Cloaked Foresight

by The Jedi Wizard Hobbit

Sequel to Echoes In Eternity! Surprises are in store for Remus Lupin, and not all of them are pleasant. Sirius has... issues at his new job. And how will Ivy adjust to her new life? So much plot, so little point in trying to sum up! Just read and enjoy!

12. Predictions, Capture, and Fortune

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here we are! Two weeks as promised! My birthday present from me to you! I'm not done responding to everyone's reviews from the last chapter, but that should happen tomorrow, I think. Right now there is nothing more as it's very early in the morning and I'm sleepy.

Hope you enjoy it! Lots of things happen in this chapter, lots of them not really happy. DON'T PANIC. It will be all right in the end, I promise. -smiles-

Chapter Twelve – Predictions, Capture, and Fortune

THEN

Out of all the pubs her friends could have decided to take her to, Guinevere found herself at the same pub that Sirius Black had just entered.

"Oh, no, what is he doing here?" she groaned.

"Who?" Sylvia asked. She turned around to look at who was coming through the door. Sure enough, Sirius Black and James Potter had just walked into the pub, laughing, smiling, and generally having far too much fun, especially considering that James had gotten married recently.

Sylvia smiled like a panther. "Oh, those two. The two most gorgeous and talented men that any of us have ever laid eyes on. Aren't they lovely?"

"Sylvia!" Jacquelyn scolded. Jacquelyn was a Gryffindor friend of Sylvia's whom Guinevere found to be a rather nice, even if she had a hard time speaking her own mind. She had been one of Sylvia's roommates, and the blond beauty seemed to have sweet Jacquelyn wrapped around her pinky finger. "James Potter is married now! You can't say things like that."

Sylvia quirked a mischievous eyebrow. "Can't I? Oh, come on, Jacquelyn. Just because he's taken doesn't mean I can't stare if I feel like it. I don't think even the Great Lily Evans would object to that. And Sirius is certainly not taken." She ducked her head down and started to whisper. "Though I do hear that he's had his pick of probably half the women in here as of late."

Guinevere rolled her eyes and sipped at her spritzer.

Sylvia caught the look. "Really, Gwen, even you can't say that Sirius Black is unattractive."

"I never said that – " Guinevere started, fully prepared to go into her rant about the evil Sirius Black, and how attractiveness does not make up for a complete lack of moral values, genuine compassion, and manners.

But Sylvia had heard that rant before, and so she kept talking, all the while staring at the black-haired young man who was now approaching the bar with James to greet their friend Remus Lupin. "I mean, look at the man, Guinevere. Look at that jaw line. Straight, perfect nose, full lips, huge puppy dog eyes, which is why he can get away with anything – "

Sirius sat down next to Remus, who had gotten there early, and already had a drink on front of him. After exchanging a few words with his tired friend, he greeted the bartender enthusiastically, shaking his hand, both of them laughing at what appeared to be some private joke between the two of them.

Guinevere narrowed her eyes disdainfully.

Sylvia continued on. " – and the shoulders. He's just the perfect divide between muscular and toned. Not bulky and awkward, but not scrawny. Simply gorgeous. He probably doesn't even try to look that way, I've never seen him consciously doing exercise to get fit. He just naturally is that beautiful. And those strong hands, can you imagine – "

Guinevere started to tune her out, positive that she didn't want to hear anymore of that. Hearing the words "Sirius Black" and "perfect" together in any sense made her weep for humanity. Adding phrases like "beautiful" and "gorgeous" into the mix, and she felt rather like pouring acid into her spritzer and dumping the whole thing on his supposedly perfect head.

" – really, with hands like that – "

"Oh, for God's sake!" Guinevere hissed. "Why don't you just go over there and ask him to take you home for the night? I'm sure he won't say no, and then you won't have to spend so much time wondering what it would be like to have him feel you up!"

Sylvia smirked. She knew Guinevere hated it when she talked about any man that way, especially Sirius Black. But it was good for her, it helped her get emotional about something, which Guinevere didn't do often.

"Nah, I don't fancy being a conquest of his. It's more fun to play the game by being the one he'll never get. Men like him enjoy that sort of thing." Sylvia paused a moment before getting to what she really wanted to talk about. "Well, what about you, Gwen? Who could possibly catch your eye?" She looked around briefly before her eyes landed on someone, and she laughed to herself. "I bet you fancy Remus Lupin. Right? I mean, he likes books almost as much as you do."

Guinevere snorted. Remus Lupin? Maybe when she was in third year she had some sort of schoolgirl crush on him, simply because he was bookish, and polite, and good to everyone. But she had always been rather disappointed that he didn't call Sirius and James on their bullshit more often. She had also figured out about his condition when she was in their second year. She hadn't told anyone, as it was no one's business, and she could imagine how hard it would be for Remus if the wrong people found out. But she often wondered if his friends knew. Keeping the secret from people that you spent most of your time with couldn't be easy.

As far as crushes were concerned, someone as observant as her could clearly see the way Remus' eyes glowed whenever Ivy Dumbledore walked into the same room. Though it was funny that neither of them seemed to know it yet. If she could see it, they certainly should be able to…

She was about to tell Sylvia that she should return to her drink and maybe think of a more interesting topic for conversation. After all, she and Jacquelyn were the ones who insisted that she needed a night out, they were supposed to be entertaining her.

But she never got the chance, because at that moment Sirius Black stood up and decided to address the whole establishment.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted in his sprightly, booming tenor. "I have an announcement to make and it's a rather important one, so I think it would be wise for all of you to listen carefully because there will be quiz later on, and those who were not paying attention will be hexed so that they speak backwards for a week."

Guinevere rolled her eyes again. "Oh, please…"

The room had gone awfully silent at his shouting, so when Guinevere had mumbled under her breath, Sirius had heard her. His head snapped to where she was sitting, his eyes narrowing briefly before he recovered his expression into a tight, sarcastic smile.

Of all the places she could have been tonight, she had to pick the one pub that we…

But he let it go and ignored her from then on. "Most of you know me well enough to know that such threats are never empty, so I trust that I have your attention."

Half the pub giggled in affirmation, and other half shouting, "Come on!", "What's going on, Black?", "Spit it out!"

Sirius grinned and placed a hand on the top of James' head, which his best friend shook in amusement, his glasses sliding bashfully down his nose.

"In less than half a year," Sirius said slowly, giving the impression that he should have a drum roll backing him up, "this man standing right here, is going to be a father!"

The entire pub erupted into applause and cheers, James blushing proudly under the roar. Remus leapt to his feet and grabbed the bespectacled man by the shoulders, appearing to want the confirmation from him. Clearly, he had not been informed yet. When James nodded, Remus yanked him into a hug, moving a hand up to muss his hair obnoxiously, laughing the whole while.

Soon the entire pub was finding their way over to James, everyone with congratulations, advice, or backslapping to offer. James accepted each graciously, and tried not to look too happy about being in the spotlight. To say that he was a little proud at that moment was like saying that Professor McGonagall could be a tad strict at times.

Eventually, the tumult died down and people returned to their own corners to chat and drink. James had been joined by Frank Longbottom, who had announced only a week earlier that he too had a little one on the way. The fathers-to-be were talking excitedly, while Sirius and Remus carried a seemingly intense conversation involving lots of hand motions and fists slamming on the bar. It was a friendly disagreement, one that they were both enjoying –

Until an exotic, raven-haired beauty came up to the bar and purposefully pushed between the two of them to order her drink.

Remus' eyes went to the ceiling when he saw Sirius' stare wander to the curvy form in front of him. Giving up immediately, he vacated his seat, shooting Sirius a don't get into trouble glance, and moved over to James and Frank, who welcomed him happily into their prideful boasting match.

Guinevere watched scornfully as Sirius Black carefully examined the figure of this woman, who had slid into Remus' seat without so much as a "thank you" to him, and started speaking to Sirius in hushed tones.

"You know, for someone who thinks manners are so important, you certainly do stare a lot, Gwen," Sylvia broke into Guinevere's thoughts.

Guinevere shook her head and looked back to Sylvia with disgust written in her features. "He's just awful! I don't understand why people think he's so wonderful, he's absolutely base, vulgar, and egoistic. He's like a parasite."

Sylvia smirked. "All men are parasites in one way or another. And the woman up at the bar there seems to like the tall, dark, and handsome sort quite a bit."

Guinevere glanced back where her eyes had been fixed earlier. Already, Sirius was leaning with his back against the bar, the woman's knee pressing against his thigh and holding him in place. He looked sickeningly comfortable there, laughing and talking in what was undoubtedly a low, sweet tone, while this woman he had met a minute or so ago communicated darker body language, shifting her body so that she brushed against his arm, her hand accidentally sweeping down his chest, her knee shifting against his leg in slow circles…

Sirius reached out and tucked some stray hairs behind the woman's ear, leaning in closer as they spoke, a decidedly sinful smile curling the edges of his lips.

Guinevere felt a flash of heat run across her cheeks, but she ignored it, telling herself that it was anger causing the reaction. "Absolutely vile. You know what happens to men like him?"

Sylvia quirked an eyebrow in curious amusement. "What?"

"They get arrested for heinous crimes. They fall in with bad people and end up becoming vicious, tyrannical thugs. Because they have the looks and bravado to get people to follow them, and the ambition to make terrible things happen. Mark my words – he'll end up in Azkaban. And he would deserve it, if he did."

Sylvia and Jacquelyn both stiffened in their chairs, very nearly appalled by Guinevere's outrageous condemning. "Why would you say that?" Jacquelyn asked softly. "I mean, I know you always hated him, but why would you ever think – "

"Oh, really, Jacquelyn, just look at him!" Guinevere insisted, motioning with a hand over to where Sirius was standing at the bar. Guinevere watched him, her eyes narrowing into slits. "He's morally bankrupt and doesn't care about who he tramples on to get to his own satisfaction."

Sirius and the woman were talking with their faces barely an inch apart, and she seemed to like what she was hearing from him because she shifted forward on her chair, pressing her chest closer and tilting her head back. It looked like they were about to kiss –

When Ivy Dumbledore burst through the door, gasping for breath.

Sirius turned his head at the sound, and when he saw Ivy barreling toward James, Remus, and Frank, he excused himself (much to the dark-haired woman's dismay and anger) and joined them. Ivy was talking in short bursts, not finding proper breath, no matter how many times Remus implored her to slow down and take a minute. Apparently their conversation was not for everyone's ears, however, as Ivy had the four men huddled into a group so she could speak softly, her eyes wide with urgency.

Soon, all four men were grabbing their coats. Sirius tossed some money on the bar, whispered something into James' ear before patting him on the shoulder, and turned to Ivy again, who motioned for them to follow her.

The bartender did not know where they were going, and he wanted to ask, but he knew they wouldn't tell him. This wasn't the first time they had rushed out of the place in a right panic.

He had known this particular crowd since they were children. He also knew that they were still very young, still growing really, and growing during very hard times at that. The alarm he could see in their faces, the way they were rushing out the door like they were going into battle, made him worry. "You kids be careful."

Sirius was the last one to reach the door. Throwing his second arm through the sleeve of his coat, he called back over his shoulder, "We will, Jack. Thanks," and disappeared into the frigid night air.

"What was that all about?" Sylvia muttered aloud.

Guinevere shrugged in confusion and went back to sipping her spritzer, feeling far calmer now that Black had gone.

A few minutes later, there was commotion on the street. Everyone, it seemed, had left their homes, and were outside yelling back and forth. Someone from the pub went outside to check and came back in shaking.

"It's the Dark Mark!" he shouted to everyone. "Outside in the sky, not even a mile away!"

There was a panic, as everyone rushed to leave, some people Apparating home on the spot. Guinevere, Sylvia and Jacquelyn all rushed outside to see it for themselves. They stood on the street with hundreds of others, watching the sky glitter green with dark magic.

Someone said they reckoned they could hear screaming in the distance. Someone else asked if they knew where the Dark Mark was located over.

"Looks like it's near the Shacklebolts," Sylvia whispered fearfully. "They're friends of my dad's."

Guinevere looked up at the path the snake was traveling in the sky. She swore she could smell burning. "No one is safe…" she whispered.

Then another gear clicked, and she gasped out loud from the noise it made in her head.

"What?" Sylvia asked.

"Sirius Black – he's a Death Eater."

"Oh, God damnit, Gwen – "

"No, he has to be! It makes perfect sense."

"After leaving with James Potter, Ivy Dumbledore, Frank Longbottom, and Remus Lupin? How do you figure that one, Gwen? Start talking sense!"

Guinevere shook her head, certain that she had it right. "His brother died under mysterious circumstances that no one will talk about. Besides… they keep saying that it's the people closest to you that you have to beware of."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Jacquelyn said shakily. "Let's go home, I don't want to be here."

"I agree," Sylvia decided. "Are you coming, Gwen? You shouldn't stay here."

Guinevere nodded mutely and followed Sylvia in the opposite direction. Away from the acid-colored sky, away from the frightened huddled masses, and away from the house where the Order of the Phoenix was currently fighting to keep the rest of the Shacklebolt family alive.

NOW

Guinevere awoke to the sound of a muffled scream.

It wasn't the first time that she had heard it. But each time it became harder for her to believe that it was real. Because it was always just the one scream, and it seemed to come from downstairs, which didn't make sense. And afterwards she never heard anything else, so maybe she was just imagining it.

But tonight, she heard floorboards creaking downstairs.

They were footsteps, of course. And they were moving…

It sounded like they were moving outside. Guinevere sat up in bed, threw the covers off and stood, cringing when her feet came into contact with the cold floor.

The screaming was Sirius, then. It had to be, there was no other possibility, but why?

She shivered.

Guinevere pulled her robe off of a chair nearby, left her bedroom and walked to the end of her hallway, where there was a window to the backyard. The moon was about half full, providing enough light that she could make out the soft details of Sirius stepping out into the brisk March night air. He sat heavily on the wooden bench, wearing only a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, not nearly enough clothing for weather that was not quite spring yet. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and staring out.

After another few minutes, he ran a hand through his hair and his back rose and fell in a sigh. Guinevere had the odd urge to shout down to him that he should get back inside, but she was sure that he would be upset to find out that he had woken her, so she kept quiet.

She thought that maybe she should cast a warming charm on him. It wouldn't last long, and she would have to duck out of sight after she had done it, but maybe he would get the hint or realize how cold he should be, and get back indoors.

Part of her was laughing at herself. Seven months ago, she would have hoped that he caught cold and died out there. But somewhere along the way, she'd found that she would miss that damn motorbike if it disappeared one day. She would miss hearing him sing to himself quite loudly in the morning while he was taking a shower. Though it was obnoxious and sort of juvenile, he did have a fine voice.

The categories had changed. He was her neighbor now, her partner, and, though she hesitated to admit it, her friend.

A friend who annoyed her beyond capacity, and whom she fought with quite frequently, but honestly, when was Sirius Black not arguing about something? And when was she not feeling confrontational? A character flaw that suited them both, she supposed.

He was oddly calming, in a way. That was a word she never would have associated with Sirius Black half a year ago, but he was. Whenever she had one of her frequent panic attacks at work, he always knew how to bring her down and make her focus. Whenever Bruce exasperated her, he always got her to shrug it off. Codger was thrilled at what a great team they seemed to make, and was thoroughly congratulating himself on having the instinct to put them together, despite how they had protested.

But there were still secrets. She hadn't met the real him yet, she was certain of that, though she felt like she kept getting tiny glimpses. Part of her almost suspected that he was doing it on purpose, his most effective way yet of teasing her, torturing her.

And that was why she was staring out her window at him in the middle of the night. Because he would have never let her see this of his own accord. Just another secret that she had unlocked without his knowledge. She smiled. She was becoming a good detective.

Not good enough, though, because he was still sitting outside in the bitter cold while she tried to figure out exactly what had driven him there. What would make him scream in the middle of the night like that?

She had a funny feeling that she knew, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Those were the secrets that she knew he would keep viciously guarded. And he had reason – it was none of her business. She had no right to tell him otherwise. So she'd had a shitty marriage and virtually no human contact outside of her twin brother and work colleagues for the past several years –

He'd lived in hell.

What's more, he'd come out the other side and still found enough left in his heart to try and rebuild what he had lost.

Every once and a while, she grabbed these ideas out of some strange contemplative section of her brain, and realized that she had to let go of her preconceptions about him. She couldn't imagine the idea of losing so much time and then having to start over from scratch. She knew that she wouldn't have had the strength to do that. He did. And then had the ability to act like it wasn't a struggle every day for him to maintain it. Even she believed him, most of the time.

But to have to remember at night?

She saw him run a hand over the inside of his forearm, and her suspicions were confirmed. As if he could block the number out, or erase it. If only he could.

He stood up, and Guinevere briefly hoped that he was going back inside. She only had that thought for a second, however, because there was a sudden 'pop'.

And Sirius was replaced by a big black dog.

The same big black dog that came out to comfort her in that backyard whenever she was restless.

The same big black dog that she talked to about everything that bothered her.

The same big black dog that blinked up at her knowingly when she sighed.

The same big black dog that she scratched behind the ears…

Oh, Sirius Black was going to die a painful and horrific death.

As soon as possible.

But she couldn't do it right now, because at the moment the dog was bounding around the yard, chasing rats from under bushes, barking at the wind. And she wasn't going to kill a harmless dog, especially not one that carefree and joyful…

How had she not known that it was him? She knew he was an Animagus. It would have been convenient for Remus' transformations if one of his friends had a canine form. Sirius never saw the dog himself. And the eyes… they had the same damn eyes. She had noticed it, but she couldn't make the connection. Damn him.

Fine. Two could play at that game.

Guinevere pulled her robe tightly around her and crept lightly to her door. Upon opening it, a chilled wind blasted her in the face, but she simply grit her teeth and rushed down the steps. She tread as softly as she could around the building and finally made it to the backyard. She waited until the dog was turned around and then quickly leapt onto the bench in the place Sirius had occupied not two minutes ago. The seat was still warm, which she was thankful for, as it was positively freezing outside.

The dog heard the shifting behind him and turned around. When he spotted Guinevere, he tilted his head curiously, almost suspiciously.

Guinevere smiled. "Hello, there. Didn't expect to see you out here this late at night," she said cheerfully, acting surprised, as though she hadn't even noticed him. "Or should I say, this early in the morning? What're you doing out here? Did the Missus kick you out of the house?"

Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, which the dog must have noticed because his gaze shifted down to her bare feet. He seemed to give a scolding growl before walking over and lying down on them, the warmth of his fur and body keeping them from stiffening up and getting frostbite.

Guinevere looked down at the animal, amused. "You don't have to do that. I can just tuck my feet up underneath me."

The dog looked up at her, almost seeming to quirk his brow, as if to say "if you're dumb enough to come out here now, there's no way that I'm going to trust you to take care of yourself".

She smirked. "Oh, really now. You don't need to be so protective."

The dog nudged his nose against her hand, indicating that he wanted to be patted or scratched. Guinevere jumped in her seat. "Ah, wet nose! Wet, cold nose that you should keep away from my hands!"

The dog then audaciously proceeded to rub his nose against her ankles. Guinevere shrieked and withdrew her feet, pulling them up onto the bench with her. The dog rolled over onto his back as she pulled away, and was… grinning at her.

Bastard had the nerve to grin.

"Oh, so it's just a game to you then, isn't it?" Guinevere said, trying not to smile, drying her ankles off with the edge of her robe.

The dog yipped and rolled back onto his stomach, his tail wagging with a maddened zeal. He definitely wanted to play.

She thought briefly of indulging him, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind. It was entirely inappropriate, after all.

"No, I think you should go inside now," she said, motioning with her head back toward Sirius' flat.

The dog tilted his head again, this time confused. The big puppy eyes blinked up at her adorably. His eyes.

"Really," Guinevere half-reproached, a smile lighting her eyes, "you'll catch cold out here, Sirius."

The dog's eyes widened and he stood warily. His ears folded back onto his bowed head and he backed away from her slowly. She heard a soft whine.

"We don't have to talk about it tonight," she said carefully. Clearly, he had not expected this, and even in canine form it was throwing him for a loop. "You don't even have to transform back. Just don't stay out here for much longer, it's far too cold."

She stood up from the bench and started walking back to the front as fast as she could, her feet protesting with every icy step. She had gotten about halfway when she felt something furry brush under her hand.

The dog was trotting at her side. She didn't say anything.

When they reached Sirius' door, the dog pushed it open with the top of his head (it had already been left open a crack), and dove inside. Guinevere ran up the stairs to her door. She didn't go inside until she saw Sirius' door close a few seconds later, a human hand drawing the front window curtains closed a moment afterward.

---

Remus trudged up the stairs wearily. The day had been too long, too arduous, and definitely too dull. He was even boring himself with the lessons he had given that day. The students didn't blame him – they knew that his schedule had gotten a tad more complicated in the past couple of months. But still, he needed to be around fewer people for a while. He was going to have dinner upstairs and read. Yes, reading sounded good…

And then his ears were greeted by the sound of sobbing as he stepped into Ivy's office.

"Oh, Ivy, luv, what's wrong?"

He watched as his wife tried to wipe away the tears, tried to wipe away the redness around her eyes, tried to blow her nose hard enough so that she wouldn't sound stopped up when she spoke. She failed at all three.

"Stupid baby books," she muttered, shuffling stacks of things on her desk and ignoring the open blank book in front of her. "They have a whole section in this baby book that we're supposed to fill in for her about 'Baby's Parents', you know? So that the baby has some sort of record, I guess, before we fill it up with her pictures and everything. And they have a place where you're supposed to put pictures of 'Mother and Father As Children' and 'Mother and Father's Family and Friends'. I don't know why, but I was strangely possessed to do it now…"

Remus held his breath for a moment, inwardly wincing at what he knew had happened. Then he tsked at her gently and pulled a chair up next to hers, turning her chair so she faced him.

Ivy gathered a few glossy squares of paper in her hands, which he knew were photos. He didn't have to look at them to know the faces that he would find.

"I don't think about her as much as I should," Ivy said softly. "Sometimes, I feel like I shouldn't, especially when I look at Sirius and I remember that it's been worse for him. His connection with James was something so special…." Ivy pulled her handkerchief off of her desk and wiped futilely at her eyes again. "But she was my best friend. My best friend. I never found another, no one like her. There's no one that I can just share everything with – "

"You have me," Remus whispered encouragingly.

Ivy nodded vigorously, afraid that she might have hurt his feelings. "Oh, I know, I know that. But it's not the same thing, Remus. I need her, especially right now. God, I need her help with this. She was so calm and easy through the whole thing, I just don't know how she did it. And I miss how easy she was, I miss how she made all the problems in the world go away. She was so easy to love."

Remus understood. Lily was a very singular woman, someone who couldn't be compared to others simply because she defied everyone's expectations. Straight-laced and smart, with a real taste for adventure and a great capacity to love. And she had always created a sense of home around them all. Her kitchen, her parties, her outings, her big family. It had been hard to get that sense back without her.

"I want to talk to her," Ivy said quietly. "It doesn't even have to be about anything important, I just want to talk and hear her laugh about something stupid. I want to make some tea and sit down next to her, and I want her to be graceful and happy and sharp, just like she always was."

She put the pictures down, trying to distance herself from what she was saying, but it only seemed to drag her in more. "I miss my father."

Remus shut his eyes. He hadn't seen Ivy's father, Gladwin, since before he and Ivy had their falling out, and he had never really talked with Ivy about how or when he had died.

"He would have wanted to be around for this."

Remus nodded in agreement.

"So would my mother," Ivy said with an attempted smile. It seemed to get harder and harder for her to summon a smile when she mentioned her mother, who'd been dead since she was fourteen. Remus imagined that not having her around now was especially painful. He tended not to think much on his own family for that same reason – there was too much to regret.

"She would have loved you, you know," Ivy whispered. "She always said that the problem with the world was that there weren't enough gentle people in it. She would have loved you so much…"

He always felt a particular tug somewhere in his chest whenever Ivy inferred that she thought he was gentle. He knew it was silly, but in the back of his mind he was always so relieved that that's what she saw in him. Because then for a moment, he wasn't really a monster and the scars didn't matter – that wasn't what she saw.

And he felt a peculiar sense of contentment when she said that her mother would have loved him. Ivy held so much by what that woman had thought, alive or not. If Ivy thought that her mother would have loved him, then that just gave him more family, even if he would never meet her. One more person in his life than he'd ever thought he'd have. Because he should have been alone, but somehow he was continually surrounded by some of the most loving, generous, accepting people in the world. That had to count for something.

But now he had to figure out how to dry her eyes. He knew that hormones played a big part in all of it, but he also knew that it just wasn't healthy for her to be so depressed. She had to let him take the weight of it. That was his job for now, he could shoulder the pain for her, the same way that she always did for everyone else.

"Ivy," he said quietly, "you don't have to be sad about this. Not now. Right now you have far too much to be thankful for. You know that. Don't let all of this overwhelm you." He indicated the photographs and the baby book with a tip of his head and sighed. "I won't say that they would want you to be happy, because I think that's obvious, and it's a pointless cliché that doesn't make anyone feel better. But I want you to be happy…" He leaned forward and placed a hand on her belly. "… and so does she, I'll wager."

Ivy covered his hand with both of hers and heaved a short, soft laugh. The kind of laugh that said, I give up. You take it from here.

And he was ready, and he did. He felt like he was starting to get the hang of this, of her. Knowing when to take and when to give back. Knowing when to tug and when to be pulled.

He must be getting it because she climbs into his lap and buries her head in his chest, but then she says, "I'm sorry I'm so needy right now. I'm not really this fragile – "

"Does it matter if you are?" he interrupted.

This gives her pause. "No," she decided finally. "I guess not. Not with you."

He breathes in the scent of Ivy-hair and old-photographs and his-daughter.

"Right answer," he sighed in a whisper.

"You're having a philosophical day, aren't you?" she half-teased.

He laughed softly. The kind of laugh that says, thank God you're always here to keep me on the ground.

"I suppose I am."

She can't stay vulnerable for long, it makes her uneasy, and she is so damn programmed to take care of everyone, so she soon asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

He shook his head in the negative once.

"I'm hungry," she said, because she knows that saying that she wants him to eat will not get him to do it if he's comfortable in the chair. And well… she is hungry too. She's always hungry now.

He smiled. "What's for dinner tonight?" he asks.

She looked up questioningly. "… Steak and… pasta?"

"That's a nice unusual combination."

"Does it sound good?"

"You know me. Steak is always fine as long as it's rare. And pasta provided that it's not pasta salad."

She snorted. "You and cold food…"

"It defeats the purpose," he said defensively. "Heating something up only to refrigerate it for three hours…"

"Can't even get you to eat cookies if the chocolate chips aren't melted…"

"Why are we suddenly getting on my eating habits?" he asked the ceiling as Ivy brushes her nose against his jaw.

"We're not," she insisted. "…So steak and… pesto?"

"Wonderful."

"Good," she said, kissing his cheek. "Bindy will probably be up here in a minute to find out what we want."

"Oh, good," Remus exhaled. "So we can just sit here."

"Yes, we can."

Remus looked to the photographs on Ivy's desk and thought of the past. But today he made sure that whatever he remembered made him smile.

---

The incident that happened the next day was almost comical for anyone who had the good fortune to be there.

Remus could tell that Ivy was a little off-balance that day. He could smell the difference in the hormones and was ready for drastic changes.

Ivy and Ginny were going over papers that Ivy needed mailed off, while Clayton sat in the corner. It was almost amusing to Remus how he seemed to sulk now, but there was also something in the man's expression that he didn't like. He couldn't quite place the feeling, he just knew that it was wrong.

Clayton seemed to take the news of Ivy's pregnancy the hardest, hardly being able to speak for a week. Remus wasn't sure why the news would bother him so much, but he was fairly sure that he didn't want the answer, so he left it alone. If Ivy didn't make any mention of odd behavior, then he had no reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing, and he would continue to be as courteous as he was capable of being to the man. Which wasn't that courteous, naturally, but at least he made an effort, which was more than could be said for the Texan.

And so Remus sat off to the side with a pile of essays in his lap, grading at his leisure. He often abandoned his office early these days to make sure that he was with Ivy as much as possible. He didn't want to miss out on any of this. The students knew where to find him if they really needed extra help anyway.

Suddenly, Ivy groaned in exasperation. Remus looked up from his latest essay, where his panicked third year student was desperately trying to show that she didn't need to copy the textbook word for word to prove that she knew about grindylows –

"These were supposed to go out yesterday!" Ivy moaned, pulling a few rolls of parchment out of the pile. "I can't believe I forgot this. God, I'm just going to have to go drown myself in the lake and hope that the squid takes pity on me and eats me – "

"Surely, it can't be as bad as all that," Remus said casually, setting his quill down on the bookshelf behind him.

Ivy twisted in her chair, glaring daggers at him, and he instantly knew that he had said the wrong thing. "Well, maybe you'd like to send a letter to the Minister of Magic, explaining why the report was late!" she snapped.

Remus caught Ginny shooting him a small, sympathetic smile as she tied the parchment to the nearby owl and gave him a special treat to make sure that he hurried. She knew as well as he did that the Minister wouldn't care if the report came a day late, he knew everything that was happening at Hogwarts. Most importantly, he knew of Ivy's condition, so he wouldn't press the issue.

But Ivy was in a state, and had absolutely no intention of getting out of it. She yanked at handfuls of her hair, still scowling at her husband for suggesting that the problem was not as tragic as she had made it sound. "Oh, I'm just a mess! I must look like a wreck, I just haven't been sleeping and…"

Ginny was at her side, rubbing her back in gentle circles, trying to calm her down.

"Do ya wanna take a nap?" Clayton suggested from the corner.

Ivy's head shot up again. "Why? Do I look tired?"

"No!" Remus interjected quickly, making sure to shoot Clayton a 'how thick are you?' glance before setting aside his papers and giving her his full attention. "No, of course not. You look beautiful and rested."

Ivy grunted. "Well, that sounded like a programmed response. I must really be in bad shape."

Ginny shook her head fervently. "No, you're fine. Men just never know what to say."

Ivy laughed. "You're too young to know that."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "No, the intelligence level is about the same for gents my age. I don't think they ever get it."

Remus made a mental note in the back of his mind to make sure that he or Sirius had a chat with Harry. Apparently, the young man's talking skills weren't up to par.

Clayton had opened his mouth again like he was going to speak, when the door to Ivy's office was thrown open. Severus Snape stormed in, looking dangerously annoyed, even irate. Remus held his breath.

"Headmistress," the Potions Master hissed, barely attempting to sound respectful, "I sent Draco into the storerooms today to get certain materials for class, and he came back and told me that we were out of many key items that I always keep in stock. Now, I know that you normally put in all the orders for classroom inventory, but I have told you that I am capable of doing that myself for my own class. You insisted, however, so now I must insist that if you are going to continue ordering these items, you must at least order them on time!"

Ginny wisely stepped in, as Ivy had been looking rather pale and weak from the moment Snape entered her office. "It's all right Professor, I sent out the order today, it'll only be a day or two before you receive what you need. Just a slight delay – "

"Ms. Weasley, do not interrupt me when I am not speaking to you," Severus barked angrily. "This conversation does not concern you, so kindly remove yourself from the room, or stand somewhere where I will not see that ridiculously bright hair."

Ginny abruptly closed her mouth and, glaring at her professor, stepped over to the side, close to where Remus was now standing.

Severus did not notice Ginny's glare, however, because he was now staring at the Headmistress in nothing short of absolute fear. This could only have been caused by the woman's expression, which disturbed him very much indeed. Ivy's eyes were now shimmering as though she was about to burst into tears, her bottom lip quivering like that of a scolded child.

"Why do you talk to all the students like that?" Ivy asked in a choked voice. "They don't deserve that. Look how much you've upset her!" She motioned to Ginny without looking at her, as though she could tell that Ginny's heart was broken by pure intuition. Severus shifted slightly on his feet, taking a short breath like he wanted to say something and bow out of the line of fire as gracefully as possible.

But Ivy was now in the midst of it – it was definitely her 'hysterical' time of day. She continued on at a frantic pace, everyone in the room keeping quiet out of terror.

"You're always so mean! I don't understand what made you like that, but would it kill you to show some human compassion now and again, Severus? You act like you hate everyone!"

Her voice was sobbing, though no tears were rolling down her cheeks… yet.

"Headmistress – " Severus tried –

No such luck.

"And then you come in here and yell at me when I'm tired and having a bad day, and it's just not my damn fault for everything, you know, I mean Minerva was the one who insisted that I become Headmistress after Albus died, and you obviously think that you could do a better job, so why don't you – "

"Headmistress, I didn't mean to insinuate that – "

"But you did!" Ivy shouted accusingly, rising to her feet and leaning toward Severus, who was fortunately standing on the other side of her desk. "You hate me! And I always knew that you did, but you could at least attempt to cover up your contempt once and a while! Especially when I'm like this! This is definitely not the best time to come in and yell at me, Severus!" She pointed to her swollen stomach as if that was perfect evidence. "And if my child has emotional problems from the time she comes out of the womb, I will be able to trace it back to this moment, because I'm most assuredly not composed and calm and gentle the way a mother should be!"

And with a furious yell she slumped back into her chair. There was a pout on her face that was almost angelic, as she said defeatedly, "I need some chocolate." Then she opened her right desk drawer, pulled out a half-eaten bar of Honeydukes chocolate, broke off a piece and stuck the corner of it into her mouth so she could suck on it in a dejected manner.

Remus slowly walked up behind her, half-expecting her to whirl around and start screaming at him. He shot Severus a sympathetic glance and motioned with his eyes toward the door. The least he could do was bail him out of the uncomfortable scene. "See you tomorrow at breakfast then, Severus."

Snape nodded curtly, backing away from the desk just one pace too fast to fool anyone into thinking that he wasn't terrified. "Certainly." His eyes shifted over to Ginny. "One or two days will be quite sufficient, Ms Weasley. Thank you for you assistance." He looked like he wanted to gag himself for uttering words of thanks to anyone from the Weasley family, but he stiffened up even straighter and left the office in a subtle rush.

Remus was standing next to Ivy's chair when he felt her head tip to rest against his hip. He placed a hand on her back and looked down at her worriedly.

But Ivy looked fine, if a little out of breath.

"That was one for the records, I think," she said softly with a humble smirk.

---

The protestors were outside the school again, but this time the staff decided to ignore them, and told the students not to walk the grounds for the day. They thought that maybe testing the patience of the protestors would be a good way to see how far these people were willing to go. Two Ministry guards had been stationed at the gates; Ivy had insisted that the Minister of Magic send some sort of team to help her staff keep a constant watch on the gate and ensure that nothing else was strung up in the future.

Ivy was rather angry that the Ministry hadn't vocally spoken out against the protestors after the incident of the werewolf body, but they seemed to be keeping fairly quiet on the subject. The Minister claimed he felt that it would aggravate the situation too much.

She had been expecting some letters from the Ministry that morning, but was rather alarmed when an owl dropped a letter on her desk from the Minister that was marked 'Urgent'. She hadn't been expecting anything important.

Quickly, she unrolled the parchment, and was surprised to find the Minister's own hasty scrawl (normally he dictated letters, and his quill had never been quite good at duplicating his handwriting). She read the letter carefully:

Headmistress Dumbledore,

I regret to inform you that I have just been made aware of a difficult situation involving your husband, Professor Lupin. It seems that the body of a muggle was found in the Forbidden Forest recently, and the cause of death looks to be a werewolf attack that happened some time ago. Information has also come to me by different anonymous sources, claiming that your husband had trouble with the Wolfsbane Potion a few transformations ago and that he was loose in the Forbidden Forest for a time.

This puts the Ministry in a difficult spot, as the body was discovered by a group of the protestors who happened to be skirting the edge of the forest during a rally. I had requested that they keep the matter quiet until we can know the facts for certain, but they are not heeding my suggestion, and mean to make this matter public.

As a result, I feel that I must detain your husband for a time to diffuse any mass panic that might arise when the accusations are made. There will be law enforcement officers coming to Hogwarts today to collect your husband. I am writing you this letter to make sure that you and staff are prepared for this, something that I should not do, but I wanted to make sure that –

But Ivy dropped the letter and grabbed up her cloak, racing out of her office as fast as her swollen feet would carry her.

On the staircase, she ran straight into her husband, almost not seeing him because she was looking so hard.

He grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her. "Slow down – "

" – But Remus – "

"I already saw," he said in a strained voice, handing her a copy of the Daily Prophet. Ivy caught a quick glimpse of a mutilated human body before shutting her eyes and crumpling the paper up furiously.

"Ivy – "

" – It couldn't have been you."

"Ivy, we don't know – "

" – No, it couldn't have been you, you weren't out there for more than a half hour by yourself!"

Remus stared at her seriously. "A great deal can happen in that amount of time."

"No! It wasn't, I know it wasn't, they're just lying again! There are definitely other werewolves running around in the Forbidden Forest, it wasn't you!"

"If that's the case, then we'll be able to straighten it out, but for now – "

" – They're coming to arrest you."

Remus stopped abruptly, cutting Ivy with the silence. But he didn't look surprised, and that hurt her more, squeezing her ribcage until she had to gasp for breath.

"When?" he asked calmly.

"Today. The Minister sent me a letter to let me know." She laughed cynically. "Like he was doing me some sort of big favor…"

Remus nodded determinedly. "Then they'll be here soon. We should go out to meet them."

"What?"

"It will look very bad if they have to come in and get me," Remus explained. "We have to act like we aren't shocked by it, or it will make everything worse."

Ivy wished that she could use one of her hormone-driven temper tantrums to dissuade him, but she knew that he was being the rational one, as usual, and she needed to listen to him. So she nodded, and linking her arm tightly in his, she followed him downstairs and outside to the gates, incapable of thinking of something to say that would help him.

The protest group seemed to have tripled in size from the last time. Ivy couldn't hear anything over the droning cries and Cynthia Dammers' amplified shrieking. Minerva, Severus, Flitwick, Sprout, and Hagrid were already at the gates. Apparently, they had taken it on themselves to cancel classes for the day and handle the problem.

But Ivy saw someone she didn't expect standing with her staff and the Ministry guards at the gate.

"Sirius?"

When he saw the two of them heading toward the gates, Sirius' expression went panicked and he rushed toward them.

"You shouldn't be out here!" he scolded. "We've got everything under control. Codger sent me out here as soon as he read the morning paper. Guinevere should be here soon too, she was just late coming in today. But you need to get back inside, they're going to go crazy with you out here."

"No, Sirius, if they're coming to arrest me, then I can't wait inside for it."

Sirius' eyes widened. "They're going to arrest you?"

"The Minister sent Ivy a letter."

"Bloody hell, Remus…"

Sure enough, a few moments later, the protestors were clearing a path. A file of officers from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement were making their way toward the gates. Ivy could only stare as Minerva told Hagrid to let them in, the older woman's face sharp and rigid with barely concealed anger.

The head officer stepped up to Remus, taking no account of Ivy, though she was still holding onto her husband's arm desperately.

"Remus Lupin?"

Remus nodded politely.

"We have a warrant and are taking you into custody for the murder of a human while in werewolf form in the Forbidden Forest. Can I trust you to cooperate?"

"Certainly," Remus answered softly, keeping his cool eyes locked with the eyes of the man in front of him.

The protesting crowd had gone silent, straining to hear the exchange between Remus and the officer. But Cynthia Dammers couldn't keep quiet for long.

"Look at the guilt on his face! You can see the evil lurking under that sinful mask! How did it feel, Mr. Lupin? Did you enjoy ripping apart that defenseless man?"

Remus battled against the urge to look down, to tear his gaze away from all of the people. But he knew if he did he would look guilty, and though he wasn't sure of what he had done, he could not afford to look guilty.

And then another man came forward from behind the row of officers. He had claw marks on one cheek, and Remus recognized the insignia on the robes all too well…

The Werewolf Capture Unit.

What was it he had said to Ivy not long ago about living his nightmares?

"We'll take it from here," he told the chief officer in a gruff rumble. His eyes stayed fixed on Remus, who he was staring at with undisguised loathing. "Mr. Lupin…" he said slowly. "We've been keeping tabs on you for quite some time."

Remus kept his face stony and impassive. Capture Unit operatives had reputations for trying to provoke the ones they took into custody. Adding charges was a pastime for some of these men.

"They call you the Tamed Wolf back at the office, did you know that?"

Sirius bristled a few feet away, his wand at his side as though he was actually thinking about using it on the man.

Remus managed a thin smile and a short laugh. "No, I didn't."

The Capture Unit captain smiled back, an expression that didn't suit his face. "Will you look at that, chaps? He has a sense of humor!" He turned back to Remus and took another step toward him. "You know, most of you don't have that."

"I imagine it would be hard for many of us, since most are homeless and alone," Remus answered back evenly. He was fully aware of how the captain had quickly placed Remus into the category of 'them'. The werewolves. The ones that parents told their children stories about to get them to behave. That was fine. Remus was fully prepared to defend others like him, if that's what they wanted to talk about. But he knew that wasn't what the captain was trying to get at.

The captain was nodding like they were actually having a civil conversation. Then he stepped forward again, getting right into Remus' face, staring him down. He was a tall man, about the same height as Remus and twice as wide. Clearly, he enjoyed using his build to assert dominance

Remus felt Ivy's arm tighten around his as she leaned back, fighting against her flee impulse. He sometimes felt that they communicated on a much more basic level now that she was pregnant. They didn't have to talk about things so often, they just felt them. And her instincts, powerfully awakened in her maternal state, were usually right in tune with his, as they were now.

Remus wanted Ivy somewhere else. Anywhere else right now.

"Sense of humor or not," the captain snarled, "I know how you are, Mr. Lupin. There are certain things that can't be stifled, no matter how many serene faces you put on, no matter how polite you are and how well you interact with normal people. You still eat your meat rare. You still dream about death and carnage. And you still get rough in bed when the moon gets closer to full circle," he smiled with a sneer as his eyes turned on Ivy. "Am I right, Ms. Dumbledore?"

Ivy didn't answer. She narrowed her eyes and stared right past the captain's shoulder, refusing to look at him.

"There's no need to be shy with us, Ms. Dumbledore," the captain continued. "We've been dealing with his kind for decades, most of us. You must care about him a lot to marry him – I've never seen one of these marriages work out, in all honesty. Especially not with the males, they have a tendency to want to roam a bit. Don't like to be tied down."

Sirius seethed, unclenching his wand hand only when Remus shot him an admonishing glance.

Ivy fought the urge to snap back at the captain. Because he didn't know her husband at all. If there was anything that Remus Lupin craved more than anything in the world, it was four walls and a roof, and home, and a place to belong, and the same person by his side every night. She felt it every time he fell asleep next to her.

Roaming was not something that Remus Lupin liked to do. He hated impermanence and stepping outside his comfort zone. He hated uncertainty, and no matter how much of his feral side was on display, that need for familiarity dominated his life. No surprises.

But she couldn't tell that to this man because he would laugh. All he saw was a beast dressed as a man, parading around with a real woman on his arm as though he could trick everyone into believing that he was like them. And that's all he would ever see.

When Ivy didn't answer again, he turned back to her husband. The protestors hadn't been making a sound, so desperate to hear the conversation. But the captain wasn't raising his voice – he didn't care about having an audience. This was a personal moment, predator stalking prey. After all – you would need a monster to capture other monsters. Someone who understood their nature. And the captain seemed to enjoy the thrill of the hunt very much.

"I hear," he said quietly, "that the dementors can make you relive memories from your transformed state. That they can actually conjure up the memories that your conscious mind can't access, and show you what you've done during the full moons. Maybe then you'll be able to tell us what you did that night."

"Dementors?" Ivy said, feeling a trail of ice slither through her core.

He had gotten her to speak. The captain smiled again, a movement that made his mouth look like another scar on his face. "We can't risk someone this dangerous being held in a detention area at the Ministry – didn't someone tell you? Until he can be tried, he's going to be held in Azkaban."

"WHAT?" Sirius shouted, walking up behind Remus and yanking him backward, as though he could pull him to safety.

Ivy choked on the air she was breathing.

But Remus was alarmingly still and composed. He truly wasn't that surprised. Looking over his shoulder, he locked eyes with his friend, who was still trying to drag him backwards as though he could simply remove Remus as a target. He pleaded with Sirius silently. You have to let me go…

Sirius' eyes darkened with fear and he shook his head doggedly. Remus didn't know. He didn't know about that place. And Sirius would be damned if he ever would.

But Remus' eyes pleaded again with phrases like no choice and this won't help.

"Padfoot…" he whispered.

And Sirius felt something in him shatter because he didn't think he could take this. For him it was bad enough. But not for Remus, not Moony, not the one who sat quietly in the corner while James and Sirius tried to stop him from finishing his Potions essay. Not for the one who gave them that scolding, disappointed glare whenever they went too far on some prank, and wouldn't talk to them until they had admitted they were wrong. Not for the one who Sirius sat by in the Hospital Wing early in the morning while he tried to heal –

They would make him remember the full moons.

As if there weren't enough horrors in his life.

But Sirius had to let him go because Remus was right. He couldn't stop this, it was beyond his control. And he definitely didn't want to make it worse, something he'd always been rather good at in their youth. So he moved away slowly, allowing his friend the space he needed.

The captain had pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Just a precaution," he said in a tone that was almost businesslike. "You understand, of course. We have to make sure – oh, and I'll need your wand first."

It was amazing in that moment for Remus to realize how much of his identity was wrapped up in eleven-and-a-half inches of ash with dragon heartstring at the core. What was even worse was having to hand it over to someone like the man in front of him. He got an odd sort of mythical feeling that he had just handed his soul over to the minotaur, or maybe it would be weighed on a scale like the Egyptians depicted it. Either way, he was going to hell, he supposed, so it didn't really matter.

The captain circled around behind Remus, and pulled his hands to his back, forcing Ivy to let go of him in the process. As the handcuffs latched onto his wrists, Ivy saw him try to hide a wince.

But Ivy knew. She remembered what had happened the last time, she remembered it all too vividly. "You take those off him," she murmured dangerously.

The captain looked up, seeming a little surprised at the forcefulness in her tone. "It's not pure silver, that would kill him, we know. It's just five percent silver mixed with the steel. Takes the fight out of them, so they don't do anything stupid."

"It's law enforcement brutality," Ivy said furiously. "He hasn't done anything to warrant that treatment. Take the cuffs off."

The captain did not seem to like being ordered around by such a small woman, even with her red hair whipping about her face like flames, her blue eyes suddenly piercing and livid. "Look here, Ms. Dumbledore. This is standard procedure – "

"Standard?" Sirius repeated incredulously. "I think I'll talk to my office and find out exactly what is 'standard' in these situations. Because I remember reading quite a bit on this – job requires it and all – and I don't remember seeing the word 'silver' anywhere under the 'capture' section in the law books. Not even under the section titled 'resisting arrest'."

The captain looked back and forth between Sirius and Ivy, as though he was deciding whose vocal chords he wanted to rip out first. "I would suggest that you both stop talking or we're going to have problems here."

"Going to?" Ivy shouted. "Going to? You're taking away my husband, and you think that we're going to have problems?"

Her voice was loud enough to reach the ears of the people standing on the other side of the gate. They stirred restlessly, eager to let the fight begin. They probably wanted a riot, and Ivy was ready to give them one now.

"Ms. Dumbledore, if you cause me anymore trouble, I will have you held in a cell at the Ministry overnight," the captain growled at her.

Ivy smirked cynically. "Oh, and I'm sure it would look great on your record to put a pregnant woman in the overnight lockdown," she scoffed.

Remus glared at his wife, in spite of everything. Now was not the time to be playing these games. "Ivy, don't – " But he stopped because the captain had just pushed his arms apart to keep him from talking, causing his wrists to dig into the handcuffs. He grit his teeth against the searing feeling across his skin.

Ivy blinked back the moisture in her eyes when she saw him hold his breath. "Doesn't anyone see this?" she shrieked. "It's silver! It's poisonous to him, and you're hurting him!"

The captain was now aware that there was an audience nearby, and not all of them were protestors. Many newspapers and magazines had arrived to cover the event, and were waiting to find out if the Headmistress' accusations were true.

"It's only five percent, it can't poison him," he snapped angrily, staring down at the petite woman.

Ivy strode over to her husband and pulled up the sleeves of his robes, inching the cuffs up to reveal red, raw skin. "But it can still burn him," she shouted. "What you're doing is abuse! You don't even have any proof that he's committed the crime, and you're torturing him already!"

Ivy stayed right with the captain as he tried to haul Remus back. To keep her out of his face, he shoved her away hard, causing Ivy to stagger backward into Minerva. "Stay back, Ms. Dumbledore – I meant what I said about holding you!" he bellowed.

"If you ever touch me again – " Ivy hissed treacherously.

And suddenly everyone was shouting at once. Minerva shrieked at the captain for daring to handle Ivy so roughly, Severus demanded information from the law enforcement officers, Sirius was cursing at the captain, and Hagrid declared that the next person to lay a hand on Ivy Dumbledore would have to deal with him, while Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick started in on reporting the law enforcement officers to the Ministry if they didn't put the Werewolf Capture Unit back in its place –

"Everyone stop!"

And they all went quiet at the sound of that supremely disappointed voice.

Remus lowered his volume, amazed at how loud he'd had to shout to get over them. He tried to smile, to make it look like he wasn't worried. "We can't fix any of this right now," he said entreatingly. "Starting a fight here won't solve anything, and I don't want to see any one get hurt." At those last words his eyes landed on Ivy, who was flushed and angry and unwilling to realize that he was talking to her more than anyone.

The captain was getting uneasy here. Too many eyes on the other side of the gate seemed confused, where they had been overjoyed. The ones on this side of the gate were too willing to fight. "Time to go," he barked brusquely, pulling Remus Lupin away.

"No," Ivy whimpered, but as she went to follow, hands held her back. She didn't know whose they were, but there was more than one set and they were stopping her from going to him. And she watched as Remus was led toward the gate, and thought of the first time she ever heard his transformation, the first time she heard that blood-curdling howl, and how much she had wished to help him, and how nothing had changed because she still couldn't help him with anything. And she felt weak and lost, and suddenly she realized that her daughter was going to be born in less than three months, and everyone thought that her husband was a murderer, and she might never see him again -

"Remus!"

And she ripped away from the hands holding her back, and rushed to him, though her feet protested with every pounding step and she felt that her back was going to snap in two.

He had stopped when he heard her voice, planting his feet firmly so that the captain couldn't move him without lifting him off the ground. The brawny man was beginning to look distinctly uncomfortable with the whole scene, but waited for what he assumed were some parting words.

When Ivy reached Remus, she grabbed the front of his robes and buried her fingers in the folds, the same way that she always did, but knowing that this time could be that last time made the action desperate and frail. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Don't you dare cry. That will be the first image they'll bring up," he said reasonably.

So she didn't cry. She kissed him instead.

And she didn't care that her lips were chapped and her tongue was cold, she kissed him passionately, because this was the last kiss, that was the only way she could see it, and she was glad that everyone was there to witness it. Especially the protestors.

They should know what they were tearing apart.

And they kissed until the captain pulled him away from her, which was far too quickly. And Remus lifted his head and shouted, "Sirius!"

Sirius came rushing forward, past Ivy, as Remus was now right at the gate. "What is it?" he asked, a note of helplessness in his tone that clashed with his always-steady voice.

Remus spoke quietly so Ivy wouldn't hear, but his voice rang with an intensity that Sirius had never heard before.

"Take care of them."

Sirius didn't have to answer. One look was exchanged, the same one that they had in childhood, old and primal in its meaning. The one thing that the wolf needed from his pack, the look that meant I cover you. And Remus knew he would.

And then Remus was led through the gates, which closed abruptly behind him.

Ivy screamed after him without warning, her hoarse, stricken voice shouting "No!" hysterically, sounding like a wounded animal. Her strength and sanity left her, and she started clawing at the gate in a vain attempt to tear in down. Sirius and Hagrid had to hold her back to make sure that she didn't hurt herself. She eventually sunk to the ground, her hands wrapped tightly around her stomach, weeping. Minerva turned away, on the verge of tears herself at the sight of Ivy.

Severus had slipped through the gate after the law enforcement officers, and was holding one of them back.

"I want to examine this body that they found," he demanded obstinately

"Well, it's in the Ministry, sir. I don't think they'll give you access."

"Don't be so sure…" was the response received.

The protestors had to be held off on each side, though Sirius noticed that some of the people amongst the crowd no longer seemed so vindictive after what they had just seen. Some had dropped their signs, and the many reporters that had been hoping to get a good riot story were now staring pityingly back toward the gate, at the crumpled woman on the ground that they were certain was soon to be called Remus Lupin's widow.

---

Clayton came up to talk to Ivy when he found out what had happened. He tried to calm her down, and told her how sorry he was. Sirius was surprised to find that the Texan seemed genuinely worried about Ivy and the baby.

"I just can't believe that they would leave ya ta raise that child on yur own, Ivy," Clayton said slowly. "I hate ta ask this, but… do ya think that yur ready ta raise this kid all by yur lonesome?"

Ivy didn't answer him. It wasn't that she was offended. She was afraid of her answer.

Because she wasn't ready to raise a child alone. They had planned everything together. Everything that she saw for her daughter's future included the two of them. She couldn't edit him out of the picture.

What if she had to?

"And her bein' the child of a werewolf. That's gonna be real difficult in these times now. It woulda almost been easier if ya weren't…. Well, ya coulda just moved on with things, but now…" He looked dazed, almost like there was something complicated in his head that he wanted to say, but it wasn't coming out. Instead, he stood and told Ivy that he would be there if she needed anything, before leaving quietly.

Sirius stayed with Ivy for most of the day. He tried to get her to eat, but she was frantically writing letters and talking to people over the floo network, trying to get everyone to help her. Everyone seemed hesitant, although the mention of the silver in the handcuffs had turned a few heads. It seemed that no one would help Ivy, though, unless they were sure that Remus hadn't killed the person they had found. So Ivy spent the rest of the day searching through Ministry of Magic law books before crying herself to sleep.

Crying herself to sleep had taken about three hours, but Sirius didn't begrudge her one single tear. There was nothing he could have done to stop it anyway. He let her curl up on the couch with one of Remus' favorite books and sob while she quietly ran a hand over her belly. She told Sirius that Delilah never moved when she put her own hands on her stomach, only when it was Remus' hands, as though she knew it was him and was trying to communicate.

Delilah knew Remus was gone. She didn't move that evening as Ivy gently ran her hands in soothing patterns across her middle.

Sirius allowed Ivy to cry for the both of them. His mind was with his friend. In Azkaban.

Once Ivy had been asleep for half an hour, Sirius covered her with a blanket he found in the linen closet, and left her alone, making sure that the house elves were going to keep special watch over her and bring a fresh pot of tea every hour or so, so it would be there when she needed it. And then he let his feet carry him out of the school, off the grounds, and into Hogsmeade. Probably an hour or so later, Sirius found himself at the Ministry. He didn't quite remember how he had arrived, but he figured that if he had brought himself there, that was where he should be.

And he knew exactly who he was going to see.

After getting past lots of beady-eyed, power-hungry assistants, he finally made it to a small cell at the end of a dark, secret hallway. It was really more like a cage than a cell, the top of it not reaching the ceiling. But at least Sorsha wasn't in Azkaban. He could at least be thankful for that.

They had managed to keep her trial postponed in technicalities and red tape. Codger had wisely decided that they had to pick the right moment to get her a trial date. Tensions from the protest, and now from Remus' arrest today, were going to reach an all time high. They didn't want the Ministry to make Sorsha a precedent case for how they dealt with werewolves of the next generation unless they were sure that it would turn out in her favor.

And so Sirius found himself looking through bars at a young girl curled up in the corner. Ready to talk to her because he couldn't talk to the one person to he needed to see at that moment – the gray-eyed man now undoubtedly sitting on a dirty floor while the dementors came to visit their new blood.

Sirius had a good idea of the images that Remus was being shown about now. He knew what they liked to bring up first. Always the little things first. They didn't like to slam you with anything big until they had broken you down enough for it to be effective.

The guard at the other end of the hall had told Sirius to keep at least two feet away from the bars. So Sirius walked right up to cage and wrapped his hands around the iron beams, waiting for some sign that she knew he was there. He wasn't even sure if she was awake.

A minute passed, but the silence remained. Sirius didn't care. He had plenty of time to do nothing, as he was clearly quite useless. Couldn't stop James and Lily's death, couldn't stop Regulus' death, couldn't stop them from taking Remus to Azkaban, couldn't stop Ivy from ending up alone. Hell, he couldn't stop Peter from going to Voldemort, he might as well blame himself for that while he was at it…

What had happened to him? At the age of twenty he knew that he would have thrown himself in front of Remus and hexed that captain straight into St. Mungo's Hospital without blinking, and with no small amount of help from James. They would have never, never let them do anything to Remus, he was under their protection. Everyone knew that. Even when they were children everyone knew that.

But this time he'd had to stand by and watch it happen. And it wasn't just because Remus had told him to, because twenty-year-old Sirius never would have listened to that bloody rubbish, never would have allowed Remus to tell him that he was being irrational, because he wasn't bloody rational. Remus knew that. And yet, this time he had stepped back, had realized that there was nothing he could do, and let them take his friend to the only place in the world that haunted his dreams.

What did that say about him? He couldn't tell whether he was broken or he had just grown up. He wasn't sure he liked either answer.

"They took your friend to Azkaban."

Sirius pulled his eyes away from the bars above her head and looked down at her. She hadn't been sleeping after all.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"They gave me a paper," she said, uncurling from the floor and sitting up. "They never give me papers, but they did today. They said it was a special treat."

"Bastards," Sirius hissed through his teeth. It would be just like them to make sure that she saw that.

"That's why you're here," Sorsha said shrewdly. "Trade one wolf for another today."

Sirius wouldn't lie to her about that. He couldn't even lie to himself about it. "I suppose that's part of it. But I came to check on you as well." He looked pointedly at the untouched food tray on the floor. "Doesn't look like you're taking good care of yourself."

"Food tastes terrible," she muttered.

"I would imagine so. You weren't honestly surprised by that, were you?"

"No," Sorsha snapped, narrowing her eyes. Then her expression softened, and she grabbed a strip of chicken off of the plate, holding it up to him. "They overcook their meat all the time."

"Ah," Sirius murmured with a nod. That one, he knew all about. Remus couldn't stand it when meat was overcooked, it was one of the few things that drove him absolutely crazy. He couldn't stomach the taste, claiming "it's like sawdust, all the flavor's gone", to which Sirius would come back by asking Remus when he'd ever eaten sawdust. Lily eventually had Remus check his own meat whenever she had people over for dinner, to make sure that his meal was cooked to his liking. He seemed to remember Ivy making fun of him about it a lot when they were younger, as she was generally the opposite in how she liked her meat cooked.

"They don't like me," Sorsha continued, ignoring the way Sirius' eyes glazed as his thoughts turned tangential. "They think I make trouble."

Sirius almost smirked. "Do you?"

"I'm… uncooperative," she said slyly. "They deserve it. They deserve to be bitten."

Sirius stared at her sternly. "You shouldn't say things like that."

She laughed, rocking back and forth a few times. "Why not? They do. They should know what it feels like, they should have to feel the crack-crack-crack of bones, and smell the blood everywhere. No one knows it except us – how important blood is."

Sirius almost made a snide comment about his parents seeming to know the importance, but the thought of it made him feel worse, so he kept quiet.

Sorsha didn't like the fact that he had nothing to say. He always had something to say to her. She was desperate to understand why his friend's arrest would snuff him out like a candle, why he seemed to be fading, so temporary…

"They make us transform in these cages," she told him.

Sirius pressed his forehead to the bars and squeezed his eyes shut. "Damn," he whispered.

"I'm going to end up where your friend is."

"Don't say that."

"I am. No one helps us." Sorsha got up on her knees and crawled over to Sirius, placing her hands over his on the bars. "I'm going to end up where he is, and I want to know…" She bowed her head, an action that startled Sirius, so out of character for her.

"I want you to tell me about it."

"No, you don't."

"You're the only one who can prepare me."

"You're not going there."

Sorsha stood up and came close, her face an inch away from Sirius', but he didn't move. She reached up and took a lock of his hair between her fingers, tugging on it with an affectionate intensity. "Do you think your hair will ever turn gray?" she asked absently.

Sirius didn't answer because he knew that she wasn't really inquiring about what he thought. She was just musing to herself, a mind that was used to having to answer all of its own questions.

But then her mind came back on track and she looked carefully into his eyes.

"What does it feel like to know that you'll live and never see the sun again?"

"You can't think that way. That's how they beat you."

"They didn't beat you."

Sirius sighed. "I had something to hang on to."

"What was it?"

"My godson."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Not revenge? You were framed for murder."

The corner of his mouth tilted up. "And here I thought that you had no idea who I was this whole time."

She smiled. "Couldn't let your fame get to your head."

He gave a short bark of laughter. "'Course not…. But no. I used to think that it was about revenge. I thought that for a long time. But it always came back to Harry. No matter how much I wanted to kill Peter, I always wanted to be there for Harry more."

Sorsha's smiled faded and she took a step back. "I don't have what you had. I don't have people. I don't have something to hang on to."

"Sorsha, there must be something – "

"No, there's nothing!" she shouted. The guard leaned in to see what the trouble was, but Sirius raised his hands and motioned the man away.

"No family, no friends, not real friends, not like you have. Just people to hunt with, people who know how it feels to need the kill – "

"Sorsha, you're not going to end up there – "

"It's wrong!" she shrieked, reaching through the bars and grabbing Sirius by his robes, pulling him closer. Her eyes shown with sudden tears, her nose crinkling in disgust. "I don't belong here. I never wanted to live in your world! I didn't want magic and broomsticks and elves and owls! And now I have no choice, no one gave me a choice, and they'll lock me up, and they'll say I was a danger, but it was their fault that I became one in the first place – "

"I'm sorry!" he interrupted urgently, surprising even himself with the shout. "Damnit, Sorsha, I'm sorry that this happened to you, and I'm sorry that your parents didn't take care of you, and I'm sorry that you knew the wrong people while you grew up, and that you're standing behind bars now because people judge before they understand. I know what all of that is, okay? I've lived it, and known others who've lived it, and in the end it doesn't matter what they do to you because they do it to everyone – "

And Sirius suddenly understood why Remus had been right today, what had always made his patient friend the better man.

"It doesn't matter what they do to you," Sirius said calmly, resting his head against the bars of the cage again, "it's how you take it. That's what distinguishes you in the end. How you bear up under everything that they use to break you…"

Sorsha let go of him slowly, her eyes reading his face with great care.

"You need him back."

Sirius snorted. "Yes, that's true. Always needed him, he was the rational one. Kept you grounded."

She shook her head. "Keeps you balanced."

Sirius almost laughed. He nodded instead.

The guard entered the hallway, his keys jingling loudly on his belt.

"Time to go," Sorsha said simply. "Come back soon."

Sirius stepped back. "I will."

Sorsha listened to the soles of his boots echoing down the hallway before picking up her tray and throwing it at the bars of the cage.

---

Sirius Apparated back to Hogsmeade and took his time walking home. He wandered aimlessly for an hour or so before reaching his flat, and was shocked to find the lights on in his living room. He pulled his wand out. He never left the lights on.

He opened the door slowly, noting that the locking charms he kept on the door had been stripped away. So someone had broken in.

Peeking his head inside, he saw someone sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, definitely a woman, her shoulders hunched and shaking.

He stepped in all the way. "…Guinevere?"

"Oh," came a strangled noise, and sure enough, Guinevere turned around. Her hair was a tangled mess, dark circles ran under her red eyes, and she was clutching a handkerchief in her hands with a grip so fierce that her knuckles had turned white.

"Sirius!" she muttered quickly. "Sirius, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I wasn't there today when they arrested Remus, I should have been there, I heard what they did, but I was detained, I got a letter from a hospital – "

"Slow down," Sirius implored. "I can never understand a word you say when you go on like that."

He walked over to the couch as Guinevere stood up. She faced him, her eyes on his boots, wringing her damp handkerchief between her fingers.

Sirius picked up the blanket he had on the back of his couch and wrapped it around Guinevere's shoulders. She looked like she needed it.

"So you didn't come into work because you got a letter from St. Mungo's?" he tried to clarify.

Guinevere shook her head, tugging at the edges of the quilt he had given her. "No, a muggle hospital. I would have come to Hogwarts, really, it's just I was in their hospital all day, and…"

Sirius didn't like this. "Why were you called to a muggle hospital?"

"Bruce…" Guinevere said softly. "He was… he was in a car crash. He was badly injured, they – they don't know if he's going to make it…"

Sirius froze. It made perfect sense. Things just always happened this way, didn't they?

Peter is a traitor. James and Lily are dead.

Good things come in threes.

Bad things come in twos.

"And…" Guinevere continued, clearly uncomfortable because Sirius hadn't said anything, "and I'm sorry I broke into your house, I just needed to talk to someone, but you weren't here, and I didn't know where you were – "

"I went to see Sorsha," he broke in quietly.

Guinevere nodded that she had heard, but she kept rambling, needing to finish the train of thought. " – and I didn't want to bother you at Hogwarts, if you were there with everything that was happening there, but I just – I didn't want to be alone, so I waited, I'm sorry, I probably gave you a fright when you saw the light on – "

But Sirius had stopped on the words I didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to be alone either, not now. They'd really had the same day, in an odd way. And he was glad that she was here.

" – and I thought that maybe I should – "

Sirius pulled her into his arms, wrapping them around her tightly. Guinevere made a nervous noise in the back of her throat at first and stiffened, but she soon melted into his hold, gasping as she started to cry again softly. She tipped her head onto his shoulder, grabbing handfuls of his robes, feeling the rise and fall of his chest with his steady breathing.

And Sirius had no intention of letting her go because then they would both be alone again. So he stayed there, feeling puffs of breath against his neck as she tried to calm herself. He didn't really care if she cried, he wanted her to cry. When Ivy cried, there was nothing for him to do – the only person who could calm her was Remus, he knew that well enough. But with Guinevere, maybe he was helping. And the thought that he was helping made him feel solid again, brought him back down to earth after a day filled with the divine interference of Fortune. Maybe that bitch would make the wheel land somewhere else for a change.

For now, he would stay there as long as she let him.

---

I know! It's sad! But it won't be forever! I hope that you're still enjoying the story with all it's twists and turns. -hugs you all for letting her know what you think-