Marauding Ever After

by MariKenobi

Chapter 20 - Silence

A/N - JK owns most of it... sigh... Oh well...

"You know what would be cool? A field trip."

"You think?" Remus glanced up from his gradebook. Colin nodded back. "Where do you think we should take the kids?"

Colin thought for a second. "Maybe the cinema? Ooooh or a Quidditch Game."

"That I can do." Remus stood up. "Let's find Dobby. I'm sure he'll love to arrange it."

"Excellent! Let's go and stop by my room so I can get my camera!"

Remus sighed. "Sure."

The group of intrepid investigators sat nervously at Aurora's sitting room. It was quite awkward. She had invited them inside after Dora told her it was for a case they were working on. As soon as they were inside the silence commenced. No one really knew where to begin. It was maddening.

"I know you." Aurora stared at Lily.

"Oh she has one of those faces…" Fabian said.

"… You think you see her everywhere." Gideon supplied.

"I'm Lily Potter." She stood up and extended her hand. "You already met Nymphadora Lupin."

"Actually, just Tonks," Fabian interjected, "Not married anymore after all."

"Shut up Fabian."

"Next to her we have Fabian and Gideon Prewett." Both men shook their heads in disappointment. "You and I met years ago when we were both alive and you worked at The Leaky Cauldron."

"I'm assuming you aren't here to settle an old tab or to complaint about my lousy service." Aurora folded her arms.

"Well there was one time when I didn't get all the fire whiskey -- OUCH!" Dora shoved Fabian to the floor.

"Ignore him. His mother didn't feed him enough. We have been looking for you because you might have been close to my cousin."

"I've never met any Tonkses before. Sorry you have the wrong girl, but thanks for stopping by." She started walking away towards the entrance of the house.

"I meant my cousin on my mother's side, Sirius Black."

Aurora froze. "I remember hearing that name once, but never really met him."

"Is that why you ran and made it so hard for us to find you?" Gideon stood up next to her.

"That first time we talked, when you called yourself Briar Rose – cute by the way – why didn't you say anything then?" Fabian rose up from the floor.

"Mouthful brother."

"Thanks."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why would you run from us?" Aurora didn't reply. She went from face to face, suddenly realizing that she was surrounded.

"This book is quite cool." Fred sat on a big oversized chair at Padfoot's Pad. "I can't wait to see the updated version when I'm added."

"You are weird, Fred." Sirius was concocting a drink by his bar.

"I just enjoy life." Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "Now death." Fred shrugged.

"Well if you like the book so much, you can keep it. I don't think I ever read it."

"Sirius you amaze me! You didn't look yourself up? Not even a teeny bit curious?"

"I already know how I died."

"Well if you ever want to know, you aren't the only one in a textile related incident. And some are way lamer than yours." Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "No. Really. It says here that a Paul Palacios tripped over a rug and tried to hold on to a table runner to break his fall, but only ended up having a saving machine land on his head."

"Wow. That is lame. I should get that guy a beer." Sirius came around, sat across from Fred and handed him a drink.

"At least you can say that a crazy death eater, who happened to be your cousin, caused you to trip and fall."

"Fred do remember that rocks fell on you. So shut up."

Silence was palpable in the room between James and Snape. They had just finished going over Harry's third year.

"You can't deny that you had a lot of fault here. If you had only stopped to listen, everything would have been different. Instead you chose to act like the bitter child you once were."

"Lupin and Black were acting like idiots too. If they had been upfront from the start it would also have been different. I told Dumbledore all of this, but his misguided affection for them blinded him." Snape folded his arms.

James groaned. "This is about you, not them. Regardless of what they did or didn't do, you did not help."

"And what was I supposed to do? Believe their crazy story?"

"Which as we all know turned out to be true. It's funny," James scratched his chin, "had you stopped and listened, you would have brought in a fugitive and a presumed dead man, everyone could have heard the story and judged for themselves. Added bonus, Peter wouldn't have been able to run to Voldemort. You would have been a renowned hero. Alas you didn't. You have to wonder why…"

Snape threw his head back, "Oh what could you possibly mean by that now?"

"You would have had to admit you had been wrong for years and you couldn't handle it."

"So I sabotaged everything?"

"Possibly." James said coolly.

"Just get on to the fourth year before I throttle you."

"Eh," James shrugged. "Won't kill me."

"Remus, it's awesome. We need to do more things like that for the children."

"Thank you, Regulus, but it actually was Colin's idea." Remus and Colin had met with Regulus at Quidditch field after the game had ended. They missed Dobby who had gone out to celebrate with a few friends. The boys had thoroughly enjoyed watching them and knew they had the right idea.

"Excellent Colin! I think we should take it farther. How about a tournament? We can surely get a few of the teams in and we might be able to have an exhibition game with kids, parents, family, friends, anyone!"

Remus and Colin looked at each other apprehensively. "I'm sure it would be quite good, but we really don't to cause much trouble."

"Oh no trouble at all. It's actually perfect for Dobby like you thought. He loves doing activities just like that. Don't worry. Leave it all in our capable hands."

"Of course I liked Sirius! Who didn't? He was so funny, charming, and easy going." She smiled fondly, "Plus it didn't hurt that he was so handsome."

"Gag me."

"Sickening really."

"Be quiet you two. I want to know what happened. What went wrong?"

"Oh that's simple, Dora." Lily moved next to Aurora and put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "The war happened. It changed everything. "What was your part in it?"

She shifted her eyes over everyone, "I was an informant." No one said anything. They waited for her to continue. "I provided information to the ministry. I'm not proud, but I needed the money and the protection."

Dora and Lily looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Fabian and Gideon were very angry. "Who did you work for?" Asked Fabian, sounding much unlike himself.

"Mainly Barty Crouch." She couldn't look at him in the eye.

"Did you ever give information about the Order?" Gideon growled.

She lowered her head. "Not much. Not really. If I saw a lot of members together, I'd pass it along."

"I understand. It was a hard time back then. It explains why you kept Sirius at arm's length." Lily tried to be as comforting as she could, yet they all knew what she was going to ask. "Did you ever inform about any of us? Or Sirius?"

"I told Crouch that it was thought there was a traitor in your group and suspected it was Remus."

Dora gasped.

"I'm sorry."

"Fine. I'll admit that I should have realized the truth if you'll accept that your son relied on his incredible luck to escape."

James ran his fingers through his hair. "Sure. Why not? I'll admit my son has always been extremely lucky, even without the Felix Felicis. I believe that happens to those entirely on the side of good. Bad luck to you then."

"Just stop. Even Dumbledore was fooled, so leave me alone. In fact," Snape stood up. "DO leave me alone. You can continue with the torture on another occasion. I'm tired."

James barely moved. "Fine. I rather get it done now, but you can prolong it. Your choice."

Snape only said one thing as he left. "Get me Albus."