Altercations
By Neurotica
Twenty
For the next few days, Harry would leave just after his lessons ended and Floo back to Number Twelve, where he and his guardians would go over and over the plan to save Ron. The other students thought he was just meeting with Dumbledore every night until two in the morning, which is when he'd stumble back to his dorm for rest before the next day's classes.
Sirius and Remus, in the meantime, were trying to charm the map Naomi had drawn of Voldemort's castle to show the Death Eaters they knew of, and some Naomi told them about, as they had with the Marauder's Map. Snape hadn't been too keen on the plan, but after Emmeline pulled him out of the room where the two Marauders were working, he finally, reluctantly, agreed.
"I don't even want to know how she got him to agree to this," Sirius muttered to Remus, looking at the triumphant grin on Emmeline's face when she finished talking to the Order spy. Remus clipped him in the back of the head.
Tonks agreed immediately, even enthusiastically, to her part in the plan, and even started walking around Number Twelve as Harry, scar and all. She'd even gone so far as to charm her voice to sound like the teenage boy's. Sirius told his friends confidentially that it was rather creepy to have a copy of his godson strolling about the place.
"Just shows you how easily it would be to impersonate someone," Remus said gravely.
"And she doesn't even need Polyjuice Potion," Emmeline agreed. "If someone put Imperius on her—"
"It'll never happen," Sirius interrupted confidently. "During Auror training, we put the candidates under Imperius to see how well they fight it off... Tonks was the best of the lot."
"Well, that's comforting," Naomi said, sitting beside Sirius at the table. "So how're you two doing on this map?"
Sirius snorted. "Not too well... It seems Snakeface has got his place charmed to keep people from doing exactly what we're trying to do."
"I've tried everything." Remus sighed. "Harry's just going to have to look around corners to make sure it's clear..."
"The two of you could charm a map of the entire country to show the location of Order members, but you can't get one castle to show up?" Emmeline asked skeptically. "Not to mention, you made a map of Hogwarts, which, according to Albus Dumbledore, should be impossible; but you did that when you were fifteen—"
"Sixteen," Remus and Sirius corrected automatically.
"Whatever. Anyway, there's got to be a way to do this," Emmeline concluded.
"Well, dearest Emmeline, if you've got a better idea, we'd love to hear it," Sirius said, sitting back in his chair and sipping a Butterbeer.
"It just so happens, I do," she said lightly. The two wizards raised an eyebrow. "If this past Christmas taught us anything, it's that there's always a backdoor through charms and wards. Now, what is the one thing that connects all Death Eaters?"
"A need for psychological help?" Sirius guessed. "Ow," he added when Naomi backhanded him. "I didn't mean you... I was thinking Bellatrix, Greyback, and Malfoy—"
"Or Snape?" Remus added. Sirius nodded brightly.
"No, you idiots," Emmeline said. "The Dark Mark." Sirius and Remus looked at her blankly. Emmeline sighed. "The Dark Mark connects all Death Eaters to Voldemort, right?"
The wizards looked to Naomi for the answer. "The answer is yes," she whispered loudly.
"Yes," they said, turning back to Emmeline.
"Right..." she said slowly as though wondering about their intelligence. "So if there was someway to copy the spell Voldemort uses for the Dark Mark to this map, maybe it would bypass all of Voldemort's wards."
Sirius and Remus looked at each other thoughtfully for a few moments before Remus leaned over and kissed Emmeline's cheek. "That's why I love you," he smiled.
"Me too," Sirius said, kissing Emmeline's other cheek.
"Hey," Naomi said huffily.
"Oh right," Sirius said, kissing her cheek. "Sorry, love."
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Somebody please tell me why I put up with him," she said in exasperation.
"He's cute?" Emmeline guessed.
"No, that can't possibly be it." Remus grinned, ducking the cork Sirius threw at him. "Alright," he added to Emmeline once he stopped laughing. "How do you suggest we do this?"
"Well, first we need a Dark Mark. May I, Naomi?" Naomi rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and held out her left forearm for Emmeline. "Now, we've got to figure out the spell Voldemort uses to connect himself to the Death Eaters." She took her wand from the pocket of her Ministry robes and touched the tip of it to the black skull on Naomi's arm. "This might hurt a little," she warned the other witch. Naomi nodded, bracing herself.
Sirius and Remus leaned over the table to watch as Emmeline began to quietly mutter a spell none of them had ever heard. After a minute or so, Naomi hissed in pain and bit her lip, her eyes watering. The tip of Emmeline's wand glowed black and seemed to suck something from Naomi's arm. By the time she finished the charm some minutes later, the Dark Mark on Naomi's arm had faded to a light-gray color—the black returned moments later, much to Naomi's annoyance. Without a word of explanation, Emmeline touched her wand to the map in the center of the table and muttered another charm. A thick black smoke shot from Emmeline's wand and disappeared into the parchment. The map seemed to vibrate a little, and when it was done, they could see tiny black dots walking through the corridors on the map. Slowly but surely, small bubbles appeared beside the dots with names of all the Death Eaters currently in Lord Voldemort's hideout.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, pointing at a dot labeled 'Tom Riddle.' "How did you know to do that?" he demanded.
Emmeline grinned as she used a cooling charm on Naomi's burning arm. "There were a few advantages to dating Severus Snape..." The other three looked at her with disbelieving raised eyebrows. "What?" she said to them. "He taught me a few things. Most of it was Dark Magic, but you've got to admit it's useful."
"I don't have to admit anything," Sirius said defiantly. "Except that you're scary sometimes."
Remus quickly turned his laugh into a cough, but still earned a punch in the arm from his fiancée.
The next night, halfway through a midnight chess game between Sirius and Remus, the kitchen fireplace filled with green flames. Albus Dumbledore stepped out gracefully, followed closely by Severus Snape, with Harry Potter bringing up the rear. The somewhat cheerful mood in the kitchen evaporated instantly with three quiet words from the Headmaster: "It is time."
The reactions of Harry's family varied: Sirius closed his eyes suddenly and tightly as though he'd been slapped in the face; Remus sat back in his chair, his expression completely blank; Naomi bit her lip, grasping at her left forearm—the Dark Mark was burning; and Emmeline didn't seem to know what to do.
"We have fifteen minutes," Dumbledore said. "Miss Tonks has been contacted and will be arriving shortly. In the meantime, we must prepare."
Sirius quickly stood from the table and left the kitchen, unable to look at his godson at the moment. The boy looked questioningly to Remus who could only shrug slightly before beckoning him to the table where Naomi was unrolling the map he'd be taking along with him.
"Whoa," Harry breathed, looking at the dots. "How'd you do that?" he asked Naomi.
She smiled. "Talk to Emmeline."
Remus spotted Snape looking over their heads at the map Emmeline charmed, and then saw him glance at the witch standing at the kitchen counter. Remus cleared his throat quietly. "You must only use this when you're absolutely positive you're alone. It's going to be bad enough you're in there, but if you get caught with this... well, it won't be nice." Harry nodded pensively. "Are you nervous?" Remus asked him quietly so that the others couldn't hear him.
"Wouldn't you be?" Harry muttered.
Remus put an arm around Harry's shoulder and bent down a little. "I'd be wetting myself if I were you," he said into Harry's ear. The boy laughed and Remus winked.
The fireplace lit up again, and Dumbledore caught Tonks as she fell out of the grate. "Wotcher, all," she said brightly. "How long do we have?"
"Ten minutes." Dumbledore smiled at her.
Emmeline turned from the counter holding what looked like brown leather bracelets with small medallions in them. She handed one each to Tonks and Harry. "Preset portkeys," she explained, helping Harry put one on his left wrist. "In exactly sixty minutes, whether you've got Ron or not, these will activate and take both of you to the Hogwarts hospital wing. In addition to all that, the medallions will render you invisible to the wards and charms—thank Naomi and Severus for that."
"What happens if I don't have Ron in an hour?" Harry asked, examining the small gold coin embedded in the leather.
Emmeline sighed and looked at Remus. "Harry, we've got only one shot to get Ron out of there safely," Remus said quietly. "If that portkey goes off before you get to him..."
"They'll kill him," Harry finished in a whisper.
"They might."
Harry sighed and set his jaw determinedly. "All right. What else do I have to do?"
"You're going in there in your Animagus form," Remus said. "Naomi says the corridor ceilings are high, and you're small enough to stay out of sight—"
"Don't remind me," Harry murmured.
Remus smiled slightly. "Tonks is going to keep the Death Eaters occupied while you search for Ron. How she's going to do that, only she knows." Tonks smiled innocently. "You'll have your wand, of course, should you need it." Remus was going on about things Harry had heard dozens of times over the last few days, he knew, but he felt that if he stopped talking, something very bad would happen. It was bad enough that Harry had to hide in Snape's pocket in his Animagus form, but once he was in there, Harry would be surrounded by every Death Eater in the world without his guardians' protection.
When Remus looked up from where he'd been studying the map, he had to rub at his eyes—there were two identical Harry Potters standing in front of him. "Sirius was right," he said casually. "That is creepy."
With five minutes remaining, Sirius finally returned to the kitchen looking strangely pale. He looked between his godson and the impersonator Tonks—though neither he nor Remus knew who was who. "Which one of you is my godson?" he asked flatly.
The one on the right raised his hand, and Sirius gestured for him to come to a corner of the kitchen. "Everyone else has given you something to help you, and I couldn't figure out what I could do short of going instead of you. But then I remembered this," Sirius said quickly and quietly, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. "Your dad gave this to me when we were fifteen. You've got more use for it right now than I do, so it's yours." He pressed what looked to be an ordinary pocketknife into Harry's palm. "It's a penknife that will unlock any door and undo any knot. Use it well, Harry, and take care of yourself."
Harry nodded, his jaw still clenched, his own face somewhat pale. "I will."
Sirius tried to smile, but couldn't even lift a corner of his mouth. "We'll see you in an hour, then," he said hoarsely, hugging Harry tightly.
"Come, Harry, it is time," Dumbledore said quietly, reluctant to break up godfather and godson.
Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he crossed the kitchen to the headmaster. With one last look at his guardians, he transformed into the only golden snidget any of them had ever seen with emerald green eyes. Snape's face was expressionless as he carefully reached out to catch Harry, placing the bird in the pocket of his robes. Sirius heartbeat quickened as he tried to suppress the urge to stop this whole thing right now. Remus had obviously read his mind, and placed a hand on his shoulder, but instead of being reassured like he usually was with Remus by his side, Sirius still felt completely helpless. He saw Dumbledore's lips moving, but whatever he was saying, the Head Auror couldn't hear it—it felt like somebody had turned off all the sound in the room. His breath caught in his throat as the Tonks-Harry grabbed onto Snape's arm, just above the burning Dark Mark. Using his right hand, Snape touched the Mark with his wand, and with a final nod to Dumbledore, they all disappeared.
Sirius stared fearfully at the spot where Snape had once stood, and slowly turned to face Remus. "What the hell did we just do?" he asked quietly.
Remus' face was blank as he looked at the same spot. "He'll be okay," he said hoarsely as though trying to convince himself as much as Sirius.
"We should return to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said to the remaining four in the kitchen. "Molly and Arthur will be arriving there shortly."
Harry tried to hold his breath in the dark, smelly confines of Snape's robes, but when they'd Apparated to wherever they were going, he couldn't hold it anymore. He realized that this had to be the most embarrassing position he'd ever been in, and knew that Sirius—once he calmed down after all this was over—would never let him live it down.
Snape opened a door and began to walk slowly, muttering something to Tonks. Soon after, Tonks muttered what sounded like a Disillusionment charm. Another door opened, and Snape finally opened the flap of his pocket. "Go, Potter," he said, barely above a whisper.
Harry didn't need to be told twice—a first when it came to dealing with Severus Snape—and flew out of the pocket, up to the ceiling, and down a corridor. Just before he turned a corner, he heard Snape grunt in pain. He turned on his wings and saw his professor grasping his knee. Had Tonks just kicked him?
"Keep going, Harry," he heard Tonks say quietly in his voice from directly below him as her footsteps moved past him.
Harry turned the corner and continued down the stone corridor, the only light coming from black flame torches mounted to the wall every few feet. The air around him was freezing cold, and if he hadn't been in his Animagus form, Harry knew he'd be able to see his breath in a thick fog. Should have brought a sweater along for Ron, he thought vaguely as he flew. He's probably freezing...
A door opened in the same hall Harry was in, and he hastily moved into the shadows. Bellatrix Lestrange and another witch were walking quickly in the direction Harry had just come from. They were having a muttered conversation.
"...furious," Lestrange said harshly. "How could she have escaped if nobody helped her? I've told you before of my suspicions of Severus Snape."
"But the Dark Lord trusts him, Bella," the other witch said. "The Dark Lord..." Their conversation faded as they turned a corner.
Harry waited a moment to be sure the coast was clear, and he saw two red jets of light, one right after the other, shoot out after Lestrange and the other. There were two dull thuds and rushed footsteps, followed by a light blue glow. Curious, Harry quickly flew back to the corner to see Lestrange and the other Death Eater disappear.
"It's all right," he heard Tonks say. She'd heard the rapid flapping of his tiny wings. "Sent them to Azkaban where they belong."
Suddenly, Harry understood Tonks' role in all this: She wasn't there just as a decoy, she was arresting Death Eaters. Harry took off quietly, in case someone came looking for the members missing from the Death Eater meeting, choosing the opposite direction that Tonks was going. He had no idea where he was going—he'd been instructed by Naomi not to transform out of his Animagus form until he'd been there for fifteen minutes, just to be sure all the Death Eaters were in the meeting room.
He tried not to think of what would happen if he was caught—getting caught was not an option. Instead, he thought about all the good things that would happen when he, Ron, and Tonks got back to Hogwarts. Life could get back to normal. Hermione wouldn't be so miserable anymore—maybe she and Ron would stop arguing long enough to get together (finally). Ron could finish his Animagus transformation. They could get back to Quidditch and their goal to win the House Cup for the third year running—that would put them on McGonagall's good side. And when school ended for summer, Remus and Emmeline would be married.
Harry tried to prepare himself to find Ron in the worst condition imaginable, remembering what Remus had looked like when he was brought to Hogwarts from France. But Madam Pomfrey had healed all of Remus' injuries, and she would do the same with Ron. In a week or two, Ron would be back in classes. Harry wondered if the Weasleys would still stay at the Burrow after all this. If they did, they'd probably have Aurors stationed around their property day and night for the next few months.
Harry turned a corner and landed in the shadows, transforming out of his Animagus form. He took the map Naomi made from his robe pocket and tried to look at it in the dark. Somewhere down the corridor he heard panicked voices, and wondered if Tonks was all right.
While trying to listen to the commotion, Harry failed to hear the noises approaching him. When he finally did realize he wasn't alone, he stifled a scream and backed up against the wall, his wand out and pointed to the floor.
The walls of the Hogwarts hospital wing seemed to be closing in on Sirius. All of the Weasleys had arrived at the school just after he, Remus, Emmeline, and Naomi had Flooed in with Dumbledore. Even Ginny and Hermione had been awoken by Professor McGonagall and were filled in on what was happening. Sirius was rather surprised at the girls' reactions—neither of them seemed to have any idea about what Harry had been doing for the past few days. For the first time ever, Harry had listened to his guardians when they told him he couldn't tell anybody about this. Remus hadn't said a word since their arrival at Hogwarts. Currently, he was standing at a window, staring out into the snowy night. Sirius crossed the room and stood beside him.
"All right, Moony?" he asked quietly.
Remus nodded. "You?"
Sirius shrugged. "Not as bad as I could be, I suppose." He glanced down at Remus' clenched fist, where a gold chain hung. "What's that?"
Remus pulled up his hand and opened his fist to reveal the pocket watch Emmeline had given him last Christmas. He pressed a button at the top to open it. Sirius' hand was on 'Hospital,' while Harry's was on 'Mortal Peril'.
"It moved from 'Home' just after he Portkeyed, or however the Dark Mark works. Been on 'Mortal Peril' since," Remus told him.
"What kind of parents are we, sending him into a place like that? Lily and James are probably turning over in their graves," Sirius said.
Remus smiled humorlessly, looking back out the window. "We can't protect him forever, you know."
"Watch me." Sirius turned and sat on the window ledge, looking over to where Emmeline and Naomi sat, talking quietly. Across from them, gathered around an empty hospital bed, were the Weasleys and Hermione. None of them looked at each other, but Sirius could make out traces of hope on their faces. For their sake, he hoped Harry brought Ron back safe and sound—he wasn't naïve enough to think Ron would be completely unmarked.
"Sirius, can I ask you something?" Remus asked.
Sirius slowly pulled his eyes away from the Weasleys to look at his best friend. "Yeah, sure, what's up?"
Remus seemed to hesitate. "This probably isn't the best time for this, but I've been meaning to ask your opinion on something." Sirius nodded for him to go on, and he glanced at Emmeline before speaking again. "Do you think I'd make a good father?"
Sirius was taken aback by the question, but answered, "Yeah, you'd make a great father. I've never seen anyone as good with kids as you." Remus smiled softly, still watching Emmeline. Sirius raised an eyebrow, looking between the couple. "She's not pregnant, is she?"
"Huh?" Remus said, turning back to Sirius. "No, no... not yet, anyway. I was just wondering what you thought."
Sirius thought this was a rather odd conversation to have at the moment, considering the circumstances, but if Remus wanted to take his mind off it this way, Sirius was happy to comply—he wanted to get his mind off it, too. "So you two are planning on kids, then?" he asked.
Remus nodded, still smiling. "We both want them at some point. It'd be nice having kids around again, now that Harry's mostly grown and ready to be out on his own. And both Emmeline and I have good jobs, so money really isn't the issue it was a few years ago—for me, anyway. I guess the only thing we've got to worry about is—" He broke off, his smile fading, and his eyes clouding over.
"What?" Sirius prompted.
Remus sighed, hesitating again. "Well, what if our children inherit my... condition?" he asked quietly. "I couldn't put Emmeline or them through that..."
Sirius could see his point. Remus had always been rather paranoid about infecting another person with his Lycanthropy, especially before the Wolfsbane Potion. If his children ended up with the same curse, Remus would be crushed. "There's always a chance they won't, though; I've read about it."
Remus gave him an odd look. "Since when do you read?" he asked.
Sirius shrugged. "I have my moments. I was bored and I found a copy of an old Daily Prophet lying around," he said dismissively. "Anyway, the article I read said that if one parent is a werewolf, but the other isn't, there's about a thirty percent chance their children won't be."
"But with my luck, Emmeline and I would be in the other seventy percent," Remus muttered.
"Have you talked to her about this?"
Remus shook his head. "I'm kind of afraid to, actually," he admitted. "She knows about what I am, and the dangers of it, but I don't know that she's thought about the chances of our children turning out the same way."
"She's a smart bird, I'm sure she's thought about it. But she's obviously not concerned about what you are once a month. So I highly doubt she's going to leave you if you told her the chances of your children being werewolves."
"No, I don't think she'd leave me either. I'm just worried that she'll have second thoughts on having children with me."
"Like the thoughts you're having now?" Sirius asked wryly. "If you want, I can talk to Ted; he can probably tell you what your chances are..."
Remus nodded. "That might not be a bad idea, actually..." He sighed and looked around the hospital wing again. "How much time do we have?"
Sirius looked at his watch. "We're just past the thirty minute mark. Hopefully Harry's nearly there. I don't know how much longer I can wait."
A large snake reared up in front of Harry, and the boy recognized it almost immediately—he'd seen it ten years ago, when he was tied to that tombstone and Wormtail was trying to bring Voldemort back. Thinking quickly, Harry quietly said, "Stupefy," and the snake collapsed to the cold stone floor, unconscious. Hoping nobody saw the jet of red light, Harry cautiously slipped past the snake and down the corridor, glancing over his shoulder every so often as he went.
"Lumos," he muttered, unable to see the map in the dark light. The faint glow from his wand was more than enough for him to make out the name just behind a door that, from what he could tell, was just a few long strides in front of him:
'Ronald Weasley'