Altercations
By Neurotica
Fourteen
Sirius entered the cottage just after ten o'clock that night and walked into the living room to find Remus and Emmeline in a rather compromising position. Being the good friend he was, instead of turning around and going to his bedroom to give them some privacy, he cleared his throat loudly. The couple broke apart immediately, but rather than giving Sirius the annoyed look he deserved, they smiled widely.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. Before he'd left, Remus had been completely miserable over Arabella's funeral. But now, not more than five hours later, he looked happier than he'd been in his entire life. "What's going on?" Sirius asked cautiously of the practically glowing couple.
Instead of a verbal answer, Emmeline held out her left hand, showing off a ring that Sirius was sure hadn't been there before he'd left. Slowly, Sirius began to smile as he looked from the ring to Remus' beaming face. "Well, it's about bloody time," he said to his best friend.
Remus laughed and rolled his eyes. "We've been waiting for you to get back so we could celebrate."
Sirius snorted. "From what I saw, you'd already gotten started on the celebrating. Congratulations, Moony," he said, pulling Remus up and embracing him. "And Emmeline," he added, bending down to hug and kiss the witch's cheek. "I believe drinks are in order." He walked into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, retrieving a bottle of brandy. As he was taking the glasses from the cupboard, Remus came in and leaned against the counter, still smiling. "I didn't know you were planning on proposing," Sirius said quietly, filling the glasses.
"Nor did I," Remus said, still smiling widely. "I found my mum's ring and decided it was finally time."
"Well, I couldn't be happier for you," Sirius said sincerely. "She's a great woman, Remus. You're very lucky."
"Thank you, Sirius," Remus said, accepting the glass Sirius offered him. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something..."
"Moony, you're already engaged, and I think Emmeline would be very upset if you took that ring from her now," Sirius said with a straight face.
"Sod off." Remus chuckled. "No, it's something else..." Sirius raised an eyebrow at the way Remus suddenly looked to be nervous. "I, um, want you to be my best man."
Sirius smiled and sat his drink back on the counter. "Remus, I would, of course, be absolutely honored to be your best man," he said with a small bow.
Christmas holidays were just around the corner and the cottage was filled with more cheer than ever before. The front yard was covered in a heavy layer of fresh snow and inside, the decorations were dazzling. Sirius and Remus had gone out and found the largest tree that would fit in the living room. With Christmas music playing in the background, and eggnog in their hands, the two best friends and Emmeline decorated it from tip to trunk.
Upon hearing the news of Remus and Emmeline's engagement, Molly Weasley had immediately enlisted her services to make plans for the wedding. The couple decided on a summer wedding—June to be exact, right after Harry got out of school—and they wanted to have it in the backyard of the cottage, where Remus' parents had been married. After an Order meeting, Remus had gone to Dumbledore and asked him to officiate the ceremony. Remus had thought his mentor's eyes looked rather misted over as he said he'd be proud to marry him and Emmeline.
If Sirius thought the couple had been sickening after they'd gotten back together after the incident with Naomi earlier that year, it was nothing compared to how they were now. Every time he walked into a room they happened to be in, they were either snogging or very close to snogging position. It was cute the first hundred times Sirius walked in on them; now he just told them to get a room, and went off to find something else to do.
"You do realize Harry will be home in a few days, right?" Sirius asked them one night. "He's not going to appreciate walking in on this five times a day..." But he got the feeling neither of them heard a word he was saying.
Luckily, Sirius was able to get away from them during the day. Minister Bones had agreed to let him come back to the Ministry. Though he couldn't go out on assignments, he could pass them out, and most importantly, Dawlish could no longer screw up his Auror squads. Rufus Scrimgeour had been less than tickled when Sirius had walked into Auror Headquarters and kicked Dawlish out of his office. The three of them had had a long conversation, just to make sure everyone knew who was in charge. The Head Auror still hadn't chosen a permanent second-in-command after Kingsley's death, but he assured both Dawlish and Scrimgeour it would not be either of them.
The night before Harry was to come home, Remus and Emmeline were up late discussing their wedding. The guest list was complete—Remus didn't have any family besides Sirius and Harry and Emmeline only had her two brothers. The rest of the list consisted of their friends from the Order. The wedding itself was to be simple—Molly would cook for the party; Tonks offered to do the decorating after promising not to go overboard.
"So I was thinking Molly and Ginny could be my bridesmaids," Emmeline said. "But if you're going to have Sirius, Harry, and Arthur, I'll need one more."
"What about Tonks?" Remus suggested. "Or maybe someone you work with?"
"There is not one person I work with that I want at my wedding," Emmeline said.
Remus laughed. "You say that with such venom." He grinned. He leaned back on the sofa and pulled Emmeline against him. "Do you really loathe your co-workers that much?"
"Yes," Emmeline said, turning to face him. "What about Hermione?"
"That would mean Sirius would be paired with Hermione. Don't you see something wrong with that?"
"You were the one who suggested his cousin and he is pureblooded; though if I suggested that, you'd be marrying a corpse, and I don't think you'd like that much," Emmeline said with a straight face. "I don't know. There aren't many women in the Order anymore."
Remus thought briefly of Naomi, but didn't dare suggest her. "How do you not have any friends outside of the Order?"
"You don't have any friends outside the Order, either," she pointed out.
"True, but I'm not the one having trouble with my line-up."
Emmeline rolled her eyes. "I'd always planned on Hestia being my maid of honor when I got married."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, James and Peter were supposed to be in my line-up."
Emmeline smiled sadly and laid her head on his shoulder. "Should we finish this discussion another day, before we get depressed?"
Remus laughed a little. "Probably a good idea," he said, kissing the top of her head. "How about we go get some sleep?"
Before Emmeline could reply, all the lights in the cottage went out, save the fire in the fireplace. Remus stiffened; the last time this had happened, Lucius Malfoy had been in the cottage.
"Remus? Emmeline? You two okay?" Sirius called from the hall.
"Yes, we're fine," Remus called back, reaching for his wand. "Lumos," he muttered, igniting the tip of his wand. A second later, Emmeline's wand was lit as well.
"What the hell happened?" Sirius asked, walking into the room.
"I don't know," Remus said calmly. "But we should stick together."
"Maybe it's just a power outage," Emmeline suggested quietly.
"Tell me you don't really believe that," Sirius said. "This place runs on magic, not public power..."
"Shut up, Sirius," Remus said. He was trying to think of a plan of action when the doorbell rang. The three friends looked at one another, trying to keep the fear from showing in their faces.
"Who's that?" Emmeline whispered.
Remus shook his head. "No idea," he said quietly. "Come on." They made their way to the front door while Sirius went to the window and peeked out.
"It's Naomi," he said in disbelief to the other two.
"REMUS! SIRIUS! Open the door!" she yelled urgently. Remus pulled open the door, but didn't have a chance to ask Naomi why she was there before she pushed her way in and shut the door behind her. "He's here," she panted, looking at them wide-eyed.
"What?" Remus asked incredulously. "Who are you—"
"Voldemort!" she cried. "He's on his way here! There are fifty Death Eaters in the forest right now, waiting for his order."
"Oh dear god," Emmeline breathed.
"Well, we can Apparated out," Sirius began, looking terrified.
Naomi shook her head. "Anti-Disapparation jinx. Portkeys won't work either, Floo's been cut off..."
"What do you mean Floo's been cut off?" Emmeline demanded sharply.
"There's someone in your department working for him. I don't know who, but they've disabled all Floo connection to the cottage," Naomi said in a rush.
"So what the hell do you suggest we do?" Remus asked as calmly as possible.
"I have an idea, but you have to trust me," she said, looking directly at Remus. "Forget everything that's ever happened between us, just for tonight. Tomorrow you can go back to hating me all you want..."
"This is insane," Sirius muttered. "There's no way out?"
Again, Naomi shook her head. "The Death Eaters are surrounding the place to make sure you three don't try and run."
"Why are we just now finding out about this? You didn't know before?" Emmeline asked.
"I couldn't get away, nobody could, and I had no way to send any messages. I tried, I swear to god I tried... They think I'm doing perimeter checks, but if we don't hurry, I'm going to get busted, and you three are going to die. Do you trust me?" she asked Remus desperately.
Remus looked out the window then at Sirius and Emmeline, and finally back to Naomi. She could be lying... But there was always a chance she was telling the truth. And if she was telling the truth, they only had moments before Voldemort busted down their door. Remus couldn't take the chance.
"I trust you," he told Naomi quietly. "What's your plan?"
"Okay," she said, obviously relieved. "I need you three to stand together. This won't work otherwise." They did as told, Remus holding Emmeline close to him, Sirius right beside them. Naomi raised her wand, the tip pointing at them, and began muttering a spell too rapidly for Remus to make out the words. A moment later, a white ball of light emitted from the wand's tip and dangled between Naomi and the other three momentarily. Remus watched as the ball circled Emmeline, Sirius, and himself a few times before going back to Naomi, seemingly disappearing into her chest. Breathing heavily, Naomi looked behind her out the windows. "Stay here," she said quietly. "He won't see you."
"What about you?" Sirius asked.
"I'll be fine. But I've got to go. You'll be okay, I promise," she said before running back out the front door.
"What the hell just happened?" Emmeline asked quietly, trembling a bit against Remus.
"She performed the Fidelius Charm," Remus said, staring at the front door as it closed behind Naomi. "She's our Secret-Keeper..."
"What do we do now?" Sirius asked, looking at Remus.
"I don't know," the other wizard answered honestly. "Wait, I guess."
They didn't have to wait long before a sea of black cloaks could be seen marching out of the forest led by a pair of glowing, scarlet eyes.
"Nox," Remus and Emmeline muttered automatically, the light from their wands extinguishing. The army of Death Eaters stopped, but the red eyes continued to draw nearer, two or three of the cloaks following him. Remus pulled Emmeline and Sirius into the living room just before the front door was blown of its hinges.
Lord Voldemort crossed the threshold of the cottage and looked directly at the three of them before moving his eyes across the hallway. "Find them," he commanded his Death Eaters softly.
Remus breathed a sigh of relief. The charm had been successful; Voldemort couldn't see them.
"Yes, my Lord," three voices murmured before raising their wands and spreading out through the cottage. Emmeline gasped softly and pressed herself into Remus, pulling Sirius closer to them as Voldemort entered the living room and examined the Christmas tree in disgust. He then went to the coffee table and picked up the guest list Remus and Emmeline had been working on. "How sweet," he muttered with an evil grin.
"My Lord," one of the Death Eaters—judging by the growl of curse words Sirius emitted, it was Lucius Malfoy—said, coming into the living room. "They're not here."
"What do you mean they're not here?" Voldemort asked in a deathly quiet voice that made all three of them shiver a bit. "They must be here."
"They're not, my Lord," Malfoy said. "We've searched everywhere."
"Did you check the basement?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"How is it that they were here no more than ten minutes ago, but now they are not? There is no way for them to escape unless one of you failed in your duties."
"I assure you, my Lord," Naomi said, coming to join Malfoy. "Every means of escape has been disabled. They should be here, but they're not..."
"Search the forest," Voldemort said. "It is possible that they got past one of you incompetent fools. I want Lupin and Black alive."
"What of the woman?" Malfoy asked.
"I've no use for her," Voldemort said. "As for this miserable shack, burn it to the ground."
"We should get out of here," Sirius said to Remus and Emmeline. "Now."
"I think you're right," Remus said quietly. The three carefully moved past Voldemort and out the front door just behind Naomi. They moved past her and Remus thought he heard her whisper "Run!" under her breath. Even if he was imagining it, it seemed like a damn good idea to him. Without having to communicate to the other two, they all three began to run as fast as they could through a gap in the army of Death Eaters into the dark forest.
Behind them, Remus could see a blaze of light that he was certain was his childhood home going up in flames. As strong as the urge was to turn back, Remus kept going. They needed to get somewhere safe—he didn't know how long the Fidelius Charm would last since it'd been cast in such a rush, but he didn't want any of them around when it wore off. They ran without stopping for what seemed like hours until they reached the main road.
"Should—we try—to Apparate?" Sirius panted, bent over double and looking over his shoulder to see if they were being followed.
Remus nodded breathlessly. "It's worth a shot..."
"Hogwarts?" Emmeline asked, rubbing a stitch in her side.
"Why? No one will be able to see us," Sirius said. "Let's go to Headquarters. Naomi will figure we've gone there, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Remus said. "Yeah, that's a good idea." Sirius grabbed Remus' elbow and the werewolf nodded at Emmeline, who nodded back. In the blink of an eye, the forests and road of Kent disappeared in favor of the rundown neighborhood of Grimmauld Place, London.
The three friends sighed in relief that none of them had been splinched and walked up the front path as Number Twelve appeared before their eyes. Remus tapped his wand sharply on the doorknob and the door clicked as it unlocked. He opened the door and entered, Sirius and Emmeline just behind him. Wordlessly, they made their way to the basement kitchen. Remus and Emmeline sat at the table while Sirius went to the pantry to find something for them to drink. They silently sat together, each wondering what to do next, and fell asleep at the table an hour later.
Early the next morning, the fireplace in the kitchen of Number Twelve ignited in green flames and Dumbledore stepped through gracefully, wiping soot off his robes as he took in the scene before him. Sirius' face was on top of his folded arms, and he was snoring loudly. Across from him, Emmeline's head was resting atop a balled up pair of robes in Remus' lap, and she was stretched out over two chairs. Remus had one arm over her waist while his other hung limply at his side, and he was slumped in his own chair, his chin resting on his chest.
Though he didn't want to disturb their much-needed rest (and almost wished he had a camera), Dumbledore cleared his throat just loudly enough to wake Remus. The werewolf started, blinking sleep out of his eyes as he looked around and spotted the Headmaster smiling at him. "Good morning, Remus," Dumbledore said softly.
"Albus," Remus said tiredly, stifling a yawn. "What time is it?"
"Just past seven in the morning," Dumbledore replied. "About time for breakfast, I believe."
Remus nodded and looked down in his lap, rubbing Emmeline's shoulder softly. "Emmeline," he said. "Time to wake up, love. Dumbledore's here..."
Slowly the witch woke and, with Remus' help, sat up, wiping at her eyes. "Hello, sir," she yawned.
Dumbledore inclined his head.
"Padfoot," Remus said, throwing a cork at his best friend. The other wizard snorted loudly and jerked his head up, looking around wildly.
"Dumbledore, you're here," he muttered unnecessarily.
Dumbledore's lips twitched. "Your keen observation never ceases to amaze me, Sirius," he said, winking at Remus and Emmeline before sitting at the table. "I understand the three of you had quite the evening last night."
"Understatement of the year, that," Emmeline said, running a hand through her hair. "Wait, you can see us?"
"Indeed I can."
"But the charm..." Sirius said.
"Has been broken," Dumbledore said quietly. "I received a message from Naomi late last night informing me of what happened. I found it quite hard to believe that the charms and wards we placed around your home could have been broken on such short notice, but when I checked, it seemed the protections have been taken apart, layer by layer, over the last three days without alerting us. Naomi says this is Bellatrix Lestrange's doing."
"How, though? I thought these were foolproof?" Sirius said, imagining the best ways to murder his cousin.
"I thought so as well, Sirius, but most unfortunately, we were wrong. I am just thankful Naomi was able to get to you when she did, and that you are all safe."
"Speaking of Naomi," Remus said quietly. "Where is she?"
"I do not know." Dumbledore sighed. "I can only hope she too remains safe."
"She saved our lives," Emmeline whispered disbelievingly. "If she hadn't snuck to the cottage..." she trailed off, not needing to finish her sentence for the wizards to understand.
"Where's Harry, sir?" Sirius asked hoarsely.
"He is eating breakfast in the Great Hall. I have not yet told him of last night's events—I thought you and Remus would prefer to fill him in. If you like, I can have his trunk packed, and send him straight here instead of sending him home by train," Dumbledore offered. "It may be best that way—I do not doubt the Death Eaters are still searching for you, and the first place they will check is King's Cross Station."
"That will be great, Albus, thank you," Remus said. "You haven't been to my cottage by any chance, have you, sir?"
"I have," the Headmaster said. "Just before I came here."
"And?"
Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I am terribly sorry, Remus, but your home was destroyed in the fire. I did what I could, but it seems Lord Voldemort was one step ahead of us once again."
Remus dropped his head to the table and closed his eyes tightly. The cottage was the only home he'd ever known, besides Hogwarts, and if Dumbledore couldn't fix it, there was no hope that Remus would ever see it again. Emmeline stood from the table and offered breakfast to the wizards. Dumbledore declined, saying he needed to return to Hogwarts to catch Harry before the students left for the train. Remus also declined, stating he didn't have much of an appetite, and left the kitchen to go lie down in one of the upstairs rooms.
"Guess that leaves you and me, eh?" Emmeline said to Sirius.
The wizard nodded. "Guess so," he muttered, staring at the tabletop.
Emmeline made sure Remus had indeed gone upstairs before sitting next to Sirius. "I'm sure Naomi's fine," she said quietly.
He nodded again. "Yeah, I know," he said, lifting his head with a forced smile. "So how about that breakfast?"
Emmeline watched him for a moment before she rolled her eyes at his covering his worry for his girlfriend and stood, going to the pantry to gather things for breakfast.
Later in the afternoon, after Harry arrived at Number Twelve and was filled in what was going on, Sirius and Remus decided to go see what was left of the cottage. When they Apparated to the snow-filled front yard, they regretted it—there was nothing but debris where the cottage had once stood. The furniture was nowhere to be seen, and they turned over black pieces of the walls, trying to find anything that might have made it through the fire.
"Whatever spell he used did a damn good job," Sirius said, shaking his head sadly.
"It wasn't Incendio either," Remus said, examining a few scorch marks on the one wall that still partly stood around the fireplace. "I don't know what he used, but it looks like he just stood here and moved his wand in a circle and caught the whole place on fire." He demonstrated the action slowly before going back to staring miserably at what remained of his home.
"I'm surprised the floor's still here. Did he not think the basement was good enough to catch fire to?"
"I don't know, but I wouldn't trust the floors enough to go down there until we brace it so that it doesn't collapse on us."
Sirius nodded and went to what was once Harry's bedroom. "Hey, Remus, where's Harry's pensieve?"
"I think he took it to school with him," Remus answered, going into Sirius' bedroom.
"Good."
Sirius was surprised at how well Remus was taking the destruction of the cottage. Not only had it been his childhood home, but it had been in his family for four generations. There was a lot of history in the cottage for Remus, good and bad, and it broke Sirius' heart to see it like this.
"Padfoot, I think this belongs to you," Remus said, approaching Sirius.
The other wizard turned to see what his best friend held out and felt a jolt of shock to realize it was his wand. "How the hell did that make it through?" Sirius asked, taking the stick from Remus and examining it. "There's not a mark on it."
"Ollivander always did make the best," Remus said with a smile. "I say we get back. There's nothing more here. I found a couple photos and things that are a bit burnt but otherwise okay. All our clothes and personal items are gone, though."
"Well, we can replace all that," Sirius said bracingly. "We're all right, and that's what matters."
Remus nodded and looked around sadly. "If it wasn't for Naomi..." he said quietly.
"Yeah," Sirius said just as quietly. He put his wand into his back pocket and took hold of Remus' elbow as they Apparated back to Number Twelve. Once again, they were stuck in the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, and Sirius had never felt more depressed about his own childhood home as he thought that they now had no other options.