Altercations
By Neurotica
Twenty-Three
Draco Malfoy was very angry.
He sat in a deep green leather armchair in front of the Slytherin common room fireplace, recalling the letter he'd just received from his father. He'd seen the newspapers from two days before, telling how Potter had somehow gotten into the Dark Lord's hideout to rescue Weasley and had gotten out without being caught. He'd read how the shapeshifter Tonks had arrested six Death Eaters, including his Aunt Bellatrix.
The Dark Lord was beyond furious with his followers, Draco's father had told him in the letter. After discovering the betrayal of one of his most trusted servants, he'd been fuming, but Potter outsmarting him had sent him way over the edge. Draco now had a new mission, a mission that, if he failed, the Dark Lord would personally see to it that he was duly punished. He only had eight weeks to complete his new mission. After that, if his target had not been destroyed, Draco would have to face his master's wrath.
He'd already failed one mission—Lupin was still alive and well and apparently about to get married. The night the Dark Lord had personally gone to take care of Lupin and Black, he had discovered a guest list comprised of members of the Order of the Phoenix.
What kind of filthy beast would want to marry a werewolf? Draco wondered. It was disgusting to think about. But Lupin and his werewolf-loving bitch would not see their wedding day. Draco would see to that.
On the last night of the mini-vacation Minister Bones had given Sirius, Remus, and Emmeline, the three friends and Naomi sat in the drawing room, Sirius having decided they needed a change of scenery from the kitchen and library. Naomi had brought down one of the boxes Sirius and Remus had retrieved from the Auror's old flat and she and Sirius sat on the floor, sorting through old pictures. Remus and Emmeline were curled up together in one of the most comfortable armchairs in the house—the witch's eyes were closed, her head resting on her fiancé's shoulder; a book lay open in her lap while he read, his hands massaging her legs.
Sirius sorted through a pile of pictures, from Julia's childhood to her Hogwarts years. He found one that looked to have been taken just after first year—eleven-year-old versions of Julia, Naomi, and Lily smiled brightly, their arms around each other's waists. For most of her Hogwarts career, Naomi had carefully balanced her time between Julia and Lily, and the Marauders. There were a few years that she stuck solely with the girls—mostly when the boys (being James and Sirius) decided that, though they were interested in the fairer sex, Naomi was more like a sister, and it would hurt their reputations to be seen with her.
"We were such prats," Sirius muttered with a chuckle.
"You still are," Remus, Emmeline, and Naomi said automatically. Sirius glared at them as they laughed.
"What did you do now?" Remus asked with a grin.
"Nothing," Sirius replied. "I was just thinking about James and me, and how we thought Naomi was bad for our images with the other girls in school."
"Yes, I remember that very well," Naomi said flatly. "Sirius, James, and I were pretty much inseparable from the time we, James and I, met Sirius at a Ministry Christmas party when we were five, up until around third year," she explained to Emmeline. "But then they decided I wasn't good enough for them, so they declared it 'boys only' time, and I became best friends with Julia and Lily."
"It wasn't that you weren't good enough for us, Naomi," Sirius said. She raised a challenging eyebrow at him. "Moony, help me out."
"Oh no, you're not bringing me into this," Remus said. "If I recall correctly, I had no problem with Naomi hanging around us. You and James were the ones who told her to go sit with the girls on the train before term began."
Sirius snorted. "The reason you didn't have a problem with her was because you were madly in love with her."
"Sirius, I was thirteen! I wasn't interested in girls then; again, that was you and James."
Emmeline slid off Remus' lap without him noticing and sat beside Naomi on the floor. "They'll go on for hours about this," she said.
Naomi grinned and shook her head hopelessly. The two witches tuned out the argument Sirius and Remus were now having about a prank in second year—Remus insisted it had been by complete accident that a full pitcher of pumpkin juice had been dumped on Snape's head, while Sirius argued he'd done it on purpose.
"So I was thinking we could go dress shopping next weekend," Emmeline said casually. She'd asked Naomi to be her maid of honor, and the other witch agreed, albeit in a rather baffled way. She hadn't even known she was going to be invited to Remus and Emmeline's wedding, much less be maid of honor. She was actually quite flattered that Emmeline would even consider her for the position. "Molly says she's going to ask Minerva to let Ginny leave school for a few hours so she can get measured and all that."
Naomi nodded. "Works for me; I don't have anywhere to be. Sirius won't be happy about me leaving the house, though."
"I've got that all taken care of," Emmeline said dismissively. "My mother was good friends with the owner of Gladrags in Hogsmeade, so she's agreed to have all sorts of dresses sent in for us to try on. And Remus talked to Dumbledore, who said he'd have no qualms about Hagrid escorting us there and back."
Naomi looked at her. "My God... You and Remus are perfect for each other."
"So Sirius has said." Emmeline grinned.
"No, I mean it... It's sort of scary the way you both work out all the details. It's brilliant, of course, but it's like you're sharing his mind or something."
Emmeline raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I'll ever understand the inner workings of Remus Lupin's mind," she said, turning to watch Sirius and Remus arm-wrestle.
After a dinner of Chinese take-out (at Naomi's insistences), Sirius returned to the drawing room and started sorting through the box he and Naomi had been looking through earlier. Setting aside the photos and notebooks he'd been through hundreds of times, he reached the bottom where sat a plain parchment envelope, a phial of silver liquid, and a long, thin black box. He opened the box first and raised an eyebrow at its contents. It was a heavy golden locket he'd never seen before in his life, one he was sure he hadn't given Julia. His confusion only increased when he took it out of its box and turned it over in his hand—an ornate serpentine S was carved into it.
"What the hell?" he muttered to himself. He reached back into the cardboard box and retrieved the envelope. His name was written in small script that he only vaguely recognized, but couldn't quite place at the moment. He opened the envelope and pulled out a letter written on aged parchment.
Dear Brother, it read,
I write to you in the hopes you will forgive me for my mistakes. Not until it was too late did I realize that you had the right idea in terms of beliefs. Our mother and father, of course, think quite differently, as you very well know, but I cannot help but wonder why it is that we now lead such different lives.
I once idolized you, Sirius; you're my older brother and I loved you as such. Our family, though, has taught me to hate you for the blood traitor you've become. I was happy for you when I heard you'd fallen in love with a woman who loves you back—her heritage means nothing to you, and Bellatrix has convinced me that your are indeed lost to what I now consider the right side of this war.
There have been many times that I wished I could go to you and beg for your forgiveness, but it is now far too late. I've done something that will no doubt have the Dark Lord and his followers searching high and low for me. Enclosed is a locket that once belonged to Salazar Slytherin. It is of great importance to the Dark Lord, which is the reason I've stolen it, and now give it to you. I trust you will hand it over to the proper authorities—Albus Dumbledore being the preferable choice.
By the time you read this letter, I will likely be dead. I hope that you will remember what we once were, Brother, and not what we've become to one another—I never wanted to be your enemy. I wish you all the luck in the world with your life, and hope that you and your love will be married soon. May your children together know what it is to be truly loved by their parents—something neither you nor I had the chance to experience.
Goodbye, Sirius.
Your brother,
Regulus Arcturus Black
Sirius didn't even realize the letter had fluttered out of his shaking hands. He stared at the wall opposite him with wide eyes, his jaw hanging open. This locket had belonged to Voldemort and Regulus had stolen it—was that why he'd been murdered? It had to be; Regulus said in his letter he would be dead soon after he, Sirius, read it. But how had it gotten into Julia's things? Sirius had never seen the locket or the letter before now...
"Padfoot, we're going to have some ice cream. Do you want some?" Remus asked from the doorway into the drawing room. Sirius didn't reply. "Sirius? What's wrong?"
"He set her up," Sirius said in a mortified whisper more to himself. "That bastard is the reason she's dead."
Remus crossed the room and knelt beside him. "What are you talking about? What's this?" he added, picking up the locket. "Was this Julia's?"
Sirius shook his head dazedly. "Voldemort's..." he said hoarsely. "Regulus stole it from him."
"Sirius, are you feeling all right? Maybe you had too much Sake with your dinner...?"
Sirius snatched the letter up from the floor and thrust it into Remus' free hand. "Read that."
With a raised eyebrow at Sirius' harsh tone, Remus did as instructed. When he finished, he found himself on the floor—his knees had given out halfway through the letter. "How did Julia get this?" he whispered.
"I don't know," Sirius said, his head buried in his hands.
Remus looked back into the box and pulled out the phial of liquid, examining its contents closely. "This is a memory," he said quietly. Sirius snapped his head up. "Look at the way it's moving. Whatever it is, whomever it belongs to, they didn't want anyone to know about it."
"We need a pensieve," Sirius said suddenly, trying to stand on his shaking legs. Remus stood and helped him get his balance. "I need to know what that memory is, Remus. I need to know how she got that locket and this letter."
"Sirius, this memory might not even be related," Remus said.
"You don't know that," Sirius said distractedly. "Is Harry's pensieve here?"
Remus shook his head. "No, he took it to school. Where are you going?"
Sirius left the drawing room and Remus quickly followed him down to the kitchen where Naomi and Emmeline were covering mounds of ice cream with higher mounds of chocolate and whipped cream. "Sirius, do you want cherries on your ice cream?" Emmeline asked.
Sirius didn't answer. He went to the fireplace and took a handful of Floo powder from the bowl on the mantle, tossing it into the grate, and stepping in. "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office," he said clearly before disappearing in the green flames.
"What's with him?" Naomi asked, turning to Remus. "And why are you so pale?"
Remus slowly moved to sit at the table, Emmeline and Naomi coming to sit beside him. He lifted his hand where he still held the letter, locket, and phial, and placed the items on the table. "Sirius found these in one of Julia's boxes. The letter is from his brother Regulus. He thinks the phial is a memory of Julia's, and the locket... well, according to the letter, it was Voldemort's."
Harry and Ginny sat under a beech tree overlooking the Hogwarts lake, catching up on the snogging they'd missed out on in the last month, what with Ron's kidnapping and Harry's nightly excursions to Number Twelve to plan the rescue mission. Harry pulled away after a record-breaking nine minute long kiss. Breathing heavily, and quite red in the face, he leaned against the tree's trunk and pulled Ginny to lean against him. Around them, Harry had cast a warming charm so they wouldn't freeze in the snow, and a privacy spell so students wandering the grounds couldn't interrupt them.
They sat in silence, their arms wrapped tightly around each other as they looked out onto the lake where a few third year girls were ice skating. "So are you excited about the wedding?" Ginny asked quietly after a few minutes.
Harry nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I wish they'd wait until June like they'd originally planned, but I'm excited."
"Why should they wait until June?" Ginny asked, looking up at him. "They love each other and all waiting is going to do is make them impatient."
"I guess. I just thought I'd be able to go to the wedding. Now that they're having it next month, I'll never be let out of school to go."
Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm going," she said frankly. "My mum told me the other day that she, Emmeline, and I are going to Hogsmeade next weekend for dresses. Did you really think you wouldn't be able to go?"
Harry looked at her in confusion. "Sirius and Remus never mentioned anything to me about it..." he said, now thinking himself quite dense for believing he wouldn't be able to attend the wedding of his surrogate godfather. "How was I supposed to know?"
Ginny stared at him before bursting out laughing. "You can be as thick as Ron sometimes," she said. "Honestly, Harry, you're in the wedding. How could you think they'd move it up and not arrange it so that you would be able to be there? Not to mention they're most likely holding it here..."
"I don't know!" Harry said defensively. "They're doing everything else without me, why not this?"
Ginny stopped laughing abruptly, hearing the slight hurt in his voice. "What are you talking about?"
Harry sighed. "Nothing. Forget I said anything," he muttered uncomfortably.
"No, tell me," she pressed softly.
He sighed again. "I don't know... Emmeline and Remus are getting married and they'll probably move into their own place. Sirius and Naomi have gotten together and then they'll probably get married eventually. It's like Sirius and Remus are starting these whole new lives, and I don't fit in anywhere."
"Okay, now you are being stupid," Ginny said bluntly. "Why would you think, even for a second, that you wouldn't have a place in their lives? Sirius and Remus love you more than anything, Harry. They're not going to start new lives and dump you along the way."
"But what if they have kids? They're not going to want to have to deal with me too—"
"You can stop that line of thinking right now," Ginny said firmly. "I'm sure they'll have kids at some point, but it doesn't mean they'll have less time for you. Harry, I've got six brothers. My parents make time for all of us—well, not Percy so much anymore, but that's another story. They don't love any of us any less than the others. Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George have gone out on their own, but my parents didn't forget about them when Ron and I were born, and they'll never just leave them out in the cold."
"It's different," Harry said, not looking at her. "Your mum and dad are actually your parents. Sirius and Remus are only my guardians. We've got no blood between us whatsoever. There've been times that I wondered if they only took me in because my parents were their best friends."
"How can you say that?" Ginny said incredulously. "I've never seen a family like the one you've got. My mum told me once that the three of you are more of a family than a lot of the people we know. She said Dumbledore told her that the day Sirius was released from Azkaban he wanted to come and find you, but Dumbledore made him and Remus wait."
"That's another thing..." Harry said mostly to himself. "Remus was around the entire time Sirius was in Azkaban, but I still had to live with my aunt and uncle. He could have come for me, but he didn't."
"That's because he couldn't," Ginny said. "I asked my dad about that once. He said the Ministry never would have allowed Remus to take you from your guardians because he's a werewolf. And is he even named as one of your legal guardians?" Harry shook his head. "See, that's your reason. I don't know Remus nearly as well as you do, but I do know that if he'd been able, he would have taken you from your relatives. Harry, Sirius and Remus love you like you're their own son, and just because Remus is going to be married, and Sirius might be, you're still going to have a large place in their lives. Someone's got to change the dirty nappies..."
Harry laughed a little. "You're right," he said. "As always. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that Sirius and Remus are happy. I really, really am. I've just always had this fear that my life with them has just been one big dream, and at any minute, I'm going to wake up in that cupboard under the stairs at the Dursleys' place." Ginny pinched him hard on the arm. "Ow!" he yelped. "What was that for?"
"To prove this isn't a dream," she said airily. "Everything's going to work out great, you'll see."
He smiled at her. "I know," he said quietly before kissing her. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh or run away?"
"That would depend on what you tell me," Ginny said with a raised eyebrow.
Harry bit his lip, hesitating. "I love you," he said, his voice barely audible.
Ginny blinked a few times, as if the words weren't really registering in her mind. When she didn't say anything for a few moments, Harry started to get even more nervous. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Maybe she didn't feel the same way about him... But all doubts were thrown aside as Ginny kissed him again, this time with a fierce passion. She pulled away a bit, smiling, only long enough to say, "I love you, Harry," before kissing him again.
The fireplace in Number Twelve filled with green flames and Sirius finally returned, carrying a stone basin. It was Dumbledore's pensieve, he explained in a mutter. The Headmaster had let Sirius borrow his when Sirius had explained in a frantic rush that it was an emergency that he get a pensieve right that second.
"Did you tell him why you needed it?" Remus asked as his best friend pulled the cork from the phial with his teeth. "He might be very interested in this."
"Not until I know," Sirius said, pouring the contents into the empty pensieve. "Julia was my girlfriend, and for sixteen years I've wondered why Voldemort murdered her. This could be my chance to find out."
Remus sighed and exchanged looks with Emmeline and Naomi. "At least let me go in with you," he said quietly. "You shouldn't have to do this alone, Sirius."
Sirius looked at him with sad, haunted eyes. Glancing at the witches' concerned expressions, he nodded. "Alright," he said hoarsely. "But we do it now. I'm not waiting any longer."
Remus inclined his head and stood. "I don't expect you to," he said. "After you, then."
Sirius took a deep shaky breath and looked into the swirling liquid of the pensieve. Trying to prepare himself for whatever it would be that he was going to see, he bent his head over the basin. His nose touched the cool substance and he felt his feet leave the floor as he was sucked into the memory.
Remus turned to Emmeline and Naomi. "See you in a bit." They both nodded and he followed Sirius into the Pensieve.
Naomi watched them disappear before she turned to Emmeline. "I have a feeling that this will only end badly."
"What do you think that memory is?" the other witch asked quietly, staring at the pensieve.
Naomi shook her head. "No idea," she said. "I don't remember Julia mentioning any of this..."
Emmeline nodded and sat back in her chair with a sigh. "Are you still in the mood for ice cream?"
"Not really."
"Me neither."