A/N: I've got to admit: this is one of those 98 percent dialogue chapters…but I promise it shan't be too boring! ; )

Chapter 53: Spilling Old Beans

"Kierra?"

"Mmm?"

"You should really close your legs…"

"Oh"—Kierra crossed her legs over and smoothed out her pleated skirt over her thighs. She sighed tiredly as she slouched back in her seat in the staff lounge—"thanks Remus"—and as she turned back to her magazine, she muttered—"prude."

"I am not a prude," Remus protested, "I'm just saying…I mean, sit however you please, but don't get mad then if someone looks up your skirt…"

Kierra scowled at him. "No one is that pervy"—

"You'd be surprised."

Kierra and Remus turned around to see Elinor standing at the entrance of the lounge, smiling wryly.

"Yeah?" Kierra asked as Elinor made her way across the room to fetch one of the staff-use only owls. "What guys have been looking up your skirt?"

Elinor rolled her eyes. "I think a more fitting question to ask is what guys don't look up a girl's skirt, given ze chance…"

"Lupin wouldn't." Kierra replied, grinning at Remus. "He'd close his eyes and start shouting at you for wearing such a short skirt."

"I didn't shout at you…I just told you politely to keep your legs closed."

"But you've shouted at me before," Kierra continued, "several times in fact…for supposedly dressing inappropriately." And turning to Elinor, she added "I call him Captain Prude at home."

"You call me Captain Prude everywhere…" Remus corrected her.

Elinor laughed. "Remus, you are one in a million. Oh, that reminds me, ze kids loved you…especially Alejandro. 'e told me you could turn into a horse! I did not know you were an animagus!"

Remus laughed. "If being one means getting on all fours and crawling around the living room with someone on your back, then sure…"

Elinor frowned, not understanding at first. As comprehension dawned on her though, she merely smiled and then turned to Kierra. "And Georgiana told me you two had a talk on werewolves."

"Oh"—Kierra gave Remus a fleeting look before smiling at Elinor—"right, I did. She was afraid during the storm, and we had read one of her books the night before"—

"No, I know zat." Elinor cut in. "And I'm glad you comforted her…But zat other stuff you said about them…who do you know is a werewolf?"

"Oh—Kierra blinked, feeling tension grow in the room as she felt Remus grow extremely still—"no one…just some guy at Hogwarts…"

"They let a werewolf into zat school?" Elinor asked incredulously. "Is Dumbledore crazy?"

"Well"—

"Better yet, are you crazy, Kierra?"

"Me?" Kierra raised an eyebrow at Elinor.

"You dated him, didn't you? Georgiana said he was a good kisser."

Kierra blushed furiously, wishing Elinor hadn't brought that up. Or at least not in front of Remus. God, he was going to make fun of her about this... "So? I didn't know he was one! I mean, I found out later on…"

"So you dumped him when you found out?" asked Elinor.

"Of course not!" Kierra replied. She was about to add that she dated him until she had to move to the states, but immediately remembered that she had told Elinor earlier on about her relationship to Remus, and saying anything would incriminate him.

Elinor frowned, and then turned to Remus. "Did you know about zis bloke?" she asked.

"Er—I didn't even know there were werewolves at Hogwarts." He said slowly, reasoning that he wasn't completely lying. He only knew of one werewolf that attended Hogwarts—himself. So to say he didn't know about werewolves, in plural…surely that wasn't a lie…

"What's the big deal anyway?" Kierra asked Elinor. "He never hurt me. He was a good guy."

"But 'e could've!" Elinor retorted. "What if 'e 'ad lured you out in ze night and bitten you? Turn you into a werewolf with 'im!"

"Don't be ridiculous…he never would've done that." Kierra replied. "I told you, he was a good guy…"

Elinor stared at her for a moment, open mouthed. Finally she regained her composure and asked quietly, "so…you weren't bullshitting when you told Georgiana that they are people…that they live normal lives? You meant all zat?"

Kierra's eyes widened in disbelief. She loved Elinor, but sometimes she could be such an idiot… "Of course I meant it! What's there that says they aren't people? That they aren't normal? Elinor, I knew one…I knew him well. And he wasn't an animal…well, except when"—Kierra paused and smiled coyly, causing Elinor's eyes to bulge out and Remus to blush furiously—"anyway, he was a person…one of the best persons I've ever known."

"I do not believe you…" Elinor muttered as she opened a window in the lounge for the owl to fly out. "Getting so intimate with a werewolf. I know you can be reckless sometimes, Kierra…but really…zis is too much." Kierra rolled her eyes in return. "Surely you do not approve, Remus…"

Remus shrugged. "I have to admit, I'm with Kierra on this."

Elinor raised her eyebrows at him. "You too? I thought you were ze sensible one…"

Kierra sighed exasperatedly. "Elinor, come off it. Werewolves aren't bad people."

"Well of course zey are not…zey are not even people!" Elinor retorted. "Besides, didn't you know zat you-know-who had werewolves fighting on his side? They are dark creatures, Kierra"—

"Shut up."

Elinor's eyes widened again, as did Remus's. "Sorry?"

"I said, shut up. You don't know, Elinor. You've never met one in your life. Your knowledge of them extends as far as what you've read in the papers, and you know yourself that papers skew things all the time…So how the hell are you going to lecture me about them being dangerous?"

Remus sat silently in his chair as Elinor and Kierra continued to argue. He wished he could say something more than just "yeah" and "I agree with Kierra." Part of him wanted to just tell Elinor that he was a werewolf, to see her reaction, but he knew that would be unwise. God, he was pathetic. He couldn't even stand up for himself…

Elinor had finally left the lounge, rolling her eyes before shutting the door behind her. Remus watched Kierra stare at the door, and then shift her gaze to Remus, where their stares met.

"Sorry…" she said quietly. "She's a good person, for the most part. But she's got her prejudices…"

Remus sighed. "Yeah, I know." He looked up at Kierra, who had gotten up to go pour herself some coffee. He noticed her hands were shaking slightly as she poured the coffee into her mug. "Er…thank you." He said quietly. Kierra looked up at him and smiled. At least he wasn't bringing up the kissing business…

"Er…can I ask you something?" He asked uncertainly as Kierra sat back down next to him.

"Shoot."

"So…you really thought I was a good kisser?"

A few weeks later, about a week before Christmas Eve, Remus found himself curled up in his bed, under the warmth of three comforters, and adjusting an everlasting hot pack under his back. Just then, Kierra burst into his room with a tray of food in her arms.

"Dinner!" she said cheerily. Remus simply groaned in reply and sank deeper under the covers. No way was he going to eat. Every muscle in his body was aching. The full moon had come and gone, leaving Remus feeling tired and weak, but above all, in seemingly endless pain. Of course, there had been a few consolations though in his situation. He felt very much relieved that it was the end of term, and he didn't have to worry about lessons. He also had Kierra at home to take care of him ("Don't be silly, you can't feed yourself! You're too ill!" Kierra snapped as she spoon-fed him a bowl of chicken soup), and finally, he was due to Sirius's that evening, and would definitely be back to health in time for Christmas. Which reminded him…

"Kierra"—Remus frowned and turned away in protest as Kierra tried to feed him a large chunk of chicken—"Wait, listen…I have to be at the headquarters in a few hours"—

"I'll let Sirius know you're not well and you'll come tomorrow"—

"But today's a big meeting, I can't miss it…"

"Fine. But if you pass out…hey what are you doing?" Kierra demanded when she saw Remus slowly pulling his covers off himself, looking like it quite pained him to do so.

"Well," he said wearily, "I need to pack still…"

Kierra pushed him back down into bed and covered him again with his blankets. "No…you need all the rest you can get. I'll pack for you."

"But"—

"Just tell me what you need." And with that Kierra got up and went to his closet. "So you need clothes for two weeks"—she opened the closet door and made a face—"Well, I certainly know what to get you for Christmas now…it's like you had one too many turns with the time turner or something…"

"I don't care much for clothes…"

"Clearly…" Kierra muttered as she dragged out Remus's empty trunk from the closet and popped it open. "Alright…these robes look pretty decent…" she said, pulling out two gray casual robes from the closet and folded them into the trunk. "These pants will work too…"

"Kierra, you don't need to pack much, actually. I have some of my clothes there too, you know…" said Remus hoarsely.

"Oh, alright. What do you need then?"

"I think a few pairs of socks…"

"Right-o…" and Kierra marched to the other side of the room where Remus's dresser was, and popped open the first drawer. As she dug through the drawer and began to pair socks up, Remus spotted La Prophétie du Jour, a French newspaper equivalent to The Daily Prophet, sitting on his desk.

"Er, Kierra? Can you pass me the paper?" he asked.

"Oh…" Kierra made a face of disgust, but then handed the paper to him before turning back to his socks. "Bunch of rubbish."

"They're better then The Daily Prophet…" Remus reminded her.

"Oh, I don't know about that…" she said as she shot a pair of Remus's socks into the trunk. "Found a nasty little piece on werewolves today, while you were sleeping."

"Really?" Remus asked, turning the page of the paper and scanning the article headings.

"Yeah…apparently they want to reevaluate some of the amendments considering half-breeds, with a particular concern of werewolves."

"Anything particular to spark that sudden interest?"

"Well, you know…last year…before you moved here, a girl was murdered by a werewolf. Bites all over her body. They never found the guy one who did it though. The few suspects they found had gotten family members to testify to their alibis for their whereabouts on that full moon. Anyway, France has always been pretty anti halfbreed. Course, not as bad as Britain, until this whole episode. So they slip in articles about werewolves from time to time…"

"How old was the girl?" Remus asked.

"She had her seventeenth birthday that night. Kind of why she was bitten. I mean, she was out partying with her friends all night…and she was so drunk by the time she left that she apparated a mile or so from her house…and well…on the way, she met it." Kierra said, tossing another pair of socks into Remus's trunk.

Remus sighed as he attempted to eat his soup on his own. "Sometimes I wonder if the ministry is in the right, taking all the precautions that they do"—

"How can you say that?" Kierra snapped, her head shooting up to glare at Remus. "Of course they're not right! Just because one person…"

"But this happens all the time, Kierra"—

"No it doesn't" she cut in. "I was doing some research while you were asleep. That article had really ticked me off…plus what Elinor had said a few weeks ago…so I did some research, because I wanted to write back to these people…and you know what I found out? Of all the murders and attacks that occur in the wizarding world, only 5 come from werewolves! And those were all during full moons…never when the person was in their human form. That just shows that werewolves are only dangerous during the full moon, not during the rest of the month! They're normally sane, rational people! And 8 were from vampires…another 5 from other sources…82 were from normal wizards and witches who didn't have any abnormal condition…" She snorted. "Anyone who consciously tries to kill you is by default a bit abnormal."

Remus simply stared at her in awe as she shut his sock drawer and began to rummage through his underwear drawer, marveling at Kierra's sudden zeal for werewolf welfare. He was the one suffering from lycanthropy…

"Forget the clothes…I'm buying you some brighter looking underwear!" Kierra exclaimed after a few moments. "How do you feel about thongs?"

"Who's the cutest baby in the world?" Kierra squealed as she bounced a blonde haired baby on her lap. Jackie gurgled, but as she looked up to see her mother enter the living room, she began to cry, stretching her arms up in the air. "Damnit, Janine…why'd you have to come in?" Kierrra grumbled as she handed Jackie back to her mother.

"I'm sorry…I thought you wanted me to bring you tea!" Janin said with a smile as she balanced her daughter on her hip and handed Kierra a cup and saucer.

"By the way, where's Nora? She got back today, didn't she?" Kierra asked, glancing above towards the stairs, half expecting to see her niece appear with a grin on her face.

"In the shower. She looked so tired and burned out this afternoon when we picked her up from the station. I think they're slowly killing them over there at Hogwarts."

Kierra nodded sympathetically. "Fourth year…" she muttered. 'OWL preparations begin. How's that lovely Umbridge woman? Remus told me she's become high inquisitor or something…"

Janine made a face. "I think she's the one wearing down all the students. She's a foul woman…"

"She was senior undersecretary to Fudge, wasn't she?" Kierra asked as she took a sip of tea, vaguely remembering Remus ranting about her one evening when he saw her name in the paper.

"Yep—still is. And she's not any more competent there either. Shame she has so much power…the amount of legislation she manages to pass…especially against halfbreeds." Janine added, her brows furrowing slightly.

"What was that about?" Kierra asked, frowning.

"Oh—didn't you know? She wrote up some laws on employment"—

"Not the legislation—that look you just gave me! What was that about?" Kierra asked again.

"Oh—well—nothing! Just that...well, you know, you're friends with Professor Lupin…"

"So?"

Janine shrugged. "I don't know…never mind. I just thought you were fond of him…" Silence followed this, and after a few moments, Janine spoke up again. "So…er, how's the apartment hunt going?"

Kierra frowned. "I'm not looking for a new flat…why should I be?"

"Well…I thought living with Lupin was temporary…I mean, it is his place, isn't it?" asked Janine.

"My place too now." Kierra replied. "I pay rent."

"But"—

"I don't mind his lycanthropy, you know." Kierra cut in.

"I was actually about to object to his maleness rather than his lycanthropy…but thanks—nice to know you think I'm a bigot…" Janine said with a note of coolness in her voice.

"Well, you had a problem with him before, when he was teaching Nora"—

"Someone say my name?"

Kierra, Janine and Jackie looked up to see Nora galloping down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear.

"Nora!"

Kierra's face brightened immediately and she stood up to greet her niece with a hug.

"How are you? Gosh, you just keep on growing taller and taller! And more beautiful! Have the boys been chasing you around?"

"Kierra…" Janine sighed wearily as she rolled her eyes, "I swear, you're going to give my daughter such a big head…"

"Nonsense." Kierra laughed. "You know, when I was at Hogwarts, I had this great friend, Alice…and you look just like her."

Nora smiled. "So…what were you guys saying about me?"

"Oh—well—we were just talking about my living arrangements with Professor Lupin…" Kierra said, dropping her voice to something soft and sultry as she said Remus's name, all while she batted her lashes at Nora. "Tell me. Are you wildly jealous of me Nora? I mean, I get to see that man every day…God. The way he grades those papers…sometimes it gets me really"—

"I'm never going to hear the end of it, am I?" Nora groaned.

"Not until you admit you had a lil' somethin' of a crush on your dear professor!"

Nora frowned. "You don't talk about me to him, do you?"

Kierra laughed. "All the time…but don't worry, I haven't exposed you totally. I've just shared a few amusing childhood stories…nothing of your little fancy for him."

"Will you ever believe me when I say that I never liked"—

"Never."

Nora glared at her. Janine rolled her eyes, trying to hide her amusement with a look of exasperation. "Alright. Poor Lupin doesn't even know how much he's talked about in this house. Let's just have dinner. Harvey's running late"—

"Just for the record, I didn't bring him up." Nora said declaratively.

"Yeah, I noticed dear." Janine said as she held the door to the kitchen open for Kierra. "Seems it's always Kierra. Makes me wonder if there's someone else in this house who's sporting a crush on Mr. Lupin…"

Nora's eyes practically danced out her sockets at her mother's comments. "Hey don't you dare, I've got a baby in my arms!" Janine laughed, backing away as Kierra waved a threatening hand at her. "Ooh…look who's gone all pink!"

Kierra glared at her, and then turned to Nora, who had pursed her lips tightly to keep from giggling. "Hate to disappoint you ladies, but I don't have a crush on him. He's my friend. And anyway, It's only been a few months since I left Edmund. I'm nowhere near setting attachments on anyone else right now". Kierra said stiffly.

And that had shut Nora and Janine up. She knew she was slightly pathetic for playing the Edmund card, as she usually did when she wanted to get out of an unpleasant situation. But when she did, she usually meant it on some level. Only now, she wasn't sure if she had…

The subject of Professor Lupin and males in general remained untouched for the rest of the evening. Kierra had finally decided that it was time to lay off on Nora, and Nora and Janine seemed to think Kierra's love life was probably too sensitive of a topic to discuss. As Nora and Kierra sat on the floor of the living room engaging in a game of gobstones, Janine sat on one of the sofas, nursing Jackie. It was shortly after Jackie had let out a particularly large belch that Kierra thought to ask about a man whom she was sure would not be an issue to discuss.

"So—where's Harvey gotten off to?" she asked, glancing from Nora to Janine.

"Well…he flooed over an hour before you came, and told me…stuck at St. Mungo's, obviously. A man came in towards the end of his shift with this horrible snake bite. Someone from the ministry, I believe. Arthur Weasley."

"Weasley?" Kierra asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"Yeah…you remember me telling you about my friend Ginny…with all the brothers? That's her dad!" Nora said, a worried look falling upon her face.

"Is he going to be alright? Where was he when he got the bite?" asked Kierra, though she had a feeling she knew where.

Janine shrugged. "No idea. Harvey didn't say…he was in a hurry. But judging by the fact that Harvey's still there, I imagine he's still living. Oh, don't fret, dear." She said, leaning over to rub Nora's shoulder reassuringly when she saw the disheartened look on her daughter's face become more pronounced. "I'm sure he'll be alright." She glanced up at Kierra expectantly.

"Right. Absolutely!" Kierra said, probably more heartily than she should have. After about ten minutes, Kierra purposely lost and began to help Nora put away the gobstones set. Nora then offered to take pictures of the family with the camera she had gotten as a recent birthday gift, but Kierra opted out.

"I just remembered," she said slowly, "I…I have some of Lupin's papers. They're his lesson plans, actually. I should send them to him."

"Oh—but Herby's out hunting right now." Nora said with a frown.

"It's alright…I can go to the owlery…it's just a couple of blocks south from here, isn't it?" Kierra asked, getting up to retrieve her cloak.

"Yeah…but I don't know if it's open right now." Janine said uncertainly. "I mean, I don't know, I've never tried sending things from there at this time. Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"It should be open, and no I don't think so. I should probably send them before he realizes I accidentally took them. He gets annoyed sometimes with me…I do this sort of stuff all the time…" Kierra said with a laugh. "Anyway, I'll be back really quick!" And popping open her briefcase to take whatever was sitting at the very top of it, Kierra disapparated with a pop.

21 December, 1995

Dear Remus, Sirius, and Dominique if you're there,

My sister-in-law just told me about Arthur Weasley. I'm assuming you know by now—news reaches you guys fairly quick. By a snake? Janine didn't know where it happened. Harvey (my brother, who was at the hospital when Arthur came in) didn't say. Am I right to think that it happened in the Department…? Is he going to be alright? Janine reckons he'll live, as Harvey's shift ended hours ago, but he's still there, tending to him. Please keep me posted. Address to "guest bedroom". Harvey and Janine know a bit about the order, but I don't think they should know about this situation since they're not in it with us. Plus Nora seems a bit unhappy right now—she's good friends with Ginny Weasley.

On another note, since I'm in London, I want to come to the headquarters. I can come on the 8th, when Nora leaves for Hogwarts. Janine thinks I've got to head back to school too, but I haven't bothered to correct that misunderstanding. We don't have to be back until the 13th, so that'll give me a few days to spend with the order, that is, Sirius, if you don't mind hosting me. Don't feel obligated though—I know some fantastic hotels nearby that I could stay at. Hope all is well and that Arthur recovers. My love to Dominique if she's not there.

Love,

K. Nakofsky

23 December, 1995

Kierra—

Arthur is fine. He just got released from St. Mungo's today, and he and his family will be spending Christmas with us. We'll talk about details of the attack later on, in person.

Don't even thinking about staying at a hotel. None of your "fantastic" hotels, as you say, could possibly compare to the splendors of my house. I'm being very sarcastic, I hope you know. But all the same. Dominique, Remus and I will be expecting you at my house on the 8th. Dominique is unfortunately not with us right now, and is spending her Christmas in Paris…performing some stuff…something about nutcrackers… Anyway, she'll be back in time to see you though. I've written to her to tell her you're coming to visit—I imagine that'll greatly excite her. We'll see you in a couple of weeks then.

Sirius

Just like during her last visit to 12 Grimmauld Place, Kierra had been greeted by much commotion. Dominique had answered the door and immediately pulled her in for a tight hug, pulling her inside the house as she did so.

"Oh! Kierra! It's so good to see you"—

"FILTHY SCUM OF THIS EARTH! BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE!"

Kierra had jumped, but as she heard Sirius clamoring down the hall where the woman's shrieking came from, she immediately remembered Mrs. Black's portrait.

"Oh dear…one second!" Dominique said quickly, leaving Kierra at the entrance. A few moments later, the screeching had died down, and Dominique reappeared, along with Remus and Sirius at her side. They were all wearing dark red sweaters with the letters of their first names on them: A large 'D' on Dominique's, an 'S' on Sirius's, and an 'R' on Remus's. Kierra smiled slightly. They looked a bit silly, standing together, spelling out "DRS". Not that it spelled anything. Which made them look even sillier. It was as if they were missing a few people from their line. Perhaps someone with an 'E' and another 'S' to spell 'dress'…

"Like the sweaters?" Sirius asked, grinning, when he noticed Kierra's amused expression. "Molly Weasley knit them for us!"

Kierra cocked an eyebrow at him and then looked at Remus. "I thought you said Molly and Sirius didn't like each other."

Sirius glared at Remus but continued to Kierra, "Well…we've er…improved on each other since the whole business with her husband. Her family stayed over for the holidays so they could be near St. Mungo's…so I guess she was thankful for that. Knit me a little something as a thank you gift."

"So how is Mr. Weasley?" Kierra asked as they led her into the kitchen, where dinner was cooking. "I know in your letter you said he was going to be alright…but…well, what happened?"

Sirius glanced at Remus and sighed. "Perhaps we should start at the beginning then?" Remus nodded. "Alright. From the beginning then. You've been filled in on this whole business with Harry, how he can read into Voldemort's mind?"

Kierra nodded. "He kept seeing himself in the department of mysteries, right? That's what Remus told me." Kierra said.

"Right," Sirius said, glancing fleetingly at Remus before continuing. "so one night he was there again, of course this was all through Voldemort's eyes, but Harry didn't know at the time. Anyway, Arthur was on guard duty the night it happened, and Voldemort attacked him. Of course, he couldn't make an appearance there himself, so he possessed his snake"—

"So Harry"—

"…in essence, was the snake." Sirius finished. "Well, was in the mind of the snake anyway. Makes perfect sense. He told me himself that he felt like he was the snake, that he was the one who had bitten Arthur. He also told me that later on when he was in Dumbledore's office explaining everything to him, he felt the snake rising in him again, and he wanted to attack Dumbledore."

Kierra's mouth fell open. "He's not being possessed, is he?"

Sirius shook his head. "He thought he was. I wasn't quite sure what to make out of it when he told me, I just had a hunch. But I didn't want to tell him anything without consulting Dumbledore. Well, I wouldn't have minded telling him without"—

"But you're not allowed." Remus finished curtly. "Yes, you grudgingly kept your word to Dumbledore and didn't tell Harry. Go on."

Sirius glared at Remus but continued anyway. "I had a feeling that Harry had gone so far into Voldemort's mind, Voldemort must have caught on by now, and there was a chance that he could reverse the process and start invading Harry's mind. I mentioned this to Dumbledore, and he was suspecting the same thing. So now, Harry's got to start taking occlumency lessons…with none other than old Snape." Sirius finished, frowning as he thought of his former classmate forcing his way into Harry's mind, addling with his memories…

"Occlumency?" Kierra asked. "That's a defense against legilimency, right?"

Dominique nodded, a worrisome look overtaking her face. "It's extremely advanced too. And grueling, mentally. I hope he can handle it."

"Harry's handled a lot. And I know he's capable of advanced magic." Sirius said, patting Remus on the shoulder. "Lupin here taught him how to do the patronus charm when he was thirteen."

"He can conjure up a patronus?" Kierra asked, raising her eyebrows up at Remus.

Remus nodded. "A corporeal one at that. He has some serious talent. And I think he'd be well able to succeed in occlumency too. But I'm just worried about one thing. Snape's his professor."

"You don't really think Snape will try to hurt him, do you?" Dominique asked with a frown. "He's on our side…"

"So?" Sirius started, but Remus cut him off.

"Not so much that. It's just the relationship those two have. It's more or less the sort that Snape and James had. Except Harry doesn't go hexing Snape every chance he gets." He replied.

"He's not in a position to." Sirius said. "Snape's his damn professor. Bet he wouldn't hesitate with a few curses if he weren't…"

"True." Said Remus thoughtfully. "I just hope Snape can put his contempt aside and teach him properly, and Harry does so too, so he can learn properly."

"Fat chance." Kierra said glumly. "Snape's a stubborn old donkey. And James was too. And if Harry's anything like James, he probably won't swallow his hatred either."

"Dumbledore should have taught him." Dominique said suddenly, pounding her fist on the kitchen table. "If anyone's a master at occlumency, it's him…"

Sirius sighed. "He doesn't want to give Voldemort more incentive to break into his mind. After Harry, Dumbledore's the next person Voldemort would love to get rid of. You could've done it, Moony. You aren't too shabby at it. And even if you were, you could practice enough to get good at it again. You always are keen on mastering whatever it is you have to teach…"

Remus shook his head. "I'd love to, but teaching occlumency is something beyond me. I know occlumency well enough, but in order to teach it, you have to be a skilled legilimens as well, in order to invade the mind of your pupil. I never learned that stuff."

The foursome sighed dolefully. "Damn Snape and his damn calculating mind." Sirius muttered. "Well…how about some dinner?"

"Shame Tonks couldn't drop by…" Sirius said as he popped open another bottle of wine. "She's on guard duty tonight. Have some more, Remus. I insist"—Remus had shook his head and pulled his goblet away from Sirius, who was offering him more wine—"Come on!"—he laughed, leaning forward to pour into his goblet—"live a little! Anyway, she was going to come by when her shift was over, but Kingsley just had to remind her that she had a meeting early in the morning and wouldn't get enough sleep if she came over here. Thought we'd be up late into the night or something…woops."

Sirius had meant to sit back down, but missed his chair by a few inches and teetered over the side, catching his arms around Dominique's chair to keep from falling.

"So…Kingsley…is he the other auror in the order?"

"Yep…" replied Sirius.

"The cute black guy? With the nice voice?"

Dominique giggled into her drink, and ended up coughing fitfully. Sirius chuckled. "Already on the lookout for a new guy, eh?" he asked. "Sorry to tell you though, he's got a girlfriend."

"Oh."

"We'll send you word if they split up though." Sirius said with a grin. "Though I don't know…he's a bit young for you, isn't he? Only 25!"

Kierra scowled at him. "Thanks, Sirius."

"Anytime. Don't worry though. I'm sure some handsome prince in shining armor, or whatever it is that puts you on, will come along."

"I think it's a knight in shining armor." Remus corrected him.

"Ah, thank you Sir Know-It-All." Sirius muttered, pouring himself some more wine. "I'm trying to think of something wittier to add to insult you, but I'm a bit pissed."

"Just a bit?" Remus asked, wincing as Sirius set down the wine bottle on the table with a hard thud.

"Well, it's your fault, Roony—er—Moony."

"How's it my fault?" Remus asked.

"Well, if you had drunk a bit more, there would've been less for me to drink."

Remus rolled his eyes, but laughed anyway with Kierra and Dominique at Sirius's warped logic.

"You are being a bit selfish, Remus." Dominique said, pouring more drink into his goblet and then into her own. "Kierra and I have certainly done our part to save Sirius from drinking himself into unconsciousness…"

"Silly me." Remus replied, taking a sip from his goblet. "What was I thinking?"

"God…I remember at my very first solo recital, I had gotten up to take a bow, and everyone started laughing at me. There were about a hundred people there…everyone's parents, except my own of course. And I didn't get why they were laughing until later on during refreshments, I went to the bathroom to fix my hair, and I saw in the mirror, my skirt had gotten tucked into my knickers!" said Dominique about an hour later. The four of them had finished dinner and were sprawled on the living room floor near the fire, recounting stories of their childhood. Remus found himself having difficulty recalling anecdotes that were as funny as the others. And any funny ones he had, had taken place at Hogwarts in the company of his fellow marauders, which most of the time Sirius thought to share before him.

"Hey—that happened to you too, remember Moony?" Sirius said. Kierra and Dominique turned and looked at him incredulously.

"When?" asked Dominique. "You've worn a skirt?"

Suddenly Kierra clamped her hand over her mouth and began to laugh. "I remember! First year! First day of school! You and Peter came into the Great Hall that evening dressed like girls! And you had your skirt tucked into your underwear…"

Dominique giggled. "I didn't know…"

"Thank you kindly for bringing back that memory…" he said, smiling at Sirius, who wiggled his eyebrows mischievously in response. "Peter and I got kidnapped by a bunch of 7th year Gryffindors, and they dressed us up. They told us they jinxed the clothes so that if we took them off, something terrible would happen to our bodies. We never found out what though...Professor Flitwick ended up working his magic to undo whatever they had done."

"He made a terrible girl." Sirius added. "Never seen one with such scrawny little chicken legs."

"I do not have chicken legs!" Remus protested as the others laughed.

"I know you don't anymore, mate." Sirius said with a grin. "You grew out of them, thank God."

Remus scowled at him. "You don't exactly have Britain's sexiest legs yourself, Mr. Black."

Sirius laughed. "Not claiming to"—

"I think he has nice legs."

Dominique gaped at Kierra, Remus's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and Sirius's pale face colored.

"What?" Kierra asked, seeming to be completely surprised at their reactions. "He does! I always thought so—Oh, Dominique! Don't take it the wrong way"—she said quickly, turning to Dominique—"I mean…I don't think he's attractive or anything. I mean, I do…but…I'm not attracted to him. You know what I mean? I just think he's really good-looking. I mean, just the parts I've seen of him. I've always wanted to see his entire body though…you know, naked…"

Sirius turned to Remus with a slightly intimidated look on his face. "I feel uncomfortable, Moony."

Remus frowned as he watched Dominique's relaxed countenance slowly become infuriated. "I do too."

Kierra, who heard them, paused and looked at them uncertainly, and suddenly smiled as comprehension dawned on her. "Oh! I didn't mean"—she turned to Dominique again—"I don't fancy Sirius or anything. I just…I was thinking of him in artistic terms! That's what I do! I'm an artist—well, not by profession—but still. Like sometimes I just see people and they're just so beautiful in some weird way and I want to paint them, you know? That's how I was thinking of Sirius. I swear…purely in an artistic sense." She looked at Dominique with mixed uncertainty and fear of getting slapped. Dominique's face relaxed slightly.

"You had me scared there." Dominique said with a laugh. "Yes, I think I know what you mean…"

Sirius, who no longer looked put out by Kierra's comments, grinned. "So…I'm an artistic masterpiece, eh?"

Kierra rolled her eyes. "I never should've said anything."

Dominique laughed. "I completely forgot that you were so into art…"

"I'm never allowed to forget that fact." Remus said. "Our flat has seriously become an art studio."

Kierra scowled at him. "Has not. I always clean up after myself."

"I'm sorry. More like an art gallery then. The walls are covered with her paintings, and tables are covered with her sculptures and pieces of pottery."

"Well, your flat was pretty dull! I thought it could use some colors!" Kierra said, sounding slightly hurt.

"No, I like it!" Remus said hastily. "I do! I was just joking…"

Kierra rolled her eyes. "Sense of humor isn't very becoming of you, Remus. Anyway"—she turned her attention back to Sirius—"can I paint you?"

"Paint me?" Sirius repeated, looking uncertainly at Remus and then to Dominique.

"Yeah! And don't worry, I'll do a good job of it—I've painted lots of people. And I've done about three nudes…" she said with a hiccup as she flipped two fingers at them.

"Watch who you're flicking off…" Remus said as he pushed her hand out of his face. Kierra giggled and held up a third finger, though taking another look at her hand to make sure she had three up this time.

"You've done nudes?" Dominique asked, her eyebrows raised so high they disappeared under her bangs.

"Yeah…I did them all in an art class a few years ago, actually. But I've always wanted to do one that was my own subject—someone that I picked. It becomes more personal then, you know? I remember doing horrible on that one woman I had to draw…she was pretty, but just…not artistic…"

Sirius nearly choked on his drink laughing. "You had to paint a naked woman?"

Kierra rolled her eyes. "oh geez…second thoughts about painting you now. You'd be all up in a dither…"

Sirius's eyes widened. "You want to paint me…naked?"

Kierra took a sip of her drink and nodded. "Not now, of course…too bloody pissed to concentrate."

"You can't paint him naked!" Dominique exclaimed.

"Why not?" Kierra asked, looking as though the idea of not doing so was absurd.

"Just because!" Dominique sighed. "It's weird! Can't you paint someone else? Paint Remus! You've seen him naked before…"

"Dominique!" Kierra and Remus exclaimed at once. Remus could feel himself go very warm in the face.

"D, come on!" Kierra protested.

"Er—don't I get a say in this?" Sirius asked.

"Fine"—Dominique looked sharply at Sirius—"Do you want her to paint you?"

"Well, I don't mind…"

"Ha!"

"Don't 'ha' me"—

"Fine, hold on!" and Kierra pulled herself up, throwing her hand on Remus's shoulder as she tried to balance herself. She disappeared down the hall and returned a minute later with a large notebook under her arm. As she sat back down, she placed the book in Dominique's lap. "My sketchbook." She said curtly. "Have a look."

Dominique opened it. The first page was marked 16 July 1994. In pencil, Kierra had drawn a man sitting under a tree, reading a book. "That's Pierre, isn't it?" Remus asked, who was looking over Dominique's shoulder. Kierra nodded, and Dominique continued to leaf through the book. There had been mostly drawings of landscapes and sketches of random strangers. There had been several drawings that Remus had recognized as the views from the window in Kierra's office. One featured a plain landscape and still lake, while others featured students milling about—flying on broomsticks, on the grounds taking walks, having picnics, and taking swims in the lake. There has been one sketch of Edmund dated back to July of this year, where he was lounging on a sofa, reading a book. No one said anything and Dominique continued turning the pages. She stopped at a drawing of Remus that was dated from a few weeks ago. He was lying on the futon in their living room with his eyes closed. There was a small child sitting on his legs, pulling one of Remus's socks off. The other one had been tossed onto the floor, next to a girl with long hair who sat cross-legged, holding what appeared to be dolls.

"Who are they?" Dominique asked, pointing at the children.

Kierra smiled fondly at the drawing. "Kids Remus and I were babysitting a few weekends ago."

"Ah—those are the ones that kept you from seeing me?" Sirius asked, observing the drawing. "They're cute."

"You drew me...and I didn't notice?" Remus asked.

Kierra shrugged. "You had dozed off for a bit. And Alejandro climbed on top of you just as I got started, so I asked him to sit still for a while so I could draw him too. Obviously he didn't do a good job of it—that's why his face is a bit sloppily done." She said, pointing to the little drawing of Alejandro.

"Wait, are these the kids whose mum made a big deal about werewolves?" Sirius asked suddenly, looking up at Remus, who nodded. Sirius shook his head at the picture. "Poor kids."

Kierra sighed. "If only they hadn't told their mum…kids are cute but I swear…they have such big mouths!"

Remus smiled wryly. "Kierra, you're the one who told Georgiana about knowing a werewolf. You didn't have to…"

Kierra scowled. "Well, I was trying to prove a point, that werewolves aren't bad!"

"But you didn't have to add those other…details."

"What details?" asked Sirius, looking from Remus to Kierra.

"Nothing." Kierra said at once, turning pink. She glared at Remus, who had bit down on his lip to keep from laughing. Sirius, having spotted this, persisted.

"Come on…what details? What are you two hiding? Remus, you want to say it…you know you do. You're just being a gentleman so Kierra can have her dignity! Come on—spill the beans!"

"I told the girl that the werewolf I knew was a good kisser…" Kierra muttered.

Dominique giggled but Sirius rolled his eyes. "That's it?" he asked.

Kierra looked almost indignant. "Course that's it! And relatively embarrassing"—

"Why is it embarrassing? You didn't want Remus to know he was a good kisser?" Sirius asked, cocking his eyebrow at Kierra, who blushed. Remus, who was also blushing now, took pity on Kierra and tried to change the subject.

"Anyway, the point is"—

"So what exactly makes him a good kisser?" Sirius cut in, smirking at Kierra, who now looked quite miserable.

"He has firm lips…" Dominique murmured as she poured herself some more wine.

The entire room seemed to go silent, save for the sound of Dominique sipping on her goblet, who didn't seem to think she had said anything strange. When she put her goblet down, she glanced around and finally seemed to notice everyone's eyes on her. She looked back at them uncertainly but then immediately clamped a hand over her mouth and gasped. She slowly shifted her glance to Sirius, who looked at her with mingled confusion and anger. She didn't have to turn around to look at Remus to know that he was probably looking down at his hands miserably.

"Firm lips…" Sirius repeated slowly, in a voice that seemed to ring about the entire room. He was looking down at his empty goblet that he clutched very firmly. "You've kissed each other?"

"Once"—Dominique started immediately, looking positively frightened—"just once. And it was me…it was all me, Sirius. Remus didn't…initiate it. It was the year you escaped Azkaban. Remus and I met up for lunch…and well, your escape upset me. It upset all of us. We all loved you and thought you had betrayed us…and well, I don't know…I felt confused…and lonely."

"So you snogged my friend?" Sirius demanded, and turning to Remus he added, "And you let her?"

"It happened so fast!" Remus protested. "She just came at me when I leaned forward to grab a salt shaker. She thought I had leaned forward to kiss her"—

"So I kissed him back. At least I thought I was…" Dominique finished, her cheeks burning red.

"I can't believe this." Sirius muttered. He looked up again at Dominique. "Why would you kiss him? Why would you think he was trying to kiss you, apart from him leaning forward?"

Dominique shrugged as she bit down on her lip, trying to keep the tears that welled up in her eyes from falling. "I don't know! I needed comfort and he gave it to me! And…I don't know! I thought maybe he still liked me…"

"Still liked you?" Sirius repeated, immediately turning away from Dominique and turning his attention on Remus. "Want to explain this one?"

Remus took a deep breath. His sympathy for Dominique was wearing thin now. "Ok…well, I…um…I sort of liked Dominique during our 7th year, when she first came."

"7th year?" Kierra said shrilly. "But we were dating then!"

"It was before we went out…" he said wearily. Women were nothing but trouble, sometimes…

"But you never told me?" Kierra asked. "She was one of my best friends at the time!"

"I didn't think it was important…" Remus replied.

"That's fine if you didn't tell Kierra," Sirius said, ignoring Kierra's protests ("It is not fine!"), "but I was going out with Dominique from the beginning. So you liked her while I was dating her…that's why you were all weird about it! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh that would've made a great conversation…'Hello, Sirius. Guess what? I fancy your girlfriend!' I wonder how that would've gone…" Remus said dryly. "Why are all of you making a big deal out of this? It all happened in the past! A long time ago!"

"You kissing Dominique wasn't that long ago." Sirius said angrily. "And that only happened because you used to fancy her!"

"So this is all my fault? It wasn't even me who started the kiss!" Remus shouted as Sirius got up and stormed out of the living room.

"Well, you and Dominique can share the blame the way you share kisses!" Sirius shouted, disappearing down the hall. A few moments later, a door slammed shut.

Remus sighed, rubbing his temple wearily as he made his way down the hall. The portraits were all roaring with insults. He pulled out his wand and stunned all the portraits in turn, and upon finishing, returned to the living room, where he found Kierra and Dominique arguing.

"We were friends!" Kierra exclaimed. "You spent all your time egging me on, saying he'd like me and ask me out, and the whole time he was in love with you! And you didn't say anything!"

"I wasn't in love"—Remus started, but was immediately cut off by Dominique.

"What was I supposed to say?" shouted Dominique. "You were obsessed with him! I didn't want to hurt your feelings!"

"So you opted to lie to me instead? Give me false hopes"—

"What are you talking about? False hopes—you got him in the end, didn't you? Not to mention broke his heart and left! Then you come back after all these years, leeching off him"—

"I'm not leeching off him! Just because I live with him"—

"Oh please! You didn't have any other friends in France? The moment you lost your fiancé you went running to Remus for shelter!"

"Quiet!"

Kierra and Dominique fell silent. Dominique glared at Kierra, who in turn glared at Remus as she darted past him and out of the living room. Remus sighed, staring at his feet. He knew Dominique was looking at him, with that sorry look in her eyes. He knew she hadn't meant to cause all this trouble, and yet two of his friends were angry at him for incidents that he could hardly have helped but let happen.

"I'm sorry, Remus."

Remus did not shift his gaze from his feet. "I know you are."

"You're angry at me…"

Remus sighed. "I'm going to sleep now." He said simply. He turned around and headed down the hall, leaving Dominique alone in the living room.

He knew he had been harsh by leaving Dominique there. She hadn't meant any harm. But Sirius and Kierra were mad at them, all because Dominique couldn't keep her mouth shut.

This is all Sirius's fault. He thought as he climbed up the stairs to his bedroom. If he hadn't gotten everyone all drunk, none of these secrets would have been spilled…They were supposed to have a fun evening together. They were supposed to reminisce about the good days, laughing until their stomachs hurt and their eyes watered with tears. They were supposed to call it a night and go off to sleep happy. But here they were, each in separate parts of the house, all quite drunk to one extent or another, and all angry with each other…

Remus sat up in bed. His eyes hurt and his head was spinning. The portrait of Sirius's great-aunt Lucille was thankfully asleep. The only light that cast in his room was from the half moon that glowed through the window out in the night sky. However, that suddenly changed when his door slowly creaked open and the dim lights in the hallway poured into his room. He could barely make out the figure standing at the doorway. A woman, judging by the hourglass-like silhouette and the ponytail hairstyle.

Kierra.

"Hey" He muttered, sitting up straighter in bed as she let herself in, closing the door about halfway, to allow some light into the room. "everything alright?"

"Yeah…" she quietly replied, tip toeing over to Remus's bed and taking a seat on its edge, next to him. "I just…well, I fancied a chat with you."

She looked a bit odd. Paler than she usually appeared, perhaps…"Any particular subject you wanted to discuss at this hour?"

"Yeah, I thought that part was obvious though…" Kierra replied.

"Sorry, it's not. Please enlighten me…"

"Us."

"Us?" Remus repeated, raising an eyebrow at her. "Are you still mad about everything between Dominique and me? Because it shouldn't matter—what's done is done. And we're not dating anymore anyway"—

"That's what I wanted to talk about." Kierra cut in.

"Us not dating anymore?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." Remus waited for her to say something, to explain herself, but nothing came from her lips. At least not at first. Kierra sighed and glanced around the darkened room, taking in her surroundings.


"Have you ever wondered what it'd be like if we never broke up?" she finally asked.

"Er—why?" Remus asked, looking at her uncertainly. The truth was he had…a few times. He always pictured them married with cute children; they all would look like Kierra. They might have gotten a cat too for the kids to play with. Then one day they would all go off to Hogwarts and they'd be alone again…

"Well—I was thinking about it…after we all fought"—she leaned closer to him. He could feel her breath—"and just thinking of how things could have been…it made me miss you, a lot…"

"Yeah?" he asked hoarsely, daring to look into her eyes. Big mistake. She was staring right back at him, still leaning closer. His consciousness of everything around him melted away as he felt his eyes fall shut and Kierra's lips brushed against his.

"Yeah…" she whispered into his ear, kicking her legs up onto the bed and pulling off his covers. She fell onto his lap, bucking her thighs against his hips.

"I want you…" she breathed as she unbuttoned his shirt and moved her lips down to his chest. "You have no idea how much I want you…"

Remus attempted to speak, but found that he couldn't. His voice seemed to get lost somewhere in the back of his throat. He breathed heavily, his heart pounding so hard he thought it might burst through his chest. Kierra's hands had slid down to his naval, around which the drawstrings of his pajamas were tied. Her fingers ran along the buttons that fastened below the drawstring, snapping each of them open with a swift movement. She then ran her hands up his bare chest, pushing off his shirt as they reached his shoulders. Digging her fingernails into his skin, she pulled herself closer to him and smiled. It looked almost wicked…

He finally dared to raise his hands from his sides and touch her. His hands went around her back, meeting the unwelcoming feel of fabric. As she leaned forward to kiss him again, he slid his hands down and around until he slipped past the barrier and felt her warm skin. He let his hands fall down to her hips, and pulled them forcibly against his own. He felt a rush of satisfaction as he did so, and he closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation. He felt Kierra's mouth on his neck, but her kiss wasn't nearly as passionate as the preceding ones. It was softer…but he didn't want it softer. Her kisses trailed down his neck, going lower and lower, but they felt progressively weaker, until he opened his eyes and found that Kierra had gone.

Remus sat up quickly in bed, breathing heavily. He was still under his covers. He glanced around the room. It was still night time, and he was the only one in his bed. He looked down at himself. His shirt was still on and buttoned, as were his pants, (though he now felt slightly uncomfortable in them for a number of reasons). How much of it had been a dream? Did he imagine the arguments amongst himself, Kierra, Dominique and Sirius too? No, he couldn't have…his head pounded in a way that it only did when he had had more drinks than he could handle. And he remembered the evening. The drinking had been real. Dominique slipping up had been real. And everyone going off to bed angry had been real. Kierra coming into his room in the middle of the night had not been. She was probably too angry at him to even come in his room right now, let alone fall onto his lap to grope him.

Remus rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows to get a better view of the door. It was still closed, just as he had left it when he went to bed. He rolled back into his spot and closed his eyes as his head fell against the pillow, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep, hoping to relive the memory of Kierra pressing herself against him…