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Job
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A man walked through the austere offices, dressed in a nicely fitting suit and tie, carrying a briefcase. At first glance, the greying hair would make one assume he was nearing middle age, but his face was relatively unlined, and his eyes bright. He carried himself with dignity and self respect, earning appraising glances as he passed by office windows.
Eventually, he stopped at a door at the end of the hall, and knocked politely. He glanced at the window beside the door, and saw a young woman in austere clothing glance his way from behind her desk, and nod. Unconsciously reaching up to straighten his tie, he opened the door and walked in. "Hello, Martha. Is he ready for the briefing yet?"
The woman smiled. "Of course, Remus. I'll let him know you're here." She leaned over to a device on her desk covered with buttons and lights, and pressed on. "Yes, sir. The Liason is here."
"Send him in," responded the tinny voice from the device.
As she motioned towards the door, Remus J Lupin nodded his head and smiled at her. "Thank you, Martha."
Inside the main office sat a man that many in the Wizarding world underestimated, all because he was a muggle. Not a drop of magic at all. He was, as Vernon Dursley once described himself, 'all technology and the here and now'. However, for a man in the important position he was in, he needed to know what was going on in the Wizarding world, because as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, whatever occurred in the Wizarding world affected his world, as well.
He had never been satisfied with his previous liasons, all of whom had been chosen by the Ministry of Magic. When Professor Dumbledore, a man spoken quite highly of in private by all his predecessors he had spoken to, walked in his door, he was prepared to listen. In their brief encounter, the Prime Minister had gained a deep respect for the man, and accepted his offer to help him choose his own liason when the job came open.
Sure enough, when the previous liason informed him that he would be retiring the following July, he leapt at the chance to take Dumbledore up on his offer. The result was fought long and hard in the Ministry of Magic for some unknown reason, but he was adamant. He had met with Mr Lupin before, and found him one of the brightest minds and most rational individuals he had met from the Wizarding world, and would accept no other as his liason to them.
"Good to see you again, Remus," he said. "Are you feeling alright? I know... IT... was just a few days ago."
Remus smiled. The Prime Minister had discovered his 'furry little problem' some months ago, but also learned about both the Wolfsbane potion, and of Sirius Black's ability to take canine form, and help ease the transition. "I'm fine, sir. This information was just too important to let it wait."
"Is it about..." started the muggle.
"Yes. And about the children kidnapped the day before Christmas."
The Prime Minister shuddered. "Barbaric, absolutely barbaric. Why in Heaven's name would he do such a thing?"
"Heaven has nothing to do with anything Voldemort does, I'm afraid," sighed Remus. "He did it... as a sort of message to Harry Potter."
"The boy?" he asked. "The one who stopped him fourteen years ago?"
Nodding, Remus continued. "And again four years ago, and again three years ago, and was captured and present last year when he returned to power. It seems that the act of stopping him that first time created some sort of link between them... and Voldemort forced him to witness the entire abomination."
The muggle turned white. "Good Lord... he saw it all happen? Even... even what happened to the five year old and the nine year old?"
"Yes." Remus tried to control it, but his eyes twitched and his jaw quivered. "It sent him into a coma for three days, but he's doing fine, now."
"You were a friend of his father's right?" At the werewolf's nod, he continued. "If that boy is half as important as you and all my previous liasons have indicated, then I hope you take good care of him."
"I could do no less, sir," Remus said stridently. "On other matters, there has been an offer from the Ministry to purchase Edzell Castle from the Crown. It appears that there is a functioning potions lab about three centuries old beneath it, covered in muggle-repelling charms that are just beginning to fade, and without proper ownership of the site, the spells will not take. It will prevent... mishaps, so to speak..."
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Harry walked down the halls, towards the Room of Requirement. It was time for the OGL meeting, and his latest Occlumancy lesson from Viktor. It was strenuous, but the Bulgarian had given him some good advice, and the titles of a few books to check out from the Restricted section of the library. Ginny, Hermione, and Ron walked beside him, and they were talking about the classes earlier that day.
"I swear, Professor Slughorn just adores you, Harry. You may not be the best in the class, but I don't think you could do any wrong in his eyes," said Ron.
Hermione frowned slightly. "I find it interesting that he didn't try to start his 'Slug Club' up again this year. I wonder why not?"
Harry glanced at a passing first year, who looked rather nervous to be walking alone. "Probably because of the war in Slytherin house. He was a Slytherin, himself, and since both Nott and Malfoy are rather important,he may feel that inviting both would be disaster, either one would be throwing his influence where it wasn't wanted, and neither would be insulting his entire house."
Ginny glanced up. "I thought Ron was the strategic genius around here."
"Idiot-savant, you mean," chuckled Harry.
"HEY!" shouted the red-headed wizard as he cuffed his friend on the shoulder.
They noticed that the door to the ROR had not yet appeared. "Good. As soon as the rest of the core group gets here, I can pass on what Dumbledore showed Ginny and me last night," said Harry.
Soon enough, the rest of the core members were gathered, with more than a half hour before the rest would show up. Harry ran through the memories that Dumbledore had shown him. "And the funny thing was," added Ginny, "Slughorn had modified his own memory. It was painfully obvious, but it was the... crux of the matter, if you'll forgive the pun."
Cedric stroked his chin. "Sounds like the memory may have been telling Riddle how to make it. Or maybe Riddle saying something that might let us know how many there are."
"Makes sense to me," said Harry.
Cho turned to Ron. "Any idea yet what Nott's planning in Slytherin?"
The redhead shook his head. "Nott's been quiet. No idea what he's gonna do."
Harry, meanwhile, had pulled out the Marauder's map, to check if any of the others were on their way. A name near one corner caught his eye. "BLOODY HELL!" he shouted as he leapt to his feet, startling them all. "Viktor, Cedric, Ron, come with me. Ginny, go get Grampa Abus. Hermione, get Professor McGonegall or Professor Snape, whichever one you run into first. The rest of you, tell the others we'll be back in a bit!"
"What ees eet?" asked Gabrielle, confused and slightly frightened.
Harry's face was hard and cold, and his voice even colder. "Wormtail. He's in the castle."
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A scrawny rat with a silver paw scurried throuh the lower floors of Hogwarts. He lifted his head, and sniffed around. Satisfied, he continued on his path to the Slytherin Common Room. He had only been there a few hundred times or so, on pranking missions with the rest of the Marauders, so he knew exactly where he was going.
Noises began to come from further down the hall. He scurried behind a suit of armor, and watched. Fortunately, it was only a pair of second-year boys, talking among themselves.
"Well, Nott's been having Lichtenstein do /something/ in the fourth floor corridor. Word has it it's something for the Dark Lord, himself," said one.
"This isn't good," said the other. "If it's true, then Nott has Him on his side, while Malfoy only has himself."
The fist one nodded. "What malfoy did to Nott and Crabbe was good and all, but maybe we need to follow the pendulum back the other way."
"Too soon, said the second. "If it's just a rumor, we'll be hung out to dry."
"Good point," responded the first, as they passed on oblivious, and turned a corner.
Now that the coast was clear, the rat scampered out, and continued. It was only a hundred yards or so to go, then he'll be in position for the mission his Lord had assigned. He knew of Nott's own mission, and deemed it appropriate that the boy appeared to be accomplishing his task.
He turned a corner, only to see two shapes in front of him. "Game's up, Wormtail," snarled one - a voice he recognized as that annoying Potter brat. "Might as well give up now."
Standing on his hind legs, Wormtail shifted. In moments, a short, slender man with wild eyes and wilder hair cackled back at the young man. "Oh, I don't think so, Potter! Only two of you against one of the Dark Lord's chosen? You'll be dining with my Master tonight!" He drew his wand, and prepared to cast a silent spell.
"Oh, There is more than two ov us," came a thick baritone from behind him.
Wormtail immediately shifted targets, launching out the spell he had prepared at the target behind him, only to see his body bind miss, and pass between two more figures. He did not recognize one of them, the one he assumed had spoken, but the other was the redheaded blood traitor that was Potter's friend. Cursing, he dove to the side as four spells converged on where he had been.
"Give it up, Pettigrew! There's nowhere to go!" shouted the one next to Potter. In the dim light, the animagus recognized him as the Diggory boy, who had been one of the contestants in the Tournament last year, which likely meant the final figure was Krum, the foreigner.
"We shall see!" cackled Wormtail, as he suddenly lunged towards Potter and Diggory. They dodged back, as a silver fist slammed into the stone floor and leaving a crater the size of a man's fist.
"Indeed we shall!" boomed a fifth voice, one that made Wormtail quail. He felt all his strength leaving him, for it was the voice of an angered Albus Dumbledore. He quickly flattened himself, and shifted, to get away before anyhing worse happened.
"STUPIFY!" shouted Ron, aiming directly in front of his foe, right as the rat started to dart forward. The spell hit him directly, and the unconscious rodent skidded across the floor until he slammed into a wall.
"Excellent work, Mr Weasley!" declared Dumbledore, as he conjured a cage around Pettigrew.
"Yeah, way to go, Ron!" cheered the petite redhead beside him.
About this time, Professor McGonegall and Hermione came around the corner. "What is all the commotion about?" she demanded.
Krum walked over, and picked up both the cage and the animagus. "A spy," he said simply, causing the Transfiguration professor to gasp.
"Hurry, let us get back to my office. I shall call the Aurors from there," said Dumbledore. "Oh, the entrance is on the second floor, today."
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"I must say, that map comes in very handy," noted Dumbledore. "And to think a group of fourth years made it, more than twenty years ago."
Sirius had shown up with the aurors to take personal custody of the man who had once been his friend. "Why, thank you, Headmaster. Err, though I guess it was Remus who did the research."
"Sir, we should head back, now," said one of the aurors. "The rat is beginning to wake up."
"Go ahead," said Sirius. "I wanna stay here for a moment and congratulate my godson and his friends." As the other aurors left, he turned to them. "So, how many of you are going to follow in my footsteps, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands with glee.
The six members of the OGL present looked at each other. "Really, I think only Ron and I want to be Aurors, Uncle Sirius,"said Harry. "Ginny wants to be a healer, and Hermione wants to be everything under the sun, from what I can figure out."
"Hey!" said Hermione, cuffing him on the shoulder and unconsciously echoing her boyfriend from nearly an hour earlier.
The students and headmaster spent the next fifteen minutes telling Sirius what exactly happened so he could properly fill out his paperwork. "Well, that was some nice work, kiddos and Sir," said the animagus. "Remus'll be so proud of you, you know."
The fire flashed suddenly green. "Sir! Auror Black!" came the voice from the unrecognized head.
"What is it, Auror Michaels?" he asked, suddenly all business.
"Pettigrew... he, well, he..."
"Spit it out!" barked the black haired wizard. "Did he escape?"
"Well... sort of, sir. But not really," said the auror.
"What happened?"
The auror gulped a little, because an angry Sirius Black was not something to be trifled with. "He... he woke up right as we were moving him to the holding cell, but before we could fasten the restraints. He... that silver hand, he.. he killed himself, sir."
"WHAT?" Sirius looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to be enraged or relieved. "How did he do that?"
"He crushed his own windpipe, sir. He suffocated while we were trying to get mediwizards own to him."
"Damn," said Sirius. "We were hoping to wring him dry of everything Voldemort had planned."
"AAAARGHH!" screamed Harry, as he suddenly fell to the floor, clutching his scar.
"Oh, no!" Ginny dropped to her knees on the floor next to him. "Harry, fight it, whatever it is! Use the occlumancy Viktor is teaching you!"
"Angry...he's angry," gasped Harry. His eyes were barly more than a sliver of green around black, seeing only what was being forced into his head. "Rage, anger, hate... burns... Aaaaargh!"
"Quickly, out of my office. Sirius, Miss Weasley, help me get him to the hospital wing! Minerva, get Serverus, we may need him!"
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"HOW? How did they find him so soon?" snarled Voldemort, the Dark Lord. His eyes burned with a savage fire, and his pale skin seemed to shimmer in the dim light as he vented his rage.
"I... I do not know, Master... " stammered a masked and robed Death Eater.
"THEN FIND OUT! CRUCIO!" Spindly fingers, knobbed and twisted like the roots of an ancient tree, thrust forward holding a wand, and a jet of hate flew forth into the wizard who had dared admit ignorance to Lord Voldemort. The wretch immediately fell, writhing and screaming with agony.
Soon, the sounds of torment had soothed his troubled mind, and the merciful Lord Voldemort released his minion from his spell. He had known Wormtail had fallen, as he felt the magic he used to create the silver hand suddenly end. "Malfoy, report," he barked.
"Sir, Nott has informed me that the repairs are taking place faster than expected. He will deposit the item in a fourth floor classroom when it is complete, and send an owl when all things are in position," said the elder Malfoy, bowing low and respectfully.
"Excellent," purred Voldemort. "You are finally proving your worth to me, aren't you?" He paced up and down the line. "Soon... soon, that muggle loving fool will be no more!"
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"Aaaaagh!"
Harry Potter bolted upright in his bed. The events of the evening flooded back, and he realized it was still night time and he wasn't in his bed - he was in the hospital wing, with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione by his side.
"Harry! I was so worried!" cried the petite redhead as she flung herself around him.
"He.. he knows about Wormtail," Harry gasped out. "And... and he has Nott repairing something, and it has to do with a plan against grampa Albus."
"Don't worry about that now, Harry," said Hermione. "Even with the wards, you were in a lot of pain."
Ron shook his head. "Mate, it wasn't near as bad as Christmas, but it still was hard to watch."
"Stand aside, Weasleys, Miss Granger," came a snide voice. "I must administer potions to the boy."
They did as asked, and Professor Snape helped Harry down the potions, then lowered him back to the bed. "Now, you must rest for those potions to take effect. Have you not been performing your occlumancy?" he demanded.
Harry nodded. "Yes, sir, I have. But... it didn't feel like legilmancy, sir. It was like I had put a hundred locks on the front door, but he came in the back."
The potions master and DADA teacher scowled. "This is not good, Potter."
"Tell me about it," mumbled the bespectacled boy.
"Oh dear, oh dear!" came yet another voice, this time the one of Professor Slughorn. "What ever happened here, Serverus?"
"It has been dealt with, Horace," insisted Snape. "Tomorrow is a Saturday," he said, turning back to Harry, "so I expect you to remain in bed all day to recover. Otherwise, you will only harm yourself."
Ron turned to Ginny and whispered. "Wow, Snape's worried about Harry? That's one of the signs of the Apocalypse, isn't it?"
His sister smiled despite herself. "People change, Ron. Professor Snape? Where is Madame Pomfrey?"
"She left the boy's side five minutes ago to deal with a second year of my house who was injured in one of the... altercations of this past year. This was right before you entered. Why do you wish to know?"
Ginny glanced at Harry, who had fallen asleep from the cumulative effects of the potions. "I... I wanted to stay with him tonight," she said.
Slughorn beamed at the young girl, and interrupted before Snape could say anything. "Such loyalty and love! Do not worry, my child, I shall inform Madame Pomfrey of this, and I promise I shall convince her to let you stay!"
Snape curled his lip slightly, and shook his head, but deferred to his own teacher. "You two, however, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, must head back upstairs immediately. Off you go, curfew is in ten minutes!"
Soon, only Ginny was left with the sleeping Harry Potter. "Rest, luv," she whispered. "Get well, it hurts to see you suffer."
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End Of Chapter
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A/N: At last, we discover what Remus' job is! Why, he's the 'hand-picked' liason to the Muggle Prime Minister! Heheheh, you can be sure the Ministry doesn't like that! But what is Nott up to? Whatever it is, it can't be any good!
