Altercations
By Neurotica
Fifteen
As Christmas approached, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place became subject to a celebratory makeover, supervised by Emmeline and Sirius. They were trying to put some cheer into their holiday, but unfortunately, they seemed to be failing miserably. Everyone in the household moped about, unable to get into the Christmas spirit. Even when the Weasleys and Hermione came over and Molly prepared a large meal for them, the mood at headquarters did not improve. Remus spent most of his time locked away in the Black library, doubling the efforts to find the counter-curse to what had taken away Sirius' magic, and not even Emmeline could break him out of the miserable mood he'd fallen into.
On Christmas Eve, she took him a tray of lunch, though he insisted he wasn't hungry. "Remus, you've barely eaten a thing in two days," she said, closing the book he was reading. He glared at her, and she looked back with raised eyebrows, challenging him to argue with her. "Look, I understand you're upset about the cottage, but you've got to eat something."
"I'm not hungry," he muttered.
"Bullshit," she said, sitting beside him on the sofa. "Remus, we can always rebuild..."
He shook his head, not looking at her. "You don't understand, Emmeline. The cottage has been in my family since my great-grandfather built it with his bare hands. My parents never had anything to give me, with the exception of a few other things." He reached over and took her left hand, running a finger over the gold band that encircled her finger. "All my father ever had was his bookshop, but he lost that just after my fifth year because we didn't have the money to keep it going. My mum had to sell her piano just to help buy my school supplies. That cottage was everything to them. They had dreams of me raising my children there, and passing it down. Now it's gone..." he said miserably.
"I'm sure your parents would be happy that you're alive. That'd be more important than to them than a house, don't you think?" she asked quietly.
He shrugged. "I suppose," he replied, sighing.
"Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" she asked quietly, scooting closer to him.
"Just sit with me?" he requested softly.
She smiled and wrapped her arms around him as he rested his head on her chest, curling his arms around her waist and pulling her close.
Down in the basement kitchen, Sirius and Harry sat in near silence as Harry worked on an assignment for his Defense lessons. He was just as upset as Remus and Sirius over the state of the cottage—he'd grown up there, and he loved it just as much as they did. But as Emmeline pointed out to Remus, Harry was thankful his family had all made it out alive. The night could have gone so differently, and Harry didn't know what he would have done if he'd lost them. His mistrust for Naomi had faded somewhat, and he knew the next time he saw her, he'd have to thank her. She'd risked her life to save his family—if a Death Eater or Voldemort had caught her, she would have surely died alongside the others.
Harry looked up from his book and watched Sirius twirl his wand between his fingers, a faraway look in his grey eyes. "Are you okay?" Harry asked his godfather.
Sirius glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye and attempted to smile. "Yeah, kid, I'm fine. Just thinking."
Harry nodded, but continued to watch Sirius. Something was bothering the older wizard besides the cottage. Harry just didn't know what. "It doesn't seem like Christmas this year, does it?"
"No, it doesn't," Sirius agreed quietly, turning to look at Harry. "You should have seen the decorations we had up at the cottage. This is nothing compared to that," he said, waving a hand at the baubles and bulbs hanging around the kitchen.
"Where are we going to live? We're not going to stay here, are we?" Harry asked after a moment.
Sirius shrugged. "For now, we will," he said. "We have to. Voldemort's probably still searching the country for us, and we're safest here. Emmeline's still got her place in London, so she and Remus will probably move in there after the wedding."
"Oh," Harry said. "What about us?"
"Well, there's always my flat. It's big enough for us to stretch out in," Sirius replied. "Or we could fix this place up a bit, figure out how to get rid of my mother's portrait..."
Harry nodded and looked down at the table. He hadn't really thought about what would happen after Remus and Emmeline were married. He was thrilled for them, of course. It was just that the thought of his family being split up hadn't crossed his mind since Emmeline had first come to live with them.
Sirius seemed to read his mind. "It's not like we'll never see Remus again, you know," he said softly.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I know. But aren't you the least bit upset that we won't be living together anymore?"
"Of course, but this can't last forever..."
"Why, though?" Harry asked. "I've never been happier than I am living with you and Remus, and now we're being split up."
Sirius smiled sadly. "It's got to happen, Harry. I mean, you're graduating Hogwarts in a year and a half, and I'm sure you're going to want to get your own place at some point, right?" Harry shrugged. "Look, us living in different places isn't going to change the fact that we're family—nothing can change that. If anyone in this world deserves to get out and start his life, it's Remus. But that doesn't mean he's going to forget about you or me, and he's not going to stop loving you. I don't want you to ever think that, because it'll never happen. All right?"
Harry nodded again. "I know. I just don't like change."
Sirius chuckled. "Me neither, kid. But this could turn out to be a great thing for you and me. I'm just not really sure how at the moment." Harry laughed. "But think of it this way: You're going to leave Hogwarts and join the Ministry, right? Then, who knows, you might wind up marrying Ginny. And I'm sure she's not going to want to live with your godfather and uncle, right?"
Harry smiled. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "You think I'll marry Ginny?"
"It doesn't matter what I think, Harry. Just don't go eloping. We wouldn't want to give old Remus a heart attack."
Harry grinned. "Now all we've got to do is get you married."
Sirius nearly choked on his butterbeer. "I don't know about that..."
"Why aren't you dating anyone?" Harry asked, ignoring Sirius' reaction. "I thought you were supposed to be an expert with women or something."
"No one says I'm not," Sirius said, offended that someone would question his abilities with the fairer sex. He sighed. "Look, if I tell you something, do you swear not to tell Remus?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. Sirius told Remus everything—what could his godfather be keeping from his best friend. "Yeah, sure," he said, leaning forward eagerly.
Sirius looked over his shoulder, making sure they were indeed alone. "Okay, for the last few months, I've sort of been seeing Naomi..."
Harry's jaw dropped open. "Naomi? As in Remus' ex, Naomi?" Sirius nodded. "And you haven't told Remus?" Sirius shook his head. "I wonder if the Ministry would let me live alone in your flat until I'm seventeen," he said thoughtfully. "Because when Remus finds out, you're a dead man. It was nice knowing you, Sirius."
"Very funny," Sirius said dryly. "I know I should tell him. I just don't know how... I can't exactly walk up to him and say 'Hey, Moony, I'm dating the first woman you ever loved, and by the way, we need eggs'."
"Well, no," Harry agreed. "But you need to tell him. How have you kept it from him this long?"
"Talent?" Sirius shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I've been going to her place a lot, and it's not like we can go out—if she gets caught with me, Voldemort won't exactly be a happy camper, will he?"
"So you like her a lot, then?"
Sirius nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I do," he said.
"Is she worth losing Remus?"
"Nothing's worth that."
"Then you need to tell him before he finds out."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "When did you get so smart about stuff like this?"
Harry shrugged. "It's a natural born gift."
Later that evening, the Weasleys and Hermione came over again for dinner, since no one thought it safe for Sirius, Remus, Emmeline, and Harry to travel to the Burrow. As the night wore on, some of the Christmas cheer seemed to rub off on Remus and after a few glasses of eggnog, he was mostly back to his old self. Fred and George provided entertainment, particularly when they gave Ron a joke wizard's cracker. Instead of a prize, Ron was doused in powder that turned him blue for twenty-four hours, and it only got darker if someone tried to get rid of it—Ron spent a good hour in the shower trying to wash the stuff off, and it'd only resulted in the stuff becoming a navy blue color. Finally, Molly made the twins perform the counter-spell to the powder, and Ron was back to normal.
The night only got better after dessert. Sirius was sitting at the table, twirling his wand absentmindedly again as he and Bill discussed the younger wizard's time in Egypt as a curse breaker. Remus was walking past the table, helping with dishes when he yelped as something hit him in the behind, causing him to drop the dishes he was carrying to the sink. He turned around to see who'd hit him with a stinging hex, but the only person with their wand out was Sirius.
"Having a problem with balance, Moony?" Sirius grinned, obviously unaware of what had just happened. "Maybe you ought to lay off the eggnog, mate."
Remus stared at him dumbfounded. "Did you just...? No... No possible way..."
"What?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow as though worrying for his best friend's sanity.
Remus pointed at the broken dishes on the floor. "Fix those..." he said faintly.
"What the hell are you on about?"
"Sirius, you just hit me with a stinging hex. I don't know how, but you did," Remus said.
"That's impossible," Emmeline said. "Maybe you have had too much eggnog, dear." She pointed her own wand at the broken dishes, preparing to repair them, but Remus pushed her arm away.
"Try it," he said to Sirius. By now, the rest of the kitchen was aware something was going on, and watched the exchange wordlessly.
"You've gone mental, you know that?" Sirius muttered. "I mean, you are severely touched in the head, Remus..." Sighing, he turned to the dishes, glancing at his best friend who stared hard at them. He pointed his wand at the broken dishes. Everyone held their breath as Sirius firmly said, "Reparo!"
Cheers erupted as the dishes repaired themselves and stacked neatly on top of one another. Sirius stared at the dishes with his jaw wide open. "I did it," he said weakly as Molly hugged him around the neck. "I fixed them..."
"Here, Sirius," Ron said, pulling Sirius' goblet of eggnog to the other end of the table. "Summon it."
"Accio goblet." The goblet zoomed across the table into Sirius' awaiting hand, not one drop sloshing out as the goblet hit his flesh. "I've got my powers back," he whispered in disbelief into his drink. "It's over..."
Arthur pulled out a bottle of wine in celebration while the kids continued to challenge Sirius' powers.
"How's this possible?" Remus asked Emmeline quietly, grinning widely as Sirius shot Harry with a stream of cold water, then used a heating charm to dry him off.
"I don't know," she said. "The Healers did say his powers could come back on their own. Looks like Christmas just got better, eh?"
He tore his eyes away from Sirius' beaming face to look at Emmeline before kissing her. Seconds later, the couple was being soaked with water from Sirius' wand. As they broke apart, they heard the familiar barking laugh from the wizard. "Sirius, I am very happy for you, but if you do that again, I will have to hurt you." Remus grinned.
The celebration lasted late into the night, and the Weasleys and Hermione decided to stay at Number Twelve, since Ginny had fallen asleep in her chair with Crookshanks in her lap. Just before they were about to turn in, the kitchen fireplace lit up and Dumbledore stepped out. Sirius proceeded to demonstrate the return of his powers by turning into Padfoot for the eighth time that night, but Dumbledore didn't seem nearly as happy as the rest of Number Twelve was.
His eyes were grave as he told them that Hagrid had come back from the Three Broomsticks to find a witch at the school's gates. He said she'd been beaten and tortured, and if Hagrid hadn't found her when he had, she would have died on the freezing Hogwarts grounds.
"You lot, upstairs," Molly said sharply to the kids. Though Dumbledore's news had woken them up, Molly gave them no room to argue.
"Who was it, Albus?" Remus asked, afraid he already knew the answer.
"Naomi," the Headmaster said quietly. "She is currently in the Hogwarts hospital wing with Hagrid as her guard, but I do not think it safe for her to remain there. I was rather hoping you would allow her to stay here," he added to Sirius and Remus.
Emmeline seemed to be the only one to notice how pale Sirius had gotten at the news. She reached over and squeezed his shoulder, though she didn't think he could feel it.
"Is she going to be all right?" Arthur asked.
"I hope so," Dumbledore said. "Poppy has done all she can, but Naomi has sustained some rather serious injuries. According to Severus, Lord Voldemort has realized what Naomi has been doing for the past year."
"How?" Remus asked hoarsely.
"After the attack on your home a few nights ago, Voldemort knew you had been warned. I believe he used his skills as a Legilimens to discover who has been betraying him. Somehow, Naomi was able to use what was left of her strength after Voldemort believed her dead, or dying at the very least, to Apparate to the Hogwarts gates."
Sirius buried his head in his hands. "She can stay here," he said, his voice muffled. Remus and Emmeline nodded in agreement.
Dumbledore inclined his head. "Thank you. I will bring her back momentarily," he said quietly, going back to Hogwarts. Once he was gone, Molly and Emmeline went upstairs to prepare one of the extra bedrooms for Naomi.
Remus, though he hadn't trusted Naomi up until a few days ago, never wanted to see her hurt. His feelings for her were less than friendly at the best of times, but she'd done a lot for the Order over the last year, and risked her life doing so. She had to have known warning them of Voldemort's attack could mean her life, but she'd done it anyway.
He looked behind him to where Sirius still had his head buried in his hands. He seemed to be taking Naomi's condition rather roughly. Remus knew they'd talked many times when Sirius thought he wasn't watching. They'd once been very good friends, Sirius and Naomi, and it seemed their friendship had rekindled since Naomi's return to the Order. Remus hadn't brought it up to Sirius in the hopes that his best friend would tell him on his own. It hadn't happened yet, and it hurt Remus to think the man he thought of as a brother didn't trust him enough to fill him in on what was going on in his life.
Dumbledore returned fifteen minutes later, and the look on Sirius' face as he laid eyes on Naomi was nothing short of horrified. Remus didn't blame him; she didn't even remotely look like herself. Her face was swollen and purple, and it was clear she had a broken nose and broken cheekbones. Both of her arms were bandaged from the shoulders down, causing Remus to suspect those had been broken as well as her hands and fingers. Professor McGonagall stepped out of the fire just behind Dumbledore carrying an armful of potion bottles given to her presumably by Madam Pomfrey for Naomi's care. Charlie took the load from her as everyone stood to follow Dumbledore up the stairs to where Naomi's room would be.
Sirius remained standing against the walls, his jaw clenched and his hands buried in his pockets, as Molly made sure Naomi was as comfortable as possible in the bed. When Emmeline asked if Naomi would eventually be okay, Dumbledore replied in the affirmative. He said Naomi had sustained a bad concussion, but Madam Pomfrey believed she'd wake within a week or so, and after that, as long as her bones mended correctly, she'd be fine.
Dumbledore and McGonagall quietly excused themselves an hour later, explaining that they had to return to Hogwarts. The headmaster thanked Sirius and Remus for their hospitality. Sirius probably hadn't heard a word he said.
Near one o'clock in the morning, Molly shooed everybody out of the room, saying she'd sit with the patient while they got their rest. Sirius, to Remus' surprise, went without an argument or a word to anyone, down the hall to his bedroom.
"Interesting night, huh?" Emmeline said flatly, climbing into bed beside Remus twenty minutes later.
Remus nodded. "Sirius gets his powers back and Naomi is found nearly dead. I wonder how she was able to Apparate without being seen..."
"Didn't she once say the only Apparition chamber was in Voldemort's quarters?"
"Yeah... You'd think wherever he was keeping her, he would have kept her guarded, whether he thought she was dying or not."
"Maybe she had help?"
"From who, though? Unless Snape was there, no one else would help her."
"Guess we'll have to wait and hear it from her," Emmeline said.
Remus sighed and laid his head back on his pillow, pulling Emmeline against him. She fell asleep long before he did.
Sirius couldn't sleep. He kept tossing and turning, unable to get the vision of Naomi's beaten face out of his mind. Finally, he gave up and got up from his bed. He crept down the hall, avoiding the creaking floorboards as he went to Naomi's room. Molly was still sitting with her and she snapped her head to the door when Sirius opened it.
"How is she?" he asked quietly, closing the door and approaching the bed.
"Same as before," Molly replied. "Her breathing seems to be evening out, which is a very good sign."
Sirius nodded. "Listen, Molly, why don't you go get some sleep? I'll sit with her..."
Molly stood, giving him a soft, knowing smile he hadn't seen in many years, and left the room. Sirius sat in Molly's chair and gently took hold of Naomi's hand. "Why didn't you take my advice before?" he asked softly, rubbing his thumb softly across her bruised knuckles. "Why did you have to get into this mess to begin with?" He sighed, wondering if he should say what was really on his mind. "I know we've had an odd relationship these past months, and I know it's been rough on you, but I'm glad you put up with me." He smiled a little as he felt her squeeze his hand a bit. He may have been imagining it, but it was a comforting thought.
"I'm sorry we haven't had a normal relationship, Naomi. I'm sorry I haven't been able to take you out to dinner and on walks through the city and all the other things we should be able to do together. We've both sacrificed a lot for this—you've put your life on the line and I could lose the best friend I've ever had in my life. But you've made me happy, and I don't think I've told you that enough. And I really hope you've been happy with me—I've really been trying..."
He sighed again. "Look, I don't know if you feel the same, but I think I'm in love with you, Naomi—I should have told you that long ago... I told you I'd keep you safe and even though I failed this time, I'm going to keep that promise to you. Voldemort will pay for what he's done to you and Remus and Harry. He's going to regret everything he's done to my family and friends.
"I should let you rest. I'll be back in the morning." He stood and leaned over to kiss her lips. When he turned to the door, he froze, finding Remus standing in the threshold. "Moony..." he said quietly. Remus stared stonily back. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," Remus said evenly. "Can I talk to you? In the library?"
Sirius winced. Remus' tone suggested he wasn't asking to talk to Sirius; it was an order. He squeezed Naomi's hand gently before releasing it and following Remus down the hall as if he was preparing for certain death. Highly possible, that, Sirius thought, suddenly thankful his magic had come back.
The two friends silently entered the library and Remus closed the door, waving his wand to light a few lanterns. Sirius sat on the arm of the sofa, trying not to fidget under Remus' stare as he waited for the other to explode.
"How long?" Remus asked quietly.
"Since September," Sirius replied, assuming correctly that Remus was asking how long he and Naomi had been seeing each other.
Remus nodded stiffly. "Why her?" he asked, his voice tight. "Out of all the women in the world, you had to pick her. You could have had anyone you wanted, Sirius, but you had to pick the one who just happens to be my ex-fiancée. Why?"
Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I didn't mean for this to happen, Remus."
"All right, I'll give you that. But why didn't you at least give me the courtesy of telling me? We're supposed to be best friends, inseparable brothers... the last of the Marauders..."
"We are—"
"They why the hell didn't you tell me?" Remus yelled. Sirius flinched as if he'd been hit. Remus must have put up silencing charms around the library at some point so as not to wake the rest of the house. "I thought we'd gotten past this whole keeping secrets stage years ago, Sirius, and I walk in to find you kissing Naomi. And then I find out you've been seeing her behind my back for months."
"Remus, I'm sorry," Sirius said earnestly. "I wanted to tell you."
"Why didn't you, then?" Remus asked, his voice one of forced calm. "Do you not trust me, is that it?"
"No!" Sirius said loudly. "Of course I trust you! I was just... scared of your reaction, I guess."
Remus rubbed his eyes. "You know, it's not even the fact that you're seeing her that upsets me. It's the fact that you didn't tell me that hurts worse than anything; that you lied to me. I thought we could tell each other anything, after everything we've been through in our friendship. You're the brother I never had, Sirius, the one I always wanted. I trusted you, but then you go lying to me and sneaking behind my back. I knew you and Naomi had been talking a lot, but I never said anything. I'd hoped you'd have the decency to tell me. I'm assuming you've been going to her place when you've told me you were going for a bike ride?"
Sirius nodded, unable to look his friend in the face.
"I don't know what else to say to you, Sirius. I really don't. I just want you to know how badly you've hurt me by keeping this from me. I'm not your father and you're a grown man, so it's not as if I can keep you from seeing her. I just hope for your sake that you know what you're doing and that she doesn't hurt you like she did me. I'm going back to bed."
Without another word, Remus left the library and Sirius feeling worse than he had in many years.