Lies

By Neurotica

Five

Remus sat back comfortably in the sofa and listened as Sirius and Andromeda recalled their childhood antics. Both being white sheep of the Black family, they had many humorous stories about terrorizing their family together.

"So Sirius tells Regulus the potion will make it so he can see through walls, and Regulus, being the stupid kid he was, takes it. He drinks it, goes down stairs, and Sirius and I hear my dear Auntie Burga screaming at the top of her lungs about rodents being in the house," Andromeda explained through her laughter.

"What'd you do?" Remus grinned at Sirius.

"Turned him into a niffler. He tore the drawing room apart before Father could figure out how to reverse the potion. And by the way, I got this potion from Teddy," Sirius said, pointing to the man sitting next to Andromeda.

He was trying just a little too hard to maintain an innocent look. "I had no idea the uses this young man was going to put said potion to until way after the fact. I am completely innocent in all this," Ted Tonks said.

"You knew exactly what he was going to do with it," Andromeda accused. "Sirius had been complaining about Regulus going through his things all summer," she explained to Remus.

Remus laughed and looked around the living room. "Has anyone seen Harry recently?"

"I think he and Dora went out for a fly. She was quite impressed with the fact that he owns a Firebolt," Ted said, smirking.

Remus rolled his eyes, but smiled. "I still don't understand why the boy needed a Firebolt. His Nimbus 950 was perfectly fine!"

"Can I not spoil my godson without you ruining the fun?" Sirius asked in mock-offense.

"Do whatever you want, by all means. It's not like he doesn't have enough possessions," Remus joked.

"I will do whatever I want, thank you," Sirius replied.

"Okay."

Andromeda watched the exchange and burst out laughing. "You two sound like an old married couple. You do know that?"

Sirius and Remus looked at one another.

"I want a divorce," Sirius said to Remus, keeping a straight face.

"I get the house."

"I get Harry."

"I get half your money," Remus smirked.

"You can have Harry," Sirius said.

"I still get half your money."

"Damn."

During the argument, Harry and Tonks reentered the living room and were staring at Sirius and Remus as if they weren't from the same planet.

"Are they always like this?" Tonks whispered to Harry.

"Pretty much," Harry said hopelessly.

"My sympathy."

"Thanks."

"Fine! You can have half my money, but I get your book collection," Sirius said with a triumphant grin.

Remus looked horrified. "You wouldn't," he whispered. Sirius nodded. "That's just dirty..."

"How about you stay together for the sake of the kid?" Tonks suggested, patting Harry on the back.

Sirius turned and grinned at his embarrassed looking godson. "I think we can reach some sort of agreement. Right, Moony?"

"Whatever you want. Just don't take my books," Remus said, looking worriedly down the hall to his bedroom.

"So, Harry, Sirius tells us you're quite the Quidditch star at Hogwarts," Ted said once his laughter subsided.

Harry began to deny being the star of anything when Sirius piped up. "Don't be so modest, Harry! Youngest player on a House team in a century, Ted!"

"That's impressive. I saw your dad play a few times during school, Harry, and if you're anything like him, you have to be one hell of a player," Ted said.

Harry smiled and blushed at the comparison to his father. "Thanks," he muttered. He still didn't take compliments too well.

"Who wants another drink?" Remus asked, taking the attention off Harry and receiving a thankful smile in return.

"SHOTS!" Sirius cried, running into the kitchen to grab the firewhiskey and shot glasses. On his return, Remus noticed the bottle seemed to have evaporated a bit from the last time he checked, and Sirius' center of gravity seemed a bit off as well.

Sirius poured the shots for the adults and handed a disappointed Harry a butterbeer. They all stood and raised their glasses (or bottle). "To Nymphy," Sirius said. "May she not trip whilst in action!"

Tonks slapped his arm while everyone else laughed.

"To Nymphy!" they chorused.

After a few more hours of drinking and laughing, Andromeda and Ted declared it was time to call it a night—Harry had just fallen asleep on Sirius' shoulder, dropping his empty butterbeer bottle to the floor. Sirius smiled, shook his head, and laid Harry down gently on the sofa. He and Remus led the Tonkses to the door.

"Thank you for having us over," Andromeda said, hugging her cousin. "Next time you'll have to come over to our place."

"Absolutely. Nymphy, nine a.m. on Monday. Don't be late," Sirius warned, pointing in mock threat to Tonks.

Tonks glared half-heartedly and hugged him. "See you on Monday, Sirius. It was great seeing you again, Remus," she said.

"You too, Tonks. Have a good weekend," Remus replied.

The Tonkses left and Remus closed the door behind them.

"That was fun," Sirius said, smiling.

"Definitely. Let's go see if we can get Harry up and into his room," Remus said.

Sirius grinned mischievously and took out his wand.

"Sirius..." Remus said, following his friend to the living room. He didn't get too far in; Sirius had stopped short of the sofa.

"What?" Remus asked, moving around Sirius. "Oh my god..." He ran over to the sofa and tried to stop Harry's thrashing in his sleep. "Harry!" he said, holding down the boy's arms to prevent injury to either of them. "Sirius, help me!"

Sirius broke out of whatever thoughts he had been having and ran over, pointing his wand at Harry. "Ennervate!" he cried. The spell had not worked; Harry continued to thrash and whimper in his unconsciousness.

Remus leaned over him, smacking his cheeks roughly to wake him, calling his name. After nearly ten helpless minutes of this, Harry's eyes snapped open, and he sat straight up, nearly colliding with Remus' head.

"Harry..." Sirius said quietly, kneeling beside Remus.

Harry looked around wildly for a few moments, spotted his guardians, and settled back into the sofa. His right hand clutched his scar.

"Harry, what happened?" Remus questioned quietly, moving Harry's hair from his eyes.

"I saw him..." Harry whispered hoarsely.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a quick glance. "Saw who, Harry?" Sirius asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Voldemort," Harry whispered, confirming their thoughts.

Sirius bit his lip and gulped. Harry hadn't had any dreams about Voldemort or Death Eaters since he was nine years old. "Can you tell us what happened?" he asked.

Harry closed his eyes tightly, willing himself to remember. "It was dark... really dark... He was in a chair... someone was kneeling before him..." Sirius made to interrupt, but Remus elbowed him hard in the ribs. "They were talking about someone... he wants something badly... I couldn't hear too well... but something is going to happen... something bad... He's really happy..." Harry finished, looking at Sirius and Remus with wide eyes.

The living room remained silent for long minutes. Harry's pale face slowly regained its color, his breathing was steadying, and he wiped the cold sweat from his face. Finally, Remus broke the silence with the clearing of his throat. "We can discuss this in the morning. I'll grab a Dreamless Sleep Potion."

Sirius helped Harry to his room and assisted him in changing into his pajamas.

"What do you think this means?" Harry asked his godfather once he was comfortable in bed.

Sirius sat on the edge of Harry's bed and sighed. "I don't know, kid. I really don't. But we'll figure it out. All you need to worry about now is getting some good sleep. What do you say to flying tomorrow?"

Harry smiled slightly at the change of subject; Sirius always had a way to get his mind off of the bad things. He nodded his answer as Remus entered the bedroom with a goblet of potion.

"Drink it all," Remus instructed. Harry drained the contents and found himself drifting off to sleep.

Sirius and Remus left the room quietly after some time, after making sure the potion was effective, and headed to the kitchen to clean up. Neither mentioned Harry's dream; they didn't need to. Both knew what the dream meant, even if they didn't know what would happen or when.

"I'll owl Dumbledore in the morning," Sirius said, throwing some empty butterbeer bottles into the trash bin.

Remus nodded. "You think it's Malfoy?" he asked, referring to the other man in the dream.

"I don't know who else it could be," Sirius answered. "Unless there's someone else doing his bidding."

Remus turned away from Sirius and looked down the hallway to Harry's bedroom, thinking back nearly eight years to the night Voldemort nearly returned to power. The only thing that had stopped him that night was a well-placed Reductor curse from Sirius before the potion had finished its job.

Remus and Dumbledore had many long conversations about that night during Remus' employ at Hogwarts. Most of the things they had discussed many times and were repeated eventually to Sirius. But there was one bit of information that Remus couldn't bring himself to mention to his friend—he tried hard not to think of it himself.

Voldemort could regain power at any time he wished. Though the potion hadn't finished restoring his powers, Voldemort still had all of the ingredients needed to return (bone of the father, flesh of the servant, blood of the enemy) residing within him. But something was delaying him...

Dumbledore's belief was that Voldemort wanted the Philosopher's Stone that had been hidden at Hogwarts for the last few years, protected by the school's teachers. Remus had been honored when Dumbledore approached him and asked him to provide something to help hide the ancient stone.

Remus had thought hard about what he could possibly add to what the others had already done. In the end, he realized that it was obvious what he should do. The only ones who could get past Remus' Boggart were himself and Dumbledore. Simple in theory, yes, but this was the nastiest Boggart Remus had ever encountered. If one didn't know the trick, one would suffer their worst fear until their dying moment.

"You okay, Remus?" Sirius asked.

Remus snapped from his thoughts and looked at his concerned friend. "Yeah, I'm just fine," he said.

It was obvious Sirius wasn't buying it, but he let the subject drop. "I'm taking Harry flying tomorrow, you want to come?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm going to head off to bed. I'll talk to you in the morning."

Before Sirius could reply, Remus was halfway down the hall, headed to his bedroom.


Not three weeks later, Harry's dream about Voldemort had been mostly forgotten. Dumbledore had been notified and Sirius and Remus had been instructed to report any more dreams to him immediately.

Preparations were now underway for Harry's fourteenth birthday. Sirius had to be at work that afternoon, and Remus was in Diagon Alley picking up a few things. Reluctantly, they left Harry home alone, and agreed he could invite Ron and Hermione over.

The trio was sitting under a large tree facing the cottage in the backyard, staring around, bored out of their minds.

"So what do you two want to do?" Harry asked his friends.

"Chess?" Ron suggested.

"No," the other two said.

"Flying?" said Harry. Ron agreed, but Hermione didn't.

"Come on, Hermione, you gotta learn to fly some time," Ron insisted.

"That's quite all right." Hermione sighed.

"Well, then, what do you want to do?" Harry asked his bushy-haired friend.

"Well, you could tell us who is walking through your kitchen for one," Hermione said quietly, pointing through the kitchen window.

Harry snapped his head around quickly and narrowed his eyes against the sunlight. Indeed, he could see a large shadow moving slowly around the dark kitchen.

"Maybe it's Sirius or Remus?" Ron said, watching the shadow's movements anxiously.

"No," Harry said, standing. "No, they would have come outside to tell us they were back..."

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, grabbing Harry's sleeve as he took out his wand and made for the house.

"I'm going to see who's in my house," Harry replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ron hesitated, but stood and followed Harry. "Are you coming?" he asked, turning back to Hermione.

Hermione sighed, stood, and took out her own wand. The three quietly slipped through the backdoor. Harry gulped as he looked around the now empty kitchen. There was a loud crash in the direction of Sirius' room making Ron jump.

Harry peeked around the corner leading to the hallway; Sirius' bedroom door was ajar and the light was on. He motioned for the other two to follow and made his way down the hall. They stopped as they reached Sirius' bedroom. The shadow seemed to be rummaging through Sirius' desk, hidden from view by the door.

Slowly and silently, Harry held his wand at the ready and pushed the door open. Harry stared at the hunched figure over Sirius' desk with relief running through him "Kingsley?" he said louder than he had intended.

Kingsley jumped and spun around. "Harry! Merlin, you scared the hell out of me!"

Harry grinned. "We scared you? I thought you were a Death Eater or something. What was that crash?"

Kingsley laughed. "Sorry about that," he said. "I knocked over Sirius' lamp." He gestured to the lamp on the edge of the desk. Sirius had knocked it over a hundred times before.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, Sirius asked me to drop by and grab some reports. He's been swamped all day long and he couldn't get away," Kingsley replied, holding up a stack of parchment as proof. "I was going to go out and try to find you three before I left."

"Sirius sending you to check up on me, eh?" Harry smiled.

Kingsley smiled guiltily. "Yeah, but don't tell him I told you that. All right, I've got everything I need. Talk to you kids later. I'll be here for your birthday, Harry."

"Okay. Make sure you tell Sirius we're being good," Harry said.

"Are you?" Kingsley checked with a raised eyebrow.

"The house is still standing, isn't it?" Harry asked.

Kingsley rolled his eyes and led the trio from Sirius' bedroom. "I think Sirius has been a bad influence on you."

"That's what Remus says too," Harry said thoughtfully.

Kingsley laughed and took some Floo powder from the mantle above the fireplace. "See you three later!"

"See you," Harry, Ron, and Hermione said.

Kingsley tucked his reports safely in his robes, threw down the Floo Powder and said loudly, "Ministry of Magic! The Atrium!"

After he disappeared, Harry turned to the others. "Well, that was interesting," he said.

Hermione gave him an odd look. "Why would you think it was a Death Eater? I thought you had charms and wards to alert you of that kind of thing?"

"We do, but it's like Sirius says: anything's possible," Harry replied with a casual shrug. "Who's hungry? I think Sirius left some Chinese in the fridge."


Remus walked through Diagon Alley trying to think of what else he could possibly need. He and Sirius had sat up late the night before trying to think of what to get Harry for his birthday. Remus had already bought him new clothes, a set of Quidditch books, a new wizard wireless system (Harry had blown the speakers out on his old one), and a set of practice Quidditch robes.

He entered Flourish and Blotts to pick up a new book on Defensive charms for himself; he had been waiting for this book for months. For a second, he thought he had entered the wrong shop. There was a large group of witches gathered around a long table that stood at the front of the store.

Remus spotted the store clerk pushed up against the bookshelf holding books regarding household charms.

"What's going on?" Remus asked after he helped the clerk extricate himself from the crowd.

The old man was panting heavily, and wiped his brow with a handkerchief before answering. "Gilderoy Lockhart appearance."

Remus groaned audibly. "My deepest sympathies," he said to the clerk.

The man nodded his thank you and tried to fight his way through the crowd to the front of the store. Remus decided it would be best to get his book another day and made his way to exit the store. But the moment he put his hand on the door, a cheerful voice rang across the shop.

"Remus Lupin!"

"Dammit," Remus muttered. He turned to find the group of flustered witches parting as Gilderoy Lockhart headed his way. For a moment, Remus contemplated pretending he never heard the famous wizard, and making a run for it, but realized it was too late; Lockhart's unnaturally white teeth had blinded him, making it impossible for him to think his way out.

Before he knew what was happening, Lockhart was wringing his hand. He must use a charm; nobody's hands are that soft... Remus became disgusted with himself for thinking about Lockhart's hands. It's the teeth; they must have hypnotized me...

"Hello, Gilderoy," Remus said, forcing a smile.

"Remus!" Lockhart said again. "Great Scott, it's been a long time."

"Yes, it has," Remus said, still smiling and trying to get his hand out of Lockhart's unusually tight grasp. But not long enough... he thought.

"So I suppose you're here to buy my new book: Chasing the Chimaera?" Lockhart said, smiling smugly.

How can anyone show off so many teeth while they're talking? Remus wondered. "Uh, no, actually, Gilderoy, I was —" Remus began.

"Of course you are! And since we're such old, dear friends—" Remus resisted the urge to burst out laughing. "—I think you should receive a free—autographed—copy!"

"Really, Gilderoy, it's quite all right. I'm sure your lovely fans would appreciate it more than I," Remus said, trying to get away from the man.


Later that night, Sirius was going through Remus' purchases in Diagon Alley when he stopped suddenly. Once he got his laughter under control, he put the book behind his back, and walked to the living room where Remus was helping Harry with his Astronomy homework.

Sirius watched them for a moment. "Remus," he said as innocently as possible.

"Yeah?" Remus said, not taking his attention away from Harry's star chart.

"Care to tell me anything?"

Remus looked up. "Like what…?"

Sirius took the book from behind his back and showed it to the two of them. "Like why the hell you have a Gilderoy Lockhart book…"

Harry burst out laughing, nearly falling off the sofa in his hysterics, while Remus tried to explain.

"Really, Moony, it's quite all right. You don't have to hide anything from us. We love you just the way you are. Don't we, Harry?" Sirius asked, grinning.

Harry continued to laugh.

Remus rolled his eyes, summoned the book from Sirius' hands, pointed at Harry and said, "You're grounded."

Harry stopped laughing immediately.