Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created the world of Harry Potter, in which this story takes place. She also created a large number of the characters, and her publishers have license of the whole lot. I on the other hand am just writing my own little stories based on that world and those characters for entertainment purposes. Go me, I'd say 'don't sue' but it's all been said before.
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Part 4
Of an Uneventful Excursion
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She scowled at the lot of them, imagining that she was looking rather ferocious and intimidating. Imagining it, because in the end she probably wasn't. Hunting out things that might have been thrown out years ago wasn't going to be overly enjoyable, and having others accompanying her just made it less so.
Maybe she could grudgingly trust them when they said that it was only their job to protect her in case something entirely unexpected but rather unfortunate happened while she was searching out the old family journals at the Adhlar manor. They seemed sincere enough in that, and they weren't watching her anywhere near close enough if they thought she was going to double-cross them and reveal a location full of somewhat good wizards to the forces of darkness. However, it didn't make her overjoyed with the ramifications of the whole situation.
Who were they then? Remus Lupin, who didn't seem any happier about the entire arrangement than she was and Trevan Leigh who was acting far too cheerful as usual. This was the sort of assignment that should have any proper warrior of general goodness up in arms and demanding something more befitting their duty, something of a more heroic nature than protecting someone who wasn't really important in the whole scheme of things. Sure, if she succeeded on all counts than one of their comrades could be returned from a death-like fate, but that was only a small chance. Julianne didn't really understand why there was any need for one escort, much less two.
After glaring at the two of them for another moment, she turned back to the task of trying to open the door. Maybe it would have been simpler to just cast 'Allohomora' and be done with it, but Julianne wasn't about to exhibit her rusty charms any more than she had to. Besides, she'd done that on the front gate, and it'd taken four very embarressing attempts. (The lock mechanism of the gate was now internally damaged to the point that it would not be functional until someone fixed it.) Luckily she still had a house key from the days when her mother and father had inherited ownership of the 'manor', although if it was anything like the situation with the gate, than it wasn't really going to work.
"Why can't this just open?!" She muttered under her breath as she attempted to turn the key, first this way, than that.
"Julia! Need any help with that?" Julianne glared at Trevan as he stepped forward and put his hand on her right shoulder, as if in a protective gesture, "All it takes is a simple charm, you know…"
Julianne granted him her best imitation of a snarl and twisted her face into an enraged sort of expression, as close as she could get to a tiger or some other predatory animal getting ready to pounce. He is turn just smiled his most cheerful and cheeky smile possible.
"Ah…" Remus Lupin looked a bit confused and rather uncomfortable, as if he wasn't sure whether or not it would be better to interject before the two were literally at each other's throats.
Suddenly, all desire to give Trevan what for vanished entirely. It was the sort of thing that had plagued her since childhood, in that she was uncomfortable acting 'normal' around those she didn't know well. Immediately, and she could practically feel her face settiling into a neutral half-smile to bely her 'to outsiders' self, Julianne calmed down and turned to address Remus.
"I'm sorry. We must appear entirely immature to you. Please accept my apologies for the distraction." To complete the entire polite mask she put on, she half-bowed clumsily, before turning back to the door, wand raised to attempt 'Allohomora'.
Leaving him no room to make any sort of reply, of course. This was always the way Julianne tried to deal with those she barely knew. It was truly a wonder how she managed to build and sustain friendships at all. Sometimes she could just 'click' with a person, like Trevan and her closer friends from school days, and let down her guard. But most of the time, it seemed that she would remain the distantly courteous Julianne Adhlar who didn't make any attempts at unnecessary socialization. After meeting up with that unaccomodating behavior time and time again, most would give up the prospect of ever becoming closer to her, most just deciding she was too 'shy' to befriend them. Still others would be frustrated enough to think she was arrogant beyond explanation, a person who wouldn't even exchange basic pleasantries because she thought herself too high and mighty for such things.
It took only two attempts before the door swung open this time. Perhaps she was improving a bit with simple spells and charms. Fifteen years of disuse could make anyone's spell ability rusty. Her wand seemed to be more cooperative anyway, there hadn't been any more incidents like the one with her trunk and 'Wingardium Leviosa'. (Let it be known that she did later realize that the 'Locomoter' spell was the correct one when a person desired to move their heavy luggage in a magical fashion.)
"I expect it'll be rather dusty." Trevan stated unnecesarily as Julianne took a first cautious step into the entrance hall. "Want me to cast some cleaning spells on the place before we go hunting for those family journals of yours? It'll take a bit of effort, but I think I can get a considerable chunk of the house free of dust."
"Thank you, but no, it's not that bad for ten year's worth I think." She walked in further, and the two other men followed her inside.
- - -
Remus Lupin was normally the polite and tolerant sort, but being assigned to such a seemingly pointless task wasn't exactly high on his list of things that he wanted to do. Certainly there had been some justification explained when it'd been assigned to him, but that was easy to forget that when there was nothing but the monotony of hallways, dust, and shadows surrounding him with no sign of trouble.
He and Trevan had tried assisting Julianne Adhlar the first time she'd struggled with a slightly out of reach box, but she'd given them both a slightly reproachful stare and told them quietly that she didn't want to be a burden. As if she could be any more of a burden, with both of them assigned to watching her she might as well ask them to help her out. Wandering through hallways that led rooms which had been in disuse for so long was certainly not among the most interesting of pastimes.
"I saw that Julia dear's public front was somewhat perplexing to you." Trevan Leigh began conversationally, "Don't mind it, it's not you personally that makes her uncomfortable, it's just about anyone she hasn't known for a couple of years."
Trevan Leigh and Julianne Adhlar were rather unlike most of the people Remus had been interacting with these days. Or even from anyone he'd ever really had regular contact with. Whether it was from his school days – Trevan and Julianne were certainly not the easygoing youths of his 'Marauder' days, from his lonely life after all his old friends had been estranged from him in one unfortunate way or another, to the Order of the Pheonix he was part of now, Trevan and Julianne weren't quite like any of them.
First off, even if Trevan was a member of some importance in the Order, always running off on missions of a rather murky nature, even if he publically proclaimed that they were all of the more 'boring and mundane' sort, he wasn't very well-respected in that paticular circle. The general consensus was that he was a rather dim, if somewhat charming young man, although Tonks and Bill Weasely seemed to get along famously with him when they happened to be at headquarters while Trevan was. (Possibly because they had gone to Hogwarts at about the same time, though Bill and Tonk were around Trevan's age, Bill two years older, Tonks a bit younger.) He actually remembered Trevan's sorting, from when he himself had been in his seventh year. He's been smaller and rather more stick-like then, very short and awkward looking at eleven years old. Still, while Remus was by no means an ace spy with extraordinary perception as some others at the Order might be, there were some minor inconsistencies to the 'foolish prettyboy' image he seemed very intent of preserving. There were moments where a rather shrewd glint alighted in his slate gray eyes, and where he seemed rather more focused than he normally seemed to be.
Julianne Adhlar was a bit more confusing. He actually remembered her sorting too. There'd been another Julianne right before her down the alphabetically ordered list of incoming first-years. (Acker, Julianne and Adhlar, Julianne had both been placed into Ravenclaw.) Besides that, he'd never seen the dimiunitive black-haired girl in Hogwarts at all. From the short time he'd known her, most of what he knew about her was hearsay. Mostly that she was gifted yet cursed in the way that all of the Adhlar bloodline were. It wasn't something that widely known, that anyone who was born of their family had the capability to 'soul-chase' or bring back an individual from that line just before true death, sometimes more than once even, but only at great price. Cursed, and not the way that happened with the waving of a wand and the exclamation of arcane words.
Remus had known Pyrane Adhlar, a second cousin of Julianne's that apparently had also possessed this gift very briefly during the first 'Great War' against Voldemort. Most of what he knew about the woman was also from hearsay, that some Aurors would be forever indebted to her seeing as she had 'soul-chased' to bring them back from almost certain death. She'd been a very cheerful, friendly woman, but whatever had happened to her since their brief meeting by chance, her life had come to a rather crashing halt some months later. It was one of those things that started coming up in conversation around him, often with murmurings of 'that poor dear' and such. Rumors flitting about that she'd gone mad and fell chronically sick to boot, and that she hadn't come out of St. Mungo's since. Rumors that had been entirely true, as he would find out later on when more reliable sources mentioned it in passing.
But Julianne didn't show any signs of being anything like Pyrane, at least in personality and attitude toward others. While it seemed rather clear that she was very close to Trevan Leigh, she didn't seem quite normal around others. That brittle and slightly distant façade was rather obvious in that it couldn't really be any stable person's true personality. If she was really like that for the entirety of her time, she'd be a complete recluse with no human companionship at all.
"I suppose it does." Remus Lupin shrugged slightly, "At least, she seems to be rather disconcerted by our presence, or rather mine." Well, a slight query couldn't hurt in trying to better figure out Trevan and Julianne, "Are the two of you very close? She seems to be very well-acquainted with you, enough to let her guard down, at least."
Trevan's icy gray stare seemed to pierce his mind for a moment, as he kept his eyes on Lupin's with an air of speculation. Apparently he percieved an ulterior motive in Lupin's innocent query, that it was more than just perfunctory small talk between colleagues stuck in the same place.
Finally, he nodded, "Yes, we were very close friends in our Hogwarts days, and that just seems to be carrying over now, even despite the fact that we hadn't been in contact until about five days ago when she came in through the fireplace." He paused for a moment, as if debating whether or not to say more, finally he continued, "She reminds me of simpler days, though I didn't used to annoy her so much, it is slightly annoying to her that I happen to be able to best her height by such a substantial amount now." He chuckled slightly, "It's a petty little thing from when we were children, as I used to be rather shorter than I am now."
"She seems to be a rather… pleasant individual." Remus said rather neutrally.
"Don't be put off by her 'cold and distant' front, she's really a very sweet person, although her 'nice and nervous' façade that she pulled subconciously when she first came by Floo travel isn't much of an indication of it." He sighed heavily, "She hasn't changed much. Not half as much as anyone else from those days, though I guess it's obvious why. Julianne left for a more peaceful world, while ours has always been less so."
"Why would you say that? Would I be mistaken to say that the Muggle world is not entirely free of conflict?" While the wizarding world wasn't exactly always a happy and serene enviroment, from what Remus knew the Muggle world was no better, and perhaps even worse.
"Petty and frequent as conflicts in the Muggle world might be, it's always predictable, small, and far away from where Julia chose to situate herself. On the other hand, in the wizarding world you really can't run from anything." He sighed heavily once again. "No world is free from conflict, of course, she just hasn't been in close contact with it, hence the lack of change."
"Hm…" Remus gave a rather noncommital reply that could have been of either agreement or dissent. "I suppose so…"
"Hey… Mr. Lupin, Trevan, I think I might have found what Dumbledore mentioned as 'old family journals'. Can you help me carry these, Trevan? I think they're a bit too much for me." Julianne stuck her head out from one of the library rooms off the hallway, same polite half-smile on her face.
"Ah… Alright then." With a sudden devilish grin, Trevan pushed Remus forward slightly by the shoulders, "And Mr. Remus Lupin here can help also. That way, we can all get home faster, or at least leave sooner." He winked roguishly at Remus before taking his right hand and pulling him toward the library room.
Julianne looked slightly confused for a moment, as if she wasn't quite expecting Trevan to ask someone else to come along, ever when it was just from a few feet away, but her neutral max reformed in moments. She turned back into the library silently, vanishing into the dim interior, even as Trevan continued pulling Remus slowly toward it by the hand.
"That's fine, but would you mind removing your hand from mine? It's quite discomforting, and there's no need to pull me along a short span of hallway." Remus said curtly as he himself extricated his hand from Trevan's.
"Certainly." Trevan graced him with another roguish wink, still without any traces of the more contemplative personality he had been exhibiting earlier or of any intention to obey his order. "As you command." After another moment of obstinate smirking, Trevan let go and walked down the hallway, leaving Remus to wonder exactly why so many things didn't quite fit when it came to Trevan Leigh.
- - -
"Oh… Thank you for helping out, Mr. Lupin." Julianne continued maintaining that neutral mask, although Trevan could see her starting to struggle on keeping it intact. "But I can carry those, I mean, Trevan already has most of them, and I really don't want to be a burden, just put them on top of the stack I'm already carrying."
"It's quite alright, Miss Adhlar, if I'm already here, I ought to make myself useful right?" To his credit, even if Remus Lupin didn't really see the importance for this assignment, he was being very courteous, but then it seemed that being polite was his natural state as far as Trevan had ever been able to tell.
Momentarily, he narrowed his slate gray eyes. Remus Lupin might be loyal to the Order, but even the most obedient member of their organization wouldn't accept a seemingly frivolous mission without some sort of protest. As it was, even Trevan didn't much see the 'point' of being told to keep an eye on Julianne when she went out to find things that could be integral to her agreed task of returning Sirius Black from beyond the veil. He was her friend, and she was important to him in that capacity at least, but Trevan did have to admit that there wasn't much reason to act as bodyguard to her as of yet. Julianne might have been good at heart, but she wasn't an Auror or member of the Order, and there was no reason for anyone of the rather unsavoury sort to try attacking at all. Remus might have a slightly better idea as to the justification for this mission, and Trevan mentally noted to himself that he ought to have a little chat with him just to figure out exactly why there were two escorts assigned to Julianne Adhlar at this time, and by Dumbledore, no less. (If it had been Moody, and even a hint of potential security risk, there'd be ten guards… But one digressed.)
"If you didn't insist on being such a goody-goody, Julia dear, it's not exactly beyond me to carry them all. It's what? Twenty, twenty-five volumes of rotting parchment?" He smirked at her openly as she bristled slightly, although she hid it as well as could be expected.
"You told me they had been set with a preservation spell…" She said with a tone of concern, "They're not really… rotting are they? Then it wouldn't do anyone much good, if they were damaged beyond a person being able to read them…"
"No, he was correct when he said that a preservation spell had already been cast on these, most likely when they were first put in storage. " Remus smiled a bit, before continuing, "Mr. Leigh's just joking, well-naturedly, I'm sure."
"Yes, with only the best intentions in mind." Trevan said agreeably, "Don't worry, Julianne, even if they were actually falling apart, I'm sure someone back at Grimmauld Place has enough expertise in charms to be able to repair it all."
"Oh… That's good. Say… Are we going to take the Knight Bus again and then walk over? Or walk the whole way… That would take awhile…" Julianne wasn't exactly the most well-versed in making effective small talk.
"Well, it would probably be best to take the Knight Bus until we're within a certain walking distance to our destination…" Remus made a pointed effort not to actually mention the exact location, being the good and vigilant member of the Order it was, seeing that one never knew who could be listening.
"You know what, that would take too long." Earlier he'd been covertly switching the ten volumes he'd been carrying to one arm, and he suddenly reached out and grabbed Julianne by the shoulder, "I'm Apparating to the doorstep there. See you there, Lupin, hold on Julia dear."
He noticed that she stiffened in shock as he disapparated from just before Adhlar manor's front gate. It was risky and he knew it, they could easily splinch them both this way, especially when Julianne didn't know how to Apparate in the faintest, and could easily break his concentration if she panicked at the wrong time. This was, however, just the sort of foolish action that could better show off his chosen image of an 'incredibly stupid pretty-boy', and so he took this oppurtunity to prove to Lupin that he, Trevan Leigh, wasn't really anything beyond that.
They apparated right in front of the door at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, where Trevan quickly got them both inside, and saw that Remus had just come in as well. Remus didn't seem very impressed by his last display of foolish bravado. In fact, he looked a bit angry, not very much, but a bit.
"You know you're a fool ,Trevan Leigh, and you could easily have gotten both of you stuck and therefore open to an Inquiry at the Ministry as to why exactly you were trying to apparate with someone else?" He was upset enough to set down the journals he had been carrying, and turn on his heels and stalk off in apparent disgust.
"I'm told I'm a fool quite often, Remus Lupin." Trevan whispered as Remus vanished down the hallway, barely noticing that the painting of Black's mother was of course, ranting and raving again, hearing the disruption in the entrance hall.
Something about the foul blood of corrupted families, referring to such registered Cursed individuals such as Trevan himself and Julianne, and also something about inhuman monsters, referring to Remus Lupin, as a werewolf. For a moment, he allowed himself to wonder absently whether or not Julianne had realized that yet… It would certainly have made her even more of a nervous wreck while talking to Remus. Not that she was prejudiced against werewolves, beyond the subconcious fear of them pounded into her during her childhood in the wizarding world. No doubt that her parents weren't the only ones who told children to 'behave or werewolves would bite them'. But she tended to become more withdrawn the more things she knew about someone who wasn't quite familiar enough to be considered a friend.
"Trevan, that was rather foolish." Julianne said quietly, "I don't know much about Apparition, but technically you're not allowed to take someone with you right?"
"Of course, but I'm not a stickler for the rules, never have been." Another roguish wink punctuated his statement perfectly, "If it hadn't worked… Well, at least we'd both have company while being splinched."
"What's splinched?" She finally asked
"Being half stuck in your original location and half at your destination." He put a thoughtful expression on his face, "Though you don't always get divided perfectly between the two places."
"Sounds rather painful…" She smiled though, being significantly more at ease than when Remus had been around, "It can't be pleasat.
"It is… painful, I mean, I ought to know." He gave another roguish wink, as if it wasn't of any significant important, "Happened the first time I took the Apparition test for a license."
- - -
The darkness and shadows were an endless monotony, as was the chill that seemed to perpeptually hang in the air around him. Sirius Black was having trouble staying awake, that leaden calm seemed to insist that he needed rest and if he would only let himself, than this eternal emptiness. He wondered how long it had been since he first realized he had fallen through the Veil back at the Department of Mysteries and somehow he just couldn't force himself to get up and search for an exit.
No matter how many times Sirius told himself that absolutely needed to get back and let Harry know he was alright, and whatever had happened to him, he was alright. Whatever the arch at the Department of Mysteries was, wherever he was now, Sirius knew he couldn't let himself stay in this odd place any longer than was necessary. He also knew that he couldn't give in to the urge to just stop, stop thinking, stop feeling, stop remembering. It was much like being trapped outside in a deep winter, he was certain that if he gave in, he wouldn't be able to awaken again.
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Author's Notes: I do agree with the reviewer who said I could work on getting more-to-the-point in this fic, I seem to be one of those who explains again and again when once would suffice. It's a habit that's hard to break unfortunately, and while this story could get 'boring' at times from the slow movement and the overuse of describing and commentary, I'd just say it's quite unshakably my chosen style. Lately though, I do try on not elaborating some things in writing too much if it's not overtly necessary. Thank yous again go out to all the people who are kind enough to take some time and review, it is definitely appreciated as your words encourage this author very much.
I'm not quite as good at writing canon characters, though I suppose I can take heart in the fact that few of them are close enough or trusting enough of either Trevan or Julianne to be completely open. As for Remus being sent along, well I imagine that the Order is quite vast, even if not all of it's members are very active. And with some very cautious people at their forefront who probably want to avoid taking unnecessary risks, I'd guess they'd have some of their people keeping an eye out for a lot of others with varying levels of importance. So perhaps Julianne Adhlar the soul-chasing Cursed one could warrant someone beyond Trevan as an escort into relatively unknown territory. (I wonder if a wizarding house in disuse for years could be dangerous though, attracting the criminals and squatters of the wizarding world to it… hm.)
I'd like to thank all the wonderful people kind enough to leave their feedback and once again politely request more reviews to further inspire this writer. Till the next update, farewell.