DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Nope, we do not own anything.
AN: Many apologies for the lengthy wait. We are having some issues with time restraints in school. We may finish the next chapter, but don't count on it. Happy Christmas, everyone.
!EXCERPT FROM LAST CHAPTER!
'I've no idea what to do now!' James thought, desperately, 'How in Merlin's name am I to do this! Shouldn't my… er… 'extra-special-dead-person-plus-one' magic be helping right about—'
His thought was cut short when a heavy object landed in his outstretched hands. James pitched forward, startled by the abrupt change in balance, before straightening up again.
James examined it and decided that it was a large sword. He removed it from the scabbard and brandished it in front of him, but the dementor didn't seem fazed.
"Oh, Merlin! This is never going to work!" James informed the sword.
The weapon did not reply.
"Well, fine!"
James took a deep breath and swung the sword with both hands.
!CHAPTER 22!
Unused to the weight of the sword, James overbalanced and tipped violently sideways, missing the dementor completely.
He let out a cry as the sword struck the wall fiercely and bounced off. Steadying himself, James faced the dementor again. The dementor seemed to be considering whether or not James was now a threat.
James backed up, dragging the sword after him. He pointed the sword to a spot to the right of the dementor. As the dementor moved forward smoothly, James swung the sword in a tight arc.
Before James had registered that the dementor wasn't advancing anymore, not to mention that it was missing its head, his mind was bombarded with a hailstorm of intruders.
'I'm free, I'm free…!' 'Oh, have they reconsidered my verdict?' 'Ha HA! I will rule the world once more!' 'No… no, please, I don't want to die…' 'I haven't had this much excitement for at least fifty years…' 'Ah… the light it burns! I wanna go back in the Other Place…' 'Where am I! This isn't my body! I want to leave!' 'What do you think you are doing, you peasant?' 'I'm innocent! Nooo you can't take me! I'll not give in!' 'I tell you, the injustice must stop!'
James felt his head spinning.
He supposed that all of the souls had gravitated toward him because he was the nearest living body.
'Okay,' he thought, 'This shouldn't be too hard to solve…'
The noise level inside his head increased.
'Okay,' James mentally roared, 'Everyone shut up!' Silence fell
'Thank you, I couldn't hear myself think.'
One mental voice spoke up. 'Who are you, and why are we all here!'
'I… don't know…' James replied.
He was hit by a cacophony of noise again.
'Alright,' James said over the noise, 'We can't solve this if everyone's talking at once.'
The animagus pondered the situation during the brief silence that followed and decided that when he had gotten rid of the dementor, it had released all of the souls that it had ever carried.
'Well, great…' James thought sarcastically.
Thirty or forty voices responded, wanting to know what was great.
'Wait, wait, wait… everyone quiet down!' When some of the voices grew silent, James continued, 'I need to know if Sirius Black is anywhere in here?'
'Present!' came Sirius' voice from a corner of James' mind.
Hundreds of whispers broke out… 'Sirius Black?' 'The Murderer…' '—heard he was You-Know-Who's man!' '—killed 13 people with one curse!'
'Thank Merlin, Padfoot.'
'You know, James, we have company.'
'Thanks… you're ever so much help, Padfoot.'
'Oh, you're welcome… anytime, really.'
'There was sarcasm in there somewhere for your information,' James informed Sirius tartly.
'Do you know why there are so many people here, Jamie?' Sirius asked, innocently.
'Yes,' James replied, hesitantly, 'I cut off the dementor's head.'
'Oh… Ew.' Sirius realized, 'Well, what I was going to say was that there is a great empty chasm in your head. Lots of people can fit into it.'
'Thanks, Sirius. This is your head, you know.'
'Oh, yeah! Why are there so many people here, then?'
James sighed, then started to chuckle.
'What are you laughing about?' Sirius wondered.
The rest of the people had gone quiet, listening to the duo's antics.
'I just realized the irony in this situation.'
'Huh?'
'Well, my dear Sirius, for some reason I find it funny that even though you didn't have a soul when we were younger, you now have plenty of them to spare.'
James grinned widely.
'I just got kissed by a dementor and you're making fun of me?' Sirius asked, incredulous.
'You started it.'
'How right you are. I rather did.'
'How did you two idiots get into Azkaban, any ways?' A prisoner asked, loudly.
'I'm not a bad person; that was Sirius…' James accused.
'I was framed.'
'Weren't we all?' Someone else snorted.
'Why are we even talking to you? Get out of here,' James ordered.
Nothing happened.
'Sirius, make them leave!'
'Er… hey you all… would you please… erm… leave?'
Whoosh.
'That worked splendidly, Padfoot.'
'I have a way with people.'
'Of course you do. Where do you suppose they went?'
'I dunno. Frankly, I don't care.'
'You're a murderous, raving, lunatic, Sirius.'
'So I've been told.' Thanks for the whole "saving me" thing, by the way.'
!REMUS LUPIN!
Remus woke up, his face covered in his oatmeal.
Ever since Sirius Black's soul had been sucked from his body, Remus had not been sleeping well at all.
This was the fifth time in three days that Remus had awoken in his one of his meals.
Remus moved his head a bit so he could breathe, then felt his head being lifted up from the back.
"Remus? Are you alright?" Remus recognized Professor McGonagall's voice.
"Professor McGonagall?" Remus said, vaguely.
"Minerva," she corrected.
"Mmhmm."
Professor McGonagall handed him a cloth and Remus cleaned his face.
"You need to be getting more sleep, Remus," the Professor chided, gently, "I'm sure Poppy would be only too happy to give you a sleeping potion."
"Alright, sure," Remus mumbled his assent.
The werewolf pushed his chair back and began to leave.
"Where are you going?" Professor McGonagall asked, concerned.
"Dunno. Talk to Harry, maybe."
The Professor's mouth thinned with worry, but she only nodded.
Remus left the Great Hall, realizing as he did that he was now obligated to find Harry, who (for some odd reason) was not at the Gryffindor table with his peers. Hermione and Ron were absent as well.
He sighed and headed up to the library, taking a wild guess.
Five minutes later, Remus walked through the library doors and moved towards the trio from behind. All three of them had their noses stuck in their books. Hermione's book appeared to be twice as large as Harry's and Ron's together.
There were stacks of books surrounding them, at least three feet in height. They were researching something.
Remus chuckled as he approached, causing an odd reaction.
All three children slammed their books shut simultaneously and one of the piles of books came tumbling after Ron as he tried to stand up.
Hermione's wand was out and slowing them down in a moment.
When they had realized the intruder was Remus Lupin, they each gave him a weak smile.
"Bloody Hell," Ron yelped, "Sir, you scared me!"
Remus smiled again and leaned over, picking up one of the fallen books.
Without meaning to, Remus caught several of the titles.
Notable Magical Names of Our Time
A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry
The Mag-Astro-Mancer (London, 1652)
Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century
Important Modern Magical Discoveries
Modern Magical History
"What are you researching," Remus asked, "that these books would be of any help to you?"
"Uh…"
"Well, we were just…"
"Nothing! Only doing a bit of research for our boring, dull, uninteresting classes!"
"Nothing that matters one bit…"
"You'll have to do better than that. You can't fool me that easily," Remus told them.
The trio looked guiltily at their books.
"It was worth a try, anyways," suggested Harry.
"What are you researching?" Remus persisted.
Harry looked at Ron, then Hermione, before returning his gaze to Remus' shoulder.
Remus heard a mumbled answer, so soft it was inaudible, even for his sensitive hearing.
The werewolf cleared his throat loudly.
"Well…" Harry stalled, "Since we had nothing else to do… erm… Hermione suggested…uh…"
Hermione, seeing that Harry was failing miserably, decided the truth was the best path to follow, "We were looking up Nicolas Flamel. Hagrid mentioned him, but then wouldn't explain who he is. So we came here to find out for ourselves."
"What's made you so curious about him?"
"We just wanted to know why he wouldn't tell us." Harry said, looking at his feet. Remus had a strong nagging feeling that he was missing something.
"Just be careful." Remus advised, "There must be a reason he didn't want you to know."
'I think there's something they aren't telling us,' Lily confided in Remus, silently.
Harry looked up. "Are you alright? You look kind of sick."
"Oh… well, I've been better."
After a few moments of silence, Harry hesitated, and then whispered nervously, "Er… Moony? I... just thought you should know… we think that maybe something weird is going on."
Hermione nodded. "We've seen teachers whispering in the hallways."
"Yeah, and even Hagrid stops talking when we get near the topic." Harry added.
"We're not even quite sure what the topic is," Ron groaned.
Hermione cut in, "We think Snape has something to do with it."
'Remus?' came a voice from inside his head.
'Yeah, Lily?'
'I'm going to have to agree with the children, I think there may be something very strange going on around here.'
Remus paused to think. There had been some strange things going on lately, he acquiesced, but he could not manage to piece together what it was. Honestly, he wouldn't have noticed anything if the three and Lily had not brought it to his attention.
'What is wrong with me, Lily?' wondered Remus, frustrated.
'I'm not su-' Lily began, but then went silent for a moment.
'What? What is it, Lily? Did you remember something?'
'Hold on… I think I may just have it!'
With that thought, Remus hurried off, leaving behind several confused first years.
--
After several minutes of quiet searching, Harry appeared from behind a bookshelf.
"Er… Remus?" he asked timidly, "Do you need any help with that?" He pointed to the stack of twenty or so books the werewolf had compiled when he unsystematically pulled them off their shelves, hoping that they would prove useful.
"No thanks, Harry." He smiled wanly, turning back to The Magicall-Astrologicall Diviner Posed and Puzzled.
After a bit, Harry inquired anew, "I was just wondering about something on the map."
"Is someone doing something suspicious?"
"I don't know…" Harry pulled the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and handed it to Lupin, pointing to a rarely frequented area of the castle that the Marauders had visited upon numerous occasions during their time in Hogwarts. "I can't read that name. It's gone all blotchy."
Lupin leaned closer, concerned. It was as if ink had bled through from somewhere else… as if there were two names overlapping next to only one dot. The dot disappeared into a classroom at such a speed that Lupin doubted that it was anyone on foot.
'Why don't we go check it out?' Lily suggested.
'But I really want to finish this.' He indicated the books. 'Besides, it's most likely just some kids fooling around.'
'You should really take a break. The books aren't going to run away.'
Lupin, not having a significant argument, nodded and then he stood.
"I'll take a look," he told Harry.
--
Leaving the first-years in the library with Remus' recently piled books, the werewolf walked briskly past the well-worn hallways and into the empty passages of the castle.
Down a flight of stairs and through a secret route, passing a door that led to nowhere, Remus eventually found himself standing at the end of a long corridor where the suspicious dot was seen last.
Pulling out the Marauder's Map once again, Remus Lupin found the dot to be in a classroom just down the hall and to his left. He reached the door and was unsurprised to find that it was securely closed.
Remus crept closer and pressed his ear against the wooden paneling, while he whispered an eavesdropping spell.
He heard a loud thud, which was immediately followed by a loud bark of laughter.
"You are a cruel man, my friend, a cruel, cruel man."
Backing away just a bit, Remus performed a tricky little spell that allowed him to see through a tiny bit of wall. It was rather uncomfortably like looking through a keyhole, but it did allow him at least some idea of what was happening on the other side of the door.
What he saw made Remus' vision go dark around the edges for a moment, nearly causing him to lose consciousness. For an instant, Remus had thought he had seen one of his best friend's animagus forms… a stag.
'James is dead,' Remus reminded himself.
'So am I, Remus,' Lily responded, 'and that certainly looks like him.'
A moment later, a scruffy, black dog replaced the stag.
'Oh, just great…'
!END CHAPTER!
I hope that this chapter was to your liking.
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