Black Letters
By Neurotica
Seven: Order of the Phoenix
Remus walked into the Order's Headquarters seemingly alone. He only hoped Moody wasn't around; his magical eye could see through Invisibility Cloaks, Harry had told them.
There was a quiet hum of voices floating up the staircase to the basement kitchen, one of which was a low gruff voice. Dammit, Remus thought. For a second, the werewolf considered sending Sirius upstairs until he could talk to everyone. But even there Moody would be able to see him. That was an advantage of a magical eye, after all. Sighing, Remus could only hope his friend was ready for the barrage of questions and wand pointing that would surely hit him the moment the cloak was removed.
"Now or never, Remus," Sirius muttered quietly.
Nodding, Remus led the way to the kitchen. A small portion of the Order had gathered around the large kitchen table to enjoy Molly's famous meatballs. Tonks, Kingsley, Arthur, Dung, Moody, and Molly herself looked up when Remus entered. The werewolf could see Moody's regular eye widen in surprise as his magical one landed presumably on Sirius.
"Remus, dear," Molly said. "You're right on time. Sit, sit, eat."
"I don't think Lupin wants to eat at the moment, do you, Remus?" Moody growled in a slight threateningly way.
Now, Remus J. Lupin was never the type to be intimidated; he'd seen too much. Naturally he feared Minerva McGonagall's wrath, but that's about as far as it went. However, right at that moment, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was the one to fear. Remus should have prepared himself for this before he and Sirius took the Knight Bus to Grimmuald Place. He could feel Sirius shaking in what he presumed was laughter from under the cloak.
"Might I inquire as to what is going on here?" said a quiet, calm voice.
Remus nearly whimpered in fear as he spun around to face Dumbledore. He, too, could see through Invisibility Cloaks; the Marauders learned that the hard way. Remus found himself at a loss for words – something that never happened to him before; needless to say, he didn't enjoy the experience.
"This is quite interesting, Remus. Would you care to explain?" Dumbledore said, not taking his blue eyes from Sirius. Remus knew that 'would you care to explain' was Dumbledore-talk for 'tell me what the hell is going on before I curse you from here to Hawaii'.
It was like they were back in school, in Dumbledore's office, waiting for their punishment. Of course, this punishment could be much worse than a detention in the dungeons. "Well, you see sir," Remus began, not sure how to phrase it.
Dumbledore merely raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. This made Remus, if possible, more nervous. The rest of the room had grown stone quiet, no one even dared to breathe. With the exception of Dumbledore and Moody, none of them could see what was happening. "Sirius is…"
"Alive?" Dumbledore finished quietly.
"Yes," Remus said, hoping to Merlin they didn't send him to St Mungo's for an evaluation.
The reaction was immediate: Two collective gasps from Molly and Tonks; jaws dropping to the table from Arthur and Kingsley; Moody's grunt; Dung reaching up a finger to clean his ears. They all waited to see Dumbledore's reaction. Their leader smiled softly and reached over to pull the cloak from Sirius' head.
"You should return this to Harry. I'm sure he'll be needing it at some point this year," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
Once the initial shock of seeing Sirius had worn off, Tonks flew over the table and hugged her cousin tightly. The others greeted Sirius in their own ways. Molly had to excuse herself while she blew her nose.
"You believe him?" Remus asked Dumbledore, shocked at the headmaster's trust.
"The fact that you believe him, and Harry, of course, is good enough for me," the older wizard said.
"How'd you know about Harry?"
Dumbledore smiled mysteriously and moved to the center of the room, leaving a very confused Remus Lupin in his wake.
The rest of the evening was spent in celebration of Sirius' return. Dung had procured some expensive wine and nobody, not even Molly for a change, cared where or how he'd gotten it.
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny wandered in on the festivities later in the night. Molly had nearly forgotten about them in all the excitement.
All of them were thrilled to see Sirius back among them. Hermione had, of course, questioned him thoroughly about what had happened to him. They wanted to know if Harry knew; Sirius assured them he did. They wanted to know when Harry would get to come back; Dumbledore assured them very soon.
Finally the interrogations ended when Molly sent them all to bed. "Give the man some room to breathe," she said, sticking a fourth plate of meatballs in front of Sirius.
Dumbledore and the others filled Sirius in on what had been happening with Voldemort and the Ministry. A new Minister of Magic would be appointed at the end of the summer due to Fudge's blatant refusal to believe Voldemort had returned.
Two deaths had occurred in the past week at Voldemort's wand, but they all knew that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Following Remus tiredly up the stairs at 3:00 am, Sirius said goodnight to his friend and went to Buckbeak's room. Since he'd been gone, the hippogriff had not been happy. Remus said he would run anyone but him from the room and only accept food when he was in the mood – which wasn't very often.
Bowing to the majestic creature, Sirius couldn't help but think things were looking up.
