Altercations

By Neurotica

Twenty-Nine

At nearly three in the morning, only one light could be seen around Hogwarts castle. Most of the students and staff slept peacefully; a few were disturbed by nightmares, but still, they slept on. The only person awake at this hour was Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He sat in the dimmed light of his office, a fire burning bright orange and yellow, with his fingers intertwined beneath his white beard. Of late, there'd been many nights when he found himself unable to sleep. Instead of retiring to the warm confines of his bed, he would sit in the high-backed chair in his office, his mind far too busy for such a late hour. It wasn't often that he truly looked his age, but at this moment, he did. He wasn't as young as he once was, and the lines on his face showed that in great detail.

It also wasn't often that he admitted to being worried. There were only a very select few who could always tell when something truly bothered him—Minerva was, of course, one of those few people; she knew him better than he knew himself at times. Remus Lupin was another who could read the Headmaster like a book. Though considerably younger, Remus reminded Albus of himself at that age. Remus had been one of the brightest in his year at Hogwarts, and to this day, Albus considered him among the more intelligent friends he had. If only he had stayed on as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher...

Remus was only part of the reason for Albus' late nights in his study. Eleven years ago, when Sirius Black had been released from Azkaban, Albus had known what would happen in regards to Harry Potter's living arrangements. He'd known quite well how Sirius felt towards his godson, and knew that Sirius would not have waited any longer than was necessary before inquiring about the boy. In the week leading up to Harry's change in residence, Albus had done everything he could to try and keep the boy safe. The protections from his mother's blood stopped being effective the very moment Remus and Sirius had led Harry out of his aunt and uncle's home. The two wizards were fiercely protective of their young ward, and either would have given their lives to save Harry. One of Albus' main concerns was that, one day, they would have to.

In the years following Voldemort's failed attempt to regain a body, though Harry's protection was still very important, with Lucius Malfoy and numerous other Death Eaters still on the loose, Harry guardians had allowed themselves a very slight reprieve in their constant worrying. However, it was only a matter of time, they'd known, before Voldemort finally succeeded in returning to power. During their eight-year wait, Albus had searched endlessly for a way to defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. He'd had a nasty feeling that Voldemort may have created a Horcrux or two—after failing to kill Harry, his body had been ripped away and he was left with almost nothing. But only after Harry's second year at Hogwarts was Albus' suspicions confirmed—Voldemort had created Horcruxes, and more than one. In the summer proceeding Harry's third year, Albus discovered a ring that he later identified as a second Horcrux. Then there was Slytherin's locket, which Sirius had found in a box of Julia Sedler's possessions. Currently, the locket sat on a small table with the ring. It no longer held part of Voldemort's soul—Albus had taken care of that the very same night he found out about it, nearly receiving a horrible injury to his hand, but saving himself at the last moment.

But the remaining Horcruxes were not what weighed so heavily on the Headmaster's mind. Severus had come to him a few days earlier and had given him some rather disturbing news. Albus had known for months now that Draco Malfoy had become a Death Eater. The Slytherin boy had been watched very closely not only by Albus, but Minerva, Severus, and Hagrid as well. More than once, Draco had been caught in places he wasn't supposed to be—twice Hagrid had found him on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and three times Minerva had seen him on the seventh floor, suspiciously close to the Room of Requirement. He'd claimed he'd gotten turned around and was only trying to find Professor Flitwick's office. But when Minerva offered to show him the right way, he claimed he no longer needed to see the Charms professor.

Voldemort had given Draco a new assignment, one whose deadline had been moved to three days from now. The mission must have seemed quite easy to Draco, because, according to Severus, he accepted it almost eagerly. Draco had been given the duty of "getting rid" of Harry Potter. Voldemort didn't care how it was done, so long as it was done. Albus felt he could keep Harry relatively safe and for the past few months he'd succeeded. What truly worried Albus was the added portion of Draco's mission; Severus finally told Albus that Draco had been responsible for the near death of Remus by way of pure silver. Obviously that had failed, and now Draco was determined to reconcile his mistake. Albus believed the only reason Severus even told him about this was because Draco had included Emmeline Vance in his threat. It seemed Draco was planning on murdering the couple on their wedding day, according to Severus.

Now, most would think that this was nothing to worry about. After all, Remus and Emmeline were holding their wedding on Hogwarts grounds, and would have the majority of the Order of the Phoenix in attendance. The problem was that Draco was growing desperate, and desperate people tended towards desperate measures when time began to grow short. Dumbledore was more concerned with Draco's safety than that of Remus and Emmeline's—if the boy dared to attempt something at the wedding, Sirius would not hesitate to curse him and take him to the Ministry's holding cells. And chances were quite high that Draco would not arrive to his eventual destination of Azkaban in one piece.

In addition to all this, the safety of Nymphadora Tonks and her family, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley and his family, was a priority. When Nymphadora had returned safely to Hogwarts the night of Ron's rescue, Albus had personally gone to her parents' home in Surrey to activate security wards to alert him of every visitor the Tonkses had, friend or not. The young witch had done the unthinkable—she'd captured Death Eaters directly from Lord Voldemort's hideout. The Dark Lord would undoubtedly seek revenge on her at some point, and Albus would not allow another death so long as he had the power to prevent it.

The Weasley family had already been subject to two Death Eater invasions on their home. Albus and Arthur had had a very long conversation to discuss what would happen next—Albus highly suggested the Fidelius Charm. He couldn't be their Secret-Keeper, since he had taken the duty of protecting Number Twelve, but perhaps Remus would be up to the task. Arthur wasn't against the idea, and when he and Molly discussed it, neither was she. But they wanted to wait until the Hogwarts term ended for the summer holidays. The Death Eaters and Voldemort didn't seem too bothered with the Weasleys when their children were away.

Unfortunately, there was no "easy" solution to Albus' largest concern—the concern plaguing every witch and wizard in Britain: The War. As Sirius very well put it one Order meeting, Voldemort wasn't going to wake up one morning and send an owl to the Ministry of Magic offering his surrender. He and his Death Eaters would not rest until they'd taken over completely, or Voldemort was finally gone for good. After Tonks and Harry very successfully infiltrated the Death Eater castle, Voldemort's ego had been injured—he was no longer untouchable by the Order of the Phoenix. For a week and a half, there had been no deaths or mysterious disappearances, but once the shock of what happened wore off, the peace had come to a very abrupt halt.

At some point, Harry would face Voldemort. That day could be ten years away or it could be that very next day. The boy's guardians had done very well in teaching him defensive techniques—both with and without a wand—but whether a wand would be of any real use in the Final Battle, not even Albus knew for sure. The Headmaster had a few thoughts on what could rid them of Lord Voldemort for good, but he'd yet to present these theories to Harry. After all this time, Dumbledore was still not willing to face the idea that Harry would indeed have to battle the Dark Lord. He knew it would be inevitable, but preparing Harry for the battle would officially make this nightmare a reality. But Harry was growing up rapidly and growing more powerful by the month. And when all was said and done, Albus Dumbledore had complete faith in the fact that Harry Potter would outlive Lord Voldemort and become the savior of the wizarding world once more.

Mad-Eye Moody limped through Auror Headquarters, making his way to Sirius' office, his magical eye spinning in every direction as it took in all the looks he was getting from the younger Aurors he hadn't trained. One of his gnarled hands clenched tightly around a folder containing information the Head Auror was sure to be very interested in.

Sirius and Tonks were chatting amiably when Mad-Eye knocked and entered without an invitation. He tossed the folder in front of Sirius and sat beside the purple-haired witch. "Wotcher, Mad-Eye," Tonks greeted cheerfully.

"'Lo," Mad-Eye grunted. "This just came through, Black. Thought you might want to skim through it."

"What is it?" Sirius asked, opening the folder.

"Three Death Eaters were sighted in Hogsmeade an hour ago by one of the villagers. Before anyone could be called out there, they Disapparated," Mad-Eye said as Sirius read through the report. "There were no magical traces of any kind that could tell us who they were."

Sirius looked up. "Did anyone get a description from the witness?"

Mad-Eye nodded. "It's all in there," he said, nodding to the folder. "She described one of them as looking very disoriented—"

"'Pale, with patches of brown hair missing from his head,'" Sirius read, "'Looks as though he'd lost a lot of weight in very short amount of time.' Well, I know who it sounds like, but why would the Death Eaters take Wormtail along to Hogsmeade?"

"No telling," Mad-Eye growled.

"It is possible for a person to transform to their Animagus form under Imperius?" Tonks asked.

Sirius nodded slowly, still reading the file. "But it still wouldn't do them much good; Wormtail's had the Dementor's Kiss. Unless there was a charm that could record what he saw or heard, he'd be no use sneaking around."

"Maybe that's what they're doing?"

"Maybe..." Sirius thought back over all the encounters he'd had with Wormtail since he'd received the Dementor's Kiss. Harry'd had a dream about him just after the Azkaban breakout; Order members had seen him in the Ministry of Magic, trying to get into the Department of Mysteries; he'd been used in a few attacks over the years... Why did Voldemort see the need to use a soulless wizard in his Death Eater army? What use has he been? Perhaps Remus would have a theory...

"Are you going to the wedding, Mad-Eye?" Tonks was asking.

"'Course," Mad-Eye said gruffly. "Someone's gotta keep Black from getting drunk and running starkers around the school."

"I'll have you know, Mad-Eye, that I haven't done that since fifth year," Sirius said with as much dignity as he could muster. Tonks and Mad-Eye raised their eyebrows at him. "James dared me." He shrugged.

Mad-Eye shook his head hopelessly. "You've been keeping an eye on that Johnson bloke, haven't you?"

Sirius nodded. "I've got a few people keeping an eye on him, and so far, he doesn't seem to be up to anything out of the ordinary. The Imperius Curse he was under was broken by the Healers."

"What about what Percy said, though?" Tonks said. "About Johnson telling him Voldemort needed him to write that note. Was he under Imperius then?"

"That's one of the things I had the Healers look into, and according to them, Johnson's got no recollection of ever talking to Percy before the night the note was planted," Sirius explained. "They did all kinds of memory countercharms and the only thing that even related to Percy was Johnson doing his rounds at Azkaban."

"That would mean someone else talked to Percy," Mad-Eye said. "And they set Johnson up."

"I was thinking that too," Sirius said grimly. "But I can't think of any of my Aurors that would have the gall to cross me..."

"What about Dawlish or Scrimgeour?" Tonks asked.

Sirius snorted. "Neither of them have it in them to join the Death Eaters."

"Isn't that what you said about Pettigrew?" Mad-Eye asked quietly.

Remus and Emmeline were curled up together on the sofa in the library, trying to get some much-needed rest. Molly had come to Number Twelve at exactly six o'clock in the morning, every morning for the past week to help them finish the last minute wedding preparations. Neither Remus nor Emmeline had slept well for the past few nights, and neither of them would admit to the other that it was nerves keeping them awake all night. The couple had been dealing with the excitement of their wedding just fine until Molly started rattling off everything that needed to be done. Emmeline was sure Molly wasn't purposely trying to put them on edge, but Emmeline really hadn't realized all the tiny details that hadn't been taken care of yet. And she wanted everything to be perfect. So she busied herself with things like seating arrangements and selecting music that would be played at the reception.

Remus had a completely different way of dealing with his nerves. He'd grown steadily quieter over the last few days, withdrawing by himself into the library for extended periods of time. Neither Sirius nor Naomi—who'd both known Remus practically all his life—could explain this new behavior to Emmeline. They said he hadn't been like this in the weeks leading up to his and Naomi's scheduled wedding, though Sirius admitted he hadn't really paid much attention to what Remus had been doing back then.

The Head Auror did have one theory that'd he'd kept to himself: He thought Remus was afraid that Emmeline would leave him just before their wedding, just like Naomi had. The chances of this happening were slim to none, but even Sirius' constant reassurances didn't keep the werewolf's mind from thinking of the worst-case scenarios.

The wedding was coming quickly, it was only a day and a half away now, and Molly insisted that the couple had to spend the night before apart. She and Arthur offered to let Remus and Sirius stay at the Burrow, and Molly would go to Number Twelve so that the witches wouldn't have to leave the safety of the Order's Headquarters. Remus hadn't been thrilled with the idea, especially after seeing Sirius' eyes light up like a kid's in a candy store. Emmeline had promptly warned Sirius that if her fiancé was so hung-over on their wedding day that he couldn't stand up straight, they would both pay dearly. Sirius promised only limited alcohol involvement and that Remus would be just fine for the wedding. But Remus still didn't want to spend the night away from Emmeline—the longest they'd been separated in almost a year was when he'd spent three days in Germany, and before that, they'd been apart for nearly two weeks while Emmeline tried to decide if she wanted to continue the relationship after the Naomi incident.

"You're going to have the rest of your bloody life with her," Sirius argued. "One night apart isn't going to kill you. And it's not like you'll be alone. Arthur and I will be there, and I'm going to try and talk Albus into letting Harry and Ron leave school for the night..."

When Remus still wasn't convinced, Sirius played the guilt card. "Look, in a month, both of us will be married. A few months after that, I'm going to have a daughter to look after. When do you think will be the next time you and I can have a boys' night out?"

Eventually Remus agreed, but not before making Sirius promise again that the night wouldn't involve anything too wild. Remus remembered quite well the bachelor party Sirius had thrown James; rather, he remembered the throbbing headache the next morning and the mess they'd made in his cottage—most of the actual party was nothing more than a blur.

Emmeline sighed softly in her sleep and cuddled closer against Remus. He tightened his grip around her waist, kissing the top of her head and inhaling the vanilla scent of her hair. There were moments when he wished he had a time-turner so he could back time up a week or so—everything was coming so quickly. But there were other moments when he wanted the same time-turner to skip forward in time to where the wedding was over, and he and Emmeline could start their life together.

He'd had slight worries that marriage would completely change their relationship, and not for the better. The few married couples he'd known had been much happier after their wedding—Lily and James, Molly and Arthur, Alice and Frank Longbottom—but he'd also seen couples who'd started to resent one another after their wedding. Many couples started to think they'd jumped into the decision too quickly and that the other spouse had somehow forced them into it. If one was to look back on Remus and Emmeline's year-long relationship with a cynical eye, they might say that the couple had been forced together by circumstance. They'd gone to France together and fought off Death Eaters, nearly getting killed in the process; Emmeline had no choice but to remain at Number Twelve while she recovered, and when Remus finally returned three months later, she'd stayed to help with his care; their attraction to one another had practically been inevitable due to all the time they'd spent together. True, Emmeline had left Number Twelve and Remus after finding out the wizard had kissed his ex-fiancée, but when she was injured in the St. Mungo's attack, Remus had begged her to stay with him, Sirius, and Harry at the cottage. And their relationship had gone from there.

But Remus wasn't the type to just fall in love on a whim. After his and Naomi's break up, he'd taken great care with his heart, and whom he would trust with it. Emmeline had been the first—and only—woman he'd pursued in nearly fifteen years. He was quite sure that Emmeline wasn't with him against her will or better judgment; she was quite independent and she wouldn't have wasted a year of her life with Remus, hiding from Death Eaters and Voldemort, if she wasn't deeply in love with him. That thought succeeded in comforting him somewhat.

Emmeline turned around in his arms, now facing him, and smiled, her eyes still closed. "Have you slept at all?" she asked quietly as her eyes finally opened.

He shook his head slightly. "Not really," he admitted softly. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep soundly until the wedding is over."

"Why's that?"

"Because after we're married, our lives can get back to normal."

She grinned. "When have our lives ever been normal, Remus? And I highly doubt anything will be 'normal' once Sirius and Naomi have their little girl. But I do think everything will be better than it has been."

Remus frowned slightly. "What do you mean by that? I thought things around here have gone fairly well, all things considered."

"It has been great," Emmeline agreed quickly. "I just meant life can only get better from here. Believe me, Remus, I am not at all unhappy with the turn my dull life has taken over the last year."

He traced a finger across her jaw line. "Good, because after Saturday, you're stuck with me until death do us part."

"What a tragedy," she muttered before kissing him.

That evening, after a long goodbye between Remus and Emmeline that Sirius had to eventually drag his best friend away from, the wizards Flooed to the Burrow. They'd only been there twenty minutes when the fireplace filled with emerald green flames and Harry and Ron stumbled out, grinning widely. The other Weasley boys had been invited as well, and arrived another half-hour later. Food was conjured and firewhiskey was poured—Ron and Harry were allowed half a glass each, and after that, they were stuck with butterbeer for the rest of the night.

To Remus' great relief, there'd been no surprise "entertainment"— the wizards spent most of the night talking about the women in their lives (apparently, Charlie and Tonks had gotten together a few months back without the witch's overprotective older cousin even noticing). Sirius provided many memorable moments from Remus' life that had the werewolf red in the face for a few hours.

At midnight, Sirius refilled everyone's drink and stood beside the armchair Remus had been in all night, raising his glass in a toast. "To the man I know I can count on through anything," Sirius began. "The bachelor world will miss you, Mister Moony, but judging by that glare on your face right now, you won't miss it one bit."

"To Remus!" Harry and Ron said in unison, grinning. The other wizards echoed.

"So tell us honestly, Remus," Fred said. "Are you looking forward to marriage?"

Remus smiled. "Very much so, actually," he said quietly.

"But won't you miss looking at all the gorgeous women England has to offer?" George asked with a sly grin.

"Well, I've got the most beautiful woman around—the others don't even compare to her."

Sirius rolled his eyes and feigned gagging. "Harry, if I sound like that before my wedding, slap me."

Remus looked at him. "You don't think you've got the most beautiful woman in the world?"

"Oh, I know I do," Sirius said, ducking Remus' slap. "I just don't want to sound as sappy and sentimental as you."

"Every man goes through it, Sirius," Arthur said wisely. "Whether you want to or not, when your wedding day comes, you'll sound just like Remus."

"Did you, Dad?" Ron asked.

Arthur nodded and smiled. "Oh yes," he said with a chuckle. "And when all of you boys fall in love, you'll know why," he added to his sons and Harry. Nobody noticed the soft smile on Harry's face.

"The best part," Remus said quietly, tracing the rim of his glass and staring into the amber-colored liquid, "is knowing I've finally found the woman I know I'll spend the rest of my life with. Naomi was my first love, yes, and that will always be there somewhere in my heart, but I love Emmeline on a whole different level. I didn't understand fifteen years ago that things happen for a reason—I didn't believe in fate. It took me this long to change my mind, and I'll never look back." Remus finally looked up and around him at his friends who were all smiling at him.

Sirius sat on the arm of the chair he was in, patted him on the back, and leaned down to kiss the top of his hair. "I'm proud of you, Remus," he said quietly. "It's not easy to move on from a broken heart, but you've done a hell of a job." He raised his glass again. "To Remus, may he finally know true happiness."

The others raised their glasses or bottles to the smiling wizard. "To Remus!"