This is the longest chapter yet! And as you will have gathered from the title, it's about Remus, and what happened to the Marauders on the night that Lily and James died.

Thanks to all reviewers: Lord Agamus, shadowed.phoenix, eedoe, KLPERRY, aniangel, Denny and Nikki Ash. Don't worry about Ginny ;-) She knows an evil bastard when she sees one. Stay tuned - we have a Christmas Ball coming up soon at which all will be revealed to our long-suffering Harry! *grabs him and snuggles him*. I think the poor boy deserves a kiss, don't you? Yes, I'll see what I can do ;-)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

The Wolf's Memories

Keeping a good distance between himself and Malfoy, Harry slipped back down the way he had come, never taking his eyes off the furtive form ahead of him. Anyone wandering the corridors at night with such a suspicious attitude could be up to no good, but since it was Malfoy on the loose, Merlin knew what he was doing.

Harry followed him all the way down to the ground floor, ducking down below the bannister on the Marble Staircase as Malfoy turned to the left at the bottom.

He's heading for the dungeons!

Suddenly, a hand was clamped over his mouth, while another gripped the wrist of his right hand in an iron hold.

"It's us!" came Ron's voice, in an urgent whisper. "Me and 'Mione. Keep quiet!" He released Harry as soon as he relaxed. "Who was that?"

"Malfoy," said Harry, brusquely. "He's up to something, and I don't like it."

"Where did he come from?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know. I saw him first on the fourth floor stairs. He was going down while I was going up. He didn't see me."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Where do you suppose he was going?" asked Ron.

"His dormitory, possibly?" suggested Hermione, acidly.

"No, I mean, where do you suppose he was going that caused him to come down from the upper floors in the dead of night to go back to his rooms?"

Harry brushed past them, retracing his steps up the stairs. "Let's not debate it just here, shall we? Someone else might decide to take a midnight stroll, and then we're dead."

"Possibly quite literally," muttered Ron, half to himself. "If today's events are anything to go by!"

They reached the fourth floor with no incident, and proceeded towards the stairs that led up towards Gryffindor Tower. The darkness was almost oppressive.

"Too bad you don't have the cloak, Harry," said Ron, sadly. "We could have followed Malfoy all the way."

"What good would that do?" came the scathing tones of Hermione through the blackness. "He was going back after doing whatever he was doing tonight. It wouldn't have been at all helpful!"

"You never know. I bet he's doing something dodgy for his father, though. What if he's found out about The Order using the school as a base?"

"Just say that a bit louder, Ron!" hissed Harry.

"Sorry. But what if he has? He's bound to pass the information on to Lucius, and then we'll have a bloody great army of Death Eaters descending on the school to wreak vengeance - "

"Ron, shut up, you're making me nervous!"

"Sorry, 'Mione."

"Let's hope he hasn't found out yet," said Harry, gesturing for them to keep to the dark walls as they rounded a corner. "I don't see how he could have. The Founders' Rooms are carefully hidden - "

His sentence died a death as they came face to face with the broad, tall figure of a man, silhouetted in the darkness. In the dim light Harry could see the menacing glint of a wand pointing straight at them. Hermione gasped, clutching at Ron in shock.

"You three are becoming a bloody liability!" The intense tones of Remus Lupin were unmistakable. "What the hell do you think you're doing lurking in the corridors at this time of night?"

"We might ask the same of you!" retorted Harry, swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping to the Founders' Rooms?"

"I was tracking that idiot Malfoy, if you must know. I trust you were doing the same?"

Harry nodded. "Did you discover where he had been?"

Remus shook his head. "No, unfortunately. It was somewhere on this floor, but I lost him in the darkness. He could have gone anywhere."

"Have you been prowling the school all night?" asked Hermione, with wide eyes.

"A good part of it, yes." Remus was scouring the length of the hallway, and only half listening to them.

"Where are we? I'm totally disorientated!" whispered Hermione.

"Just opposite Godric Gryffindor," replied Remus, his eyes glittering like stars in the night.

"How can you tell? I can't see a thing!"

Remus' lips broke into a sly smile. "I'm a wolf, Hermione."

Jus then somebody made a quick movement, pushing Harry up against the wall. He heard the faint 'oomph' as Hermione fell against him.

"Sssh!" hissed Remus, urgently. "Keep quiet! Don't move an eyelash!"

Harry strained his eyes to see what Remus was watching at the end of the corridor. A robed figure was passing a window, illuminated temporarily by the moonlight. It was coming steadily towards them, moving with a frightening grace and ease. It was not Malfoy this time.

Remus waited until the clicking of boot heels was as close as possible before emerging from the shadows with astonishing speed and agility. Whatever he did went unseen, partly because of the throttling darkness, and partly because a sudden movement beside them indicated that the doorway below Godric Gryffindor had swung aside, admitting a sixth person into the corridor. The clouds shifted conveniently at that moment, flooding the floor with silver light.

It had all happened simultaneously, and Harry didn't know where to look or what to do. Remus had the mysterious visitor in a tight grip, bending one arm hard behind its back, his hand over the mouth to prevent outcry.

"Get back!"

The voice was Sirius' - it had been he who had come from the secret passage - and he placed himself firmly between the trio and the struggling form in Remus' grip, wand poised.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Remus, punctuating his question with a rough shake. Without releasing his hold, he twisted the figure around to force back the cowl and view the face -

A sheet of rich, mahogany hair slipped out as its confining hood was pulled back. It was the girl Harry and the others had seen in the Gallery with Sirius the night before. Sirius drew in a breath - Harry felt him tense like a cat about to pounce.

A look of shock passed over Remus' face as he stared into the flashing eyes of the girl in front of him. Harry took an involuntary step backwards at the sight of his expression, echoed down to every last detail on the visage of the girl. Their eyes were alive with fire.

"Truth!" he breathed. The single syllable fell from his lips like a drop of iridescent liquid.

"Remus!"

Sirius, shaking himself free of the tension that had seized him at that first second of recognition, pushed the three towards the entrance to the passageway.

"Get the hell out of here!" he muttered.

Both pairs of glowing eyes turned to Sirius, piercing through the gloom like sparks of lightning. Harry had never encountered such open hostility in his life.

The emergence from the passageway of an orange lantern broke the atmosphere almost at once, followed by Professor Dumbledore himself. He took one sweeping glance at the assembly, his eyes coming to rest upon Remus and the girl.

"Ah. Miss Kristatos, at last. I see you have been taken for an intruder. Perhaps you would care to come with me? We have much to talk about, I think."

He smiled kindly at the girl, holding out a hand to lead her inside the passage. She did not smile back, her eyes still ablaze, but glanced back at Remus until Dumbledore drew her away. She cast the stoniest glare Harry had ever seen at Sirius as she passed him. Dumbledore paused in the doorway to view the remaining five, lingering upon Remus. He said nothing, and drew the door up behind him, leaving them in the corridor.

Harry moved his eyes between Sirius and Remus, who stared at each other like two duellists preparing to run the other through.

"Remus - I - " The words caught in Sirius' throat, and he could not speak.

Remus made no response, but stepped backwards into the shadows, his eyes never leaving his friend's. His form disappeared into the regathered darkness, walking briskly away from them, up the hallway.

"For the love of heaven, go back to Gryffindor Tower," said Sirius, following the fading click of boot heels intently. His voice was tinged with anger and frustration, and brooked no comment from any of them.

Wordlessly, they obeyed.

***

The sun would be up soon. It was still cold - the wind had risen overnight, and it felt like rain. One could almost smell thunder in the air.

Pathetic fallacy, thought Sirius, morbidly.

He peered into his mirror through half-lidded eyes, noting the dark shadow that was growing stubble on his jaw and cheeks. In a hopeless attempt to ease the throbbing muscle in his shoulder, he rubbed it, absently.

Everything ached, from his head to his feet. He had traversed perhaps every passage and corridor in the school in the small hours of the night, searching for him. To no avail.

The light in the mirror shifted, and he raised his eyes to his reflection again.

She stood in the doorway, a vision of loveliness in black and midnight indigo, hair tumbling loose over slim, bared shoulders. The years hadn't changed her.

Sirius felt his heart descend into his boots.

"You knew, didn't you?" Her voice was soft and menacing. "You knew all these months and you never told me!"

"What was I supposed to say?" he exclaimed, despair giving in to frustration. "'Dear Truth - mission accomplished - Sirius Black. Oh, P.S. - Remus Lupin isn't dead'?"

His aggressive tone made her blink, but otherwise she showed no sign of fear or sympathy.

"Do you think it was fair to let me go on believing that he was?" she said, hoarsely. "How long have we been corresponding now? Six months? Four months? Didn't you suppose I would find out eventually?"

He fought to regain control of his voice before replying. "I hoped to tell you in more propitious circumstances, preferably face to face."

"Face to face would have been a good way for me to find out. My face to yours, not mine to his! Not like that! Did you care to enlighten him when you found out I had escaped? No - I didn't think so. Gods, I knew that wild howl the other night! I knew it like I know my own voice, but I told myself it was impossible! Why didn't you tell me then and there?"

"I was about to when we were disturbed!" His eyes sought hers again, and he broke off at once. No-one could confuse him like she could. "Truth, I'm sorry. I've never been more sorry for anything in my life, and Merlin knows I have a lot to regret. It's just - it's been so long since - and I thought - "

"I know." Her voice was warm and rich, like melted chocolate, and she rested a gentle hand on his shoulder.

She was here. She understood. She could help him - both of them.

"I can't find him," he said. "I've been looking all night, and I can't find him."

"Leave him to me."

Sirius turned and stared into her dark eyes. They were averted, staring blankly at a point beyond his shoulder. She looked so sweet and vulnerable, but he knew better than to believe it. Seven years of living in close quarters with this woman had made him come to realize that appearances can be deceptive.

He watched her eyes move back to lock with his, flashing determined fire - the fire that buoyed him as it did everyone who had ever known her.

"I've got to face him sometime," she said, firmly. "Besides - I know where he is."

"Where?"

She smiled, mysteriously, and moved towards the door. "I'll find you later. Herete."

And she was gone. Just like that.

Sirius turned back to the mirror, scowling at the apparition that faced him in the glass. He had no doubt at all that she would do a better job of smoothing the waters than he could.

His time in Azkaban had been a time of torture, as he had gone over and over in his mind the ghastly visions and memories that clung to him in the pestilent air of the prison cell that was his world. Three years of freedom had begun to thaw the icy tomb of his heart, steeped in misery and regret, but seeing her again -

Once more he cursed himself for persuading James to change his mind. His had been the first action in a chain of disaster that cost two of his best friends their lives, condemned two others to brutal captivity and perhaps death, and forced Remus into a life of ghostly despair, seemingly the last of them all to survive. Since that terrible day, he had been delivered of his imprisonment, reprieved publicly for all the wizarding world to see. He and Remus were working side-by-side in the organisation that had been the uniting factor all those years before. And now Truth had come home to join them.

Sirius kicked the dressing table with an outcry of frustration.

He let his aching head fall into his hands, fighting the overwhelming wave of remorse and anger that bubbled up inside him like a poisonous spring.

He could only pray that they would forgive him.

***

She found him in the hours before dawn, in that mysterious moment between night and day that so few ever see. Something drew her to him like a magnet, powered by emotions and memories that crowned the distant past. Every step of the way, every wall and panel and doorway she remembered through fifteen years of time as though she had never been away.

There was a balcony on the fourth floor, too high up to climb from the ground, hidden from prying eyes by veils of fragrant boughs and vines that clung to ornate pillars. There was one way to reach it, and one alone - through a secret door whose secret had long been forgotten. Perhaps only he and she knew about it in all the world.

She smiled as she made the familiar journey through dusty corridors, remembering the day they had found it. They had been fifteen, and so innocent. He would always go there to think.

The fresh, cool wind of night-time brushed her bare skin like gentle, caressing fingers. The scent of honeysuckle and luscious greenery and silver starlight coiled in the air like a cloud, calming and invigorating the senses as one.

He was leaning on the stone balustrade, looking out towards the Forbidden Forest in the blueness of an approaching dawn. His dark shirt pulled across the lean muscles of his back, outlining a form that she had never known. The slim, boyish friend of her youth had disappeared - to be replaced by this astounding image of classical beauty and virility.

She had believed him to be long gone from the world, preserved forever as little more than a boy on the threshold of manhood. Suddenly, to see him again, was like reliving the dream that had clouded her sleep for fifteen years.

Her dark eyes travelled bravely over him, while he stood with his back to her, taking in every detail from the firm line of his neck, where wavy tendrils of sleek hair brushed his skin, down his strong, tapering back to his dragon-hide boots.

Her heart was beating a wild rhythm inside her, like a hundred African drummers in the primal heat of their spirited land. With the keen sense of a tigercat she narrowed her eyes, finding the scent of him in the air and drawing it deep into her lungs. Words were impossible - and what could she have said anyway? Slowly she moved closer, until mere inches separated her from him.

Just to touch him. Just once, to feel the heat of flesh and blood to make sure that he was real.

"I felt you come," he said, his voice deep and hoarse. He did not turn to look at her. "I always knew when you were near." His scent was strong now, as her fingertips brushed his warm back. The intoxicating masculine scent of musk and pine-needles and cold, crystal forest streams. "I've been awake all night. I was afraid to sleep in case I woke up and found that you were a dream - again."

"Remus - "

He couldn't look at her. He would lose his mind and all control. Her touch alone was like a spark against tinder. One brief glance over his shoulder would become a long, lingering gaze of heat and desire, fuelled by fifteen years of fitful dreams and painfully dry eyes when he would never let the tears come. She had died that night, to live on as a beloved ghost in his bruised heart.

Answers. He needed answers.

"What happened?"

She let her eyelids flutter shut, resting her palms against the hard planes of his back.

"It was so dark, I couldn't see. I heard your voice calling for me but I couldn't reach you. Miranda was screaming, and there were bright lights. I tripped over something on the floor - something soft and warm. I knew it was her before a glow behind me lit up her face. It - it was the worst thing I had ever seen, all black and faceless and cold. I wanted to die. I wanted it to stop before I splintered into pieces, but it kept coming and coming. "When I woke up - nothing but blackness and shadows, and that horrible, horrible iciness. I was there for days while they asked me questions, breaking me with Veritas and Crucio until I thought my body had sizzled into ashes. They told me we were finished, all of us. They told me I was strong while all the others were weak - that I was the last of Phoenix ranks and I would die in the end if I refused to help them. I broke away in the night - God knows how I got out without being seen, but I did. All I remember is crawling half alive into a forest and summoning all I had left to Apparate to The Chamber. I passed out at Dumbledore's feet, with all the Ministers looking on.

"When I regained consciousness, my mother and sisters were bending over me. I was in my own bed at home - I could smell the sea and the fruit. I was out of my mind for weeks, but soon I was well enough to sit on the beach and watch the world go on as normal, while the bodies of my friends lay unheeded and unavenged on the cold floor of a dark forest.

"Dumbledore came to me. He sat with me all night on the sands while the tide kept coming in, closer and closer. If he hadn't lifted me in his arms and carried me home I would have stayed there until the sea claimed me for dead. He told me about Sirius. I knew it was wrong - I knew he would never have betrayed the secret. Dumbledore knew too, but he was as helpless as I.

"After that night, I decided to live again. For years I came and went between embassies and headquarters all over Europe trying to get him out of there, but no-one would listen. Then he managed it himself, and I could have cried for joy. Six months ago Dumbledore wrote to me, asking me to come back and rejoin him in the battle against Voldemort. He said that I owed it to Harry to help avenge Lily and James. Sirius wrote to me too, and kept me informed of their plans. Dumbledore had told him what had happened to me, and that I was alive in my little town on the edge of the sea. Yes, he knew before Russia. Neither of them told me, and I don't know why. Remus - I would have come back straight away if I had known - "

The scene before his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cloudy mist of anger and half-forgotten sensations. Only the blinking pin-pricks of the stars penetrated into his vision. Through his wild confusion, a single voice called to him, begging for his touch and comfort. She hadn't spoken aloud, but he felt her need as much as he felt his own.

Her eyes as he turned to look at them were shining with tears, gazing up at him innocently and openly. One moment was all it took for him to reach out and draw her close to him, enveloping her in a warm cocoon of tenderness and strength.

"Truth." She felt the breathless smile in the way he pronounced her name, as though he was trying to make her presence seem real. "The demons of hell couldn't break you, and now you cry."

She jerked her head up suddenly. "I never cry!"

Her glaring eyes glowed with the familiar fire he had known and loved, and he laughed aloud. Raising a gentle hand, he brushed away the moisture clinging to her cheeks.

"God damn it, Remus, you always do this!"

He caught her as she turned away, piqued, trapping her against his chest with one arm. "You never liked admitting that, did you?"

She frowned, furiously, until the steadiness of his eyes calmed her again. This was right, just as it used to be. She had always detested sympathy, like she detested playing the damsel in distress. He had been the only person in the world to truly understand that, and he still did. A sharp provocation or a firm shake helped her more than an eloquent speech full of flattery.

She laughed softly, trying to make it sound grudging. It was hard when her heart threatened to burst with relief and happiness.

"And you?" she said, firmly. "What happened that night?"

Remus took a deep breath, glancing into her eyes briefly before beginning an aimless wander along the length of the balcony. "I went deeper into the woods, trying to find you. Why they couldn't find me I don't know, since I was yelling your name loud enough. I can't remember exactly, but somehow I was knocked out. When I came round, there were people coming into the forest - people from The Order and the Ministry. We couldn't find a trace of you or Miranda. Three weeks later we found Frank and Alice and broke them out, but it was too late. I expect you found out - "

She nodded, sadly, walking beside him. "Dumbledore explained when he told me the news of Sirius."

"We turned the whole place upside down looking for you and Miranda, just in case they'd taken you as well. There was no sign of either of you, and in the light of what you've told me, you had already broken out before we got there. And Miranda - "

Truth laid her hand against his arm. "She was not there, Remus. I would have known if she had been. They killed her. They must have done."

He nodded, accepting the fact as the inevitable.

"Why didn't he tell us?" he said, with undertones of wrathfulness.

"Dumbledore? I don't know. Perhaps we might ask him one day."

"Why did he call you here?"

She smiled. "For the same reason you and Sirius are here. For the sake of one young man who looks absurdly like his father, and his ridiculously loyal friends."

"We were ridiculously loyal friends once too, you know." There was an amused glint in his eye as he circled her shoulders with an arm, guiding her back along the balcony to their original place.

"Of course we were. And I salute all ridiculously loyal friends all over the world. Especially these two! I am looking forward to meeting them."

"Three, I think you'll find. Don't leave Ginny out - she'll be mortified!"

"Sirius spoke of her as well."

Remus' face took on a powerful glare. "Remind me to kill him when all this is over."

"He's hurting too," she said. "He blames himself for everything, I can tell."

His eyes glanced down at her. She had moved in front of him, resting her hands on the balustrade to gaze out towards the rising sun, pink and gold against a backdrop of azure blue. Carefully he placed his hands either side of hers, laying his cheek against her temple. She leaned backwards, moulding into the curve of his body until her head fell onto his shoulder.

"You always could read minds, Kristatos," he laughed. "It's an unnerving habit, you know."

"It's not minds that I read, Lupin. And it depends on the countenance of the individual. Sirius used to be an open book, although his eyes are darker now."

"And me?"

"Damned hard."

He smiled, nostalgically. "You learned in the end."

"It took enough time!"

"Only you could have managed it. Lily always complained about my reticence."

"Do you think she knows?" asked Truth, dreamily.

"I bet she's smiling," he answered. "And probably crying, if I know our Lily. We must all look ridiculous to her and James, running around in circles without knowing what's going on."

Truth burst into laughter - a sweet, melodious trill that delighted him, like rich wine and a warm fire on a winter's evening. It had been so long since he'd heard it.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking up at his patiently quizzical expression. "It's just that I can see her now, tugging on James' sleeve shrieking 'look behind you!' at the top of her voice."

Remus laughed into her hair, taking her familiar scent deep into his lungs.

"I've missed you, Remus Lupin," she said, after a while. "There's so much I want to ask you and tell you, but I can't think where to start!"

"There's no rush," he replied, softly. "Suddenly we're at the beginning again, and we've got all the time in the world."