Aurors Part VIII
(past)
"I cannot believe I did that!" Remus said angrily, striding up and down the room. Sirius was in it with him, the living room of Remus' home. He'd come over earlier that morning to check on Remus, after last night's events.
"Moony, it wasn't your fault," Sirius said reasonably. "She bewitched you, there was nothing you could do."
"She didn't bewitch James," Remus pointed out. "Or you."
"Thank goodness for that," Sirius agreed. "Jenny would have killed me before we figured out what was going on. You're being too hard on yourself."
"No I'm not." Remus' face was grim. "I gave her information that she fed to the Death Eaters, and you and James were nearly killed!"
"You were right there with us," Sirius said. "Look, Moony, calm down and think about this. You're usually very good at thinking things through." He grinned but the grin faded when Remus' expression did not lighten. "Okay, then. She got information from you. She bewitched you, Remus! And nothing happened to us, no one was hurt!"
"You could have been," Remus persisted. "You and James could have both been killed. And why was I the only one vulnerable to her spells?"
"You weren't. We already know of at least five others, and the Ministry thinks there's more. And some of them gave her really important secrets! Compared to that, you didn't let anything slip!" Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, scowling. "I've let you feel all sorry for yourself long enough, Remus. Now you're going to get over it now. It wasn't your fault, it was hers."
"I was just so… so swept away," Remus muttered, sitting down at last. "She was the first girl I'd ever really felt that for, and she made me feel, I don't know, special."
"Yeah, well, they all tend to do that," Sirius said lightly. "You'll find another girl, Remus."
"Easy enough for you to say," Remus answered. "You're the one who dated half of Hogwarts, after all. Reesa was the first girl I ever loved. And it turned out she was using me!" Remus looked at Sirius, pain in his eyes. "And that isn't even the point. The point is, I let you down because I allowed my feelings, my instincts, to take over. I didn't think, Sirius, not about anything." Sirius looked as if he were about to speak, but Remus continued, ignoring him. "Why do you think I always insist on thinking thing through, Sirius? Do you know how – how terrible it is for me to look back at – at the full moons, and remember that I was an animal? That I wasn't in control? And then to have the same thing happen at a time when I didn't have to be that way?"
"Remus, it wasn't that way at all." Sirius looked at him. "You said you let us down. Well, I seem to remember you stopping one of those thugs right as he was about to curse me. And as for not thinking about things – well, as James says, you're rational twenty-eight days a month, and that's at least twenty-seven and a half more than me." He grinned, and finally Remus returned the smile. "Come on, Remus. I told James we'd meet them at noon, and it's after eleven already."
(present)
"Are you sure you can do this?" Sirius asked Jenny. She sighed and looked at him.
"What's to do? I don't have to fool them for long, you know, I just have to get them in here so you and Remus can take care of them. There's not much danger to me."
"I just wanted to be sure," he said, his words trailing off at the end.
It was evening at Number Six Privet Drive, and tomorrow agents of Voldemort would be coming to get Harry. They thought that Marissa Lestrange was holding him captive and they would be able to take him to Voldemort easily, but they would be in for a rather nasty surprise when they showed up.
"Sirius!" Remus called from the kitchen. "Sirius, there's a letter here for you. It's from Dumbledore."
"I'm coming," Sirius replied, moving away from the window and Jenny, who followed him.
"What is it?" she asked as he read the letter.
"It says here that Snape has been ordered by Voldemort to kill me," he read.
"I'm sure he's more than happy to do that," Jenny said darkly. "I don't like him, Snape."
"Join the club," Sirius remarked, and read on. "Right – so Snape wants to make it look like he's killed me. That could have its advantages, you know," he said thoughtfully. "It'd probably get the Ministry off my tail."
"Literally," Jenny said, grinning at him. "How's Snape planning to fake this?"
"Wizard's duel, right in plain sight – like what happened with Wormtail, except no spectators getting killed this time." Sirius considered this. "Sounds like a decent plan to me. If we can trust him"
"How is he going to explain the lack of a body?" Remus asked.
"He's transfigure something to look like a body," Sirius said. "In the confusion, I duck away in Animagus form, and you, Remus, bring me back here."
"On a leash?" Jenny asked, grinning. "That should be a sight. I wish I had a camera."
"So when is this set for?" Remus asked.
"Ah, tomorrow at ten. We're to be outside Gringotts and he'll meet us there."
"Tomorrow?" Jenny's jaw dropped. "But – can you get back in time?"
"The Death Eaters aren't coming until midnight," Remus pointed out. "That shouldn't be a problem. You and Harry just stay here and we'll get back before then."
"There are a lot of things that could go very wrong with this plan," Jenny said. "I don't trust Snape, for one."
"Neither do I," Sirius said, grinning. "But Dumbledore's told him he has to work with me. I don't think he'll try to kill me."
"And I'll be there in case he does," Remus added. "Still, this plan is rather risky."
"There's no time to make another," Sirius said. "Don't worry, everything will go fine."
"It had better," Jenny muttered. "Where'd Harry go, anyway?"
"He's upstairs writing to his friends. He hasn't heard from them in a while," Remus explained. "I'm going to go see how he's doing now and explain everything to him." He smiled and headed upstairs. As soon as he was gone, Jenny turned to Sirius.
"So I'm just supposed to stay here with Harry and wait for you to come back?" she asked. There was a dangerous edge to her voice.
"That would probably be best," Sirius said. "I don't think that the Death Eaters would expect anything else."
"Fine." Jenny glared at him, then sighed. "At least change that stupid disguise, will you? It doesn't suit you at all. And it's not a very good one, either; anyone could see who you are."
"I will," he said. "Have you checked on Marissa recently? I don't think she will be able to get free, but it's best to check every now and then."
"I did a few minutes ago." Jenny sighed. "She – she's trying to act all proud and haughty, but she's afraid of being sent back to Azkaban, Sirius. She just might cooperate with the Ministry."
"I doubt it," he said grimly. "In Azkaban, I could hear her sometimes…she was sure that Voldemort would free her and reward her. She may be afraid to go back but I think she's more afraid of him." His eyes were bleak and old as he spoke of the prison. Jenny put a hand on his shoulder.
"You won't be sent back," she said quietly. "Dumbledore knows now, and others. The Dementors are gone, so they can't do – that." She shuddered.
"When – when I had been recaptured, at Hogwarts," he said softly, "and I was waiting for the Dementors… I would have killed myself if I could have. Better – better dead than that…"
"You'd have been right," she assured him in just as low a tone. "But it won't happen now."
"I've never been afraid of anything," he said, almost talking to himself. "Nothing… but I'm afraid of that, Jenny, afraid of what the Dementors could do. It's very odd, you know. All the times I've faced death, I never really feared it, not really. The other…"
"It's all right," she said gently. "It won't happen. I promise that." She kissed him lightly. "We'll all get through this together."
Sirius and Remus decided to leave late that night so they could build an alibi regarding where they'd been. Harry kept working on his homework, he said, but his essay on Transfigurations didn't get very far before he gave up and went to bed.
In the middle of the night he sat up with a scream of pain. A moment later, Jenny rushed in.
"What happened?" she asked, concern in her voice. Harry held a hand to his scar. He was shaking all over. "What's wrong?" Jenny asked more gently, sitting down on the edge of his bed.
"A dream," Harry said finally, taking his hand from his forehead. "A nightmare. Voldemort was there, and Wormtail."
"You've had those before, haven't you?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah – twice at least. Voldemort – he still thinks he's going to get me tomorrow night."
"He won't," she assured him. Her fingers brushed his scar lightly. "Did it hurt you?"
"Yes, it's better now."
"It doesn't feel any different to me, it's not hot or anything." Jenny looked him in the eyes. It was rather odd, for Harry, to have someone caring about him like this. The Dursleys would have yelled at him and stomped back to bed. "Anything else in your dream?"
"There – there was a Dementor," Harry said slowly. "I think Voldemort promised that when he's won he'll let them feed off of people as much as they like." He shuddered at that thought, and Jenny shuddered too.. "He was talking about Sirius, taunting Wormtail. Wormtail's still afraid, and he thinks Sirius could beat Snape. He thinks Voldemort should send Dementors."
"What did Voldemort say to that?" Jenny asked sharply.
"He just laughed. That's when I woke up." Harry looked down at the blanket. "Will Sirius be all right, you think?"
"Well, Snape's not really going to try to kill him," Jenny said. "And even if he were, I think Sirius could handle it." She smiled. "He's been in a lot of tough situations, Harry, and he's come through them all. And Remus will be there too, he can help out if it gets dangerous."
But Harry could see worry in her eyes and knew that he wasn't the only one concerned tonight.
"Can you get back to sleep or not?" Jenny asked. "Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I will." He yawned. "We'd better write to Dumbledore tomorrow though, he'll want to hear that."
"Of course we'll write," Jenny said. "I'll stay here a little bit if you'd like."
"Yeah…" Harry yawned again and closed his eyes. "I am tired." He felt much better knowing that someone else knew about his dream. It had helped to talk about it.
As he drifted off to sleep again, he thought he heard someone singing quietly. He knew that voice….
"I love you, Harry," it seemed to whisper.
"Love you too mum," he mumbled before dropping off the rest of the way.
Jenny waited until Harry was asleep. She thought he mumbled something at one point but couldn't make it out. Then she went back to her own bedroom.
She couldn't sleep; she really was worried, whatever she'd said to Harry. Maybe she should just get up and do something, take her mind off of this…
She was standing in a large room. It was lit at one end but everywhere else was dark. She thought she could see eyes in the dark, and shapes that did not have eyes. The light shone down on a raised dais; a throne was set on the platform. Snakes were carved into the throne, snakes whose gemstones eyes shone in the light as if they were real. And on the throne was Voldemort. She'd never seen him but she knew who he was, knew it could be no other. His white, snakelike face and horrible red eyes sickened her. Behind his throne stood two Dementors, their ominous shadows shading his face somewhat.
Suddenly she recognized the room; it was the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but it had been changed greatly. The ceiling was as it always had been, though the night outside was apparently without stars. But the room was not the same. The tables and chairs were all gone, the hangings from the walls also. There was an air of terror and hatred in the place that she could feel.
Voldemort waved his left hand almost lazily. Instantly the great doors swung open and several Death Eaters entered, leading a group of chained people behind them. Jenny gasped, for she recognized these people. There was Remus; a great scar ran down one side of his face and his left arm was gone at the elbow. Minerva McGonagall, looking terribly shocked, as if she could not believe what had happened to her, and Professor Trelawney, who had apparently not Seen this coming. Arthur Weasley and his wife, both with terrified expression on their faces, their daughter and three of their sons huddled near them. A girl with bushy brown hair and Hogwarts robes was wrapped in far more chains than could possibly be needed to restrain her, and her face was full of a mixture of things – grief was predominant. Many other people she did not know. And – Jenny caught her breath – Sirius was there, his robes torn, his face blue with bruises. Now suddenly Jenny knew that whatever was happening wasn't real – or not yet – for there she was, standing as best she could, an arm pressed to her ribs and fear in her eyes. What was this? A dream? A vision? She thought that if it were a dream she should have woken up – didn't they stop once you knew what they were? This place, whatever it was, was horrible, and she'd have given anything to be able to leave right then.
Voldemort rose from his throne and stared down at his vanquished enemies, a smile playing over his features.
"So," he said in his high, cold voice, "You thought you could fight me, the greatest wizard in the world. Now you see how wrong you were." He laughed then. "You thought that Harry Potter could stop me, didn't you? Yet I killed him without hurting myself. You thought I was afraid of Albus Dumbledore, but he too is dead by my hand." He gestured around the room. "Now I have won, and you have all lost." He pointed his wand lazily at one of the women Jenny didn't know and said, "Avada Kedavra." She fell to the ground, dead.
"Most of you will envy her soon," he said, turning back to them. "You will die slowly, horribly, painfully." He smiled again, cruelly. "And some of you will suffer longer than others. It has been rather – enjoyable for me, choosing the perfect fate for certain of you." He glanced at Remus. "There are many of your kind on my side now. I could give you to them; they would tear you to pieces. A fitting end, I think." Remus refused to acknowledge him, instead shifting his chains a bit. Jenny could see now that they were much brighter than most of the ones in the room. From the way he grimaced, she guessed that they were made of silver. Voldemort's eye traveled on to the brown-haired girl. "You helped Potter in his foolish quests many times," he said softly. "But you'll find that there are some creatures even you can't face, not without a wand…and there, this touching family picture." He looked now at the Weasleys. "Some of you are already gone… the rest of you will join them shortly." Then his eye fell on Sirius. "Sirius Black," he hissed. "A formidable enemy. I have a different fate in store for you." He held up a hand and one of the Dementors glided forward. Jenny watched with horror as Sirius' face turned white. Jenny found herself screaming and shutting her eyes tightly, willing herself to block out the scene before her-
And she sat up in bed. Early dawn was turning the world pink beyond her window. She was – had she been dreaming? Was that horrible scene just a vivid dream? Or was it more than that, was it a vision of what might come to be… It must be a dream, caused by all her worries, plus that dream of Harry's.
But somehow she didn't think so.
~
Mrs. Weasley had decided that the family was going to go shop that day. Since Mr. Weasley and the older boys had to work, she hauled Fred, George, Ron and Ginny along with her.
"We need to stop at Gringotts first," she said, consulting her list. "Fred! George! You stay here!"
"But mum, we have some shopping we've got to do," Fred said.
"Wait a bit and you may," Mrs. Weasley said. "But I'm going to make sure you don't go down Knockturn Alley."
"Mum, we weren't planning to!" George looked exasperated. "Fine, we'll go to Gringotts with you."
"Hurry up, they'll be open soon!" Ron said. "It's almost ten!"
As they reached the great marble steps there was a commotion off to the right.
"What's that?" Mrs. Weasley asked, shading her eyes with her hand. Someone was running through the crowd; people were dodging out of the way. A spectator shouted something, but it didn't carry to the steps.
Another man was chasing the first, his wand out. A woman screamed as he passed by, but he didn't seem to care.
"It's Snape!" George said. "Who's he chasing?"
The first man had stopped now, holding a hand to his side. He was breathing heavily and had a cornered look on his face. With a shock, Ron recognized Sirius Black. Snape pushed out of the crowd and stood ten feet from him.
"You've nowhere left to run, Black," Snape snarled. "You're out of time."
"Not likely," Sirius growled back. His wand was in his hand. The crowd seemed to realize who he was all at once, and a furor of screams and shouts arose. People began shoving each other out of the way, desperate to get away. The Weasleys stood where they were, transfixed by the sight.
"I won't go back!" Sirius shouted. "You'll have to kill me!"
"That's what I was planning on," Snape answered. His wand was held high as he shouted a spell. A bright white flash of light and an explosion of noise filled the air; when it had gone, a dead body lay on the ground.
Sirius' body. Snape put his wand into his belt and stayed where he was. People began to nervously come as far forward as they dared, trying to get a look, wary in case Sirius wasn't dead yet. One braver – or more curious – man stepped forward and checked for a pulse.
"He's dead!" the man shouted, and another hubbub began, this one much happier. The crowd began to congregate around Snape, some congratulating him, some thanking him, some asking just how he'd done it.
Through it all the Weasleys just stood watching, not quite able to believe what they'd seen.
And a short distance away, Remus was leading a great black dog on a leash.
Well, that was not a very long piece, I'm afraid. I came down with a dreadful case of writer's block somewhere in the middle of this piece and had a terrible time finishing it, but I think I'm over that now. At least I have an idea of what's coming next.
To, er, whoever that was who asked why the number of my stories had gone down: I recently erased some things I didn't like, when the memory problems began, and last week I compressed Lisa Goes to Hogwarts into four parts rather than fifteen. The story's still there – plus a few revisions, mostly SPAG but also a bit of grammar – it's just in longer chapters (10,000 words each). You didn't miss reading anything important (unless you haven't read Lisa, which is an interesting piece, one of my favorites.)
Right, the characters from HP belong to J.K. Rowling. Reesa and Marissa are mine. Jenny's just someone who sprang from my head, a la Athena, except that she wasn't fully formed and isn't a goddess. However, she is telling me that this author's note has just degenerated into babbling, so I'll let you go. Thanks for reading (and Meg, when you read this, criticism is okay if it's nice. Just remember I do know where you, at least, live.)
KB