Huzzah! Another update! Thanks to my single reviewer, Becky Silver Black, and the sublime Reyna, who lets me bounce ideas off of her, among other things. ;-P
Becky Silver Black: He's almost out! I promise! And the next chapter is already blocked out! All I have to do is write it… Dialogue. –shudders-. I hate dialogue.
Erm… in this chapter, I own… well… Rory. And her children. And that's really about it. Heehee… and there are cameos in this chapter. If you recognize the name, bravo. Otherwise, don't worry about it, as it's just Wyrm pandering shamelessly to a couple of friends.
The sound and scent of bacon frying was a much more pleasant way to wake up than an alarm clock. Or so Remus decided upon waking to said scent and sound. In a moment of panic, he glanced at his clock, remembering that he hadn't set the alarm the night before. He relaxed slightly. Five minutes before normal, but he could hear the table being set. Breakfast would be ready by the time he got dressed.
The kitchen hadn't been so cheerful in years. Especially not at this hour of the morning. The twins alternated between eating their cereal and throwing it at one another when their mother's back was turned. Which it was, at the moment, as she divided the fry up onto two plates and set them down. "Perfect timing. I hope I didn't wake you. Wasn't sure when you left for work."
Remus sat down and dug in. "Best breakfast I've had in ages. But I hope you won't be offended if I don't eat all this. This would last me for a week!"
"I'm not surprised, given that you're not much more than skin and bones. Don't you ever eat, Remus?" The question seemed to be rhetorical, however, as she continued. "I never asked last night. Where do you work?"
Having finished as much as he could eat, he pushed the plate toward Rory, whose food had vanished as if by magic. Unabashed, she started in on his portion, still obviously waiting for a response. The werewolf made sure he had everything he needed before turning to grin at her. Just before apparating out of the kitchen, he answered her question.
"London Zoo."
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London Zoo. Harry bounced excitedly in his bus seat, eager to see everything. He'd never been to the zoo before, although Dudley had come for his fifth birthday. But here he was, with an entire day ahead of him.
Three hours later, Harry found himself standing in front of the deer enclosure. The other students had gotten quickly bored with the quiet herbivores, but the tousle-haired boy found them oddly fascinating, especially the stag posing beneath one of the trees, looking around nervously as if he expected predators to materialize out of nowhere. So fascinated was he, in fact, that he didn't even notice the rest of his class moving on to the crocodiles. He did, however, notice when the herd of deer suddenly bounded away. And the people behind him screaming. And the low grunting growl that was far too close behind him. He turned about with painful slowness.
Three of them, lined up in a row. Harry couldn't remember what they were called, but he recognized the spotted fur and the hunchbacked look of them. They were almost as tall as he was, and it didn't take a genius to know they were dangerous. He took a cautious step backwards. There was a tree nearby, maybe he could climb it. For his one step back, the animals took two steps forward with chortling growls, and Harry suddenly remembered what they were called. Hyenas.
He couldn't have explained afterward how he ended up in the tree. One moment he could feel the hyenas' hot breath on his face, and the next he was in the tree, looking down as they circled the trunk. A man with light reddish brown hair wearing the uniform of a zoo employee skidded to a halt and glared at the creatures, who immediately giggled in terror and cowered away from him.
The radio on the man's hip crackled to life. "Kzzk. We have a code green at the crocuta enclosure. All free personnel report to that area."
Harry's rescuer picked up the radio and spoke in a terse, angry voice. "I've got a visual on Larry, Moe, and Curly in front of the cervus pen. No sign of the fourth, but these three were enough to tree a kid."
"Nice work. I'm sending out Rin and Joe to collect them. And no worries about Shep. Too lazy to leave his cave, that one." The hyenas had stopped their cringing during the conversation, but a simple growl from the man standing under the tree caused the giggling and groveling to recommence. Harry was just trying to figure out how he was going to get down when the zoo employee glanced upward and smiled.
"Looks like we have an escapee from the monkey cage, too." Getting his first good look at the man's face, Harry almost fell out of the tree. He knew that face! He'd seen it in a dream.
A good dream, one that he'd had more than once. This man had been there, and a big black dog, and a laughing dark-haired woman, and another man and a woman he knew had to be his parents. At least, the redheaded woman was in an old picture of Aunt Petunia's family, and the bespectacled man looked a great deal like Harry himself. Besides, they felt like parents. Realizing the man below the tree had said something else, the boy said the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm not a monkey. I'm Harry."
"Hello, Harry." The man smiled, looking as shocked as Harry felt. "If you can hang down by your hands from that branch you're on, I'll help you get down."
Without hesitation, Harry did as the man had suggested, hanging for a moment and looking around curiously from the high vantage point. He saw Miss Kettles, his teacher, running toward them looking frantic, and two zoo employees wrangling the hyenas away, and Dudley with an expression composed of equal parts envy and malice. Then strong arms wrapped around his waist and Harry let go of the branch to cling to the not-stranger's neck. The man's grip turned into a hug, and for the first time he could ever remember, Harry felt safe.
"By the way, Harry," his rescuer said, "my name is Remus Lupin."
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In contrast, Rory's morning had been wildly uneventful.
A brief scan of the pantry revealed a few tins of beans and half a tin of biscuits. She'd expected that, though. Remus's jesting comment of the night before about her eating habits hadn't been all that far off. A hyperactive metabolism combined with an energetic personality meant she never had to diet. Being seven months pregnant with twins on top of that and… well. A quick trip to the store solved the food problem, though, and Rory mentally blessed Professor Therrien's lesson on shopping in muggle grocery stores.
With soup started simmering on the stove for that night's dinner, tidying up done, and the twins playing by themselves—quietly, for once—Rory pulled out a box from the things she'd brought with her. Carrying it into the living room, she sat down and opened it. Inside were memories. A few pictures, two stuffed animals—much battered—a pacifier, a hairclip… Things salvaged from the remains of James and Lily's house. Rory was saving them for Harry, when he got older, but for now, they lived in the box.
A book in the collection caught her eye, and she picked it up. Her hands trembled as she recognized the slim leatherbound volume as Lily's diary. Rory had given it to her as a Christmas gift during first year, and the redhead had written in it every day. Almost against her will, Rory opened the diary and began to read.
It was almost dark when Remus got home, excited to talk about his day—and excited at having someone to talk about his day with. He was surprised, however, to be met at the door by Rory, who was pale beneath her already-fair skin. She pressed a book into his hands, already open to a page near the end. "Read it."
Remus read. Remus paled. And Remus dove for the floo powder by the fireplace, tossing it in and yelling, "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office!"
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An hour later, Sirius Black looked up from his bed as two grim-looking Aurors entered his cell and pulled him out into the hallway without a word.
Information about hyenas—especially their vocalizations—came from this site: http/sailfish. the next chapter, Sirius actually gets dialogue! Aren't you excited? I know I am! Not! I hate writing dialogue. But I love Sirius almost as much as I love Remus, so I suppose it balances out.