Disclaimer: yep, I own nothing of this, don't sue me (but Sarah's mine, as
is the plot (I think!) and so are Michael and Nolan)
A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed: just a quick note to Kitsune Classic – no, Sarah is not a squib! She's pure muggle – I don't know if you thought that she was Dumbledore's granddaughter or something – it says that she's his goddaughter. And I have plans for her, so wait and see! By the way, this is a repost, there were a couple mistakes the first time around. Also, a great big thanks to my girl here at school for helping me get over my writer's block.
On with the story!!
Chapter 3: The Job
"Wow," Sarah breathed as the brick archway to Diagon Alley closed behind her. "I don't care how many times I go there – it's such a ..."
"Magical experience?" Remus quipped. Sarah groaned and slapped his arm playfully.
"Actually," she laughed, "Yes, it is a magical experience".
They strode through the Leaky Cauldron, Sarah getting a few stares due to her obviously muggle clothes. Dressed in a three-quarter length cream sweater, navy blue jeans, a knee-length fitted woolen jacket and high- heeled boots it was impossible to mistake her for a witch. Remus chuckled as he looked down at her boots. "You know," he whispered in her ear, "You could kill someone with those spikes!" Sarah laughed and walked on ahead of him, miraculously without falling over and even adding what Remus considered a rather distracting sway of the hips.
It was about the third week in October and the weather was proving unusually nippy. Just before stepping into muggle London, Remus swiftly transfigured his robes into slightly less conspicuous muggle clothing, complete with a smart leather jacket of his own design that Sarah thoroughly approved of. "Oooh!" she said, feeling the soft material. "So how long does this last for, then – it's amazing!"
"Not more than a few hours" Remus said, somewhat sadly.
"Shame," Sarah continued. "Goodness you have such style!"
Remus pretended to look hurt. "Oh, I can see how it'd be such a surprise, being the frump I am!"
Sarah looked momentarily horrified at having brought up the issue of Remus's less than ideal financial state of affairs, which were all too evident through his daily clothing, but he smiled at her and brushed it off. He laughed inwardly as she tried to eye him without him noticing. Sure, he didn't have the money to keep his clothes up to date. This did not mean, however, that he didn't know how to dress when given the chance...
"Well," Sarah had been talking for a couple of minutes while he'd drifted. "I'll have to hold your hand, then."
"WHAT!" Remus spluttered, but quickly calming down upon seeing the slightly hurt look on Sarah's face. "I mean – not that I don't want to hold your hand – I mean – I don't want to - uh – well - " Sarah arched an eyebrow, clearly amused by Remus's stammered explanation. "Just – well don't you think you're a little too old for that? We won't be separated that easily."
Sarah laughed. "You weren't listening to me, were you? I said that you looked good-" at this more splutters came from Remus "- and I bet you anything that at least one girl will try to pick you up. And maybe a guy or two, for that matter..." she said the last part under her breath, but Remus caught it and looked terrified.
"So, I'll just pretend to be your girlfriend and basically hold your hand as a 'back off, he's mine' kind of sign. Kapish? I know that we won't get separated that easily, but between what you do and what I do, there's a pretty big chance that we could be. And it's getting late out. I'm not having the best of feelings about stuff in general right now."
"Okay." Remus had to take a second to recover from the barrage of explanations thrown his way. "Sounds good." Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Hang on – when you said between you do and I do- what did you mean?" Sarah cut him off by taking his hand and leading him inside a crowded store.
"Oh, this is not good. I don't like this, Remus." Remus agreed wholeheartedly; he'd never been one for crowded places. It brought back memories of a long ago shopping trip that Lily had taken James on, who in turn had brought along Remus and Sirius for 'moral support'. After that one excursion he'd vowed never to go shopping with a woman again. Yet here he was, albeit at Dumbledore's insistence. At least Sarah seemed to share his obvious dislike of the situation.
"It'll take too long to get out of here if..." Sarah looked around the crowded store, scanning for exits.
'I wonder why she's thinking about that – just how much has Dumbledore told her about the Order, anyways?' Remus mused to himself. "What's going on here, then?" he asked instead.
"It's a sale." Sarah explained. "This store has some great deals. Just my luck – I promised my grandma I'd get her something from here and today is the last day I can get it. Oh well. Keep and eye out for anything suspicious, kay?"
"I always am." Remus assured her, growing more and more confused as Sarah grew visibly more and more concerned. She'd already said that things didn't feel right – but usually his own heightened werewolf senses would have picked something up if something were truly wrong. What on earth was going on?
For the next few minutes, thought, it seemed that his fears were unfounded. He and Sarah navigated their way through the throng to the china and glassware section of the home decoration floor. "Molly would love this place!" Remus looked around at the various items about him. Sarah picked up a beautiful bone china plate with a delicate gold line running around the rim. He lifted up a long stemmed crystal glass that had a pattern of whirls etched into it.
"Really?" Sarah asked, picking up another plate, this one with a deep burgundy line running intertwined with the gold pattern beside the first. "Which one?" she asked Remus.
"What's your grandmother like?" Remus asked in response.
"Regal" Sarah answered. "Elegant – not fussy, but classy. You know, she probably already has a white and gold set."
"The second one it is, then." Remus said, putting the other plate back for her.
"Yes, I -" Out of nowhere Sarah stiffened, the chosen plate slipping from her fingers only be caught thanks to Remus's excellent reflexes.
"Sarah?" he looked at her. She was staring off to the side; at what he had no idea. "Sarah!!" he tried again, with no success. "Sarah!" he grabbed her arm and slowly she turned towards him – but for a split second it seemed to Remus that she was looking right through him. Her lips moved as if to form words, but no sounds came out.
"Sarah!!!! He said urgently, attracting the attention of a couple of shoppers close by. Remus was panicking. He had no idea what was happening, and he was in the middle of a crowded muggle store that had those annoying security cameras everywhere; there was no way he could apparate to Grimmauld Place.
Suddenly Sarah snapped back to life. "Remus!" she hissed every bit as urgently at him; he was occupied looking around wildly for exits. "Remus we need to get out of here NOW!"
"Merlin, Sarah! What happened? Sarah?" Remus felt himself being pulled through the crowd towards the stairs in the middle of the store. Sarah didn't seem to be in the slightest bit concerned about pleasantries. She was shoving her way through, trying to get to the crowded stairs as fast as possible.
"Remus, trust me on this – we need to get out of here now! Did you see any doors other than the front?"
"No..." Remus said, trying to catch his breath. Despite the crowds, Sarah was cutting through them at an alarming rate. "What's wrong with the front door?"
Standing partially hidden behind a family, Sarah stopped near the top of the stairs and looked at the main entrance. Just beyond it, with their backs to the store, were a group of men; obviously armed and obviously making sure that she didn't get out. She looked down to the floor below her, and saw a potential path through the crowds. But it would be too late if she waited to go down the stairs...
"Damn!!!" She said, momentarily letting go of Remus's hand to run it through her hair in frustration.
"Deatheaters?" Remus's hand went instantly to his wand.
"I almost wish – no, people I deal with." She sighed. "You can't do magic here, Remus, they'll open fire on you!"
'Sounds like Deatheaters to me' Remus thought. "What are you doing?" he asked, as she placed a hand on the rail of the stairs.
"Wizards bounce, right?" Sarah half joked. "Well, we're jumping down to there, and then just follow me, fast as you can"
"What?!" Remus protested. He was about to say that she was crazy, that they should walk quickly and calmly to the front door and then apparate when he caught a glimpse of her 'people'. It wasn't much, but it was enough to tell him that whoever they were, they were well armed and unlike him, willing to use whatever they had at their disposal in a crowded place.
He took one final look at the 15 foot drop, then quickly followed Sarah, who had already gracefully vaulted off the edge of the rail. He somehow managed to land on his feet without breaking anything or attracting too much attention. Sarah was already running in a path that just seemed to open up as she ran – it was as if she'd landed running. Tearing after he, he began to be grateful that he'd kept fit working for the Order over the summer – Sarah was moving incredibly fast – through a small door at the back, past startled employees and then through another door. Behind him he could vaguely hear an uproar as shoppers were pushed out of the way. 'They're coming.' He thought, terrified.
Remus Lupin had fought many a Deatheater and was known as an excellent wizard, but he couldn't do magic here, and so he was in utterly unfamiliar territory. Suddenly Sarah burst through a door that lead out into a back alleyway. It was dead quiet except for the harsh clanging of the door against the brick as Remus followed her through. As he looked at Sarah, he did a double take. She had stopped and was moving out to the street beyond, but she had out what he supposed were two muggle guns.
"Sarah?" he whispered, confusion momentarily replacing fear.
"Magic still won't be any good." She said, almost apologetically. "Can you fight?"
"I can throw a few punches..." Remus said, apprehensively. "Will I have to?"
"Almost certainly. But just in case – keep that wand handy." They walked out onto the seemingly deserted street and instantly found themselves surrounded. There were at least fifteen men and women there; Remus felt his stomach plummet. 'Funny' he thought. 'I've dedicated most of my adult life to the fight against an evil wizard who goes around killing muggles and here I am about to be killed by a group of muggles. Isn't life ironic.'
"Hello, Miss Brenton," one of the men said, rather coldly. "I see you've brought your boyfriend with you this time. Decided you needed some protection?"
"Not at all, Nolan." Sarah replied, steel in her voice. "I just though I'd make it a bit more fair for you, that's all."
"Why you little bi-" and with that he rushed at her. Remus tried to look out for Sarah at first but failed as he saw a woman pull out a gun. Ducking, he swung out a leg and managed to bring down the man standing behind him, who promptly received the shot that had been meant for him. Glancing again towards where he thought she would be, heart racing, he was surprised to see her flip back and forth in the air, firing out and taking down at least 4 people in a few seconds. Suddenly she threw her guns down, and swinging out an arm at the nearest attacker, used him as a support as she went completely over backwards, delivering a lethal kick in the head to the person behind the first man, whose gun she had somehow managed to procure during the flip and was now firing it directly behind-
"REMUS!" she yelled "BEHIND YOU!" Fire roared through his veins as a bullet ripped through his arm. He stumbled but managed to reflexively kick out at the next person trying to get to him. Hitting them with his good arm, he kept them moving backwards until a punch sent the person's head flying back into the brick wall at the other side of the street. The man slumped to the ground, and Remus was suddenly aware of the silence around him. He looked up – Sarah was standing over the man who had talked to her – Nolan, was it? – and had her boot heel pressing into his ribcage, a gun pointed at his head. Looking at the other bodies, he realized that the rest of them were either dead or unconscious.
A roaring noise filled the street, and a smooth silver car pulled up as close as possible; a military style truck soon followed it. A man got out of the car, tall and broad shouldered, in a black leather jumpsuit that seemed familiar to Remus.
"Hang on." He said to himself. "That's what Sarah was wearing that night."
"Sarah." The man's deep voice rang out. The truck doors opened and several people came out and began setting things up, checking the bodies and survivors.
"Hey, Michael." Sarah sounded tired. "Got Nolan here."
Michael went closer. Sarah removed her boot from Nolan and pulled him up. He was promptly handcuffed by Michael, and taken away by one of the various 'army muggles' as Remus deemed them roaming around the street.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah." Sarah answered. "We were ambushed." She motioned for Remus to come over.
"Remus, my boss, Michael Callahan, Michael, a good friend of mine, Remus Lupin." Remus put his arm out to shake and suddenly pain coursed through him. "Remus!!" Sarah cried out, anxiously. "You're shot – oh thank goodness it didn't hit the bone." She looked at the arm where the bullet had clearly gone straight though.
"Michael, I'll need to take Remus home." Michael nodded, and started to walk away. "Nice to meet you Mr. Lupin, despite the circumstances. Sarah, I expect you and a full report in my office tomorrow morning, first thing."
"Yes, sir." Sarah called back. She and Remus were already moving back towards the alley behind the store where no one would see them apparate. Arriving back at Grimmauld Place, Remus quickly directed Sarah to his room upstairs, where he kept some healing potion in the event that he hurt himself after a transformation. Sarah insisted on cleaning him up, all the while Remus was eerily silent.
All this began to unnerve Sarah. "Remus!" she begged. "Say something!"
He looked at her, eyes so serious that she looked down after a few seconds. "So." He said. "That's what you do."
A/N: ooh!! What happens now? (dun dun dun!) well now you'll just have to review and give me lots of comments and ideas if you want to find out! (and if you want to have a say in what happens next, ideas would be greatly appreciated) - Laren
A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed: just a quick note to Kitsune Classic – no, Sarah is not a squib! She's pure muggle – I don't know if you thought that she was Dumbledore's granddaughter or something – it says that she's his goddaughter. And I have plans for her, so wait and see! By the way, this is a repost, there were a couple mistakes the first time around. Also, a great big thanks to my girl here at school for helping me get over my writer's block.
On with the story!!
Chapter 3: The Job
"Wow," Sarah breathed as the brick archway to Diagon Alley closed behind her. "I don't care how many times I go there – it's such a ..."
"Magical experience?" Remus quipped. Sarah groaned and slapped his arm playfully.
"Actually," she laughed, "Yes, it is a magical experience".
They strode through the Leaky Cauldron, Sarah getting a few stares due to her obviously muggle clothes. Dressed in a three-quarter length cream sweater, navy blue jeans, a knee-length fitted woolen jacket and high- heeled boots it was impossible to mistake her for a witch. Remus chuckled as he looked down at her boots. "You know," he whispered in her ear, "You could kill someone with those spikes!" Sarah laughed and walked on ahead of him, miraculously without falling over and even adding what Remus considered a rather distracting sway of the hips.
It was about the third week in October and the weather was proving unusually nippy. Just before stepping into muggle London, Remus swiftly transfigured his robes into slightly less conspicuous muggle clothing, complete with a smart leather jacket of his own design that Sarah thoroughly approved of. "Oooh!" she said, feeling the soft material. "So how long does this last for, then – it's amazing!"
"Not more than a few hours" Remus said, somewhat sadly.
"Shame," Sarah continued. "Goodness you have such style!"
Remus pretended to look hurt. "Oh, I can see how it'd be such a surprise, being the frump I am!"
Sarah looked momentarily horrified at having brought up the issue of Remus's less than ideal financial state of affairs, which were all too evident through his daily clothing, but he smiled at her and brushed it off. He laughed inwardly as she tried to eye him without him noticing. Sure, he didn't have the money to keep his clothes up to date. This did not mean, however, that he didn't know how to dress when given the chance...
"Well," Sarah had been talking for a couple of minutes while he'd drifted. "I'll have to hold your hand, then."
"WHAT!" Remus spluttered, but quickly calming down upon seeing the slightly hurt look on Sarah's face. "I mean – not that I don't want to hold your hand – I mean – I don't want to - uh – well - " Sarah arched an eyebrow, clearly amused by Remus's stammered explanation. "Just – well don't you think you're a little too old for that? We won't be separated that easily."
Sarah laughed. "You weren't listening to me, were you? I said that you looked good-" at this more splutters came from Remus "- and I bet you anything that at least one girl will try to pick you up. And maybe a guy or two, for that matter..." she said the last part under her breath, but Remus caught it and looked terrified.
"So, I'll just pretend to be your girlfriend and basically hold your hand as a 'back off, he's mine' kind of sign. Kapish? I know that we won't get separated that easily, but between what you do and what I do, there's a pretty big chance that we could be. And it's getting late out. I'm not having the best of feelings about stuff in general right now."
"Okay." Remus had to take a second to recover from the barrage of explanations thrown his way. "Sounds good." Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Hang on – when you said between you do and I do- what did you mean?" Sarah cut him off by taking his hand and leading him inside a crowded store.
"Oh, this is not good. I don't like this, Remus." Remus agreed wholeheartedly; he'd never been one for crowded places. It brought back memories of a long ago shopping trip that Lily had taken James on, who in turn had brought along Remus and Sirius for 'moral support'. After that one excursion he'd vowed never to go shopping with a woman again. Yet here he was, albeit at Dumbledore's insistence. At least Sarah seemed to share his obvious dislike of the situation.
"It'll take too long to get out of here if..." Sarah looked around the crowded store, scanning for exits.
'I wonder why she's thinking about that – just how much has Dumbledore told her about the Order, anyways?' Remus mused to himself. "What's going on here, then?" he asked instead.
"It's a sale." Sarah explained. "This store has some great deals. Just my luck – I promised my grandma I'd get her something from here and today is the last day I can get it. Oh well. Keep and eye out for anything suspicious, kay?"
"I always am." Remus assured her, growing more and more confused as Sarah grew visibly more and more concerned. She'd already said that things didn't feel right – but usually his own heightened werewolf senses would have picked something up if something were truly wrong. What on earth was going on?
For the next few minutes, thought, it seemed that his fears were unfounded. He and Sarah navigated their way through the throng to the china and glassware section of the home decoration floor. "Molly would love this place!" Remus looked around at the various items about him. Sarah picked up a beautiful bone china plate with a delicate gold line running around the rim. He lifted up a long stemmed crystal glass that had a pattern of whirls etched into it.
"Really?" Sarah asked, picking up another plate, this one with a deep burgundy line running intertwined with the gold pattern beside the first. "Which one?" she asked Remus.
"What's your grandmother like?" Remus asked in response.
"Regal" Sarah answered. "Elegant – not fussy, but classy. You know, she probably already has a white and gold set."
"The second one it is, then." Remus said, putting the other plate back for her.
"Yes, I -" Out of nowhere Sarah stiffened, the chosen plate slipping from her fingers only be caught thanks to Remus's excellent reflexes.
"Sarah?" he looked at her. She was staring off to the side; at what he had no idea. "Sarah!!" he tried again, with no success. "Sarah!" he grabbed her arm and slowly she turned towards him – but for a split second it seemed to Remus that she was looking right through him. Her lips moved as if to form words, but no sounds came out.
"Sarah!!!! He said urgently, attracting the attention of a couple of shoppers close by. Remus was panicking. He had no idea what was happening, and he was in the middle of a crowded muggle store that had those annoying security cameras everywhere; there was no way he could apparate to Grimmauld Place.
Suddenly Sarah snapped back to life. "Remus!" she hissed every bit as urgently at him; he was occupied looking around wildly for exits. "Remus we need to get out of here NOW!"
"Merlin, Sarah! What happened? Sarah?" Remus felt himself being pulled through the crowd towards the stairs in the middle of the store. Sarah didn't seem to be in the slightest bit concerned about pleasantries. She was shoving her way through, trying to get to the crowded stairs as fast as possible.
"Remus, trust me on this – we need to get out of here now! Did you see any doors other than the front?"
"No..." Remus said, trying to catch his breath. Despite the crowds, Sarah was cutting through them at an alarming rate. "What's wrong with the front door?"
Standing partially hidden behind a family, Sarah stopped near the top of the stairs and looked at the main entrance. Just beyond it, with their backs to the store, were a group of men; obviously armed and obviously making sure that she didn't get out. She looked down to the floor below her, and saw a potential path through the crowds. But it would be too late if she waited to go down the stairs...
"Damn!!!" She said, momentarily letting go of Remus's hand to run it through her hair in frustration.
"Deatheaters?" Remus's hand went instantly to his wand.
"I almost wish – no, people I deal with." She sighed. "You can't do magic here, Remus, they'll open fire on you!"
'Sounds like Deatheaters to me' Remus thought. "What are you doing?" he asked, as she placed a hand on the rail of the stairs.
"Wizards bounce, right?" Sarah half joked. "Well, we're jumping down to there, and then just follow me, fast as you can"
"What?!" Remus protested. He was about to say that she was crazy, that they should walk quickly and calmly to the front door and then apparate when he caught a glimpse of her 'people'. It wasn't much, but it was enough to tell him that whoever they were, they were well armed and unlike him, willing to use whatever they had at their disposal in a crowded place.
He took one final look at the 15 foot drop, then quickly followed Sarah, who had already gracefully vaulted off the edge of the rail. He somehow managed to land on his feet without breaking anything or attracting too much attention. Sarah was already running in a path that just seemed to open up as she ran – it was as if she'd landed running. Tearing after he, he began to be grateful that he'd kept fit working for the Order over the summer – Sarah was moving incredibly fast – through a small door at the back, past startled employees and then through another door. Behind him he could vaguely hear an uproar as shoppers were pushed out of the way. 'They're coming.' He thought, terrified.
Remus Lupin had fought many a Deatheater and was known as an excellent wizard, but he couldn't do magic here, and so he was in utterly unfamiliar territory. Suddenly Sarah burst through a door that lead out into a back alleyway. It was dead quiet except for the harsh clanging of the door against the brick as Remus followed her through. As he looked at Sarah, he did a double take. She had stopped and was moving out to the street beyond, but she had out what he supposed were two muggle guns.
"Sarah?" he whispered, confusion momentarily replacing fear.
"Magic still won't be any good." She said, almost apologetically. "Can you fight?"
"I can throw a few punches..." Remus said, apprehensively. "Will I have to?"
"Almost certainly. But just in case – keep that wand handy." They walked out onto the seemingly deserted street and instantly found themselves surrounded. There were at least fifteen men and women there; Remus felt his stomach plummet. 'Funny' he thought. 'I've dedicated most of my adult life to the fight against an evil wizard who goes around killing muggles and here I am about to be killed by a group of muggles. Isn't life ironic.'
"Hello, Miss Brenton," one of the men said, rather coldly. "I see you've brought your boyfriend with you this time. Decided you needed some protection?"
"Not at all, Nolan." Sarah replied, steel in her voice. "I just though I'd make it a bit more fair for you, that's all."
"Why you little bi-" and with that he rushed at her. Remus tried to look out for Sarah at first but failed as he saw a woman pull out a gun. Ducking, he swung out a leg and managed to bring down the man standing behind him, who promptly received the shot that had been meant for him. Glancing again towards where he thought she would be, heart racing, he was surprised to see her flip back and forth in the air, firing out and taking down at least 4 people in a few seconds. Suddenly she threw her guns down, and swinging out an arm at the nearest attacker, used him as a support as she went completely over backwards, delivering a lethal kick in the head to the person behind the first man, whose gun she had somehow managed to procure during the flip and was now firing it directly behind-
"REMUS!" she yelled "BEHIND YOU!" Fire roared through his veins as a bullet ripped through his arm. He stumbled but managed to reflexively kick out at the next person trying to get to him. Hitting them with his good arm, he kept them moving backwards until a punch sent the person's head flying back into the brick wall at the other side of the street. The man slumped to the ground, and Remus was suddenly aware of the silence around him. He looked up – Sarah was standing over the man who had talked to her – Nolan, was it? – and had her boot heel pressing into his ribcage, a gun pointed at his head. Looking at the other bodies, he realized that the rest of them were either dead or unconscious.
A roaring noise filled the street, and a smooth silver car pulled up as close as possible; a military style truck soon followed it. A man got out of the car, tall and broad shouldered, in a black leather jumpsuit that seemed familiar to Remus.
"Hang on." He said to himself. "That's what Sarah was wearing that night."
"Sarah." The man's deep voice rang out. The truck doors opened and several people came out and began setting things up, checking the bodies and survivors.
"Hey, Michael." Sarah sounded tired. "Got Nolan here."
Michael went closer. Sarah removed her boot from Nolan and pulled him up. He was promptly handcuffed by Michael, and taken away by one of the various 'army muggles' as Remus deemed them roaming around the street.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah." Sarah answered. "We were ambushed." She motioned for Remus to come over.
"Remus, my boss, Michael Callahan, Michael, a good friend of mine, Remus Lupin." Remus put his arm out to shake and suddenly pain coursed through him. "Remus!!" Sarah cried out, anxiously. "You're shot – oh thank goodness it didn't hit the bone." She looked at the arm where the bullet had clearly gone straight though.
"Michael, I'll need to take Remus home." Michael nodded, and started to walk away. "Nice to meet you Mr. Lupin, despite the circumstances. Sarah, I expect you and a full report in my office tomorrow morning, first thing."
"Yes, sir." Sarah called back. She and Remus were already moving back towards the alley behind the store where no one would see them apparate. Arriving back at Grimmauld Place, Remus quickly directed Sarah to his room upstairs, where he kept some healing potion in the event that he hurt himself after a transformation. Sarah insisted on cleaning him up, all the while Remus was eerily silent.
All this began to unnerve Sarah. "Remus!" she begged. "Say something!"
He looked at her, eyes so serious that she looked down after a few seconds. "So." He said. "That's what you do."
A/N: ooh!! What happens now? (dun dun dun!) well now you'll just have to review and give me lots of comments and ideas if you want to find out! (and if you want to have a say in what happens next, ideas would be greatly appreciated) - Laren