Altercations

By Neurotica

Nineteen

"So Remus actually ran away when you tried to talk to him?" Emmeline asked from a chair beside the Naomi's bed. It was the full moon that night, and Remus had barricaded himself in the library just after dinner. Sirius was somewhere in the house trying to gather the nerve to sneak in and spend the night with the werewolf who didn't exactly like him right now.

Emmeline and Naomi had slowly begun to get past their hostility towards each other and found themselves actually having a pleasant conversation. Neither woman was sure when their mutual animosity had transformed into a casual acquaintance, but neither was really concerned. Emmeline had very awkwardly apologized for accusing Naomi of poisoning Remus, and Naomi had stiffly accepted. After that, they found that they actually could be in a room together without glaring at one another.

"Oh yeah." Naomi smirked, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl Emmeline held out. "I wasn't even asking him out on a date or anything. I was just asking if I could borrow a quill. Sirius had broken my favorite one. Git. I still need to hit him for that..."

Emmeline laughed. "What year was this again?"

Naomi tried not to laugh. "Fifth."

"You're kidding!" Emmeline said incredulously. Naomi shook her head. "Wow... I was thinking second year."

"Nope. Remus was never good about talking to girls in school. Sirius and James made him go to Hogsmeade with this Hufflepuff girl in fourth year, and Sirius told me later he was sweating so much that he'd had to change his robes four times."

"So how'd they finally get him to ask you out? I assume it was their doing."

"Not really sure how they did it," Naomi said, frowning in thought. "All I know is that James told him he was going to ask me out instead, and later that day, Remus pulled me away from Lily and Julia and asked me, in one breath mind, if I'd like to go to Hogsmeade with him the next week. He was really cute too—his face was bright red, and he was stuttering and stammering all over. It was great. I teased him about it for years."

The two of them laughed for a few minutes before Naomi asked something she'd wondered about for a year. "How'd he get a hold of you?" she asked quietly.

Emmeline smiled, remembering what happened. "Other way around, actually. Christmas Eve, last year, we'd all had a few drinks and there was mistletoe, and it was just too good a chance to ignore."

"Bet he loved that." Naomi grinned. "Did he turn redder than an apple?"

Emmeline nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. Then she sighed happily. "I'd always wondered how good a kisser he was, but my god..."

Naomi laughed. "I know the feeling, dear..."

Emmeline sat back in her chair and sipped her Butterbeer. "I never in a million years would have guessed that you and I would be talking about Remus without wanting to rip each other's throats out."

Naomi snorted. "You're telling me. God, when I first found out about you two, then saw how happy he was with you..."

"You wanted to scratch my eyes out?" Emmeline supplied lightly.

"Very badly." Naomi nodded with a grin. "I was jealous of you, naturally. I spent thirteen years thinking on what I did to him, and what I ruined. You know, I actually thought a few times about going to the cottage and trying and get him back? He'd come into the Leaky Cauldron when I was working—he didn't know this of course—and I'd make excuses about why I couldn't serve him, and I'd run upstairs before he could see me. I was so afraid to face him. I knew he had to hate me, and I still think I deserve to be hated by him.

"And then I saw him at Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament, and I saw in his eyes what I'd been afraid to see for all those years." She looked at Emmeline and smiled. "He never looked at me the way he does you, Emmeline. I mean, I know he loved me and all, but it amazes me to see the two of you together. You are the only woman he wants to be with and it shows. When he looks at you, it's like nothing could ever hurt him, like he's invincible. I told him this a few days ago, and now I want to tell you: I am so happy for you. You're both extremely lucky to have each other, and I wish you nothing but the best of luck."

"Thank you," Emmeline said quietly, smiling. "That means a lot, Naomi." They sat in silence for a few minutes, Emmeline still trying to get used to the fact that she was having a conversation with her fiancé's ex-fiancée. "So what about you and Sirius?"

Naomi grinned and blushed a bit. "What about us?"

"Well, have you two ever talked about marriage?"

"Sirius and marriage are two things that don't really go well together. After Julia was killed, I don't think he ever thought about it again."

"Are you in love with him?"

"Yeah, I am," she said quietly. "Another thing I never thought would happen."

"Well, I think you two are great together," Emmeline said simply.

Naomi smiled. "Thanks."

Emmeline winked and held out a box of Chocolate Cauldrons Remus had brought home from her. "Now, if we can just get our two idiots to makeup."

"I'd give them another day. They could never stay mad at each other for long."

Sirius stared at the closed library door, knowing his best friend was behind it, probably curled up in front of the fire. Remus' transformation had happened at least two hours ago, and Sirius hadn't moved a muscle. He didn't think Remus would hurt him—if he'd wanted to hurt Sirius, he would've done it a week ago. He just didn't know if he could face his best friend.

Stop being such a girl, Sirius, said a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Harry—or maybe it was James...

With a sigh, Sirius reached out a hand to the doorknob and tried to turn it. It was locked. "Figures," he muttered. He took his wand from his back pocket and tapped the lock sharply, and said, "Alohomora." Again, he tried the door and groaned aloud. Remus had used something stronger to lock the door that night. "Moony, let me in," he said to the door, feeling like an idiot for telling a werewolf to unlock a door. He tried every counter-charm to locking and Imperturbable Charms he could think of, but was still stuck outside the door.

Just as he gave up and started to walk away, he heard a click behind him. With a raised eyebrow, he turned back, finding the door open a crack. He pushed it open fully and watched Moony stalk back to the fireplace to lie down. Sirius closed the door and took careful steps forward—Remus had taken his Wolfsbane Potion, but he was still dealing with a fully grown (possibly annoyed) werewolf. And it had been nearly six months since Moony and Padfoot spent a full moon together—Sirius hadn't been able to transform into his Animagus form when he'd lost his powers.

Sirius sat on the sofa, looking at the back of the brown-gray wolf on the floor. "Moony," he said quietly. The werewolf turned his head and growled quietly. Sirius sighed. "I'll transform in a minute. Keep your fur on..." Moony glared in a way only a werewolf could and turned away. "Look, I'm sorry for lying to you about Naomi. I could give you a thousand excuses as to why I did it, but I don't think you care." Moony snorted in agreement. "I'm an idiot, and I've never been sorrier about anything in my life. You're my brother in every way but blood, and you know I don't give a damn about blood. So I've done everything I can do. It's all up to you now."

Sirius transformed into Padfoot and lay on the floor facing away from Moony. The werewolf huffed and lightly slapped the dog in the shoulder with a paw. Padfoot turned his head and found a pair of amused blue eyes watching him. Moony rolled his eyes and pushed himself from the floor, his tuft of a tail wagging, and his tongue hanging out. Padfoot stood, somewhat confused, and watched Moony lower his head to the floor, his tail still in the air. It was the position Moony took before—

Moony leapt into the air, knocking Padfoot onto his side. After that, everything was normal between the two canines. They could talk when the moon set, but right now, none of it mattered. They wrestled all over the library, late into the night, unable to remember what they were arguing about.

The next morning, Sirius woke to the muffled screams of pain caused by Remus' transformation back to human. The Animagus transformed himself and stood from the floor, crossing the library to the desk where Remus' clothes were neatly folded. He took the jeans and boxer shorts from the bottom of the pile and went back to Remus, who was still curled up on the floor, panting and shaking from the efforts of his transformation.

"Remus," Sirius said quietly, kneeling beside his best friend.

Using what was left of his energy, Remus turned around, took the clothes from Sirius, and put them on. Sirius hooked an arm under his and helped him onto the sofa, then sat down beside him. Neither of them said a word while Remus rubbed a knot out of his arm. "You know," he said quietly, not looking at Sirius. "You are an idiot, but you're my idiot, and I'd have it no other way."

Sirius looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Are you saying we're all right, then?"

"So long as you swear never to lie or go behind my back again."

"Deal," Sirius said, reaching over to pat Remus on the back.

There was a polite knock on the library door, and Emmeline and Naomi entered carrying trays of breakfast. The two wizards exchanged a look. Neither of them had ever seen the witches smile in each other's presence. "Morning, boys," Emmeline greeted them. "We've got breakfast."

"Who are you people?" Sirius asked cautiously as Naomi sat beside him. "And what have you done with our girlfriends?"

"Maybe these two are actually aliens who killed Emmeline and Naomi and took over their bodies," Remus said, scooting over to make room for his fiancée.

"What? We're not allowed to get along?" Naomi asked.

"Not what we're saying," Sirius corrected. "It's just..."

"Odd," Remus finished.

Sirius nodded.

Emmeline and Naomi rolled their eyes at each other. "If you want us to go back to hating each other..." Emmeline began.

"NO!" the two wizards said loudly in unison.

"Okay, then," Naomi said. "Shut up and eat. After breakfast, we need to discuss this plan to save Ron Weasley."

"Yes, the two of you promised Harry you'd go up to Hogwarts after the full moon," Emmeline said, handing Remus a glass of pumpkin juice.

Sirius took a bite of his toast. "So we're really going to do this, then? We're going to let Harry do this?"

"I've come up with an idea that might make it a little less dangerous for Harry," Naomi said. "It's going to take some convincing of a few people, though..."

"Who?" Remus asked suspiciously, noting the mischievous glint in Naomi's eyes.

"Snape, for one," Emmeline said casually. Sirius groaned loudly. "Yes, that's going to be fun. But the other part of Naomi's plan involves Tonks."

"What?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow. The two witches grinned at one another. "Oh no," he groaned. "I don't think I like the looks of this, Moony."

"Neither do I," Remus said. "Look, before we get into all these details, are we even sure we know where Ron is?"

"Well, that's partly where Snape comes in," Naomi said. "So hurry up and eat, we need to get to Hogwarts."

Sirius turned to her. "You're not going to Hogwarts," he told her.

Naomi raised an eyebrow and Remus winced—he knew that look. "Excuse me?"

Sirius sat his plate on the coffee table. "Naomi, you're supposed to be in hiding. You were nearly killed two weeks ago, and it doesn't exactly do you any good to leave your hiding place when every Death Eater and Voldemort is after you."

"I appreciate your concern, Sirius," she said evenly. "But we're going to Hogwarts, not to, say, London. And I haven't got a big sign on me saying 'Hey, Voldemort! I'm right here! Come get me!' I'll be fine."

"You're not leaving this house," Sirius said quietly.

Naomi narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, I am," she practically growled. "And I don't give a damn if you like it or not. Enjoy your breakfast, Remus." Without another word, Naomi stood and left the library angrily.

Sirius glared after her, tossing his toast back to the tray. "What's her problem?" he muttered.

"Sirius," Remus began cautiously. "You should know that Naomi doesn't like to be told what to do—she's a lot like you in that aspect."

"I'm doing it to keep her safe!" Sirius yelled. "I don't want to see her hurt again!"

"But she has a point," Emmeline said. "We are going to Hogwarts. It's the safest place she could be besides here."

Sirius shook his head. "You don't get it," he murmured before following Naomi's footsteps out of the library.

Emmeline turned to Remus. "What don't I get?'

"I think this goes back to Julia," he said quietly. "He wasn't able to keep her from being killed, nor was he able to save Hestia, so he wants to do everything possible to keep Naomi from getting hurt again."

The fireplace in Headmaster Dumbledore's office filled with bright green flames an hour later, and four of his former students stepped out of the grate one after another. Naomi looked to have recovered completely from her injuries, much to Dumbledore's relief; she did, however, seem to be rather annoyed with one of her companions. Dumbledore's original thought was that she and Emmeline had had another row, but to his surprise, he soon discovered that Naomi's irritation seemed to be with Sirius—a conclusion the older wizard came to after seeing the Auror's equally angry face.

"Good morning," Dumbledore greeted them as they sat before him. "How did your evening go last night, Remus?"

"Very well, Albus, thank you," Remus said with a smile as he and Emmeline sat in the armchairs in front of his desk. Naomi and Sirius took opposite ends of the sofa. "We wanted to talk to you about this plan Harry's come up with for rescuing Ron Weasley. Naomi is almost positive Ron is in Voldemort's castle, or lair, or whatever he's calling it. She's even drawn up a very detailed map of this place, and Sirius and I think we've figured out where it is."

Dumbledore sat back in his high-backed chair, his fingers crossed under his chin. "And what is it you wish to do with this information?" he asked quietly.

Sirius sighed. "We want to send Harry in," he said in a tone that suggested the words cost him everything to say. "He can do it, and I think he's the only one who can."

Dumbledore nodded. "What is your plan?"

In the very back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry sat beside Hermione. Both of them had glazed looks in their eyes. Neither had paid a bit of attention to what Snape was saying as they reviewed dark creatures; they stared at the empty chair in between them that Ron should have occupied.

Harry's head rested on the palm of his hand while his free hand used tapped his quill quietly against the edge of the desk. He hadn't slept a wink the night before due to his doubled worries of Ron and Remus. Ron was, of course, Harry's top priority at the moment, and he spent just about every waking hour finalizing his plans to save his best friend. His guardians may not be concerned with Ron's life, but if something like this had happened when they were in school, to say James, Remus and Sirius wouldn't have listened to anyone who told them to stay out of it. They would have left the moment they heard their friend was in danger.

"Potter," Snape snapped from the front of the room. Harry started and lifted his head from his hand. "Since Potter doesn't see the need to pay attention, perhaps he could familiarize the class with the features of the werewolf. Tell me, Potter, do you know how to tell a werewolf from the true wolf?"

Harry resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes, but just barely. Judging by the malicious glint in Snape's eyes, he already knew the answer to this. "Yes," he said stiffly.

"Yes, sir."

"No need to call me sir, Professor." Harry was aware a little too late that his godfather had probably had a bad influence on him, after all. But much like Sirius, Harry didn't back down from Snape's sneer or cold glare.

Before Harry knew it, the Defense professor had moved from the front of the room to his desk as though he'd Apparated. Snape's greasy face was now mere inches from Harry. "What did you say to me, Potter."

Harry thought for only a split second on what he was going to say. If he was going to get detention, he may as well really earn it. "Sorry, Professor," Harry said coldly. "I wasn't aware all that grease in your hair obstructed your hearing. Shall I repeat myself?"

"Why you little—" Snape snarled.

"Professor Snape," said a sharp voice from the door.

Snape and Harry snapped their heads in that direction to find McGonagall watching their every move. "Potter has been summoned to the Headmaster's office. He's to report there immediately. That means now, Severus," she added when Snape's sneer only intensified.

Harry stood and grabbed his school bag from the floor, and followed McGonagall out of the classroom, ignoring Snape's call that he had detention on Saturday night.

"Do I even want to know what happened, Potter?" McGonagall asked crisply as they walked down the corridor.

"No, Professor, you don't," Harry said tonelessly.

"Very well."

They walked through the quiet corridors and made it to the Headmaster's office just as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch. Upon entering the office, Harry felt his stomach sink to his feet to find his guardians, Emmeline, and Naomi sitting calmly before Dumbledore.

"Before we begin, Headmaster," McGonagall said in a wary voice as she closed the door, "I thought you ought to be informed that Potter has received a detention from Professor Snape."

Remus dropped his head into his hands. "Did you have to start something with him today, Harry?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"He started it!" Harry exclaimed.

"Please don't," Sirius said quietly. "This is not the best time for you to act like me."

Harry raised an eyebrow at his godfather. Sirius hadn't even grinned when McGonagall had announced he had a detention with Snape. "What's going on?"

"Harry, I'd like to see you in your Animagus form, if you don't mind," Dumbledore said as though speaking about Quidditch scores.

Harry looked, startled, between his Headmaster and his guardians. He didn't think anyone else but his friends and family knew he was an Animagus. Was he going to be arrested for illegal activity?

"It's all right, Harry," Remus said calmly. "Show them."

Harry sighed and nodded, closing his eyes tightly and concentrating on his body shrinking to its small round form, the golden feathers, and that stupid black one that was shaped like his scar. With a small pop, Dumbledore's study grew to be several times larger than it had been. The Headmaster stood from his desk, approaching the small golden snidget slowly. Very gently, Dumbledore picked Harry up with his withered hands and examined the bird closely. Harry could see the twinkle in his eyes magnified as Dumbledore brought him closer to his face.

"I think this will work perfectly," he said quietly to Sirius and Remus before placing Harry back on the floor. "You may change back, my boy."

Harry did so and turned to see Professor McGonagall's reaction. The Deputy Headmistress looked at him as sternly as ever. "And how is it, Potter, that you're only achieving an Acceptable in my class?"

Harry smiled sheepishly at her. He moved forward as Dumbledore led him to sit beside Remus.

Once he was in his own chair, Dumbledore leaned forward on his desk. "Your guardians tell me that you are determined to rescue Ronald Weasley. Now, before you say anything," he added when Harry opened his mouth. "I want you to understand the danger of what it is you are suggesting. Nobody without the Dark Mark has ever infiltrated this place Lord Voldemort calls his hideout. And the chances of getting out alive are scarce. If I am to agree to the plan your family has presented me, I must ask you for your word that you will abide by every rule set to you by any one of us. You will be entirely on your own in this, Harry, and it is not only your life that depends on your success."

Harry gulped and looked at Sirius and Remus who had never looked more afraid in all the time Harry had known them. "Yeah, anything," he said quietly.

"Swear to me, Harry," Dumbledore said sternly.

Harry nodded. "I swear, sir." He couldn't look to his left as he heard Sirius let out a very shaky sigh.

Dumbledore inclined his head. "Now, then, on to business," he said briskly. "It has been confirmed that Mr. Weasley is indeed in Voldemort's lair. He has been injured, but not so severely that he is in danger of dying in the near future. Voldemort has kept Mr. Weasley alive and mostly unharmed in the hopes that Harry will come after him."

"If he knows I'm coming," Harry began slowly, his brow furrowed, "how will I get in without him knowing?"

"That will indeed be the trick. I believe you suggested hiding in the pocket of our spy in your Animagus form?"

"It was a last minute idea—" Harry said hastily.

"But a strangely brilliant one," Dumbledore cut him off, his eyes twinkling slightly. "The enemy will not suspect it. Naomi and Emmeline have added to this plan—they thought it wise to have a decoy, someone to keep the Death Eaters occupied while you search for Mr. Weasley. Miss Tonks will be asked to act as your double. If she agrees, she will take on your exact appearance."

"But how's she going to get in there with Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Leave that to me," Dumbledore said with a mysterious smile.

Sirius looked at Remus. "Now I know why you never liked me or James saying that...