Aurors Part III
For everyone who has made me see Remus for who he really is; especially the WolfieTwins and Blaise.
Remus and Jenny were sitting together over a cup of tea in her kitchen. She was sipping slowly, not looking at him. Neither had spoken for a long time.
Finally Jenny spoke. "It's not that I don't want to believe you," she said quietly, taking another sip, "But that I want to believe it so much that I can't, not really, not yet."
"I saw Pettigrew with my own eyes, heard his confession," Remus said gently. He realised how hard it must be on Jenny. "I tried to write to you as soon as I found out."
"I haven't opened an owl letter in, oh, thirteen years," she said sadly. "Nor have I spoken to a wizard unless I had to. I told you I got the paper, but that's all."
"Why?" Remus wanted to know.
"It hurt too much, mostly," Jenny replied, pouring herself more tea. From the way she was drinking it, you'd have expected it to be something stronger, like whiskey. "Too many memories. And of course, the hate mail didn't help."
"Yes," Remus said. "I don't suppose it would have."
" 'You're no doubt a Death Eater yourself and should be arrested too', 'I hope the Ministry uses those Unforgivable Curses on you'…" Jenny sighed. "I got a lot of that back then."
"Yes, I know." Remus grimaced. "And it didn't help, of course."
"No, it didn't." She spoke as if stating a simple fact; her voice was without emotion, but her hands curled into fists. "But it was one reason why I didn't divorce Sirius. I've rarely done anything that people want me to."
"No, you never did at school, did you? You listened to Lily, though." Remus tried to smile. "You and Sirius were a lot alike."
"Yes." She stared down at the table, now tracing wood patterns with her forefinger. "And I found out something in those years… never promise anything; you may find you have no choice but to keep your word."
"What?"
"The real reason I've hidden for all these years, Remus. Sirius and I, we made all the extravagant promises ever pair of lovers make. I kept mine." She smiled bitterly. "I tried to hate him and couldn't. I thought for a while that perhaps I was evil too, but I could hate Voldemort, and his Death Eaters…" Now she laughed, a short, barking laugh. "You know I was never an Auror, but I caught a Death Eater once. He was a young boy, - well, now he seems that way; he wasn't much younger than I was then. You know how it was, how they all tried to run and hide… I found him near here. Maybe he thought I was on their side or some such. He found out otherwise." A grim satisfaction showed in her eyes. "He went to the Ministry, after he confessed that he was one of them." Jenny spat the last word in disgust.
"It's been hard on us all," Remus said gently, trying to catch her eye. "But Sirius is innocent, Jenny. Dumbledore knows, and a lot of other people do too, or are going to. It's all right, now. You can stop hiding."
"Did you say you were summoning the Aurors?" Jenny asked quietly. She seemed to be considering something.
"Dumbledore wants them all alerted, yes."
"Well, perhaps it's time for a career change for me." She stood up. "Remus, I've known you for a long time. I won't say you haven't lied to me – " she smiled, remembering, perhaps, some of the more spectacular fibs he had told in his first year at Hogwarts, "but I believe you."
"Speak to Sirius and you'll be more convinced," Remus assured her. "He isn't guilty, Jenny, and you can tell."
"I will, then." She stood silent a moment. "I'll come with you now."
Sirius was seated by the fire when he heard the whoosh of displaced air that accompanies an Apparating wizard. Remus appeared; he looked tired and worn, and for some reason his clothes were enchanted to appear Muggle.
"Glad you're back, Moony," Sirius began, standing. There was another whoosh behind him. He turned, fear leaping in his throat, fear that he had been discovered.
The first thing he saw was long dark hair pulled tightly into a braid and Muggle clothing. Then she turned, and he knew her in an instant, although her dark eyes were full of weariness that he had rarely seen there and missing the light he recalled. She stared at him, three feet away, her eyes traveling across his face and robes.
"Jenny?" he said, holding a hand out to her.
"Go ahead and ask him," Remus said from behind them. "If you're not sure."
"Oh, but I am sure," she whispered. "Now I'm sure!" And she closed the gap between them and kissed Sirius.
A minute later, Sirius smiled at her. "I've missed you, Jenny."
"So have I, you big idiot," she whispered gently, running her hand down his face slowly. "And apparently you still need me to take care of you; have you even changed your robes in the past six years?"
"I don't think so," he said, considering. "I wasn't really able to get to any shops, you know, Jenny. I'd borrow some off Remus, but I think they'd be a bit small." He grinned more broadly now. "How have you been? Remus said you were pretty much living like a Muggle?"
"Yes," she said, dropping her hand to her side. "Hiding, really. I was ashamed, afraid, upset, and scared, so I ran and hid." A bitter smile formed on her lips.
"But you've come back now." Sirius was aware, dimly, that Remus had politely left the room.
"Well, Remus said that things are going to get bad again, that Voldemort is back." Now her bitter look was replaced with a real smile. "And someone had to look after you, after all, or no doubt you'd get yourself right back into trouble."
"Jenny, I did mange to escape Azkaban and survive alone for two years," he reminded her.
"Really." She looked at him, a look that took in his shabby robes, thin frame, and shaggy hair. "I think it's long past time I got here." But her smile took any sting out of her words, the way it always had.
"I hate to interrupt," came Remus' voice from the door of the room, "but dinner is ready, so if you'd like to eat…"
The three spoke animatedly over dinner, first Remus talking about everyone he'd seen that day, and who he was going to visit tomorrow, then Sirius recounting for Jenny what had happened at Hogwarts recently. She too was amazed to learn that Snape had been a Death Eater.
"I just never thought it of him," she said, shaking her head. "I remember him from school very well-"
"So do I," Sirius growled.
"But it just doesn't seem right," she finished, ignoring Sirius. "Do you know he had a crush on Lily?"
"What?" Sirius laughed at that. "You're joking."
"No, I'm not. It was pretty obvious, too, but I suppose you were so wrapped up in causing havoc that you missed it."
"That's hardly fair," Sirius countered, but Remus interrupted them.
"Listen, I've got a lot of other people to talk to tomorrow, and some of them will be harder to convince than toady's lot. I'm going to go and talk to Dumbledore."
"Are you going to go there or just use the fire?" Sirius asked.
"The fire; I'm tired and I'll need to get up early tomorrow. I'm hoping Dumbledore will write a letter or something to some of the others."
"Tell him that if there's anything I can do to help, I will," Jenny asked, and Remus promised he would. At the door, he paused and looked back at his friends, who were watching him. He shook his head, almost laughing as he went up the corridor. Any Dark Eater who got near Sirius was sure to be in for trouble, and he rather thought Jenny would be eager to fight too. If this is the way our side is, then Voldemort is doomed. He decided that thought was far too optimistic and shook his head.
It took him some time to get hold of Dumbledore, and when he did he was amazed at how much the old man seemed to have aged overnight. Dumbledore had always seemed somehow ageless; now he just seemed ancient.
He reported his successes. Dumbledore smiled. "Well done, Remus. It's better than I'd hoped."
"Yes, but I'm worried about tomorrow. I'm planning to see Pritchard, Jarrow, and Johnson, and I think I'll have a much harder time with them."
"I see." Dumbledore seemed to be thinking this over. "I'm sending you, rather than owls, because owls could be intercepted easily."
"The way it used to be," Remus remembered grimly.
"Exactly. However, I shall write a letter that you can personally give to anyone who seems to be doubting."
"Thank you," Remus said in relief. "Anything I should tell Sirius?"
"Just remind him to keep low; we may know the truth but most of the Ministry does not."
"Of course." Remus nodded, and Dumbledore's head vanished from the fire.
When he awoke before dawn the next morning, Dumbledore's promised letter had materialized on his bedside table. He smiled as he picked it up, wondering how many wizards in the world could do that. Not many, he was sure.
The house was silent as he dressed and prepared breakfast, but Sirius came downstairs as he was eating, Jenny following a few minutes later. Both looked almost as tired as he still felt. Remus relayed Dumbledore's message to Sirius.
"Good advice," Jenny remarked. "Since there's nothing I'm specifically to do, I'm going to go to Diagon Alley."
"Why?" Sirius wanted to know.
"Well, for one thing, you need something decent to wear, and you can't go yourself," she pointed out. "And – I've got your wand, Sirius, in Gringotts."
"I thought they'd have snapped it," he said quietly.
"They might have, but one of Crouch's underlings owed me a few favors, you know, and I got hold of it." Her face was blank as she spoke. "I don't really know why. And your motorbike is somewhere about, but I'll leave that where it is for now."
"Well, I'd best be going," Remus remarked. "See you tonight." He Apparated off.
The whole Weasley family was sitting together around their big table as Ron finished telling about how he, Harry, and Hermione had met Sirius Black a year ago and what had really happened. His mother and Ginny had already heard the story, but this was the first time the others had been able to listen.
"Wow," Fred said when he'd finished.
"Definitely wow," George agreed. "How come Harry never told us his dad was that cool?"
"And why didn't you ever tell me what you'd been up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "I believed what the Minister had said about you being Confunded!"
"Well, Mum, I didn't think you'd believe me – Fudge sure didn't – and, well, it is a pretty strange story…" Ron looked nervous, as if he was afraid she'd start yelling any minute.
"Now, Ron, how sure are you that this is true?" Percy asked pompously. "After all, I'm sure Mr. Crouch-" here his face went very mournful, "was quite sure of Black's guilt, or he'd not have sent him to Azkaban."
"Look, Percy, when you see your rat turn into a man and confess his guilt, you're pretty sure!" Ron snapped. "That rat almost killed Harry! He's helping You-Know-Who still!"
"You two stop right now!" Mrs. Weasley yelled suddenly at the twins, whose heads were together. "I suppose you're planning to become Animagi or some such, and I'm telling you right now, you're not to even think about it!"
"Aw, Mum," Fred began, but she glared at him and he subsided.
"So what does Dumbledore want us to do?" Mr. Weasley asked his wife.
"To be ready, I think. Do you know anyone else at the Ministry who'll believe you?"
"Diggory, I am sure," Mr. Weasley began, "But I'll not bother him unless I have to." His face was solemn as he thought of Cedric's recent death. "A few others, I'm sure."
"The other guys on my team should believe me," Charlie said. "If Dumbledore has any use for dragons, well…"
"Gringotts is being rather cooperative, for once," Bill put in. "Apparently Dumbledore knows the head or some such. They've told me that I can work odd hours and such- well, odder than now, I mean – and perhaps they can get me transferred to England for a while."
"Ron, have you written to Harry to see how he's doing?" Mrs. Weasley asked with concern on her motherly face.
"Yeah, Mum, I have. The Muggles are being dreadful, like always."
"Such a shame. Perhaps we'll be able to have him to stay, if things don't get worse."
"I think it'll be a long while, at least, mother, before You-Know-Who does anything." Percy was being pompous again. "Even if he really is back."
"Oh, Percy, shut up already." Ron rounded on him. "He's back all right. We've seen the – the Dark Mark, and Death Eaters are surfacing again, and he's already killed again. What's it going to take to get you to admit it?"
"That's enough, Ron," his mother said sharply. "Let's not talk about it right now."
Jonathan Lawrence was a minor official with the Bureau of Magical Law Enforcement, which had been rather shaken up over the part two years, what with all the goings-on. Still, he was happy. He had married his sweetheart and they had a nine-month-old daughter now, and though he often had to work long hours he was paid generous overtime.
This was one of those nights; it was past midnight by the time he got off the Knight Bus near his house. He had to walk half a mile now, because he'd asked the bus to let him off there so as not to disturb Emma or little Rachel. Rachel was hard enough to get to sleep; if she were woken up they'd have no peace at all that night.
As he rounded the bed to his house, he saw the most terrible sight he had ever seen; his house, standing dark and quite… and a skull with a snake for a tongue hanging darkly overhead.
He heard a voice screaming in anger and fear and pain and realized it was his own. It seemed to go on forever.
Remus was shaken awake roughly.
"What – who's there?" he asked groggily. He'd gotten in very late last night – or this morning, however you looked at it – and it was still dark out now.
"Remus, an owl just came from Dumbledore." Sirius' voice was grave. Remus sat up at once and turned on the light, taking the letter. It was short and to the point.
Voldemort has struck once more. Have all the Aurors you've spoken to get to Hogwarts by this evening. Bring Sirius but watch out for Ministry officials.
As soon as he'd finished reading, he leapt from the bed, hurrying to dress.
"What time is it, anyway?"
"Five in the morning. It'll start getting light soon." Sirius was already dressed. "Jenny's down getting breakfast."
"This is much sooner than I'd expected," Remus muttered. "I don't think Dumbledore thought it would happen this fast either. Do you know what happened?"
"Not yet. Hopefully the paper will get here soon."
It did, and the banner screamed Dark Mark Appears Again. It told how apparently Death Eaters had killed a young woman and her child, but had very few details.
"Dumbledore'll know what it's about," Sirius said grimly. "Perhaps this will make Fudge see reason."
"We can hope," Jenny muttered. "What I remember about him doesn't make it seem likely, though." She stared at her cup. "He was always an idiot when I had to work for him. Didn't know what he was doing." Jenny had worked at the Department of Magical Catastrophes for a few years at the same time Fudge had been Deputy Minister there. "He panicked all the time, over everything. Doubt he's changed much since."
"Yes, I remember," Sirius agreed. "We had to work with him a couple of times back…" His words faltered, but the others both knew what he must have been remembering. They, too, had vivid memories of those dark years…
After James, Sirius and Remus had completed their training, they were sent back to London for their first assignments, but first they, Frank, and the other four men who had begun training at the same time were to have a long talk with Professor Dumbledore. They didn't know why, but he left them no doubt.
"The Ministry has allowed me to speak to all of you," he said as soon as they'd greeted him. "First of all, I'd like to thank you for the risks you are about to take. But what I wish to speak to you about is much more serious."
He looked at them all, his eyes sober. "The Unforgivable Curses. I know you all know about them and know what they do, but what you do not know is that the Ministry of Magical Law Enforcement has decided to authorize their use by Aurors on suspects and Death Eaters."
One or two gasps answered him.
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, "You know how very serious that is. Now, the people who will be instructing you in them will doubtless warn you about using them without caution, and teaching you how to work them properly, but I want to talk to you and ask you something else.
"Do you think that you would use such a curse?"
No one answered for a long time. Then James looked squarely at Dumbledore.
"I don't know whether I would, sir. I can't see ever using Cruciatus or Imperius… but there might come a time when Avada Kedavra could save my life…"
"Perhaps," Dumbledore allowed. "Perhaps. Do you have any doubt that Voldemort or his Death Eaters would use them?" They all shook their heads, no. "That is why Crouch and the Ministry believe we should use them. That is why I believe we should not."
"Excuse me, sir?" Sirius asked. He looked like he thought Dumbledore had lost it.
"If we resort to using Voldemort's tactics, how are we any different from him?"
"Well, we're not trying to take over the world!" one of the others said hotly.
"Ah yes," Dumbledore said softly. "There is that." He seemed to be thinking. "Do you know what happens when you use one of the Curses? Not what happens to your victim, what happens to you?" No one answered, so he continued. "You have power over that person, power of pain and suffering, power of life and death. That kind of power can corrupt anyone, make you desire more and more power, until suddenly you find yourself becoming worse than Voldemort ever was.
"And even if it doesn't affect you that way, the power of life and death is not one to be lightly taken on. Who are you to judge someone worthy of death?"
"Well, I think if he's trying to kill me, I'm right to defend myself," Sirius said doggedly.
"Yes, you are. But you know many hexes and charms that will disable an opponent without killing, don't you?" But Dumbledore didn't look upset. "I'm not telling you never to use the Curses – that's up to you – but I do want you all to think about it. Think hard."
Almost everyone left then, but James and hung back so Sirius and Remus stayed with him.
"Excuse me, Professor, I was wondering if I might ask you something."
"Yes, James?"
"Have you ever used one of the Unforgivable Curses?" James seemed a bit surprised at his own daring, asking that sort of thing of Dumbledore.
Dumbledore seemed to consider James' words for a long time. Then he straightened up and went to the door. At the threshold, he turned back.
"I have."
Then he left.
Later, the three discussed this.
"Wonder which one?" Sirius mused.
"I don't know." James seemed to think. "Well, he thinks a lot of people making their own choices. I can't see him ever using Imperius."
"Or Cruciatus," Remus agreed. "But – the Killing Curse?"
"He's faced a lot of Dark Wizards," James reminded them. "Perhaps one of them… whatever happened to Grindelwald, anyway?"
"Well, Dumbledore defeated him," Sirius said.
"I knew that." James threw an exasperated look at him. "Remus, can you remember?"
"I think he was killed," Remus said, shifting uncomfortably in an effort to recall. "The books don't tell that much really, just that Dumbledore defeated him."
"That's what I said," Sirius grumbled under his breath.
"Can we discuss something else now?" Remus asked. "I'd like to take my mind off curses."
"All right." Sirius grinned. "We get our first assignments tomorrow, you know."
"Something other than that."
"Why don't we just go back to our rooms?" James asked. They were all staying at the Leaky Cauldron, courtesy of the Ministry.
"No, I think we should wait for a little." Sirius was trying not to grin.
"What are you planning, Padfoot?" James asked suspiciously. But Sirius just shook his head.
After an hour, though, James had had it. " All right, Sirius, I don't know what you're playing, but I'm going upstairs. There are better things I could be doing."
"Writing to Lily," Sirius guessed. James went slightly pink. "Well, Remus and I will come along, won't we?"
"I suppose," Remus said, getting up. They followed James up the narrow stairs into his room. It was dark inside; James lit the lamps with a wave of his wand.
"Surprise!" four voices yelled. He blinked. There was Lily! She gave him a kiss. He was busy staring around.
"What's this about?" he demanded of Sirius, who didn't answer.
"Birthday surprise," Jenny laughed.
"My birthday's not for a month!"
"That's why it's a surprise," Sirius said.
"Anyway, it was a good excuse to come see you," Lily said, smiling. "Letters just aren't the same."
"Oh, all right," James said. "It's great to see you, too."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "What did I tell you?" he asked Remus. "Thirty seconds and they're already getting mushy."
"Mushy?" Jenny began, sounding amused. "Perhaps I should-"
"Never mind," he said hastily, and everyone else laughed.
"We've got reservations at the Starfire Room in an hour," Remus announced. James noticed that Jenny and Lily were both well dressed, appropriate for one of the nicest wizarding restaurants in London. "So some of us had best get ready."
"Well be waiting downstairs," Lily promised, and Jenny followed her out of the room.
"So, my birthday, eh?" James asked Sirius once the girls had left.
"Well, I figured it was an, 'eat, drink and be merry' thing," Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders.
" 'For tomorrow we may die'." James finished the quote dryly. "Not that I'm complaining about the first part."
"Nothing about dancing in there," Remus put in. "So is it permitted?"
"You can't go to the Starfire Room and not dance!" Sirius sounded shocked. "Come on, Moony, we'd best get changed."
The Starfire Room was everything it was supposed to be. The ceiling was painted to look like the night sky, and then enchanted so that huge comets streaked across frequently. Sirius made snide comments about it being not as good as the one at Hogwarts until Remus pointed out that it was he who'd set of the spell in sixth form that nearly resulted in a large black crater on the Great Hall ceiling. That shut him up.
Dinner was excellent, a real celebration. Afterwards, the orchestra – which was floating halfway up the far wall – began to strike up a waltz.
"Shall we dance?" James asked Lily, who smiled and accepted. They swept off onto the dance floor.
"Aren't you two going to dance?" Remus asked of Sirius and Jenny.
"Do you mind?" Sirius asked, clearly reluctant to leave Remus sitting alone.
"Not at all; you two go on."
Remus watched his four friends whirl about. It was amazing that they didn't run into anything, because they all seemed intent on staring into each other's eyes and nothing else.
"Would you like to dance?"
Remus looked up and saw a young woman standing in front of him. She had shoulder-length blond hair and was, while not beautiful, quite pretty. She smiled at him.
"Ah, yes, certainly," he said, jumping up quickly and taking her hands.
"I'm Remus Lupin, by the way," he said as they began to dance.
"I know – that is, I heard you and your friends." She had the slightest accent, very pretty, and Remus wondered where she came from. "I'm Reesa Darrel."
"Very pleased to meet you," he said, and meant it. Her eyes were a very pale blue and shone in the light of the shooting stars overhead. "What made you ask me to dance?"
"I saw you sitting alone, and I have no partner either. My brother brought me tonight, but he does not like to dance. I do." She smiled at him. "Rather unthinking of your friends to leave you."
"Oh, no," he defended them, "Sirius asked before he went off. They all like to dance, too."
"And you?" Reesa asked.
"When I have as elegant a partner as I do tonight." He smiled at her, and she smiled again, right into his eyes.
The music stopped, and Remus let her go reluctantly. "May I have another dance?" he asked.
"I was hoping you'd ask me that."
This time, Remus noticed James and Sirius both looking at him. They seemed to be glad he'd found a partner.
"So, what do you do?" Reesa was asking.
"I work for the Ministry," Remus replied, vaguely. He knew better than to tell just anyone he was an Auror – well, almost – even when it was a beautiful young woman like Reesa. "Magical Law Enforcement," he elaborated.
"So does my brother!" She sounded excited. "Rion Darrel. Do you know him?"
"I'm afraid not," Remus said. "I just graduated this year, though, and haven't been working there very long."
"Yes, I too have graduated this year." Her sentences were just slightly –odd, Remus thought, as if she were not quite used to speaking English.
"Surely you didn't go to Hogwarts? I would have remembered you without a doubt."
"Oh, no," she said. "I attended Beauxbatons." That explained the accent. From what he had heard, most students at Beauxbatons spoke French.
"I see. My friends and I all attended Hogwarts."
"It must be very nice to be able to be with your friends." Reesa seemed sad, for some reason. "All of mine are in other countries now. We send owls, but it's just not the same."
"I know. James and Sirius and I have been working together, but this is the first time in quite a while that we've seen the girls." Remus smiled. "James was going a bit nuts without Lily."
"Are they engaged, then?" Reesa seemed genuinely interested.
"Oh, yes. You should see the way he moons around when he's writing letters to her." Remus smiled. "Sirius tries to tease him, but it's not so easy now that he and Jenny have are together."
Reesa laughed easily. "I like the sound of your friends."
They danced another three songs, talking pleasantly and getting to know one another. Then Reesa glanced over Remus shoulder and sighed.
"My brother wants to leave, I can tell. I'd better go."
"Well, thank you very much," Remus said. He thought, perhaps, of asking if he could see her again, but decided not to.
"I had a lovely evening." She smiled at him. "Perhaps we'll meet again sometime." She hurried over to a tall, scowling man about five years older than she was. He glared at Remus and hurried Reesa off into the night.
Remus returned to the table and watched again. After the dance was over, his friends returned.
"We're all tired now," James explained. "And we've all got to rise early tomorrow."
On the way back to the Leaky Cauldron, Sirius interrogated Remus about Reesa until Jenny made him stop.
"Do you want me to think you liked her?" she teased him. He seemed to be trying to think of something really telling, and a moment later did whisper something to her that made her blush, but Remus didn't know what.
Remus slept well that night, but images of a blond-haired girl kept intruding in his ordinary dreams. He didn't mind, though.
The next day, Jenny and Lily hurried off, after a quick breakfast, to their jobs, and James, Sirius and Remus headed for the Ministry offices.
They'd asked to be allowed to work together and today they'd find out whether their request would be granted, and they were expecting to see Crouch, but his assistant said he was elsewhere today and they'd be talking to someone else.
On the way in they passed Mad-Eye Moody, who had another scar on his face. He looked them up and down as they walked past.
"So you survived your training," he said. "That's something, I suppose. You here for your first assignments?"
"Yes," James answered for them. "We're hoping to be a team."
Moody stared at them. "Would you really trust them with your life?" he asked James, nodding at Sirius and Remus.
James didn't hesitate. "I would."
"Good. Because if you're a team, that's what you've done. That's why I always work alone if I can." And he stumped off.
Sirius stared after him. "Is he ever cheerful?"
"Don't know, but he is the best Auror we've got," James pointed out. "Come on, this is where we're supposed to be."
Able Pritchard was to assign them their first task.
"Yes, you'll be a team," he said. "Got word from Dumbledore that it'd probably be impossible to break up your trio anyway, so… well, you've got an easy first assignment. You-Know-Who is getting various pieces of dragons from somewhere, large shipments, and we want to know where it's from. That's your first job; find out and cut it off."
"Yes, sir," James answered. "Do we have any information?"
"Most dragons that get harvested are in Romania these days," Pritchard pointed out. "And we've got a little information, but not much. It's all in here." He handed them a folder of papers. "Also, remember that if an emergency's called within a hundred miles of you, get there as fast as possible. Don't worry about Muggles; we'll modify whatever memories are necessary when everything's cleared up."
They nodded and left.
"Romania," Sirius mused. "I'd like to go there."
"Plenty of monsters and dragons and such," James agreed. "Have to ask our Dark Arts expert here about safety thingies if we go." He grinned at Remus.
"I'd tell you if I thought you'd listen," Remus retorted. "Or that you had to be told – you both got great marks there."
"Yeah, but who was top?" Sirius asked. "We know you're the best there is when it comes to that kind of thing, Moony."
"Anyway, this isn't getting us anywhere," Remus pointed out. "Are they really sure Voldemort's not just getting the parts from suppliers?"
"Not in these quantities," James said. "Look at this! They found three pounds of dragon heartstring in one of his strongholds. Three pounds! And a whole vat of dragon's blood! He's not getting that from any supplier… or some supplier isn't paying all his taxes."
"Which could be true," Sirius pointed out. "They might not want to have to explain where the huge orders of dragon are going." He grinned. "I can just see it. Dragon take-out. 'I'd like a large order of liver, and three pints of blood…'"
"You sound like a vampire or a hag or something," James remarked as he started doodling on the papers from the Ministry. "Ok, so if they're getting it from somewhere, how's it getting into the country? You have any idea how long it would take to get this much stuff here if a wizard was just carrying it while Apparating?"
"About three years, we just passed our tests too, remember," Sirius teased. "Yes, all right, so maybe they're smuggling it in? Wasn't there a case a while back of someone bringing in enchanted radios from America as supplies for a Muggle shop?"
"I'd love to see how you disguise bits of dragons, though," James pointed out. "No; we'll probably have to go and find out."
"Great." Sirius grinned. "It's too far to Apparate, we'll have to go on a plane!"
"Sirius, you never took Muggle studies," Remus began.
"Yes, but you did, and got top marks there, so you can do all the talking." Sirius was ass unfazed by logic as he ever had been. "No problem. We can go to the Ministry tomorrow, get some Muggle money, get tickets, and go."
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Remus said mildly. "We'll have to get passports, for one thing."
"Can't the Ministry get those for us?" James asked. "Surely…"
"Oh, yes, but it could take a little time. Somehow I don't think sending three just-trained Aurors to Romania is going to be high on their list of priorities."
"Oh yes it is," Sirius said. "We've got contacts. Lily works for the Department of International Magical Cooperation, after all. Isn't that what you go through?"
"Yes, it is." Remus thought a minute. "All right, James can go there tomorrow and you and I can figure out what we'll need to take and how we're to disguise ourselves."
Three young men were hiking down a country road. Anyone who saw them would have thought them completely normal, no different from any of the other young people wandering around Europe with their packs on their backs, although an astute observer might be curious as to what creature the hide for their boots came from, and their packs, if opened, held far more than the outside would indicate.
"How much further?" James asked. Sirius pulled out a map.
"Well, let's see." He squinted at the map. "Remus, take a look. The stupid thing doesn't orient itself properly."
"Of course not, Sirius, it's a Muggle map. We're not at the center, we're somewhere near an edge. Here we are." He stared for a minute. "I'd say, ah, five miles until the next village."
"That's the one where the dragon people are headquartered, right?" James wanted to be sure of where they were going.
"Yes, it is. They'll know if there's been an unusual drop in the population – dragon population, of course – around recently."
"Can we stop for lunch?" Sirius pushed his hair, which was escaping the ponytail he'd tied it in this morning, out of his face.
"No, we'll just push on," James insisted. "It's not even noon, Sirius, and you've been eating more than your share anyway."
"Hey, I wasn't the one in charge of food, that was Moony," Sirius protested. "Just because he's never hungry around the new moon doesn't mean I'm not!"
"That's not fair," Remus countered. "There'd have been more than enough if you hadn't been such a pig at breakfast. I mean, I know how you eat, Sirius, and I planned for it, but you ate four loafs of bread!"
"All this hiking makes me extra hungry," Sirius stated. "I suppose we can get some food when we get to the dragons."
"Actually, no," James said with a straight face. "The dragons, er, burnt down the town about a week ago and they're rebuilding. They're all living on carrots and such; hope you don't mind."
"Carrots?" Sirius roared, catching up with James. "Carrots? That's – that's for herbivores like you!" And all three began to laugh.
"Honestly, though," Remus said as they continued their walk, "what are we to expect? I mean, these Muggles live practically in the lairs of dragons, plus vampires, trolls, goblins, and lots of other monsters. How do they not notice them? Do they have once-a-week memory wipes or something? Can't think what that would do to them in the long run."
"Probably make them a bunch of imbeciles," James suggested.
"And that's different from the common Muggle how?" Sirius muttered. He'd several run-ins at the airport, mostly problems with his passport – he kept making his photo turn colors, since it didn't move – and attracting a lot of attention, gawking at planes and playing with the baggage movers. James and Remus ignored him.
"It'd be a bit hard on the, not letting them know what sort of things they could run into just taking a walk," Remus pointed out. "Not like England; the only place you'd see a dragon there is in a bank."
"Well, maybe they know," James suggested. "You've taken Muggle studies, don't they think people in places like this are primitive and superstitious because they still believe in magic?"
"Good point." Remus thought this over.
Suddenly they turned a bend in the mountain path and stared. Down below them was a valley, wild and green, full of colors. It was like nothing they had ever seen in England.
"Wow," Remus said finally.
"Yeah," said James.
"Hey, is that the village? Come on, I'm starved." And Sirius led the way. With a joint sigh, the other two followed.
This seems like a pretty good place to stop; 6000+ words. Any longer and I think you might get fed up and leave. It's still coming rather fast, though I did spend twenty minutes debating whether Dumbledore had ever used Avada Kedavra.
Hope the jumping back and forth between then and now doesn't cause any headaches. If you're wondering why young Sirius is so very odd in this piece, I think it's a reaction to the 'Snuffles' line…grr….
Disclaimer is what you all know.
Oh – and Reesa will be coming back. So I hope you liked her.
Katie Bell