Consequences
By Neurotica
Seven
Sirius walked down the path, a smile growing on his face as Remus and Emmeline joked their way up the side of a mountain. Remus was telling the witch about the full moon adventures the Marauders had had when they were at Hogwarts. Sirius found he enjoyed just hearing his friend's voice again.
It had been two weeks since Emmeline had been found, and she'd made a full recovery. Instead of her reliving the details of what happened in France, Dumbledore arranged for her to use his pensieve to give the Order the needed information.
"But weren't you in Ravenclaw?" Remus was asking with a furrowed brow.
"I was," Emmeline confirmed. "This was after Hogwarts, though."
"Right," he said, an unidentifiable expression on his face. "I've just never imagined him dating anyone... ever."
Emmeline laughed, and Sirius didn't miss Remus' smile at the sound. "He's really not a bad guy. I mean, yeah, he's a bit obsessive about his work, but..." She shrugged.
"If you say so," Remus said.
"What about you?" she asked, nudging Remus' shoulder with her own. "What's your history?"
"Actually, there's not much of a history with me. I only dated one girl in school, and she turned out to be a Death Eater. This was after we'd gotten engaged, by the way." Remus' tone was light, but the bitterness in his voice was evident.
"Sorry to hear that," Emmeline said sincerely. "But look at it this way: if you'd married her, you and I wouldn't be here enjoying the fabulous French scenery."
Remus laughed. "That's very true," he said with a soft smile. Emmeline smiled back, and they walked in silence for a while.
Though this wasn't telling Sirius (or Dumbledore—who was somewhere behind the Auror) anything that had to do with what had happened to Remus, Sirius was quite thankful to Emmeline for letting him see his friend happy again. It would be good for Remus to start dating again, and Sirius couldn't think of anybody more suited for him than Emmeline; she was funny, intelligent, she adored Harry...
The Auror's smile began to fade when he noticed the change in setting. The formerly bright sunshine had been replaced by black skies and a quarter moon (Full moon's coming up, Sirius thought vaguely). Remus reached into his knapsack, careful not to disturb the dungbombs, and pulled out the two-way mirror.
"Sirius Black," Remus said into the mirror. "Harry Potter," he tried again, after a few moments of silence.
Remus had tried to contact them...
Sirius thought back to that night. It was probably around eight or nine o'clock at night in the pensieve. Sirius and Harry had both been in the kitchen of Number Twelve at that time following the Diagon Alley attack. If Sirius was correct in his assumptions of where the mirror had been, they never would have heard Remus even if they had been trying...
"No answer?" Emmeline checked as Remus placed the mirror back into his robes.
"No." He sighed. "But knowing those two, they're either eating or having a prank war."
Sirius thought a prank war would have been a very nice alternative to what really happened that night. The next moment, Remus stopped in his tracks, grabbing Emmeline's arm to keep her from walking any further.
"There," said a quiet voice behind Sirius, causing him to start.
He turned and saw Dumbledore pointing into a clump of trees. Dark outlines could be barely seen shifting slightly by the moonlight. Sirius bit his lip, knowing that whatever happened next, he couldn't help his friend. He was merely a bystander...
"Nox," Remus and Emmeline said quietly in unison. The lights at the tips of their wands went out immediately.
"DUCK!" Remus shouted. Sirius saw him push Emmeline to the ground as stunning spells flew from the trees. The two of them must have crawled to safety on the other side of the path; Remus' voice could be heard sending spells and curses back to their attackers.
The vast array of different colored jets of lights reminded Sirius of a Muggle fireworks display he'd once seen with Lily and James years ago.
"CRUCIO!" one of the Death Eaters shouted.
A surge of anger and panic filled Sirius as he heard Remus' muffled screams of pain. But as tempted as he was to take out his own wand and do his own cursing, he knew it would do no good. He could only watch for now...
The scene changed again. Now, Remus and Emmeline had taken shelter in a cave. Remus was cleaning a large gash across Emmeline's back using the feeble light from her wand.
"It should be all right," he muttered, lowering her shirt.
"Thanks," she said, turning to him. "How's your head?"
"Throbbing horribly," Remus remarked lightly, leaning against the cave wall. He reached into his robes and pulled out the two-way mirror again. He thought for a moment, flipping the mirror over in his hand. "Here, take this. If anything happens and we get separated, you can call for help."
Emmeline took it only when he pushed it into her hand. "But what about you? How would you call for help?"
"I still have my wand." He smiled mysteriously, causing Emmeline to raise an eyebrow. "Don't worry about me. Look, why don't you try and get some sleep while you can..."
Again, the scene was changing. They were still in the cave, but a few hours had obviously passed.
Remus sat in the center of the cave, his knees pulled to his chest, staring straight ahead of him at the mouth. Emmeline was curled up behind him, asleep. He was obviously keeping guard. Minutes passed and Remus' head began to droop in understandable exhaustion. Stay awake, Moony, Sirius silently encouraged. He could tell something was about to happen...
No sooner than the thought floated across his mind, Remus was on his feet again, his wand out and pointed towards the mouth of the cave.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" someone shouted. Remus struggled to hold onto his wand, but it was no use. Not only was his wand soaring away from him, but Emmeline's had flown from her robes into the hand of their invisible attacker.
Remus moved backwards slowly, his eyes wide, trying to adjust and find Emmeline. The Death Eater revealed himself—it was Lucius Malfoy. He taunted Remus for a few moments, then snapped both of the confiscated wands. "You won't be needing these anymore," Malfoy said smoothly.
By this time, Emmeline was awake and standing beside Remus. Malfoy pointed his own wand at the pair, and Sirius was sure he was preparing to speak the Killing Curse; instead, he smirked and began to mutter something rapidly in ancient Latin. Remus and Emmeline had just enough time to exchange a quizzical look before a bright white light filled the cave. Sirius shielded his eyes, but made sure he kept Remus in his line of vision. Almost instantly, looking like the wind had been knocked out of them, Remus and Emmeline collapsed to the cave floor.
The next thing Sirius saw was Emmeline bent over Remus' unconscious, unmoving body. She looked just as pale as he did, and seemed to be struggling to breathe normally. The morning sun began to fill the cave.
"Remus," she rasped, shaking him as hard as she could manage. He wasn't responding.
Emmeline sat back on her heels, placing a shaky hand to her head, and looked around the cave.
"What was that spell?" Sirius muttered to Dumbledore.
"It is not one that I recognize," the headmaster replied quietly.
To everyone's great relief, Remus' eyes snapped open finally. He took in a loud, deep breath and attempted to sit up. Emmeline pushed his shoulders gently back to the ground as he began to cough, telling him to relax...
"I believe it is time for us to leave, Sirius," Dumbledore said, taking hold on Sirius' elbow.
A moment later, they touched the floor of the Headmaster's office. Emmeline and Kingsley were quietly awaiting their arrival.
"Well? What happened?" Kingsley asked as Sirius sat beside Emmeline on the office sofa.
"What happened after Remus woke up?" Sirius asked her, ignoring Kingsley's inquiry.
"I made sure he was okay enough to travel. We'd lost our wands—as you saw—so there wasn't much we could do as far as food or Apparition. Neither of us was strong enough to even attempt wandless magic at that time," she said. "Later in the afternoon, he told me he was feeling better and that he was going to find something for us to eat, and maybe see if he could find our bags. I offered to go instead, but he insisted. He's really stubborn; I think he gets that from you." She smirked. Sirius smiled weakly. "Anyway, a few hours went by, and he still hadn't come back to the cave. I went out to look for him, and ended up tripping over some tree limbs or something and fell down a hill; that's how I broke my ankle and wrist. I got back to the cave somehow, and decided to wait and see if he would come back... He didn't, and the next night was when you contacted me, Sirius."
Naomi paced, waiting for Sirius to arrive at her flat. He'd sent an owl early that morning telling her he'd be by sometime that evening with instructions for what she was to do next. For two weeks, she'd expected Ministry officials to knock down her door and arrest her. She knew she could trust Sirius, though; he may have been arrogant and cocky in school, but he had always been trustworthy and loyal to his friends.
You're not his friend, though, she reminded herself.
Someone knocked hard on her door. "Ministry of Magic," called a deep voice. "Open up."
Maybe she was wrong about Sirius, after all...
Picking up her wand from the coffee table, Naomi made her way to the door. She opened it and found Sirius watching her with an un-amused raised eyebrow. He easily took the wand she had pointed at him out of her hand and pocketed it. He raised a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet; she nodded and moved aside to allow Sirius and a big, black wizard (probably his partner) inside.
Without so much as a greeting, the two Aurors began to wander through her flat, waving their wands around the walls, inside the cushions of her sofa and the floors.
"What're you—" she started to ask as the black wizard started towards her bedroom.
Sirius turned and signaled something to the other Auror. "Silencio," the other muttered, pointing his wand at Naomi.
She glared furiously at Sirius, but he ignored her. With a lack of anything else to do, she sat at her kitchen table while the Aurors went through her home, doing god knew what. This went on for nearly thirty minutes before Sirius walked back into the kitchen, his partner finishing up what he was doing to Naomi's stove.
"It's all clear, Kingsley," Sirius said. Naomi continued to glare at him and became more infuriated when she realized he was enjoying her anger.
"Think I should take the charm off?" the other Auror—Kingsley—asked lightly, leaning against the counter.
"I don't know," Sirius responded. "She always did have quite the temper, much like Lily. She might start yelling at us, and I for one am not in the mood for that."
Naomi rolled her eyes and huffed silently.
"We can't get answers if she can't talk, Sirius," Kingsley said reasonably.
"Good point," Sirius said. He muttered the counter-charm lazily and backed away from her out of habit; he knew Naomi's temper better than any of the other Marauders. "Naomi, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt, my second-in-command. Kingsley, this is the infamous Naomi Watts."
Kingsley nodded in greeting, obviously not trusting her anymore than Sirius did.
"What were you doing to my flat?" Naomi asked Sirius.
"You know how Muggles can use those little things to spy on each other? The bugs or whatever?" he asked. Naomi nodded. "Wizards can do it, too, but I'm sure you knew that. I'm sure you also know that it's a much more complex operation with us—much harder to detect and deactivate."
"You can detect and deactivate them?" Naomi asked, her brow furrowing.
"Don't look so surprised, Naomi," Sirius said. "They didn't make me Head Auror for nothing."
Kingsley emitted a cough at that moment that sounded a lot like "bull shit." Sirius glared at his partner before continuing his conversation with Naomi. "We needed to make sure Voldemort—or you, for that matter—wasn't trying to record our conversations." Sirius sat down at the table. "I talked to Dumbledore," he continued. "He wants to speak with you, of course, before he makes a decision on what to do with you. As of right now, he may want to use you as a spy. You'll be allowed back into the Order eventually, once you've gained our trust. Which, by the way, you have none of right now."
Naomi nodded in understanding.
"But I'm here for answers more than anything, Naomi," he said. "I want to know what happened to Remus out there. What was that spell Malfoy used on him and Emmeline?"
Naomi sighed and laughed slightly, causing the Aurors to raise simultaneous eyebrows. "It wasn't meant to kill them outright," she began quietly. "It was supposed to make them stop breathing, stop their lungs and hearts from functioning correctly. It's meant to be used on victims who've been tortured to the point where they have no strength left to fight. Malfoy used it prematurely. The plan was to capture Remus and the woman, bring them by Portkey to the Dark Lord's hideout—"
"Hideout?" Kingsley piped up, exchanging a glance with Sirius.
"I don't know where it is," she said regretfully. "None of us do. The Dark Mark burns on our arms and basically guides us to where we're supposed to meet."
"So Remus and Emmeline were still strong enough to fight that curse," Sirius said.
Naomi nodded. "They had to be. You said the woman's safe, and Remus was nowhere near her... The Death Eaters still haven't been able to locate him... They've located Hagrid and the Frenchwoman near the giant camps, though."
"Right," Sirius said, looking at his watch. "Okay, we've got to go. Dumbledore will contact you in a few days."
The two Aurors began to leave without another word. Naomi suddenly stood and boldly called out after Sirius. "I'm so sorry about Harry..." she said softly. She saw the two Aurors exchange another look before Sirius turned back. He nodded solemnly and left her flat.
"You're an evil bastard, you know that?" Kingsley grinned at his friend when they reached Number Twelve. "Why didn't you tell her that Harry's fine?"
"Why should I?" Sirius asked. "She was a part of the plan to kill him, and she obviously feels guilty about it. Let her think she killed my godson for a while; it's the least of what she deserves."
Kingsley shook his head and went down to the kitchen for dinner—they could smell Molly's cooking the moment they opened the door. Sirius went up the stairs to see Harry.
In a few days, he would reluctantly be sending his godson back to Hogwarts. Measures had been taken by the school's staff to ensure the safety of its students, but Harry wasn't an ordinary student. If Sirius had it his way, Harry would remain at Number Twelve under the ever-watchful eye of his godfather and be homeschooled. That, of course, was an extreme that would not be met with open arms by anyone but the Auror.
Sirius knocked on Harry's closed bedroom door and entered. The boy was placing his school things neatly in his trunk—a trait he'd obviously gained from Remus; Sirius had never been that neat. "Hey, kid," he said, flopping unceremoniously onto Harry's bed.
"Hey," Harry replied flatly.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
While folding a pair of robes, Harry seemed to ponder the question. He wouldn't look Sirius in the eye as he continued to pack, and he seemed reluctant to talk to his godfather—something that made Sirius quite uneasy.
Harry ignored Sirius' presence and went around the room looking for items he may have forgotten. Sirius silently watched him wondering what was going on in his mind. Probably the same things going through your mind, you dolt, he thought. Whether they ever find Remus was at the top of the list.
"Harry," Sirius said quietly.
Harry continued on as if he hadn't heard his name being spoken. He was flipping through a new copy of Standard Book of Spells; Sirius knew he couldn't care less about the book. The Auror stood from the bed and walked to where Harry was leaned against the wall, his eyes clouded over. Sirius reached out and took the book from the boy's grasp, dropping it to the floor. Harry's hands flopped to his sides, seeking his pockets.
"Harry, look at me," Sirius said. Reluctantly, the boy looked up. "We're going to find Remus. We're closer than you know... Do you trust me, Harry?"
Harry frowned at the question. "Of course," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Then trust that I will get Remus back, even if it takes the rest of my life."
Harry sighed deeply, looking away from Sirius. The elder moved his own head so Harry would have to look at him. "It's already been three weeks," Harry began. "And it's not like I've never gone this long without seeing him, but..."
"It's different this time, right?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded. "I'm in the same boat, Harry. The longest I've ever gone without getting smacked up side my head by Remus was when I was in Azkaban." Harry didn't seem to see the humor Sirius was trying to use. "Look, we're doing everything we can do at the moment. Dumbledore wants me to wait before I start my own search until you've left for school. He seems convinced that you need me, or something," he said, trying again to get Harry to smile. It didn't work. Sirius sighed. "I've got an idea. What do you say to escaping this place for a bit? Just you and me? We'll do whatever you want. We can go back to the cottage and fly in the clearing, or we can go for ice cream... Your call."
Harry hadn't been allowed to leave Number Twelve since his poisoning. Sirius had been so busy with work and figuring out what happened with Remus, he hadn't noticed his godson starting to go stir-crazy in the old house. Even when Molly had gone to buy school supplies, the other children had gone with her, but Harry had been forced to stay behind.
"All right," Harry said, a smile playing on his lips. "Race you to the brooms, old man."
Before Sirius could work out the change in moods of his godson, Harry had run out of the room. "You little git..." he muttered, running after him.