Author's Note:
We're officially over the 50 review mark! Thanks everyone! :-)
This chapter came out later than even I expected, and I apologize for that. I have limited writing time this summer.
This is a continuation from chapter 7. Remus and Tonks are still on their mission to recruit werewolves for the Order and Sirius and Harry are hanging out at Grimmauld Place.
...
Chapter 8: Where We Go From Here
Fifteen years ago, he would have laughed if anyone had told him Peter would one day be a servant of Lord Voldemort. Fourteen years, ago he never would have believed that he would survive twelve years in Azkaban. And just two years ago, in his godson's third year, he never would have believed that Harry would face a dragon, merpeople, and see a boy's life exchanged for a dark lord. This summer Sirius was reunited with his favorite person in the house he most despised. And what was more, Remus was staying over and the Order of the Phoenix was having routine meetings downstairs!- this he never would have believed. At times Sirius felt like his life was going by at a snail's pace or, on the contrary, moving so fast he struggled to keep pace. It was particularly frustrating now that Harry was back in his life.
Sirius sat on crossed-legged on his bed as Harry surveyed his old bedroom. Sirius had not changed any of the décor since his school days.
Now, he was glad he hadn't.
It was like a little piece of the past, frozen and unaffected. He was happy he could return to see enchanted pictures of his friends waving up at him. He could see the Gryffindor emblems and banners trumpeting his House's pride. Now he could share his room with Harry. His godson would be able to see his mum, his dad and the Marauders at their best.
The room was handsome, but some things clashed. There was a rich aura being produced by the velvet curtains and the chandelier. There was a wardrobe with serpentine handles and a large bed with ornate wood designs running up and down the posts. However teenage Sirius had made the effort to turn the bedroom into a warmer environment with the Gryffindor banners and the pictures glued informally to the faded silver walls. The Black family most likely didn't appreciate the additions. Harry suspected there were more rebellious changes hidden within the room.
Harry passed a picture of the Marauders on the wall. He saw the rat animagus, the traitor who had been responsible for the death of his parents. His eyes moved on quickly to the man who was nearly a mirror image of himself. The hazel eyes staring back at him were the indication that it was his father, not Harry. Harry saw the similarities between the Remus he knew today and the school boy in the picture. The same could be said about his godfather, Sirius. The physical characteristics hadn't changed much except that the Sirius and Remus of the present had aged. However, the differences in expressions and body language were like night and day. Harry knew the reasons for the changes and wondered if the Marauders themselves knew the extent of the damage. Harry had never felt happier than he did this summer in the company of the Marauders. He could only hope that they would all start to heal.
Sirius saw Harry run his hands along the photograph and trace the corners, evidently trying to find a way to pull it off the wall. Sirius let Harry struggle for a few more seconds before he chuckled. Harry spun around confused,
"Why won't it come off?"
"Permanent sticking charm, kiddo. It was done so my parents wouldn't be able to redecorate after I left. All the pictures are like that, I'm afraid. They won't come off no matter how hard you try."
Harry looked upset and Sirius laughed and Harry looked at him even more puzzled. He didn't find what was funny.
"You're too easy, Prongslet. But we'll make a Marauder out of you yet."
Harry smiled relieved, "There isn't a sticking charm?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Of course there's a sticking charm, but we Marauders invented a solution to cancel the spell. Prongs and Moony came up with the idea. It's took us all of forth year to make." Sirius smiled at the memory. He leapt off the bed, "I think I have a bottle somewhere in here."
Sirius looked around for a second before a sudden light flooded his eyes, reminding Harry of Dumbledore's twinkle. The slight man reached under the bed and revealed a dusty wooden box. It was a small inconspicuous box with only "Padfoot" on the lid. Harry's eyes widened when Sirius spelled it open. Inside was a bunch of pranks and products the Marauders had invented. Everything was shrunk down to the size of a Bertie Bott's Bean to fit it all inside. There were things like "48-Hour Itching Powder" and "Voice Swappers". Harry was drawn to the "Everlasting Shampoo". When Harry asked about it, Sirius burst out laughing.
"Oh Merlin! I forgot about that. It was for Snape; and we did manage to douse him good with that one, but the thing was defective," Sirius laughed.
Harry laughed along, trying to imagine his Potions professor sopping head to toe with shampoo.
With one summoning charm Sirius had the "De-permanentizing Solution" in his hand and he applied it to the picture of the four smiling Marauders on the wall. Harry watched interestedly and the Marauders in the picture watched too. White smoke enveloped the picture for a moment before it cleared and the picture could be taken off the wall. Harry examined the edges, his eyes widening. They were completely unharmed.
"That's brilliant!" Harry extolled.
Sirius shrunk the picture for him until it was the size of a Muggle credit card. Harry slipped it into his pocket.
That was the only picture of the Marauders on the walls. There were plenty of Muggle photos on the wall, though. Harry looked questioningly at Sirius after spotting the pictures of the scantily clad Muggle girls. Sirius shrugged with a dog-like grin on his face. And Harry laughed, getting a better sense of his father and Sirius in their Hogwarts days. There were also many pictures of motorcycles coating the walls. Sirius heard Harry let out a small gasp and for a second, he thought something was wrong.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, on the edge of his bed.
Harry turned sharply to face his godfather, a smile on his face, "You're into motorcycles." It wasn't a question.
Sirius looked surprised, "Yeah, I was obsessed with them. Lily thought they were too dangerous but James and I managed to buy one without her knowing."
Harry really grinned widely, "There was a motorcycle that Halloween. Before I went to Hogwarts I would have dreams about a flying motorcycle. In my dreams, there were er, ..." Harry paused for a moment, looking uncomfortable.
"other things that indicated a motorcycle was involved on Halloween-" Harry talked quickly, trying to breeze over those "other things" and Sirius let it slide for now. They would have that talk later.
Sirius nodded with a sad smile, "Yes, I was planning to take you away on my motorcycle-"
Sirius stopped abruptly looking like he was in pain.
"Sirius-"Harry began.
"If only I had gotten there sooner. Then Hagrid-"
"Sirius, you can't blame yourself. You think that if you had gotten me before Hagrid, Dumbledore would have backed down?"
Harry sat down next to his godfather. "Dumbledore would probably have done everything to get me away from you. You really had no chance against him." Sirius flinched and Harry looked apologetic.
"You tried to take me and give me a life with you. You tried your best and that means the world to me, Sirius."
Sirius started. He hadn't expected Harry to say that to him. The self deprecation was starting to settle in Sirius, but now looking at his godson beside him, Harry sounded so much like his father it was hard not to let his godson's words break down his walls. Harry was so far ahead of his peers.
"Are you sure you're fifteen?" Sirius asked, with a small smile. Harry snorted.
They sat in a companionable silence. Harry was the first to break it as he leapt to his feet to say he was going to get a snack. Sirius smirked at that. Maybe he was finally rubbing off on his godson.
"Race you to the kitchen?" Sirius asked with a mischievous face.
"Sure."
No sooner had Harry stepped out the door than Sirius changed into Padfoot and let out a teasing bark before sprinting down the staircase.
"No fair! SIRIUS!" Harry roared as he took after him as fast as his human feet could take him.
Sirius spared him a bark of laughter before stepping through the kitchen door.
...
In the Baldwins' cottage, both resident and guests watched each other. The former was looking with expectation and the latter stared with subdued frustration for they didn't know where to begin.
Lawrence yielded. Before taking his earlier seat he offered Tonks and Remus the lumpy, faded yellow loveseat opposite him. As Tonks and Remus acquiesced, Remus took in the room with vigilant eyes.
The antique lamp's light tinged the whole room yellow. Everything was surprisingly tidy except for the papers scattered hastily about the coffee table. Volumes upon volumes of books were arranged neatly on a bookshelf and a single potted plant held its own in the bare corner of the sitting room. There was a potions cabinet in another corner filled with healing potions and salves. Remus didn't need to wonder why they were conveniently placed there.
The discussion tonight was mostly for Lawrence as he would be making the choice of whether or not to fight. Yet, that was no excuse to leave his wife out of the conversation. When Remus swiveled around to call over the witch, however, she had already retreated to the kitchen.
Lawrence Baldwin was bent slightly forward as he eyed his guests.
"I'd say I'm glad to see you Remus, but I wish we didn't have to meet under these circumstances." Lawrence said in a coarse voice. "I don't know why you're here," he admitted to Remus and Tonks, "But I know it can't be good."
Tonks and Remus smiled apologetically. It was true. The Order usually didn't stop by to have a friendly chat.
"Dumbledore sent us a letter," the werewolf said, hauling himself out of his chair. "I know I have it somewhere."
He shuffled around the sitting room for a moment, sifting through various documents on the coffee table. By the stacks of papers, things were hectic at work. Although the letter could have been summoned with a simple "Accio" Lawrence didn't extract his wand. Remus wanted to say something but Lawrence called to his wife.
"Ophelia?"
Ophelia mechanically emerged from the kitchen to see to her husband's wishes.
"Find Dumbledore's letter for me."
Ophelia nodded tersely, "Of course." And without another word, she departed the way she came. For a moment Tonks's grew still. That befuddled her partner. What had she noticed that Remus hadn't seen?
Within a minute, Ophelia had returned with the letter as well as a tray of tea for the four of them. The amber liquid enticed their senses, but Tonks and Remus declined. The Order didn't stop by house for tea and biscuits. Remus looked at the steamy drink for a fraction of a second before frowning internally.
Tonight he had noted a couple oddities about the Baldwins.
Lawrence hadn't used magic to find the letter.
Tonks had noticed something off.
After Ophelia brought out the tea, Remus realized suddenly...Lawrence never drank tea in the past. Why would he start now?
Lawrence was unrolling the parchment now and handing it to Tonks. With reluctance, Remus pulled out of his pondering but vowed to resume as soon as it was safe to do so.
With just a glance at the cream colored parchment, there was no doubt it had come from Albus Dumbledore. His fine cursive writing was inimitable.
While Ophelia made herself comfortable next to Lawrence, Tonks and Remus read the letter,
"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin,
There have been some new developments and it is most important they be discussed sooner rather than later. Expect Order members to come to your home on August 2 at 8:30 PM for clarification. I apologize for a hasty contact, but you will find that it is necessary.
Hoping all is well on you end,
Albus Dumbledore"
Ophelia wasn't kidding when she said Albus was vague. Tonks handed back the letter; and Remus, only because he knew her well, noticed her movements were slower than usual. Even though Tonks maintained a perfect mask Remus knew what she was thinking, for he was thinking the same.
Albus Dumbledore had promised the Baldwins information and Tonks and Remus had no choice but to give it to them.
Oh Godric. What are we going to tell them?
They knew one thing. Nothing could be mentioned about the werewolf recruiting operation. Something funny was going on here and it was neither the time nor the place to address that. Yet, they needed to say something and they had to be stealthy about it. They needed to come up with a believable explanation that would hold to the high standards the letter set. But they couldn't confer with each other and their words had to sound natural even though they were coming off the top of their head. All the while keeping in mind, they had to be patient and sneaky.
Merlin's shorts. Won't this will be fun?
As naturally as possible and making certain his partner could see him, Remus blinked twice in swift succession. After a second, Tonks rested a fisted hand in her lap. Mentally nodding to himself Remus began,
"What news have you heard regarding Lord Voldemort?"
A predictable silence descended upon them like a thick fog. Lawrence was the first to work through it.
"V-Voldemort?" He sputtered. "The Dark Lord's been dead for 14 years." He stared at Remus, hard-faced. Ophelia had jumped at Voldemort's name and was now pressed against her husband's side.
Remus and Tonks looked at each other. The reaction was fairly significant, but when they dropped the bomb... Remus nodded to Tonks as he plastered a resigned look upon his face.
Tonks shook her head at Lawrence, "I'm afraid, that is still the general public's belief. However, the truth is Voldemort is very much alive."
Ophelia let out a little shriek then and Lawrence touched her arm in comfort. Lawrence, however, looked like he needed comfort himself.
"Impossible." Lawrence whispered disbelievingly. He looked between Tonks and Remus as though he feared for the pair's sanity.
The Order members looked back at the pair of them, matching one reaction against the other. Ophelia looked scared and distant now.
"Lord Voldemort never died," Remus pressed on. "Something did happen 14 years ago. He was weakened but he survived. He's never left and he's never been alone." Remus didn't mention anything about ritual in the graveyard or Voldemort "coming back from the dead". Even if these people were the real Lawrence and Ophelia, or even if these people already knew this information, he was not giving them anything information that came close to his cub. That was stepping into very dangerous territory.
The phrase "he's never been alone" bounced around everyone's heads,
"What are you alluding to, Remus?" Lawrence growled. His brow was so creased they could barely see his eyes.
Remus sighed, "Death Eaters-"
Ophelia spoke for the first time in a while, "Well that's nothing new." She said in an effort to diffuse the tension.
"-we believe his numbers are growing. He may have a thousand now." Remus lied smoothly.
"A thousand!" Lawrence exclaimed, jumping out of his chair.
Tonks nodded, "And the numbers may keep growing. We don't know of his methods, but we think we know what he's planning."
"What is he planning?" Lawrence hissed. Remus was alarmed. His instincts told him to stun the man, erase their memories, and get the hell out of there. But he could not.
"Well, first he wants revenge. He wants revenge on all those who battled against him during his reign." Tonks explained.
"That's nearly half the world!" Ophelia said.
"I'm glad you appreciate the severity of the situation," Remus said grimly. He turned to face the round faced witch. With a shock, he realized what Tonks must have noticed earlier.
He hadn't seen it before because Ophelia averted her eyes or looked slightly to the side when she faced you. But now he noticed her eyes as his eyes met hers straight on. They pits of the eyes were so blank and lifeless and completely unresponsive to the rest of her face.
Remus could only think of one spell that did that.
Oh shit.
Remus hated sitting here, making up some story. He felt like he was entangled in Devil's Snare. He was being dragged down, his defenses were weakening and was slowly being pulled away from the sunlight.
"You understand then, don't you," Remus asked them not missing a beat despite his internal panic. "You, Lawrence, fought directly against Voldemort. Either of you could be his next target."
Lawrence embraced Ophelia tightly, as if his arms could shield her from the world.
"You are no longer safe here. You need to go into hiding. " Tonks advised them. With a distant twinge pain, Remus remembered when those words were said to Lily and James.
Lawrence nodded heavily.
"Yes. I suppose that is are only choice?" Lawrence asked bitterly.
"Maybe, but that is for you to decide." Tonks said, closing the discussion. Tonks stood up and Remus rose too. To say they were anxious to leave was an understatement.
"It is terrible, but those are the circumstances today. Now if you will excuse us. We must be off." Remus finished. The two Order members thanked the two for allowing them into their home and wished them luck.
Lawrence began to rise, but Tonks and Remus were already passing the potions cabinet and were out the door. They never saw Lawrence's face as they left. In minutes they were walking swiftly past the wards. Then with hands clasped tightly, Remus and Tonks were apparating away from the darkened emerald hills.
...
A dark crooked house fell into their field of vision. They hurried in to Number 12 Grimmauld Place where the promise of refuge enveloped them. They did not bother to shed their shoes or coats, but sealed the door behind them. Although the immediate danger had left, Remus and Tonks did not release hands.
A door creaked on their right and they jumped, wands held high.
A man with a brown mop of hair held up his hands in surrender. But he was smiling slyly.
"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Sirius teased. Tonks blushed and Remus moved his hand away from hers.
"Sirius." Remus said, warningly. He didn't have the time for this.
"Remus?" Harry asked, coming from the sitting room. The teen looked guilty for some reason but Remus did not have the time or the patience to find out. "Did you and Tonks just get back?"
Remus raised his eyebrow at the "just get back" bit. How late was it?
"Harry, you should be in bed." Remus said in a voice Harry knew not to argue with. "Sirius, can you see him upstairs?"
Harry shot a look at Sirius, who looked about to protest, but then he marched up the stairs after his godson. He didn't say anything to Remus but he did shoot him a nasty look. Remus knew Sirius wanted to be included, but now was a bad time. Remus had to sort things out with Tonks first before he could explain.
As soon as Sirius and Harry had left, Remus rushed into the common room. He closed the doors and began casting various silencing and secrecy charms. Tonks didn't question it but helped him in his task.
When Remus was satisfied he turned to a frowning Tonks,
"She was under the Imperius Curse."
"Yes, I noticed it when she came into the room," Tonks said darkly.
Remus groaned, "I didn't see it until much later. But I should have realized. There were so many signs! The way she moved and the way she responded to her husband were so different from the Ophelia I remember." Remus raked a hand over his face.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Tonks said at once. "You haven't seen her in years."
"But a mistake like that could have gotten us killed."
"What about Lawrence? He wasn't Imperiused," Tonks realized suddenly.
Remus growled and Tonks jumped, alarmed. "No, he wasn't under a spell. There was a stash of Polyjuice Potion in the cabinet. I smelled it as we were leaving."
"He was an imposter taking Polyjuice?" Tonks inquired, evidently disgusted at the possibility of having a chat with a Death Eater.
"I don't know, but it's possible. On the contrary, it could've been a set-up. The whole thing might have been a set-up for all we know." Remus muttered.
Tonks grabbed Remus's hand, but it was not out of fear.
"What do we do now?"
Remus didn't answer, but he extracted his wand.
"Expecto Patronum," Remus whispered. A burst of energy rocketed out the end of his wand. Tonks and Remus guarded their eyes until the harsh light around them condensed and softened.
A silvery white mockingbird appeared.
It opened its beak wide to sing a silent song before settling on the caster's outstretched arm. The mockingbird flapped its wings, ready.
"Wait in the Headmaster's office. Tell only Albus what has happened." The Patronus gave a sharp nod. "Go!" Remus commanded and the gleaming mockingbird patronus flew in a semicircle before fading to a wisp and drifting through the fireplace.
...
Thirty minutes later, despite downing three butterbeers to calm down, Remus could not sit still. Tonks had told him that there was nothing they could do now. She said that they would have to wait. Remus didn't think he could stand any more waiting tonight.
He wanted answers now. He wanted to find the problems so they could find solutions! He wanted to be able to protect his family efficiently. He needed to defend them, his best friend and Harry... They were everything to him.
Remus put his head in his hands and took a deep breath.
Where was the calm Remus? Where was the man who was famous for his patience? Remus shook his head. Did this kind rational thinking just fly out the window when you had a kid to worry about? An ordinary kid, possibly. Harry, definitely.
Remus sighed, letting the last of the adrenaline run out. He hoped these kinds of missions didn't become a trend. He was tired after one and he didn't want to give Sirius another reason to point out his "old age". Remus shook his head. He wished he didn't have to split his time up between the Order and his family.
For a quarter of an hour, Remus drank his butterbeer in silence, carefully moving any thoughts of the mission to the side of his mind for safekeeping.
Although it had taken a long time, Remus accepted that he'd done his duty. Right now all he desired was to go upstairs just to be close to Harry and Sirius. Yes, tonight the Order had done the best they could with the situation that presented itself. Albus Dumbledore was going to tell them where to go from there.
...
Author's Note:
What did you think? It sounded really nice in my head, but I'm not sure it translated well onto the page.
Thank you all for reading and for those of you who have left reviews! I'm always happy to read them. Also many thanks to the people who have added LOB to their alert or favorites!
Did anyone see the last Harry Potter movie? It is amazing! But it has nothing on the books. :)
