Remus didn't have time to wonder. His body too fast for his mind, he was at the fallen man's side. Then his brain kicked in, gathering all the healing knowledge Remus had ever been exposed to. But the man was dead, he thought. Why else would his eyes be open in that sickening stare? What would have caused it? A fall? Something as simple as a stroke or heart-attack? Yet with all of Penelope's worries, he couldn't help but think possible fowl play. That curse, Avada Kedavra. . . that left its victims in such a state. The thoughts rushed through his head in a lightening-quick instant, rambling over one another, as his fingers searched for a pulse.

He found one on the man's neck, beating steadily as that of anyone. Color enough for the living filled the man's face. His chest rose with each perfectly normal breath.

Clearly, the man was alive.

His own heart pounding with relief and confusion, Remus drew his hand back So there was no death. That was good. Yet the man did not blink nor seem aware of anything around him. Remus waved a hand over the man's face and received no response. He wasn't dead, but there was something terribly wrong.

A shadow filled the doorway. "Mr. Dormand!"

Remus looked up to see Percy standing in the doorway, watching the scene with horror. This was unexpected. Percy didn't yet know Remus was here; he had been planning on a more formal meeting. Not this, standing over the body of a man in a trance. He cleared his throat and stood up. "Hello, Mr. Weasley."

Percy didn't bother to look at him. "What did you do to Dormand?"

"I found him like this-"

"He's dead!"

Remus shook his head. "He has a pulse. He's alive. For all intents and purposes, he's perfectly healthy."

Percy stared at Dormand's body, face pale. All awareness seemed to drain from him except the sight of the body on the ground. "This can't be happening," he muttered.

"It is happening, Percy."

Percy took a deep breath and turned to Remus, ready to lash into some Percy-ish retort. He blinked once, disbelieving. Then a look of horror washed over his face. He stumbled once, catching himself on the rim of the doorway. "Lu-Lupin!"

"Surprised to see me, aren't you?" Remus said solemnly and more than a little cooly.

"What. . . what are you doing here?!"

"I came looking for someone," he replied, glancing at Dormand. "This man, I suppose."

"How did you get in?" Percy stroked the doorway in something akin to fascination. "The doorway vanishes. I've never been inside."

"It's not too difficult. I may have broken in, but apparently it's a good thing I did so. I believe this Dormand fellow is in some sort of a trance."

"A trance," Percy repeated softly, frowning at Dormand's body. Then his eyes, now furious, were back on Remus. "How did you know I was here?"

Remus knelt back down to check Dormand's pulse. "Percy, I can honestly tell you I did know you were here. Don't be so selfish as to think I would waste my time looking for you in the middle of nowhere."

Percy made no reply, but his mouth was tight with anger.

Remus watched Percy carefully even as he checked Dormand. He didn't want to be in this position anymore than Percy. It simply wasn't his business. He had never been the one to have a temper, but he wondered to himself if he could manage a week or so in the little village without killing the boy. Then again, Molly wouldn't appreciate that, probably less than she would if he told her where Percy was. How unfair for the woman, having someone like Percy for a son. He bit his lip and tried to think of what Penelope had said. "You work for this man, I assume."

Percy still stood in the doorway, as if he planned to run off at any moment. "Yes. He hired me last week." His widened. He had said too much.

Remus again ran a hand across Dormand's face; again no reaction. "Then I take it you haven't been here very long."

"I didn't think you had so many questions to ask me."

Remus sniffed. He considered mentioning Penelope, but apparently she hadn't said anything. Why should he?

"What's wrong with Dormand?" Percy finally asked.

Remus shook his head and probed him with his wand. "I can't tell. It's nothing I've ever seen before." He stared hard at Dormand's blank face, searching for something, anything. "Unless. . ."

"Unless what?"

It couldn't be. They were miles away, even with their new freedom. It wouldn't be necessary for them to travel so far from civilization to find victims, not with all the fresh souls they had been commanded to take. . . Horrified, Remus leaped to his feet. "Look at his eyes," he said quickly.

Percy stepped away from the door and peered into his boss' face. Then he looked at Remus, disgusted. "I see absolutely nothing."

"Exactly." Some morbid sickness welled up inside Remus, fueled by his knowledge of dark creatures and his own life as one. "There is nothing. Nothing at all. No expression, no awareness, no life other than the simple functioning of the body. He might as well be a sponge. He's just a body, an empty shell."

"Dementors?" Percy asked incredulously. "Are you suggesting he was kissed by a Dementor? That he has no soul?"

"You always were smart in your classes, Percy."

"But. . ." Percy glanced back at Dormand. "I just saw him yesterday. He was fine."

And yet so many other weird things had happened the previous night. Brogan had been imperioused, told to attack Penelope and Percy-was it so illogical to think Dementors had been on the move? "Many things can happen in one short night."

Percy didn't want to look at either man, Remus Lupin or Matthias Dormand. The idea of an empty body void of its soul, victim of a Dementor, was sickening enough. To actually see such a case was a thousand times worse. It was a lesson one learned in school, a caution to stay far from the cloaked creatures roaming school grounds. They were never supposed to kiss anyone, aside from a command from the Ministry of Magic. Had the Ministry ordered this kiss? It was like a sick joke, or a plague that only followed him. His boss, first a servant of Voldemort and now a Dementor victim. And after the experiences with Crouch and Fudge. What sort of sick fate followed him? And here he was, at the scene of the crime.

And then there was Lupin, the werewolf Percy still had yet to trust. He had appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be looking for someone. And not Percy. Well, perhaps Lupin wasn't lying. Percy had wandered out here, as well as Penelope. And Lupin was no doubt still with the Order of the Phoenix. They couldn't be that foolish, to allow something like Brown to exist. Of course someone clever would figure something out and come. But he still didn't want Lupin around. Lupin was friends with his parents. He would tell them exactly where their terrible son was. Fate was catching up to Percy all over the place.

"What do you propose we do with him, then?" he asked.

"The Order. . ." A strange look passed momentarily over Lupin's face. "I suspect this man of having ties to Voldemort."

"You're still with the Order, then?" His voice was filled with more distaste than he had intended.

"Yes. As well as the rest of your family."

Percy let his eyes fall to Dormand. "You can't tell them I'm here."

Lupin almost smiled, bemused. "Of course I can't. It's not up to me."

"You can't tell anyone."

"Like I said, I didn't come here to find you. I'm on an errand for the Order." He took a deep breath. "We need to do something with him. This is very unnatural. I thought this room would be an office or something, but it's but a bare closet. It's like it was made to stuff him into. We just can't leave him."

Percy nodded but didn't move. "I suppose this is going to take away from some interrogations you had planned for him."

"Yes, well, the Dementors are very unpleasant that way." He gazed around the room. "That little chest there in the corner. What's that?"

Percy followed his gesture to the little box. "I've never seen it before." And it wasn't him to get into his boss' business. Not that he hadn't already. "I'm not touching it."

Lupin frowned and moved across the room. He picked up the chest, opened it, and pulled out a large bottle that must have only barely fit.

"What is it?"

Lupin shook his head and opened the bottle. It was a misty color of some sort of liquid, a rich, swampy green. A scent filled the room, something like boiled cabbage.

"What is it?" Percy asked again.

"Something." Lupin pulled an empty vial from the pocket of his robe and poured some of the green potion into it. Then he returned the vial to his robes and returned the larger bottle to the box. "Well, Percy, it was nice to run into you again."

"What about Dormand?"

"Leave him."