Chapter Twenty-Two
Moonshadow
Down in the basement of the Muggle Farm, Jennifer, Anna, Carol and Remus watched as Sirius and John Carnegie put the finishing touches on a heavy vault door they had installed in the back storage room.
"Are you certain this thing is going to hold?" Remus asked for the third time.
"If you cannae trust your own cousin with something like this, who can ya trust?" John replied with exasperation. "I do know more about escapin' such things than even you do, thank ye very much."
"Besides, it's not like you're going to be in there alone," Sirius reminded him.
"Yes, well, perhaps we ought to rethink that..." Remus began.
"No, you are not changing my mind," Sirius said firmly. "I don't like being locked up any more than you do, but that is exactly why I am not going to leave you in there alone by yourself. I am staying. You've never hurt me before and you aren't likely to, especially since you do have some potion in you, weakened or not. From what Jennifer has told me about your behavior this morning, I'm the safest one to sit with you tonight anyway."
"All the same, I will be n'arly a stone's throw away," Carol assured him.
"Yes, Carol and I have decided to stay in the castle tonight, remember?" Anna agreed.
"Fine, but don't be the first one to check the room in the morning," Remus requested darkly.
"As to that, I think I'll grab a cot and sleep on this side o' the basement. I'll be just as comfortable as a monkey as I am as my handsome devil of a self," John said cheerfully.
"There, Remus, it's all settled," Jennifer said. "Severus sent me the modifications on the lupine recovery formula; it'll help you with the disorientation in the morning, and it'll taste better," she added sheepishly.
"It can't have tasted any worse," Remus said dryly.
"Why don't we get settled, Remus? That way we can have a chat before the moonrise," Sirius suggested.
"You don't have to do this," Remus murmured, but Sirius put an arm around him.
"Don't think of it as me helping you. Think of it as you keeping me sober for twelve hours," Sirius said cheerfully.
"That is quite a feat," Remus replied, the two stepping into the vault. Sirius nodded to John, who slowly closed the door and used his wand to snap the heavy bars in place.
"There we are! All snug as you please, nuttin' ta worry about," John reassured them. "Come, Carol, back to the castle with you. I'll just pop upstairs for a cot, then I'll be down in a flash t' keep an eye on 'em.
"Vera well, John. I'll see you in the mornin'," Carol said.
"Shall we take the tunnel or take the path across the tracks?" Jennifer asked, intentionally omitting the fact that the path took twice as long to get there.
"Let's walk outside, surely... 'tis a fine day... not many days left before it truly grows cold," Carol pointed out, so the three women climbed the stairs.
"I agree... how I love the weather this time of year," Jennifer said enthusiastically. "Before you know it, it's going to be Halloween. You should come to the ball this year, Carol, it won't be a bad week for him."
"O'course," Carol agreed readily, taking a deep breath as they stepped outside, enjoying the scent of the browning leaves. "Hopefully he'll also be in better spirits. I've nae seen him this concerned since the last time he missed a dose and clawed up the root cellar door, and tha' t'was some years ago. He was quite shaken... ne'er missed a dose since then," she admitted. "The older he gets, the more paranoid he gets about hurtin' someone, really."
"Well, we all change as we get older, so I suppose it's understandable," Jennifer decided, then grew thoughtful. "I hope this all turns out to be worth something... even if all we're able to do with the these potion modifications are to make life a bit easier on him. Any sort of improvement would be worth it, for all he's going through right now..."
"Ah, Jennifer, don't be frettin' over that," Carol said, almost scolding. "Maybe you will be able to improve on the formula... but maybe you won't. Just the fact that you're tryin' to do something makes it worth it to Remus... that much I'm certain."
"I hope so," Jennifer said, stepping over the tracks. "So how about dinner in the Headmaster's Study?"
"I was thinking it might be fun to do an impromptu Coven Night," Anna suggested with a grin, "Since we have three already. Think it'd be hard to find two more?"
"It depends who has left for home already... Hermione might still be here, but I don't know about a fifth..." Jennifer mused.
"Well, Zoe's stuck home by herself tonight, how about her?" Anna suggested. "I'm sure she could find a sitter."
"I suppose you can ask. I'm sure we can come up with some place in the castle to set up a circle. but let's have dinner in the Headmaster's Study while you're trying to set that up," Jennifer said, glancing at her watch. "I need time to check in with Severus as well."
"All right, let's do that, assuming if Carol's up for it," Anna said, looking at Carol.
"Aye, why not? It sounds like fun, and it'd be a few more hours t' distract me from worryin'," she decided.
Jennifer got them settled in the study and called down some Owls so that they could send notes off, then stepped into Severus' sitting room long enough to pull out her mirror, glancing at her watch to make sure he was at the house before evoking the mirror.
Severus appeared a moment later, looking somewhat tired.
"There you are. Not skipping dinner, are you?" Severus asked, squinting.
"No, I'm going to be having dinner with Carol and your sister in a moment. Anna's arranging a Coven Night to keep Carol distracted," Jennifer said.
"Not going to do surveillance tonight then?" Severus inquired.
"No, Remus wouldn't have any of that, so we constructed a vaulted room in the basement of the Popcorn Farm for him. Sirius is going to stay with him, and John is monitoring," Jennifer explained. "How are things on your end? Another productive day?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Severus said. "I'll fill you in more when I arrive before dinner tomorrow, but there is one thing you should hear about now. I sent Lucky to Las Vegas to follow up a lead I had on Arnold Jeffers and found out he was indeed there last week and had dinner with others under the reservations of Rummert."
"What? Do you mean he's alive?" Jennifer asked, incredulous.
"I really have no idea. Right now it's simply a name on a reservation. One of his other partners could have used the name... I suspect at least one of them was there," he explained. "As a cold case, this technically falls in Alex's lap, although I'll admit that it piqued Harry's curiosity when I mentioned it. He wants to try and trip Arnold up to find out what he was up to, but that won't be easy... some covert investigating may be the only way to handle that."
"Well, all right, but be careful," Jennifer said. "You'll be back before dinner tomorrow, you said?"
"If nothing holds me up, yes. My shift goes to two in the afternoon, technically, but no one here follows a rigorous schedule since the criminals don't," Severus said. "You'll wait up if there's a delay, of course?"
"That depends on what I have to wait up for," Jennifer replied flirtatiously. "I do have classes in the morning, you know..."
"Liar. You have a late bell on Mondays... why do you think I had Hermione schedule you like that?" Severus confronted her.
"Sometimes even that doesn't help, does it?" Jennifer tsked.
"It's your own fault," Severus decided.
"I know my responsibilities," Jennifer said, smiling enigmatically. "Don't forget to pick up Quintin on the way home tomorrow." Severus blinked at that.
"He's your fault too, you know," Severus said.
"If we get into that again, we will at this be all night, and I have guests," Jennifer said with a laugh. "See you tomorrow, Severus. Don't worry, I'll wait up long enough to put Quintin to bed."
"Hm," Severus squinted, closing the connection. Grinning, Jennifer stepped back out to join the others.
Remus felt someone helping him sit up... he recognized the scent at once as being Sirius. There was another scent, however... almost floral...
"Come on, Moony, drink your wake-up potion," Sirius insisted, putting it to his lips. Remus drank it slowly, taking the cup from him as he sipped on it.
"Well?" Jennifer asked from the open door. Next to her was Ivano, also peering in.
"I dunno, he hasn't said anything. He's not gagging on it for a change," Sirius replied loudly, waiting until he was done and taking the cup from him.
"It's still bad, just not as bad," Remus murmured.
"Good to know. Now, who am I?" Sirius asked seriously.
"A no-good drunk whose wife is too good for him," Remus rasped.
"He's okay," Sirius called out, setting down the cup and helping him up.
"I have a headache," Remus muttered, wincing at the loud voice.
"He says he has a headache," Sirius reported as they left the vault.
"Severus said that might happen... strong coffee should make it subside," Jennifer said.
"I have just the thing!" Ivano said brightly.
"Well, I have to admit your coffee is definitely strong," Jennifer said wryly.
"I'll meet you at the hut," Ivano said and hurried up the stairs with Jennifer, Sirius and Remus following more slowly.
Just outside, Sagittari was alert the moment they came out, looking over his patient.
"How did it go?" the centaur asked.
"He was slow to settle in... a bit frantic, but he ignored Padfoot like he always does," Sirius reported with a shrug. "Once he stopped pacing the vault and went to sleep it wasn't bad, especially considering this was the worst night of the cycle," Sirius explained.
"That is a good sign, then. I'm sure he'll come through tomorrow night all right as well," Sagittari said with a nod. "Do you know who I am, Remus?"
"Florence Nightingale," Remus said sarcastically.
"I told you he was okay," Sirius said cheerfully. "Come on, the hut isn't all that far."
Jennifer smiled and opened the mirror as they walked.
"Yes?" Severus said, apparently distracted... he was in the department already, she noted.
"Sorry, just letting you know the new formula seems to work well, short of a headache," Jennifer said.
"Good, then let's transcribe the changes into something more permanent and send it along to the Healer's Union in case they want to run tests with it."
"All right. See you when you boys get home," Jennifer teased.
"Don't start that," Severus said, closing the mirror and glancing around to see Harry was watching him curiously from his desk.
"Another welfare check?" Harry asked Severus with a thin smile.
"Professional, really. I modified one of Remus' potions and she wanted me to know that was working well," Severus explained.
"That's good to hear," Harry said, filling out some paperwork.
"Yes, well, modifying that one was easy. I don't envy them attempting to improve the other one," Severus said.
"I thought you were working on that yourself a year or two ago?" Harry inquired.
"No, the one I was dabbling with was completely different... it's a time manipulation potion that I've modified in an attempt to reverse the condition in a recent victim," Severus explained.
"Wow, really? Does it work?" Harry asked with interest.
"I have no idea, it's never been tested," Severus said. "It's experimental and not exactly legal, either, but I'd rather have something on me in case something does happen."
"Which also means that if something does go wrong, it's all on you," Harry said.
"I'm well aware of the risks, thank you," Severus said, looking over the schedule. "I take it you're going off somewhere this afternoon?"
"Weasley birthday party... just don't ask me which niece or nephew it is, because I haven't got a clue," Harry said. "Any excuse for an afternoon off works for me. As for you and Mike, I want you to go the the LE department and see if they've done any digging into Blake and Bowyer, and if you haven't, drop a hint that there may be some Rummert connection."
"No, I haven't gotten to them yet, I didn't have the time. I did Owl Alexandria, though," Severus offered.
"Just as well, technically that's her case, anyway, but I'll admit it all sounds a bit strange that it's been mentioned all of the sudden. I wonder what her take on this is?"
"I can always go pop by her house, if you like, if someone will watch the flag board for a bit," Severus suggested.
"Fine, I'll do it myself... just don't take too long, I can only spare an hour or so. Besides, Mike should be here by then."
"Very well, I won't be long," Severus said and walked out into the lobby, Apparating to Alex's house.
It was raining softly, he realized, glancing up at the sky momentarily before knocking on the door. Ben was too busy wrangling the kids to make for anything other than quick conversation, and after handing the two boys a couple of sweets out of his pocket, Severus was able to slip into Alex's very small but serviceable library. That was when Severus felt a drop on his nose and looked up.
"Is that roof leaking again?" Severus asked. Alex looking up from her chair and putting her book down.
"Oh, yes, sorry! Is it raining?" Alex said.
"Just started," Severus said, stepping aside as Alex took down a bucket. "Look, I know you like doing your own work on the house, but perhaps Sirius knows someone who handles these sorts of thatched roofs."
"As soon as we've paid off the house in a year or two, I'll agree with you," Alex said, squinting at the hole.
"Now I see why you moved the bookshelves to the other side of the room," Severus mused.
"Was there anything you wanted, Father?" Alex asked in annoyance.
"Yes, I'm on duty, actually. Harry was wondering if you got my Owl about the name Rummert coming up again," Severus explained.
"Oh, that... does Grandfather know about that yet?" Alex asked, getting up and going over to her desk.
"Mike and I are going there next," Severus said. "Why?"
"Well, he's not likely to be happy about it, is he?" Alex said, pulling out a very dusty leather satchel and pulling out a file, blowing it off slightly and pushing the satchel aside. "I think I've mentioned before that his file had been down in the Vault of Mysteries for years now," she explained when he cleared the dust with his wand. Severus nodded at that. "I think Sal Ricks filed it, because it was down there when I took over. When I asked Grandfather was training me in the job, I asked him if we should look into it, and he said, 'don't bother' and dropped it. Honestly, at the time I took that to mean that he might have killed him," Alex admitted. "But if he's alive, I guess he just meant it wasn't worth the trouble when we had bigger priorities."
"I would believe either explanation," Severus admitted. "And a ticket with a last name proves nothing at all, which is why I came to you."
"Are you certain that Jeffers didn't use the name and make the reservation himself?" Alex asked.
"No, I'm not, but if he did, I would still be curious as to why that name was picked," Severus said.
"Yes, me too, considering how many people couldn't stand him," Alex mused. "Getting to Jeffers could be a problem, though... he tends to guard himself and his clients fairly well. He's probably one of the best solicitors in the country," she admitted with a shrug. "It's his family's old ties and his father's old clients that tends to hold him back professionally."
"Yes, I am aware," Severus acknowledged. "But despite all of that, he has always respected me... although he might not if he knew what I was thinking of doing."
"What's that?" Alex said.
"One of the friends of the school happens to have some connections to him that I do not. I may be able to get a hold of a copy of his appointments over the last few weeks to see if we can get a clue on his current 'clients,'" Severus explained.
"Go for it, I'll authorize that," Alex said enthusiastically. "I'll file it under 'espionage for country defense to prevent further strange disappearances of British wizard citizens.'"
"Would anyone really question you on it?" Severus asked flatly.
"Only Draco, really," Alex admitted. "But it's always good to have a quick response any time I have to do recon on one of his friends, you know?" Severus nodded at that. "Send me an encoded Owl when you've talked to grandfather and let me know how that turns out."
"I shall," Severus agreed, then stepped downstairs to visit his grandchildren for a few more minutes before heading back to the Ministry.
By the time he arrived, Mike was already there talking to Laura who was on flag board duty, but they stopped talking when he came in.
"Am I interrupting?" Severus asked, raising a brow.
"Actually, you're just in time. Harry filled me in before he left, so I went ahead and made an appointment with Minister Craw ten minutes after our shift starts," Mike said, checking his pocket watch.
"I am ready," Severus replied, so Mike waved to Laura and led him out.
"Did you find out anything from Alex?" Mike asked as they walked towards the main corridor.
"Nothing substantial... she is having some agents looking into it, and she is interested in hearing what Thomas thinks about all of this."
"Yes, so am I," Mike agreed, turning towards the LE department.
When they arrived, the door to the Minister's office was open, so Thomas saw them step to the reception desk to check in.
"I'm not busy at the moment, you can come on in," Thomas called out.
"Let me have a word with him first," Severus said suddenly. Mike nodded and signed them in while Severus stepped in and closer the door. Thomas glanced up from his work questioningly. "Do you mind if I ask you something father-in-law to son-in-law before our official business?"
Thomas squinted suspiciously.
"All right," Thomas agreed guardedly.
"Did you kill Counselor Rummert? Malfoy's old lawyer?"
"Walter Rummert? You mean the one that's been missing almost twenty years?" Thomas asked flatly, Severus nodding in reply. Thomas thought about it a moment, then shrugged.
"Nope, it wasn't me... I considered it often enough, though," he admitted. "Why do you ask?"
"That gets into official business," Severus explained, opening the door to let his trainer in. "Sorry about that, Michael."
"It's all right," Mike said. He couldn't help wonder what Severus said, especially when it was obvious that the Minister looked to be unusually attentive. "Hi, thanks for seeing us. Severus and I have been working on the missing wizards' case and heard an interesting rumor that we wanted to talk to you about... unless... he already told you about it?"
"No, he just wanted to ask me in private if I killed someone so I would give him an honest answer," Thomas said bluntly. "Have we found another body?"
"Uh... no... actually we were trying to figure out what Arnold Jeffers has been up to," Mike explained. Thomas snorted.
"Good luck with that," Thomas said, and Mike glanced at Severus hopefully.
"I had Fortuna spend this weekend attempting to track down where Jeffers might be getting that nice tan of his at. I thought she might be useful snooping about Las Vegas, Nevada... to eliminate the area, if for no other reason," Severus explained. "It seems that he has been there, having dinner with three other people in a very exclusive room of a Wizard's bar. She wasn't able to get details of the encounter itself, but she did say the reservation was in the name of Rummert. Fortuna had never heard the name before, by the way, it was before her time, as you may know."
"Rummert?" Thomas repeated. "Why the hell would anyone use the name of Rummert?"
"Maybe he has a relative?" Mike suggested, but Thomas waved the idea away.
"No, I would have known if he had any relatives... the wizard branch of that family died with him... not even a hag would get anywhere near that old wretch. He was married to his underhanded, well-paid underwriting and counseling services. I'm certain of that much," he said.
"All right. Is there any possibility that he's still alive?" Mike asked. Thomas, who had debating the same thing internally, paused so that he could focus on it.
"Perhaps," Thomas said at last. "After I killed Malfoy, there really wasn't anyone left to protect him; anyone who disliked him in the past and was afraid to say so before had not reason to keep up the pretense, and he lost a lot of clients... even Amadeus dropped him. But as a counselor, he also knew a lot of secrets that his ex-clients would want to say safely buried, and I had heard many rumors that he had tried to blackmail some of them... stupid really. He didn't hold a wand well enough to defend himself; he'd have had to hire others to do that, and he didn't have the money. Perhaps he "disappeared" intentionally and made it look like foul play so that no one would question it. But if he had gone to such trouble, would he still be using his own name? Even if it were somewhere as remote as a backwater town in the U.S. desert? Obviously, Las Vegas would simply have been a meeting place."
"Maybe he has been using an assumed name and only put Rummert on the reservation so that others in the part would know who to look for," Severus suggested.
"Also quite possible," Thomas sighed. "Well, technically, that is Alex's case rather than mine, but considering that two of his partners are missing, I had better look into what I can. At the very least, I am going to talk to Stock. If anyone's going to be upset that Rummert's name has come up again, it's him... in fact, I should probably go down to the site with this one," Thomas said, glancing at the clock before opening up at the end of the desk. "Cancel all my appointments the rest of today and tomorrow, I need to head to the mine. Send a brief note to Mrs. Craw that I'll be late and to expect a flame from me later."
"Yes, sir," said a muffled voice on the other end, and he snapped the cover back on the tube.
"I don't know what is going on, but considering we haven't had any positive clues no matter where we look, I don't mind chasing a shadow or two. Harry should do the same... make sure he knows I said that," Thomas added for good measure.
"I will definitely do so," Mike said with a nod. Thomas waved a dismissal so he could get ready to go.
It was just an hour later after a training session about the finer points of Auror paperwork that Mike released his charge. Severus yearned to be back at the school, stopping only long enough to pick up Quintin before keying them to the Study. It was quiet and empty with paperwork haphazardly spread on his desk. Rolling his eyes at the state of his desk, Severus let go of Quintin's hand, letting him rush into the nursery.
"Rogue, where's Jennifer?" he asked when his watch pointed to the vague "Hogwarts" sign. The portrait of Severus gestured. "The Service Room? Surely that's done for the day," he said, but Rogue gestured again. "Watching choir practice? Well, switch places with Armando. I'm back for the week. Quintin? I'm going to go fetch your mother. Do you want to come or to stay?" he asked.
"Stay, please! There's a snack in here for me! Rasputin is here too!" Quintin explained.
"Very well. I won't be long," Severus said.
Despite his words, Severus had every intention of taking the long route, despite the fact that the Service Room was just off the back stair. The two-and-a-half days spent elsewhere seemed long when it came to the goings on at the castle, so giving himself a few moments to slowly walk through the corridors let the ambient feeling of the school soak back in so that he could read it clearly. There was a bit of tension, Severus mused, but it wasn't the sort that Jennifer caused when she was upset. This was under the surface... as if some of the students were a bit nervous despite the fact that all was safe an well.
As he was pondering that, he happened to glance out of the window and realized it wasn't that much of a mystery after all. A lone figure sat near the lake on a bench, staring out at the glittering afternoon water. Deciding he had time for a detour, Severus skipped stairs directly to the first floor and slipped out a side door, walking over to the shoreline. A lone Kraken crested the water, disappearing slowly back under the surface and causing a shimmering ripple to lap across the lake and onto the shore.
"Good afternoon," Severus greeted quietly as he stepped over to the bench.
"Severus," Remus said in response, still looking out at the lake. "Don't mind me. I'm simply here waiting to be locked up for my last night. I just didn't feel like waiting in the castle. And how goes your, 'moonlighting,'" he said, making air-quotes to mock the irony of the expression.
"Too soon to tell at this point. It'll take time," Severus decided. "But I am glad to be helping in any way that I can." Remus turned and stared at him a moment.
"You actually mean that, don't you?" Remus said incredulously, Severus nodding somberly at that. Remus turned back to look at the lake. "Sirius is right; you really have changed... even since the last time I substituted at the school you've changed."
"So I have, but I hope you're not taking Sirius' version of any 'changes' I have made too seriously," Severus said crisply.
"Ah, there you are, then," Remus teased with a thin smile.
"I'm certain I could compile my own list of how he's changed over the years. I'm sure you have changed a great deal as well," Severus added, sitting down beside him.
"Fair enough," Remus agreed, still staring out at the lake. "But some things never change, do they?"
"Jennifer told me you were having a rough time of it this month," Severus said in a low voice. "I hope the alterations I made helped."
"It did, but it doesn't fix the real problem, does it? It merely treats the symptoms... just as the potion that Jennifer's working on only treats the symptoms. I suppose the only cure would be to destroy the moon."
"And all civilizations closer the poles will drown as the oceans equalize; thank you, no," Severus replied.
"It's true that some lunar cycles are worse than others, but it is, after all, a never-ending cycle that constantly wears on me as it always has. The moon's influence on the earth is eternal; just as the earth influences the moon. It is an endless carousel of shadows, concealing or revealing the relentless sunlight upon its surface and causing my instincts to rip through my humanity and remind me time and again that I'm nothing more than an animal. That's what all humans are, really... animals. Many like to pretend that we are more than that, but I do not have such a luxury," Remus said with a resigned shrug.
"It's true you have challenges others don't, Remus, but you are hardly the only one who feels that way," Severus said. "The passing of time itself reminds us that we are but animals; the sun's path around the sun has its own influences, after all, as well as the silly human ritual of celebrating birthdays."
"If it were anyone but you I'd accept that argument, Severus, but you of all people know perfectly well that the Elixir has reduced our aging to a crawl. If it hadn't, I'd have been long gone by now, you know," Remus reminded him.
"Then perhaps it's a good thing that Albus was forced to save you with it. If he hadn't, you would not be able to support your daughter now when she needs it most," Severus reminded him.
"Fair enough," Remus said, then he frowned. "She does need my support now, doesn't she?"
"Most decidedly," Severus agreed with a sigh. "It was right for you to worry. And I am glad that you came to me. I am hoping... if nothing else... that I can convince her that not asking for help when she needs it hurts her family worse than her attempting to hide it. But it will take time."
"So what you're saying is that time, my greatest adversary in life, is also my greatest asset. How ironic," Remus said, getting up.
"That is true for everyone," Severus said, handing him his cane and getting up as well. "You are not as inhuman as you see yourself to be, Remus. In fact, you're a great deal more human than many other wizards I've known."
"Considering your past I'll take that as a given, but thank you for the sentiment," Remus said. "I'd best be getting to the Popcorn Farm. See you in the morning, Severus."
"Expect me to meet you in the Staff Room after breakfast, then. I want to make certain that we get you to your first class tomorrow morning," Severus agreed.
"How typically unsympathetic of you," Remus chuckled, then started around the lake, while Severus returned to the school to see Jennifer.