A/N: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Shrub Naya Baras (that's Hindu), Happy Ramadan (? not sure if that's right.), Happy Winter Solstice, and whatever else you celebrate. Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I spent my entire freakin' Christmas Eve typing this, so you'd better enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: We know it all. But, look! I can claim things. Hakon, Kaelonn, Dilnavaz, Mohinder, and Juta. *looks very proud of self*
Voldemort was, again, doing what he had been for most of that summer; pacing and thinking, back and forth over the cave, Wormtail cowering senselessly in the corner.
"I don't blame you at all, my dear Wormtail," Voldemort said coolly, looking at the short man with an expression of mild disgust,"If it's anyone's fault, it's Fletcher's. Playing two sides at once can never work. Remember that, Wormtail."
He nodded fearfully. His master had sunk into a horribly bad mood around April, just after he had ensured the murder of Igor Karkaroff, and hadn't gotten out of it quite yet.
"Call in Severus Snape," Voldemort continued,"I must have a chat with that dear fellow."
Terrified, Wormtail slid into the next chamber. Why on earth was he so cheerful now? Oh, something must be wrong. At least he wouldn't be taking it out on him, he hoped.
There was a crude stone fireplace set into the far wall. Wormtail conjured a fire and threw in a handful of dust.
"Severus Snape! Your master calls!"
A low, hollow whoosh and Snape spun into the room.
"Is he still in that mood?" he asked quietly, as not to be heard.
Wormtail shrugged,"He was odd a minute ago. Near cheerful, in fact. Be careful."
Be careful. Well, Peter was always king of the understatement.
If he was near cheerful, than he wasn't mad at him. If he wasn't mad at him, then he still had no idea that he, Severus Snape, was a spy.
He bowed deeply upon entering the room. Voldemort gave him an appraising look, his red eyes flashing.
"You understand that I still cannot trust you, Snape."
"Well, after the entire ordeal with Fletcher, no one can blame you, Master."
"Hmmm. But the information you give me will be correct, no?" Voldemort didn't wait for an answer,"I need to know the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts."
Snape paused. He couldn't ask why he needed to know Voldemort would not like that. He wouldn't like it if he lied, either.
Should he tell him? Dumbledore had warned him not to tell anything to Voldemort. But what could this hurt?
Alot, said the voice in the back of his head, It could hurt alot. Who knows what he's planning? But he would suspect him if he didn't answer. Scheisse!
Of course, you could warn the staff. You could warn the new teacher that Voldemort might be after them...
"Dilnavaz Patil, my Lord," he replied, trying to control his voice,"I believe Dumbledore will be contacting her soon."
A slow, wicked grin crept across Voldemort's face,"Oh, we do like the Patils. Very good, Snape, very good." Snape grimaced slightly, too subtly to be noticed. Voldemort was treating him like a dog; Good Snape, now tell me how to kill Harry Potter. Tell me how to kill Dumbledore. Lead an innocent witch into a trap. Good boy, Snape, good boy.
Snape forced a smile,"Always glad to be of help, Master."
"Can you tell me anything about Lucius, or the giants? I'm not quite sure on the honesty of my other spies," Voldemort's eyes flickered towards Wormtail, who was standing a few feet behind Snape.
To hell with it, he'd already slipped up. He might as well tell him what he knew,"Lucius is still in questioning. His trail is next week. His popularity is quickly declining. As to the giants, I've no idea."
"Are you sure you can't tell me anymore about the them?"
Snape shook his head, and explained, truthfully,"After the attack, they ran off. I don't know at all what happened to them."
Voldemort turned to the wall,"You may leave."
Relieved, Snape turned back towards the chamber with the fireplace, nodding curtly to Wormtail as he passed.
He had alot to tell Dumbledore.
* * *
Thwap. Thwap. Hisssss.
A series of odd noises aroused Dilnavaz. She kept her head buried in the couch arm, vainly pulling the knitted throw around her. She was too comfortable here, she wasn't about to get up.
Click.....CRASH!
She jumped. She could hear someone cursing a blue streak from the direction of the kitchen. What the heck?
Muttering, she stood and shuffled to the kitchen doorway. Sirius was lying in a heap on the wood floor, spouting a colourful array of words. Several pans and strips of bacon were scattered around, and a large, greasy piece of bacon was plastered across his forehead, a drip of fat going down his nose.
She began truly laughing, for the first time that summer.
Sirius glared up at her,"Shut up!" A drop of grease splattered on his chin.
"Get up, you fool, and let me do the cooking," she giggled, pulling out her wand and waving it. The pans flew up and landed neatly on the stove,"I know you're a dog at heart, Sirius, but it's still uncouth to eat bacon off the floor."
"Shut up!" he repeated angrily. She chuckled and stepped over him.
"Where are Bella and Romulus?" she asked vaguely.
Sirius glanced at her,"And Remus."
She shrugged,"Where are they?
"Went down into town. Whimple's a nice little place, they like dogs here."
"Unless they're covered in bacon grease."
"Ha ha ha," he stood up, peeled the bacon off his head and ate it,"Ah, they never fed you like this in Azkaban."
She paused, staring at the bacon strips sizzling on the stove,"Must have been hell in Azkaban."
"You'd never understand, 'navaz," he stopped plucking bacon off the floor to look at her,"You don't have a single, happy thought there. Oh, sure, a few sane ones. But you're more afraid of your own mind. The Dementors have it down to an art. They feed on you, they take over your brain with their slimy blackness. You fear only your thoughts, because they're so horrible. You have no memory or sense of future, just ugly thoughts rushing around your head.
"It's not like a Boggart type of fear. That's material fear. This is fear of yourself, fear of your mind. That's hell, 'navaz, when you're driven mad by your own thoughts."
She gave a nervous laugh,"And you still talk about it as if it were nothing, but it isn't."
"That's what Azkaban does to you."
Dilnavaz slid the strips onto a plate and set them on the table,"Breakfast is served."
"Lunch, actually. It's nearly noon," Sirius sat down.
Dilnavaz seated herself across from him,"I slept that long?"
"Well, I'm not surprised. From what Remus said, you had a pretty rough night."
If you only knew, she thought,"So he told you all about what I said, then?"
"Don't get mad at him, 'navaz. He was scared for you, we all are. Why didn't you tell us?"
Dilnavaz bit her lip,"I don't know why."
"Yes you do."
"If Remus knew, he'd flaunt it at me that I should've stayed with him. If Bella and Romulus knew, they'd get all worried."
"Because we're your friends, 'navaz. We're supposed to worry about you."
"But you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Sympathy was useless in my situation," she poked her bacon around her plate,"Every time I tried to get my daughters and I out of there, he'd beat me."
"I didn't know you had kids," Sirius said quietly.
Dilnavaz looked up at him, confused,"Then Remus didn't mention that?"
"No."
"He used to beat them, too. My two little twin girls, Padma and Parvati."
"How old were they?"
"He left when they were eight. But he abused them most of their lives. He was a drunken bastard."
"Any idea what happened to him?"
Her stomach did a flip,"No. Why?" He shrugged and went back to his bacon.
When she had finished hers, she announced that she was going into Whimple to see if she could catch up to Bella.
She left the cottage and walked out onto the main street from the graveyard. It was an early afternoon in late summer, and the air tasted pleasant and warm. All the Muggles seemed to be doing nothing in particular, just lazing about, gossiping.
Arabella, Romulus, and Remus were in a Muggle grocery market. Romulus and Remus weren't used to Muggles, or very fond of them, but Bella had experience. She was walking briskly up and down the food aisles, while the other two trailed behind.
Dilnavaz waved at them through the store window. Romulus came out to talk to her,"Nice to see you up."
"Well, Padfoot made a beautiful mess in the kitchen with the bacon and it woke me up."
Romulus began to laugh,"I'd love to have been there to see it."
They stood, looking in at Remus watching the cashier ring up Bella's purchases. Every time the machine beeped, he jumped a few feet in the air.
"How they hell do they live like this?" commented Romulus,"I still wonder that, after four years of Muggle Studies and six months of living with 'em."
Bella and Remus came out, eventually, and the four continued down the street.
"Harry will be going back to school next month, won't he?" said Remus.
Arabella shifted the bags she was carrying,"His birthday is tomorrow, 31 July."
"Oh?" muttered Dilnavaz vaguely, her mind processing this.
Sixteen. Tomorrow Harry Potter would be sixteen. Sixteen was when she and Remus began courting.
Maybe she should send him a gift. Why was she so worried about Harry all of a sudden?
Don't you remember what you told Mohinder? You took his secret on for Lily and James.
And Harry.
* * *
Harry stood outside his bedroom window, blinking in the bright light. He had just spent the entire morning scrubbing 4 Privet Drive's toilets.
The Dursleys were still scared of him. He supposed that they thought that he would get Ron to come back through the chimney and hex Dudley again. He missed Ron so much, he wished that he would.
The past year had been a bad one. Hogwarts had been in absolute disarray after the 'attack' by the giants. The school had been evacuated, and Harry had been sent home with the Weasleys.
Tomorrow was his birthday, and for the first time, he was excited about it. First of all, he had actually getting gifts. Second, it meant that school would be starting in just over four weeks.
Sixth year at Hogwarts. It felt like a dream. For the past five years his life had been a dream, a beautiful, rich, revealing, but terrifying, dream, that he never wanted to wake up from.
* * *
That evening the little cottage by the graveyard in Whimple had a visitor; none other than Albus Dumbledore.
He Apparated at the door in his sweeping purple cloak and robes, silver hair glowing ethereally.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore!" Remus cried upon opening the door,"What brings this visit?"
"Something good, for once. I understand Dilnavaz Patil is here. May I speak to her?"
Remus's face twitched,"Yes. Come in, come in." Dumbledore went in and sat down on the chesterfield.
"Lovely little village, Whimple is. I know a wonderful family of wizards here. Do you know the Boaks?"
"No, sir, can't say that I do."
"Shame. Very nice family. Their daughter Adela will be going to Hogwarts this year..."
Remus left Dumbledore mumbling to himself.
"Professor Dumbledore's here to talk to you, Dilnavaz!" he said loudly upon entering the kitchen, where she was sitting with the rest of them. She stood, looking perplexed, and brushed past him.
"Nice to see you, Albus," Dilnavaz said pleasantly once in the parlor,"What brings this visit?"
Dumbledore smiled his mysterious smile,"I would like to invite you to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."
She stared at him,"But I'm hardly a teacher."
"You have twin girls, my dear Dilnavaz. You have had lots of experience with Dark Arts. That makes you very qualified."
"Well, it's still a very large job, Albus, I don't think that..," she spluttered vainly.
"Nonsense. I have the utmost trust in you." Why do people have to have so much bloody trust in me? she thought weakly.
Dumbledore continued,"You could do with the money, also. I understand that you haven't had a job since Mohinder left you?"
"I have savings. And he does pay child support," she explained. The hell he pays child support. He hasn't given me a knut.
Dumbledore smiled,"No, he doesn't. This job will be good for you," he stood,"I will see you at Hogsmeade on 30 August, at the train station. And a word of advice; those giants really aren't that bad." He Disapparated.
She glared at where he had been previously standing. This was the last thing she needed.
* * *
Hakon sighed. He had just encountered a bump in his plans of revenge. That bump was actually a certain wizard, by the name of Voldemort.
A man claiming that he was Voldemort's right hand man had just visited him. He had told him a long and deeply boring lie about Voldemort's plan of revenge on the giants. After a little prodding and a few threats on Hakon's part, he had got some truth out of him.
First, no one knew where the giants had run off to. Second, a wizard by the name of Mohinder Patil had discovered a way to defeat this wizard, Voldemort. Voldemort's followers were now after him.
Thirdly, Mohinder's ex-wife, Dilnavaz Patil, was teaching at Hogwarts this year. Fourth, Hakon had squeezed it out of the wizard that Voldemort was really just going to use Hakon should he get him on his side. This classified Voldemort as an enemy. Hakon then killed the wizard, and had just eaten him for dinner.
Simple, this life of violence was. Kill all those in your path. Voldemort was in his path. To kill Voldemort, he needed Mohinder. To get Mohinder, he needed Dilnavaz Patil.
Simple.
DISCLAIMER: We know it all. But, look! I can claim things. Hakon, Kaelonn, Dilnavaz, Mohinder, and Juta. *looks very proud of self*
Voldemort was, again, doing what he had been for most of that summer; pacing and thinking, back and forth over the cave, Wormtail cowering senselessly in the corner.
"I don't blame you at all, my dear Wormtail," Voldemort said coolly, looking at the short man with an expression of mild disgust,"If it's anyone's fault, it's Fletcher's. Playing two sides at once can never work. Remember that, Wormtail."
He nodded fearfully. His master had sunk into a horribly bad mood around April, just after he had ensured the murder of Igor Karkaroff, and hadn't gotten out of it quite yet.
"Call in Severus Snape," Voldemort continued,"I must have a chat with that dear fellow."
Terrified, Wormtail slid into the next chamber. Why on earth was he so cheerful now? Oh, something must be wrong. At least he wouldn't be taking it out on him, he hoped.
There was a crude stone fireplace set into the far wall. Wormtail conjured a fire and threw in a handful of dust.
"Severus Snape! Your master calls!"
A low, hollow whoosh and Snape spun into the room.
"Is he still in that mood?" he asked quietly, as not to be heard.
Wormtail shrugged,"He was odd a minute ago. Near cheerful, in fact. Be careful."
Be careful. Well, Peter was always king of the understatement.
If he was near cheerful, than he wasn't mad at him. If he wasn't mad at him, then he still had no idea that he, Severus Snape, was a spy.
He bowed deeply upon entering the room. Voldemort gave him an appraising look, his red eyes flashing.
"You understand that I still cannot trust you, Snape."
"Well, after the entire ordeal with Fletcher, no one can blame you, Master."
"Hmmm. But the information you give me will be correct, no?" Voldemort didn't wait for an answer,"I need to know the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts."
Snape paused. He couldn't ask why he needed to know Voldemort would not like that. He wouldn't like it if he lied, either.
Should he tell him? Dumbledore had warned him not to tell anything to Voldemort. But what could this hurt?
Alot, said the voice in the back of his head, It could hurt alot. Who knows what he's planning? But he would suspect him if he didn't answer. Scheisse!
Of course, you could warn the staff. You could warn the new teacher that Voldemort might be after them...
"Dilnavaz Patil, my Lord," he replied, trying to control his voice,"I believe Dumbledore will be contacting her soon."
A slow, wicked grin crept across Voldemort's face,"Oh, we do like the Patils. Very good, Snape, very good." Snape grimaced slightly, too subtly to be noticed. Voldemort was treating him like a dog; Good Snape, now tell me how to kill Harry Potter. Tell me how to kill Dumbledore. Lead an innocent witch into a trap. Good boy, Snape, good boy.
Snape forced a smile,"Always glad to be of help, Master."
"Can you tell me anything about Lucius, or the giants? I'm not quite sure on the honesty of my other spies," Voldemort's eyes flickered towards Wormtail, who was standing a few feet behind Snape.
To hell with it, he'd already slipped up. He might as well tell him what he knew,"Lucius is still in questioning. His trail is next week. His popularity is quickly declining. As to the giants, I've no idea."
"Are you sure you can't tell me anymore about the them?"
Snape shook his head, and explained, truthfully,"After the attack, they ran off. I don't know at all what happened to them."
Voldemort turned to the wall,"You may leave."
Relieved, Snape turned back towards the chamber with the fireplace, nodding curtly to Wormtail as he passed.
He had alot to tell Dumbledore.
* * *
Thwap. Thwap. Hisssss.
A series of odd noises aroused Dilnavaz. She kept her head buried in the couch arm, vainly pulling the knitted throw around her. She was too comfortable here, she wasn't about to get up.
Click.....CRASH!
She jumped. She could hear someone cursing a blue streak from the direction of the kitchen. What the heck?
Muttering, she stood and shuffled to the kitchen doorway. Sirius was lying in a heap on the wood floor, spouting a colourful array of words. Several pans and strips of bacon were scattered around, and a large, greasy piece of bacon was plastered across his forehead, a drip of fat going down his nose.
She began truly laughing, for the first time that summer.
Sirius glared up at her,"Shut up!" A drop of grease splattered on his chin.
"Get up, you fool, and let me do the cooking," she giggled, pulling out her wand and waving it. The pans flew up and landed neatly on the stove,"I know you're a dog at heart, Sirius, but it's still uncouth to eat bacon off the floor."
"Shut up!" he repeated angrily. She chuckled and stepped over him.
"Where are Bella and Romulus?" she asked vaguely.
Sirius glanced at her,"And Remus."
She shrugged,"Where are they?
"Went down into town. Whimple's a nice little place, they like dogs here."
"Unless they're covered in bacon grease."
"Ha ha ha," he stood up, peeled the bacon off his head and ate it,"Ah, they never fed you like this in Azkaban."
She paused, staring at the bacon strips sizzling on the stove,"Must have been hell in Azkaban."
"You'd never understand, 'navaz," he stopped plucking bacon off the floor to look at her,"You don't have a single, happy thought there. Oh, sure, a few sane ones. But you're more afraid of your own mind. The Dementors have it down to an art. They feed on you, they take over your brain with their slimy blackness. You fear only your thoughts, because they're so horrible. You have no memory or sense of future, just ugly thoughts rushing around your head.
"It's not like a Boggart type of fear. That's material fear. This is fear of yourself, fear of your mind. That's hell, 'navaz, when you're driven mad by your own thoughts."
She gave a nervous laugh,"And you still talk about it as if it were nothing, but it isn't."
"That's what Azkaban does to you."
Dilnavaz slid the strips onto a plate and set them on the table,"Breakfast is served."
"Lunch, actually. It's nearly noon," Sirius sat down.
Dilnavaz seated herself across from him,"I slept that long?"
"Well, I'm not surprised. From what Remus said, you had a pretty rough night."
If you only knew, she thought,"So he told you all about what I said, then?"
"Don't get mad at him, 'navaz. He was scared for you, we all are. Why didn't you tell us?"
Dilnavaz bit her lip,"I don't know why."
"Yes you do."
"If Remus knew, he'd flaunt it at me that I should've stayed with him. If Bella and Romulus knew, they'd get all worried."
"Because we're your friends, 'navaz. We're supposed to worry about you."
"But you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Sympathy was useless in my situation," she poked her bacon around her plate,"Every time I tried to get my daughters and I out of there, he'd beat me."
"I didn't know you had kids," Sirius said quietly.
Dilnavaz looked up at him, confused,"Then Remus didn't mention that?"
"No."
"He used to beat them, too. My two little twin girls, Padma and Parvati."
"How old were they?"
"He left when they were eight. But he abused them most of their lives. He was a drunken bastard."
"Any idea what happened to him?"
Her stomach did a flip,"No. Why?" He shrugged and went back to his bacon.
When she had finished hers, she announced that she was going into Whimple to see if she could catch up to Bella.
She left the cottage and walked out onto the main street from the graveyard. It was an early afternoon in late summer, and the air tasted pleasant and warm. All the Muggles seemed to be doing nothing in particular, just lazing about, gossiping.
Arabella, Romulus, and Remus were in a Muggle grocery market. Romulus and Remus weren't used to Muggles, or very fond of them, but Bella had experience. She was walking briskly up and down the food aisles, while the other two trailed behind.
Dilnavaz waved at them through the store window. Romulus came out to talk to her,"Nice to see you up."
"Well, Padfoot made a beautiful mess in the kitchen with the bacon and it woke me up."
Romulus began to laugh,"I'd love to have been there to see it."
They stood, looking in at Remus watching the cashier ring up Bella's purchases. Every time the machine beeped, he jumped a few feet in the air.
"How they hell do they live like this?" commented Romulus,"I still wonder that, after four years of Muggle Studies and six months of living with 'em."
Bella and Remus came out, eventually, and the four continued down the street.
"Harry will be going back to school next month, won't he?" said Remus.
Arabella shifted the bags she was carrying,"His birthday is tomorrow, 31 July."
"Oh?" muttered Dilnavaz vaguely, her mind processing this.
Sixteen. Tomorrow Harry Potter would be sixteen. Sixteen was when she and Remus began courting.
Maybe she should send him a gift. Why was she so worried about Harry all of a sudden?
Don't you remember what you told Mohinder? You took his secret on for Lily and James.
And Harry.
* * *
Harry stood outside his bedroom window, blinking in the bright light. He had just spent the entire morning scrubbing 4 Privet Drive's toilets.
The Dursleys were still scared of him. He supposed that they thought that he would get Ron to come back through the chimney and hex Dudley again. He missed Ron so much, he wished that he would.
The past year had been a bad one. Hogwarts had been in absolute disarray after the 'attack' by the giants. The school had been evacuated, and Harry had been sent home with the Weasleys.
Tomorrow was his birthday, and for the first time, he was excited about it. First of all, he had actually getting gifts. Second, it meant that school would be starting in just over four weeks.
Sixth year at Hogwarts. It felt like a dream. For the past five years his life had been a dream, a beautiful, rich, revealing, but terrifying, dream, that he never wanted to wake up from.
* * *
That evening the little cottage by the graveyard in Whimple had a visitor; none other than Albus Dumbledore.
He Apparated at the door in his sweeping purple cloak and robes, silver hair glowing ethereally.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore!" Remus cried upon opening the door,"What brings this visit?"
"Something good, for once. I understand Dilnavaz Patil is here. May I speak to her?"
Remus's face twitched,"Yes. Come in, come in." Dumbledore went in and sat down on the chesterfield.
"Lovely little village, Whimple is. I know a wonderful family of wizards here. Do you know the Boaks?"
"No, sir, can't say that I do."
"Shame. Very nice family. Their daughter Adela will be going to Hogwarts this year..."
Remus left Dumbledore mumbling to himself.
"Professor Dumbledore's here to talk to you, Dilnavaz!" he said loudly upon entering the kitchen, where she was sitting with the rest of them. She stood, looking perplexed, and brushed past him.
"Nice to see you, Albus," Dilnavaz said pleasantly once in the parlor,"What brings this visit?"
Dumbledore smiled his mysterious smile,"I would like to invite you to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."
She stared at him,"But I'm hardly a teacher."
"You have twin girls, my dear Dilnavaz. You have had lots of experience with Dark Arts. That makes you very qualified."
"Well, it's still a very large job, Albus, I don't think that..," she spluttered vainly.
"Nonsense. I have the utmost trust in you." Why do people have to have so much bloody trust in me? she thought weakly.
Dumbledore continued,"You could do with the money, also. I understand that you haven't had a job since Mohinder left you?"
"I have savings. And he does pay child support," she explained. The hell he pays child support. He hasn't given me a knut.
Dumbledore smiled,"No, he doesn't. This job will be good for you," he stood,"I will see you at Hogsmeade on 30 August, at the train station. And a word of advice; those giants really aren't that bad." He Disapparated.
She glared at where he had been previously standing. This was the last thing she needed.
* * *
Hakon sighed. He had just encountered a bump in his plans of revenge. That bump was actually a certain wizard, by the name of Voldemort.
A man claiming that he was Voldemort's right hand man had just visited him. He had told him a long and deeply boring lie about Voldemort's plan of revenge on the giants. After a little prodding and a few threats on Hakon's part, he had got some truth out of him.
First, no one knew where the giants had run off to. Second, a wizard by the name of Mohinder Patil had discovered a way to defeat this wizard, Voldemort. Voldemort's followers were now after him.
Thirdly, Mohinder's ex-wife, Dilnavaz Patil, was teaching at Hogwarts this year. Fourth, Hakon had squeezed it out of the wizard that Voldemort was really just going to use Hakon should he get him on his side. This classified Voldemort as an enemy. Hakon then killed the wizard, and had just eaten him for dinner.
Simple, this life of violence was. Kill all those in your path. Voldemort was in his path. To kill Voldemort, he needed Mohinder. To get Mohinder, he needed Dilnavaz Patil.
Simple.