Altercations
By Neurotica
Ten
October arrived in its normal fashion, all falling leaves and chilly weather. The odd green mist that had begun to form around late August continued to thicken and even the Muggles were starting to notice. The Muggle Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic were meeting often since the new Wizard/Muggle relations agreement. The Ministry believed that Muggles deserved to know what was happening, to a point. After the giants, suspicion had arisen, despite the Ministry's attempt to wipe as many memories as they could. Apparently, they'd missed a few, and a story about twenty-foot tall giants and creatures that fed on happiness running around London appeared in all sorts of Muggles tabloids (the Muggle equivalent of the Quibbler). Copies of these magazines reached the desks of many Ministry employees, including Remus Lupin, who took it home to give Sirius a laugh, and Arthur Weasley. Many Obliviators were forced to endure ridicule for not doing their jobs correctly and extra training programs were instated.
Not much changed as the days wore on; if anything, they were worse, but only by a little bit. The number of deaths reported by the Daily Prophet took up their own section now, and it was the first thing most readers looked at in the morning—it was the only way to know if a friend or loved one had died the night before. The Order of the Phoenix did their best to prevent deaths, with the help of their spies, Severus Snape and Naomi Watts, but unfortunately, not all casualties could be avoided.
The strain and exhaustion of war was rearing its ugly head to those who fought to end it. Tempers grew short during many Order meetings, and more than a few times, arguments had to be broken up before anyone could get hurt. Much to everyone's surprise, these arguments broke out not between Sirius Black and some other member, but often between Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody. Since the retired Auror suggested they use Harry to spy on Voldemort via the mind-link between the boy and the Dark Lord, the two wizards had unfailingly been at odds with one another. Remus became notorious for his Dumbledore-like ability to make a calm statement and leave a person feeling as though they'd been slapped and screamed at. Sirius for one thought it was rather impressive.
The shock of Sirius' loss of magical powers had worn off for the most part. The Auror, though still not happy about it by any means, had adapted to the situation to the point that he even started to leave his wand on his desk when he went out. Remus was proud of how his best friend was coping; he'd thought Sirius would still be moping broodingly around the cottage. Emmeline continued to research the curse on Sirius as often as she could, but between her work and Order meetings it was no easy feat. The Healers wanted to test Sirius' powers—the only way to do this would be to have Sirius attempt a spell. Remus was wary of this; he'd been told when the accident first happened that Sirius wouldn't be able to use a wand for months.
"Well," Emmeline said when he explained his fears, "it has been a few months. And besides, the Healers wouldn't suggest it if they thought it would hurt him."
"But they know nothing about this curse except what you've been able to tell them, and no offense, but what you've found out really isn't much," Remus said, pacing around his office at the Ministry. "What if this makes it worse?"
Emmeline sighed and stood from where she was leaning on his desk. She walked in front of her boyfriend, forcing him to cease his pacing, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Remus, I know you're worried, but you've got to understand that nobody is going to do anything that will hurt Sirius. It's not like he'll be locked up in his bedroom conjuring furniture; he'll be watched closely by trained Healers, including Ted Tonks, and if they see something going wrong, they'll stop him."
Remus put his hands on her hips and rested his forehead on hers. "I just want him to get past this," he said quietly. "I want him to be able to go back to work and to be able to help the Order like I know he wants to do. He's getting antsy."
"He's fine," Emmeline said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "If you ask me, he seems happy. I can't remember the last time I found him brooding around the cottage—"
"Thursday," Remus said promptly. "He cut himself shaving with a razor, and he's never cut himself before—he always shaves with his wand."
Emmeline rolled her eyes. "Stop worrying so much. Sirius will be fine," she said.
Remus shrugged. "Maybe you're right," He sighed.
"Of course I am." She grinned.
"And he does seem happier, doesn't he?" Remus said. Emmeline nodded. "All right, I'll stop worrying so much. I mean, it's not like I've gotten anything done, worrying about him." He gestured to his overflowing inbox.
"Neither have I," Emmeline said. "I've got to get back upstairs. See you at five?"
Remus nodded. "Have a good afternoon."
"You too," she said and kissed him softly.
He smiled against her lips, deepening the kiss, but was unable to get much further than that. The sound of a clearing throat forced the couple to break apart. They released one another and turned to the door, finding Charlie Weasley suppressing a grin.
"Oh, Charlie," Remus said, blushing a little. "What can I do for you?"
"Sorry to interrupt and all, but the DMLE is on our case about those ghosts in their offices. They, that is the ghosts, refuse to leave without the Ministry meeting their demands," Charlie said, handing Remus a file.
"I'll see you later," Emmeline said, kissing Remus quickly. "See you, Charlie."
"Bye," Remus and Charlie said in unison.
Remus moved to sit behind his desk. "Okay, what are their demands?"
"Well, first, they want us to stop pushing them out of their 'homes'," Charlie said.
"You're kidding, right? When have we pushed any of them out of their, er, habitats?"
"Apparently, a family reported a ghost harassing them, so Diggory and Webster from the Spirit Division went out and evicted him."
Remus sighed. "What else do they want?"
Charlie smirked. "For some reason, they seem to think we can give them food. There are a few who seem to think they're starving to death."
Sirius was having a good day. He woke up at noon, showered, had a large lunch, and was now sitting in front of the television. He'd been out late the night before at Naomi's, though he'd told Remus and Emmeline he'd gone to London to see a film. As much as he hated sneaking around behind his best friend's back, he really had no other choice at the moment; when Sirius finally did tell Remus he'd been seeing Naomi, he'd need his wand, because Remus would probably hex him very badly.
He had to admit that the danger of him and Naomi being found out held a bit of an appeal. Granted, they couldn't spend as much time together as they'd like, but the time they had was that much better. Remus wasn't the least bit stupid, and Sirius wasn't naïve enough to think he'd be able to hide his relationship with Naomi forever; he just needed to find the right time to break the news—preferably without Remus breaking any of his bones.
He shouldn't take it too badly, Sirius thought, eating from a bowl of popcorn. I'm an adult, and I can make my own bloody decisions about whom I want to date. Not that what Naomi and I have could really be considered dating; we've never actually gone out on a date—it'd be too dangerous...
But Naomi made him happy. They had fun together and they enjoyed one another's company. Sirius had a feeling Naomi hadn't been in a decent relationship since Remus, and Sirius' last two relationships ended with the witches being murdered by Lord Voldemort. Many times, they'd discussed Naomi's relationship with Lucius Malfoy, and how uncomfortable Sirius felt kissing her, knowing who else had previously done the same. Naomi informed him that she'd told Lucius to bugger off a few days after she and Sirius had gotten together. Sirius had never been so relieved to hear something in his life. And despite the strangeness of their relationship, Sirius couldn't have been happier.
Well, he could if his powers came back to him, but other than that, he was perfectly content. The Healers working with him wanted him to test his powers, and he wasn't sure what he was more worried about: his powers coming back or finding that he's losing them more. Naomi found out that the only way to counter the curse was for the wizard to wait it out. She thought maybe a shock to the system could bring his powers back, but she wasn't sure what kind of shock it would take to correct something like this. And since Sirius didn't like shock, whatever had to happen would be the worst thing imaginable.
He glanced lazily at the clock above the mantle, noting he had a good seven or eight hours until Remus and Emmeline returned home. They'd been working late hours at the Ministry in recent weeks, and after work, they would be going to Hogwarts to give Harry his Occlumency lesson. Dumbledore was still insistent that the boy take his lessons as an extra protection from Voldemort visions. Over Christmas holidays, Remus wanted to start Harry on learning to defend himself—Harry knew the basics of magical defense, but he'd be no match against a Death Eater if he ever met one. That had been one of the advantages of Mad-Eye's defense club the year before.
Ready for a chance of scenery, Sirius stood from the sofa and went out to his motorcycle. He hadn't been to Diagon Alley in a while, and he was quite sure Naomi was working at the Leaky Cauldron that day. He could be home long before his friends even realized he was gone.
Harry yawned widely over his lunch, wishing he'd gotten more sleep the night before. He and Ron had been up late discussing Quidditch strategies for the upcoming match against Hufflepuff. Tryouts for the Gryffindor team had gone well; it hadn't been much of a choice for Keeper—Ron had out flown and out blocked all the competition. The only hopeful that had come close was Cormac McLaggen, and Harry hadn't liked his attitude, anyway. Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, and Ginny were chosen for Chasers, and Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote for Beaters. The team looked promising, and Harry hoped, for his sake, they were successful—people were already talking about what they thought had happened with Harry over the summer, and he didn't need any more attention.
Harry had heard all about what happened with Remus and the silver by this time. He'd begged his surrogate uncle to come to Hogwarts just so he could see with his own eyes that he was okay. It had been the day of the full moon when Remus did come for a visit, so Harry had expected him to look a little sickly, but all in all, Harry had been satisfied.
Slughorn had invited Harry on several occasions to join him for meetings with other students who had some sort of connection to famous witches or wizards. Going on Sirius' advice for a change, Harry declined the invites every time they were sent. Neither of his guardians wanted him mixing up with Slughorn or his little Slug Club. In fact, Sirius had come to Hogwarts with Remus once and had a few words with the new Potions Master; since then, Slughorn mostly left Harry alone.
"Harry, you haven't eaten a thing," Hermione said from across the table.
Harry started, realizing he'd had his head resting on his hand all through lunch, and his golden plate was still full. He glanced at the wristwatch Emmeline had given him for his birthday and cursed. He had only five minutes to eat before Transfiguration began. As quickly as possible (without choking), Harry stuffed food into his mouth, barely chewing before swallowing.
"You've been friends with Ron for way too long," Ginny said, watching him in amusement. Harry didn't have time to reply.
"I resent that," Ron said thickly through what was probably his fifth sandwich.
"Yes, I'm sure you do," Hermione said dryly, stuffing books into her schoolbag. "But if you two don't finish soon, you're going to be late for class, and you know how McGonagall is if you're late."
"Harry," Neville asked from a few spots down the Gryffindor table. Still stuffing his face, Harry turned to him, raising his eyebrows in question. "Why's Snape glaring at you?"
Harry turned to the staff table and found his appetite fading. Indeed, the Defense professor was glaring at him venomously—a look Harry was highly familiar with, having first received it at age five. Snape didn't look away when Harry spotted him; if anything, the glare intensified. Harry sighed and sat his fork on his plate. "Who knows," he said, turning back to his friends. "Maybe he and Sirius had another fight."
"But why would he glare at you?" Ron asked.
"Because Sirius isn't here," Harry said flatly. "Or maybe I've done something that reminded him of my dad. I don't know, it doesn't matter; I'm too used to it to care."
The Gryffindor friends stood from their table, gathered their school bags, and left the Great Hall. Though he didn't look over his shoulder, Harry felt Snape's beady black eyes bore into the back of his head the entire way.
He was quite thankful that his destination was deserted; it would do him no good to get caught now. Though he hadn't been caught last time, his mission had failed—the werewolf was still alive. His master hadn't been too pleased to find out about that, and he had felt the repercussions. And he had taken it like a man. Next time, he would have to use more silver...
It really hadn't been hard to sneak the substance into Remus Lupin's meal; all it took was the use of a neatly placed Imperius Curse while no one was looking. Of course, he'd had to charm the silver to be invisible and tasteless, or else Lupin would have known something was wrong. From what he'd heard, the effects of the silver hadn't fully shown themselves for a few days following; Snape told him it was because of some potion Lupin took before and on the full moon to make his werewolf mind seem normal. Ha. A normal werewolf. They should all be killed—useless, the whole lot of them. Unless they were being used to attack filthy Muggles or Mudbloods and blood traitors, of course.
The Dark Lord had assigned him his next mission, and this time, he would not fail.
The bell over the door of the Leaky Cauldron jingled and she sighed thankfully. All day long she'd had only fifteen customers—better than it had been recently, but it still made for a boring day. She and the other bartenders busied themselves by cleaning the pub and the rooms in hopes that someday soon they'd have a full house again.
Naomi turned from where she'd been cleaning shelves and fought hard to restrain herself from smiling. She and Sirius had been forced to keep their relationship a secret, so when they saw each other in public—which wasn't often, since Sirius preferred to visit her flat—she had to pretend she wasn't excited to see him. He gave her a half-glance as he sat at the end of the bar. Being the only one back there at the moment, she went to take his order.
"Afternoon, Black," she said with a bored sigh. "What's your pleasure?"
She didn't miss the mischievous glint in his eye at her question, but he covered it well. "Just a butterbeer," he said carelessly.
She nodded and turned away from him, going to the cooler for a fresh bottle of butterbeer. Another customer gestured that he needed a fresh drink as well, so she took care of him before going back to Sirius. From under the bar, she pulled out a napkin and coaster (Sirius or not, she'd just cleaned that bar, and she wasn't about to get a watermark on it). She hastily scribbled a note on the napkin and grabbed a room key from the full pegboard behind the bar, slipped the key inside the napkin and placed it in front of Sirius, setting his drink on top of it.
"Four sickles when you're ready," she said. "Let me know if you need anything else."
"Right," he said, taking a sip of his drink.
She turned around on the pretense of wiping down the counter and looked into the mirror above it, watching Sirius discreetly look at the napkin, and stick the room key inside his jacket with a quick wink in her direction. He remained at the bar, looking around the mostly empty pub haughtily as he enjoyed his butterbeer. Fifteen minutes later, he threw a galleon on the bar, placed the napkin in his pocket, and went up the stairwell to where the rooms were. She waited another fifteen minutes, told her co-workers she was taking a lunch break, and followed Sirius' path to room twelve. She knocked softly and waited for him to unlock and open the door. Once she'd closed the door behind her, she found herself rather preoccupied for the next few minutes.
The need became oxygen was too great to continue their kiss, and they pulled away, still holding each other close. "Hi," he whispered huskily.
"Hi." She smiled. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I was bored. There's only so much television I can watch, you know? How's your day been?"
"Boring," she sighed. "Nobody comes in here anymore unless they need something from Diagon Alley, and even then they don't stay long."
"I'm sure that will change with time."
She nodded and allowed him to release her so he could sit on the sofa, and pull her down with him. She curled up against him, resting her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Yawning, she closed her eyes.
"Tired?" he asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Mm-hmm," she murmured. "I had a late night last night."
"Did you now?" he asked. She could hear his grin. "And did you enjoy yourself?"
"Very much," she said with a happy sigh. "I've been seeing this wonderful man for the last month, and he just gets more amazing as the weeks go by."
"Should I be jealous?"
"Nah, he's good, but he's not half the man you are."
Sirius laughed, causing his chest to bounce slightly. "Well, I'll have to meet this bloke, see what it is about him you like so much..."
She sat up, turned around and straddled his waist, resting her arms on his shoulders. He sat back in the cushions and gently massaged her hips. "I've got an hour before I have to be back to work, you know; maybe I can show you a few of the things he showed me..."
He grinned and slid one hand up her back to bring her closer, his other hand moving across the back her thigh. "An hour, huh?" he whispered. "Not enough time..."
Just before their lips connected in what was sure to be a heated kiss, Naomi jerked back with a surprised yelp. "What?" he asked, startled. "What's wrong?" With a sigh, she lifted her left robe sleeve and revealed the black skull on her forearm. She looked at Sirius, finding him staring emotionlessly at the Mark. "You've got to go," he said quietly.
She nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry," she said sincerely.
"Have you thought more on what we discussed? About you going into hiding?" he asked as she lifted herself from his lap.
"A little," she said. "I just don't know, Sirius. But... right now, I've got to go. If I'm not there fifteen minutes after the call... well, the results aren't exactly pretty."
His jaw clenched visibly, not wanting her to go. This wasn't the first time she'd been summoned while they were together, and every time, he was less happy about letting her leave. "Be careful, all right?" he murmured, hugging her a little tighter than necessary.
"I will," she whispered, kissing him. "I'll owl you as soon as I can, okay?"
He nodded, reluctantly releasing her and watching her leave. Once the door closed, she Apparated to the Dark Lord's hideout, wondering what he could possibly want.
A small, nameless village in the British countryside was unknowingly about to lose its peaceful atmosphere. Just before midnight, long after the villagers had put their children to bed, their borders were invaded by hooded creatures whose only goal in life was to suck all the happiness from the world. Hundreds of dementors had been unleashed by Lord Voldemort in order to feed their hunger. The Muggle villagers had no means of protection, and they couldn't even see their attackers—they could feel the bitter cold the dementors brought with them, and could sense something was terribly wrong, but there was nothing they could do.
Luckily for them, the Order of the Phoenix, led by Albus Dumbledore, fought for them.
Half an hour into the attack, a large group of Order members and Ministry of Magic officials Apparated and Portkeyed into the area. As one, they shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" and the village was lit with a brilliant white light. Dozens of patronuses charged down as many dementors as they could, sending a few back to where they came from. But it wasn't near enough; there were still ten dementors for every one patronus. By the third attempt to rid the small village of the foul creatures, many of the witches and wizards had collapsed from exhaustion—there weren't many in the world that could conjure a corporeal patronus three times in a row and continue to stand without some sort of boost.
Luckily for them, they had Remus Lupin.
The werewolf had very intelligently brought along a vast amount of chocolate. He did his best between chasing dementors to feed his fellows bits of the chocolate in the hopes it would give them enough strength to finish the job.
Nearly two hours later, the last of the dementors soared off into the night, leaving the wizard fighters to collapse. They knew there'd been losses on their side, but most of them didn't have the energy nor the nerve to find out who and how many. The few who had managed to remain on their feet ventured further into the village.
Dumbledore led the way, with Remus by his side, and they entered house after house, looking for anyone who made it out of the attack with their souls. The first few houses were lucky—the wizards discovered two small families huddled together in backrooms. The Headmaster assured them they were safe now, and in a few moments, they would forget all of their troubles.
After the first two families, though, many of the houses contained people who'd been unable to escape the dementors. The Ministry would take those who'd lost their souls into protective custody for treatment—at least, that's what they told the Muggles. In reality, the victims of the Dementor's Kiss would be taken to the long-term ward at St. Mungo's as soon as the hospital finished undergoing renovations—much the same as Azkaban had a few years back. All of the top Security Charm Wizards were working day and night to build and strengthen wards to ensure the safety of the patients and staff.
"What do we do now, sir?" Remus asked hoarsely, watching a young boy no older than eight rock back and forth on his bed. His parents were near hysterics as they tried to get the boy to "snap out of it."
"There is nothing we can do, Remus," the headmaster answered regretfully. "Except take care of the survivors. Come, we should return to headquarters; I am sure Sirius is anxiously awaiting our return."
Anxious wasn't a strong enough word to describe what Sirius was feeling at the moment. Thoughts and visions of his friends having their souls sucked out by dementors kept him pacing around Number Twelve's basement kitchen for the better part of the three hours that the others were gone. As much as he hated being in the same country as dementors, he wished he'd been able to go along with the rest of the Order, just so he'd know for sure if the others were okay.
Molly was somewhere upstairs, doing what she always did when she as worried: she was cleaning. She'd been kind enough to prepare a late meal for her and Sirius while they waited, but Sirius found he didn't have much of an appetite. What if Remus couldn't get his patronus to work and a dementor got him? No, he couldn't think that; Emmeline wouldn't let a dementor get within ten feet of her or Remus, and Remus had never had a problem conjuring his patronus.
Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wait much longer (he probably would have pulled out all his hair if he'd had to wait anymore). He stopped his pacing when the fireplace burst into green flames, and Remus and Emmeline stumbled out of the grate together. Sirius rushed over to catch Emmeline before she fell, and led her to a chair.
"Are you all right?" Sirius asked, examining his friends with a close critical eye. Both seemed okay for the most part, a little pale and shaken, but they both had their souls.
"We're fine," Remus said shakily, sitting beside his girlfriend. "Do we have any hot chocolate?"
"What? Yeah, yeah, of course, I'll get Molly to make some," Sirius said. "Emmeline, you okay?" he added, noticing the witch's raspy breathing.
"She was nearly Kissed," Remus said hoarsely, hugging her close to him. "Tonks conjured her patronus just in time..."
Sirius tried to hide his horror. "Well," he said quietly, unsure of how to reply. "You're okay now, Emmeline, it's all over."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Molly exclaimed from the top of the stairs. "I was worried sick. Where are the others?"
"They'll be along soon. Arthur stayed to help transport the Muggles to the Ministry," Remus explained. "Bill and Charlie are with him."
Molly sighed in relief. "You two look like you could use some cocoa, hmm? Sirius, will you get a few teacups, please, dear?"
"Sure, Molly," the wizard said, patting Remus' back as he stood and crossed the kitchen.
Emmeline didn't say a word during the entire time that Molly was preparing the hot cocoa. Sirius wondered what she'd heard when the dementors got near. From what he'd understood, she'd lived a rather good life—what would the Dementors have made her relive? Probably her relationship with Snivelly, Sirius thought. That would count as the world's worst memory...
As Molly began to serve the hot cocoa, Sirius found a large bar of Honeyduke's finest and split it between Remus and Emmeline. Emmeline's color began to return after a few bites, much to everyone's relief. When Arthur, Bill, and Charlie returned, Molly forced the three of them to choke down enough chocolate to feed a small army.
It was decided by everyone that they would remain at Headquarters for the night; Emmeline was still quite weak and Remus didn't think she was up to traveling. Just before sunrise, the seven Order members said good night to one another and went up the stairs, all of them needing a good few hours of sleep.