Light Out for the Territory

After half a day with Charlie Weasley I knew I couldn't drop them at a muggle hotel like I'd originally thought. He was all right, really, and if he wasn't friends with that nest of lunatics I might've liked him pretty well. But the guy couldn't manage the muggle world to save himself. Lupin seemed to have his bearings pretty well, and Charlie might've been okay if he'd just kept his mouth shut, but he didn't. When we got to Juneau I decided I needed to have a talk with them both.

"Before we leave," I began, grabbing them by the arms to halt their progress away from the apparition point, "you've got to know some things about Juneau."

"Can't you tell us while we're walking?" Charlie cut in. I glared at him.

"No. Now listen." I commanded. Lupin looked from Charlie to me with a vaguely amused crease at the corner of his eyes. "Juneau's small, and the wizarding section is pretty much mingled with the muggles. You have to remember there are almost always muggles around." I looked pointedly at Charlie. "Got it?"

"Right," Charlie confirmed, his mouth twisted with what I assume was a suppressed desire to tease me for worrying. Lupin nodded with his usual distracted air.

"And it's not all witches and wizards in the wizarding section," I continued. "It's a lot of Alaskan natives, too. Different magic." I turned to Charlie again. "Most of them don't like questions about it."

"Right," Charlie said again, raising his palms briefly.

"Look, it's important," I protested. "You can't just call the muggle cops here." I turned away from them and headed off toward the Golden Spike, intent on getting them installed in a room and out of my hair.

"You act like we're going to start a fight, Tavia," Charlie said, sidling up to me.

"Call me Dempsey," I said shortly. "And don't start any fights, please." I sighed, not relishing the next turn in our route. It'd take us through the main wizarding street in Juneau. I had avoided it since leaving school—not graduating, by the way, just leaving—and I didn't want to go back. I closed my hand around my wand in my pocket and felt my shoulders tense.

"Don't like your name, eh?" Charlie continued, oblivious.

"Not really," I said, taking in a deep breath.

"What's wrong with it?" Charlie pried. I stopped dead. Charlie wandered ahead a couple steps before stopping and looking back at me.

"Just stop, all right?" I said, my voice a little hysterical. We stood on a street that still had a large crack where an earthquake had shifted the roadbed nearly a foot lower than the sidewalk. Lupin stood a small distance from us, eyeing it. Charlie's face changed quickly—he approached me like you'd approach a wounded animal.

"About your name?" He said quietly.

"All of it," I said, trying to get my voice back to normal. I cleared my throat. "Let's just get this done." I started walking again. Charlie turned after I passed him and fell in behind me, as did Lupin. I turned into the street and focused on the Golden Spike at the opposite end, training my eyes away from everyone else walking there.

I was relieved to see Julian still at the bar after all this time. He'd bewitched a couple rags to wipe the bar for him and was leaning heavily on the polished wood when we walked in. His dark eyes shot back to me after he'd glanced at my companions.

"Dempsey." He said, his accented voice rough and low.

"Julian." I crossed to the bar and clasped wrists with him. "Brother."

"Sister." He nodded to me. "Been a while."

"Yeah." I thought a moment but couldn't come up with a better answer. I tossed my head toward Lupin and Charlie, who'd come to stand beside me. "They're travelers. They'll need a room."

"You aren't staying?" Julian confirmed, raising his eyes to me again. I shook my head. "Got to get back to those wolves, eh?"

"Bears this time of year; you know that," I answered, a small smile on my face.

"You know you could stay." Julian said evenly. I snorted.

"The hell."

"You're as stubborn as your mother, little sister." Julian shook his head, his lined face moving into a tight-lipped smile. "Can't tell you anything."

"Maybe not," I said, "but you keep trying." I stepped forward to clasp wrists with him again. "You'll take care of them from here?"

"My word as an Indian," he said. I grinned at him, shaking my head. "You'll come back and visit an old man?"

"My word as a half-blood," I said. He smirked. We clasped wrists a final time. I turned away from the bar to face Charlie and Lupin. "Julian will get you rooms. I'll tell Black you're here."

"Right," Charlie said quietly. Lupin inclined his head with a look of concentration on his face. I nodded toward them, wrapped my fingers around my wand, and apparated to my cabin. A heavy silence met me on my arrival.

"Black?" I called, wandering into the exercise pen. Delphine and Blue trotted toward me. I scanned the rest of the pack as they approached. No black dog. "Black?" I called loudly, casting my voice against the wind coming in from the water.

I walked toward the side yard, still calling with Blue and Delphine in tow. The dogs had been behind the usual protective wards and an odd locking charm I'd had trouble releasing. My cabin had been even neater than usual. It was almost as though he hadn't been there. "Black?" I raised my voice as I rounded the corner of the cabin. The ground near the house was moist and soft, like it had rained. I scanned the side yard as I continued around the house. "Come on, you've got to be here," I muttered.

The dogs suddenly pricked their ears forward and raised their tails. I told myself it was just an animal after some kitchen trash in the compost pile and pressed forward to find Black. I rounded a corner of the house only to be herded back by Delphine and Blue, who shot ahead of me snarling and snapping. I caught the slightest glimpse of fabric rounding the edge of the cabin siding.

The dogs kept up their deep barking as they backed closer to me. I stood still with my wand in front of me, unwilling to apparate away from the pack. I had a glint of awareness I was in over my head—I registered it as the same feeling Black had initially given me. Yet I stood there, watching the dogs until they backed nearly into my shins.

Blue trotted to my side, forming a barrier that pushed me closer to the wall of my cabin. I turned and slunk along the siding quietly, pulsing a repetitive silent call to Black through my mind. Come back. Come back. Show me where you are. I struggled to even my breathing. I listened hard. I tensed my fingers around my wand. And in the quiet, I waited.