Disclaimer- The characters of Harry Potter do not and will never belong to me. They belong to J. K. Rowling.

Ebony Scales: Second chapter, and hopefully one that will make it easier on me while I revise this story.

Barbed Roses

Chapter 2: An Easy Solution

Ron sat on the couch in the living room of Grimmauld Place. He watched blankly as Hermione paced in front of him. The bushy-haired girl had been doing this quite often recently and didn't show any signs of stopping. Both of them fretted over the last third of their trio, though Ron was surprisingly better at hiding it.

What had ignited their apprehension was the lack of correspondence between themselves and Harry. This had only happened once before, and it had been because of a crazy house-elf stealing all of his mail. While the Order did still receive a letter from Harry every three days, it did nothing to stay the anxiousness of his two good friends. In fact, those letters had only instilled more uneasiness in them. Though the letters always arrived perfectly on time, each was short and to the point. It was creepy, actually.

"Hermione," Ron sighed, "you're going to wear a hole in the floor."

She stopped for a moment and stared at him as though trying to comprehend what had been said. Finally, she rolled her eyes and plopped down beside him with a sigh. The two sat in companionable silence, staring at the fire crackling in the hearth. The stillness didn't last for very long.

"We should do something," Hermione declared. Ron risked a glance at her to gauge her expression. This was a conversation that had already been repeated a couple of times.

"We can't, remember? We can't leave the house," he reminded her. He was annoyed because neither one of them were privileged to receive news out of the Order meetings, one of which was taking place at this very moment.

He longed to be informed of all the happenings concerning Harry and the maniac that was after him. Ron hated being left in the dark, but that was almost all that ever happened when it came to the adults, even those that he was closer to in the Order. He knew it wouldn't help, even if he were told all of the information, because he still wouldn't be able to do anything, not really. That was what was frustrating. Despite his frustration, the redhead found his eyes drooping from the warmth emanating from the fire coupled with his stress-induced weariness. He slowly slipped into a peaceful slumber, with Hermione curled at his side.

…

Lupin shifted in his chair, glancing at the other occupants of the room. The atmosphere was tense and as dark as the house itself as each was lost in his or her own thoughts. The stress of the war was catching up with all of them, while they tried to form decent plans to keep victims safe and rid themselves of the disgusting creature called Voldemort. You could see it in everyone's posture; the shoulders slightly slumped in exhaustion, the heads nodded forward in deep thought.

No one seemed to want to break the silence. It became too much for the usually calm werewolf, as he shifted again and finally voiced the question that was certainly on everyone's mind.

"So, what do we do now?" He looked around again, not really expecting an answer, but hoping for one.

"Well, we'll do what we may," Dumbledore replied with a characteristically vague response, scanning those present. Severus did not look too happy, although he never seemed to.

"And what would that be?" he questioned the Headmaster with a raised eyebrow. Albus turned to Severus and considered his question.

"You, for one, will continue seeking more information. We will use anything gathered to the best of our abilities without giving you away. We need to keep you under the radar and in relative good standing with them. There is not much else we can do." Albus turned back to the rest of the Order, giving them the chance to make their inquiries.

"What of Harry?" Everyone switched his or her attention back to Remus as he spoke. "I hate him being so isolated. He seems distant, maybe depressed. He must still be grieving over Sirius's death, which has got to be very difficult for him, you must understand. Can't we bring him here?" The werewolf looked hopefully to the Headmaster.

"I am sorry, but with the recent attacks, the boy must stay with his relatives. He will be much safer from his enemies there than he would be in any other shelter we could give him," replied the Headmaster.

"If that is all," a silky voice cut through, "I will take my leave. I did not show up to discuss Mr. Potter's living arrangements." Severus stood up and stalked out of the room.

Shortly after, the meeting was adjourned.

…

After walking out on the meeting, Severus made his way directly to Hogwarts' dungeons. The castle was unbelievably different without the crowd of students and professors roaming the halls. Instead of feeling like the busy school building that it was used as for most of the year, it instead had the calm and dark strength of the castle that it actually was. In fact, he could almost appreciate the beauty of the place, but only so long as it was relatively empty. Arriving in his private rooms, he wearily took a seat in his sitting room and pondered his summer plans again. He still needed to restock the infirmary with many different but necessary potions that he wouldn't have enough time to work on once students returned for the school year. Also, he would need to get started on the wolfsbane potion soon.

The full moon was fast approaching.

After finishing his mental planning, he decided to retire for the night. It was already late evening and he would not be able to accomplish any more this night, especially after the exhausting day that he had.

…

As Remus and the rest of the Order exited the meeting, Remus spotted the two companions asleep on the couch. He walked over to them and roused them, sending them up to their corresponding rooms.

The werewolf tracked Albus down before he left, and found him in the kitchen with the Weasley matriarch. Remus waited for the Headmaster to finish speaking with Molly before approaching him.

"Headmaster, there must be something we can do for Harry," he nearly pleaded. Dumbledore looked at him for a moment before answering.

"There is not much we can do, Remus. He has to stay under the protection of his relative's house," the older wizard calmly stated, sparing the werewolf a pitying glance.

"He's got to be tearing himself apart, being alone over there. Hell, you've seen those letters! He sounds like a dead soul, completely empty. At this rate, he'll soon be no better than a Dementor's victim. Albus, we can't let his stew over this all by himself for so long. We've got to do something!" the younger man desperately pleaded. Harry was the last link that he had to his past friends: his previous life. He felt desperation to have a pack again, his pack, and all that was left of it was James' son. The Headmaster leisurely eyed Lupin.

Realizing how much he had sounded and acted like a child, Remus trailed off, a light flush coloring his cheeks.

Finished at silently admonishing the ex-professor, Albus answered.

"As I said, there is not much we may do at this time. He is safer where he is. We can only ever make sure that he is well. We can't-."

"Then send someone to check on him! If not, at least give me permission to do so myself!" exclaimed the riled werewolf. Albus looked sharply at him.

"You know that you cannot go, you are not going to be well over the next few days, even if the political climate was safe enough to send you to check on the boy. I can see that you already may be suffering…control issues," the Headmaster delicately stated. His gaze softened under his companion's pleading eyes. Albus sighed and continued. "I will see what may be done. I will not promise anything, but we will see." Remus looked at him thankfully and walked away feeling calmer, trusting that Albus Dumbledore would take care of everything.

The Headmaster made his way back to Hogwarts and up to his office. Sitting at his desk, he pulled out a roll of parchment and looked it over. He had made up his mind and would do as his former defense professor asked, if only because he also had concerns for the boy who was dealing with so much at such a young age. He only had to find someone who would be free to take up another task.

Studying the parchment closely, he went through each member of the Order. His first choice would have been Arthur Weasley, but the poor man had enough on his plate, and Molly was busy taking care of the children stationed at Grimmauld Place. And Remus Lupin was not able to be considered for obvious reasons, although he might have been most suited for the task. Most of his other choices were busy as well, or simply being closely watched for subterfuge by the ministry, as Fudge was still untrusting of the Order of the Phoenix.

Albus continued skimming through the rest of the list, wincing as he reached one person in particular. They were free for the moment, though he was hesitant of sending them; one of the concerns being a security matter.

Thinking on it, the wise man smiled mischievously, a look that most would recognize as the expression he acquired when he was scheming. It was almost enough to make him look like a younger man. This could only go two ways. Either everything would go well and he would get rid of two rivalries that had no place in the coming war, or it would all go horribly, terribly wrong and he would be griped at for the remainder of the year. Well, it probably wouldn't matter. He would be griped at anyway.

And perhaps the security matter would be minimal, and hopefully well worth it.

Rolling up the parchment, Albus got up, placed it in his desk and headed to his chambers.

'Yes, tomorrow will be a most interesting day,' he thought to himself, chuckling.

…

…

…

Edit (1/21/15) – I obviously took out the option to vote on the story, as that certainly no longer applies. (Hopefully) better spacing options, but no major changes to the chapter.