His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine
A/N: I'm going to preface this chapter by explaining why I haven't updated until now.
The day after Christmas I left on a whirlwind trip to Europe that my travel partner and I squeezed into the space of two weeks, visiting Scotland, England, Wales, and France. We were actually in Paris during Charlie Hebdo, but thankfully uninvolved and didn't even learn about the attack until that afternoon when we wandered into a Wi-Fi area. Almost immediately following my return stateside I secured my first full-time post-graduate job, moved to a new city, and started working.
This chapter slowly got bigger and bigger (and bigger, ending up where it is now) during those interim weeks, and now that I no longer have to deal with homework, finals, insanity from my family (6-7 people in the house at any given time), and movers, it's safe to say that updates will pick up again on a slightly shorter schedule than before: every month or so, depending on my workload. Those month-to-month updates for chapters 43-49 are flexible, but I stand by my promise to give you the epilogue by 11 December 2015. Happy reading!
42. Invisibility
Henry Potter sat at his enormous mahogany desk deep inside the Potter Estate, his quill scratching across a sheaf of parchment. Locked and warded inside one of the drawers lay a silky, folded cloak that if shaken out and worn would render its wearer completely, undetectably, invisible. This cloak had been handed down parent to child for generations, starting with the youngest of the Peverell brothers long ago. Henry had indeed gifted the cloak to his son James the eve before his departure for his first year at Hogwarts, but had needed to confiscate it a month into James's fourth year after doing poorly on a Defense examination, which had been the last straw in a long string of falling grades. The cloak had been in that drawer ever since…except that it hadn't. If Henry Potter ever decided to open that drawer for whatever reason, he would have found it empty.
The Potter patriarch loved his son very much. He and Eleanor had doted on their boy, their late blessing, giving him everything he'd ever wanted and more, never realizing that they were turning their son into a monster by not having given him boundaries. He was their perfect creation, their miracle, and rue anyone who tried to tell them otherwise. The day he'd taken away James's invisibility cloak was a hard one, since James had never gotten as much as a spank for misbehaving.
Currently he was quilling the latest in a series of inquiries to the Head of the Auror Department. James had done poorly on his O.W.L.s, the Defense O.W.L. in particular, and Henry had known for years that James looked up to the Aurors, and if given the chance, would join them in a heartbeat. However, since his grades hadn't made the cut for N.E.W.T. classes, James's options had narrowed considerably. Henry and Eleanor were generous patrons of the Ministry, and had oft set aside funds for the Auror Department and DMLE to help combat the risk of cutbacks within the Ministry. It was Henry's secretly Slytherin cunning and deep pockets which had gotten him this far in the inquiry to let James in to the corps, despite not having made the O.W.L.s for it. He'd already appealed to Dumbledore and the Board of Governors to let James into the required N.E.W.T. classes, which had required far more wheedling and bribery attempts than he'd expected, but in the end had convinced the old Headmaster to allow James in in return for a promise to rein his son in, especially after James had done himself wrong by raising his hand to a woman.
"Idiots, all of them." Henry muttered to himself as he signed the letter with a flourish, folding it up and stuffing it into an envelope for his owl to deliver to the Ministry.
Henry really hadn't given the bottom drawer of his desk much thought since he'd locked up the cloak nearly two years ago, and didn't plan to open it again until his son was finished with school and would no longer be obligated to obey his parents or be subject to their punishments—not that much punishment had been meted out for him. He left the study with the letter in hand, not bothering to think that perhaps he should check to make sure the cloak was still safely under ward.
The Sorting Ceremony of 1976 went smoothly, with a brief announcement from Dumbledore welcoming back the first returning Defense Professor in several decades, Professor Pink, who appeared astonished at his luck in holding the position without having kicked the bucket. Professor Pink was met with much applause, since he'd been a school favorite the previous year—showing incredible aptitude in his subject and making the lessons not only educational, but fun. This was fortunate, for Severus remembered only too well Professor Pink's original successor, a man as wide as he was tall, who could have rivaled Lockhart in how inept he was. With this thought, Severus took a glance towards the Ravenclaw table, where twelve year old Gilderoy Lockhart, blonde wavy hair and all, sat with his classmates looking rather bored.
Lily leaned into Severus and whispered, "I'm so glad we'll have a consistent Defense professor for our last two years."
"So am I," he whispered back, just as the food appeared on the five tables. They fell into easy conversation with their friends—minus Regulus and Jackie, who were obligated to sit at their own House tables during the Welcoming Feast. Regulus, though Slytherin, had roomed in Gryffindor the last two weeks of his Fourth Year, and was unsure where he would be staying for his O.W.L year. Despite this, he'd been instructed to sit with Slytherin, because of the shiny new badge on his chest. He was privately terrified that Dumbledore had made him a Prefect, perhaps with the belief that a modicum of power over his classmates would affect their behavior in a significant fashion. As the desserts melted back down to the kitchens, Severus and Alice went into Prefect mode, waiting for Dumbledore to dismiss them.
The Headmaster made his usual announcements, including the one about Quidditch tryouts (which applied to everyone except Gryffindor), and sent the students off to bed. Severus and Alice joined the other four Prefects from the Fifth Years and Seventh Years, and managed to shepherd the new Gryffindors into the Entrance Hall and up the stairs to the Seventh Floor. Chaos reigned inside the common room for a few minutes as the firsties were acclimated to the huge space, and once the eleven eleven-year-olds ascended their respective staircases, Lily found her boyfriend and kissed him goodnight.
September seemed to pass far too quickly for anyone's comfort. It was barely the third week of term when James had a terrific row with Mary in the common room, ending with Mary rushing up to the girls' dormitory in tears, and James left standing rather awkwardly in front of the fire, weathering the stares of onlookers who, on one hand, weren't entirely shocked that this had happened. Peter and Frank had been present for the row, and following its cessation they promptly left for the Room of Requirement to relay the news to the rest of the Circle.
Severus gave Lily a severe look that was a cross between smug and worried, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, okay, I'll say it. You were right."
"In this case I wish I wasn't," he replied, dipping his quill in the inkwell.
"What are you two yammering about?" Jackie asked from where she sat beside Sirius, quietly quizzing each other in Charms.
"Just a wager we had about Potter," Sev said shortly, returning his attention to the Potions essay he was flying through.
"Ah. Who lost?"
"Me," Lily said with a sigh. "Though to be honest, I should have expected to lose."
Regulus changed the subject by asking for help with his Ancient Runes assignment, and a few minutes later Alice collected Severus for their patrol duty.
Over the next couple days Lily noticed an uptick in the number of glances she got from Potter during lessons. He and Mary had taken to sitting on opposite sides of the classrooms, and she would burst into tears whenever she happened to (accidentally or not) look in his direction. This bothered all the teachers except for Professor Binns, whose death hadn't prevented him from teaching, and so neither would the emotional upheavings of distraught teenagers. The outbursts ended when McGonagall held Mary back after Transfiguration the last week of September. Thankfully, though it also came as a surprise, Mary began to treat Lily like she had when they'd first met—shy at the start, but slowly warming up. This was in contrast to her behavior over the last few years, as if being dumped had knocked sense into her. (Which, likely, it had.)
October also flew by alarmingly fast, and both Remus and Severus were relieved that the full moon occurred early in the month rather than nearer to Halloween. Before anyone could really get their bearings, the first Quidditch match was upon them, and James made it clear to anyone who would listen that he wasn't going to bother attending, since the team was too inclusive for his liking—despite the fact both Gideon and Fabian had been Beaters for years. He surprised no one when he actually did show up, though he earned some strange looks when he began cheering on Lily in particular—even though Frank and Severus made the most goals out of the three Chasers, with Lily acting as the monkey in the middle to get the Quaffle in Gryffindor hands. Thankfully the players couldn't hear Potter among the throngs of students, for it might have been enough of a distraction for them to lose. As it happened, Sirius caught the Snitch just before Slytherin made a goal that would have tied them—and Gryffindor won by ten points.
The full moon was that night. Remus had taken his full course of Wolfsbane, and was under a Glamour cast by Severus, though he didn't attend the Quidditch match.
James, who was still rooming with the boys one year below them, was not stupid. He'd noticed Remus's monthly disappearances, and after several years the pattern of disappearances was rather obvious. Once a month? At the full moon? Haggard-looking leading into and out of the full moon? When James Potter dug to the bottom of his Hogwarts trunk that evening for his invisibility cloak, the only word going through his mind was werewolf. And he would prove it, if just to himself. What was Dumbledore thinking?
Severus, Remus, and Sirius left the Sixth year boys dormitory with an hour to curfew. Remus wasn't feeling as bad as he had for his February and March transformations, but the process his body went through was unpleasant nonetheless. The three teens made it sound, to Peter who was playing decoy in the common room among other students doing homework, like they were kipping down to the kitchens for a bedtime snack, but once the portrait hole closed behind them they turned to the seventh floor corridor and opened the Room of Requirement.
James was beneath his cloak, light on his feet, and following the trio as silently as he could. He'd had the forethought to cast a Silencing charm on himself, so he wouldn't give himself away by accidentally scuffing a trainer on the stone floor. So far, his plan was working. They weren't going to the kitchens! He watched in silent amazement as the door to the Room of Requirement manifested itself before Severus, Remus, and Sirius, and he managed to slip in behind them before the door closed.
It wasn't that large of a room. All the walls were padded, like some kind of Muggle sanatorium, and there was an infirmary bed pushed into the back corner. Sirius and Severus helped Remus to the bed, where he shakily sat and accepted a phial of a smoking potion from Severus. He downed it in one swallow, grimacing a tiny bit, before his shoulders relaxed, releasing the pent-up tension.
"How long till moonrise?" Sirius asked, sitting next to Remus on the bed.
Severus checked his watch. "About forty minutes. You should leave in about twenty to get food from the kitchens so you can make it back to the tower before curfew, and cover for us."
Sirius nodded in agreement, glancing at Remus. "I know, you don't like it when I'm here for it anyways."
Remus cracked a small, slightly painful grin. "Eh, you might be growing on me."
"It's about time," Sirius intoned dramatically. "It's not like I think you're a scary werewolf or anything. You're actually rather adorable in wolf form."
James's eyes widened in response to Sirius's words. So he is a werewolf! He couldn't very well take off the invisibility cloak and confront them, and Holy Merlin Lupin is going to transform into a werewolf and I'm in the same room! He'll probably smell me and then I'm dead meat—
Indeed, Remus's senses were already heightened this close to moonrise, and while he could detect an unfamiliar scent in the Room with them, he was too weary to think much of it.
James listened to the light banter between Sirius and Remus, and occasionally Severus, until Sirius (to James's surprise) gave Remus a quick hug, stood up, and crossed to the door. James wanted to stay and see what would happen, because how often does one get to witness a werewolf transformation whilst unseen, but knew that he would be in far more danger if he did remain behind. So he trailed closely behind Sirius and slipped outside without being seen or heard by anyone. How he managed this only Merlin knew, since once inside that room he'd been so sure that Severus would have noticed something amiss. James followed Sirius back to the turn of the corridor, where Sirius split off to go down to the kitchens, and James returned to the common room to go back to his dormitory before anyone questioned his absence.
Once alone, James sat on his bed, breathing hard and letting the smooth fabric of the invisibility cloak pool on his lap. "Holy shit," he said aloud to himself. "Holy shit, Lupin's a werewolf." He looked round the room, thankful that the rest of his roommates were working on homework in the common room. "I knew something was up with him."
The next thing he did was scramble to his bedside table, wrench open the drawer, and pull out a page of parchment, a quill, and one of his inkpots. He would use a charm later to change the appearance of his handwriting so no one at the Ministry would recognize it as his (even though no one at the Ministry had even seen his handwriting, one could never be sure if Madame Umbridge would show the letter to his father).
He began sketching out his letter.
To Madame Dolores J. Umbridge
I'm going to preface this by saying I'm a student at Hogwarts, and that there is an unregistered werewolf attending the school.
He continued the letter in the same manner, scratching out lines that didn't work, revising it until he was pleased with the result. He wouldn't out Remus by name, but if Umbridge came back to the school armed with evidence that an unregistered lycanthrope had been hiding his (or her) condition from the Ministry…well, he just wanted to see Remus panic. Once finished with the letter, he slid it into an envelope, charmed it to only open for the bearer of the name on the outside, and stuffed it under his pillow to take to the Owlery in the morning.
James Potter fell asleep both satisfied and slightly shocked, but mostly satisfied.
No one in Gryffindor really knew what to make of James Potter anymore, except that he may have taken a few too-old potions and was suffering the side effects. James himself seemed immune to the rumor mill, and never let on that he'd heard any of it, despite it flying through the school fairly swiftly. It all made sense the morning after the Quidditch match, when James made it a huge deal for everyone in Gryffindor to gather in the common room to hear him announce, quite pompously, that he'd decided to become an Auror—something that he didn't have to do because he was so rich, but that he wanted to, to help people (or other such hogwash that Auror recruiters loathed hearing during interviews).
He pretended to look dismayed when half the crowd rolled their eyes and departed, leaving the other half to quietly snicker while simultaneously egging him on. James had his eyes flickering mostly between the members of the Circle of Seven, gauging their reactions to his totally unexpected news. Didn't they know that Aurors were like detectives, too? When the crowd dispersed (rather quickly, he noticed) James made his way to the Owlery, selected one of the school owls (to the disappointment of his own), and sent it off with the letter for Umbridge.
The next evening Sirius, on his way to meet Jackie in the library, stumbled across his little brother snogging a pretty Hufflepuff in the middle of one of their shortcut corridors. Sirius stopped in his tracks once discovering them, a wide grin stretching across his face. "Careful you come up for air once in a blue moon," he quipped, enjoying the expression of abject terror on the Hufflepuff's face as she detached from Regulus and began frantically looking for an exit.
Regulus, in his supreme calm, simply gripped the girl at the waist and held her firm. "It's just my brother, Em." He turned to Sirius. "Where did you learn how to imitate Professor Pink?"
Siri shrugged. "It's a natural talent. Well, aren't you going to introduce me?"
"Oh, right." Regulus cleared his throat, glanced at the girl, and then back at Sirius. "Siri, this is Emily Winston, my…my girlfriend. Em, this is Sirius. My prat of a brother."
Sirius stuck out his hand to shake hers. "Are you Mike's younger sister?" he asked.
"Yeah," Emily said. Once she'd realized that Sirius wasn't, in fact, their Defense Professor, she relaxed a great deal.
The elder Black looked back at his brother. "So…how long has this been going on? And why haven't you introduced her to the rest of us?"
Regulus's cheeks reddened, which amused Sirius to no end. "Just since the start of term," he answered. "We have Potions together, and Slughorn paired us up. It kind of…snowballed from there."
"Don't spend all your O.W.L. revision time necking," Sirius chuckled, knowing how tempting it would be.
"Oh, stuff it," Regulus snapped. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"I do, in fact. Jackie's waiting for me in the library."
"Don't let Pince see you kissing over the books."
"Bite me."
Emily watched the brotherly interaction with amusement. "It was nice to meet you, Sirius," she said as Sirius made to leave.
Sirius did a sort of half-bow, sweeping his hands and arms dramatically. "It was nice to meet you as well, Emily." And then he was gone.
Emily turned back to Regulus, who let out a sigh of relief and dropped his head to Emily's shoulder. "One down, eight to go."
Dolores Umbridge's office at the Ministry of Magic was a gaudy cavern of pink. Underlings avoided the office whenever possible, and even Minister Telford tried to avoid visiting her lest he develop a migraine. All the Ministry mail went through a central office so that the Atrium and the various Departments weren't coated in owl droppings. When the mail witch arrived with the cart, Dolores insincerely thanked her for the day's post, and set it aside to sort through during her designated post time.
She had a time for everything. Her schedule was filled with time for Wizengamot proceedings, meetings with various lawmakers and department heads, and blocks set aside to talk with Cornelius Fudge about her relatively successful werewolf legislation—her crowning glory! She had questioned the Hogwarts curriculum for years, and though she'd only been with the Ministry for fifteen, she'd risen steadily, asking the right questions, forging alliances and contacts to construct a vast web of information and cronies.
When it came time to open the post, Dolores methodically went through each piece like it was an important document. Most were boring memos from other departments, some were hate mail, others praised her legislation, and finally she opened a plain envelope with a protective enchantment over it.
To Madame Dolores J. Umbridge
I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm a student at Hogwarts, and that there is an unregistered werewolf attending the school. For personal reasons I'm not going to name this person, the year, or the house to which he or she belongs. I discovered this fact just today, after being suspicious for a long time. Your visit didn't inspire a lot of support for your ideas regarding werewolves, even though everyone knows how inherently dangerous they are.
The fact that one has been at the school for…well, let me use the word years, is disconcerting, especially considering the thousand other students put at risk each month.
I believe the school would benefit from a follow-up visit from you or your office, with special emphasis on the recently-overhauled Werewolf Registry.
Children shouldn't be exposed to this.
Most sincerely,
A Concerned Hogwarts Student
Umbridge read through the letter once more before setting it aside and folding her hands, pondering the message. She'd been looking for a reason to return to Hogwarts, and this wonderful informant…whomever it was, had given her a very viable excuse to do just that. She cleared her afternoon schedule and began preparing for a second visit to the school, complete with a request for individual interviews with every student. She tapped the memo once with her wand, and it flew obediently to the top of the Minister's inbox, to be read and hopefully signed within the day.
That Friday morning at breakfast, a Ministry owl swooped down to deliver a letter to the Headmaster. Now this was most unusual, as post for the Headmaster normally went straight to his office. Dumbledore looked at the bird in surprise, but untied the letter from its leg without hesitation. Once free of its burden the owl departed in a great sweep of wings and feathers, nearly knocking Minerva's goblet over in the process.
"Since when do you get post at breakfast?" she asked irritably as she straightened her cup and picked a feather from her plate.
"I don't," Albus replied as he slit the envelope open and removed the parchment letter inside. His eyes swept over the missive, his gaze growing darker with each passing second. Finally, he was outright frowning at the letter, and Minerva noticed.
"Albus?"
With no show of decorum, he thrust the letter into her hands and leaned back in his chair, surveying the bustling Great Hall over folded hands. "This is most unfortunate."
Minerva's countenance tightened until it was stony, and she glanced back over at the Head. "This is not a coincidence. How could she know—"
"Minerva, my dear," he interrupted with normal tones, "would you accompany me to my office? I recently acquired a new trinket that I think might interest you…" The Transfiguration professor barely suppressed rolling her eyes at him, but stood with him nonetheless, since this was a conversation that shouldn't be held in someplace as public as the Great Hall. On their way to the Headmaster's office Albus made inane small talk to which McGonagall mechanically replied, and she breathed a sigh of relief when he said "Acid Pops" to the gargoyle and it sprang aside to grant them access.
"How can she know?" McGonagall burst once the door shut behind her.
"She did not mention Remus by name. It is entirely possible that she is fishing."
McGonagall scowled. "You know as well as I that she needs a legitimate reason to come here to question—look, she actually wrote the word question on it—" she shook the letter at him "our students about whether or not they are or know someone with lycanthropy! She needs the Minister's signature to do that!"
"And the Minister's signature she has obtained, since she will be here on Monday morning."
Albus always had a way of infuriating his deputy, even if she knew he meant the best. "What are we going to do?"
Albus stared at her over his half-moon glasses. "We? We are going to accommodate Madame Umbridge with every ounce of leftover respect that we can muster, and advise Mr. Lupin, Mr. Prince, and their 'Circle' of friends that next week they should all be on high alert—and to act as normally as possible with exception to submitting to her questioning. We are fortunate that the full moon was on Sunday."
"Fortunate?" McGonagall all but squawked. "What probably happened is—well—"
"Yes?"
"The students aren't stupid, Albus, someone probably figured it out and told Umbridge. Honestly I'm surprised it's stayed private for this long." She began pacing the office, throwing dirty looks at his tables full of useless trinkets. "There has to be something more to be done."
"Again, Minerva, she did not mention Remus Lupin by name. If she knew for certain who it was, she would not be visiting to question the students; she would be arriving with Aurors to take him away, perhaps to Azkaban, because he did not—and will not—register of his own volition."
Minerva McGonagall stared at Albus Dumbledore with her Stop Making Me Worry, I Can't Afford to Worry look, which she happened to give him a lot.
"The best we can do is place our trust in the people who know him best—Mr. Prince primarily among them—and discreetly relocate Lyall and Hope Lupin to the recently available Prince Manor in Lancashire."
The poor Deputy Headmistress finally sat in one of the chairs facing Dumbledore's desk, having worn herself out with the pacing. "You're right. Infuriating, secretive, and mad, but right." She squared her shoulders. "I will hold Mr.'s Lupin and Prince back in Transfiguration today and let them know."
Dumbledore tipped his head in agreement. "And I," he plucked the letter from McGonagall's loose fingers to read it again, "will begin investigating into this anonymous source of hers."
When Professor McGonagall moved around the room watching the students perform the spell for the lesson, she paused at the table where Severus, Lily, and Remus were sitting. "Mr. Lupin, Mr. Prince, please see me after class," she said quietly, and waited for Severus and Remus to acknowledge her request before moving on. Sev and Remus exchanged bewildered expressions. When the door snicked shut behind Lily at the end of the lesson, leaving Severus and Remus alone with their Head of House, McGonagall let out a sigh. This worried Severus immensely.
"I am very sorry to say this, but on Monday morning Madame Umbridge will be visiting the school again. The Headmaster received a letter this morning indicating an anonymous tip that a student is an unregistered werewolf."
Remus paled and wobbled, and Sev moved quickly to lend support.
"Our one saving grace is that she was not given a name."
Severus's face was stony and wholly unreadable. "This is unacceptable."
"I agree," Minerva said emphatically, "which is why you all—including the friends who know—are hereby under advisement that she has…requested…to question any student she desires, providing the student agrees to it. None of you should submit to such questioning, and if she becomes suspicious as a result, either the Headmaster or I will remove her from the grounds. I will run interference to the best of my ability should she get too close.
"Remus," she continued, her voice softening, "your parents will be moved—hopefully for only a short while—to the safe house at Prince Manor."
Severus was now only paying half-attention to his Head. Instead, he was whispering into Remus's ear. "You can do this, you have all of us. Come on, get your legs back…I'm not going to let anything happen to you—one spell and I'll have a Portkey for you to the manor." But Remus couldn't find his strength, and before McGonagall could, Severus conjured a chair and eased Remus down onto it. It was a credit to her that Minerva did not question her student's ability to cast an advanced Nonverbal spell. "Remus," Severus said, crouching in front of the chair so he was looking up at his friend, "do you need me to get you anything?" He was now completely ignoring McGonagall.
Remus shook his head. "What are we going to do?"
At his words, Minerva felt a pang in her gut.
"Oh, I have an idea," Sev said with a glance at his Head. "An incredibly complex spell that I will need help with from Professor McGonagall and dear old Sirius."
Minerva moved beside Remus so she could see Severus's face directly. "What spell might that be?"
Severus paused, knowing that Minerva will not have heard of it and trying to predict her reaction. "The Field of Forgetfulness, modified for two individuals, but only needing to be cast on one. Once cast on Remus, it would make Umbridge completely unaware of his existence, even if she were staring at his name on the enrollment list."
Minerva stared at him.
Remus managed to smile.
"Mr. Prince, you are quite something else."
"Why haven't you mentioned this spell before? It seems rather convenient."
"For two reasons—it's incredibly draining to both the magical core and one's strength, which is one of the reasons I'd need three casters, and two, I'm fairly certain it's illegal."
Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose. "Setting aside the illegality for a moment, what are the other reasons you need three casters?"
Severus sat back on his heels. "It's a modified spell and nearly permanent, and will follow her everywhere she goes. And it can't be canceled with a Finite, since it's being cast on the one to be forgotten."
"Nearly permanent?" Remus asked, some of the color returning to his face.
"All of us would need to be dead for it to cancel," he said bluntly. "By which point it would be moot that you get a little furry every month."
This last sentence had its intended effect in making Remus chuckle a bit. He sobered quickly, though, and the reason became apparent when he asked, "What about the anonymous tipster?"
Severus had indeed thought of this as well, and said, "I will still give you a Portkey to the manor that you can use if you ever feel unsafe. And yes," he added, when he heard McGonagall start to interject, "it will work within the Hogwarts grounds."
Minerva returned to her desk and sat down. "I'm not even going to ask," she said. "But in regards to the illegality of the spell, I'm assuming it's only illegal if discovered?"
"That would be correct," Severus confirmed, "but considering the subject and the reason…I'm willing to take that risk if all of you are."
"Professor Dumbledore will need to be informed."
They spent the next several minutes determining when the spell would be cast—later that evening would be best—and McGonagall would meet them and Sirius in her classroom, with Dumbledore present to provide chocolate, which was excellent at restoring magical cores, once finished.
Understandably, the Circle were upset as one, and Sirius, who had been unusually high-scoring in Transfiguration, was more than willing to be the third participant for the Field of Forgetfulness.
Peter's reaction, however, was most telling. "Anonymous? I'm not buying it," he said doubtfully. "It's not like we've broadcasted Rem's furry little problem. We're always careful not to say anything in mixed company, and you guys check for tails when you come here each month, right?"
Sev nodded, frowning. "I use a detection spell when we leave the portrait hole, yeah. It's never picked up anything, though."
The group fell silent for a while, until Sirius asked, "What do I need to do to prep for tonight?"
Severus took a piece of parchment from his robe pocket and tapped it with his wand, duplicating it. "Memorize this. It's the spell and the associated wand movements. I'll practice with you later, and before we head to the Transfiguration classroom we'll take Invigoration Draughts, since the spell will nearly drain us of magical energy without one."
Sirius took the parchment and went over to a table, and began memorizing the incantation.
An hour after dinner, Sirius, Remus, and Severus left to meet Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore in the Transfiguration classroom. "Remind me again why Professor Dumbledore isn't assisting in the spell?" Remus asked before they entered the room.
"Because once it's cast all of us will be unbelievably exhausted, and Headmaster privileges include magicking students to dormitories in some cases. Besides, he needs to be awake for tomorrow when he goes to see your parents. My mum's helping them move on Sunday."
Remus swallowed, still a bit nervous about the whole ordeal.
"No worries, mate. We've got this." Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and pushed the door open.
Minerva had cleared the classroom floor and summoned some mats onto the stone so when they finished casting they would collapse on a soft surface. "Ah, you three are early." She strode forward and handed a phial of Invigoration Draught to each of them. "Professor Slughorn will not miss these," she commented as the boys unstopped them and tipped the contents back. "Now then, Mr. Prince, I believe we are all now familiar with the incantation; we are simply waiting on—"
The door opened and Dumbledore came through with a very large bag of Honeydukes chocolates.
McGonagall made a noise of irritation. "I said one bar each would be sufficient, Albus—"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he interrupted her. "Nonsense. For what they must deal with, I purchased a whole assortment. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you four should be getting on with it, no?"
Sirius covered his grin with a cough while Remus rolled his eyes.
"Right. Center of the mat. Remus in the middle, us three equidistant around him. Remus, face me, and only me." Severus instructed like he was back in the Potions classroom.
They moved into position, Remus facing Severus in apprehension. Severus drew his wand, and prompted Sirius and McGonagall do the same. "We must start as one, and stay in synch. Remember, incant it three times, and when we finish Remus will be knocked out for a couple hours. Ready?"
Both Minerva and Sirius nodded.
"All right…three…two…one…" and in one voice they began. "Mitte. Vide ne. Illi non libenter. Animadverto non eum. Et non est in eo Regno vel. Dolores Jane Umbridge non novi illum. Illa inscia totius sui esse. Ipse est qui est. Nihil ad eam. Hoc erit usque ad nostra tempora. Nil nisi mors quod irritum fieri potest. Mitte. Vide ne. Illi non libenter. Animadverto non eum. Et non est in eo Regno vel. Dolores Jane Umbridge non novi illum. Illa inscia totius sui esse. Ipse est qui est. Nihil ad eam. Hoc erit usque ad nostra tempora. Nil nisi mors quod irritum fieri potest. Mitte. Vide ne. Illi non libenter. Animadverto non eum. Et non est in eo Regno vel. Dolores Jane Umbridge non novi illum. Illa inscia totius sui esse. Ipse est qui est. Nihil ad eam. Hoc erit usque ad nostra tempora. Nil nisi mors quod irritum fieri potest."
With the final word, Severus dropped to one knee, and watched as Sirius dropped to both, Minerva took a few steps backwards, and Remus fell like a stone to the mat, unconscious. "Headmaster, the chocolate," Severus requested faintly, feeling the wisps of his magic drawing back into his core.
But Dumbledore was already giving some to Sirius, who was by far the most affected out of all of the casters. Albus glanced in Severus's direction, quickly tossed him a chocolate bar, and went back to making sure Sirius didn't pass out. Minerva slowly walked over to Remus, knelt, and checked his pulse.
"Strong and steady," she whispered, then went to help Severus to his feet. "Albus, as soon as Mr. Black can stand, please send them back to the Tower."
"I shall," Dumbledore said, moving back as Sirius felt some strength return. "You also should retire to your apartments," he said quietly up to his deputy, noticing her sway out of the corner of his eye. Severus steadied her, but after a moment she patted his shoulder and retreated to her office, through which she could access her living quarters.
Severus took Dumbledore's place supporting Sirius while the Headmaster attended to Remus, cast a diagnosis, and then whispered an incantation that caused the unconscious teen to vanish back to Gryffindor Tower. "Let him sleep as long as he needs, and when he wakes give him some of this." Dumbledore handed the Honeydukes bag to Severus. A moment later the same whispered spell was cast on them and following a short moment of disorientation, they found themselves back in the dormitory, where Frank and Peter waited, both rather nervously wringing their hands.
"Remus just appeared right there," Peter said pointing at Rem's now-occupied four poster.
"Headmaster," Severus said, moving to his bed. He still hadn't opened the chocolate, but did so once he sat on the bedspread. "Dumbledore can send students back to their dormitories," he managed between chocolate frogs.
"Lily and Alice are in the common room," Frank said as he watched Sirius fall face-first onto his own bed. "I'll go get them."
Severus glanced over at Siri, reached into the Honeydukes bag, and chucked a dark chocolate brick at him. "Eat it before you pass out from magical exhaustion," he said, slumping back on his pillow.
The door opened and Lily made a beeline for Severus. "That didn't take long," she said, sitting by his hip. "Are you all right?"
Sev nodded.
Alice went to check Remus. "How long will he be out?"
"Mmmm…at least till mid-morning. Speaking of which, Siri and I need to sleep now." He gave Lily's hand a squeeze. "Come wake me up around eight, will you? Also to check on Rem."
"Of course." She kissed him, perhaps a bit longer than she should have in company, and departed with Alice.
The Gryffindor Sixth year boys' dormitory remained quiet all night through.
Peter caught Renly in a fourth floor corridor early the next morning while Severus, Remus, and Sirius were still sleeping off the after-effects of the spell. "Hold up, Ren," Peter called out from the corridor head.
"What's up?"
Peter glanced around to check for eavesdroppers while Nonverbally casting Muffliato. "We've got a problem. Umbridge got an anonymous tip and is coming back to Hogwarts on Monday. I don't know if Dumbledore is going to announce it beforehand or not."
"Well, shit," Renly replied evenly, keeping his face neutral.
"Yeah. We know she's going to try to question everyone, and all we have to do is refuse without making her suspicious. We've already protected Remus."
"That won't be hard," Renly said, shifting his book bag. "She already knows me as the one who called her out last year and it won't come as any surprise that I'd refuse to be questioned by her."
Peter scratched his neck. "I know. We just have to be prepared and on guard this next whole week. She'll be here for a while, I'm guessing."
For reasons that only belonged in Holmes genes, Renly always appeared and presented himself as older than his years. "Don't worry about it too much. If Rem's already protected and we all know we won't give him up, it'll be easy as the Lumos."
"Easy for you to say."
"You've kept him safe this long, haven't you? Don't sweat it." Renly could seek just how distressed Peter felt about this, and offered some kind, closing words. "Pete, nothing is going to happen."
"I'll pretend I believe that. See you." And Peter left.
That same morning, Albus Dumbledore made an unexpected house call to the Lupin residence. Lyall opened the door and started when he saw the Headmaster. "Professor? Is it Remus?"
"May I come in? I have a sensitive topic to discuss with you and your wife."
"Of course," he said, moving aside to grant the Headmaster access. He closed the door, and called for Hope.
In a show of true urgency, Dumbledore forewent his usual empty platitudes and small talk, instead launching straight into it. "Madame Umbridge received an anonymous tip that there is a Hogwarts student who has not registered his or her lycanthropy with the Ministry. She was not provided with a name, which could be for one or many of several reasons. Remus has already been protected, and he will not be in danger when Madame Umbridge visits the school on Monday to question the students."
"What!?" Lyall and Hope exclaimed simultaneously.
"Your son will not be in danger, not during her visit." He began pacing, which was also unlike the Dumbledore they knew. "He has been hidden, in a manner of speaking, and he and his friends have been instructed to deny any request to be questioned."
"I want him home," Lyall interjected emphatically.
"No," Dumbledore said sharply, turning to face them. "If he leaves it will arouse suspicion amongst his classmates, and the last thing we want is for anyone, especially the Ministry, to suspect him. There are other persons involved with the Werewolf Registry, and the actions already taken have been against the woman specifically. His friends are his guard, and I trust that they can handle it."
"His friends are all his age!" Lyall argued, at a loss as to why the Headmaster insisted on letting fifteen and sixteen year olds handle his son's secret. "They're teenagers! They don't know how to—"
"You are mistaken," Dumbledore interrupted. "Have you met his friends?"
"Just Sirius and Severus—"
"Has Severus Prince ever given the impression that Remus's safety means little to him?"
"Of course not," Hope interjected. "He supplied us with the Wolfsbane."
Dumbledore tipped his head. "Severus Prince is one of the most gifted students to attend Hogwarts," he said solemnly, "and Sirius Black has produced Transfiguration scores that are close to breaking school records. His friends are smart, Mr. Lupin, smarter than others with whom he could have become friends when he first arrived at the school. With Umbridge on the hunt, he needs his circle of friends—his brothers—not to flee without a true need to."
Lyall and Hope fell silent, sharing looks that spoke for them. Finally, Lyall asked, "Then why must we hide, if our son isn't in danger, as you say?"
"It is merely a precaution. For concealing his illness from the Ministry, you both are subject to arrest and imprisonment, and Remus does not need to lose his parents. Madame Prince will assist in your hopefully temporary relocation."
"You're saying he could still be outed to other officials besides Umbridge?" Hope asked for clarity.
"Certainly, if the anonymous source decides to release Remus's name. It is all, unfortunately, up to the mercy and discretion of this person."
Lyall slammed a fist on the wall, and then turned to the professor, his expression showing how truly lost and helpless he felt. "Find him. Or her. Please. Protect my son."
"You have my word," Dumbledore promised, his eyes cold and steely.
On Sunday morning Severus met Dumbledore at the front doors and accompanied him to the gates, where they Disapparated to the Lupin residence. Eileen had already been there for a couple hours, helping Hope and Lyall determine what all they would need to bring to the Manor with them.
"Hi Mum," Severus said, hugging his mother.
"It's good to see you, Sev, but why did Professor Dumbledore bring you along?"
"Fidelus," he replied. "I'm to be the Secret Keeper."
Eileen stared at him for a moment. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
I've lied to Voldemort's face too many times to count. No Ministry moonbat is going to get the Lupins or the Manor out if me, was what he wanted to say, but settled for, "Yeah, it was my idea, actually, but Remus is the one who asked if I would be the Keeper."
"It's a big responsibility," Eileen continued.
"I know. No one can make me talk," he assured her. "I'm really their best bet."
Eileen didn't seem convinced, but knew better than to question her son's loyalty to the Lupins.
In no time at all they were ready to go, and they Disapparated to the outskirts of Prince Manor, where Eileen and Severus escorted Dumbledore and the Lupins onto the grounds. Eileen had sent their belongings ahead of them, and by the time they reached the manse the house elves had already stowed it in the room which Hope and Lyall would be occupying.
Dumbledore wasted no time in making the proper preparations for the Fidelus, and shortly after they arrived the charm was being performed. They worded it so that any information about the Lupin parents would be hidden, but not obscure general knowledge about the Prince Manor.
Immediately following the charm, Severus informed his mother, who had waited in another room. Since Dumbledore was the one who cast it, he did not need to be retold.
"Back to Hogwarts, now," Dumbledore said in his usual cheerful tone. "Make sure you tell only the people whom you and Remus trust most," he added in a whisper as Severus gripped his arm for the side-along.
Sev nodded in understanding. Obviously.
They disappeared with a crack, reappearing outside the Hogwarts gates, and walked back up to the school in mutual silence. "Have a good day," Dumbledore bid him when they split at the castle proper.
Severus mumbled a reply, thinking that the only way to have a good day would be to receive news that Umbridge had canceled her inquiry into the anonymous tip.
Monday morning dawned with rain, clouds, and a general atmosphere of gloom. Everyone was required in the Great Hall promptly at eight, but the nerves stirring the air of the Gryffindor sixth year boys dormitory awakened them all well before sunrise. As soon as morning curfew ended at six, the five boys met the two girls in the common room and they descended the seven staircases to meet with Jackie and Regulus at the Entrance Hall. They went in together, but split to their House tables so they wouldn't stand out when Umbridge arrived and began scrutinizing every little detail.
They poured coffee and pumpkin juice, not really hungry for any actual food, and quietly talked until Renly came in and sat amongst them.
"Morning, chaps," he said lightly. "Better look more spirited or the hag will spot you right off." He grabbed a plate and loaded it with breakfast food. Alice stared at him, feeling slightly sick. "Honestly, fellows," the third year continued, "start talking about something useless."
"History of Magic," Peter said promptly.
"Well it certainly feels useless," Renly agreed.
Severus took a sip of his coffee. "I don't agree," he mused in his dry, sarcastic voice, "I rather think if we don't spend hours learning about the Goblin Wars that we might repeat them."
Lily snorted into her elbow.
"Hmm yes," Frank said, playing along, "and the assumption that we will need that knowledge for our futures to be successful suggests that whomever introduced Binns' curriculum never met a former student."
"You just disagreed by agreeing," Renly chortled.
"I'm scared stiff," Remus tacked on in a completely normal voice, causing all his friends to look on him with concern. "Ahhh, got you all. Sev's fantastic at spells. I could walk in front of her and she wouldn't even see me."
The Circle plus Renly breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Wanker," Sirius said, bumping Rem's shoulder.
He grinned. "This is great, even if it's still dangerous."
"Don't get too cocky," Sev muttered when the sound of voices drifted in from the Entrance Hall. More students were arriving, among them some Professors, including the Deputy Headmistress. She made her way between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, slowing briefly to say something to Remus.
"Keep your head down, so to speak, and let your friends do the talking," she whispered. "Whatever you do, do not draw attention to the fact that she will not notice you at all."
Remus nodded in understanding without looking up at her, and it was good he did this, because the next audible voice belonged to Dolores Jane Umbridge.
She walked beside the Headmaster, wearing an atrocious pink cardigan over a set of heinously pink robes. She had a sickeningly sweet voice, obviously a voice used for sucking up to those more powerful than herself. "You have my deepest gratitude for agreeing to this tiny intrusion," she simpered as they walked down the divide between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The Circle had chosen to sit in the middle of the table, thus enabling them to hear a greater portion of the conversation.
"I hardly had a choice, Madame," Dumbledore replied smoothly, and only Severus noticed his insincerity. "The Minister himself signed off on your request, and the Board of Governors approved it, not myself."
Umbridge's smile slipped slightly. "I find it hard to believe you would have denied this had the decision rested on your plate. Are you not concerned for the safety of your students?"
"Certainly I am, though not for the reasons you assume."
Her eyes narrowed. "Please elaborate, Headmaster."
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "My concern has nothing to do with this rumor that an unregistered lycanthrope has somehow made it into my school. I fear, rather, that my students will fall victim to the belief that all lycanthropes are inherent threats to those around them."
"That is an opinion," Umbridge said, her voice losing all its honey. "It is a fact that all lycanthropes are dangerous."
"I'm afraid it isn't an opinion," Dumbledore said as they passed by where the Circle members sat. "And we clearly disagree on the fact."
"We may agree to disagree, but that would not change the fact that you are wrong," Umbridge all but snapped, and at this point they were closer to the teachers' table than to the Circle. McGonagall had moved on from Remus, quietly taking her seat beside the Headmaster's ornate chair.
Students filtered in until eight, when the last stragglers found their seats and started piling food on their plates, half watching the raised dais for Dumbledore's announcement. When the doors shut behind the caretaker, Dumbledore got to his feet. "Good morning students. This morning we have a guest from the Ministry. You will remember her from her visit last school year, before the passage of her overhaul of the Werewolf Registry. I turn it over to you, now, Madame Umbridge."
Umbridge was already standing. "Thank you, Headmaster. I will not waste time on empty words, but rather will jump right into it. I was the recipient of an anonymous tip last week regarding an unregistered werewolf here at the school. I believe this tip is well founded, and both the Minister and the Board of Governors have granted my request to question you all concerning this tip. I have provided my proposed schedule to your Heads of House, and will begin with the Seventh Years. If you have any questions or concerns about this please do not hesitate to ask me."
"That is not to dissuade you from approaching your Heads or Prefects as well, and you don't have to agree to be questioned," McGonagall said loudly from her seat, and earned a sharp jab in the ribs from Pomona.
Umbridge briefly glanced at the Deputy, an ugly expression on her face only for a split second. She smiled sweetly. "Of course. Now, I will be here this whole week. If you would like to speak to me without waiting for your designated time, I am available in the evenings." She sat back down, and immediately poured more pumpkin juice into her goblet.
Severus and Lily looked at each other, and then around at their friends, falsely-bored expressions on their face.
Regulus found that being a prefect wasn't actually as awful as he'd thought. With his nightly wards, the recipients of his detentions for various infractions were unable to harm him, and long hours of learning defense techniques from Severus kept him sharp in the corridors during the day. Some of the older Slytherins still clung to old ways despite the change and death of Voldemort, and considered Regulus a traitor of sorts. Thankfully Dumbledore's selection of prefects had been rigorous, and Reg was able to receive unprejudiced guidance from the prefects in Sixth and Seventh years.
Currently he sat in the Slytherin common room helping a second year study for a potions quiz. While he assisted Mr. Baxter in remembering the properties of dittany, a first year girl approached.
"Can I ask you something, sir?"
Regulus looked up in surprise. "Of course, and you don't need to call me 'sir.' What's your name?" He'd forgotten half the names of the firsties already.
"Peggy," the girl answered quietly. She eye Baxter a little warily.
Regulus wracked his memory. "Peggy Striker?"
She nodded. "It's about what happened at breakfast this morning. You know, when that Ministry lady spoke to everyone and said she'd be questioning us all."
As she spoke, Reg's face gradually lost its elasticity until he was simply watching her without any real expression.
"I don't want to talk to her."
"You don't have to," Regulus said with a tiny sigh of relief. "You can refuse, like McGonagall said."
"But what if she asks why?" Peggy glanced at Baxter again, but he was engrossed in Potions notes.
Noticing her hesitation, Regulus asked, "Peggy, do you want to talk about this in private?" She nodded vigorously and Reg stood, leading her to an alcove in the corner of the common room. He raised the privacy ward built into the stone. "All right, no one can overhear us now. If Madame Umbridge asks why anyone is refusing to be questioned, you aren't required to answer. She can't do anything about it, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. May I ask why you're worried about all this?"
Peggy gnawed at a nail. "Are you friends with the Tonks family?"
Regulus blinked. "Yeah, they're my cousins."
"And you don't think their daughter is a freak now, do you?" The look in her eyes spoke of a desperate need to be understood.
"No, of course not," Regulus answered firmly.
Peggy took a deep breath. "I'm a quarter-werewolf. My grand-mère on my father's side was bitten shortly after she conceived him. She's…she's part of the Wolfsbane trial at St. Mungo's—which means she's automatically registered now because of that stupid law—but my father is only a half-were and I'm only a quarter-were, and we didn't register since Grand-mère never told anyone that she was bitten before she got pregnant, and I don't want to be put in Azkaban." Her voice shook, and Regulus put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Why aren't you telling this to Professor Slughorn?"
Peggy gave him an incredulous look. "I know I'm only a first year, but Professor Slughorn doesn't care about us like other House Heads do. You're the only prefect I know who knows the Tonks, and I thought I could trust you. I can, can't I?"
"Yes, of course you can trust me. I'm not scared of werewolves."
Peggy nodded, casting her glance out to the main of the common room. "But they are."
"Well, do any of them know your family history?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm just—I'm just—"
Regulus knew what she was trying to say. "I understand," he said.
"You do? Really?"
"Yeah, really, I do. Not for the same reasons, obviously, but I'm guessing we'll be under kind of the same scrutiny, since we both have family members with it. Just be polite, and when she calls you up all you have to say is 'No, thank you,' and return to class."
"Okay." Peggy was silent for a moment. "Could—could you be there when she tries? I'm just thinking since she knows we both have family members afflicted that it would be easier if we refused her together. Instead of trying to corner us apart."
Regulus's features briefly darkened. "Absolutely. Never be near her alone. If you ever want anyone to talk to about all this, just come to me, or Professor McGonagall. She'd be aware of your family history, I imagine."
"All right. Thank you, Regulus."
Regulus Black decided right then that he rather liked being a prefect.
The schedule for questioning listed Tuesday morning for the Sixth years. All the Sixth years were excused from classes by House starting with Slytherin, followed by Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. Cordon passed the Gryffindors when he left the room, and glanced at the Circle. He caught Lily's line of sight and rolled his eyes, indicating how bored he'd been during his questioning. One by one the Hufflepuffs went in and out, until Umbridge appeared at the door to welcome the Gryffindors.
Sirius was the first Gryffindor to go in, refuse to sit, say "I decline to be questioned by you," and exit without waiting for a response.
Lily went in next, not even going inside all the way, and said, "I'm choosing to not assist you in your stupid hunt. Good day."
Frank did the same as Lily, and since Remus was standing with the rest he had to stick his head in for show, say "Sorry, nope," and withdraw before Umbridge noticed that her next 'guest' was taking an unusually long time.
Mary Macdonald, however, sat down with Umbridge for the full ten minutes. When she came out she didn't look at anyone, and instead went straight back to class, not bothering to acknowledge Tess or Lily on her way past. Alice went in next, had a very brief word that started and ended with "Sorry, not sorry," and left. Peter didn't even bother saying anything (he just shook his head at her), but then James Potter went in, and went over his time. This gave Severus pause, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. Potter's father was chummy with the Ministry and the Board—how else could he have gotten into N.E.W.T. classes with a failing Defense score? He shoved his suspicions into the back of his mind when James emerged with a neutral expression. No gloating, no stupid smirk on his face—he didn't even look at him when going back to the Charms classroom.
Severus entered Umbridge's little lair. He didn't close the door behind him, and said, quite loudly, "I will not submit to your inane questioning, Madame. You are a stain upon the Ministry and do not deserve such modicums of power. Good day."
Now Umbridge, after this long line of Hello, Goodbyes, struggled to keep a lid on her irritation. "Listen here, Mr—" she checked her list "—Prince, I will find a way to get the truth out of you and your little friends. I will."
Severus had been in the middle of his pivot to leave, and stopped mid-spin. "No," he said, facing the door. "No, you won't. And no one is going to help you." He departed before she could reply.
Tess Worthington was the last Gryffindor to go in, and she also (politely) declined, citing a need practice the charm being taught in the class from which she was absent.
The week dragged on like this. Regulus and Renly successfully declined their questioning periods, and by Thursday Umbridge hadn't gotten any worthwhile results—as evident from her sour disposition at all the meals. Thursday was the day for the Second and First Years. Peggy sat with Regulus at breakfast and immediately following lunch the First Year Slytherins were called to Umbridge's little lair, one by one going in and sitting down with her for ten minutes apiece.
Regulus, as a Prefect, walked the firsties to the room, and when Peggy was called, he went in with her.
"Mr. Black, have you reconsidered your decision?" Umbridge asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.
He shook his head. "You wish," he replied smartly. "Miss Striker requested that I accompany her during this time of stupidity and invasiveness."
One of Umbridge's eyebrows went up. "Big words for a small girl," she muttered, but Regulus heard her and frowned.
He bent down to whisper in Peggy's ear. "Just say that you don't want to be questioned."
Peggy swallowed. "Madame, I do not wish to be questioned by you," she squeaked, and Regulus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I would like to leave now."
"My dear, are you being instructed to say this?" Umbridge inquired with a slight hint of malevolence in her beady eyes.
Peggy shook her head and gripped the hem of Reg's sleeve. "No. I want to leave now."
Regulus guided Peggy to turn around, but the lock clicked on its own before he could pull the door open. He stiffened, and flicked his wand into his hand. Peggy began to tremble. "Open this door right now, Madame."
Umbridge leaned back in her chair. "I rather think not, this time. Miss Striker is the granddaughter of a werewolf participating in that pointless study at St. Mungo's. Now, in my opinion, that constitutes fraternization. She is clearly comfortable around werewolves, and you, Mr. Black…you are related to Nymphadora Tonks." She paused, ignoring the fact that Regulus had his wand gripped tightly in his hand, and stood up to round the desk. "You and your brother both refused to sit down with me. You're protecting someone, aren't you? Is it her?" Umbridge focused her gaze on Peggy, who seemed to shrink in terror. "Did your grandmother bite you, too?"
"My grand-mère hasn't bitten anyone, ever," Peggy managed to say.
Umbridge tutted, and was now completely ignoring Regulus. She neared them, and Regulus pointed his wand at her.
"Back. Off."
Umbridge's face twisted into a snarl. "I so dislike impertinent children. Put that down before you hurt yourself."
Regulus pushed Peggy behind him. "I will defend us if you do not stop what you're doing and let us leave." He could hear Peggy trying to unlock the door using Alohomora, but it wouldn't work.
"As if a little boy and a little girl could get in the way of Ministry-sanctioned proceedings." Umbridge was faster than she looked, as evidenced a moment later when she disarmed Regulus and Peggy both. "Did you really think you could go up against me? Sit down. We're going to have a little chat."
Regulus didn't move. He felt extremely grateful that Severus had taught him the basics of wandless magic, and he spoke two words to summon his and Peggy's wands to him. They flew out of Umbridge's loose grip, and soared in an arc to the Slytherin prefect. He handed Peggy's wand back without taking his eyes off Umbridge. "No more chances," he said, and turned on his heel toward the locked door. "Bombarda!" The wood splintered as it exploded outward, showering the remaining first year Slytherins with little chips. "Peggy, run and get McGonagall and Dumbledore if you can find him, and bring them both here straightaway." He turned back to face Umbridge, who stared at him in shock, and called over his shoulder to the firsties, "Go back to class. Madame Umbridge has concluded her questioning." They scattered, and Regulus didn't take his eyes off the frozen Ministry official who had vastly underestimated the Slytherin.
"You will be brought up on charges for this," she said quietly, breathing hard through her nose. "The Minister will not be pleased with you—"
"No, you're right. He won't be pleased, because you have nothing—and you tried to get information illegally. Once a student declines, you are out of your depth to trap them and force answers. What were you going to do? Force us to drink Veritaserum?"
The expression on her face said yes, but her mouth formed the words, "Of course not! The use of Veritaserum without Ministry approval is strictly forbidden—Headmaster, see what this cretin did to your classroom door? He should be punished immediately—"
Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Peggy had arrived.
"Please explain this," the Headmaster said, gesturing to the debris scattered across the stone floor.
"This filthy excuse for a pure—" Umbridge fell silent when faced with the icy gaze of Albus Dumbledore.
"I was not speaking to you. Mr. Black, if you please."
Regulus took a couple deep breaths, sheathing his wand back up his sleeve. "Peggy asked me to accompany her when she told this—" he cut himself off so he wouldn't swear in front of the Headmaster "—that she didn't want to talk to her. I'm glad I agreed, because Umbridge locked us in there with her and said she would get us to talk, in a manner of speaking. She knows about our family members with lycanthropy and automatically assumed that made us the enemy." Peggy edged around McGonagall to rejoin her prefect. "I was protecting Peggy. Umbridge wouldn't unlock the door even when I asked twice. So I blasted it."
McGonagall never looked so proud of a student not in Gryffindor. "Fifty points to Slytherin, I think," she said, "for your outstanding efforts in getting a student to safety. Albus?"
"Madame, this is not how students are treated at Hogwarts," Albus said to Umbridge. "You are no longer welcome at this school. Professor McGonagall, please escort Madame Umbridge from the grounds—and teach the wards to keep her out."
"Certainly."
"Mr. Black…if you and Miss Striker could come with me…" The Headmaster took both students to his office, where he instructed Regulus in how to pull a memory. When Regulus successfully extracted his memory of the encounter, Dumbledore took a look at it in the Pensieve. He emerged with a dangerous, but thoughtful, expression on his old face. "She is far more corrupted than any of us realized," he said solemnly. He pushed the Pensieve back into its cabinet. "Would you mind letting me hold on to that memory for a few days? It is good evidence to submit to the Wizengamot for corruption charges."
Regulus nodded without really thinking about it. "Sir?"
"Yes, Mr. Black?"
"Will Peggy and her father be safe?"
Dumbledore looked over his half-moon lenses at the younger Black, and then at Peggy. "I am unable to say for certain. Do you think she needs protection?"
"From Umbridge, absolutely. But if no one at the Ministry knows that they're part-were…I just don't know what to do."
Dumbledore sighed. "You, Mr. Black, do not have to do anything. In fact, you have already done more than you were ever expected to. Beyond your duties as a Prefect, Miss Striker is not your responsibility. She is Professor Slughorn's, and mine. I understand that you feel protective towards her, but do not take that as an invitation to act on her behalf for all times of hardship."
"Pardon me, Headmaster," Peggy interrupted timidly, "but I would have been dead meat without Regulus."
"I understand. Now that Madame Umbridge has been removed from Hogwarts, do you still feel the need to have Regulus as a self-appointed bodyguard?"
Peggy glanced up at her tall prefect. "Yes. That woman could send more people here. She could go after my family."
Dumbledore did not reply for a few moments. "Legally, she has the authority to question your family because your grandmother is in the trial program."
"So much for confidentiality," Regulus growled. "It's not right!"
"I did not say that it was," Dumbledore said sharply. "Legal is not always ethical or right. Legal means legal. It was drawn into her bill to include the participants in the trial, since ultimately the hospital is part of the Ministry. Be advised that I am not capable of rescuing everyone who feels threatened by the Werewolf Commission at the Ministry. I am sorry, Mr. Black, Miss Striker, but I cannot do anything to help you outside the school, except bring Madame Umbridge up on corruption charges. That will be a devastating blow to her credibility at the Ministry, and I have already submitted repeal proposals to dismantle her registry."
Peggy didn't appear any less distressed, and Regulus just looked angry.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I must write a letter to the Minister describing the events of the past hour." The door opened by itself, and Regulus nudged Peggy towards it. "Ah—I almost forgot—" Two pieces of parchment floated over to them. "Notes of excusal for your professors. You are late to class. Good day."
Regulus and Peggy caught the notes and left the Headmaster's office. "Barmy old codger," Regulus muttered once they were clear of the Griffin statue.
"He really is, isn't he?" Peggy asked sadly.
"Yeah, well, I didn't expect that much. At least he's going to get her on corruption charges." They started walking down the corridor. "Which class do you have?"
"History of Magic," she replied, wrinkling her nose. "Do I really have to go?"
"Yeah, you do. Part of being a witch. Sorry." Regulus walked her to the History of Magic classroom, and then left to rejoin his own year's Defense lesson with Professor Pink.
When James heard the news that Umbridge had been kicked out and barred from the school, he suddenly felt relieved and worried at the same time. His internal conflict dealt with the fact that during his session with her, he hadn't given away anything whatsoever. He'd merely engaged her in conversation, agreeing with her on her espousing the benefits of the Registry—but he kept his mouth shut about Remus. It would be more useful later. But now that she'd been kicked out, he was rather losing his nerve on the whole thing. This could ruin his life, he thought, and then immediately dismissed it with Yeah, but they're rude and terrible to me all the time.
Umbridge watched sourly as Professor McGonagall fortified the wards against her. When she'd seen enough, she turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack as she Disapparated home, unable to face the Minister until morning. Her lack of results frustrated her to nearly no end. She hadn't gotten enough spoken evidence to inquire further into Black or Striker, and there was the matter of almost eighty percent of the Gryffindor Sixth years refusing to talk to her. She appeared in her home with another loud crack—she'd never perfected quiet Apparition—and immediately poured a generous glass of Muggle whiskey. For all their disgusting existences, she did have to admit that the Muggle Scots made the finest whiskey in Europe.
She tossed back half the glass and savored the burn down her throat, wondering how she would face Minister Telford in the morning. Dumbledore will have already written a letter, she knew, but Dumbledore hadn't been in that classroom when Black destroyed the door! He hadn't seen the untamed rage in that child. She sank onto her pink accented couch and kicked off her shoes. Time to make a game plan.
Dolores Umbridge only slept for a few hours before she awoke to go into the Ministry and answer the memo she'd received from Minister Telford around dinnertime. She selected her finest pink robes, her favorite shoes, and her fluffy cardigan that reminded her of someplace she hadn't been in years. Comfort, was the goal, since she knew it would be a painful visit. She gathered all the parchments she'd worked on well past dark, and turned on the spot to appear just outside the public Ministry entrance. One brief stop at her office, and she stood at the Minister's door, knocking three times.
"Come in, Miss Umbridge," Telford called, and the door swung open. "Sit down, if you please."
She did.
"You must know why I called you here?" he asked, folding his hands on the desk.
"Standard procedure to report on a visit to Hogwarts," she replied matter-of-factly, choosing to gloss over the manner of her departure from the school.
Beltran sighed. "Umbridge, what the hell were you thinking, detaining students who declined to participate? Do you know how damaging that was to the Ministry?"
"Detaining?" she laughed softly, unconvincingly. "Who told you that?"
"Albus Dumbledore," Beltran snapped, tossing a page of parchment at her. "As supported by a memory account from one Regulus Arcturus Black, and spoken testimony from Margaret Angelica Striker."
Umbridge scanned the letter and kept her face tightly controlled so none of her anger would show. "Minister, we both know how old and unreliable Albus Dumbledore has become. Do you really believe his silly lies about all this?"
Telford's expression didn't waver. "Umbridge, did you find anything useful or not about that bloody tip?"
"Black and Striker are both related to werewolves—"
"That is in the Ministry record. Are they werewolves themselves?"
"Not as far as I could confirm—"
"Margaret Striker is a first year, Umbridge! The Ministry is not in the business of using intimidation tactics on children!"
Umbridge paled. "I—"
Beltran Telford shook his head. "Out. You're suspended with pay until your trial with the Wizengamot."
"What?" The Minister handed her a summons, and she quickly read it. "Corruption?!" she nearly yelled. "Minister, you cannot think—"
He looked tired. "I'm reserving my judgment until your trial. Go home, Dolores. Find a good barrister."
With so many people, the train compartments were nearly too small for the Circle of Seven, now grown to nine members. They made do, though, knowing that Regulus was going to spend the latter half of the trip with his girlfriend in a different part of the train. A few minutes into the journey Frank left to use the loo, and brought his Muggle clothes along since he might as well change before the rush.
When he finished and left the small water closet, he passed an open compartment and briefly caught the unreadable gaze of one James Potter, who was sitting with Gideon, Fabian, and a bored-looking Amos Diggory, talking in his usual arrogant tone. Frank walked by, but stopped in his tracks just beyond view when he heard what James was saying.
"It's too bad that Ministry woman didn't find anything about that unregistered werewolf at school. Personally I don't feel safe in the castle anymore if Dumbledore is letting in dangerous creatures."
"I don't know," Amos said with a sigh that sounded like he was tired, "My mum works at St. Mungo's and she's one of the Healers involved with the Wolfsbane trials. It's supposed to abate the 'wolf' part and leave the human mind intact during full moon. It's still in trial phase, like that Holmes fellow said, because the bloke who invented it is really young—like our age—and they want to make sure he isn't just having them on or something. They won't release his name until it passes all the tests and regulations and goes out for general distribution in a few years. But I guess you have to apply to the trial program to get access to it."
"Well there's the problem," James said, "if you have to apply for the program then they'd have you on file—you'd be registered—and that Umbridge lady would know who's on it. Since the werewolf at school is unregistered, that means he or she doesn't get this potion every month—so, they're dangerous."
Gideon shared a look with his twin. "Jamie, allegedly there's an unregistered werewolf at Hogwarts. All she got was an anonymous tip, and she didn't find anything when she was there. Personally I think she made up the tip herself and passed it off as genuine to get the Minister's signature. Our brother-in-law works at the Ministry, we can ask him to look into this new registry rubbish."
James stared at the twins, a little wounded that they didn't agree with his sentiments. "It's not rubbish if it's protecting the population," he argued feebly, losing the battle even with himself.
Fabian and Amos protested immediately, leaving Gideon to lean back on the seat and cross his arms.
Frank chose this moment to leave, feeling conflicted about what he'd just heard, but thankful that the Prewett twins and the elder Diggory at least had their heads on straight. Though, why they were still spending time with James Potter was anyone's guess. Frank quietly returned to his compartment, slid the door behind him, and retook his seat beside Alice. "I just overheard Potter talking about how he thinks it's 'too bad' she didn't find out anything about the unregistered werewolf," he said when the hum of voices died down. "Both the Prewett twins and Amos shot him down though."
Severus made a noise that sounded like a growl.
"I'm glad those three have brains in their heads," Alice said with a sideways glance at her boyfriend. "Is he suspicious?"
"He said he 'doesn't feel safe' at Hogwarts anymore, which personally I think is a load of Doxy droppings. Umbridge never got her proof thanks to you three," he nodded at Sev, Siri, and Reg. "He's just touched in the head."
"Touched or not, he's still dangerous," Jackie expounded.
Remus, who hadn't said anything yet, spoke up. "I'm still confused as to why the anonymous tipster didn't reveal my name. I mean, this person has the power to take away my education, my access to friends and basic Wizarding rights, but…it's like he—or she—is sitting on the information. What's the point of telling the Ministry I'm not registered if they're not told who I am?
"I'd like to know the answer to that myself," Severus agreed.
Peter stared out the window at the rolling sunlit hillocks speeding by. "Whoever told Umbridge must have an ulterior motive. It's probably going to be for blackmail. By telling the Ministry that you exist without giving them your name, it's a way to show how serious they are about it. And that if you don't give them what they want, five words to the Ministry would land you in Azkaban."
Everyone stared at him.
"I can't believe Dumbledore hasn't found out who it is, though," Sirius said.
"Dumbledore has his weird way of doing things," Lily offered while watching Severus out of the corner of her eye. "He'd tell us if he had no leads. Wouldn't he, Sev?"
Severus met her gaze. "I honestly don't know anymore. I'd like to think that he's going after this person with every single one of his resources, but I cannot speak for our Headmaster."
The compartment door slid open. "Use me, then," Renly said in a voice and tone that did not match his thirteen year old body. He entered and shut the door behind him, and cast a Fifth-year level charm to prevent eavesdropping. "Really should have put that up first thing," he said disapprovingly. "But like I said, you can use me. I'm the most observant person you'll meet—at least until my nephews get older—and I'm inconspicuous when I like to be. I can ask the questions and tell Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall my conclusions."
"After break, you mean?" Regulus asked.
"During, too. You and Sirius are spending most of it with us, right?"
Sirius and Regulus looked at each other, confused. "We are?"
Renly squeezed in between Alice and Lily on the bench. "Oh, bollocks. I forgot to have Mum send you invitations. I must have just thought I did. You have a place to stay, then?"
"With me," Remus supplied, though he didn't say where, since Severus had become the Secret Keeper for the Lupins and Prince Manor and it was up to him who to tell.
"Ah, excellent."
Silence grew for a few moments.
"Any ideas who it could be?"
Sirius spoke first. "I think it might be someone in Gryffindor, actually."
Everyone except Remus nodded in agreement. Frank's face soured. "Gryffindors take care of their own, for the most part."
"It could be anyone, really," Remus said. "I'm gone from class at the full moon each month, it's hardly an unpredictable pattern."
"There's Jacob Marsh in Ravenclaw. He's a twat, especially in Care of Magical Creatures when he keeps hitting on me," Jackie said. "He's my year." She made a face.
"What about Carly Pendergast in Slytherin?" Renly asked.
Severus interrupted the blooming theories. "Peter's right—it has to be someone who would want to blackmail Remus. And we don't even know if the tipster is a student here—Umbridge never told Dumbledore anything besides that it was anonymous."
"Who else would know, though?" Lily asked, worried.
Severus paused, looking around the compartment. "What about the one who bit him?"
A/N: Whew. Talk about lengthy! This was officially the longest chapter in this story. Up next: Christmas Present.