Remus sat down at his desk and took up his quill and parchment. He had the arduous task of finding and contacting all of the 'old crowd', the Rooks, the Lewigets, Fletcher, Figg…etc. It was a shorter list than it had been once, thanks to Voldemort. It chilled him to think it could get even shorter soon.
Dumbledore had given him specific instructions to relay. It was up to him to convince them of the truth about Voldemort's return to power. Dumbledore needed all the help he could get, especially since the Ministry of Magic had decided to turn a blind eye to any evidence of Voldemort's ascent. Remus feared that some of the people he was writing would side with the Ministry and choose to pretend that nothing had happened, the Lewigets, especially.
When he had finished the last letter he sat back in his chair rubbing his face tiredly.
"Venitelumos," he groaned through his hands, and the light flew from the lamp to the tip of his wand. Remus lit his own way back to his room, but only after checking up on his guests. As quietly as he could he opened the door a crack and lifted his wand to illuminate the room. Raven was asleep, looking uncharacteristically serene and innocent, and there, curled up at her feet was Sirius's shaggy black form. Remus frowned, that wasn't appropriate. He would've shooed Snuffles off, but he didn't want to wake the sleeping 'queen', so he let the two of them be and crept off to his own bed.
* * *
Raven appeared to be having a bit of a lie in, and Remus wondered how she could be so exhausted. He rose at his usual time despite the late night spent writing, to fix breakfast for his guests. Sirius had been starved for so many years that it came as no surprise to Remus when the sound of padding feet came at the first clatter of cutlery.
"Morning Snuffles," said Remus dryly. He looked up; Sirius had transformed back into a man. He hoped Raven was still very much asleep. Sirius' appearance had improved greatly since his escape from Azkaban. His face had fleshed out and regained some of his old color. Sirius had always been a thin man, but the emaciated state Azkaban had left him in had been sickening. Remus was happy to see that he was filling out again. Now that his hair was combed, cut, and pulled back in a ponytail, he looked less like a criminal and more like the handsome wizard he had once been.
"Sirius," Remus said cracking an egg on the edge of the pan and magicking the shell to the wastebasket. "How comfortable do you think Raven would be if she knew who exactly slept on the foot of her bed last night?"
Sirius shrugged and tried not to smile.
"I was merely playing the part of the friendly dog, Moony. No harm done. You know I can't even talk to her until we figure out how to tell her the truth. I just…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely into the air. "I don't know."
Remus waved his wand and various cheeses, spices, hopped into the sizzling pan.
"I understand how you feel," he said. "But it isn't proper, you are not just a friendly dog Padfoot, you are a wizard." Remus flipped the contents of the pan neatly as Sirius leaned on the counter, sniffing hungrily. "And more importantly," Remus continued seriously. "You are a man. She is not."
Sirius looked up at him and grinned.
"Don't I know it Moony old pal," he said with a wink. Remus frowned, it wasn't funny, and to his surprise Sirius dropped into a serious tone of voice.
"I just wanted to be near her," he said quietly.
Remus decided to change the subject.
"You know, you aren't as small a dog as you think, Padfoot. There's barely room on that bed for the two of you. No, old friend - you sleep in the den - she gets the bed. Here," he said, serving up a fresh omelet. "Transform back into Snuffles and eat up; Raven should be up soon."
As he looked up, however, he saw that it was already too late.
Raven had walked into the room just as he spoke. Upon recognizing the dark-haired man in the kitchen, her eyes went wide, her hands dropped from where they had been arranging her hair and dove into her robes for her wand. Remus, fortunately, was faster.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted and her wand flew instantly into his outstretched hand.
Raven looked as though she had been struck across the face.
"You!" she breathed dangerously at Sirius. "And you!" she hissed at Remus. "How – H - how could you?"
"Raven!" Remus said firmly "This isn't what it seems…"
Sirius was very silent. Raven's voice, however, was steadily rising in volume.
"How could you Remus? I would have thought you of all people would be incapable of even looking at this… this… excuse for a man!" she spat. Sirius flinched visibly, but Raven continued, staring accusatorily at Remus. "You were there, Remus! I was there! We identified the bodies together, surely you remember, Lilly, James, and Peter's..." Raven seemed to choke on her own words. "Have you forgotten?" she whispered.
"It was Peter, Raven." Sirius rasped. At the sound of his voice her head snapped around and her grey eyes fixed upon him. Remus saw an expression flash across Raven Blackwing's face that he had rarely seen upon it before: Fear. He had never known Raven to show fear so abject and openly, and for Merlin's sake, he had seen her often enough when she had good reason to.
Sirius took a careful step forward his face open and pleading. "Raven, please believe me. I convinced James to use Peter as secret keeper at the last moment. Not even Dumbledore knew."
"I saw them!" she spat at him.
Raven was shaking so badly Remus thought she might collapse. She made a grab for the back of the chair to support herself. Sirius jerked involuntarily, as though to help her, but she recoiled from him so sharply she nearly fell over a kitchen stool.
"I saw their bodies, Sirius," she cried, his name came out choked as though just saying it pained her. "Charred and twisted. The sight still haunts me. Even now, when I close my eyes I can still see Lily's sightless eyes as if she were lying right in front of me in that awful room."
"Raven!" Remus said urgently he had gone very pale and was gripping the kitchen counter to keep from trembling. The memory of identifying his friend's bodies had stayed with him as well. "Raven, you have to listen. You have to know the truth! Sirius is innocent. Peter Pettigrew betrayed Lily and James. He's still alive Raven! He, James, and Sirius were all unregistered Animagi, Peter, as a rat - he's been hiding all these years."
Raven was even paler now; she was slowly backing into the wall. Remus was reminded of her reaction when he had told her the circumstances of Voldemort's demise. There was the same unmistakable, wild-eyed panic in her. He turned helplessly to his friend.
"Sirius, she needs to see Dumbledore." Sirius nodded as Remus pulled out his wand. He grimaced as cords flew from the tip to bind and gag the woman soundly. Sirius reached out and caught her little body as she overbalanced and fell forward, but she twisted and writhed to get away from him. Fortunately, Sirius had regained his strength. Though a formidable fighter, Raven was no match for him tied up as she was. Sirius gently carried her into the den and set her down on the couch. Remus followed, walking straight to the hearth, he took a handful of purple powder from a jar in the mantel flung it into the fire and said quite calmly, "Dumbledore, if you please." The flames turned purple and the ancient face of Albus Dumbledore appeared amidst them.
"Dear me," he said, as his light blue eyes flicked from Remus to Sirius, who was holding Raven as still as was humanly possible upon the couch. "Found out prematurely has she?"
Upon seeing Dumbledore's face, Raven shrieked through the gag and began to writhe more fiercely to escape from Sirius' now tightening grip.
"If you could talk to her Professor," Sirius grunted, pinning the struggling woman to her spot on the couch, he knew all to well the consequences of an angry Raven wild and loose and was determined to keep her still as much for her safety as his own.
"Of course. I shall stop over immediately," said Dumbledore's head before disappearing with a 'pop'.