Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Joanne Rowling. My name is not Joanne Rowling. Yet. The papers are still being processed for that.

The Innocents' Revenge

Chapter Nine

"Relax, Dora. You look beautiful. Besides, this is Remus we're talking about. He wouldn't care if you came out stark naked," Andromeda reassured her daughter.

Dora sent her a glare, but she couldn't help but smile.

"He'd probably prefer it, actually," a voice came from the background, sounding amused.

Dora turned and saw Sirius standing in the doorway. He was leaning casually against the doorframe and was wearing his best robes, purchased especially for the occasion.

"Everything set?" Sirius asked as everyone turned to him.

"Just about," Ginny replied, finishing the last touch on Dora's hair. It was, for once, her natural shade of brown. Dora thought that if she was marrying Remus, he might as well see her as she was, and not with her usually brightly coloured hair.

"How's Remus doing?" Andromeda asked.

"Nervous as anything, but excited too," Sirius answered truthfully, having been with his friend for most of the morning.

Andromeda nodded. "Of course he is,"

"All right. I think I'm done," Ginny stated, pulling away. Dora immediately turned an inspected her hair in the mirror that had previously been behind her.

Andromeda nodded in acceptance of the simple but elegant hairdo that her daughter now sported and then turned back to Sirius. "Go ahead and start the progression,"

Sirius sent a wink at his now panicking cousin and then left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

"Breathe, Dora. How would it be if we had to cancel this because you passed out with nerves? Hmm?" Andromeda cautioned.

Dora followed her mother's advice, taking a few calming breaths. She turned to look in the mirror, one more time, before taking a few steps toward the door. "I'm glad we settled on the one I could actually walk in," she murmured under her breath, shifting nervously under the silky white material.

The trio walked over to the door and upon opening it, found Ted Tonks standing there, waiting to lead his daughter down the aisle.

Ginny handed Dora her bouquet of flowers, wished her good luck, then headed passed Dora's father into the hall, leaving Dora and her mother behind. She knew the family probably wanted a private moment alone. Besides, as the Maid of Honour, she was supposed to go down the aisle first.

Ginny had, at first, been astonished when Dora had asked her to be the Maid of Honour, considering they had only known each other for a short time, and weren't really all that close. Then she realised that she had never seen Dora with any other friends of her own gender and age. Dora spent nearly all her time with Remus and Sirius. Ginny had wondered at that for a while, but couldn't come up with why.

Still, any other friends Dora had probably wouldn't have accepted Remus as a good husband anyway, since he was a werewolf. Remus' lycanthropy was the main reason the wedding's guest list was restricted only to family and close friends.

Reaching the doorway to the main room, where a small amount of guests were sitting, Ginny peered into the room, nerves suddenly filling her. She didn't quite know why. She knew almost everyone in the room fairly well.

Andromeda appeared at her side, gave her a brief smile, then walked down the aisle to her seat, at the very front. Then, it was Ginny's turn.

She kept her eyes on the front of the room, just willing herself to get there without tripping. To her luck, she managed.

Then, all attention was turned off of her as Dora appeared in the doorway.

Ginny, relieved that her moment in the spotlight was done, took the time to examine the people in the room. Remus stood near Dumbledore, who was performing the ceremony. The werewolf's eyes were focused solely on Dora. At Remus' side was Sirius, who was the Best Man. Facing them, the rest of the members of their small rebellion group sat, along with a couple other relatives of Dora, who Ginny had never met.

Also present in the front row was Remus' mother, who Ginny had only met just that morning. Ginny hadn't even been aware that Remus' mother was still alive, until earlier that day when she had appeared at the door while Ginny had been greeting guests.

Then, the bride reached the front of the room and the ceremony began for real.

Ginny turned her attention to Dumbledore and the couple being married.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Dora and Remus turned away from watching the few guests who were dancing to see Sirius behind them, smiling slightly.

Remus grinned back. "Not so much," he replied.

"Can I get a dance with the bride?" Sirius then asked, nodding out at the dance floor, which Remus and Dora had recently vacated.

Remus handed his wife's hand over to Sirius, and Sirius guided her out to the dance floor.

For a long moment, they just swayed in silence, among the other pairs of dancers, then Sirius said, "When is it due?"

Dora paused, frowning. She glanced around cautiously before answering, "What?"

"You know what I mean. There's quite an obvious reason you and Remus decided to have the wedding so . Not to mention Remus has been overly protective, and you've been 'ill'," Sirius gave her a look.

Dora avoided his gaze and instead looked over to where Remus looked deep in conversation with Stan, who was dressed in a ragged muggle suit. Remus' face was drawn into a silent frown and looked concerned at whatever Stan was telling him.

Remus looked up suddenly, as if sensing Dora's gaze on him and sent her a brilliant smile. Stan nodded politely in her direction, then disappeared into the crowd behind Remus.

Finally, Dora turned back to Sirius, who was studying her face intently, still waiting patiently for a reply.

"Does anyone else know?" Dora asked then, knowing she had to reply with something.

"Not that they've discussed with me," Siriusreplied.

Dora nodded. "It won't be too much longer, now," she finally answered his first question.

Sirius nodded, looking thoughtful.

Harry crept, once again, through the village toward the grocery store where he continued to steal food on a regular basis. He had pulled it off three times, now, and so was getting fairly comfortable with it. Even the guilt had started to wear off.

Glancing around and seeing no one, he walked up to the door and unlocked it with his pin. He had mastered the art of picking locks and it now took him less than ten seconds.

Entering the store, Harry kept out of view of the windows and went toward the back of the store. Just before he reached the bakery section, the lights of the store flickered on and Harry froze.

Two men, one older and one younger stood there, both of them glaring at him. The older one held up what Harry thought was a gun. Without his glasses, he couldn't see more than vague shapes, which is why he spent a lot of time in his bird form where his eyesight was, incredibly, perfect, better even, than a regular human's.

"Stop where you are, sonny," the man holding the gun said.

Harry stopped, not wanting to get shot. He held up his hands in surrender.

The younger man stepped forward. "Who are you? Why are you stealing from our store?"

Harry hesitated before answering, but then figured it would do no good to avoid it.

"I need food. I don't have money, and I can't get a job," he replied.

The younger man frowned. "And who are you?"

Harry once again hesitated. "Orion," he blurted out the first name that came to mind, then cringed away from it. What kind of a name was Orion?

"Orion, huh? I ought to call the cops on you," the older man stated.

"Father," the younger man warned, giving the older man a stern look.

After a moment, the man lowered his gun, but continued to glower at Harry.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just, I need food," Harry pleaded.

The younger man studied him. "I can see that. How long have you been out on the streets, Orion?"

"Two years," Harry answered, giving the amount of time since he had been sent to Azkaban the first time.

"And you need a job, you say?"

Harry nodded cautiously.

"I'll strike you a deal. You stay here and work for us and you can work off the food you stole, plus additional food, which we'll provide for you. Sound good?"

The older man sent a scowl in his son's direction.

Harry nodded. "Okay," he replied.

The younger man smiled. "Great. I'm Henry Jones, and this is my father, Jacob Jones," he informed Harry.

Harry shook his hand. "Orion Jameson," he replied, giving a false name that he had been thinking up in the last few moments.

"I warn you, though, we won't tolerate any more stealing, or dishonesty,"

Harry nodded. "I understand,"

"Now take your leave. Get here at seven AM, sharp, for training. Got it?"

Harry nodded and left the store. As he headed away from the store, the lights flicked off behind him, leaving him in darkness.

Finding a good unseen place, Harry changed back into his animagus form and flew toward his nest. He felt his stomach rumbling uncomfortably, as he hadn't managed to get any food.

Landing in the nest, Harry changed back into his human form and settled against the edge of the nest, staring up at the blurry stars. He pondered his name that he had drawn out of his mind randomly.

Orion Jameson. Jameson made sense, since he was James' son. Orion, though, felt like a painful memory. Harry just couldn't figure out where it had come from.

It was the name of someone he had known, probably, but there were a lot of blank spots in his memory, and he couldn't figure out whom the name came from. He suddenly hated the name, like everything else that came from his past. He wanted to leave everything like that behind him. And now he could. He was starting a new life as Orion Jameson. A life as a muggle.

Sirius shivered in the cold night air as a breeze washed over him. Even in dog form, the air was freezing. Snow was falling lightly and it landed in Sirius' fur, making him looked speckled.

Ginny was wrapped up in a winter coat beside him, so she wasn't shivering nearly as hard.

"He's not here," Ginny noted dryly. They were leaving the last muggle hotel in the small village, and he wasn't there, not that they really expected to find him there. He was probably hiding out in the woods, somewhere, not in a hotel.

Sirius whimpered slightly, acknowledging her.

Sighing, Ginny led the way into an abandoned alley and Sirius turned back into his human form to apparate them both back to Grimmauld Place. Though he had begun to teach her the skill of apparation, she had only managed it once, and that was with splinching herself.

The house was dark when they arrived, not that they were expecting anything different. They only ones who might have been there were Dora and Remus, and they were at their own home, at the moment. It was a full moon, after all.

A/N - So, what do you think?