Disclaimer: I make no money.
Warning: PG13 ish
Author's note. You reviewers rule! Thanks muchly!
In Fire Lies Redemption
By Marz
Chapter 8
What the Pizza Man Saw
Remus Lupin sat at the kitchen table starring at the clock. It was 2pm. The hands ticked back and forth, but did not get any closer to 5pm, when he could have another scotch and claim it officially as his before dinner drink. It is technically before dinner though, he thought morosely. He had finished all his reports, done all the requested research, and did not have another meeting scheduled for three days. He thought of himself as a rational, efficient, and capable person, but sitting in his former friend's empty house with nothing to do, and no one to talk to, was starting to gnaw at him. Now I understand why Sirius was always asking me to go on a beer run. He got up and was looking through the cabinet for the bottle that Tonks always seemed to put back in the wrong place, when something tapped loudly on an upstairs window. He sprinted from the kitchen with undignified enthusiasm.
A snowy white owl was perched on the windowsill, with an envelope in its beak. He struggled with the latch for several seconds before realizing he was turning it the wrong way. When he succeeded the owl hopped in, giving him a strange look along with the letter.
"Thank you Hedwig." He said to the bird. He tossed her an owl treat from his pocket and sank to the floor reading.
Dear Professor Lupin,
The trip to school was relatively uneventful, except for the odd new girl, with a million metal rings in her face, who spooked Neville as we were getting into a compartment. She got sorted into Slytherin. Speaking of Slytherin, did you know Dumbledore let Draco Malfoy come back to school? I was a bit surprised.
Remus put down the letter for a moment. He had not been told. The last he heard the Ministry still wanted the boy for questioning. What could Dumbledore be playing at? He continued to read.
He just gave a stupid fake apology and I don't think he even got detention. You said you wanted to hear about the new defense teacher? Well she's completely insane, cruel and I'm not sure she's alive. The first thing she did in class was attack everyone. I thought she'd killed Ron and Hermione, this thing dragged them through an arch with nothing on the other side and…
A large portion of the letter had been scratched out. Curios, Remus waved his wand over it and cast a restoring charm.
It was like when Sirius died. They were just gone. I couldn't think, I just sat down on the floor like an idiot. Do you think Dumbledore told her to test me? If he did I failed. I froze, and if Neville hadn't snapped me out of it…
The normal part of the letter resumed.
Every thing was all right, she just stunned us. Professor Graypond looks like something they dragged out of the bog, and she hasn't come to any meals in the Great hall. She doesn't even have any eyes. Some of the stuff in her classroom makes the junk we hauled out of Grimmauld place lock cute and cuddly. There are a mess of rumors about who and what she is. A boy in Hufflepuff has the most popular theory so far. He thinks Dumbledore reanimated the corpse of You-Know-Who's mother in law. Everyone had a good laugh at that, but now a lot of people are starting to believe she's related to him somehow. They're asking me if they look alike, and they don't. One's a disgusting gray snake and the other is a shriveled up old mummy. They keep asking me the same dumb question though. Not much else to say really. A potion blew up in my face today, that's about it. How have you been doing? Is your leg all right? I'll see you around I suppose. Be careful.
Sincerely
H.J.P.
P.S. I can't believe dad pulled off that move against Slytherin in the championship. I'm fairly certain it was physically impossible. Thanks again for the Pensieve.
It was not a very long letter but it killed ten minutes, and then another ten as he reread it looking for secret codes or hidden meaning. He tried putting the last letter of each sentence together with the first and tenth letters to form words, but that lead nowhere. With a sigh he looked up at the clock. 2:30pm.
He was about to go get his before dinner drink, 5o'clock be damned, when a huge cloud of flame appeared in the center of the room. It blinked out after a second leaving a golden feather and a letter on the floor. Remus snatched up the paper.
Go to 1280 Grounding Street, London
Search the premise without detection.
The letter was unsigned but he knew who sent it. Only Albus Dumbledore delivered post by Phoenix. Remus raised his wand and disapparated.
The Aurors crept over the rubble like ants, wandering zigzagging paths and turning at random places. Only three of them had come to inspect the ruins of the muggle apartment complex, and none of them seemed to take the job overly seriously. The sun was sinking and they looked about ready to depart. Remus adjusted the Extendable Ear he had bought from the Weasley twins, redirecting it to the center of the ruined building.
"Reckon we've wasted enough time here?" asked Aaron Blingkit.
Remus had never met the man in person but his reputation as lazy bigoted prick had preceded him.
"I think so," said Liza Coel, another Auror on the unfriendly list.
"As if anyone gives a knut if You-Know-Who knocks down a few of these rats' nests. The muggles residing in this filth are better off dead." Blingkit continued.
"Right then, lets get Johnson and go. His turn to file the report, right?"
"It always is." said Blingkit with a laugh.
The pair marched over to the third, and with a faint crack they disapparated. Remus climbed down the fire escape and crossed the street. He circled it once from the outside. The building had caved inward, rather then being crushed from the outside. That eliminated giants from the suspect's lists, as they would never crawl into such a confined space. Some very large thing had gotten in though. Remus climbed up a sloping heap of bricks, past the remains of the walls. He inspected the rusted I-beams that had held up the decrepit building. There was a strange smell in the air, something bitter and murky that he could not name, but definitely magic.
He cast a revealing charm over the rubble, but there were no hidden traps or illusions left to discover. He put a muggle repelling charm on the outside of the building, and began to levitate debris out of the center of the ruin. The muggle police had come through with dogs and removed the bodies, but the people who had lived there left a lot of themselves behind. There were bits of clothes and broken dishes. He found a yellowed photograph of an old woman with a baby on her lap. His stomach clenched as he uncovered a coloring book. There was endless memorabilia of the 157 people who had died there, but nothing that identified their killer. No scorch marks from dragons, no scales or claw marks or spore, nothing he could track or research. It was as if something giant had apparated into the center of the building and then disapparated as it crashed down. But nothing that big could apparate. Even a half giant would have a horrible time trying. He scrambled over the ruins one last time looking for evidence of a blasting curse. A familiar scent drifted up with the dust he disturbed. His head shot up and he whirled around.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted a quavering voice.
Remus was knocked sprawling, and his wand flew from his fingers. He rolled back to his feet just in time to see Peter Pettigrew catch his wand in a silvery florescent hand. The short, colorless, shaking man pointed a wand at Remus, but only stared at him. The former friends watched each other across the broken building.
"Get on with it then," called Remus.
The little man flinched. He walked no closer, but did not leave. The sun sank below the horizon, and still he did not move.
"If you're going to try and murder me Peter, get to it already. I've got other things to do with my time."
"I never meant for anyone to be murdered," Peter said quietly.
"Lily and James were an accident then?" Remus said in an icy voice that would have chilled the devil himself, or at least Severus Snape.
"They didn't listen. He offered them asylum. He offered it to Sirius and you as well. All you had to do was pledge loyalty to him."
"And give up a child to be murdered? You left that part out Peter."
"One child for all your lives! The Dark Lord wasn't unreasonable, but he won't allow a threat like that to go unacknowledged. His offer is still on the table Remus."
"Do you honestly think I would take anything from Voldemort?" Remus bellowed.
The words echoed off the crumbling walls, startling pigeons. Peter shrank even farther away.
"Remus, listen to me. He'll get the boy anyway. The Dark Lord will take Hogwarts before this ends Remus, and if he gets to the boy first, the killing curse will be a mercy. You could do it painlessly, bring him the body and he'd reward you, help all the werewolves. Dumbledore can't help you Remus, and nothing can stop The Dark Lord."
Peter talked higher and faster with every word. His eyes darted about the rubble. He seemed frightened by every sound, even when it came from his own mouth.
"Nothing can stop him Peter? Lily Potter stopped him for thirteen years! You brought him back Peter. You've damned us to this all over again." Remus felt his fist clenching.
"This isn't my fault. Nothing could stop his return. Remus you were always smart. Think! Lily isn't here anymore, and her son can't help you. He couldn't even save Sirius."
Remus charged toward him, sprinting over the rubble as fast as his legs would carry him. He was prepared to dodge and dive away from curses, but none came. Peter dropped Remus' wand among the broken bricks and disapparated. Remus skidded to a stop on the place where the rat had stood. He looked about the wreckage. This seemingly random act of cruelty was part of something bigger. He could feel it. This was not about him. Pettigrew could not have known he was coming.
A howling gust of wind passed over him, and he wanted for the second time in his life to give up his humanity and just howl with it: no morals, no memories, and no thoughts. But the moon was only a quarter full. He sighed again as a muggle balloon floated in front of it.
*****
Severus Snape returned his omnioculars to a pocket of his cloak. Lupin had been staring meditatively at the sky for twenty minutes and showed no signs of losing interest. Who know how an animal's mind works anyway. Snape thought miserably. He could see why Dumbledore thought the wolf needed watching though. It would be very interesting indeed to see if Lupin reported Pettigrew's offer. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and slowly Snape turned around. He felt watched, but saw nothing but the dark roof tops around him. He thought he saw someone move in the alley below him but by the time he had gotten his omnioculars out it was gone. A shadow moved to his left and he spun towards it, wand raised. It was nothing but a large balloon, drifting over the roof across the street. His instincts told him it was time to leave. He raised his wand and disapparated.
****
They shifted in their seats trying to find a comfortable position in the cramped van. The outside proclaimed it part of a pizza delivery service, but the grumbling stomachs and the massive amounts of electronics inside showed it to be otherwise. An eerie green light shined up on their faces as they watched the monitors
"I told you not to bring the mini-blimp in so close. They can sense it." said the short gray haired man in the Hawaiian shirt.
"Quit being paranoid Wallace, none of them have ever noticed before," said the man in the tweed jacket, as he set the joystick down.
"What do you mean? We've lost twenty cameras this month!"
"But they don't know they're cameras."
The door of the van swung open and a woman in a ski mask climbed in.
"Quit cha'ering, you two. You want to bring 'em all down on our 'eads? I 'eard you 'alf way up the block."
She carefully pulled off the mask. It tangled on some of her earrings and the men in the van snickered a bit.
"Got printouts for me?" she asked, absentmindedly scratching at the scar that ran up the left side of her neck and onto her chin.
"We do indeed," said Wallace, typing a command into his keyboard.
The printer whirled to life and six sheets dropped out into a little tray. The woman picked them up.
"Recognize anyone?" asked the man in the tweed jacket.
She set three of the grainy photos in front of them.
"These three are Blankers. They were at that mess on Tourney Street two weeks ago. Ten people couldn't remember their own addresses after. This one." She put out the photo off a very tired looking man in a thread bare cloak, "was bringing a kid to King's Cross when Reapers showed up last Sunday, put up quite a fight. He's an Outsider."
"And these other two?" asked the man in the tweed jacket as she put down the last two pictures.
There was a squinty, rat like man with a glowing hand, and a sallow faced man with oily shoulder length black hair. Both wore dark robes and looked extremely suspicious.
"Never seen them before, but I'd have to say Reapers in a clinch, especially the greasy one. Did you get that shouting match on tape? Could be insightful." The woman asked.
"Picture only, the bugs we planted burned out as soon as the Blankers appeared," said Wallace.
"That's fine," said the woman. "I read lips."
******
"And so you must be especially careful and attentive as you review your vanishing and conjuring spells this week. Without a strong and thorough understanding of them, even thinking about apparating would be foolhardy," said Professor McGonagall as she paced between the rows of desk.
"This year you will learn…" she was interrupted half way through her sentence by a faint giggle.
All eyes turned to the back of the room. Head down on his desk, with his face hidden in his arms, Harry Potter giggled hysterically. Ron Weasley leaned across the isle and shook his shoulder.
"Harry wake up!" Weasley hissed loudly.
Potter sat up in his seat, but his eyes were still closed. The giggling paused. Trying to regain the class's attention Professor McGonagall returned to her lecture. That boy will be scrubbing floors till Quidditch starts, she thought.
"You will be learning the basics of space transformation, so each of you will…"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Every person in the class jumped a foot in the air as the laughter echoed off the walls. Potter's mouth hung open and he roared with laughter, rocking in his chair.
"Detention!" McGonagall started to say.
Weasley and Granger leapt from their seats. Weasley grabbed Potter's shoulders and shook him.
"Snap out of it Harry!"
The plea had no effect. The other boy continued to rock and the laughing grew louder. McGonagall was about to deduct points when Weasley drew back a hand. He slapped Potter so hard the boy fell from his chair. The laughter shut off immediately. For a moment she was too stunned to move.
"Happened again did it?" asked Potter weakly as his two friends pulled him to his feet. He was sweating, pale, and shaking. His scar glowed a disturbingly unnatural shade of red.
"All three of you! My office! This instant." McGonagall said sharply.
. McGonagall opened the door of her office and waved them inside.
"What was so funny Potter, that you felt it necessary to disrupt my class, and Weasley, what possessed you to attack him?"
"It worked, and he's happy because it worked and they don't know." Potter said vaguely. He was swaying slightly.
"He was having a vision professor." said Weasley. "Well not really a vision, but its happened before, when You-Know-Who is having a big mood swing Harry does too."
"And so you knocked him out of his chair?"
"I wasn't trying to do that. Slapping him worked last time."
"This has happened before?" McGonagall demanded. And what else aren't you telling me, she thought. "What did you see Potter?"
"Didn't see really. He's happy, very happy. It worked, but they don't know. All the other times it failed, but now it worked." Potter said. "I don't feel so well."
Granger put a hand on his forehead, checking for a fever. The second she touched his scar, he lost his lunch on the floor of the office. She jumped back just quickly enough to save her new shoes.
"Take him to the hospital wing," said she, pinching the bridge of her nose.
The three Gryffindor walked out quickly. Weasley was nearly dragging Potter. With a wave of her wand the mess disappeared. She snatched a hand full of floo powder from the mantel and threw it into her fireplace. Green flames burst into existence.
"Albus I need a word with you," she called.
A moment later a tall man with a long silver beard stepped out of the fire.
"What's wrong Minerva?" he asked gravely.
"Potter had a vision in the middle of class. He said Tom is very happy and has just succeeded in something he has been attempting for some time. Any idea what?" she asked.
"Many ideas yes. But nothing I can share yet." He said quietly.
"Albus we need to put up the null-wards. He is still reaching the boy."
"I know Minerva, but I can not help but feel Tom is waiting for us to do something like this. Still, I can think of no other way…" He trailed off and they both stared into the fire.
"I must return to my class now. I'll see you at dinner Albus."
He did not answer as she left the room.