Disclaimer: Chapter one
Updated: Saturday 9th April 2005
Chapter Fifty Nine: Hushed DiscusssionsThe rest of the summer passed with more or less the same amount of fun and mirth. Early in July, her Uncle had come, as promised, to visit for a week; even indulging them in their efforts to educate him on Muggle inventions. Surprisingly, he became quite a force to be reckoned with once he'd mastered the basics of electronic gaming; blitzing all of their high scores and being none-too-subtle with his smugness afterwards. Of course, the formidably controlled Potions Master still conducted himself in his rudimentary manner – wearing his customary black clothes and never calling Remus anything but 'Lupin' – but he was uncharacteristically a lot more receptive to trying new things. Especially when it was something that brought him closer to Estella and the 'other' life she led. While he was there he even taught 'Lupin' how to brew a few potions in the basement lab he spent much of his stay refurbishing to meet 'basic standards'.
Not long after her Uncle had left to return to the school and start his lesson plans for the year ahead, Estella and Remus discovered that Hermione and her family were back in town (normally they spent a great deal of their Summers abroad). They had bumped into the Grangers during one of their infrequent trips to the Muggle grocery store, and had not hesitated to invite Hermione and her Muggle parents to what they called a 'wizarding half-way house'; for their flat was neither purely Wizarding nor fully Muggle. Since Hermione could not do any magic outside of school until she reached the age of 17, the invitation into the house of a legally adult wizard was seen as an opportunity to show Dr and Dr Granger (they were both Dentists) what living in a Muggle world with Wizarding influences (or vice a versa) was like. It also gave Hermione's parents a chance to hear first hand from another Hogwarts student what the school their daughter went to was like and what their daughter was like as a student.
Dr and Dr Granger had a friend who ran the supermarket nearby, and they explained how Hermione would be working there a few days a week 'to stay in touch with the non-magical world'. Incidentally, the store was looking for another junior to take on over for the last few weeks of summer, and Estella was asked if she would like to try her hand at Muggle work - under the table and with her guardian's permission of course. So, a few days later, Hermione and Estella would work together for four hours in the morning three days a week for £2 an hour. Knocking off in time for lunch, they would usually buy a pretzel or something from a street vendor and eat in the park across the road, progressively making their way home via the ice-cream parlor.
Walking into the Olde English Ice Creamery a little after 2 one sunny day in August, their fingers still sticky from the cinnamon pretzels they had for lunch, Estella and Hermione took their favourite seats by the window.
"Hey Jimmy!" Hermione waved at the young man behind the counter. "The usual, thanks!"
Jimmy was a few years older than Hermione. He was a lanky, nerdy looking sixth year Muggle with an acne problem and braces. Hermione had attended the same London prep school as Jimmy, her mother had fitted the boy's braces and their fathers played tennis together. Luckily, a lot of children who went away to school in Hermione's parts went to single-sex schools and Jimmy's parents had assumed the 'exclusive school up north' that Hermione was accepted to was merely an all-girls institution.
"Here you are, ladies." Jimmy said, bringing over Estella and Hermione's usual order of double choc banana split sundae with pop rock sprinkles… which of course they shared because a) they were girls and couldn't wolf a whole one down on their own and b) on £2 an hour it would have eaten a lot of their income to indulge themselves almost everyday as they did.
"He's got a sweet deal working here!" Estella said through a mouthful of banana. "Pity about his face though, I could really clear that up for him if I could just use my wand."
"It didn't hit him until his last year of school." Hermione whispered. "All the girls had crushes on him before that. I wish they'd see that beauty isn't always skin deep… he's a nice guy."
"Ohhh, 'Mione's got a crush!" Estella jeered, sobering immediately at Hermione's death glare. "But still, it looks painful. Maybe if I bought Uncle Remus in here everyday he could slowly hex the spots off his face without him thinking it was instantaneous."
"You just want him to bring you in here everyday for ice cream, don't you?" Hermione chided knowingly.
"Yep." Estella said, grinning. "And why not? If I was at home with my uncle I'd just have to call a house elf and I'd have ice cream all I want!"
"I can't believe your Uncle would let you eat it!" Hermione said.
"He never expressly forbid it." Estella explained, licking the chocolate fudge off her fingers. "Guess he kind of empowered me to make the right decisions about what I ate. I learnt how much ice cream I could handle the hard way though."
"What happened?"
"I ate myself sick and when I told my Uncle how I'd gotten the stomach ache he'd simply marched me into his lab and laid out the ingredients for the Relieve-all potion and directed me to make my own remedy."
"But that's a third year potion! I haven't even studied it yet!" Hermione cried out, cringing when she realized how loud her voice was getting. "However did you manage?"
"I didn't." Estella smirked. "I threw up my ice cream into the cauldron half way through. It reacted with the powdered moonstone I had been simmering and filled the lab with purple smoke that smelt like bubblegum. He made me write a 6 inch essay on the potion instead about why one should make sure they have restorative potions on hand before gorging themselves silly. Since I couldn't make the potion I had to get better normally and write the essay. I tell you I learnt how to pace myself pretty well after that."
"You must have found the first year syllabus very boring then." Hermione said.
"It wasn't too bad. I'd never been paired with another student before, so it was interesting to watch how they did things differently." Estella shrugged. "And if I finished early I'd just get a head start on my homework. Next year should be interesting though – I won't be petrified for half of it!"
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I can't believe Professor Dumbledore cancelled our exams! How are we supposed to know if we learnt anything if there's no review?"
"Merlin, Hermione! I'm a Ravenclaw and yet even I was glad to get out of exams!" Estella rolled her eyes. Casting her eye back to Jimmy, who was scrubbing down the counter and singing along to the radio, her eyes lit up. "You know what, I think my Uncle may have left a jar of Bubotuber Pus downstairs in the basement. Did I tell you he set it up to be a 'proper' Potions lab during his stay?"
"No, I didn't know." Hermione said. "What's Bubotuber Pus got to do with Jimmy? Isn't that gooey yellow stuff that smells like petrol? I think Professor Sprout has some Bubotubers in greenhouse 3."
"It's greenhouse 4." Estella corrected. "And Bubotuber Pus is the active ingredient in Tugwood's Acne Mask, that's what!"
"Oh!" Hermione said, her face lighting up. However, her response was cut off by two frantic looking men in odd looking clothes thundered into the parlour. Well, to Estella and Hermione, robes were hardly abnormal, but since they were in the middle of a Muggle neighbourhood it looked quite bizarre.
"Estella! Hermione! There you are!" Remus called out in relief as he pulled Estella into a bone-crushing hug, apparently not caring when the chocolate Estella had all around her mouth rubbed off on his robes.
"Uncle Remus? Uncle Sev?" Estella asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Come Estella, there's no time for answers here." Her Uncle said quickly, pulling her to her feet whilst looking around nervously – as though he were scared they were being followed. "We must get back to the School."
"But it's not September first! You said I could go on the train!"
"Estella, listen to your Uncle and pack your things as soon as you get back to the flat, alright?" Remus said sternly, which was almost unheard of since he was always patient and understanding. "I'll see Hermione safely home and meet you there."
Estella looked from her Godfather to Hermione, to her Uncle – who had her in a vice-like grip and was moving her towards the door – with a look of extreme surprise on her face.
'What on earth is going on?' She thought to herself wildly.
"Wait, Uncle Sev! We haven't paid for the ice cream!" Estella cried out, alarmed.
Her Uncle responded by throwing a £20 note onto the counter at random and barking over his shoulder at Jimmy as he pushed Estella out the door. "Keep the change."
The last thing Estella saw was Jimmy pick up the £20 note and gawk openly at the gesture. The sundae the girls had shared had only cost £3.
"That boy really needs some of Tugwood's Acne Mask." Her Uncle said bemusedly in a half hearted attempt for levity as he pulled Estella into a alley behind the parlour to apparate them the three blocks back to the flat. "Hold tight to me."
Landing in the hallway of the place she had made herself at home in over the summer, Estella was astounded. Apparating with another person was a very tiring and dangerous stunt if not done effectively. Whatever had caused the two men in her life to fear so much for her wellbeing to come after her like that must be something pretty big if they didn't even have time to charm a portkey.
"Uncle Sev, what's going on?" Estella asked nervously.
"I'll tell you when your Godfather returns." Severus replied, trying to sound calm as he walked around the perimeter of the house, checking and re-checking the wards. "Just go upstairs and pack."
Seeing that this was not a time to argue, Estella ran upstairs and reduced into her trunk, the cyclone that her bedroom had become. Hearing that her Godfather had returned while she was in her room, Estella crept out onto the landing to better overhear the two men's increasingly loud voices.
"We should tell her everything." Her Godfather's diplomatic voice said. "It's time."
"She's not ready." Her Uncle snapped. "She deserves to enjoy the rest of her summer."
"Then let her stay here, Severus." Remus suggested. "You don't think this sudden evacuation will have her suspicious?"
"It's not safe here, Lupin!" Severus growled. "This will be the first place…"
"That may be so, Severus. But you've seen the wards here. They won't permit him entrance…"
"He'll be after her Lupin." Severus said worriedly. "The safest place for her is Hogwarts."
"Like it was the safest place for her when she almost got killed by that Basilisk?" Remus said. "Dumbledore consciously decided against telling the students what they were up against and giving them some idea of how to protect themselves. Do you really want to keep Estella in the dark if telling her will somehow prepare her?"
Estella could hear her Uncle exhale a sharp breath. She had to peel her ears to hear what he said next. "She shouldn't have to face this. He shouldn't have gotten out."
"We'll protect her, Severus. Together." Her Godfather vowed.
What did she need protecting from?
"So you've considered the position?" Her uncle asked, the tone in his voice suggesting there was a change in subject.
"Yes. I have accepted." Remus said. "Estella is not to know until the first day of term."
"Now who's keeping who in the dark?" Her Uncle leered.
"Oh I daresay we're not doing a very good job of keeping her in the dark, Severus." Her Godfather said with a lilt in his voice. "She's been listening from the top of the stairs for the past three minutes."
Estella swore under her breath and scrambled to her feet with a thud. Below her, the two men heard her sudden movements and looked at each other.
"Lupin you should have told me!" Severus hissed angrily. "Sometimes I swear you ought to have been sorted into Slytherin."
Remus smiled that irritatingly knowing smile.
"So, should I walk around with my eyes closed or did you intend to keep me in the dark figuratively?" Estella said as she barrelled into the room, trying to draw humour from the situation.
"Accio Walkman!" Remus pointed his wand and summoned Estella's walkman from the coffee table.
"Now, you will wear this and listen to it at full volume until I say you can take it off." Remus said firmly as he placed the headphones over her ears and turned it on. "Don't even try to remove it, I've just cast a sticking charm on the headphones."
"MERLIN REMUS IF I HAD MY WAND RIGHT NOW YOU'D BE THE ONE DANCING ON THE CEILING!" Estella shouted over the din of the music blaring in her ear, becoming increasingly frustrated as she found she couldn't press pause or stop or adjust the volume. Or change the god-awful song.
Severus, meanwhile, was looking at her curiously, somewhat amused at Remus' parenting techniques.
'Well that's one way of stopping her listening in!' He smirked. 'And a whole lot less distressing than using a deafening charm.'
"Forgive me, Lupin, for believing you let Estella run riot." Severus smirked at his werewolf accomplice. "Now I am convinced the hat got it wrong."
As the men continued discussing the issues at hand in low voices, Estella flopped back on the lounge, defeated. She tried lip reading for a while, but they seemed to be making an effort to mimic a ventriloquist because she couldn't make anything out. Instead, she decided to see if she could beat her Uncle's score on Dr Mario, making a point to turn up the TV really loud to emphasise her point and sing along to the music that was assaulting her ears. If she couldn't hear them speak, then why should they hear each other?
Her fun was ruined almost as fun as it began, however, when her Uncle – and she knew it was her Uncle – threw a silencio at her without even looking in her direction. An interesting little side effect of the spell that Estella knew her Uncle hadn't counted on happening turned out to be quite to Estella's benefit. The silencing spell had stopped the music in her walkman – she could hear again! Making sure to appear she was bopping along to phantom music in her ears as she hid her face behind a magazine, pretending to read, Estella took in what the two men were saying.
"…you realise I will have to maintain appearances once term begins." Estella could hear her Uncle say. "Too many people know who you are as it is."
"I understand, Severus." Remus replied. "You'll be sure to ensure Estella knows the terms?"
"Yes, it's all settled." Her Uncle nodded affirmatively. "We still have to resolve what we're going to tell her about this… latest development."
"I still think it's time." Remus maintained. "What if he somehow gets to her first?"
"Fine." Her Uncle said reluctantly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now or when School starts?"
"Now, I think." Remus suggested, casting a look at Estella, who darted her eyes back down to the magazine quickly. "I don't think we'd last long with her persistence."
"Indeed." Severus nodded slightly. "I'll need a headache potion first."
"Of course, there's some downstairs where you left it." Remus said.
Severus rose from his chair and headed towards the kitchen, where the stairs to the basement lay. As he passed Estella he waved a lazy 'finite incantatem' at her, restoring the music and her ability to speak. Remus came over in his wake and indicated she could control the walkman.
"So, did you plan that?" He asked as he sat down next to Estella.
"Plan what?" Estella asked, feigning innocence. "Do you mind, I'm trying to read!"
Remus leant over and wordlessly righted the magazine so that it was being held the right way up. His amused amber eyes meeting the grey clouds of Estella's as they flew up in surprise, the patient werewolf smiled. "Well?"
"Oh!" Estella slapped her head. "You mean did I plan on forcing you to wedge headphones in my ear with a sticking charm so that I'd suffer from a serious case of tinnitus for the rest of the day, or did I plan on manipulating my Uncle into indirectly putting an end to my suffering?"
Remus smirked, shaking his head at his Goddaughter's ingenuity. "So what did you make of what you heard?"
"A whole lot of nothing." Estella grumbled, honestly. "How big is it?"
Patting her knee supportively, Remus let out a heavy breath. "Brace yourself, cub. It's big." He said. "Just don't forget that you're safe and protected and it won't be so bad, ok?"
"Alright." Estella said quietly, swallowing hard.
"OK, so cut to the chase. What's the big news?" She asked forwardly once her Uncle had re-entered the room and taken a seat.
"It will be all over the news, Severus." Remus said, after a few moments of awkward silence. "All over the school by the time term starts."
"What?" Estella asked uneasily, shifting her weight as she eyed her Uncle's suspiciously. "Just tell me!"
Severus took a deep breath. "Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban."
End Chapter: Hushed Discussions