YourSide, Their Side and the Truth

Part XVI - Ad Vitam Aut Culpam (16.45)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, this is a fan fiction, by a fan for the fans

Author's Notes: This chapter was written mostly before the BBC Drama spooks started to be aired, so, like, it's kinda funny. In my twisted little mind. Thank you for the constructive feedback :) I hope that this has been as much a pleasure to read as it has been to write.

The journey back to the mainland was silent but for the sound of the water splashing against the sides of the boat, and it was almost calming on its weary inhabitants. As they landed ashore, Remus tipped the lad that had guided them while Sirius folded his arms across his chest and stared across at the black foreboding monster of Azkaban. A warm hand on his shoulder made him turn to see Remus looking up at him with gently silvery eyes that spoke of hidden knowledge and regret.

"Harry will be fine, Sirius," Remus comforted gently. Sirius didn't reply. He slid his arms around Remus' slim waist and rested his head on the werewolf's shoulder. They stayed like that for a long while before turning and heading up in silence to the station.

In silence they remained for much of the journey, until the last leg of it back up to where they'd departed from the day before.

"Are you… upset with me for not… you know, telling you?"

Surprised, Sirius twisted to face Remus. A perplexed expression flitted across his face like a midnight shadow before he shook his head. "No… It explains a lot… Hey, did I ever tell you who has the Defence Against the Dark Arts job now I'm off here with you?"

Remus shook his head, aware that Sirius was trying to take his mind off his guilt but feeling more relaxed than in a long time. The fact that Sirius cared enough to understand, forgive and move on rather overwhelmed him, and spoke volumes about Sirius' character.

"No, I don't think you did."

"Arabella Figg."

Remus' mouth dropped open. "You're not serious?"

Sirius nodded. "Deadly serious. I met up with her over the summer, Albus ordered me to contact all us 'old ones', and she said then that Albus had offered her the position of back up Defence Against the Dark Arts if it were necessary."

Remus stared at Sirius, his mouth open. "Well, they're in for a ride and a half at Hogwarts with her as the teacher! Do you remember when we deliberately hexed Lucius Malfoy and left him hanging from the ceiling for an hour?"

"Yeah." Sirius grinned impishly, and for a second they were fifteen years old again in their minds. "When she found him, and found out it was us, she gave us ten points each for it."

Remus smiled softly in remembrance, "Didn't make much of a difference, really. I still wish we could have all been in the same house…."

Sirius pulled a face. "You would say that. Hufflepuff duffer."

"Ravenclaw smarty-pants," Remus retorted without even having to think of what to say.

"I guess we shouldn't have been surprised that it was Peter who betrayed Lily and James." Sirius paused thoughtfully and his hollow words hung in the emptiness. "There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."

Remus sighed and it hung in the thick atmosphere like a stagnant smell. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We made a vow, to be loyal to each other over the House differences…"

Sirius was quiet for a moment. He leant forwards and squeezed Remus' shoulder firmly.

"I know." Sirius' voice was soft but pained. "I know."

When they pulled up at the final station, David Lupin was waiting there; eyebrows raised and arms folded across his chest. Quickly getting out of the carriage, Sirius and Remus approached the pub owner.

"We need to talk," David said simply, inclining his head and moving away. They walked in muted silence up to the town square, which was quite busy considering it was five in the morning. David led them into an early morning bakery-come-café and they settled down to a hot cup of tea and a pastry each before David finally spoke again.

"Have either of you ever heard of astral projection?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged an amused glance. "Yes, of course we have," Sirius broke in quickly. "Wha--"

"Have you heard of what happens when a ghost astral projects?" David's quiet question interrupted Sirius mid-question.

"That's very rare, isn't it?" Sirius scratched his nose and furrowed his brow in thought. "Can't be controlled. Very dangerous."

"We think that somewhere in this world there's a ghost that needs exorcising. When a ghost gets violent, it, well…" David spread his hands. "Its violent emotions spread around the world, and when it comes into contact with a high-magic intense place, then it's a deadly combination. The astral collides with the spectral, and it's a bit like annihilation… When two particles collide, are destroyed, and then photons are released, in this case the astral collides with the spectral, both are destroyed and those… black things… are released."

"But it doesn't explain the Dark Mark," Remus countered. "You-know-who can't have done anything on this level to the astral plane, could he?"

"Unless it's just a supporter, taking advantage of it," Sirius said, clenching his fists tightly. "Just think - it causes wide-spread terror without the person actually having to do anything at all."

David blinked. "I didn't actually think of that. Perhaps we'd better get in contact with Albus Dumbledore. Oh, and a message from the Network. You two are officially on active duty."

"Fantastic," Sirius said dryly.

David cracked a smile at the black-haired man. "Seeing as you guys are seniors too, you're just in the right place and the right time…"

"Don't say we have to train another recruit," Remus complained, his shoulders slumping. Sirius blinked.

"Is this bad?" Sirius was confused. Remus rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

"It really depends who it is on errantry," David said, shrugging philosophically. "I've met her. She's nice. Much nicer than Zoë Goyle."

"Goyle? As in Gregory Goyle? I thought that family were all on their side."

"That's why it was necessary to get one of theirs on our side," Remus explained gently. "So, who is it?"

David sipped at his tea, before arching an eyebrow. "I know Sirius has recently been into contact with her."

Remus almost spat out the bit of pastry he was eating. "Sirius?"

Sirius frowned, idly stirring sugar into his cup. "Fleur? Fleur Delacour?"

"Wasn't she one of the TriWizard Tournament competitors last year?" Remus cocked his head to one side. Sirius and David nodded in unison. "I thought her name sounded familiar."

"Well, I suppose we'd better get going," David said regretfully. "Us active agents have to work." The brunet reluctantly got to his feet and crossed over to the counter. Curiously, Sirius and Remus followed him. One of the bakers from the back hurried over, flour across his forehead.

"Can I help you?"

David nodded slowly. "We'd like to cancel a child's party, please."

"Right," the man said, lifting up the counter and letting the three men through.

Exchanging a glance, Sirius and Remus hurried after David, as the younger man led them through into a backroom. Passing through some kind of weird blue light, David led them down a narrow corridor and rapped three times on a silvery door on the right-hand side. After seven seconds, David pushed open the door and let Sirius and Remus go through it first. Behind them, David closed the door and the lights in the room they were in brightened. Crossing the floor without a second thoughts, David stood at the large window, beckoning for Sirius and Remus to follow. Through the window, they could see a large, starch-white facility, and several doors leading away.

"The BN headquarters?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Nice."

"It's just the regional headquarters," David explaining, waving his hand as if to dismiss Sirius' statement. "It's impressive, though, don't you think?"

"Very impressive," Remus said flatly. "You were the same when I was ten. Always excited about showing me your new things."

"You knew each other before Hogwarts?" Sirius blinked.

David laughed. "Ah, you know our Ryan's secret now, then… Well, yes. All werewolves are put into foster homes at that age, to learn to be able to deal with the trauma while still being able to mingle with ordinary folk. I may not be his cousin in blood, but I we are, in everything but the strictest sense, cousins." David smiled fondly at Remus. "So, you two going to come down and have a look around?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look, before nodding firmly.

"I've never been in a Headquarters building before," Sirius said conversationally as David led them through a door and down some stairs into the main facility.

"The main headquarters are actually in London," David said, sounding surprised. "You've never been?"

Both Sirius and Remus shook their heads.

"Pity. It's nice. Brilliant view of the Thames." Looking up sharply, David smiled. "Ah, there's the guy we want." Sirius looked up to see David heading over to a balding man with a hawkish stare and a confidant smile.

"David! This is Sirius and Ryan, I presume," the man said, extending his hand. Sirius shook it.

"I go by Remus now," Remus offered to the man almost shyly. The man shook his hand firmly.

"I suppose it is your werewolf registered name. My name's Ethaniel, Ethaniel Jackson, but my friends call me Ethan. But that's neither here nor there. Has Mr. Lupin here briefed you?"

Remus nodded. "Astral-spectral annihilation," he muttered sourly. Ethaniel laughed at Remus' expression, clapping the startled brunet on the back.

"We, that is Sirius, thinks that the Dark Mark could have been sent up by a possible supporter, just to cause terror," David offered quickly. Ethaniel's eyes narrowed, and he passed a clipboard a woman in a white coat hurrying by.

"Makes sense, taking advantage of a supernatural phenomena." Ethaniel coughed, and he frowned. "I need you to draw up a list of possible supporters, in all areas where there's been a hit, see if we can crack down on some friendlies before they go from being supporters to activists."

"Yes sir." David nodded. Turning to Sirius and Remus he winked. "I'll be finished by the time you leave, so I'll see you then!" David turned, stalking away and heading off down one of the multiple corridors.

Remus turned to Sirius, feeling abruptly alone, and the raven-haired man squeezed his hand supportively.

"You two, I have a job for you. I've read your records, extensive travellers, wide cultural based knowledge, extensive covert operations…" Ethaniel tilted his head slightly. "Impressive. For the last few months I've had my people creating history, back story, muggle identification for you two." Remus jumped slightly and Ethaniel shrugged. "Don't be so surprised. You've impressed a lot of people, especially with some of your operations during the Dark Period and you-know-who's attacks. We've had people working on this, and we know this spectral invasion is somewhere in India. A couple of the mythologists are saying it could even be Acheri, an old Indian legend of a vengeful ghost. Appears as a little girl and brings sickness to children in human habitations. That could be our ghost. Now as you will no doubt be wondering, I shall only be wanting you three in there for three weeks max. You find it, you exorcise it, and you get out. Tension is high between us and the Indian Ministry of Magic, they would consider this espionage and use it as an excuse to hit us and hit us hard."

Sirius nodded. "It's a problem when we should be uniting against the common enemy when we're fighting amongst ourselves."

"Exactly," Ethaniel agreed. "As David will have told you, you have a new recruit, Fleur Delacour. She's actually had six months training by an Unspeakable, she's good, men. You can make her the best. Now if you come with me, we'll get her and brief you on your new identities."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a wry grin and followed the authoritative man across the floor, and down one of the hallways. Strange bangs were emanating from some of the locked doors, and once or twice spectacular light displays crackled across the ceiling, a by-effect of all the experiments and investigations going on behind the locked doors of the Black Network.

It had been sixteen years since Remus had last stepped out on active with Sirius on a mission, and twenty-two years since his first ever mission as a full recruit. The six-month training had been intense, and they'd been split up on the training period, but brought together to work; mostly in the covert observations. The Network liked using 'involved' officers, it created a layer of believability when you needed two agents which you couldn't fake. Exorcisions weren't the usual order of the day, but the recent civil struggles between the Ministry of Magic and India had been majorly down-played but increasingly devestating.

Fleur Delacour was waiting for them in one of the small offices, silvery hair tied back abruptly, clad in soft black leggings, casual brown boots and a navy t-shirt that off-set her violet eyes. She was all business, and obviously nervous for her first mission.

"Hi, Fleur, this is Sirius Black and Ryan Evans. They'll be your mentors for the next few months," Ethaniel introduced, backing away. "I'll leave you three to bond and completely make sure your new back stories meld and mesh. You'll be getting a TC10 test in an hour, then I'll test you on your new identities." Ethaniel nodded once, abruptly, before turning on his heel and exiting the room.

"Hi Fleur," Sirius said with a small smile. The pretty part-Veela blushed slightly, and bent down to the pile of papers on her desk.

"Hello Sirius, Remus," Fleur said warmly.

"Trained by Unspeakables," Remus said wonderingly. "Nice."

Fleur smiled. "Of course, it is the organisation that even the normal population knows about, but the training is as good as the Network's training," she defended quickly.

Sirius smiled. "And thorough. Your English accent is superb."

"Thanks." Fleur pushed a pile of papers over to Remus, and another to Sirius.

Sirius picked up his and scanned through it. All the usual muggle documents were there, and his photo and details were on every one. "Right. My name is Ellison Macarthur. I'm an author, researching the supernatural for my new book."

Remus chuckled. "My name is Ryan," Remus laughed. "Ryan Greene. I'm your partner of twelve years, and I'm also your translator."

"I'm Emily Macarthur, Ellison's niece of his brother Gavin Macarthur who died in one of the civil skirmishes. He was an activist for the Indian cause," Fleur said softly. "I'm also the photographer for my uncle's book, I collect photo evidence of the supernatural."

"Interesting," Sirius said, frowning. "I suppose we're supposed to use a Glamour to change our appearance to match the photos."

Fleur nodded. "A four week Glamour should do it. We're also supposed to be posing as muggles, meaning no wands."

Remus winced. "Wandless magic. Well, it's enough in an emergency. Unfocussed, but enough."

Sirius rubbed his hands together. "Let's get started, people!"

Remus raised on eyebrow inquisitively. "People?"

Sirius shrugged apologetically while Fleur laughed.

An hour later, and having passed the TC10, Ethaniel was leading them to the surface and explaining the last points of the plan.

"Your travel documents list you as have coming from Belgium to Luton airport. I have an operative waiting for you there, name of Sandy. She will hide your Apparation, and give you the proper travel documentation. In your luggage, there is hidden the standard equipment, with a Charm to prevent the muggle security detecting it. Good luck, Ellison, Ryan, Emily."

Sirius nodded, looking at ease in the jeans and sweatshirt of Ellison Macarthur. Fleur, or 'Emily', was behind him, in slightly less-than-functional sandals, a loose white top and jeans as well. Remus, or 'Ryan Greene', was clad in dark blue slacks and a forest green sweatshirt. All three looked like muggles, with rucksacks that carried their 'identification' and with their back story more than clear in their minds.

"Hey, cousin!"

As they approached the stairs to leave the facility, a familiar voice made them turn. Remus flushed slightly under his new guise - that of a dark-eyed brunet (with none of the familiar grey hair) and smiled when he saw David.

"How did you --"

"Recognise you?" David laughed. "I didn't, Ry. There were three of you with Ethan so I just figured you had to be here. Nice hair, by the way."

Remus shrugged. "We're away for three weeks. Would you mind owling Harry, give him our love and tell him we're going to be away for a while but we'll find out what happened to Hermione?"

"Of course," David said, leaning forwards and hugging his cousin. He flickered a glance up to Fleur and Sirius. The Glamours had made them look sort of alike. Sirius now had deep, ice-blue eyes with black shoulder-length hair, and was almost an inch taller. Fleur had the same hair and eyes colour, but was her usual height.

"Are we ready, then?" Ethaniel regarded them with a fond glance. "Ad Vitam Aut Culpam." The Black Network motto was that short Latin phrase, and it was a counter-signature between operatives - the other would say the translation.

"To lifetime or fault," Sirius, Remus and Fleur intoned with a brief, hard smile.

"Ryan, are you strong enough now to Apparate?" David looked concerned. Remus nodded.

"I got enough rest on the train."

"Good luck," Ethaniel broke in with a nod. Sirius, Remus and Fleur exchanged a glance and silently Apparated out of the room. Ethaniel and David were knocked slightly by their displacement, all the more intense because of the distance they were aiming for.

"I hope it goes to plan," David said worriedly.

"I know it will," Ethaniel said firmly, wishing to instil confidence into the agents under his command, but wishing that he could be so sure.

Idly taking a sip out of her bottle of mineral water, Sandy Fehr scratched her bottom surreptitiously while waiting for her contacts to arrive. Folding her arms and leaning against the wall, she was about to give up when there was a small pop! behind her. Turning around with a smile, she blinked up at the new arrivals.

The shorter of the two men approached her with a smile. "Hi, my name is Ryan. This is Ellison, and his niece Emily."

Sandy inclined her head politely, and handed over three slips of paper. "Here's your package. Good luck on your mission."

"Thanks," Ellison said with a cursory nod. Grinning Sandy picked up her bottle of Evian again, slung a red satchel over her shoulder and walked out of the small back office. Pulling out the rest of their travel documents, Emily squinted at the tickets and handed them out.

"I suppose we have to go through Customs," Ryan said with a scowl. "Oh well."

Ellison shrugged, moved forwards and opened the door; letting in the bustling noise from outside as he did so. "Well," he said slowly, "welcome to Hell."

"You mean Luton Airport," Ryan corrected.

"Oh no, I mean hell," Ellison said with a laugh. Ryan and Emily exchanged an amused glance and frogmarched the protesting Ellison out of the room.

"Oh I do like to be beside the seasiiiide, oh I do like to be beside the seaaa…"

"I'd almost forgotten how much you hate waiting rooms at airports," Ryan commented to Ellison softly. Ellison closed his mouth and stopped singing while Emily laughed. "I hope Gary will be okay… Justin will mail him, right?"

"He said he would," Emily said with a shrug. "He promised, so that's enough."

Gary was the codeword for Harry and Justin was David. Ryan felt himself slipping into the role as all the Black Networkers who did Covert did. It wasn't exactly going native it was more like becoming the person you're supposed to be in your head to perfect being that person in life. There was a very thin line between reality and the reality of your alias, and he felt himself slipping back into the routine as he remembered. Making sure you kept the distinction firm in your head and not losing track of either. It had been so long really. For the last few years he'd mostly been doing research, and he found he actually missed the covert work.

"Earth to Ry-an."

Ryan blinked at the sing-song voice, and saw Emily tugging at his sleeve. "Huh?"

"Ah, the perfect epitome of being out there," Ellison said, vaguely waving his hands to indicate wherever out there was. "Move your rump Ryan, it's time to move."

"Ah," Ryan said delicately, picking up his bag and documents and following Ellison and Emily to where the stewardess was waiting for their boarding passes.

Twenty minutes and they were settled into the 'plane. Ryan and Ellison were sat next to each other, and Emily was across the aisle from them, sat next to an old woman who was already asleep.

"This is Flight 475, bound for Delhi, India. The flight will be approximately seven hours. In case of emergencies, the exits are here, here and here…."

Tapping her fingers against her knee, Emily tuned out to the air stewardess. She'd researched muggle aircraft enough to know the security aspects off by heart, and she took the time to think about things. The Unspeakables had approached her in the summer after the TriWizard Tournament. Still reeling over Cedric's tragic death, and Voldemort's return, she'd been quite upset and their offer had helped her focus on something else apart from herself. The six month training course had been intense, difficult and well worth the effort. Now she was on her very first mission. She had to admit she was scared, but she knew that the Network would not send such a Junior officer if her skills weren't needed. She was good. She knew she was good, but she couldn't become overly arrogant. Arrogance in a job like hers would cost lives.

Casting a glance over, Emily watched Ellison and Ryan, and felt a small pang of jealousy at their intimacy which she abruptly covered up. Their job was one of secrecy. No-one would ever find out about the mission, and that kind of obscurity was appealing to her. To know in yourself that you have helped people was enough, she would leave the fame to other people. She'd seen the way Harry Potter (aka "Gary" for the mission) dealt with it, and had been initially surprised to see how he hated it. Now she understood him better, and knew in her heart that she was thankful for her anonymity. The job had its own rewards, of course. Now all they had to do was hope that everything turned out all right. To lifetime or fault, if they had any say in it, it would.