
"Because I need you tired tonight and if you overfill you'll only throw it all back up later." Harry explained tiredly.
Remus was about to ask for more clarification, but the sideways glare Harry shot him settled the matter.
The two quietly took a spot at the Gryffindor table and several dishes of breakfast items instantly appeared, steaming hot. It was too early yet for most so they were afforded a meal in peace without being subjected to the unceasing scrutiny of Hogwart's many refugees in residence.
Remus reached for the sausage and ham, but Harry pushed it pointedly out of reach without comment.
"Awe, come on?" Remus complained bitterly. "My wolf want's meat and it wants it now." He demanded.
Harry merely shoved the scrambled eggs his way suggested in a tone that was anything but a mere suggestion. "Eggs and toast is plenty and you control your wolf, not the other way around."
Remus sighed dejectedly while he loaded his plate with eggs, grousing again when Harry pulled away the tray before he could take more than was necessary.
"Eat light" he reminded his friend.
"Awe, come on Harry, I'm starving over here." He complained, to which Harry answered by plopping a medium sized apple down in front of his plate to settle the matter.
"You whine over food like Ron used to." Harry chuckled. "I wonder if he still eats like there's no tomorrow?" he mused.
"You can ask him yourself one of these days, I expect." Remus pondered, buttering his toast and warily watching his partner to see if he was going to deny him condiments as well.
"Probably sooner rather than later." Harry agreed, nudging away the butter dish after Remus took another swipe with his table knife.
"I told 'Mione to have him to stay put with his family in France until things quieted down, but he never was one for patience.
"You don't think he's fool enough to try and cross enemy lines to get back here?" Remus scoffed.
Harry chuckled at that. "I'm guessing he's already on his way, probably with Neville and the girls not far behind."
Remus shook his head at the foolishness of such an attempt, but knew Harry was probably right in his assumption. Ron would cross an ocean if he thought Harry was waiting on the opposite shore. He couldn't fault him his loyalty and envied Harry his friends. He'd had friends like that once… before Voldemort.
Remus' expression grew dark at that last thought. Voldemort had taken the entire world from him, all except for Harry. No matter what, he was gonna make damned sure that Voldemort didn't get that last.
"Is it him "Mione.. is it really him!? Ron gasped, bobbing up and down excitedly on the balls of his feet as the two tried and failed to remain quiet so as not to wake their exhausted friend. Harry's hat was pulled down over his brow to keep the light at bay while he slept, propped half up, sitting against his backboard with a few pillows cushioning his back.
"Shush Ron, or you'll wake him up. He and Remus were out all night on a mission." She reminded trying to get her fiancé to curb his enthusiasm before he woke his wayward friend.
"What're those things he's holding?"
"They're his six guns." Hermione hissed distastefully as she would much prefer her friend used a wand like a proper wizard.
"Guns?" Ron balked.
"I wrote you about this Ronald." She reminded her fiancé. "Harry's not like you remember him. He's grown up over in America during an age when men carried guns for protection.
"Is he any good with them?" Ron asked skeptically,, not fathoming how anyone would chose such a thing over a wand.
"He's very good with them." Hermione chuckled pointedly, realizing that statement hardly did justice to sum up Harry's abilities.
"Now let's go before he wakes up. You'll see him tonight at the feast, I expect.
"But .. can't we just…?"
"Can't you two find something better to do like mess with some of Snape's brewing potions or something?" a voice growled, as Harry tipped up his hat and Ron could see for himself that he had returned.
"Harry!" Ron chortled excitedly, grabbing up his friend in a crushing hug half pulling him off the bed. "It's you…It's really you!" Ron cheered, clapping his friend soundly on the back.
"Yah-Yah,.. It's really me and it's nice to see you too." Harry returned trying and failing to smother a grin as he patted his exuberant friend's back. "Now would ya beat it so I can get a little shut eye?" Harry griped, pushing Ron gently away before pulling back down the brim of his hat and settling back into sleep, advertising that their brief, but intense, reunion was temporarily on hold.
"Ah,.. sure Harry. I guess.. I'll see you later then…?" Ron sheepishly conceded to which only a faint snore answered as Harry was already fast asleep.
That evening the Great Hall was abuzz with chatter as many of the magical world's exiled "light" citizens waited in eager anticipation of the impending arrival of their Guardian- savior as the Prophet and the Quibbler had been full of front page headlines proclaiming yet another victory over the Dark's forces in the mysterious predawn destruction of the Goyle estate's stronghold; a well-known launching point for many of Voldemort's more heinous raids during the last ten years. The papers proclaimed the entire mansion had been completely destroyed and there was much speculation over what sort of spell or combination of such could possible account for such utter devastation.
Booted footfalls from the stairwell leading down to the Great Hall echoed hollowly as the Hall quieted and breaths were held in anticipation. Harry entered the Hall in jeans,boots, a burnt grey cavalry shirt opened to the side showing a tantalizing hint of his well-muscled chest. His trademark Stetson was absent with his bangs instead held back by a tied off green handkerchief that drew attention to his intense green eyes.
As was becoming irritatingly usual; the Hall broke out into thunderous applause, his cohort in crime applauded along with the rest, himself already honored similarly, but with not quite the same level of intensity as their appreciation for Harry's efforts.
He walked through the aisle towards his once usual place at the Gryffindor table, fending off well-wishers and reaching hands that wanted no more than to be able to say in future times that they'd actually touched the 'boy who lived'.
His glare halted the clapping from his elder friend and elicited a warm chuckled from Dora sitting on Remus' right. Harry plopped down into his own seat in front of a madly grinning Ron and a smirking Hermione who was watching her fiancé fidget with excitement like a school child on Christmas morning, not that Ron wasn't still a child on every Christmas morning.
With a sigh of resignation as his childhood friend would not be quelled until he did; Harry found himself repeating a generic version of the events leading to and shortly after his departure ten plus years ago. Ron sat on tenterhooks absorbing the story, his own plate left on touched for the first time in memory as he was so riveted to detail of Harry's story.
"What happened then? Who captured you and why did they enslave you? How did you get away? What then? How did you become a guardian?" Ron blurted out each question rapid fire, one on top of the other, Hermione too caught up in his enthusiasm and she eyed Harry eagerly for further information, waiting with baited breath.
Pleasantly surprising Hermione, he actually answered Ron's initial query, something he had yet to do for her.
"I became the indentured guest of the Locuto tribe." Harry answered blandly returning his full fork to his waiting mouth after having done so.
"The Locuto?!" Hermione gasped in surprised disbelief. "But they're nothing more than a myth, a lost magical tribe of shape shifters and shamans that most scholars agree never existed in the first place." She lectured her friend and the table around her.
"Hmmphhh.." Harry snorted incredulously. "That switch Thundercloud used on me seemed real enough every time."
"T-They beat you?" Dora gasped in horror.
Harry nodded between forkfuls offering halfheartedly that…" Yeah, but only when I screwed up or didn't finish a job to someone's satisfaction. I learned rapidly to make a concerted effort to please." Harry snorted at his own joke as he continued to eat, oblivious to the trouble looks exchanged around him.
"But Harry that's barbaric. It's ..?"Hermione continued fretfully, but Harry cut her off.
"Over and done with. I earned my keep and in time I became an honorary member of the tribe and learned a lot from them, something that I'll always be eternally grateful for. I wouldn't have survived or have become the man I am today if not for Thundercloud, Wolf's Head and the rest." He admonished, finishing his meal and reclining back in his chair with a satisfied sigh, his belly full to bursting. He needed the fuel as tonight's activities were sure to drain him as usual.
Changing the direction and tone of the conversation Harry asked a pointed question of his own, already fearing he knew the answer. "Why did you risk coming back here, Ron?"
"To help you 'o course." Ron returned matter of fact, beginning to load up his own plate with an assortment of many contrasting dishes as Hermione rolled her eyes in a long suffering fashion.
"Help me do what, exactly?" Harry asked dubiously, himself more acutely aware and disgusted by Ron's gluttony than he had been as a child. The rest of the table likewise surreptitiously leaning back or scooting over to avoid the fall out of Ron's horrendous consumption.
"Fight Death Eaters." Ron acknowledged, thankfully swallowing before answering his friend's question.
Hermione was having some little success in his training apparently.
Harry's eyebrow rose in surprise. "I take it you've been training, then?" Harry inquired hopefully.
"Whatdaya mean training? I'm a fully qualified auror." Ron scoffed, putting down his fork and glaring back incredulously at his childhood best friend.
"So is Dora. "Remus admonished in reminder, adding that…. "But she doesn't go on either."
"Why not?" Ron asked taken aback.
"Because she's an auror, not a soldier, Ron." Remus lectured.
"Well neither are you, but from what I hear you go out with Harry every time since he returned.
"That's because Remus knows what he's about. He knows what it takes to win a war and he's not afraid to kill to affect those ends. That's as much of a soldier as I need." Harry answered coolly, shooting Remus an appreciative glance of respect that warmed his surrogate uncle's heart.
" I can do that and easily." Ron quipped. "I can't wait to take it to those bastards for what they did to Percy and Charlie." he blustered.
"Revenge is one thing, winning a war is another? You better think long and hard before you sign on with us, Ron." Harry suggested darkly.
"Anything Remus can do I can do just as well." He pointed his fork toward Remus and back towards Harry in a challenge.
"Really?" Harry asked, accepting the challenge at face value.
"Count on it." Ron returned, his temper flaring slightly as the tips of his ears began to redden.
"Can you take orders without question?" Harry pressed.
"No Problem."
"Then take out your wand and blast Hermione with a stunner." Harry ordered, the table going suddenly quiet.
"What?" Ron gapped in horror at the mere suggestion of potentially hurting his fiancé.
"Go on…" Harry goaded him. "Blast her right outta her seat." he demanded, his face not only serious but expectant that his friend would do as instructed.
Hermione gasped worriedly, fidgeting as she cast her eys wearily back and forth between Harry and Ron. Her eyes were silently pleading with both.
"Are you m-mental? I'm not gonna hex Hermione just to prove a point." Ron barked in outrage.
"Remus?" Harry asked blankly.
Without pause, Remus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Hermione who gulped in fright. There was already the glow of a red hued stunner glowing at the tip of his wand when Ron growled ferociously and grabbed for his own wand to try and defend Hermione.
Remus stunned Ron first, knocking the man back over and onto the floor where he sprawled unconscious as his wand clattered harmlessly away from his limp hand. Remus returned his wand toward Hermione, but Harry's hand snaked out and halted his cast at the last instant.
"Good enough, Remus." He offered proudly to which Remus nodded acceptance and pocketed his wand without further thought on the matter. Dora too was shining proudly next to him, her hand squeezing his forearm supportively. Whether she was pleased that he did what was necessary without pause or question, or if she was merely pleased with not to bear further witness to Ron's horrendous table manners was a matter of contention.
"Have Ron work on strategizing and planning raids." He suggested to a wide eyed Hermione who was still struggling with the notion that she had been a hands breath from potential injury for no more than a mere test of conviction and loyalty.
That done and the matter solved as far as Harry was concerned. He shifted his attention back to Remus.
"Meet me at dusk out by where Hagrid's hut used to be." he instructed his friend who nodded and returned to his own cooling meal as Harry left to finalize his preparations. Ron's unconscious form left forgotten where he lay in a heap.
People scurried out of Harry's way as he left the Hall with a cool detached look that clearly stated he was in no mode to further entertain fools and their foolish notions.
Their camp fire, while bright, did little to hold back the encroaching dark of the Forbidden Forest as its dark shadows closed ominously around them. Harry was just putting the finishing touches on the tribal runes he'd painted across Remus' torso, before he put the activation rune on his forehead and said the ancient incantation of summoning.
Remus felt, well he didn't know what he felt, but he did feel a strange sense of pulling away somewhat like that of a port key, but more intense and inside than usual.
He didn't have the slightest clue what Harry was about, but he trusted his friend implicitly and patiently kept quiet as Harry chanted in some foreign archaic tongue, his own body already painted identically to Remus'.
Harry finished the last rune on Remus' forehead with a painted fingertip. He then grasped Remus' forearms and instructed him to.. "Stay with me. Hear only my voice and ignore all else. Do not let yourself be led astray no matter how enticingly those you may long to see call out to you. They may or may not be what and who you wish them to be, but regardless; their intent may be as sinister as it is seemingly benign."
"What… but who are you talking…?" Remus began to question, but was cut off as Harry's eyes took on an unearthly glow and all turned inky black around him.
Harry's eyes glowed like beacons in the distance as he felt himself pulled steadily forward.
Remus tried to cough feeling as if he was suffocating, drowning in darkness. Just when he thought he was about to black out the whispers started, drawing his attention away from his distress. The whispers reminded him of something and eventually he realized it was like the whispering of voices from beyond the veil in the Hall of Mysteries.
Slowly the whispering became more defined and eventually Remus gasped in shocked recognition as one such voice from the right was that of his departed mother.
"Mum?...Mum, is that you…?" he called out hopefully pulling toward the direction of his deceased mother's voice.
Harry's glowing eyes instantly appeared before him, lighting the way as Harry instructed him … "Stay with me, Remus, hear only my voice. We are almost there."
"W-Where?" Remus stammered feeling himself being pulled forward. He felt as if he were floating along on an endless tide from one ocean to the next.
Eventually a soft ethereal glow winked into being ahead, pushing back the crushing dark and leading him desperately forward.
The shadows lightened and melted away as he found himself led by Harry's now distinct form into a clearing that appeared to be the same campfire and turned over logs they'd left behind hours, even leagues ago by the strange weary feeling he had as if he'd just walked hundreds of kilometers .
Harry paused, seemingly needing to catch his breath. "I'd f-forgotten…..how strenuous.. it is… to bring another.. over..." he huffed, taking deep breaths as if he'd just run a marathon.
Remus couldn't know how close he was in that assumption that Harry had traveled a great distance, taking him along.
Harry gestured toward a log for a seat. Remus perched himself on the indicated log and fixed his friend with a questioning, expectant look.
"He'll be along soon. I'll hold you and he here as long as I can so make the most of the time you have. Remember- you're here for a reason so don't squander this opportunity."
Remus nodded uncertainly, trying to puzzle out Harry's vague instructions. Harry walked off into the night and no sooner had he disappeared into the darkness than another ghosted forward out of the shadows.
"Hiya, Mooney!" Sirius Black greeted his friend who promptly fell over backward in shock, falling off the log he'd been sitting on.