Altercations

By Neurotica

Twenty-Four

Remus landed easily on the carpet of the living room that had once belonged to Julia and her parents. Beside him, Sirius stood watching with longing eyes as his former girlfriend entered the room carrying a bowl of freshly made popcorn and holding a telephone between her ear and shoulder. Remus looked at the clock on the wall—it was 10:30 at night.

Julia laughed at something the person she was talking to and replied, "Well, it's not like you haven't known for years that James is weird. The man had a pet snake called Mr. Wiggles for Merlin's sake."

She must be talking to Lily, Remus thought vaguely.

"You had just better hope he doesn't mess your kid up too badly," she teased over the phone, propping her legs up on the sofa. "Yes, yes, I'm sure James will be an excellent father." Whatever Lily said in response made Julia smile softly. "Well, before that can happen, Sirius needs to propose to me. But we barely see each other anymore, between my work at the Ministry and his Auror training... Yeah, he's coming over tonight. He's actually late; he was supposed to be here half an hour ago... No, he probably just went home for a shower. He Flooed earlier and said he and Frank Longbottom were working late on some case." Julia looked towards the door when someone knocked. "That's probably him now. I'll see you tomorrow... No, I won't do anything you wouldn't do, but you're married, so I can't imagine there's much you wouldn't do..." Julia laughed again. "Good night, Lily."

Shaking her head with a smile, Julia hung up the phone and removed the bowl of popcorn on her stomach. "I'm coming!" she called to the door as the urgency in the knocks increased. Sirius and Remus followed her to the door. She stopped at a mirror in the hall to fix her long brown hair. "Honestly, Sirius, calm down..." she muttered pulling open the door.

The wide smile on her face disappeared immediately when she found not Sirius on the other side but his brother Regulus. Sirius growled a bit at the black hooded form of his younger brother, hoping Julia would just curse him.

"Her wand is on the table," Remus said quietly.

Sirius closed his eyes tightly. He'd told her a million times to take her wand everywhere she went.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coldly.

Regulus pushed past her into the house and closed the door. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said at the fearful wide eyes of the witch. "I just need to talk to you."

"I want you out of my house now," Julia said, her voice trembling and her eyes darting from Regulus to the table in living room, obviously wondering if she could get to her wand. "Sirius will be here any minute, and if you—"

"I told you," Regulus said. "I'm not here to hurt you. Look, I know you don't like me, and I've given you no reason to, but... I'm in trouble, I just need you to give something to him."

"Why should I do anything for you?"

"Because it's something that might help you defeat the Dark Lord, and if I'm caught with it, it will never get into the right hands. Hell, whether I have it or not, I'm dead, but I wanted to be sure this gets to the right people."

"Don't do it, Jules," Sirius begged. "It's a setup, please, don't do it."

Remus knew his pleading was pointless—they both knew what was about to happen, but if Sirius wanted to try and convince himself it wouldn't, Remus wouldn't be able to stop him.

Julia and Regulus stared at one another for a long moment—the wizard's eyes held a quiet desperation Remus had never seen in all the time he'd known Regulus; Julia's eyes were skeptical. "What do you want me to give him?" she finally asked quietly.

Regulus sighed in relief and smiled a bit, causing him to look even more like his big brother. The younger Black reached into his robes and pulled out a heavy golden locket with the same S on it as the one Sirius found at Number Twelve. "I'm not entirely sure what this is, but I know it's very important to the Dark Lord. He had all kinds of spells and enchantments on it for protection. It once belonged to Salazar Slytherin—"

"The Hogwarts founder?" Julia asked, looking in curiosity and amazement at the locket.

"The one and only," Regulus said darkly. "Anyway, the Dark Lord used it for some sort of ceremony. Nobody really knows what he did, but I have a few ideas. If you get this to Dumbledore, I'm sure he'll be able to figure out more about it. I've also written a letter to Sirius, explaining everything. Will you give these to him? I didn't want to leave them at his flat with him not being there—I'm afraid the locket will be stolen and returned to the Dark Lord..."

"If I take this," Julia said slowly, "they'll come after me, won't they?"

Regulus shook his head. "They've got no reason to. They're after me, and I was careful to erase any path that could lead them here. So long as you get this to Dumbledore, you should be safe. But I would recommend waiting until morning to do it—there are Death Eaters monitoring Floo communication. And do not send it by owl—it would be far too easy to be intercepted."

"Sirius is going to kill me for this," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, I'll give the locket and letter to him. What will happen to you?"

"Don't worry about that," Regulus said, his pureblooded arrogance shining through. "Just do what I've asked. Please. Oh, and if you know how, take the memory of this out of your mind and put it somewhere safe. That way if they do find you, they can't break it out of you."

Regulus handed over the letter and locket, and without another word he turned and left the house. A sharp crack sounded on the patio as he Disapparated.

Julia continued to stare at the door, horror written all over her face. "Oh god, what did I just do?" she whispered, looking down at the items in her hand.

She ran past Sirius and Remus to the living room where her wand lay on the table before sprinting up the stairs. The wizards followed her to her bedroom where pictures of her and Sirius, her, Lily, and Naomi, and her parents lined the walls. She went to the closet and began throwing clothes and shoes over her shoulder. She wrenched open her Hogwarts trunk and dug around until she found an empty potions phial. Taking a deep, calming breath, she placed the tip of her wand to her temple and closed her eyes, and a moment later, pulled her wand away, a silver strand of thoughts wrapped around the tip. She carefully put the strand into the phial and put a cork in it. Then she stood, looking wildly around her room. She rushed to her bedside table where a picture of Sirius grinned cheekily at her and pulled a drawer open, retrieving a black leather pouch. One by one, she placed the locket, letter, and phial inside, and pulled the straps of the pouch shut, muttering a charm to seal it magically and make it unobtainable by summoning or any other magical means, before putting it back into her drawer. She sat against the table and put her head into her hands.

The door downstairs opened and closed, and a voice that undoubtedly belonged to Sirius called out, "Jules? Where are you? I brought dinner!"

Relief like no other spread across Julia's features as she pushed herself off the floor. "I'll be right down, Sirius! Make yourself at home!"

"I always do!"

Julia laughed a little and left the room.

Remus turned to Sirius. His best friend's jaw was clenched tightly as he continued to stare at the drawer that held the locket. "Come on, Padfoot... We should get back..." When Sirius made no move to leave, Remus grabbed his elbow and concentrated on the kitchen of Number Twelve, and a second later, they were back on the stone floor. Sirius swayed dangerously as Remus led him to the table.

"What happened?" Naomi asked quietly, moving from her chair to an empty one beside Sirius and putting her arms around him.

"We need to get Dumbledore here immediately," Remus said hoarsely.

Dumbledore was contacted shortly thereafter and was filled in on the events of the evening. Naturally, the Headmaster wanted to see Julia's memory, and when he reappeared in Number Twelve's kitchen twenty minutes later, his face was blank of every thought and emotion that might tell his former students the conclusions he'd come to. Sirius hadn't said anything since Dumbledore's arrival; he remained beside Naomi who was rubbing his back in attempted comfort—Remus was positive it did no real good.

For years, they had all thought the reason Julia had been targeted and killed was because she was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. There'd been nothing pointing in another direction—Julia had been a clever witch, but she'd never faced Voldemort, and until tonight, Remus didn't believe there'd been any other reason for her death than her alliances with Dumbledore. But it had been Regulus' fault she died—he'd convinced her to take that locket to give Dumbledore.

If only she'd actually given it to him, Remus thought. But would Voldemort still have come for her?

Dumbledore tapped the side of the pensieve with his wand and muttered an incantation to tell him how old the memory was. He told the others that it was created just one week before her death. This proved to Remus that Sirius had indeed been listening—he heaved a dry sob. Naomi wiped quickly at her eyes and bent to kiss Sirius' hair, whispering something to him the others couldn't hear.

"How did Voldemort know Julia had the locket?" Emmeline asked quietly.

"Regardless of whatever Regulus did to erase his Apparition points, there are still ways to track a witch or wizard when they Apparate or Disapparate—as you know, being the Head of the Magical Transportation department, Emmeline," Dumbledore said. Emmeline nodded. "Voldemort sought Regulus out, and even if Regulus didn't tell him where he'd taken this locket, Voldemort could have performed any number of spells to show him that Regulus had taken it to Julia's home."

"Why is this locket so important to him?" Naomi asked. "I never heard anything about it..."

Dumbledore sighed heavily, his considerable age showing. "Do you all know what a Horcrux is?" he asked as though they were in a school lesson. Frowning deeply, Remus nodded, Emmeline and Naomi followed a moment later. The Headmaster went on, "It is my belief that Lord Voldemort created several Horcruxes during his first reign of power. Four years ago, I located one of the items I believed he used as a Horcrux, and it has since been destroyed."

When three of the four looked at him in question, he said, "The diary discovered by young Ginny Weasley in her first year at Hogwarts had been a Horcrux. For the benefit of Emmeline and Naomi, I will expand on this, since Sirius and Remus are both well aware of the events: You both are aware that four years ago the Chamber of Secrets was opened—it was in the newspapers, I believe. Miss Weasley had been given a diary before the start of term, and she used it to write down her thoughts and feelings. The year went on and odd things began to happen around Hogwarts. Remus, Minerva, Severus, and I, all being members of the Order, had suspicions of what was happening, and we searched high and low for what was causing our students to be petrified. It was not until Miss Weasley was abducted did we find anything of use. Or rather, Harry and Ron found anything. With the help of Hermione Granger, they discovered that the monster, for want of a better word, was moving through the school's plumbing. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley went into a bathroom where they found the Chamber, and being the adventurous pair they are, went to rescue Miss Weasley. A Basilisk had been the cause of the attacks, and Harry killed it. He discovered what he described to me later on as being a 'ghost' of Tom Riddle, later renamed Lord Voldemort. Tom, who was sixteen at this time, informed Harry that once Ginny died, he would use her power, her soul, to come back to full power. Harry destroyed the diary from which Tom had left the memory of himself, thus keeping Voldemort from rising once more."

"Did you know that the diary was a Horcrux, sir?" Emmeline asked quietly, enthralled by the story—Remus had never told her any of this.

"I had a suspicion," Dumbledore admitted. "But I was not sure. At the time, I was merely pleased that Harry and his friends had managed to make it out of the chamber, which has since been sealed off magically so that no other student can find their way down there."

"Albus," Remus said slowly and not just a bit hoarsely. "If the diary was a Horcrux and Harry did destroy it like I know he did, then why wasn't Voldemort destroyed as well?"

Again, Dumbledore sighed. "Again, I only have my suspicions, but I'd like to think they are educated suspicions," he said. "I believe there are six Horcruxes belonging to Lord Voldemort."

Remus blanched. "Six," he choked out. "My god..."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "But as I said, the diary-Horcrux has been destroyed. This locket," he said, picking up the golden object, "will be tested. And if my theories prove correct, and this is a Horcrux, it, too, shall be destroyed."

"So that leaves four," Naomi said.

"That would be correct," Dumbledore responded.

"And do you have any idea what the others might be?"

"That is difficult to determine," Dumbledore said mysteriously. Remus took this to mean he had a good idea about the others, but did not yet wish to divulge the information. "If it is not too much trouble, Sirius, I should like to take Julia's memory back to Hogwarts with me. I will return it to you in good time, but I wish to analyze it further."

"Whatever you want," Sirius muttered hoarsely, his voice muffled in his arms.

Dumbledore inclined his head. "Thank you," he said. "I am very sorry about this, my dear boy. Julia was an amazing person, and it was nothing short of a tragedy to lose her." Sirius nodded a little to show he heard. "I must return to Hogwarts. I will see you all soon, I expect; after all, there is a wedding coming up."

Remus and Emmeline smiled weakly as Dumbledore picked up his pensieve and stepped into the fireplace. None of them said a word for long minutes—none of them knew what to say. Finally, Remus asked Emmeline and Naomi if he could have a few minutes alone with Sirius—they complied, though Naomi was reluctant to leave his side.

"Padfoot," he said quietly, moving to sit in Naomi's vacated chair.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Sirius asked, his voice full of pain and slight anger. When he lifted his head from his arms, Remus wasn't surprised to see tears falling freely from his eyes. "I was there not ten minutes later. Why didn't she tell me Regulus had been there? She didn't have to hide that memory. I would have helped her... I would have taken that locket to Dumbledore..."

Remus was at a loss for words; he'd been wondering the same thing. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Maybe she thought that if she told you Regulus had been there, you would have gone after him—"

"You're damn right I would have gone after him," Sirius said harshly. "He had no right going to her with this! If he was so determined to get that damn locket to Dumbledore, then why in the bloody name of hell didn't he take it to Hogwarts himself? It's just like him to be a coward; to put the woman I loved more than anything into danger... You read that letter he wrote me, you saw what he said about Julia and me. He knew Voldemort would go after her! He knew he was going to die, and he wanted to take as many Mudbloods with him as he could."

Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius' word choice, but decided not to comment. "He took it to your flat, Sirius, but you weren't home—"

"Then he should have thrown it into a river or something!" Sirius shouted. "He knew what that thing was—I don't care what he told Julia, he knew, Remus!" Sirius sniffed heavily. "Why couldn't I have been on time to her place that night? Why did I have to stop for food? I could have gotten that thing from Regulus and then cursed the hell out of him for bringing it anywhere near my girlfriend."

"Sirius, I know you don't want to hear this, but I think you need to," Remus said quietly. "No matter what you think should have happened, it happened, and there's nothing we can do to change it. Julia must have known what she was doing that night. She probably planned on giving it to Dumbledore at some point, but for whatever reason, she didn't—"

"So now you're saying it's her own fault she's dead?"

"You will never hear me say anything like that," Remus said firmly. "Julia was one of my dearest friends and I miss her terribly." He sighed. "You can't blame yourself for what happened to her, Sirius. All that will do is make you miserable and depressed. What we found out tonight won't change the fact that Julia is gone. I'm sorry to say that, but it's true and deep down, you know that as well as I do."

Sirius nodded jerkily and wiped the tears falling freely from his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. "I know," he said hoarsely. "I just don't understand why everyone around me dies. Julia, Lily, James, Hestia, Kingsley... And the ones who haven't died have gone through absolute hell..." Remus sighed again, recalling Harry saying much the same thing after Ron was kidnapped. "Why can't I help the people I love?"

"You have helped us," Remus said quietly. "I don't tell you this often, but having you around means more to me than you'll ever know. Before you were released from Azkaban... There were nights I heavily considered ending it all. I had no reason to live. My friends were all gone in one way or another, I had no job, and all I thought I'd been was a drain on the economy. But you and Harry changed all that, and I am thankful every day that I have the two of you in my life."

"You considered suicide?" Sirius asked in disbelief. Remus nodded. "I never knew that..."

"I'm ashamed of it," Remus said simply. "I realized after I had you and Harry again how selfish it would have been for me to give up. If I'd killed myself, you'd still be in Azkaban, and who knows what would have happened to Harry—he'd probably still be with the Dursleys... Look, the point is, Sirius, you're not a curse on your friends. It's not your fault that there is a murdering psychopath out there. After tonight, we'll just have to fight harder to end this before something else happens."

Sirius looked up at Remus and nodded determinedly. "Do you think Dumbledore will find the other Horcruxes?"

"He's Dumbledore," Remus said with a small smile. "He can do anything."

Emmeline and Naomi were in the drawing room, silently repacking the box of Julia's things. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts—Naomi was thinking of Julia, and wondering how she herself could have missed something so important during her time as a spy against Voldemort. Emmeline lingered on thoughts of other things that happened during the first war, and if those too would popup and surprise them just as this had. Most of Voldemort's murders appeared to be just senseless, random deaths but between the Potters and Julia, it was clear that many of the deaths weren't as random as originally thought.

Emmeline really hoped the truth about Julia's death wouldn't put Sirius in a depression. Life was finally starting to seem normal again, and the excitement of Remus and Emmeline's wedding was only building over the days. Sirius was back at work fulltime with his Aurors now, since his powers had returned—Emmeline was still curious about how it had happened so abruptly (could it have had something to do with Sirius' wand surviving the cottage fire?) And the relationship between Sirius and Naomi was growing; Naomi told Emmeline that she hadn't been so happy with a man in many years. (Emmeline knew she was referring to Remus, though neither of them had said it aloud.)

"Emmeline," Naomi said suddenly. "I've got to tell you something."

Emmeline raised an eyebrow as Naomi went to the door and made sure they were indeed alone before closing it and turning back around. "What is it?" Emmeline asked.

Naomi hesitated. "I was going to tell Sirius first, but I don't know how he'll take it after everything we just heard. But if I don't tell someone soon, I'm going to burst."

Emmeline's heartbeat quickened. "What?" she breathed, slightly fearful, noting the look on Naomi's face.

"The other night while we were at Hogwarts, I pulled Madam Pomfrey aside while the rest of you were occupied. See, I haven't been feeling well for a week or so,and I wasn't sure why. Poppy ran a few tests, and..." Naomi took a deep breath. "Emmeline, I'm pregnant."