31 October 1981
Remus wasn't usually one to let his mind wander during Order meetings—not especially under the shrewd, watchful eyes of Alastor Moody—but this evening, Remus couldn't concentrate on a single word Dumbledore was saying. The distractions were everywhere: First, Sirius—who was sitting on Remus's right—kept fidgeting maddeningly in his seat. Then, there was Moody's new eye: A vivid, electric blue contraption twice the size of his left eye, it kept spinning like a top in his head, making Remus nauseous. And lastly, there was the photograph.
The photograph of the Order of the Phoenix, taken just three months previous. Moody had recently made a habit of ceremoniously pinning it to the wall at the start of every Order meeting. Perhaps he thought it would boost morale, but in reality, it just made Remus sick to his stomach every time he saw it—all of those happy, laughing faces, waving cheerfully at him. Half of them, Remus would never see again.
Marlene McKinnon had been the first to go, just two weeks after the photograph was taken. Death Eaters had managed to breach the protective wards placed over the McKinnons' Scotland cottage, murdering her and her entire family—her husband, her in-laws, and her brother- and sister-in-law—in a single night.
Barely another fortnight later, Edgar Bones had been killed, along with his wife and three children, all under the age of seven. Peter and Sirius had both been sound asleep when they'd received urgent Patronuses from Benjy Fenwick, alerting them to the invasion. By the time the two had arrived at the Boneses' home in Upper Flagley, the whole house had been in flames—and the two of them had only been able to find Benjy's mangled remains in the backyard.
It had been an enormous blow to the Order, the loss of three such crucial members. But just when Remus had thought things couldn't possible get worse, they had. In September, the Prewett twins had been cornered and killed. It had taken a group of five Death Eaters—Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, Darius Travers, Evan Rosier, and Thorfinn Rowle—to subdue the formidable twins. Moody had not arrived in time to save them, and although he'd managed to kill Rosier and severely wound Rowle, he had lost his right eye and a good chunk of his nose in the process.
The very next day, Dorcas Meadowes's body had been found on the outskirts of a small village in Yorkshire by the name of Little Hangleton, and Dumbledore had deduced that Voldemort himself had lured her there and murdered her. Emmeline Vance, distraught by her younger sister's death, suffered an even greater tragedy just a week later, when her husband was killed by Death Eaters as he was leaving the Ministry. Newly widowed and grief-stricken, the once stern, stately Emmeline had turned into a shell of her former self in recent weeks. Remus had yet to hear her utter a single word.
But perhaps the biggest loss of all—and the one that Remus felt most deeply and personally—was the unsettling disappearance of James's uncle Caradoc, who had simply vanished without a trace near the end of August. The Order had exhausted every resource it had, trying to find him, but it had so far been unsuccessful, and Remus was sure that any future efforts would be futile. Mr. Dearborn, like so many others, was gone.
James had taken the disappearance of his uncle—his last living relative—very hard, but the loss had also inspired a resolve in him that Remus had never seen before. In the past two months, James had abided strictly by his family's house arrest, not leaving Godric's Hollow even for the odd midnight adventure, so determined was he to protect his family. It had been nearly a week, now, since Remus had last seen James, Lily, and Harry. The Potters, under the advisement of Dumbledore, had placed the powerful Fidelius Charm over their home, making them truly undetectable. Remus had yet to be told the Secret by Sirius.
Remus blinked, swallowing heavily as he stared at the photograph on the wall, his gaze flicking from Marlene's poised, thin-lipped smile, to the Prewett twins' cheeky grins, to Edgar Bones's scruffy, bristly mustache. Remus had recognized more names in the Daily Prophet in the last three months than in the last three years. He had read each of the obituaries dozens of times, hoping that doing so would make the deaths more real—but even the words, plain and black, hadn't allowed Remus to make sense of it all…
…Mr. Bones is preceded in death by his parents, George and Susan Bones, and is survived by his older sister Amelia, younger brother Roger, sister-in-law Diana and niece Susan…
Only one thing was absolutely clear, now: There was a spy in the Order. These deaths were not random, they couldn't be. The protective enchantments placed over the McKinnons' and Boneses' homes had been almost completely foolproof—only an insider could have known how to penetrate them. And the Prewetts and Dorcas Meadowes had been on assignments when they had been cornered. Someone was passing information directly to the Death Eaters—and that someone was almost certainly sitting in the upper room of the Hog's Head, right at this very moment. Indeed, despite Dumbledore's security-related concerns, the Hog's Head Inn had been restored as the Order's formal meeting site. Not a single member was volunteering their house anymore.
Remus tore his eyes away from the photograph for the first time, glancing around the meeting table. It was emptier, by far, than Remus had ever seen it before. Apart from Sirius, Dumbledore, and Moody, only three others sat at the table this evening: a somber-faced Sturgis Podmore, a very dismal Dedalus Diggle, and a pale, numb-looking Emmeline Vance, who had a black shawl wrapped around her head. Remus stared at each of them for a long moment—but by the end of it, he was even less convinced that one of them was the spy…
…Mrs. McKinnon is survived only by her younger brother, Dirk Cresswell…Miss Meadowes is survived by her parents, Cyril and Allegra Meadowes, and her sister, Emmeline Vance…
Clenching his jaw, Remus turned to face the head of the table.
"…And with that, I think we may conclude for the evening," Dumbledore was saying quietly, as he rolled up the scrolls he had been reviewing. "I must return to the castle for the Halloween feast. A reminder to everyone that all ongoing reconnaissance missions have been suspended until further notice—I will contact each of you individually if I require something from you. Goodnight—and please travel safely."
There was a soft scraping of chairs as everyone got to their feet, pulling on their traveling cloaks.
"Oh—Sirius and Remus, may I have a quick word with you both?" Dumbledore asked.
Remus looked up, frowning. He glanced sideways at Sirius, but Sirius didn't catch his eye as he snatched up his cloak and brushed past him, toward Dumbledore. Feeling rather slighted, Remus buttoned up his own cloak and quickly followed his friend to the head of the table. Moody gave them a suspicious grunt as he stumped past, toward the pub stairs. Remus saw him unpin the photograph of the Order from the wall on his way out, slipping it back into his pocket.
Dumbledore waited for Moody's matted gray head to disappear around the banister before he turned and looked at Sirius.
"How are the Potters?" Dumbledore asked Sirius in a low voice, a worried crease forming between his silvery eyebrows. "Have you been in contact with them?"
"I visited them yesterday—they're fine," Sirius assured him.
Dumbledore nodded, but his expression remained concerned, as he glanced between Sirius and Remus. "And have either of you been in contact with Peter?" he asked. "I haven't received any correspondence from him as of late—and he didn't attend the meeting this evening. Is he well?"
Remus stared at Dumbledore. He had assumed that the reason Peter hadn't attended the meeting was because he—like Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid, and Elphias Doge—had been doing something else on Dumbledore's orders. Remus opened his mouth to say this—but yet again, Sirius spoke first.
"Peter's visiting family in Devonshire," Sirius said abruptly. "He's fine. He just wants to lie low for a bit."
Remus was startled by Sirius's tone, which was markedly stiffer and more guarded than it usually was. But he was even more caught off guard by this new revelation—Peter was lying low? In the West Country? Why hadn't Remus been made aware of this?
Dumbledore looked unnerved, too. "Devonshire?" he asked Sirius slowly. "Are you quite certain about that, Sirius? Aberforth says he saw him at the Hog's Head just yesterday."
For a split-second, Remus saw something akin to mingled shock and anger cross Sirius's features—but then, the next instant, it was gone, and Sirius looked as wooden as ever.
"I'm sure he's fine," Sirius said firmly. "I'll check in on him tonight—I…I'm sure he's fine."
Remus frowned at Sirius. "Sirius…is everything—?"
"I've got to go," Sirius interrupted, ignoring Remus. He swept his traveling cloak onto his shoulders. "Bye, Professor—I'll send you a Patronus once I've checked on Peter."
With that, Sirius turned around and stalked down the length of the sitting room. Remus watched his friend vanish down the stairs, slightly openmouthed. Then, he looked at Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Professor, I swear, I have no idea what that was about—"
"Never mind," Dumbledore interrupted, although he too seemed disturbed by Sirius's behavior. "I will speak with Sirius later—right now, I have an urgent request to make of you."
Remus's stomach clenched. "What is it?"
"It is with regards to the werewolf that has been terrorizing the North Country," Dumbledore said in a steely voice. "I have received confirmation from a trusted source that the werewolf is, indeed, Fenrir Greyback—and that he has been acting on Voldemort's orders. I need you in Yorkshire immediately. Can I count on you to tail him? Are you prepared?"
Remus's heart fell. He wanted to refuse. He wanted to tell Dumbledore that there were other, more pressing things he needed to do—that he needed to track Sirius down and find out why he was acting so strangely—that he needed to find Peter and make sure he was all right—that he needed to see James, and Lily, and Harry, because it had been far too long since the last time he'd seen for himself that they were alive and well. But Remus didn't say any of these things. Right now, the Order needed him—and after all, weren't his friends the reason he was part of the Order at all? He needed to do whatever he could to keep them safe.
Swallowing heavily, Remus straightened his shoulders and looked at Dumbledore. "I'm ready, sir."
Author's Note:
Chapters 34 and 35 go together. Brace yourselves, everyone. We're heading into some pretty depressing territory. :( But pretty soon, we'll get to book!canon. That's exciting, right?!
Stick with me through this.
With love,
Ari
