Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me.
A/N: As promised, you reviewed, I updated! This is a Remus chapter… so sorry to keep you on a cliffhanger with Severus!
One reviewer asked about the line, "Seventeen long years, Regina, he thought. Sixteen years since you died. Half a lifetime ago." Rereading I admit it is a little confusing, but it is supposed to read that way. What Severus means is that though Regina died sixteen years ago, they have been parted for seventeen (as she had to spend a year on pilgrimage at the temple.)
Keep the reviews coming! Same deal as always - review and the next part gets posted tomorrow!
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Remus felt an incredible lightness in his heart as he and Aemilia Apparated back to Hogsmeade. They're alive! he thought. Sirius and Regina are alive!
He hustled Aemilia into the Three Broomsticks so fast that she almost fell over him. "Calm down, Remus!" she told him laughingly.
"Can't. Too happy," Remus replied, his jaw practically splitting with smiling. "We've got to tell Professor Dumbledore, Aemilia!"
They're alive!
"Ah, Mr. Lupin, Miss Fudge!" Madam Rosmerta bustled up to them. "You'll be wanting to Floo back to Hogwarts, yes?"
"Yes, that's right," Aemilia told her. Remus didn't think she trusted his ability not to burst with happiness.
Madam Rosmerta beamed. "Step this way, please," she told them, shepherding towards a roaring fire. She took a jar full of green powder off the mantelpiece. "Since you both look so happy, I'll not charge you anything for the use of the fire."
Aemilia took a pinch of powder and threw it into the flames. "Professor Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts!" she called and was gone.
Madam Rosmerta's smile was, if anything, even wider than Remus's as he took some powder from the proffered jar. "Congratulations to you both!" she whispered in his ear before bustling off, her sparkling red high heels making a clicking sound as she walked.
"Professor Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts!" Remus called, throwing the powder into the flames. Wondering what on earth Rosmerta had meant, he stepped into the green fire and, at length, tumbled out of the grate.
Aemilia laughed. "Don't you ever manage not to fall over when you Floo?" she asked him.
Remus grinned. "Not that I can think of."
Professor Dumbledore wasn't in his office, but considering the near-psychic powers the older wizard seemed to possess, Remus surmised that it would not be long before he was.
"I'm so happy, Aemilia!" he breathed. Impulsively, he picked her up and swung her in a circle.
"Put me down, Remus!" she told him, but she was laughing.
"It's just… after all these years… I never thought I would see her again," Remus said, finally obeying Aemilia and putting her down. "And then when Sirius went through… it was like I'd lost everything. But now…"
"The only way is up," Aemilia said, her face breaking into a smile. "I'm happy for you too, Remus. I really am."
"Thankyou, Aemilia," Remus said, and he enfolded her in a hug.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Remus and Aemilia rapidly disentangled themselves from each other. "No, Professor," Remus replied, but he knew that if his face was as red as Aemilia's, there was no way Dumbledore would believe him.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I'll take your word for it, then," he said, smiling at them down his long crooked nose.
"Professor," Remus said, as Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, "the most amazing thing happened today!"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Really?" His eyes were still twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles.
Remus explained swiftly what had happened, dwelling largely on his conversation with Sirius and Regina. Aemilia interjected occasionally with comments.
"Well, well, well, Remus," Dumbledore said when Remus had finished, leaning back in his chair. "This is interesting."
"You know what this means for the will, don't you?" Aemilia asked excitedly. "If Sirius is alive, then he can't have a will!"
"Yes," Dumbledore replied, but he looked distracted.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Remus asked.
"You said you heard other voices, Remus," Dumbledore said. "Did you… by any chance… hear who they were?"
And Remus remembered.
"Yes," he almost whispered. "There was one… called Janus. And the other -" he gulped, "- Aberforth."
*
Remus did not know what he expected Dumbledore to do at the news that his brother was behind the veil. Dumbledore was a hard man to predict.
"That's… interesting," Dumbledore said slowly. "It is one mystery solved at least."
He turned his attention to Aemilia, abruptly changing the subject. "Miss Fudge, this make sit doubly important that we win the court case. I cannot impress this one you more firmly."
"Why so?" Aemilia asked. "I have no intention of doing things by halves, if that's what you mean."
"Lily and James's papers contain very important information regarding the nature of death magic," Dumbledore replied. "I know they went to great lengths to discover this information."
"James was an Unspeakable," Remus breathed suddenly. "I always wondered why he chose that career path - he'd always wanted to be an Auror, before that, always! But he went and became an Unspeakable… I hated him for it for a while, because of my mother, but I forgave him."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. That is why James inveigled his way into the Department of Mysteries. And Lily's work was also important, though of a different nature. The combined information of their documents must be the most complete resource on death magic the wizarding world has. And it is likely that within these papers lies the secret to breaking down the veil and freeing those trapped behind it."
Remus's heart felt like it was full to bursting. Sirius and Regina had come back, seemingly from the grave. Oh best beloved, he thought.
"But, Miss Fudge," Dumbledore said, looking more concerned, "the case may be more difficult than we supposed, even taking into account this new evidence."
"Why?" Aemilia asked, clearly perplexed.
"I received a letter from the Ministry of Magic not long ago," Dumbledore answered, "advising me on who the Counsel to the Dursley family is going to be."
"Umbridge!" Remus breathed immediately.
"No, Remus," Dumbledore replied. "Miss Fudge is to face, I fear, a much greater trial than Dolores Umbridge." He turned to Aemilia. "Your opposing counsel is, my dear, your father."
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