It took Remus a moment to understand what Sirius ha just said. Tonks jump to her feet and quickly exited the room; he followed her, while his brain tried to catch up.

Had his words actually been "emergency meeting"? That could only mean one thing. As a matter of fact, that could mean a number of things but only involving one scenario. Something out of the ordinary had happened, something more serious than their missions, something serious enough to call for the first emergency meeting since the Order had reformed.

And to interrupt his talking to Tonks too.

Mad-Eye and Kingsley had been summoned as well; this only confirmed Remus' suspicions about the magnitude of the situation. If he had harboured the idea that this has only been something concerning Sirius and his bad mood of having to stay indoors, it all disappeared when looking at the expression on Moody's face.

On entering the kitchen, his eyes looked for Sirius'; he was now standing next to Arthur Weasley, both busying over an owl. With two long strides Remus was at their side.

"What-?" he started.

"Harry," Sirius muttered. "He's fine, for the time being, but we're getting him out."

Remus looked at Moody for some sort of reassurance but the Auror looked as clueless as he felt.

Wearing her night gown, Molly was trying to serve tea while ushering the kids to finish their dinner and vacate the kitchen. It all seemed somewhat disconnected, almost as if many scenes had decided to take place simultaneously on the very same dusty kitchen. His mind kept wanting to go back to the room he and Tonks had just vacated, to replay each and every word said, to make sure they had meant what he hoped they had; meanwhile the most natural and domestic scene of kids having supper was developing; and then this other gathering of people looking deathly solemn and filling the air with anguish and anticipation.

Sirius was too focused on talking to Arthur, he would not answer his questions just yet, so Remus sat on one of the empty sits at the wooden table. A moment later, Tonks was sitting at his side.

His brain, which a second ago seemed to be working sluggishly to try and process everything happening in front of his eyes, was now catching up in a hurry, focusing on the fact that, after what seemed to be a very long time, Tonks was sitting at his side again. He wanted to face her and say something, maybe even speak one of the thousand questions bouncing against his skull, but before he could gather his ideas, the door of the kitchen opened and Dumbledore came in.

Few times had Remus seen the headmaster look so menacing. If sometimes his quiet demeanour and the fact that he was indeed very old might have given anybody the impression he was frail, it all was erased with just looking at the way his piercing blue eyes were now burning into the surroundings.

"I will have to ask you to leave," Dumbledore addressed Hermione and the young Weasleys. If they had tried to linger when Molly Weasley had asked the same, now they did not. Quickly leaving their dirty plates on the counter, they exited the kitchen, exchanging scared and curious glances.

"Well, the matter has been taking care of, for now." Dumbledore said as soon as the kids left the room. It was not only the way he looked; there was also a ringing in his voice Remus had rarely heard. He seemed to be beyond fury.

"What happened?" Moody asked before Remus could say the same words.

"Harry Potter has been attacked by Dementors," the headmaster said.

"What?" Remus blurted and he could hear somebody else asking the same question. Automatically he looked at Sirius. Did you know about this? He seemed to have understood his silent question and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Is he alright?" he asked again.

"He's fine," Sirius prompted, looking at Remus' expression. Now he was talking to him. "He managed to conjure a Patronus and drew the Dementors away."

Amongst everything else, this was a very funny feeling. Remus knew he had not been a bad teacher, and yet only once he had faced the fact that some of what he had taught his students at Hogwarts could actually save somebody's life or soul. But back then he had had other worries in his mind, the most pressing of them had been guilt about that night when Peter Pettigrew escaped, more than a year ago. Now, he was amazed to realise he was feeling some sort of pride. Sirius was still looking at him appreciatively, Remus had told him not long ago how Harry had been stubborn about wanting to learn the Patronus charm and how that attitude had remain him of James and had finally convinced him to try to teach him such a complicated spell.

Tonks' voice drew him back to the present, she was arguing with that characteristic energy of hers.

"… wasn't someone of the Order on guard duty there? Weren't we doing all our best to prevent something like this happening?"

Of course somebody of the Order must have been at Private Drive. They all had been tasked with guard duty both at the Ministry and at the house of Harry's relatives. Tonks knew that first hand.

"Was Mundungus' turn, right?" Moody grunted, and both his eyes were looking fixedly at Dumbledore. "That excuse of a wizard left his post!"

"He did."

Molly started screaming out her rage, it was very understandable, but there were much pressing matters. Suddenly something occurred to Remus, this was not only bout Harry almost getting caught by Dementors and being safe now. The consequences of what might happen were bound to reach much farther.

"I assume the Ministry knows what happened," he said, voicing his fears.

"Course they do. Potter's underage, isn't he? He's still got the trace on him!" Moody's rage was a match to Dumbledore's even if he was much used to it.

"The Ministry knows about him performing magic and in front of a Muggle," Dumbledore explained. Remus wanted to grown aloud. Of course, to make matters even worse, there had to be a witness. "His cousin was with him when the Dementors appeared. Firstly they wanted to take away Harry's wand and expel him from Hogwarts. However, I've managed to hastily convince Mafalda Hopkirk to cancel that order and Harry will have to attend a disciplinary hearing on August the 12th instead."

Remus did not know if he ought to feel relieved or not. He had had to attend his share of hearings and he had learned it was just a very open word to describe many situations, some of them quite unpleasant. He looked around to see if somebody else was sharing his fears but they were just explaining the details of how Harry's defence should be directed. He had the suspicion, though, that Harry's troubles had just begun.

Suddenly, he remembered what Tonks had been saying just a moment ago.

"Tonks had a point, though," he looked at her, almost expecting her to look away. She did not, so he continued. "It is impossible that two Dementors just happened to be in Little Whinging and furthermore crossed Harry's path."

"Oh, I am quite sure that is no coincidence. They were sent."

Of course. Remus could picture the scene: maybe the Death Eaters had gained control of some of the Dementors if not all, or, why not, maybe somebody from inside the Ministry. If they were ordering the Daily Prophet to publish rubbish on Harry every other day, what could keep them from ordering Dementors to his house? He could imagine the headlines on the paper the next day, something along the lines of "deranged teenager" or "attention seeker" to say the least.

Sirius' voice took him out of his reverie again.

"What about Harry? We have to take him out of Little Whinging. It isn't safe anymore."

Remus could not help but agree; he looked at Dumbledore to search for a confirmation, but he looked thoughtful.

"I agree," Kingsley said. "I know we wanted to keep him from getting into Headquarters as long as possible, but tonight events just prove it is more difficult than we thought to keep an eye on him while he's at his relatives'."

"Yes…" Dumbledore was speaking slowly, almost as if he was trying to gain some time before making any decision. "I wish there was another solution, though. We are all aware of the risks it poses to us to have him right in the middle of the Order."

Remus had some ideas of why would the headmaster want to keep Harry away from headquarters and he could appreciate how difficult the decision could be for him, but this time he agreed with both Molly and Sirius. The kid might be in danger; they needed to take him to safety as soon as possible. Now the question of how was a very valid one.

"Is the Knight Bus traceable?" Molly suggested.

"Not exactly, but we cannot trust on the driver's discretion," Arthur answered and Remus agreed with all his heart.

"Brooms," Tonks whispered at his side, looking at the table; it was almost as if she was talking to herself. It did not sound as a terrible idea though.

"Brooms?" Remus asked, trying to encourage her with his gaze to explain her idea.

"Yeah," she looked up at him, her eyes bright and her cheeks slightly pink; Remus had really missed having her looking at him like that. "You can't trace a broomstick and you don't need to perform magic for it to work."

"Right you are, lass," Moody said, beaming at her. "We'll flight Potter out of there. I take he's a good flyer?"

"As good as James was," Remus said, remembering the last time he had seen Harry during a Quidditch match. He was indeed his father's son.

Tonks seemed to be on a roll now; she was suggesting luring Harry's relatives out of the house while Moody, being his usual paranoid self, was talking about recruiting some sort of guard to keep an eye on Harry while flying him to number 12, Grimmauld Place.

"I'll go," Tonks volunteered.

"Me too," Remus said, less than a second later.

"I'll join too," Sirius grunted from his corner.

It was just predictable, and so was Dumbledore's answer.

"That, is out of discussion."

Sirius did not press the matter but Remus could see the murderous expression in his eyes, now fixed on Dumbledore's. He could understand Sirius, of course, but couldn't Sirius understand everything else? Maybe after so many years in Azkaban and then, so many months in the run, his endurance was about to break.

He needed to talk to him again, he needed to remain him why where they all doing this. Sirius needed to think about Harry, and maybe even about James, before doing something foolish.

The meeting was over, but Sirius would not let the matter rest. He approached Dumbledore and Remus hastily stood up to join them. If he had to hex Sirius in order to prevent him to say something he could regret later, he would.

"Listen, Dumbledore, you need as much help as you'll get."

"I agree, but not all the help can be use in the same way," Dumbledore's voice was not furious anymore; he seemed to be tired and Remus could not blame it.

"I'm the kid's godfather!" Sirius whispered furiously. "And what have I done for him so far?"

"You've stayed out of trouble; you've stayed out of prison."

"He needs me!"

"He needs you alive and free."

"Free is not happening right now," Sirius sneered.

"Would you prefer a cell in Azkaban?" Remus said quietly.

Dumbledore just nodded.

Sirius raised his hands in exasperation and turned around to speak with Arthur.

"Good evening, Remus," Dumbledore said, and he was sounding weary again.

"Good evening,"

Moody and Kingsley were leaving and the headmaster followed. Remus wondered if Tonks would go with them or stay, as she had done sometimes before. Her saying "Good night" made him realised he had actually hoped for her to stay and he was disappointed.

How odd it was, after all said that night and the implications of Harry's attack, that his mind would still want to focus on her, on what she had said and what that could mean. He could not help but consider it, though. Maybe it would take her, them, sometime to get back on track. Still, he looked straight into her eyes and smiled. She smiled back.


AN: I'm not absolutely happy with this chapter, but things have to move on *sigh*. Thank you very much for reading, reviewing and fav'ing this tale!