All characters except Vlad Comaneci belong to J. K. Rowling, not me (unfortunately). I'm in the process of hatching a nefarious plot to kidnap Remus but it's still in the beginning stages.
Okay: everyone who's reviewed so far. Reva Ayanami, Leah, Caet Rae, JamesPotter, anon, naughtynat, Athene, anon, Jo, anon, thenidnightangel, Lady Kara and Louise. Big, big, big, big thankyous all round!
"Now are we ready?" asked an impatient, bordering-on-irate Sirius.
"Yes. No! Hang on..."
Sirius groaned and threw himself irritably down onto the sofa. Four times! He had never understood Remus' complete inability to be on time for anything when he was a kid, and he was no closer to enlightenment now. First he had forgotten the potions ingredients he had bought for Snape, then the vast amounts of chocolate he had purchased from Honeydukes, then his wand. "What now?"
"It's the--hang on...no...oh, good. Never mind, I've got it," Remus said, triumphantly holding aloft that sodding collar which Sirius was beginning to hate with a passion.
"What? Why do we need that?" he protested, sounding like a whiny child and not caring.
"Just in case," Remus answered, trying unsuccessfully to hide his amusement.
Sirius scowled. "Well, if you're quite finished packing the entire contents of your house, can we please go?"
"Yes, yes...or...wait...actually..." Seeing the murderous expression on Sirius' face he quickly backpedalled. "I...think we're all set. Heh."
Without waiting for Remus to discover that he had forgotten his toothbrush or Registry papers or some other such thing, Sirius stepped quickly into the fire and emerged in Albus Dumbledore's office. He had always loved Dumbledore's office, in spite of the fact that he had usually been here to be punished for some form of Slytherin-baiting. The lush, rich carpets and upholstery along with the fascinating and completely befuddling shiny gadgets littering the shelves, the ancient, smiling portraits on the walls and the almost perpetually crackling fire never failed to make him feel at home, and more importantly, safe. Not a feeling he had been overly familiar with of late.
"Ah, Sirius. And how do I find you today?" asked Dumbledore, putting down the quill he had been writing with and standing up.
"Very well, thank you. Yourself?"
"Oh, wonderful, wonderful. And where is Remus?" The aged headmaster did indeed look particularly cheerful that morning.
"Probably forgotten something else," Sirius answered grumpily, but at that moment the crackling flames turned green and out stepped a sooty Remus.
To Sirius' maddened incredulity, he wasn't carrying anything. At all. "Where's your luggage?" he wailed. "Don't tell me you managed to forget the whole lot! Honestly, Moony, you're just something else..."
Albus looked amused. Remus sighed in mock insult. "I shrunk it, Padfoot. It's in my pocket."
There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," called Albus.
The door opened and in walked Harry. "Harry!" said Sirius, giving the boy a hug.
"Hi, Sirius. You look well," he replied, looking a bit surprised at the appearance of his Godfather.
"Well, Moony let me invade his house and eat all his food, so I'm being well looked after," Sirius said, grinning.
"Hi, Professor Lupin," greeted Harry.
"Hello, Harry. Just Remus, I'm not your Professor any more. How are you?"
"Okay," answered Harry indifferently. "Lots of work, but..."
"Well, I'll go check Severus is ready," said Albus, and with a smile and a nod, he left.
"And our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher hasn't a clue. He's worse than Snape for hating the Gryffindors. In fact," he continued dispiritedly, "I think it's just me."
Remus looked sympathetic. The poor kid had so many enemies, all because of something that happened fifteen years ago. "Who do you have?"
"Some bloke called Professor DeVil," Harry sighed.
Sirius frowned. "Bit of a suggestive name, isn't it?"
"Oh, I don't think he's working for Voldemort," said Harry, shrugging. "He just doesn't like me. Sort of like Snape, actually. So where exactly are you two going?"
"Three," amended Remus, grinning at the pained expression on Sirius' face.
"Three?"
"Good old Snapey's coming, too," Sirius muttered, looking darkly at Harry. "We're going to be stuck in a house in Romania with that greasy git."
Harry started laughing. "And I thought it was bad for me," he sniggered. "You two and Snape...living together..." Remus had to agree. The outlook was bleak.
The door burst open again and in piled Ron and Hermione, bickering as usual. "Viktor's very nice! I'm getting fed up of you bad-mouthing him just because you--"
"I'm not bad-mouthing him, I'm just telling it like it is!"
"You are bad-mouthing him! And it's very childish saying horrible things about someone who's been nothing but nice to you just because you're jealous!" Hermione snapped.
"Wha--jealous?" blustered Ron, going red.
"Yes, jealous! He's very nice and--"
"Well, if Vicky's that nice, why don't you just go off and marry him?" snapped Ron. A rather childish comment, perhaps, but it ended the argument on the grounds that Hermione had clearly won.
Remus coughed quietly, trying, rather unsuccessfully, to keep a straight face. Sirius seemed to be faring no better in the poker-face stakes. He was watching them with a sage expression on his face.
"Professor!" exclaimed Hermione, noticing the other occupants of the room for the first time. "What are you doing here? Are you taking over Defence Against the Dark Arts again? That would be wonderful! Because Professor DeVil seems to think the class is called Defence Against Harry Potter."
"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Keeps making comments about You-Know-Who and stuff." He made his voice deep and gravelly. "If we were to follow Potter's example we'd be throwing young children at dark wizards..."
"So are you back?" asked Hermione eagerly. "Oh, hi, Sirius. How are you both, anyway?"
Sirius exchanged amused looks with Remus as they tried to process the rapid-fire questions that were being hurled at them.
"We're both fine," answered Remus. "And I'm not teaching again. Sirius and I are going on a...little trip with Professor Snape."
He was highly amused at the looks Ron and Hermione gave Sirius and him. Horrified and pitying respectively. "Where?" asked Ron. "And why? And, more importantly, why are you being made to go with Snape?"
Sirius grinned while Remus tried to look impassive. "We're going to Romania to try to persuade the werewolves not to join Voldemort," answered Sirius, ignoring Ron's flinch at the mention of the name.
"Really?" asked Hermione, looking delighted. "I read that there are whole clans of werewolves and vampires there. Are you going to see them? That would be fascinating!"
"Yeah..." muttered Sirius. "Maybe Snape'll meet his own species."
Harry and Ron snorted with laughter while Remus and Hermione looked at him sternly.
The door opened again and in walked Albus followed by Snape, who was positive radiating disgust. He scowled around the room, offering no more than a curt nod to Remus' greeting and completely ignoring everyone else.
"Well now!" said Dumbledore cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "It looks like our happy campers are ready to go."
Harry, Ron and Hermione all began sniggering. Said happy campers were looking distinctly unhappy. Snape was slumped in a chair by the window, scowling and exuding an air of foreboding. Sirius was glaring at him, wand hand twitching and making barely audible growling noises and Remus was watching the pair warily, one hand extended as a subtle but firm order to Sirius to stay put. Dumbledore was ignoring the hostility, however, and seemed determined that they were going to become the best of friends during their trip. "You three had best be off now, I think. I have prepared a Portkey. If you just go North out of the village, the cottage is not too far a walk." He was wearing an undisguised expression of amusement now. "The password is 'Slythindor'"
Snape snorted and Remus rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Trust Albus.
Sirius and Remus bid goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Snape sneered his farewells. The three of them touched the Portkey and vanished.
**
They found themselves in a small side-street. The sky was grey and miserable and the wind howled forlornly around them, whipping their hair and scattering crackling dead leaves around their feet. The place had a lonely, almost desperate feel to it. Remus wandered out of the side-street and onto a cobbled road running perpendicularly to it. The houses lining the street were tall and white with shutters on the windows, banging against the walls with strangely empty-sounding thuds. Of the few people there were to be seen, one or two gave them curious looks as they passed by. Even the people looked oddly grey and washed out. It was cold. Remus shivered. He noticed that Sirius and Severus looked no happier. Sirius had pulled his cloak around him and was looking slightly suspicious. Severus looked thoroughly disgusted. "It's a Muggle town, then," he commented, as an old woman wrapped up in shawls gawked her way by. He sent her on her way with a dark scowl.
"Cheerful little place, isn't it?" said Sirius, walking over to stand next to him. "Snape'll fit right in."
Remus looked at Severus and was relieved to note that he apparently hadn't heard Sirius' comment. He had cast a Point Me spell and was looking to the right, up the street. "It's this way," he muttered, and began walking. They received more odd looks as they walked. Remus wasn't sure if it was the robes or the fact that they were strangers, but either way he felt distinctly uncomfortable under a one-eyed old man's scrutinising stare as they passed by him.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of what was apparently the main street. The houses ended and were replaced with trees and plants, swaying and rustling lazily in the wind. There was an ominous looking forest not too far to the north-east and just before it was a large house, lonely in its surroundings, with a barn.
As it was the only house in the vicinity, apart from those in Brasov to the south, the three men walked in its direction. Closer up they could see that despite its unlived-in appearance, it was in good condition. "It's...nice," attempted Sirius.
The brass doorknocker (a distinctly eerie androgynous face) opened its eyes. "Password?" it demanded.
Severus glowered at it and spat "Slythindor" out, grimacing as though it was painful just to say it. Remus and Sirius exchanged amused looks. The knocker glared at them suspiciously and the door swung open.
The three men entered, out of the wind. The hall they found themselves in was dark and narrow, but nicely decorated in warm terracotta. Severus opened the nearest door and went in. Remus and Sirius followed him into what turned out to be a very large sitting room. The focal point of the room was a huge, ornate fireplace set into one wall. There were two three-seat sofas and a coffee table, on top of which sat a vase of dried flowers. It was very cosy. A good thing, too, thought Remus, noticing the icy looks Sirius and Severus were shooting each other.
"Nice room," he commented, with forced, happy-families joviality. Severus raised a smooth eyebrow.
"Quite." He clearly wasn't going to be humouring anyone.
The adjoining room was a dining room with rich, deep red walls. Sirius began to laugh. "Look," he said, pointing. In the centre of the large, solid oak table sat a bowl of bright yellow lemon drops. Remus grinned. Their zesty cheerfulness contrasted the severe room madly in a very Dumbledore-like manner. They went back into the hall and up the stairs. There were four doors leading off the landing and another staircase. Severus entered one room, disappeared into it and shut the door without a word. Remus opened another and was not particularly surprised to see a bedroom plushly decorated in red and gold. A piece of parchment lay on the sizeable four-poster bed. Remus entered the room and picked it up.
Remus,
The password to get into the barn is "a se lupta cu saracia", just in case you need to. Enjoy your stay.
Albus
Remus frowned. What on earth did that mean? And more to the point, how did you pronounce it? He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to use the barn. Severus was doing the Wolfsbane Potion for him. No doubt there was some bizarre reason behind it, though. He took his diminutive suitcase out of his pocket and put it on the bed. "Finite incantatum," he said, pointing his wand at it. The case snapped back to its considerable usual size.
There was a sharp knock on the door and Severus walked in. "As I thought," he said, his scowl taking in the Gryffindor colours.
"Hello, Severus," Remus said politely. "Do you know how you pronounce this?" He handed him the note.
Severus read it and snorted in amusement. "Appropriate," he muttered. "It means something about keeping the wolf from the door. But I don't know how you pronounce it, no. I came to ask if you and Black like spaghetti bolognaise."
"Spaghetti bolognaise?" parroted Remus, surprised.
"Yes," was the impatient reply. "I was going to make some for dinner. Unless, that is, you would rather make something yourself?"
"No," Remus said quickly. He didn't particularly enjoy cooking, nor was he very good at it. "Spaghetti bolognaise is fine. Sirius likes it, too."
"Oh, good," Severus replied in a voice thick with sarcasm. "The other room on this floor is a bathroom, by the way. There's another one upstairs, as well as a library, a study and another bedroom." With that he left. Remus went to find Sirius and found him in the other Gryffindor bedroom, unpacking.
"Severus is doing spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, Sirius," he told his friend, laughing at the expression of horror he received in return.
"He's...what? Snape is making dinner?"
"Yes, Severus is making dinner. And he won't poison you."
"Wouldn't be so sure," grumbled Sirius. Remus marvelled at how long the two men could hold a grudge. Surely after all these years they could at least be civil to one another?
As Sirius expelled a string of colourful insults about the Potions Master he dismissed that thought. He'd just have try to live with it without succumbing to the already growing urge to look them in a room together and not let them out until they had acknowledged that they were on the same side and therefore had to try to get on.
Ok, we didn't meet Vlad in this one. Probably in the next one. There was none of the verbal sparring I promised either. Sorry!! At least not between Sirius and Snape, anyway. I'm hopeless, I know. Next chapter though, definitely. This one was taken up with other stuff.
Please review, it'll be muuuuuch appreciated.
Bobbi xx
