Chapter Twenty One: A School Reunion

It took them several more days to travel the length of Montenegro. They stayed as close to the muggle world as they could, walking and taking buses and trying to keep their heads down as far as possible. Sirius kept practising his magic - whenever they were alone and on the move - and his prowess was improving day by day. Once he even managed to transform into Padfoot - and he ran up and down the road ahead of Remus, yelping and barking in delight and wagging his tail.

Meanwhile, Remus tried his hardest not to think about Ionut. Not to think he was a murderer and to remember what it felt like to kill a man. The further away from the mountain they travelled, the easier it became. Sometimes he found that he was able to box it away and not think about it for hours at a time … but there was always a weight lying heavy on his heart, even when he was laughing at Sirius' magic or looking at the map or trying to navigate which bus was the right one for them to catch. He was a killer now - and nothing would ever undo that … he would just have to learn to live with it.

It was past mid July by the time they finally crossed over into Albania. They had been on this journey for a month and a half, they had failed to catch up with Peter before he made it to his destination and they had managed to set the whole of the Ministry on their tail, and even made Remus as wanted a man as Sirius … but despite the failures they were racking up, they still clung to the hope that they would prove successful in the end. Their spirits improved greatly once they had finally left Montenegro, but their weariness was increasing every day.

This was the last leg of their journey, they told themselves … it had to be. And then they could go home and clear their names and have Harry to stay for the rest of the summer. They could stop walking, stop being attacked from all sides and having to duel their way out, stop hiding … They could just hole up at Remus' house, with a cup of tea … and never leave. Sometimes the thought of that cup of tea and never having to leave the house again was all that sustained Remus - he was so weary and footsore … and there was that heaviness on his heart. At least the full moon was past - and the next was still weeks away.

...

They snuck across the border, dodging the muggles and their passport controls, by creeping through the thick beech forest that spread from one country to the next. The downside to staying hidden among the trees was that comfortable places to stay were few and far between - and more often than not they had to spend the night camped in the forest. But on the plus side they were hidden - from muggles and wizards alike. And if what Karkaroff had said was true, they could not be so very far from where Voldemort lived … if he could be said to be living.

And if they weren't far from Voldemort - then they were not far from Peter.

They arrived at a wayside tavern just after it got dark. It was a muggle establishment - but they preferred that, they felt safer hidden among the far more numerous non-magical people who did not know to be on the lookout for them.

They found a table and took a seat with a sigh of relief. 'It feels like we've been walking forever,' Sirius said, he closed his eyes - as if enjoying taking the weight from his feet.

'The miles do seem to be getting longer … I hope this place has a room we can stay in. I think I might actually cry if we have to go and sleep in the forest again.'

'I am so ready for all this to be over.'

'I was ready for it to be over before it even began. Remember? Remember me specifically saying I didn't want to come?'

'Yeah, yeah,' Sirius' eyes were still closed. He sounded half asleep. 'No one likes people who say "I told you so", Moony.'

'Well I did tell you so. And I don't want that forgotten.'

They ordered food and wine and - once they had something to eat and had discovered that there was indeed a room available, so long as they didn't mind sharing (which of course, they did not) - they began to perk up a bit.

'You know,' Sirius said through a mouthful of lamb stew, 'I think I might be up to a bit of apparating. If we don't go far - and we're careful about where we're headed to.'

'Are you sure?' Remus finished chewing and then took a sip of wine. He was not keen on the idea … Sirius may have been the one who got splinched - but he was the one who had had to stand there and watch him almost die. He didn't think his heart could take it again. And he didn't suppose they would be so lucky a second time, they were in a much less densely populated area now. Helpful muggles and their ambabulunces would be thin on the ground.

'My magic has really improved,' Sirius said. 'I'm not 100 percent but I'm at least 80. I think I could - if it saved us a day walking.'

'I'm just not sure it's worth the risk - not this close. I know your feet hurt - I've got a blister the size of a galleon on my heel and it rubs with every step I take … but we can't risk failure this close to the end. If you're not at full power…'

'But I could sidealong apparate with you. You could be the one in control.'

'I was the one in control when you got splinched.'

Sirius pulled a face. 'You're not going to say "yes" are you?'

'No I'm not.'

'You're going to make us walk, aren't you?'

He thought about the blister on his foot and sighed. 'Yes I am.'

'Fine,' though he thrust his lower lip out and looked sulky. 'But if we're going to walk, then I want to make sure we know exactly where we are walking to. We ask anybody and everybody what they know about Voldemort.'

Remus glanced around - the place was busy … but everyone in here was a muggle, apart from themselves. 'Do you really think any of the locals will know anything? They don't have magic.'

'No - but they live right by a forest that plays host to the darkest wizard of the past century. If what Karakaroff said was true - and there are rumours of a spirit with glowing red eyes lurking out in the trees - then it must be these people that are spreading those rumours. You don't just not notice Lord Voldemort living in your back garden. Muggle or not.'

'Apparently he lived for an entire year at Hogwarts on the back of one of the teacher's heads.'

'What?'

'Well that's what Big Macca told me.'

'When did she tell you that? I never heard about this.'

'Well you wouldn't. It was while you were in Azkaban. She told me about it when I started teaching, in September.'

'Wait - is Big Macca still at Hogwarts?'

'Yes, she's still the head of Gryffindor. It was really weird being in the staff room around her … I always felt like I had been pulled in there to get yelled at. Nothing made me feel quite as much like a naughty fifteen year old as talking to her. No matter what we were talking about.'

'Merlin - Dumbledore's still the head, Big Macca and Flitters still heading up the houses. Does no one ever retire at that school?'

Remus scrunched up his face as he thought about it. 'Slughorn's gone,' he said eventually.

'Replaced by Snivellus.'

'Yes - and Professor Kettleburn has gone too. Recently. Hagrid teaches Care of Magical Creatures now. But other than that … I think they're all planning to stay there until they die. Like Professor Binns.'

Sirius shuddered. 'You know, I never forgot that first time he came floating through the blackboard.'

'But on the bright side, the lesson got cancelled when we had to stop and find his body.'

'And there it was - in the staff room, sitting by the fire … dead. His eyes wide open.'

'And he hadn't even noticed. You know … that chair was still in there? Right by the fire. I gave it a wide berth, but other teachers used it all the time.'

'I've got to say, I did notice that the beds in the dormitories were still our beds - you know, when I broke into Gryffindor tower to kill Peter.'

'I didn't go into Gryffindor tower this last year. I suppose I'm not really a Gryffindor any more.'

'I don't think you ever stop being a Gryffindor.'

'Even Peter?'

'Well - maybe Peter isn't a Gryffindor - maybe he should never have been there in the first place. But you and me, Moony, we're lions 'til we die. And by the time we do die, they still won't have got round to changing the beds in the boys' dormitory.'

Remus frowned. 'You know - they probably weren't new back when we slept in them.'

'No.'

'So you think they were the same ones back when Big Macca was at school? Or Dumbledore?'

'Maybe.'

'Do you think they're the same ones that were there when Godric Gryffindor himself was teaching?'

They both looked at each other, considering the possibility. 'Surely they can't be a thousand years old?' Sirius said eventually.

'Can't they?' They both began to laugh.

'Is anything different?' Sirius asked, still chuckling. 'Has anything changed at all ?'

'Er - there's a divination department now. Not that I saw much of the teacher - she lived up in an attic and didn't come out much but … I got the impression Big Macca doesn't think much of her.'

'What made you think that?'

'She told me.'

They laughed again. 'She really didn't mince her words,' Remus said. 'Apparently Professor Trewlaney - that's the divination teacher - predicts the death of a new student every single year … none have died yet. This year she picked on Harry - kept seeing a Grim in his tea leaves. Hermione was so irritated by the whole thing she actually stormed out of a lesson and refused to go back - it was the talk of the staff room for about a week … Hermione Granger does not storm out of lessons … Hermione Granger asks for more lessons and extra homework. But I think Harry was quite unnerved by it all. And what with the fact that everyone thought you had broken out of Azkaban specifically to kill him … McGonagall was fuming with Trewlaney for being so insensitive.'

'And if Big Macca thinks you're insensitive…'

'Then you must be pretty damn insensitive.' And then they couldn't stop laughing - the talk of school was making them feel all warm inside, filling them up like Butterbeer, and everything - no matter how inane - just seemed very funny all of a sudden. And they kept on laughing and reminiscing all the way through dessert.

'...No - but the worst time, the very worst time - was my very first detention…' Remus said, screwing his eyes closed at the memory of mortification still fresh after 25 years.

Sirius snorted into his pudding. 'That was my fault.'

'It was - I hadn't forgotten … And I couldn't even look Big Macca in the eye all year, this past year, in case she hadn't forgotten.'

'She hadn't forgotten - memory like an crumpled horned snorkack.' He snorted again, 'and it would be pretty difficult to forget.'

'Oh Merlin,' he buried his face in his hands - his shoulders shaking with laughter.

But across the table, Sirius had frozen. 'Oh Merlin,' he said - and his voice sounded very different to Remus'.

Remus looked up, his face serious - the laughter gone. 'What's wrong?'

Sirius was staring over Remus' shoulder at the door - which had just opened. 'This can't be happening,' he shook his head, 'this can't be happening.'

'Not the Ministry Hag?'

'No.'

And despite the fact that Sirius looked like someone had just died, Remus felt a stab of relief. 'What then?'

'Her,' he nodded his head towards the woman who had just walked in. 'Wasn't she at Hogwarts with us?'

'What?' Remus shook his head in disbelief. 'We're in Albania . We're in a muggle tavern. No one from Hogwarts can be here. It's just all this talk of school has put in all fresh in your mi…' he trailed off as he saw the woman Sirius was talking about.

He was right. She had been at school with them.

'She was a few years older than us, wasn't she?' Sirius hissed, 'right nosy cow.'

Remus nodded.

'She took a real interest in you and where you used to disappear to, one year. If she hadn't been thick as a concussed troll you could have been in real trouble. What was she called?'

Remus swallowed. 'Bertha Jorkins,' he said. 'That's Bertha Jorkins.'

'That's right … buggeration.'

'Maybe she won't see us - if we keep our heads down. It's busy…'

But even from across the bar they could hear the waiter talking to her, 'you are English? Such a coincidence … we have other English people in today.' And they saw him point right at them … and Bertha Jorkins' head swivel around to look.

'Shit!' Sirius' eyes were wide with panic. 'What do we do? - She's bound to recognise us, if we recognise her.'

'Well yes - she doesn't have wanted posters of herself stuck around Europe. Everyone would recognise us …'

'She's coming over, she's coming over!'

'What? Is she mad? Who in their right mind approaches a mass murderer and a werewolf all by themselves?'

'We need to apparate - let's just get out of here - back to the forest.'

But before they could grab their wands and vanish into thin air, Bertha Jorkins was upon them. She loomed over their table, blinking down at them owlishly through her thick glasses, while the boys sat frozen in horror. 'You two look very familiar,' she said to them.

They looked at each other in astonishment … She couldn't not know who they were? Sirius had been headline news for the past year. And even Remus was infamous these days.

'Do we?' Remus said, sounding vague.

'Did you go to school?' She asked.

'Doesn't everybody?'

'No - I mean our school. For our kind.'

'Our kind of what?'

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'You're just muggles?'

'Yes,' Sirius said … Remus glared at him. 'I mean - what's a "muggle"?' he amended.

'You're wizards,' she accused them. 'I knew you looked familiar - you went to Hogwarts.'

'Er - well, yes I suppose we did,' Remus said hesitantly.

'So why are you in this muggle tavern?'

'Why are you in this muggle tavern?' Sirius asked - rather belligerently.

She blinked at him again. 'I'm visiting family. I got lost. Well - everything's in a funny language, I don't even recognise all the letters. It's hard to navigate, isn't it?'

'I don't know... These foreigners… not speaking English…' Remus muttered sarcastically. She turned her eyes on him then, frowning.

'I remember you,' she said - she peered at him.

'Do you?'

'Yes - you were a strange kid. Right weirdo.'

'Er - thanks.'

'Sickly thing - always disappearing somewhere, but I could never find out where.'

'Well that's because it was private, you dozy cow,' Sirius growled.

She blinked at him. 'And who were you again?'

'You don't remember me? You don't recognise me?' Even though this was good news, it was hard to keep the note of incredulity out of his voice.

'Should I?'

'No,' Remus said - quickly - too quickly. 'We were absolutely nobodies. No reason you would remember either of us … besides my being a sickly weirdo.'

'Well,' she said, frowning again. 'I'll leave you to it. Nice to see you again - whoever you are.' And she wandered back off to the bar.

The two of them just stared at each other. 'Did we - did we just get away with that?' Sirius asked, the disbelief plain in his voice.

Remus watched her disappear into the crowd, his own eyes narrowed as he thought about it. 'Maybe it was a ruse? Maybe she knows exactly who we are and is going to alert the Ministry but didn't want us to realise the jig is up.'

'Do you really think she was clever enough for that?'

'She didn't used to be … maybe she got smarter as she got older? I mean … you don't just approach a mass murderer and a werewolf all by yourself unless you know what you're doing.'

'Or unless you don't know they're a mass murderer and a werewolf. I mean, it's not very plausible that she wouldn't know who I am, is it? My face has been plastered on the front page of The Prophet for a year now. No one who knew who I was would believe for a moment that I didn't know they knew who I was … only someone who genuinely didn't know me would - you know - not know me.'

'Unless it was an elaborate double bluff - and she knew the only person who wouldn't know you was someone who didn't know you and she's lulling you into a false sense of security pretending she doesn't know you when she does.'

'Er - what?'

Remus put his head in his hands. 'My head hurts - I can't figure this out. But we're not safe.'

'Back to the forest?'

He contemplated it for a minute. Thought about sleeping on the hard ground, with nothing to eat for breakfast and nowhere to wash or go to the toilet … 'I can't face it. Look, I've got an idea. She's nosy, right?'

'Yes.'

'Well - let's... lure her outside. Somewhere with no muggles. Come on - get up, make a big show of leaving. Try and look a bit shifty too.'

They got to their feet - ostentatiously looking around as if to check they were unnoticed, picked up the suitcase and headed for the door - looking back over their shoulders again and again, as if they didn't want to be noticed … but were really bad at being discreet.

Sure enough … 'it's working,' Remus said. 'She's following.'

They got outside, there was a car park just outside the tavern - but only one lone taxi pulled up, its headlights on, its driver snoozing at the wheel. 'Let's lurk in the shadow,' Remus muttered, 'but don't lurk quietly.'

The door opened again - and Bertha Jorkins came out, she was frowning - but it was a frown of enjoyment. She didn't understand what was happening but she was enjoying the opportunity to have a good nose into someone else's private affairs.

Remus moved - her eye caught the movement and she turned to look at them. 'Aha!' her brow furrowed. 'The barman said you were staying the night. And yet you've left - without paying. Why would you…' her brow furrowed deeper. 'Unless you had something to hide. What are you hiding?'

Remus waited patiently for her to figure it out.

Sirius was less patient though. 'What are we doing, Remus - what's the plan?'

Bertha Jorkins bit her lip … 'Remus,' she repeated. 'Remus…' she said the name as if she was pondering it … as if it was familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

Remus waited patiently … surely she would get there in the end?

And then he saw her eyes light up - as it all clicked into place. 'You're Remus Lupin! So that means you must be…' and the light died in her eyes again - as she realised the danger she had blundered into. 'You're … you're… Sir…'

Remus raised his wand and pointed it straight at her face. She screamed. 'Obliiviate,' he yelled. And rather than drop down dead, as she must have feared she would, her expression became blank and dreamy. He raised his wand again. 'Confundus.' And then he seized her by the elbow, she followed him with barely a murmur, and he dragged her to the waiting taxi. He opened the back door and bundled her inside. 'She's in the wrong town,' he told the surprised driver, 'she needs to be the next town over - far far away. Get her there, please.'

The driver nodded - still looking a little confused. Remus slammed the door closed and the taxi pulled away. Remus dusted his hands off, feeling satisfied.

'Where is he taking her?' Sirius asked.

'Don't know - not here. Not our problem.'

'I still don't understand how she didn't know us at once. The Bertha Jorkins I remember lived for gossip - she should have known us instantly. Do you think … Do you think there was something wrong with her memory? Even before you modified it?' He looked troubled.

Remus frowned. 'Well - even if there was… we couldn't have her knowing she'd seen us. We needed to sort it out.'

'I just don't understand how she couldn't recognise us straight away.'

Remus sighed. 'It doesn't matter. We're safe now - no one knows we've been seen. She'll be fine in the next town. Let's go inside - let's go to bed.'

So that's what they did.