3 September 1997
"I don't like this, Minerva," Pomona whispered, as she looked behind them yet again. "Really, I don't."
"Neither do I, Pomona, which is why we need to hurry," Minerva replied. She lengthened her strides so that Pomona almost had to jog to keep up.
"What if they find us out?"
"They will not."
"But what if they do?" Pomona persisted.
Minerva sighed. "Then they will and we shall have to bear the consequences," she replied, now stopping rather abruptly beside the gates to Hogsmeade. She lifted her cane and tapped it with her wand so that the walking stick vanished. "Filius is supervising the school, dear, and I have told him to send for us straight away if anything goes amiss."
"I am talking about you, Minerva, not anybody else. You feigned illness and told Severus that you had an appointment at St Mungo's because of your heart! But we are not going to St Mungo's, we are going who knows where to meet Remus Lupin who, incidentally, is being hunted by the Ministry."
Minerva did not back down when Pomona gave her an accusatory look. "Well," she said, straightening and smoothing down her robes, "I do happen to know where we are going. We are going to meet Remus at the Burrow, listen to whatever it is that he so urgently needs to tell us, and then return to the castle in time for our next class."
Pomona was silent and this time Minerva sighed and reached out to place a hand on her friend's elbow.
"I do not intend on staying for long, Pomona. But this may be the last time we have the chance to speak to anyone on the outside."
Pomona gave Minerva a hard stare, before finally sighing herself and continuing their descent to the village. "You scared Poppy this morning," she said. "Not to mention how frightened I was to find you sitting in the hospital wing with that walking stick again. I thought something serious had happened."
"My apologies, dear. I would have told you earlier, but Remus' message came quite late, I'm afraid."
"And are you sure Severus was convinced?
Minerva remembered the slight look of worry in Severus' eyes that morning when she had stumbled and gasped rather dramatically on their way to breakfast - they had fortunately crossed paths on their way to the Great Hall. She felt slightly embarrassed to have been reduced to such theatrics, but she had not been able to think of an alternative excuse to get out of the castle for a few hours.
"I must say he did look quite concerned when he came to fetch me."
"Oh, I highly doubt that," Minerva finally replied. "I expect he was relieved that I might not have to leave the castle by his own doing."
"Minerva, don't say such things!" Pomona admonishd her. She observed her friend. "You do look a little peaky."
Minerva tutted. "I am in perfectly good health, thank you," she said with a note of finality. "The Headmaster did seem to believe me, although I am in no doubt that suspicions will grow if we do not return rather promptly," she added as they stopped again. "Side-along?"
"Won't Molly have charms in place?"
"She is aware that we are coming," Minerva replied. "We have a window of a minute to get there. Do you want to lead?"
Pomona shrugged then nodded and lifted her arm for Minerva to hold. "One, two, three."
A large crack followed and Minerva felt herself be pulled towards the Burrow, several long miles away. They landed on the stone path leading up to the Burrow. The door to the house was already open and Molly Weasley was standing outside, waiting for them. Her curly red hair, now streaked with grey, was pinned back with barrettes so that it framed a pale and tired and worried face.
"Oh, I am glad to see both of you," Molly said, motioning for them to come in and then closing the door. "I thought we would not see you because we hadn't heard anything from you since last week. We thought—" she stopped and leaned forward to give Minerva a tight squeeze. "I'm glad nothing has happened to either of you," she said. "Are you all right?"
"Just fine," Pomona replied. "But we do need to be quick."
"Yes, of course," Molly Weasley said, shaking her head as though telling herself off for trying to chit-chat given the circumstances. She bade them follow her. "Remus is in the kitchen. He arrived just before Arthur left for work," she added, her voice shaking ever so slightly.
"How is Arthur?" Minerva asked as they arrived at the kitchen door.
Molly did not answer immediately, as she placed her hand on the door. "A little worried, I must admit," she said quietly. "What with the boys being away, and Percy—but never you mind," she interrupted herself, "We are all just fine."
Pomona caught Minerva's eye but neither said anything. Though words of comfort could certainly have been shared, both Pomona and Minerva were also aware that at times it was best to leave things as they were.
"Remus, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout are here," Molly said as she opened the door to the kitchen. There was the faint sound of someone moving, but Molly closed the door slightly and turned briefly to look at Minerva. "I would stay but I have a rather urgent appointment with Tonks," she said. "You might have left before I return, so I will say my goodbyes now. Do look after yourselves and—" she stopped, cleared her throat then added, "I would be grateful if you keep an eye on Ginevra."
"Of course, Molly," Pomona said instantly.
"Good—thank you," Molly said quickly. Her bottom lip trembled and she bit it gently to stop it. It took her a moment to compose herself. "Thank you," she repeated. "Now, I best be off. I would be grateful if you could remind Remus to wait until I return before he leaves."
Minerva nodded as she accepted Molly's quick embrace. "Travel safely, Molly."
Molly nodded and, with one last wave, bustled away to fetch her cloak. Meanwhile, Pomona pushed open the door to the kitchen.
Remus was sitting at the table looking a little worse for wear. His skin was unnaturally pale, almost translucent in the current light, and many fresh marks lined his face. Minerva recalled there being a full moon a few nights ago and, given how difficult it was now to simply go shopping and purchase ingredients at Diagon Alley, Minerva thought it possible that Remus would have been unable to make Wolfsbane Potion these last few months.
"I'm glad you could come," Remus told them both. He motioned at them to sit down, which they did. "We haven't heard much from you at Hogwarts - I didn't think that you would be able to leave."
"It took some creativity," Pomona replied, glancing briefly at Minerva. "But we managed. Although we cannot stay for long."
"Indeed," Minerva agreed quietly.
"Then I will keep things short," Remus said. "Bill Weasley's wedding was last week as you know. Lots of people were there including Harry, Hermione and Ron who have been at the Burrow for weeks."
Pomona and Minerva's eyes flicked up at the ceiling as though expecting the three children to glide seamlessly through it.
"They left once the Death Eaters arrived," Remus added. "We don't know where they are but Ron left a ghoul upstairs dressed as him to convince Death Eaters that he has spattergroit."
"So their departure was planned?" Pomona said.
"Evidently," Remus conceded. "But we thought it important you should know because the Death Eaters did check on the ghoul, or who they thought was Ron Weasley. We need you to confirm this story in case they question you about Ronald's whereabouts."
Minerva nodded. "That is easily done," she said, waving her hand. "But do we know where Mr Weasley is and what he is doing?"
"No, but I do have an idea where they might be staying - I have no doubt that he is with Harry and Hermione."
Naturally, Minerva thought, though that did nothing to reassure her. She would have liked to ask Remus more but thought better of it; he had just told her that he did not know what Potter, Weasley and Granger were doing. Time was short and spending it speculating would be a waste.
"Very well," she said instead. "Is there anything else, Remus?"
"Yes, two things." he said. He rummaged in his cloak pocket, and removed what appeared to be two Galleons. "An invention coming from the mind of Hermione Granger," he said. "They are not Galleons that you can spend, but rather ones that you can use to communicate with others. I have been told that they were made for that group Harry and the others formed while Umbridge was arround."
"Dumbledore's Army," Pomona murmured.
Remus nodded. "You can change the numerals here and, once they have been changed, the coin will burn in your pocket so that recipients know that a message has been sent. Hermione told me they used the coins to send messages abuot the date of a meeting. I've been tinkerng with it a bit so that you can now send longer messages on it that aren't limited to being composed of only numerals."
He handed a coin to Minerva, who inspected it. Pomona leaned over her shoulder.
"Ingenious," she said and Minerva nodded gently.
A flicker of a smile crossed Remus' lips. "I don't doubt Hermione would be pleased to hear that," he said. "I thought it was quite clever myself, which made me think that perhaps we could use them to get information in and out of Hogwarts without attracting too much attention. They would have to be short messages, mind. But it would be a discrete way of communicating with each other."
"I am inclined to agree," Minerva said, speaking at last. "Is this ours to keep?"
Remus nodded and Minerva looked at Pomona who nodded too. "You keep it."
Minerva pocketed the coin. "What was the other matter that you wished to discuss?"
Remus cleared his throat and leaned forwards. "I spoke to Aberforth recently and he mentioned the existence of some sort of passageway between Hogwarts and the Hog's Head. Albus frequently used it, apparently. I wasn't sure if he had told you or not," he added, directing his comment to Minerva.
Minerva crossed her legs and looked briefly down at her hands folded on her lap before returning her attention to Remus. "I am afraid Albus did not impart that piece of information with me," she said. She then straightened, now feeling a distinct urge to leave the Burrow as soon as she could, and added, "Is this passageway one you think we could use to stay in contact with Aberforth, if need be?"
Remus nodded. "If, as you said, restrictions tighten and you are not allowed out of the castle, I think it might be an alternative way you could leave the Hogwarts without being seen. If you need any help throughout the year, you could alert Aberforth who could then alert us."
"And where is this passageway?" Pomona asked.
"It's a little complicated, I must admit. Essentially, you have to enter a come-and-go room—"
"The Room of Requirements?" Pomona said.
Remus' eyebrows shot up. "You know it?"
Minerva nodded. How they knew about was a story for another day, she thought. The look Pomona was sharing with her told Minerva that Pomona thought the same. Minerva cleared her throat.
"We do," she said. "And the passageway is inside the room?"
"Behind an empty portrait above the fireplace. It always appears, apparently, no matter what shape the room takes."
"That is helpful," Pomona said.
"Quite," Minerva agreed, just as Elphinstone's pocket-watched chimed loudly.
"I expect that is your cue to leave?" Remus said. He got up and both Minerva and Pomona followed. "Do look after yourselves," he said.
"We will do."
"And if you need anything," he added, lifting the Galleon in his hand, "let us know, and someone will come to help."
They nodded and, after saying their quick goodbyes, Minerva and Pomona prepared to return to Hogwarts.
