Lies
By Neurotica
Twenty-Six
Upon Sirius and Remus' insistence, Molly and Arthur moved their family into Number Twelve in the coming weeks. The Burrow had been deemed unsafe by Aurors—namely Sirius—and the Weasleys had told their neighbors that they would be going on an extended vacation to Egypt.
Now that there were seven more bodies occupying the large house, Sirius didn't seem to mind it so much, especially in the evenings around dinnertime when Molly, grateful to Sirius and Remus for allowing them to stay in their "home", made mouth-watering meals whose fumes could be smelled all the way in the attic. Sirius knew this to be fact—he'd tested the theory one night while searching for Kreacher.
"He's acting oddly," the Head Auror muttered to Remus as they cleaned the dishes from dinner one night. "He's not even searching for Mother's old things anymore."
"I told you that a month ago, Sirius," Remus said back. "You need to order him to stay downstairs from now on. He's got an obsession with the attic and it can't be for the décor."
Later that night, Harry and Ron bolted down the stairs, setting off Mrs. Black's portrait for the third time that day, claiming to have just seen Kreacher try to climb out a second story window. "You shouldn't have stopped him," Sirius said. "Of course, I couldn't be lucky enough to have him break his neck. The most that would happen is that some Muggle passing by would see him and report an alien or something."
Molly began to berate him about how he should be kinder to Kreacher. "If you'd only show him a bit of kindness, he'd come around." She changed her mind moments later when the house-elf in question called her a lumpy ball of fiery filth. Sirius locked Kreacher in his cupboard for that one.
If Remus believed living with a Marauder and Marauder's offspring was a reason to be on your toes, he was sorely mistaken. Two days after the Weasleys had moved in, Remus sat down to breakfast to find spiders in his bowl of cornflakes.
"Sorry 'bout that, Remus, thought that was Ron's spot," Georges said, swapping the spider-infested bowl with a different one. The elder wizard settled for toast and coffee that morning.
Along with pranks, there had been an increase of suspicious glances from Harry on many nights after Order meetings. The adults surmised that the children had heard more than they should have. Remus began casting Imperturbable Charms on the kitchen door during meetings.
Percy was very seldom seen at Headquarters. He'd been made junior assistant to the Department of Magical Cooperation. On his nights off, he spent the majority of his time with his girlfriend, Penelope, and his co-workers. Percy had not been invited to join the Order of the Phoenix for reasons, as Dumbledore claimed, that he was so laden down with Ministry work as it was. Sirius complained, loudly at that, that he too was busy at work, but he still did everything he could for the Order. Remus had casually slapped him in the back of his head for that comment.
The number of attacks from the dark side had increased significantly, as had, as a result, more unfortunate deaths—Muggle and wizard alike. Sirius and his Aurors had been working furious amounts of overtime to catch the Death Eaters responsible, but weren't making much headway in their cases. They had, however, captured those present at the Burrow the night of the attack. The six Death Eaters were currently being held in holding cells at the Ministry of Magic under constant surveillance. Azkaban Prison was undergoing much needed refurbishments, and until the time came that it was ready to hold prisoners once again, the DMLE holding cells would have to do.
Having a Metamorphmagus in the Order held its benefits. Remus had been relieved of the majority of his undercover duties, handing the torch over to Tonks with her many creative disguises. Concealed as an old man with long, grey, greasy hair and a hooked nose, Tonks overheard two careless Death Eaters discussing a meeting in a secret location. Eager to hear more, but careful not to give herself away, Tonks leaned towards them on her barstool. The bartender, however, probably drunk himself, had spilt a large mug of firewhiskey on the undercover Auror. When she'd turned away from yelling at the clumsy bartender, the Death Eaters in question had already gone.
Furious, Tonks had returned to Headquarters and had endured two hours of Sirius laughing at her. She'd forgotten to exchange her disguise for her normal spiky, purple locks. Sirius told her she'd looked like an elderly Snape, and didn't bother to keep his voice down in front of the real Snape. Needless to say, Tonks avoided the Potions Master with more success than she normally did for coming weeks.
Speaking of Snape, which Sirius rarely did, purely for reasons of his remaining sanity, an interesting question had arisen after an Order meeting to Dumbledore from the Head Auror himself: If Snape was their acting spy, then why did Tonks need to go undercover? As it was, after the Hogwarts invasion, Lord Voldemort had become suspicious of Snape's loyalty. It had never been presented, to either side, where Snape had been that night. The Dark Lord now informed the spy of minimal events, and only at the very last minute, leaving him with no information, or time, to give the Order.
Regardless of the ever-present war, July brought along with it, as always, Harry's birthday. In the days before, following the full moon, the day had been planned out perfectly. Molly would prepare a large breakfast; Sirius, Remus, and Arthur would take the boys to a Chudley Cannons training game—Ginny would remain behind to prepare for the evening; afterwards, they would return to Number Twelve for a large party with many members of the Order and Hermione.
As with everything in an unpredictable war, however, things didn't go according to plan...
Remus led a sunburned and exhausted but cheerful group of wizards into the Order's headquarters. Ron and Harry were telling the bunch, for the hundredth time that afternoon, that this would be the year the Chudley Cannons finally succeeded. Fred and George said, and Sirius agreed with them wholeheartedly, that the only thing the Cannons could succeed in doing would be to knock themselves out with their own Beaters' bats—and that was only if their aim had improved.
Remus smiled as he led the group into the basement kitchen. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid arrived for the occasion along with Mad-Eye, Emmeline, Tonks and her parents, and Kingsley. A large cake sat in the middle of the large kitchen table surrounded by a considerable amount of sweets and finger foods. A banner had been hung along the length of the kitchen wishing Harry a happy fifteenth birthday.
"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted as Sirius helped Harry down the steep stairs. The elder wizard had covered the birthday boy's eyes until they reached the bottom step.
Harry smiled widely as he laid eyes on the party. Everybody made their way forward to greet him. Sirius had to rush forward to rescue Harry as Hagrid hugged him a bit too enthusiastically—he'd had too much mulled mead before the party. Sirius, Fred, and George led the party in a loud, semi-rude chorus of "Happy Birthday." Luckily for them, Molly was too busy fawning over Harry to hear them.
Remus sat in a corner with a large slice of the triple chocolate cake and did what always loved to do in the company of a large group: Observe. He had never been able to overcome the feeling of bewilderment when he thought about how drastically his life had changed over the years. It seemed like one second he was alone and depressed, and the next he was surrounded by his family and new friends.
Even though Sirius sometimes got on his last nerve, Remus couldn't imagine what life would have been like without his best friend. Though the Auror was reluctant to admit it, Sirius had grown up since his release from Azkaban. The change was only slight at the best of times, but if one were to really search, it could be seen.
Harry laughed as Fred smashed cake into Ron's face. Remus smiled. Lily and James' son had grown up beautifully. He had traits of both his parents: James' sense of a good prank, and Lily's intelligence and large heart. There would only be two more of these parties before Harry would graduate Hogwarts and become a fully qualified wizard. It seemed only yesterday Remus was teaching the boy how to write 'Snitch', and now he was earning nearly weekly detentions and preparing for his O.W.L.s.
And then, of course, there was the inevitable final battle with Voldemort. There could be no way to predict when it would happen, or on whose terms, but Remus was determined to put that moment off as far as possible.
If he lives that long... said a sinister voice in the back of Remus' head. It was the same voice Remus had heard after Harry's kidnapping those years ago. Unlike that occurrence, Remus couldn't refute the facts, no matter how terrible they were: there was a chance Harry would not live to see his eighteenth birthday. Not even Albus Dumbledore, arguably the greatest wizard to ever live, could ensure Harry's chances at a long life.
"All right there, Remus?" asked a voice.
Remus looked away from where he'd been watching Harry unwrap a box of Zonko's merchandise from Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. "Ah, hello, Emmeline." He smiled at the witch.
"Mind if I sit?" she said.
"No, not at all," Remus said, standing and pulling a chair from the table for her. "Enjoying yourself?"
"I am," Emmeline said, sitting beside Remus. "I have to say, in all my years at the Ministry, I've never met a more interesting bunch of people than this," she said, chuckling and gesturing around the room.
Remus laughed. "Interesting is not the word I would use to describe Sirius and Harry. I'd go with mischievous little buggers, myself."
"But life wouldn't be the same without them, would it?"
"I was just thinking along those same lines, actually," Remus said with a smile. He began to ask Emmeline if she had any family, but an owl flew through the fireplace and landed on Sirius' knee.
Remus could see Harry's fallen face as Sirius sighed heavily and turned to whisper something to Kingsley. Kingsley nodded, stood, pulled Tonks away from Molly and McGonagall, and told the witch, presumably, the same thing Sirius had told him.
Once Sirius had finished apologizing profusely to Harry, he made his way towards Remus and Emmeline. "There's been another attack. We've got to go. I'll owl you later and let you know how late I'll be," Sirius said.
"All right, be careful," Remus said.
"Have fun." Sirius smirked and winked at the pair and led his Aurors out of the kitchen.
The party atmosphere had diminished in the light of yet another attack. Not even Fred and George could find anyway to amuse the guests anymore.
Before leaving, Andromeda and Ted asked Remus to have their daughter owl them the moment she had a moment. Remus promised profusely that he would and said good night to the couple.
Molly had sent the underage witches and wizards upstairs to give the adults some privacy to converse. Remus reentered the kitchen, cast a silencing charm on the room, and reclaimed his spot next to Emmeline in front of the fire. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling quite annoyingly and his lips twitched as he watched the pair.
Instead of discussing Order business, however, Dumbledore took the time to examine the pranking supplies Harry had been given. "I do believe I see a few items in this box that Mr. Filch has yet to place on his banned list," the Headmaster said mischievously.
"Yes, well, you can be sure that Harry will see that they are on the list for next year, Albus," Remus joked.
"I would be disappointed if he didn't, Remus," Dumbledore admitted.
Molly and Emmeline began to clean up the kitchen while Arthur poured the group a goblet of wine each. Moody, as always, declined; he had his hip flask with him.
"You know, I've noticed something with Potter," Mad-Eye said to the group. "And I mean besides the fact that he's spent way too much time with Black. That boy'll make one hell of an Auror when the time comes. Got that from his father, I think."
"You recruited Sirius and James, didn't you, Alastor?" McGonagall asked, sitting beside Hagrid.
"I did," Mad-Eye grunted. "Worked with Harold Potter when I started in the Ministry. That man was the best there ever was until his dying day."
Remus smiled. "I remember one summer when Mr. Potter took James, Sirius, and myself to work with him. None of us had ever seen Aurors in action until that day, and that was one of the few times I can recall that James and Sirius actually stayed out of trouble—they were too interested with what was going on around them," he said.
"I think out of the three of you," McGonagall said, accepting a plate of biscuits from Molly, "Sirius Black is the one I am most proud of. Potter was born into a well-respected, loving family, and never had many home problems that I can recall. You, Remus, well, we all know about you. But you've overcome all that. Black, though," the Transfiguration mistress said with a shake of her head, "his family tried relentlessly to steer him into the 'right' direction, but look at him now. Head Auror. Never thought I'd see the day."
Again, Remus smiled. "And you will never say that to his face, will you, Minerva?"
"Certainly not," McGonagall scoffed.
Laughing loudly, the group failed to hear the kitchen door open and close. Nor did they notice Severus Snape enter, looking as if he'd just run from Hogwarts to Number Twelve.
"Headmaster," he panted, drawing the attention to him immediately.
"Severus, my dear boy, what is it?" Dumbledore asked hastily.
"The attack the Aurors have been sent to was a setup," Snape said, catching his breath. "The Dark Lord wanted them out of the Ministry so that he could send a group of Death Eaters into the Department of Mysteries."
"Mundungus and Dedalus Diggle are standing guard tonight," Molly said, dropping a dishcloth to the floor.
At that very moment, a fiery flash of light burst from the fireplace. Remus jumped aside, pulling Emmeline out of the way, as a picture began to form before their eyes. Dumbledore had charmed the fireplace to alert them of any unfriendly wandfire that occurred within the Ministry of Magic building, particularly the ninth floor.
Six Death Eaters were fighting their way past Dedalus and Dung—who were putting up a pretty fair fight—to get to the department door. "We will leave immediately," Dumbledore said swiftly, all former humor forgotten, still watching the fight. "Remus, Arthur, Alastor, and Emmeline will come with me. Minerva, Molly, and Hagrid, I ask you to remain behind for the time being. Severus, go wherever it is you are safest."
The group nodded at their instructions. Dumbledore led those who would be going to the Ministry out of the kitchen and out of the house. Before closing the door, Remus caught a quick glance of Harry and Ron crouching in the shadows of the second landing.
Night had fallen around them, giving the Order members plenty of cover to Apparate.
Sirius was crouched between Tonks and Dawlish behind a bunch of bushes in the backyard of a Muggle home. He and a team of ten Aurors—those who had been present at the Ministry—had been waiting there for twenty minutes for any sign of Death Eaters activity. So far, all they'd seen was two Muggle children chasing each other through a kitchen.
"Are you sure we've got the right place?" Sirius whispered to Dawlish.
"Yeah, positive. This is what was reported," Dawlish responded.
Sirius sighed. "All right, stay here," he said to his team. In the next moment, he'd transformed into Padfoot and pushed his way through the bushes. Most of his team gasped.
"Did you know he could do that?" he heard Dawlish's shocked voice ask Kingsley.
Kingsley's laugh, full of bass, echoed through the yard.
Sirius, meanwhile, pretending to be a stray, sniffed around the yard, his ears wide open for the slightest sound. After being shooed away from a trash bin by an old woman with a strong scent of brandy on her, Sirius returned to his team.
"There's nothing here." He sighed. "We've been setup." Various curses spread throughout the team, causing Sirius to smirk. "I really have trained you lot well, haven't I? C'mon, back to the Ministry, then."
Harry sighed heavily and lay back on his bed. Hermione and Ginny were sitting cross-legged beside him playing Gobstones.
"Ah, come on, Harry," George said, nudging his shoulder. "It's your birthday, cheer up a bit!"
"This happened last year, too," Harry said dejectedly.
"Harry, we're in a war," Hermione said reasonably. "Sirius is the Head Auror for the Ministry of Magic—"
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Harry muttered, staring at the ceiling.
"—and he has an important job to do. It's not going to stop just for your birthday, you know," she finished, slapping Harry's arm.
"Yeah, but..." Harry began. "I don't know. I sound like a spoiled little kid, don't I?"
Hermione and Ginny started to deny any such thing, but were drowned out as Fred, George, and Ron chimed in, "A bit."
"Now Remus is gone with Dumbledore, and they still won't tell me what's going on with all these secret meetings," Harry muttered.
"Oh, please, Harry," Fred said with a smirk. "You still haven't figured that out? Bloody hell, man! You live here! George and I figured it out ages ago."
"And?" Harry and Ron asked eagerly. Ginny and Hermione momentarily stopped their game to listen.
"Well, we're pretty sure Dumbledore's leading some sort of resistance against You-Know-Who. And we overheard something one night when we'd, er, gone to get a drink," George said unconvincingly. "Something that had to do with you, Harry. Something about guard duty. But Mad-Eye caught us before we could hear anymore."
Harry could think of only one thing that had to do with him that anyone would want to guard, and that was the prophecy. Sirius had told him many times that the prophecy was the safest in the Department of Mysteries, but how safe could it be if people had to be guarding it?
Silently but swiftly, Dumbledore led Remus, Emmeline, Mad-Eye, and Arthur down the corridors of the ninth floor in the Department of Mysteries. They passed right by the hall that led to the courtroom in which Wormtail's trail had been held, and towards the shouts and curses in front of them.
Dung had been the source of all the commotion as he tried to revive a stunned Dedalus.
"Mundungus!" Dumbledore called. "Where are they?"
"Gone!" Dung called back, straightening himself up. "Apparated away when they couldn't get through the door."
Remus succeeded in reviving Dedalus while Dumbledore attempted to calm a nearly hysterical Dung. He kept going on about seeing something impossible, something they'd never believe. The problem was that they couldn't get Dung to tell them what he'd seen.
"It was like nothin' never happened to him," Dung claimed in a loud whisper. "He was 'oldin' his wand perfectly straight, aiming curses. 'Course he looked dead as could be..."
"Dung, if you don't tell us what you're on about, you're gonna look dead as can be," Mad-Eye threatened.
"That friend of yours," Dung said, pointing a shaky finger at Remus.
"Sirius?" Remus said with a raised eyebrow.
"No, no! That other one. What's his name? Fat kid, Sirius used to tease him all the time in school," Dung said.
Remus raised his other eyebrow. "Peter?" he said, wondering if Dung had too much firewhiskey before coming to the Ministry.
"Yeah! He got the Kiss, din't he? He was walkin' round here just fine! Stunned Dedalus, he did!"
Remus found himself stumbling backwards into a wall and sliding down to the floor.
"You sure it was him, Dung?" Moody growled.
"Positive!" Dung insisted. "I'd swear on me mum's life on it, I would!"
"Your mum's dead," Moody countered.
"All of you, return to headquarters immediately," Dumbledore said over Moody and Dung. "Remus, let's go back, shall we?"
Remus looked up into the headmaster's eyes and felt himself nod. "Yeah, okay," he whispered, slightly hoarse. With Arthur and Emmeline's help, Remus got off the floor and followed the group out of the Ministry of Magic.
