Chapter 34 - February: The Assignment

A few weeks passed and the train incident began to fade into an unpleasant memory. The passengers who survived, including the Prime Minister, were successfully obliviated and returned to their normal lives. The Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee had managed to convince those involved that the IRA had attacked the train with poisonous gas. The Muggles, the Ministry, and the Order were on the mend.

Breakfast was in full swing at Remus and Emmeline's condominium. Some days they fought for their lives, others they tried to maintain some sense of normalcy. Even people at war have to eat breakfast.

"Why do you scramble your eggs right in the pan? That's barbaric…" Marlene said with disapproval.

Still concentrating on the eggs, Emmeline scoffed. "What do you mean? This is a perfectly fine method for scrambling eggs."

"You're supposed to whisk them before they go in the pan. Everyone knows that."

"Apparently not. I learned this way from Remus."

"Well that explains it, doesn't it?"

"Fine. Tie breaker. James, Lily, how do you scramble eggs?"

"I'd actually prefer it if we could stop talking about eggs," she said, seated at the little table with one hand hovering over her mouth and the other resting on her rounding stomach.

"Emmeline, did you guys get the Daily Prophet this morning?" asked Sirius, standing from his seat in the front room.

"Should be on the doorstep, unless Remus brought it with him to his meeting with Dumbledore. Go and check."

"Since when do you read the paper?" James asked him teasingly.

"...Since Regulus went missing. I just check for news," he replied. James dropped the joke.

Marlene was still monitoring Emmeline's cooking. "Once you've finished with that batch, I'll scramble my own thanks very much."

"For heaven's sake, they taste the same I promise."

"Bloody hell," exclaimed Sirius, having retrieved the paper from the doorstep. He had shut the door behind him and was staring bug-eyed at the front page. "After the battle last month they're replacing the Minister of Magic."

"Replacing Minchum?" Marlene repeated in disbelief, leaving Emmeline's side. Suddenly the method by which her eggs were cooked wasn't of such importance anymore. "Wasn't he supposed to be the 'tough guy' fit to take on the Dark Lord?"

"Apparently not," Sirius said, his eyes darting back and forth along the text of the article.

"Can they even do that?" asked Peter.

"Yes," said Emmeline. "They ousted Eugenia Jenkins a few years back, remember?"

James got up from his seat and joined Sirius in the entryway to see the paper for himself. "...this morning 'Millicent Bagnold was named the new Minister for Magic.' I'll be damned."

"Alice was telling me last week that the Wizengamot felt Minchum hadn't ended the war as swiftly as they'd hoped he would," said Lily. "I didn't know that meant they were going to replace him."

Just then Remus came through the front door and stood behind them. "What's all this?" he asked, kicking the snow from his boots and peeking at the paper over James and Sirius' shoulders. His latest scar, the largest to date, stretched diagonally from above his eyebrow all the way across the opposite cheek. A souvenir from Fenrir Greyback. The newly-healed tissue was still fresh and pink, and the cold air had paled the rest of his complexion making the mark even more prominent.

"Minchum's out," Peter called from the table, taking a bite of toast. James pointed it out in the paper for Remus to see.

"How was your personal meeting with Dumbledore?" Marlene asked him, grinning. Remus frowned at her from the paper.

"You say that as if he asked me to meet because I'm special, which is not not the case at all." He moved past James and Sirius and hung his coat up in the closet before joining the others in the kitchen.

"So what was it about?" she pressed him.

Everyone's eyes were on him, but he just grinned melancholically.

"That's classified."

"You're no fun," said Lily.

He came up behind Emmeline and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Those eggs look delicious."

"Thank you," she said, turning around to shoot a dirty look at Marlene.

…

When their friends had left and the dishes were cleaning themselves in the sink, Emmeline traipsed upstairs to lie down for a few minutes. There was an Order meeting later that afternoon and she wanted to rest for a bit beforehand. She had been having trouble sleeping at night - every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Wilkes' lifeless body.

Remus followed her up and leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed, looking at her sadly.

"How are your ribs feeling?" she asked. She patted the spot next to her on the bed, beckoning him to sit beside her.

"Alright," he said, rubbing his left side gently as he made his way to sit beside her. "Just sore sometimes." His body was still recovering from Greyback's beating.

Emmeline scooted closer to him when he sat down. "You were quiet at breakfast, what's bothering you?"

Chuckling slightly, Remus turned to her and stroked her hair gently. "Sometimes I wonder if you're a Legilimens."

"What's wrong?" she asked again.

He hesitated and looked away from her. "There's a lot of things wrong, we're at war."

"Remus," she said softly, gently calling his bluff. "What did Dumbledore say?"

Again, he hesitated. Dumbledore had given him permission to tell her, he just wasn't sure whether or not he should. "I'll warn you in advance that you're not going to like it," he said, still not meeting her eyes.

She crawled out from under the covers and and sat beside him, desiring his eye contact. But he wasn't looking forward to seeing her face when he told her.

"Dumbledore gave me an assignment," he said, taking her hand. She ran her thumb across his knuckles.

"Okay, what sort of assignment?"

Remus exhaled.

"He asked me to go undercover among the werewolves-,"

"But you told him no, right?"

"Of course I didn't."

"Remus," she said sternly, standing up to reason with him.

"I told you that you wouldn't like it."

"Explain to me why this is a good idea."

"Because Greyback has allies in various werewolf packs and there's valuable information about You-Know-Who I could glean."

"Remus, you can't just waltz into a pack and expect them to befriend you. They'll kill you."

"That's a very real possibility, but I'm the only person-, well...the only one in the Order who could do this."

Emmeline bit her lip in frustration and turned away from him.

"It won't be long term, just a few weeks here and there."

"That's even worse, there's no way in hell that they'll trust you."

"You're just going to have to trust me and Dumbledore. Hey." He gently grabbed her shoulders so that she was facing him. "Emmeline I want to do this."

Emmeline furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why?"

"Because for the first time, my condition might be able to help someone."