This is my longest chapter so far. It and all of the chapters before it did not come into existence without a great deal of inspiration from the writer J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and all that he shares the books 1-4 with are not contributing to my financial wellbeing.
Chapter Forty-five:
The inhabitants of UnderNewYork looked (to anyone not familiar with the difference) like ordinary street people. They wore the same ragged mismatched assortment of cast off clothes. Knew most of the same forgotten short cuts. Ate from many of the same serve-yourself-buffets (also known as dumpsters) and generally were unnoticed in any real way by anyone of consequence.
The major difference between those who were just street people and those that had become citizens of UnderNewYork was actually tied into that last point. The homeless, or street people, or bums, or pick your favorite term were (and still are) actively ignored. It took/takes effort on the part of the Ignorer to ignore the Ignoree (the ignoree being, by default, a bum.) Citizens of the various Under-cities all over (or under) the world have fallen through the cracks as it were and are no longer capable of being actively ignored by persons of consequence.
He led them without error through the confusing part bazaar part flea market part town dump that was the Wandering Market. Pushing their way through the crowds on the ramps that led to the lower levels of the Empire State Building's main garage, Remus and Sirius stuck close to their guide. Together the three reached the back of the lowest level without loosing anyone.
"Where did he go?" Sirius grabbed Remus' sleeve and looked about worriedly.
"I saw him just a second ago," Remus began scanning the milling crowd too.
It had taken only a momentary rush of bodies to block their sight and he vanished.
"There!" Sirius spotted him at a vendor's stall and pointed.
They crossed the space that was supposed to be a path for walking and forced their way to the junk booth where a familiar dark head was bent in close conversation with man who periodically looked up to cry, "Lost stuff! Only the truly lost and nothing less!"
"What, were you thinking?!" Sirius yelled when they were close enough.
He broke off his negotiations with the peddler long enough to cast Black a look of utter disdain. "Yes I'll take it," he handed over a ten-pound note with a grocery list paperclipped to it.
"Always a pleasure Kilroy," the short, round faced, trader chuckled as he tossed over a bright red Remmebrall.
"Are you ready to get on with it now Black? Or do you have anything else you wanted to check out," he asked with a mockingly patient tone as he flipped the Remembrall into the air and caught it. "They close soon and you still need to meet with Cardigan."
"Yes, fine," Sirius ground between his teeth, "I'm ready to go now." They started off again, keeping closer together this time. "I will wring Its skinny neck if It gets any more insane." Sirius didn't make an effort to keep his voice down when he spoke to Remus.
"So," Remus quickly changed the subject, "They call you Kilroy here huh? Do you have any other names?"
"I don't really have any name. That's why everyone tries to pin me down the way they do. If you name a thing it is not as frightening as the thing that is still un-named." He walked up to a filthy purple curtain and pulled it aside. Motioning them forward he leaned in as Black passed him, "Play rough with me and you'll find out why the Morlocks call me Breaker."
"Let me guess," Sirius knew he was being stupid but couldn't hold back the retort, "It's because you break people?"
The narrow hall that the curtain had hidden, went down and to the left. Remus led the way with Sirius behind him and their guide at the rear.
"A Giant can break your body. A Dementor can break you soul. I can break you. Hello Lady Cardigan."
The tight passage ended in a fairly spacious storage closet. A woman with long auburn and blue streaked hair sat in the middle of the room on an overturned bucket.
She dipped her chin, "Kilroy, as you're not dead I'll assume this is about the cred I owe." Her voice was like tangy honey and did not at all fit with the battered grey cardigan that she wore.
"This is the man I told you of," he waved a hand at Sirius. "I brought the serum," he pulled a small square bottle out of a coat pocket and tossed it to her. "Do you require anything else?"
She shook her head and her hair swished against her shoulders and back, "Nay, just go out for a few minutes I need to focus."
Nodding once in a slight bow, "Lupin," he ushered the Werewolf back into the narrow hall and up into the madness of the market.
~
"What is this?" Remus asked taking another bite of the meat kabob.
They were leaning against a concrete barrier that was meant to separate the trafic as cars came down to park or headed back up into Above New York. Lupin was eating and 'Killroy' was again lazily watching people go about their lives.
"Uhm, cat." He answered after a pause.
"Really," Remus looked at the meat on the stick in his hand, "So they are good for something." He took another bite and truly enjoyed it.
He absorbed the frenzied crowds, it was almost closing time and they were hurrying to get their bargains. "I hope she gets done before six. I'm not going to be able to get you out if she takes any longer than that." Since coming into the Wandering Market he had seemingly gone back into Low Power Mode, as Sirius had started calling it.
"Uht a'out a ort-oof?" Lupin asked with his mouth full of cat.
"'What about a port-booth?'" he waited for Lupin's nod before answering rather testily, "If a port-booth were a viable option I wouldn't have driven all night with you in my lap."
Remus wiped his mouth with his sleeve; it didn't seem to matter too much here. "I was hung over. Why couldn't you use a port-booth?" He wasn't even paying attention anymore, Remus sighed and changed his tactics again, "If we can't use a port-booth, how are we getting home?"
"I will force you. Cardigan should be done with just enough time left to allow me to gather the energy. If she takes too long I'll start to loose ground. Tala?!" he jumped to his feet.
A slender woman spun on her heel, her waist length glossy black hair fanned out and her hot brown eyes darted around trying to find whoever had called her name.
She gasped, "Rip?" she was jostled from behind and swiftly made her way to his side. "Rip, it has been almost two years! Then I started to hear rumors that Natalie was doing some work for you. Is it true, do you have a cure?"
"Tala, I would like for you to meet Remus J. Lupin. The Were that I told you I was working with. I'm not done yet but the error you just made is the entire point."
Remus dropped his eyes to the litter strewn ground as she turned to face him, 'How could he do that?! Just tell some woman that I'm a Were, like I'm some topic for small talk. The fact that Tala is a rather attractive woman doesn't' come into it at all, of course. '
"The, Remus Lupin?"
Remus' eyes snapped up to meet hers, she had sounded almost awed, 'Well awed might be a bit much, but she definitely doesn't sound repulsed.'
Tala stared at him with a look of, almost, incomprehension. He now occupied her full attention.
They were looking each other over and he just had to break in before a mood developed, "You were expecting something else?"
"I guess in my mind I had built him up to be half god or something," she answered without taking her eyes off of Remus.
In Lupin's view he rudely broke in again, "What are you doing here, I thought you were still living in Kentford Shire."
Remus found his voice, "Tala, a stalking wolf, which tribe is that from?"
She blushed slightly and it turned her bronze skin a very pleasant shade, "I'm not sure exactly. My mother was Hopi, but I was named by my father. I know nothing about him though, we don't speak of him."
"I'm sorry," Remus could have kicked himself.
(We don't speak of so-and-so had become the socially accepted way of saying that so-and-so had joined the Dark Lord.)
They talked about the parallels between some of the traditional Hopi medicine dances and the modern swish-and-flick. And about the controversy over whether Skinwalkers had been early Animagi or were in fact Were-creatures. She was impressed with his knowledge of many of the Native American cultures, and he was impressed at how well adjusted she was for being a fairly new Were Coyote.
"Now would be a good time to go Lupin. Black is done. I would lie and say that it's been nice to see you Tala, but I wouldn't get anything out of it so… bye." He pulled at Lupin's sleeve until with obvious reluctance they parted with sickeningly happy smiles. "Black," he dragged Lupin to the shaken man. "Did she get what you needed?"
"Yah. She said we can't take a port-key or anything like that, or it would erase the evidence."
"Ok, then let's get out of here." He led them to a door marked Do Not Enter. Not An Exit, which he promptly entered, of course. They were now on the landing of a stairwell that was designed as a safety backup in case of fire. "It's almost time, I need to hurry. It will probably be rough on you. I'm truly sorry for this, I don't have the strength to do anything else."
'I've heard something like that before.' Lupin thought.
A flash of light, the world spun violently. Suddenly they were in a park on the West End of Hogsmead in the middle of a settling cloud of glitter.
Remus and Sirius crumpled to the ground, over come with nausea. They moaned softly and didn't notice when he swallowed some of the warm, crimson potion he always carried. After several minutes they were able to slowly regain their feet.
He was utterly spent. There was nothing left. Even another injection would be useless. He ticked off his orders in a last effort to focus, 'Try to find something to treat Lupin. Find a way to clear Black's record. Get them both back to Hogwarts. I have done all but the last now Master.'
Chapter Forty-six:
"When she said I couldn't use a port-key I didn't think she meant that I had to go through a blender," Sirius groaned softly.
Remus, as usual, had other things on his mind. Tala and the fraud specifically. He wasn't about to bring up Tala so it was topic number two that jumped out when his friend started to complain again. "Are you alright?" He asked the green clad maybe-a-Garom.
"I'm fine. Well not fine really, but as far as I'll ever tell anyone I'm fine"
"You're not walking like you were when we started. You look tired," Remus tried again.
"You aren't walking the same way you were when we started either," he tossed the Remembrall up and caught it in a rhythmic motion.
"I got used to the pants. You still look tired, but I'll ask about something else if you'd rather," no response but the continued brief arch of the sphere. "How old are you?"
He caught and held the ball, "You don't remember? I thought it was only two weeks ago I told you. Well it feels like I told you three or four days ago, but it was about two weeks. I'm sure."
"You told me? But I didn't even know you existed two weeks ago."
"What are you playing at, I told you how old I was the first time we met." He stifled a cough and started to walk faster.
Lupin quickened his pace until he drew even with him, "You've been working on me in that lab of yours for two years, but we just met, at the most, two weeks ago?"
Sirius had seen the two of them interacting over the past several hours and a few things were becoming clear. One, Remus for some reason was able to get It to make sense. Two, Remus and to a lesser degree he himself, were becoming quite dependant upon It for protection and care. Three, there was a master somewhere that held the invisible leash attached to Its collar. Lastly, for whatever reason, Its relationship with Snape was changing and they were expected to fill the gap.
"Remus," Black had an idea, "Ask It about the Remembrall."
"You call him an It but you have a problem when he does it to me? And now you want me to ask your questions for you?" Remus hissed back at him. In a clearer voice though he said, "What are you going to do with it?"
He glanced at the Remembrall, clutched tightly in his fist, and forced his hand to relax. Tossing and catching it again he spoke rather offhandedly, "It has some extra charms on it. Plus it has a colour indicator to tell you how critical the thing you've forgotten is, and the cloud in the center was replaced with an image of the thing you've forgotten. Or words that tell you what you were supposed to do." He continued to play catch as they entered a dark alley.
"Is it broken?" Lupin had begun following the ball with his eyes, every time it touched his fingertips there was a violent burst of activity.
"No," he held the small crystal orb on his fingertips like a Muggle magician.
Remus leaned in, Sirius held back but watched closely nonetheless. Words in several different languages were mixed with what looked like complicated mathematics equations. They were flashing past so quickly all that could be gotten was an impression of physics and French calculus and Korean. On and on too many languages too many numbers all the while the images strobed just behind the writing. A silvery hallway was replaced by what looked like a class on human anatomy except that the woman's heart beat once before the image was replaced with dozens of children all looking exactly the same and walking in perfect synchronicity… He tossed the ball into the air and when it left his touch it went blank. When it touched him again there were more images more symbols and never a repeat.
"If it's not broken why does it do that?" Sirius mentally smacked himself as the words left his tongue, 'Remus is the one with the golden touch. I need to keep quiet. Or we'll never get anything straight.'
"I don't know why it's blank, maybe I'm more messed up than I thought." He shrugged and ducked his head while walking through a wall that didn't appear to have a hole.
" Don't you see that stuff?" Sirius spoke up again. "It has to be broken, just flashing old things." 'Am I incapable of shutting up?'
"Are you asking me what I see?"
"How did you see all of that," Remus finally took over again and maneuvered back to something that he had wondered about earlier. The previous train of thought was irrevocably lost there was no reason to pursue it anymore.
"Invisible passages are no problem but a car door latch has you stumped," he mocked then abruptly changed to a distant unconcerned tone, "It's why I'm so laid back some times. I take in too much information too quickly and then I don't have enough room left for pretending to be normal." He stuffed the ball in a coat pocket and pointed forward, "Your rooms."
Black and Lupin looked around they were indeed back in the dungeons of Hogwarts. So caught up in watching the Remembrall, they hadn't even noticed reentering the school.
Sirius started for his hidden door but Remus held back a moment, something wasn't done yet.
"Lupin," he was starting to sweat and shake. It was stupid to try and fight back now. But he fought for control, even if it only got him a few more seconds. "I need to say something to you, please, understand…" The shaking was getting worse, " I don't know how to drive a car, but I can…" he was fading fast and he knew it. " Understand, how can you?!" 'One more breath! I can do this.' "I half lied to Tala. The results I got from Natalie were only a final check."
He barely made it back to Snape's quarters. But he made it, and even managed to change into the other's clothes before falling back onto the bed and into the darkness of his prison. Snape would never know.
~
Snape woke up Saturday morning with a pounding heart and the feeling that he was in grave danger. Like a striking cobra his hand sought and drew his wand, a curse was half uttered before he realized it had been a dream.
He pulled himself up and stumbled off to take a shower. It didn't matter that he washed his hair daily. Greasy hair came with the job. But he washed it anyway.
It was after six so he went straight to breakfast instead of stopping by his classroom first. Breakfast was revolting, as usual. He forced down a half bowl of porridge anyway; he was on orders to eat more and it was never a good idea to defy the Dark Lord.
He had been able to get his usual seat, to Dumbledore's left. The Headmaster had greeted him with a warm smile and equally warm words, but it was an act. Long ago Voldemort had told him the truth. Now he was forced to make polite conversation with people ha couldn't fully trust again. Today that would change. 'She is coming today. All I have to do is hold on for a few more hours and then I'll have an ally I can trust.'
Remus came into the Great Hall feeling well rested. For some reason the time lag hadn't messed with him as much as it had Sirius. Remus had gotten a better night's sleep driving from Toronto to New York and that helped some. He had also had less to drink at the Raven, and that no doubt helped some too.
"Good morning, didn't expect to see you up so early-" whatever he had been about to follow that up with was lost when the black eyes of Snape looked at him with surprise and censure. "Sorry," he murmured under his breath as he slid into his seat.
"It isn't your fault Lupin. Many things are, but not the morning."
Remus took a sip of juice, "Why are you wearing that scarf around your head? I thought-"
"That if everyone expected me to have a bruised eye that I'm trying to cover till it's healed. That maybe I should bandage it whether or not I have a bruised eye that I'm trying to cover till it's healed?" To prevent further conversation Snape sipped some wine and started to try and force down the other half of his bowl of porridge.
~
The students Third year and up had been dismissed to Hogsmead. The women hoping to get the position of Head of Slytherin had started to arrive. Snape wasn't clear as to why they didn't seem to be interviewing men for Huffelpuff but shrugged it off, it was only Huffelpuff after all. It soon became clear that the event was going to become A Gathering. A rather traditional misappropriation of any event that happened to be, even remotely, potions oriented.
Male and female Potion Masters and apprentices mingled freely and sampled every delicate finger food that the Hogwarts House Elves could think of. Unlike in most professions there was a strong bond between Potions Masters, mostly because they would all die for their individual causes sooner or later. (All depending upon the volatility of the cause in question.) Friends and colleagues caught up on each other's work. (No one mentioned health.) If you didn't show up it was because you were either; in the middle of a project and others could share your latest news or, because you were dead in which case no one would bring you up at all and everyone would know before long.
Most of the Hogwarts faculty had opted to go into Hogsmead with the students. Most said it was so they could chaperone, a few claimed to be worried about safety. Snape knew they were too weak to stomach it, that was the reason, the real reason.