Chapter 20

Ann and Lupin stared at each other across the breakfast table as they had done every morning for the past four days.

"Ann, would you please eat something," said Lupin as he poured himself some coffee and picked up a section of the Daily Prophet to read.

"I'm not hungry," she said stubbornly.

Lupin looked up at her. "You barely ate anything last night. You need to eat something."

"I want to go back to Hogwarts," she said ignoring him.

Lupin sighed and set his paper down. "We talked about this last night and as I recall you agreed to wait on your father."

"I thought about it some more last night and I changed my mind."

Lupin couldn't stop his smile.

"I'm being serious," snapped Ann. "I don't like this one bit. Something is going on and you're not being honest with me. How do you expect me to trust you when you're obviously lying to me."

"First," began Lupin patiently. "I am not lying to you. Second, this is not my doing. You saw the letter your father sent. He wants you to remain here for the time being."

Ann crossed her arms. "My father wouldn't leave me with you unless something very serious was going on. He doesn't like you at all."

"That is very true," smiled Lupin. "But his options were limited. I don't imagine many witches or wizards would jump at the chance to be alone with you for long periods of time."

Ann narrowed her eyes and Lupin couldn't help laughing. "I'm only teasing you, Ann. Really, you need to calm down." Lupin's face grew serious. "I'm sorry that I have to say this, but the truth is, you've caused a great deal of trouble for your father."

Ann blushed and turned her face away.

"And," continued Lupin. "While he is taking care of things, he needs you to remain here."

"I know," she said softly. "This is my punishment."

"You're not being punished, Ann."

Ann's eyes welled up and when she spoke her voice cracked. "Am I ever going to see my father again?"

Lupin looked at her sharply. "Of course you are. Why would you ask that?"

Ann sighed. "I know you're trying to make light of what I've done, but we both now I've put my father in terrible danger. He's a spy and I may have thrown suspicion on him by my," she couldn't finish.

"Ann," said Lupin as kindly as he could. "Things will work out. You're just going to have to trust the adults in your life to sort things out."

"It's just hard, not to want to do something."

"I know, but eventually this will all be over and we can all get back to our normal lives," said Lupin. "Whatever that means," he added with a smile.

Ann nodded and pulled her plate closer.

Lupin watched her take a few bites until he was satisfied that she would eat before returning to his meal.

He returned to his paper, scouring it carefully for anything that might give him a clue as to what was going on. Since he had brought Ann to his home he had gotten one letter from Snape and a second one from Dumbledore. He had not shown Ann the second letter as it was not meant for her eyes.

The letter from Snape had contained very little details. He had merely requested that Ann remain with Lupin until he came to collect her. He had told her that things did indeed need to be smoothed over, but on the whole made light of the situation.

The second letter came from Dumbledore on the second morning. He had informed Lupin that Draco Malfoy had been removed from the school by his father. He also let Lupin know that a plan had been made and was in the process of being executed. He made it very clear that no matter what happened he was to keep Ann out of sight.

Lupin didn't get a good feeling from the letter, but had done his best to keep Ann in the dark about how uneasy he was feeling.

They continued eating in silence until they were interrupted by a knock at the front door. Lupin and Ann looked at each other uneasily. "Stay here," said Lupin getting up.

He went to the front door and opened it tentatively. Professor Dumbledore stood seriously in front of the house. "Professor Dumbledore, what are you doing here?"

"I need to speak with you, Remus," Dumbledore said quietly. "Alone."

Remus turned to see Ann peering at him from the dining room. "Ann," he called out. "Please go back and eat. I'll be right back." He waited until he saw her disappear and then went outside with Dumbledore and closed the door behind him.

"You have news about Severus," stated Lupin quietly.

"I do," said Dumbledore seriously.

"Hurry up and say it, Albus," said Lupin hurriedly.

"We haven't heard from Severus in three days. He was supposed to check in the day after he left."

Lupin nodded taking the information in. "What about our other contacts. Have they heard anything?"

"Nothing."

Lupin sighed deeply. "You don't think they might have killed him, do you?"

Dumbledore's eyes grew dim. "I don't know. If Voldemort no longer believes in his loyalty anything could have happened to him."

"So, what's being done?" Asked Lupin.

"A few select members of the Order are gathering to form a plan. Until we have more information, I'm afraid there's not much we can do."

"I'm assuming that you don't want Ann to know what's going on since you asked to speak to me alone."

"Not exactly," replied Dumbledore. "We cannot continue to keep her in the dark. I want you to be the one to tell her. She seems to have developed some trust in you."

Lupin nodded. "She hasn't been happy about being kept in the dark."

"No matter what happens, you must keep her here. That is a very headstrong young girl."

"You could say that again," said Lupin. "She won't take this well. She's been worried."

"If you don't think you can talk to her," began Dumbledore.

"That's ok," said Lupin quickly. "I'll do it. You're right. She trusts me. Why don't you come in with me. I'm sure she'll have some questions for you."

Dumbledore nodded and followed Lupin back into the house.

Ann was sitting quietly at the table. Her hands were clasped in front of her and her head was bowed. When Dumbledore and Lupin walked into the kitchen, Ann looked up expectantly. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Ann spoke.

"Is my father dead?" Ann asked quietly.

"No," said Lupin quickly.

Ann's eyes filled with tears. "He must be, why else would Professor Dumbledore be here. You don't have the guts to tell me the truth."

"Ann," said Lupin coming to her and putting his arms around her. "No one's lying to you. Professor Dumbledore came because there's news about your father."

Ann looked up expectantly.

Lupin sighed. "You know about your father's job."

Ann nodded, silently urging him to continue.

"Well, he was supposed to check in three days ago and no one's heard from him.

Ann nodded again, silent tears falling down her face.

"It could be nothing," Lupin hurried on. "But Professor Dumbledore wanted you to know anyway."

"What are you all doing about it? Are you going to try to rescue him?"

"We don't know that he needs to be rescued," began Lupin.

"We're working on that," Dumbledore interjected.

"What does that mean?"

Lupin raised his eyes at Dumbledore. "It means that Professor Dumbledore is doing everything he can to figure out what's going on with your father."

Ann started crying harder. "This is all my fault."

"No, come on now, Ann. We talked about this."

Ann got up and pushed Lupin's arms off her. "Just leave me alone." She turned and ran to her room, slamming the door shut. Lupin went to follow her, but Dumbledore put his arm on his shoulder.

"Let her process the news," said Dumbledore quietly.

Lupin looked uncertain. "She acts so rashly sometimes," he said.

"Just be there for her when she's ready to talk."

"Of course," said Lupin.

"I'd better get going," said Dumbledore quietly. "You'll be in touch if you need anything."

"Yes, of course I will. Let me show you out."

After Dumbledore left, he went to Ann's room and listened at the door. He knew she wanted some time alone, so he decided to leave her alone for the time being.

Later that night, Ann still hadn't made an appearance and Lupin began to get worried. He went to her room and knocked softly on her door. "Ann, are you ok?"

He waited, but when he got no answer he knocked again. "Ann, I'm worried about you."

Again there was no answer. "Ann, open the door," insisted Lupin. When she didn't answer again, he put his hand on the doorknob. "Ann, I'm coming in." He opened the door tentatively. "Ann?"

When he didn't see her immediately he threw the door wide open. "Ann," he called trying to contain his panic. And then he knew. She had gone after her father. His panic was almost immediate. There was no way he could ever begin to explain this to Severus.

He cursed himself silently. He should have followed his first instinct and checked on her immediately. Now, he didn't know how long she had been gone.

He raced to his bedroom and grabbed his cloak. He threw it on haphazardly and grabbed some floo powder. The first thing he was going to do was get to Dumbledore. Then he was going to find Ann and he prayed she would be ok when he did.