Harry Potter and his whole world belong to JK Rowling. I am borrowing them and writing what I hope might happen in future books

Can You Hear Me Now?

Harry sat at a chair in the kitchen once more. Remus was up in the study, listening hard. Harry held up the mirror and said, very loud,

"Remus Lupin. Can you hear me?"

He heard laughter from the study.

"Harry, I can hear you even without the mirror. Don't shout so loud! You should be able to just talk to it in a normal conversational tone."

Harry flushed and grinned up at Ginny, who had followed him to the kitchen. She was laughing softly at him. He held the mirror back up.

"Remus Lupin. Can you hear me now?" He waited a few seconds, and then repeated the question. He knew that Ron and Hermione and Mrs Weasley were also prowling the house, listening hard for the sound of his voice. Looking for the other mirror.

"I can hear you, Harry." The voice issued from the mirror he was holding. Harry almost dropped it in shock. Remus looked out at him from the mirror, a smile on his face. "We have a problem," he added with a slight laugh.

"Where are you?" Harry asked eagerly.

"I'm in the room that Sirius was using." Remus had stepped away from the mirror. Harry and Ginny jumped up at the same time, looked at each other and then flew out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Harry saw everyone else enter the room ahead of him. Remus was sitting on the bed, looking at what Harry knew must be the other side of the mirror. His heart plummeted.

The mirror was huge. It was taller than Ron and wider than three people standing side by side. The frame around it was ornate, gold painted. It was a beautiful mirror, but it had to weigh a ton. Harry groaned and collapsed on the bed beside Remus.

"Damn," he muttered. Remus, however, smiled at him.

"It's alright, Harry. I know the charm that they used." He smiled reminiscently. "I should, as I'm the one who taught it to Sirius and James in the first place." He took the mirror from Harry and held it up. "This was the original mirror that Sirius and James used to use in detention. The other mirror must have been misplaced. That's why he charmed this mirror." Remus stood up and walked toward the mirror. Harry looked down at the other mirror that was now on the bed. He could see Remus in it, coming closer.

"Cool," he said. "It can act as kind of a spy camera too!"

Hermione chuckled. The Weasleys looked a little confused, but Remus looked thoughtful.

"It can, at that." He sighed, and then turned back to Harry. "I need a couple hand held mirrors."

"What for, Remus?" Mrs Weasley asked sharply. So far she'd kept quite quiet; Harry had forgotten that she was even there. "Why are you both so gung ho on finding these mirrors? You're not planning on using them for any reason are you?"

Harry looked at Remus quickly. So did Hermione and the other two Weasleys. He was looking back at Mrs Weasley with the same thoughtful expression. He sighed.

"Harry and I are going to use them to talk to…somebody."

Harry looked over at him, wondering why he didn't say Sirius.

"Oh? And who is that?" Mrs Weasley arched an eyebrow at Remus.

Remus smiled thinly. "That, Molly, is between Harry and myself, I'm afraid."

Ron, Hermione and Ginny all looked around at Harry, eyebrows raised. He could read the question on their faces. Mrs Weasley was still glaring at Remus.

"Fine, keep your secrets. For now. Come, you three, we need to let these two talk."

Still glaring at Remus, she exited. Hermione and the other Weasleys followed reluctantly. Remus sighed again.

"Well, now I'm in trouble," he grinned at Harry.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't mean to get you into trouble with Mrs Weasley."

Remus laughed. "Don't worry about it, Harry. Molly needs to learn that she can't boss me around as though I'm one of her children. She kept trying it with Sirius too, and you can imagine how well that went over." Remus looked down at his hands for a minute. Harry felt the lump in his throat once more. "She feels badly about how she treated Sirius. She told me. She wishes she could take it back," Remus said softly. "I know how she feels. I wish I'd never believed him capable of what happened to your parents. I should have known that he'd never betray James. I spent so much time…I was so angry at him. I wish I had that time back."

Harry stared at the floor the whole time Remus spoke, willing himself not to cry once more. He looked up when Remus went silent.

"If the mirrors work, then we'll be able to speak to him once more," Harry said, hope in his voice. "If the mirrors work, it will be just like he's away."
Remus nodded. "I'm hoping as much as you are that the mirrors will work, Harry."

*

Harry wasn't sure what had made him do it. All he knew was the when the bell had rang Mrs Black had started screaming within her portrait.

"Filth! Scum! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers! The blood traitor, shame of my flesh, how dare he invite you here-"

"He's dead!" Harry had screamed, running down the stairs. Whoever had ringed the bell must have been down in the kitchen already. "Don't you say one more word, you nasty old hag, or I will burn down this house of your fathers!"

He had pulled his wand, and advanced on Mrs Black. She was quiet, perhaps because nobody had shouted at her, actually spoken to her before. Someone other than Sirius shouting at her to shut up.

"Dead?" she asked. "The last of the Blacks, dead?" She stood and appeared to draw a breath. Before Harry knew what was happening, she'd started screaming again for them to leave her house, that they'd killed her son, the blood traitor.

"Redu-," he started, but Remus cut him off.

"Harry, no! You'll be expelled!" he shouted, yanking the curtains back around Mrs Black. He turned and gave Harry a stern look. "You need to control that temper, Harry."

Harry glared at him. "I don't care about being expelled! I hate her! Do you hear me? I hate her! How dare she call Sirius names like that, when he was the best person in the entire family! She has no idea -" Harry's voice caught on a sob. Before he knew it, there were arms around him. Mrs Weasley had grabbed him into a huge hug from behind. He fought against her for a minute, just as he fought against the pain in his throat and chest. "Let me go!" he yelled. "I'm fine, I won't use magic." She released him with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley. I didn't mean to shout at you," he told her. She smiled at him, told him it was fine, and left him and Remus alone once more.

Remus stood there, watching him for a while. Harry sat on the stairs, his face hidden in his hands. Finally, Remus came and sat beside him. He handed Harry a bottle of what turned out to be butterbeer.

"Where-?" Harry began, closing his hand around the bottle.

"I'm of age, Harry. I'm allowed to do magic," he answered with a slight chuckle. "Do you know how Sirius got the family tree down?"

Harry shook his head, raising the bottle to his lips. He looked at Remus curiously.

"He blew up the wall, Harry. Not just the wall behind the tapestry, but the whole wall. He was angry about something, I can't remember what. He just walked in there and blasted the wall down. Then he conjured up a new wall. That was two days before he died." Remus smiled. "That was a good day. He was so happy, afterwards, to be rid of that thing, I was amazed that he wasn't doing somersaults."

"What happened to it?" Harry asked.

Remus shrugged. "I guess he threw it out. Maybe Kreacher nicked it and had it stored in his den. I'm not sure, to be honest." He glanced at the drapes that covered Mrs Black. "We were going to do the same to that wall, but…well, you know what happened. We just ran out of time." He turned to Harry. "Would you like to help me? I want to bring her down, for Sirius."

Harry stared at him. "You're going to tear the wall down?"

Remus grinned. It made him look ten years younger. "Not the whole wall. I'm not quite as destructive as Sirius. I'm just going to use the Reductor Curse that you were just about to use. I think it'll work."

He set his butterbeer on the stair beside him and moved toward the portrait. Harry did the same, standing beside him.

"Let's talk to her, shall we?" Remus said, a gleam in his eye. Harry nodded and, with his wand, flicked back the drapes.

Mrs Black immediately launched into her rant. "Filth! Scum! Half-breeds, mutants, begone -"

"Oh, shut up already," Remus said impatiently. "Silencio!"

It appeared that Mrs Black was still screaming at the top of her voice, but no sound came out. She stopped her shrieking and glared up at Remus. He glared back at her.

"I'm going to remove the charm, if you promise that you won't shriek. We wish to speak to you." He glanced at Harry. "We have something to tell you."

She nodded irritably. Remus muttered something, and she said, "You have no couth, half-breed. How dare you come into my house and put a Silencing Charm on me!"

Remus smiled at her indulgently. "Well, we've come to tell you that you will no longer have to watch us 'befouling your house', as you put it."
"Good! You're leaving, are you? Now that the blood traitor is dead, you've no reason to stay!"
Harry growled, raising his wand. He took a step toward the portrait, but Remus put out a hand to arrest him.

"We're not leaving," Remus said quietly. "You are."

The old woman stared at Remus, then at Harry, and then she broke into a fit of laughter. It was high pitched and so reminiscent of Voldemort that Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Leaving, am I? I've put an unbreakable Permanent Sticking Charm on the portrait. I won't be leaving, half-breed," she said snidely.

Remus raised his wand. "Let's find out, shall we?" Mrs Black's eyes widened. Harry had the sudden urge to stuff his fingers in his ears. Just as he did so, Mrs Black let out a scream of:

"Help! The half-breed is going to murder me; he's going to burn my house down! Help! Help! Help!"

"Reducto!" Remus shouted. Harry turned his back as the portrait imploded, bits of stone and sheet rock flying everywhere. Mrs Black's screams were cut off. Harry turned back to find that the frame had been untouched, but there was a very large hole in the wall where the portrait had been.

"For you, Padfoot," Remus whispered softly.