Another World
By Moony
JKR owns every HP character that you recognize.
Chapter 4
Norlock walked the foursome out the door. Moody glared at him with his eye, as though he was going to rip their spirit out and send it flying into hell.
"The Council's headquarters are located at the far side of all the White Hills, beyond the Cassaac Forest. There, you shall come upon a small white cottage. There will be a symbol of a golden circle. A golden circle, nothing more. That is the headquarters," he said.
"Thank you Norlock. Thank you," Dumbledore said, shaking Norlock's hand.
"It's all I could do to help. I'm sorry we couldn't do something about your dilemma."
"No, no, it's quite all right, I understand. Thank you for your time."
"Good-bye my friend! Come back soon!" Norlock called.
Dumbledore nodded. As they turned to exit the building, Remus saw the receptionist frown a bit. His eyes narrowed, and he said softly to him, "Ye'll wanna watch out for them Angel Council peoples."
Remus nodded and hurried to catch up. What was that supposed to mean? Were the angels really evil? Would they prevent them from the mission just so the world would fall into pieces?
Ok. Enough questions. Just stop worrying! Remus told himself.
After a while of walking, Tonks suddenly said, "Why didn't we just apparate?"
"You can't apparate and disapparte from anywhere where angels are. Especially the Deaht Realm, and the Council place," Moody growled.
"How come?"
"Just can't. Some special rule they have."
They soon came to the edge of a thick wad of green – the Cassaac Forest. It was a very dense forest. Everywhere Remus turned, there were leaves in his face. It seemed that no sunlight penetrated through the thick leaves. The trunks sthemselves were something too. Huge, burly stumps of the hardest wood that Remus had ever seen in his life. There was something about this forest that made him uneasy. It was so unnatural. These couldn't be regular trees. In fact, they almost seemed like the Whomping Willow!
"You're twitching," Tonks whispered next to him.
"I know," Remus said.
He twitched involuntarily when he was nervous.
"What are you nervous about? It's just a forest," she whispered again.
"Well, I'd like to ask you that," Remus said.
"What do you mean?"
"You're whispering."
"You're twitching."
Remus rolled his eyes. They were both nervous. There wasn't any point in arguing. Remus had learned this a long time ago. He had never been one to argue. When you thought about it, it was really pointless. Remus knew what he had said was right, and if he knew it, and he could feel the pride of it, then what point was there trying to convince someone else he was right? It would be a waste of energy and time. Like if you were arguing with someone over a tennis game you were playing, and you won, but your opponent insisted you lost, and you knew you didn't – what was the point of arguing? Who cared if he was a sore loser? Why waste time arguing with him?
The green leaves were slowly lessening as they move deeper through the forest. But Remus still had a restive feeling about this.
"Ok Remus, you're right," Tonks said, giving in, after a good few minutes.
"Right about what?"
"I am nervous."
Remus smiled.
"But that doesn't mean you're not nervous. I know you're nervous too."
Remus nodded.
"I have a weird feeling about this place, it makes me jumpy."
"Me too. I don't like it at all."
At last the whole forest cleared, and the white cottage came into view. The golden circle imprinted on the wall glowed brightly, and it seemed that Remus's feeling had been wrong. But somehow, Remus didn't think so. His gut feelings had only ever failed him twice.
And as they were about to set onto the door, Remus saw Moody cast his eye around. He was nervous too.
In fact, the only person who was not uptight about this whole thing was Dumbledore, who was still smiling, and popping some sort of yellowish candy in his mouth. It looked uncannily like a lemon drop.
But what were they all nervous about? There seemed nothing that could possibly hurt them. Perhaps it was just the fact that they were going to meet people who took spirits from bodies. Or maybe because everyone thought angels were regal, beautiful spirits, and were tongue-tied around them.
So they headed into the cottage. It was a very small cottage. The only things in it were a few sofas and desks with lamps, and very long and high table at the far end. Behind it, sat six wizards and witches – or were they angels?
They did seem to look like angels. They had the same sort of radiating glow about them as Norlock and Adanis, and their faces seemed so young and so rosy. But they were wearing regular robes, black, purple, violet… Well, Remus was certianly learning something about angels today.
"Name please?" the angel in the middle asked.
"Albus Dumbledore. My friends, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Nymphadora Tonks," he said.
Remus chuckled a bit as Tonks cringed.
"Do you have an appointment?" another angel asked.
"No ma'am, but we have a most urgent matter."
"More urgent than the fact that the Ministry of Magic may be corrupted? For that is what we have an appointment for in a few minutes," another angel said.
"Yes indeed. Much more urgent than that."
The angels whispered to one another.
"All right. Come, let us go into the meeting room."
They watched as the angels tapped their wands against a blank wall, and a small door appeared.
"Go on," one angel said, beckoning toward the entrance.
Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Dumbledore walked in, the angels behind them. Inside was a much more large room, and cozy as well. There was a shiny mahogany table, with comfy armchairs all around. A fire was crackling and dancing in the fire place, and the rug was soft beneath their feet. Portraits of beautiful women and daring knights were hung everywhere. When Remus sat down, he saw there were gingerbread cookies and tea on the table too.
"Help yourself, help yourself," one angel said waving her arm towards the cookies and tea. "My name is Irene." She pointed at another woman. "That's Georgia." And then at a another woman. "She's Aura." Then she pointed at the men. "That's Talo, Anson, and Ernan."
"Now, what is the matter that you have come to discuss?" Irene asked. Clearly, she was the head of the Council.
"You all have heard of the death of Mr. Sirius Black?"
"Unfortunate. Very unfortunate. He was a very good friend of mine, and it was so awful to see that handsome spirit being taken out of his body," Talo said solemnly and nodded.
"Well, it seems, we have information from a seer, that Mr. Black was not supposed to die. And, that without Mr. Black, this world will be doomed to a terrible fate. This Seer explained to me, in her prophecy, that Mr. Black would take a great part in the future of this world. She then went on, to say, that Mr. Black must be retrieved from the veil," Dumbledore went on.
Remus wished Dumbledore would stop saying Mr. Black. It sounded like someone else. Someone they had never known, and they were being polite. Sirius was more… famliar. More warm. It was more of the sound of his friend. Not someone who he never really knew.
"And how do you expect to accomplish this?" Aura said.
"This is where I would like to consult with angels. You see, we find, that the best way to do this is to have an angel retrieve a spirit."
Anson stared for a while, and then spoke.
"Albus, though it seems so easy as that, it is clearly not. It requires the strength of a living to go beyond to retrieve it. Angels alone cannot bring spirits back, only the most powerful angels can…" he had a wistful look in his eyes. "Only one has been able to do this… his name was Chan. But his spirit was destroyed by unknown forces. We have no other angels able to complete the task. It will require much strength from a Living."
"We believe we have a candidate for the task, though he will need the assistance of the angels," Dumbledore seaid.
"Who?" Anson asked.
Dumbledore gestured toward Remus.
"May I introduce, Remus Lupin."
Remus could feel the doubt in the room. Of course, he probably didn't seem a likely candidate. Anti-Werewolf laws made it practically impossible for him to get a job, so his robes wouldn't likely be in a great condition. He was getting old and tired too, so he probably didn't seem to hold any of the 'strength' that was required, or so Anson had said. But they said nothing.
"But you have forgotten, that this is taboo," Georgia said.
"Quite right she is," Ernan said, nodding.
"I'm sure, that under these great circumstances, that we can make an exception."
"I think so too, the question is not the taboo, the question is if this candidate is ready for the task. There are a number of dangers involved."
Dumbledore turned to him, his eyes twinkling.
"Well – are you ready Remus?" he asked.
How could Remus say no?
"Of course," he said, trying to smile a bit.
"Then you see, he feels ready."
"All right. When shall we begin?" Irene asked.
"Two weeks. In two weeks' time," Dumbledore said.
Remus's stomach flipped again. Two weeks? So soon? He had thought it would be a long while from now! Well, he would do everything he had wanted to do before he died, he guessed. There were many risks, that angel had said, and he had never been a lucky duck with taking risks. So he might as well treat it like death.
"Very well. Very well. Please meet at the Department of Mysteries."
The Department of Mysteries? Did that mean the entrance was that cursed veil?
SHOUTOUTS:
Donatella: Yeah, I made up Norlock and Anadis. I was locking at the map. I was thinking of warlock, then I looked at Norway, and typed down, Norlock. Then I was thinking of Canada, and I took of the C at the beginning, and the A the end and replaced it.
Lily-James14: I hope I do it right. Lol. Yes, I never really liked the fact that angels were so pure. I thought they could be normal a bit.
ShOrTnSwEet9013: Thanks for the compliments.
Sirius-Black-SFan: Lol. It's ok, I was just joking anyway :)
IamSiriusgrl: Yay! Thanks for compliments, and yes, I don't like cliche. So angels look NORMAL!