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Chapter
5 - Visiting the Longbottoms
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Since the Minister admitted the return of the most powerful Dark Lord, the Ministry was plainly a state of hustle and bustle. Officers were either busy handling the howlers that were sent by the Wizardry community or distributing the pamphlets which taught the people how to protect themselves. And thanks to that, no one who had passed the corridor had any time or reason to look twice at Rainzzi and Tonks who were standing there so nonchalantly.
Rainzzi leaned casually on the cool wall while she kept peering at the end of the corridor from the corners of her eyes. An insuppressible excitement was flipping in her stomach, any moment now the target might walk out of the room.
She straightened up when Percy Weasley opened one of the doors and walked out, oblivious to the fact that two aurors had been waiting for him outside at a fair distance.
After receiving the signal from Rainzzi, Tonks did quite a performance of fastening her jogs along the corridor, she lost her balance and knocked into Rainzzi when they drew near to the Undersecretary to the Minister.
Tonks fell onto the floor and the parchments flew into the air, blurring everything in the corridor when Rainzzi pretended to sway and deftly collided with Percy. Her left hand quickly dipped into his right pocket when they made contact.
"Sor…Sorry," Tonks muttered embarrassedly from the floor, massaging her arm.
Rainzzi steadied herself from Percy, "How much of a klutz are you?" she scolded.
"I'm really sorry!"
Percy cleared his throat loudly, reminding the couple of his presence. He eyed them with annoyance and dusted off the front of his robes, "Try to watch when you're walking, Tonks." He left after a courteous nod to Rainzzi, he obviously didn't have a hint of a clue.
"Accio Parchment!" Tonks pointed her wand on the parchments that scattered everywhere on the floor and said loud enough for Percy to hear, the parchments immediately flew into her outstretched hands. "Did you get it?" she added in an undertone.
"Of course," Rainzzi nodded with a conceited smirk, shaking in front of her the flask of brown-colored potion which she had just stolen from Percy Weasley.
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Rainzzi remained standing outside the laboratory door on which a 'Department of Medical Authentication' sign was hung and read the report intently. A grin appeared on her face when her eyes reached the bottom part of the report.
The brown-colored potion concerned (which was brought to attention by Miss Rainzzi Delanuit on 27th June, 1996) was proved to be a Polyjuice Potion. After a few professional experimenting stages in which comparisons to the DNA records from the Department of Magical Genetic Databank were made, the Polyjuice Potion was confirmed to have contained a hair of Mr. Percy Weasley's.
She clapped her hands together, and almost cried out in joy. The 'Percy Weasley' was indeed, as she had speculated, being disguised, and with any luck, she might as well catch the spy of the Ministry, which meant she would perform yet another deed of merit. Another score for Rainzzi Delanuit, who had been rising in the Ministry alarmingly.
With an unexplainable sense of satisfaction, Rainzzi buried the report in her robes pocket and glanced around the St. Mungo's Hospital. She greeted one of the nurses that she was quite familiar with. Due to the recent busyness, she had not visited the Hospital as frequently as she used to. She looked down at her wristwatch, thirty minutes more before she needed to go, she decided to stay a bit longer.
She walked up the stairs to the Janus Thickey Ward located on the fourth floor.
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"His academic results aren't very outstanding, but other than that, Neville's doing fine at Hogwarts, he has got great friends," Mrs. Longbottom beamed at Sirius who turned up out of the blue to visit her son and daughter-in-law, "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and the Weasleys, Neville often mentioned how great they're in the letters."
Sirius smiled in response. Of course Harry is great, he's James and Lily's son, he thought.
Glancing at the framed picture of Alice and Frank on the headboard of the bed, the plump boy who had accompanied Harry in the Death Chamber suddenly seemed very familiar to Sirius. "Is Neville the boy who went to the Department of Mysteries with Harry and his friends last week?" Sirius asked. He and Mrs. Longbottom were sitting side by side in the long-tern resident ward. Alice was nowhere in sight while Frank just sat on his bed staring out of the window.
Mrs. Longbottom nodded, somehow proudly.
"I think I should say sorry then," Sirius said apologetically, "Harry was lured there because of me, and if any of the kids was hurt seriously, I'd be the first to blame."
Much to Sirius' surprise, Mrs. Longbottom shook her head. "I'm rather glad Neville had gone with them on that night. Although he might not have much contribution to the success of our side, at least he has proven for what he had been sorted into Gryffindor and he had shown the others he is a true descendant of the Longbottoms."
Sirius nodded. "He looks a lot like Alice," he said, looking at the picture again.
"That's why Alice seems to recognize Neville sometimes," Mrs. Longbottom said miserably, her eyes a little over-bright with the pitiable memory of her grandchild. "I know it must have been hard for Neville to have met the Lestranges in the Ministry, but I couldn't help feeling proud that he faced them like a mature man."
"I bet if Alice and Frank know what Neville has done, they would be proud of him, too," Sirius said sincerely, careful not to sound like he's flattering.
"I should thank you in fact," Mrs. Longbottom said oddly, gazing at her son who had just slid down into the sheet.
"For what?" said Sirius, startled.
"You helped making the Lestranges pay. Neville told me you made Bellatrix Lestrange fell through the veil and Roldophus was rearrested and put in Azkaban," Mrs. Longbottom said. Sirius noticed a chill in the air. "But I've heard that Rabastan Lestrange is still on the loose."
"He is, but he'll join his brother in Azkaban in no time," Sirius said in a consoling voice.
"I'm sure Rainzzi will guarantee that," Mrs. Longbottom said confidently.
Sirius looked at the elegant old woman, wondering when Rainzzi had been linked to the conversation. "She's a good Auror," Sirius said idly.
"Speak of the devil," Mrs. Longbottom said quietly and smiled at someone in the doorway. Sirius followed her glance to the two women walking in.
Alice Longbottom was stumbling into the ward slowly, with Rainzzi holding onto her arm, which Alice didn't seem to notice, she just stared forward vacantly with her mouth slightly opened.
"I met Alice in the stairs," Rainzzi whispered to Mrs. Longbottom.
"Hi," Sirius smiled at her socially, his shock genuinely masked. Learning from the unhappy re-encounter with her, he decided to play it cool with Rainzzi.
"Hi," Rainzzi glanced at the man with short hair. Dark-haired and grey-eyed. She couldn't believe what she saw, it's certainly Sirius Black, except that he didn't look like the ex-convict anymore. With his hair cut, Sirius was much better looking, for the first time, he was unmistakably recognisable as the best man in the photo which had been stuck on the board in Kingsley's cubicle for some years. She carefully avoided looking in his way any longer than necessary, but she was conscious of the fact that Sirius was staring at her.
Rainzzi delicately rearranged the pillows and helped Alice to settle on the bed in a comfortable sitting position, she sat down on the chair between Alice and Frank's beds that was facing Sirius and Mrs. Longbottom.
"We have been talking about you, Rainzzi," Mrs. Longbottom told her.
Sirius scowled beneath his breath, he wished Mrs. Longbottom hadn't said that. Her words made him appear to be intentionally finding someone to talk about she, which Rainzzi certainly wouldn't appreciate.
"Have you?" Rainzzi looked at them uneasily. She took an orange from the bedside table, "Do you want an orange, Alice?" Alice nodded, but then she shook her head vaguely. She repeated the motions for a few times, it was difficult to tell whether she wanted it or not. Rainzzi grinned kindly at her, "I'll take that as a yes." She started to peel the orange which she had just wiped with a wet towel.
"You'll try your best to recapture Rabastan Lestrange, won't you?" Mrs. Longbottom said, pulling up the sheet for Alice.
Sirius continued to stared at her, at first stealthily, them more and more boldly.
Rainzzi frowned, everything about the Lestranges was clearly a taboo for her, but Mrs. Longbottom didn't seem to comprehend that. "Doing my best," she murmured distastefully.
"Rainzzi always visits Alice and Frank whenever she has time, and she has been tutoring Neville personally in the summers," Mrs. Longbottom explained to Sirius. Sirius peeked at her, Rainzzi kept her head bowed above the orange and pretended to have heard nothing.
"Neville told me you haven't replied his letters, Rainzzi."
"With the mayhem at the Ministry, I've been working round the clock lately," Rainzzi said dully.
"Don't bother to reply then."
"No," Rainzzi protested quickly, "Tell Neville I'll reply his letters as soon as possible." The way Rainzzi uttered the words clung a delicate tenderness that seemed a bit incompatible with her ostensibly cold demeanour. It appeared that the Rainzzi in the eyes of the Longbottoms was very different from the cold and nonchalant one that occurred to every other one.
"How's the Ministry?" Mrs. Longbottom asked.
"Chaotic," Rainzzi concluded simply.
"And the Auror Department?" Mrs. Longbottom went on insensitively.
Rainzzi handed Alice a slice of orange and indicated her to put it into her mouth. "We're still trying to track the Death Eaters that got away."
Sirius had the impression that his presence had added a certain amount of pressure on her.
"I'll get us some tea," Sirius excused himself from the other two, but not before a peer at Rainzzi who stared back at him directly.
"Have you two met again before now?" Mrs. Longbottom whispered softly.
"Yes," Rainzzi nodded lackadaisically and hesitated, glancing at Mrs. Longbottom before looking away quickly. "I was the one who handcuffed him."
Mrs. Longbottom looked at Rainzzi closely and kind of smiled a naughty smile, "Rainzzi, why don't you go help Sirius for the tea?" Rainzzi groaned, she felt sick at the old woman's matchmaking trick. But alright, she couldn't deny she personally wanted to remove the tension between Sirius and herself, too.
In Rainzzi's dictionary traditionally, it was either enemies or friends; nothing whatsoever was allowed to squeeze in between. But Sirius had been quite an exception; he was both an enemy and a friend. Personally, she still couldn't forgive him for the hardships he had unconsciously brought her in all those years, but now that they were both members of the Order, she wouldn't allow any obstruction to exist between them.
For Rainzzi, frankness was both her greatest strength and greatest weakness, it had provided her the opportunities to acquaint with people of the higher ranks, however alienated her from her inferiors. Although she wouldn't admit that she saw Sirius as a superior, one thing she knew by heart was that to achieve a closer bound with the other Order members, Sirius was clearly the gateway.
Rainzzi put the orange on a plate and placed the plate on Alice's lap. She strode outside and caught up with Sirius just outside the tearoom.
"Mr. Black." Sirius didn't seem to have heard her. Rainzzi tapped on his shoulder hesitantly, "Sirius."
Sirius turned so fast that he almost cracked his neck. He stared at her and ran his fingers through his hair, he didn't know why he did it, but he did remember that it was exactly what James used to do when he wanted to impress Lily.
An awkward silence fell upon them when Rainzzi struggled internally how to say what she had aimed to say. Rainzzi had wanted to open the conversation by saying sorry for her mental outburst back in the suspect room, if truth be told, she was all agitated at that time because she was afraid that she would be degraded again and she must admit after bursting out, she felt much less resentful to him.
"What is it?" Sirius closed the door and performed a privacy charm in the room. He was sure that whatever Rainzzi intended to talk to him wouldn't be something personal but about the Order.
"I, er…" Rainzzi did some quick thinking to cover up for herself, she wouldn't apologize, she still couldn't manage to put away her pride. "Can you tell Dumbledore I can't attend the next meeting?"
"Okay," Sirius replied lightly, he walked to the bench and conjured up three cups.
"And please help me to give Dumbledore this," Rainzzi withdrew the report from her pocket and shove it to Sirius.
"Can I read it?" Sirius asked respectfully. Rainzzi threw up her hand to gesture him to go on.
"That means…" Sirius murmured bewilderedly.
"I stole it from Percy Weasley, because I burst into his office the other day and discovered that he was drinking a strange potion. I brought the potion to authenticate, and it is proved to be a Polyjuice Potion."
"That means Percy Weasley is really Peter Pettigrew?" Loathe and hatred began to fill Sirius' inside, he clenched his fists into a ball menacingly.
"It might not be Pettigrew. We will deal with the fake one after we rescued the real one," Rainzzi said in a detective tone, "Make sure you hand Dumbledore the report, can you?"
"Of course," Sirius assured. He turned back to the cups. He was desperate to find anything that could keep himself busy, her friendship was too precious for him that he didn't want to destroy it by accidentally doing something that would make her think ill of him.
"Thank you," Rainzzi said formally. She progressed to help Sirius with the tea. Impressed by her rare friendliness, Sirius faced her directly. And all at once she dazzled Sirius with a glance so brilliant and rapid. When her eyes, which were generally narrowed, open to their full extent, her face was completely transfigured; it was as though it were flooded with light.
"Rainzzi," Sirius hushed, pouring some hot water over his hand. "Do you want to retrieve your possessions in the Lyttelton Mansion? They are currently under my roof."
"Just throw them away, I don't think I have any more use of them," Rainzzi said carelessly.
"And you know Harry's gonna be back in a few days time?"
Rainzzi stared at him blankly for a moment before she understood who he was talking about, "Harry Potter?"
"Yes," Sirius gasped hopefully, "He's going back on Friday. And I will go to the King's Cross Station to receive him, will you come with me?"
Rainzzi stared at him again, as if trying to judge whether he was joking or not.
"Remus, Moody and the Weasleys would come with me, too," Sirius added hastily.
"No," Rainzzi said, "I need to go to work on Friday. Even if I do have time, I think I should receive Neville instead."
Sirius shrugged would-be-casually and went back to mix the tea that was left untouched for quite a few minutes. He chewed his tongue disappointedly. Harry still hadn't learnt of Rainzzi's identity, but Sirius was sure he would be glad to meet her all the same. He had always had this unrealistic desire, to bring Harry a secondary family together with Rainzzi. Fat chance, Sirius told himself and sardonic remarks kept flashing in his mind, but he didn't have much time to pessimise himself as suddenly a loud crack was sounded.
Someone had opened the door violently. Casting an alarm glance at the doorway, Sirius was grateful that he had performed a privacy charm in the room, standing there, barely missed the bouncing door was Brice Fudge, the infamous son of Cornelius Fudge the Minister. Brice was relatively short as a man, but he looked presentable. He had his nose up in the air, arms crossed in front of his chest and he grinned flirtatiously at Rainzzi.
Rainzzi put down the water bottle calmly. "Hello, Brice," she said. Sirius looked suspiciously from Rainzzi and Brice, battling against himself that whether he should leave or not. But his curiosity had got the better of him, and he was sure if they didn't want to be overheard, they would go out themselves anyway.
"Judging from your bitterness, I bet with 100 galleons that you've read the article about me and Blythe in the last issue of the Which Witch," Brice chortled shamelessly.
"Maybe," Rainzzi shrugged. "Anyway, it's not like I give a shit."
Brice looked at her frivolously for a moment then contemplated Sirius with contempt, "Of course you don't give a shit. I can see you flirting with your ex."
"Who I flirt with is hardly your business."
"You're right, I won't intervene your love life as long as you don't intervene mine," Brice straightened himself from the doorframe, Rainzzi's iciness had evidently annoyed him a bit. "Anyway, we'll be late for dinner if we don't go now."
Rainzzi gawked at him with astonishment, "Forgive me but I don't remember inviting you for a dinner."
"Of course you didn't," Brice gave a disgusting sneer, "Your parents did."
Rainzzi bit her lower lip and glared at Brice. She was basically glaring at Brice so hard that her eyes seemed to be sparkling with fierce fire.
"Sweetheart, you're old enough to know that glaring won't do harm," Brice said indifferently, he didn't seem to mind being glared at.
If Rainzzi was able to perform wandless magic with just a blink of the eye, she was sure Brice would have long been smashed into pieces.
"Just come with me now, or we'll be late."
Rainzzi snorted, before inclining her head to Sirius in farewell. She scraped with her heels and strode to join Brice who still had this irritating smile glued on his skittish face. Sirius could have sworn that he saw Rainzzi stepping on Brice's toes when she bypassed him. Brice rolled his eyes and gave Sirius a wink before he disappeared.
Sirius swore and glowered at the empty corridor with jealousy, wishing that he could still impress Rainzzi, but not knowing that he and Rainzzi would meet again in a little more than 2 days' time.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about Brice and Rainzzi...