Chapter 10-Mr. Moony Presents his Compliments to Professor Snape and Begs him to Please Stick His Abnormally Large Nose Into Other People's Business

Remus Apperated just outside the gates of Hogwarts and purposefully made his way across the grounds to the castle. It was a beautiful day and the lawn was filled with students on mid-day break. He was greeted by many of the older students who remembered him fondly as the best, indeed the only decent DADA professor they ever had. The student's fondness and respect for him was uplifting but it also served as a bittersweet reminder that he may never again have the opportunity to do the job which he loved and did so well. As he made his way down to the dungeons he shook off his discontent and reminded himself of why he came to the school in the first place.

Remus stood in the doorway of the potions classroom and watched Severus Snape pour over a stack of aged parchments. He silently said a prayer to the gods that he would be able to persuade the cheerless Potions Master to help him with his problem.

"What do you want?" Snape said without bothering to look up from the parchments he was reading.

"I need a favor Severus."

"Indeed?" Snape fixed his eyes on Remus. He could not imagine what need the werewolf could possibly have that was so vital that he would put himself in his debt. "I don't have all day, Lupin." He said impatiently.

Remus took a deep breath. "I met a woman, she's a Muggle, and I need a potion --"

"I won't make that potion." Snape interrupted and returned his attention to his parchments. As far as he was concerned their conversation was over.

"But you don't even know what I need yet!" Remus thought that Snape would at least hear him out before he turned him down.

"I won't terminate pregnancies." The Potions Master said with finality.

"Why?" Remus wasn't even sure why he asked the question since that was the last thing he wanted.

"That is my own business. You can purchase that potion in any number of shops on Knockturn Alley.-- I'm sure you can find someone to lend you the funds." He added with a sneer.

"That's not what I need. I'm looking for a potion to iprevent/i pregnancy." Remus explained.

"Why are you wasting my time?" Snape spat out each word. He had no idea what Remus was playing at and was losing his patience with the intrusion.

"I'm serious Severus. I need a contraception potion that doesn't rely on magic."

"Just use a contraception charm you nit wit." Snape snarled, seriously wondering if the werewolf was in full possession of his faculties. "I'm assuming you know how to cast one given that my classes aren't littered with your spawn."

"Don't you think I thought of that?" Remus asked impatiently. "Charms and hexes don't work on this woman. A potion that doesn't use magic is our only option."

"Have you considered getting neutered like the dog that you are?" The potions master drawled A Muggle that could not be hexed --ridiculous. The werewolf was either crazy or playing games with him Snape thought. Either way the conversation was over. "Good day, Lupin." He said dismissing him.

"Severus." Dumbledore greeted the Potions Master as he entered his classroom. "Ah, Remus my boy." He said turning to Lupin. "Good to see you. What brings you to Hogwarts on this beautiful day?"

"I came to ask Severus for a favor. I was just leaving." Remus glowered at Snape who responded with his own equally intimidating scowl.

Dumbledore ignored the hostilities and spoke to Remus. "I understand you have made the acquaintance of Rosemary O'Brien. Amazing woman, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I would." Remus answered sensing that he now had an ally in his quest. "I wasn't aware that you knew each other."

"I know of her my boy." Dumbledore answered. "I hope to meet her tonight at the meeting of the Order."

"I want you to meet her too, Severus." Dumbledore continued. "I understand that she has the ability to block any and all magic."

"That's not entirely accurate Albus." Remus corrected the Headmaster. "She doesn't exactly block magic. Magic just doesn't affect her. It's not something that she does; it's something that just happens. She has no control over it, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"Utterly ridiculous." Snape could not believe that two seemingly intelligent wizards, correction, make that one seemingly intelligent wizard and one hormone driven dim wit, would put any stock in such nonsense.

"What is it that you require of Severus?" Albus inquired ignoring Snape's disbelief.

Remus gave an exasperated sigh. "What the hell, why shouldn't the whole world know? I was asking Severus if he could brew a contraceptive potion that doesn't rely on magic."

"A very sensible precaution to take." Albus said with his trademark twinkle in his eye. "I'm sure our esteemed Potions Master is more than up to the task." Albus looked intently at Severus over the top of his half-moon glasses.

"Fine." The Potions Master huffed and retreated into his personal stores returning with a box the size of a deck of cards. He opened it to reveal three small vials.

"You keep a potion like this in stock?" Remus was surprised. Snape's only answer was a scowl.

"Have you had intercourse with this woman?" Snape asked indelicately.

"Does it matter?"

"I have no interest in your carnal affairs. I wouldn't ask if it didn't." If Snape had to accommodate the werewolf he was going to make damn sure that he made him squirm in the process. "This potion is difficult to brew and will be wasted if she's already pregnant."

"Then, if you must know, yes. I have." Remus answered. "We used a Muggle contraceptive so I doubt she conceived."

The potions master snorted at Lupin's confidence in Muggle technology.

"Pay attention Lupin because I'm only going to explain this once." He snapped. "Take a drop of her blood and put it in the vial with the yellow stopper. The liquid will turn blue only if she isn't pregnant. Pour the blue liquid into the vial with the red stopper and have her drink it immediately. She will be infertile until she drinks the contents of the vial with the green stopper."

"Thank you Severus." Remus said earnestly as he reached for the box.

"Wait." Snape said, retaining the box. "I think I'll hold on to the green vial."

"Why?!" Remus said looking to Dumbledore for support. He did not trust Snape's motives for a second.

"Because it's the logical thing to do, you simpleton." Snape said calmly. "If the two of you remain together she will have no need for the reversing potion. If she comes to her senses and leaves, you are the last person who should literally hold her future fertility in his hands. She can come to me when she needs it." Severus placed a slight emphasis on the word 'when' to antagonize Remus.

Dumbledore waived Remus' concerns off and gestured for him to accept the box.

"Suit yourself." Remus said as he took the box with the two remaining vials.

"Will we be meeting Ms. O'Brien tonight Remus?" Albus asked, though it was more of a command than a question.

"I can't speak for her, but I think she'll agree to come."

"Excellent!" Albus said rubbing his hands together. "You should be getting along now Remus. I'm sure you and Ms. O'Brien have much to discuss before the meeting." There was that damned twinkle again.

Snape rolled his eyes and wondered out loud if the whole world had gone mad.

Remus carefully pocketed his treasure and took the steps up to the Great Hall two at a time in his haste to share his news with Rosemary.

"Professor Lupin!" Hermione and Ron called to him as he entered the hall. Remus smiled and waved but kept moving.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and shrugged as they watched him break into a run across the lawn towards the gates.

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Remus was thrilled with the success of his trip to Hogwarts and decided not to wait until four o'clock to share the good news with Rosemary. He Apperated straight to Diagon Alley and walked into Gringotts. Bill Weasley would know where to find her. He asked for Bill at the desk and waited for him to come down.

"Hey Remus!" Bill said as he strode across the bank to meet his guest. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Rosemary." Remus replied in a much better humor than the last time he saw Bill. "I thought you might know where she is and when she'll be done."

"At the moment, your lady is causing quite a stir in the Currency Exchange Department. Come with me, I'll take you to her."

"Is she in any kind of trouble?" Remus asked with concern as he followed Bill.

Bill cast a disbelieving glance at Remus. "You don't know her very well yet, do you? I'm more concerned about the goblins. You wouldn't believe the stunt she just pulled."

"What happened?"

"It's complicated, but I'll try to give you the short version." Bill invited Remus to sit in a chair in front of his desk. "Has Rosemary told you about her finances?"

"She told me that she owns her own company and that she has a lot of money. She told me that she has a few wizards for clients. Why?"

"OK. Rosemary makes A LOT of money off her wizard clients and even more off her Muggle ones.-- She owns fifteen percent of Fred and George's business.-- Anyway, since she lives in the Muggle world, her business with Gringotts has mostly consisted of converting Galleons into Pounds --that's what Muggles call their money--and transferring the funds to Muggle accounts."

"Is that a problem?" Remus was barely following what Bill was telling him.

"No, at least not until today. It was time to renegotiate the contract for the exchange rate and the goblins were hoping to get a more lucrative deal for themselves. Anyway, this afternoon they were all celebrating because they got Rosemary to accept a really ridiculous rate of four Galleons to a Pound. The usual rate is about six Pounds to a Galleon. I told them that something was wrong and that she was not that stupid. But they just kept pointing out that she signed a magically binding contract and that there was no way out of it. The goblins were actually celebrating." Bill shook his head in disbelief.

"And they're not celebrating anymore?" Remus asked.

"Hell no!" Bill said with a mix of apprehension and admiration. He leaned across his desk and spoke to Remus in hushed tones. "Rosemary converted three and a half million Pounds into Galleons this afternoon. Under the old contract that would be a little under six hundred thousand Galleons; but with the new contract the goblins had to fork over fourteen million Galleons. It took three vaults to hold it all. It never, EVER occurred to them that she would change up and transfer her Muggle funds into her Wizard account. -- Griphook is beside himself. He knows she has a lot more Muggle money and he's afraid she'll convert that into Galleons too. -- Gods, this is the mother of all fuck ups. I tried to warn them.

Remus stared at Bill for a good ten seconds before saying anything. "Fourteen…million?…Galleons?"

"Fourteen million Galleons." Bill confirmed. "You had no idea. Did you?"

"Fuck no!"

"In any event, Rosemary is on the other side of that door." Bill gestured towards a large double door behind him. "The goblins are trying to get her to agree to renegotiating the contract."

"Why should she? If the positions were reversed I doubt they would agree to renegotiate."

"That was my thought as well." Bill agreed with Remus. "But she's negotiating with them just the same. She's usually about eight steps ahead of me so I'm sure she has this all figured out."

At that moment the large doors swung open and Rosemary and Griphook emerged, both smiling

"Weasley!" The goblin snapped his fingers and summoned his employee. "Escort Ms. O'Brien back to her offices."

Rosemary smiled broadly when she saw Remus. "That's quite alright Griphook. I have an escort." She said as she took her lover's hand..

"It is a pleasure doing business with you Ms. O'Brien." The goblin said cordially.

"Likewise, Griphook. I'll contact you about the non-tangible provisions of our new contract later this month. And thank you for the fire whiskey." She said showing Remus what she assumed was a very good bottle.

Griphook and Bill watched the couple leave the offices.

"Who was that wizard Weasley?" The goblin asked.

"His name is Remus Lupin." Bill answered.

"How well do you know this Lupin and Ms. O'Brien?"

"I know them both very well."

"Good. That will be useful." The goblin's wheels were turning. "Ms. O'Brien just relinquished ten million Galleons in exchange for our assistance in influencing yet unnamed Ministry policies. Why would a Muggle care about Ministry policies? Find out what is worth that much to her."

Bill already knew. It had to be the Werewolf Code of Conduct Regulations -- not that he would ever share that information with Griphook. Bill took a moment to analyze the situation and came to the conclusion that today's dealings were never about money. Sign here, shuffle paper there and at the end of the day Rosemary had perhaps secured Remus Lupin a chance at a somewhat normal life and still managed to turn a three million Galleon profit. She played Griphook like a harp and the goblin thanked her for it.

The woman was a genius.

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"What just happened in there?" Remus asked Rosemary as they left Gringotts.

"Exactly what was supposed to happen." Rosemary answered enigmatically. "How did you fare at Hogwarts?"

"It went well. I have a gift for you -- for us." He said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Can I open it now?" Rosemary asked playfully.

"No. This is the kind of gift that should be opened in private." He said as he gave her hand a squeeze. "Besides, I'm not going to give it to you until you tell me what the hell just happened! Bill just told me the most outrageous story."

"What? That I took the goblins for fourteen million Galleons?" She asked casually.

"You mean it's true?"

"It was. I gave ten million back."

"Why?" Remus felt as if he had stepped into some sort of alternate reality. Nothing seemed to be happening as it should.

"A lot of reasons. We don't need more Galleons, we need other resources. Specifically we need access to information and friends in high places who owe us a favor. Are you following me?"

"No, not at all." He answered. "Why are you saying we don't need Galleons? Your money is just that, your money. I have a sinking feeling that you just gave away a great deal of it in a misguided attempt to help me. Please tell me you didn't."

"I didn't, not really." Rosemary sighed deeply and thought about how she was going to explain her actions to Remus. She was sure that he was going to make it difficult. "Sit down here and listen to me carefully." She said as she directed him to a bench and took his hands in hers. "First, and don't argue with me about this, what I have is yours too. We don't need more Galleons. Believe me, we have plenty. -- Second, I didn't go into today's meeting to get money. I went into it to get leverage, like we discussed this morning. I walked out with leverage, three million Galleons, and this fine old bottle of wizard whiskey. All things considered, I'd say things went rather well."

"Wow." Remus said quietly. "When you say you're going to do something, you really do it. Do you think we really might…will…get what we want?"

"We can do anything." Rosemary said with absolute confidence.

"I don't know what to say." He was working hard to process the possibilities before him.

"Well, you could say 'Good job Ro. Here's your present.'"

Remus laughed and kissed her cheek. "Come on." He said, pulling her up from the bench. "I live in a house not far from here. You can open your present there."