So, last semester (some time in September I believe) we had a project in my English class to read any book we like, and do any type of project we like on it. This project had to clearly show what happens in the book (or had to have a summary attached) and had to give our personal views on it. Naturally I chose Harry Potter because being in all Advanced Classes you don't have time to read, and I've got the books basically memorized. Especially the 5th book. Horrid ending—but it will always be my favorite hands down. So, my challenge was to rewrite the last handful of chapters Remus-centric, to show Sirius' last few moments on Earth and Remus' reaction. There is no Slash, but there's a lot of sub-texting.

Summary: Sirius' last moments on this world were far from simply healing an oversized bird. Rather, they were filled with laughter, memories, swing dancing and one best friend, otherwise known as Moony.

Warnings: Character Death, Sadness/Angst Abound, Swing Dancing, and Sub-text.

Rating: T for the hell of it


Beyond the Department of Mysteries

Remus opened the door to the old house carefully. He stepped in clutching his old briefcase and cloak as silence settled in after the door clicked shut. At the end of the hallway a head peered out from the kitchen. Remus smiled and started towards the kitchen softly as Sirius grinned and beckoned him to hurry up.

"You're back!" Sirius exclaimed quietly after Remus had passed the old torn curtains hiding the sleeping figure of Mrs. Black. Remus nodded.

"Oh please Sirius, I haven't been on a real mission for the Order in Ages! You know that," the werewolf replied. Sirius stepped back into the kitchen and Remus followed him and closed the large door.

"At least you've been out of the house," the other man stated running a hand through his hair. "D'you want some tea?"

"Tea would be brilliant Pads. And I dare-say—if you want to take polyjuice and go as me for three days just to spend one afternoon with Mundungus Fletcher—please go right ahead." Sirius chuckled lightly flicking his wand carelessly. They sat down at the table and the kettle started to warm up.

"That bad?"

"Terrible," Remus muttered holding his head up with his chin and distractedly watching the kettle.

"Mundungus takes some time," Sirius stated.

"Hmm," Remus hummed in agreement as the kettle whistled shrilly and lifted up to pour its contents into the two teacups that had been set out earlier. Realization dawned, and Remus looked up suddenly at Sirius.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you Pads?" Sirius shrugged and stood up to retrieve the cups—not trusting his new wand to levitate them.

"No, not really," the man replied—obviously lying. Remus sighed and smiled softly up at his best friend, as a teacup was set in front of him.

"Next time I go out, it will be for cleaning supplies. I don't think there's too much of a problem for me to take my dog with a few added patches of white here and there with me. What do you think?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. Sirius chuckled and sat down.

"What they don't know, won't hurt them," Sirius stated. Remus nodded and took a small sip of his tea before he sighed and placed the cup down.

"Sirius…you'll be a free man by Harry's 16th birthday—and we'll go and steal him from the Dursleys and give him a proper birthday," Remus stated firmly. Sirius looked down at his cup of tea and smiled.

"We could take him to one of those Muggle carnivals, like the one Lily brought us to." Remus nodded.

"I think he'd like that," he replied. Sirius nodded.

"Yeah…" Sirius picked up his cup and gulped down the quickly cooling tea.

"I can't believe you remember that." Sirius smiled fondly while swirling the dregs in the cup around. Remus held out his hand and Sirius placed the cup in his grasp.

"When I escaped—I wound up in these old fair grounds. I saw the caramel apple stand and remembered James covered in the stuff." Remus laughed watching the dregs in the cup settle.

"Yes, I believe he repaid you by putting ice cream in your hair," the werewolf remarked.

"Hm…yeah. He did. So what do you see?" Remus put the cup down and smiled.

"Happiness." Sirius snorted and stood up, picking up both their cups and placing them in the sink.

"You saw the Grim—you always saw the Grim for me back in school." Remus shrugged.

"I hated that subject. I couldn't see anything. I always saw stags, rats, and dogs—and for everybody else I saw mush," he replied nonchalantly.

"You were the favorite, always making up some happiness from the mush, until you left for runes at least," Sirius commented sitting back down. The ex-professor smiled and started to speak when the cups whistled shrilly before Sirius flicked his wand and they started to clean themselves. Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Molly…" he muttered. Remus laughed loudly.

"What's so funny?" Sirius growled, glaring at him. Remus shook his head.

"I'm sorry Padfoot, it's just—you make it sound like you're the one married to her—not Arthur. Sirius Orion Black—Hogwarts' most eligible bachelor, cleaning cups for an older woman!" Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked Remus under the table.

"Shut up you, it's not funny! It's scary! It means that the sky will be falling soon and we'll all die painful and horribly slow deaths!"

"Under chunks of blue sky and clouds?" Sirius grinned.

"Exactly!" Remus laughed as Sirius winked at him.

"How ridiculous, you're insane Pads." Sirius nodded before snapping his fingers.

"Blue sky—that reminds me. Buckbeak hurt his paw."

"Do I even want to know how?" Remus asked and Sirius sighed.

"The house hates him," he muttered—his facial features darkening. Remus looked at his friend remorsefully—a dark veil now covered the flamboyant personality that used to shine through unhindered.

"The house hates everyone Sirius. Don't dwell on it," he pleaded quietly. Sirius shrugged and stood up.

"So will you take a look for me? I don't even think we covered Hippogriffs way back when. Even if we did—Merlin knows that it's become way more advanced in the past decade and a half." Remus nodded and stood.

"Yeah, all right. Let's go see if Beaky will let me near him today," he said grabbing his cloak and brief case. They headed to the door when a piercing whistle filled the air. Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to get Remus to continue following him.

"Wait! Sirius! What is that?" Remus called over the noise. Sirius motioned towards the cups sitting patiently by the sink.

"Molly! C'mon! It'll stop the second we touch the door!" he replied loudly.

As if to prove his point, he grabbed the door handle and the kitchen was plunged into a strange silence. Remus blinked and raised his hand to one of his ringing ears. Sirius grinned—his face lighting up.

"See? It's brilliant! And it lets us know if some one enters through the kitchen because you can hear it all through out the house except for the entrance hall!" Remus sighed and shook his head.

"I leave for three days and three years of changes are made in the house."

"Don't waste your energy Moony, let's just go!" Sirius exclaimed letting go of the door. The cups trilled again impatiently and Remus hesitated before shifting around his belongings so that he could reach his wand. With a quick swish and flick the cups were happily in their places.

"Now we may go," Remus announced, brushing past Sirius and leading the way down the hallway and up the stairs.

"You're insane Moony," Sirius whispered after they had gone past the portrait of his mother. Remus chuckled as they started up the stairs.

"Yes, well, you learned to deal with it before," he replied.

"How is beyond me," Sirius returned. Remus stopped abruptly causing Sirius to bump into him and stumble back a few steps.

"I'm just that irresistible," Remus stated smugly. Sirius laughed and bounded right back behind him and started to push him up the stairs.

"Oh get over yourself, you giant lump." Remus laughed.

"Pot, kettle, Pads. Pot, kettle," he commented as he opened the door to Buckbeak's room. The Hippogriff looked up from its curled up position in the corner, turning his large golden eyes towards the two men at the door. Sirius walked on in as Remus graciously bowed.

"How's your foot Beaks?" Sirius asked, reaching into a magically locked drawer in the dresser and tossing out a dead ferret to the oversized bird. The Hippogriff trilled after nodding his head to the Werewolf and then grabbed the ferret in its beak. Remus straightened and walked in. Sirius opened another door and pulled out a medical kit, which he handed to Remus.

"Well fear no more my darling avian...horse thingy—sorry—the Medi-Wizard has arrived." Remus and Buckbeak glanced at each other and then rolled their eyes at the animagus. Remus kneeled next to Buckbeak and sighed. Sirius kneeled next to him and watched intently.

"So which claw are talking about here?" Remus asked rummaging around through the kit.

"Left," Sirius said as Buckbeak stuck out his right foot.

"Left Pads?" Remus asked, chuckling as he lifted out some disinfectant. Sirius muttered as Remus finally looked up at Buckbeak's injury. The werewolf gasped and jumped back slightly.

"Sweet Merlin," he breathed, gently reaching forward to lightly brush above the main injury. Buckbeak made a noise of discomfort as Remus stared in horror at the purple and green claw with three great slashes on it.

"When did this happen?"

"This morning." Remus turned and gawked at Sirius.

"Why didn't you wrap it?" he scolded. Sirius glanced at Buckbeak.

"His highness wouldn't let me." Remus shivered in remembrance of some of his own wounds that had never been properly wrapped and looked back at Buckbeak.

"You'll make a lovely pillow and fine quills if you don't let me take care of you properly. Be a man and suck it up," he instructed before handing Sirius the disinfectant.

"Open that up and get a handful of swabs from the kit."

Sirius nodded as Remus stood up and took off his outer robes. He rolled the sleeves up on his under robe and held them in place with a spell before getting back on the floor. Sirius handed him a swab and he scooped up the disinfectant and grabbed the Hippogriff's ankle gently but firmly.

"On the count of three…one, two, three!"

Buckbeak let out a screech of fury as the Wizard Healing medicine started to clean his wounds. Sirius prepared another swab for Remus to continue the process. A few moments later all three sat on the floor panting with their ears ringing. Buckbeak's paw was an angry red from the pasty potion that Remus had used. After they had calmed down, Remus picked up the roll of bandages and carefully started to wrap Buckbeak's paw.

"Right, starting tomorrow we're getting rid of everything in this house so we don't have to worry about this kind of problem again," he muttered.

Sirius nodded in agreement, closing up the disinfectant and putting it away before gathering up the used swabs and burning them with a flick of his wand. He closed up the kit and went to put it away. When he returned to Remus' side he sighed before realizing the werewolf was softly humming to himself. He stared intently at his friend as he continued to gently wrap Buckbeak's injury. Remus stopped and looked up.

"What?" he asked self-consciously.

"You were humming," Sirius stated. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"So?" Sirius shook his head.

"Nothing, it's nothing…you all done?" Remus glanced back at the task he was trying to accomplish. He tapped the end of the bandage with his wand and nodded.

"Yep. All done." Buckbeak let out a loud sigh causing both men to chuckle lightly. After a few moments of silence in which the Hippogriff thoroughly examined the strange white cloth on his foot, Sirius spoke up.

"What song was that?" Remus looked up at him. The other man had a face of pure desperation.

"Hmm?" he hummed in response—Sirius' words not exactly clicking.

"The song, the one you were humming a few seconds ago. I don't recognize it," Sirius explained. Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why Sirius, it was a rather popular song a few year—oh. Oh Sirius! I'm terribly sorry," Remus muttered—aghast with himself. Sirius shook his head.

"It's all right, you…you forgot is all."

"But Sirius! You used to be so much into the music and all, and that was just horrible of me. You missed such a great musical time period, and I am practically rubbing it in your face. I am so sorry Sirius!" Sirius pushed himself up off the floor.

"Forget it Remus. It's no big deal. It is just music." Remus looked up at him with a pained expression.

"But Sirius…you loved music."

"I used to love a lot of things Rem," Sirius replied, picking up the other man's robes and holding them out to him. Remus sighed and stood up, taking the robes from Sirius and slipping them back on.

"Have you been listening to the WWN?" he asked. Sirius shook his head.

"First off, I was more into Muggle Music, and secondly—the style has changed to much. It is weird, and rather different." Remus looked at Sirius for a few moments. The other man was looking down at the ground—no doubt thinking about all the time he had missed out. Suddenly an idea came to his mind and he laughed, grabbing Sirius' arm and pulling him out of the room.

"Come on! I have an idea!" Sirius sputtered, tripping over his own feet to keep up with the fast moving werewolf.

"Remus! What are you doing?" he cried. Remus stopped and turned to smirked at Sirius—successfully turning the other man's bones to ice. It was never a good sign when Remus looked that way—trouble was bound to come up.

"I'm going to catch you up," he said before dragging Sirius to his room.

Sirius unceremoniously toppled onto Remus' bed as the other man flicked his wand and opened up his trunk. There was a small crack and pop before music started to fill the room softly. Remus groaned and turned away from his trunk to jab his wand at the old record player sitting innocently on the dresser and the music turned up. Sirius sat up and gaped at Remus as the first few beats played out—the loud horns and drums belting them out in a fast paced tempo.

"Merlin! Moony! Is this the record I got you for your 19th?" Remus laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, my first Swing Record that I didn't swipe from my parents. I was so excited I actually kissed you on the cheek and wouldn't let go of you until James pried me off. And then I kept turning around and hugging you every five minutes." Sirius laughed and fell back as Remus turned back to his trunk searching for some of his old A-Tracks from the 70s and CDs from the 80s.

"You taught me how to dance to this music…" Sirius stated suddenly. Remus turned around to look at him. He was lying back on the bed smiling at the ceiling. The werewolf nodded.

"Yeah, you and James…I remember that." Sirius closed his eyes.

"I can…kind of remember it." Remus sighed and stood up and went to sit next to Sirius.

"One of those moments where I wish I had a pensive so I could show it to you again." Sirius shook his head.

"No—I don't want a pensive—I want my own memories back." Remus smiled.

"Well…do you remember the prank you guys pulled on Snape that day?"

"I think we turned his hair pink—but we did that a lot." Remus chuckled.

"You turned it pink using one of his own potions, and then you proceeded to write his undying love for one of the house elves in bright yellow in the entrance hall." Sirius laughed.

"I remember that! We even got the House Elf to sit there waiting for him to give him a token of her gratitude!" Remus laughed.

"And so you both ran as fast as you could under James' invisibility cloak back up to the dorms so that I could vouch for you." Sirius sat up nodding.

"And you were in the dorm listening to your record—dancing!" Remus blushed.

"I was doing homework!"

"Homework does not include stealing my broom and twirling it around the dorm Moony." The two men stared at each other—Remus scowling, Sirius smirking. Finally Remus looked away and muttered.

"I got distracted!" Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Remus looked back up.

"You know for someone who couldn't remember what happened very clearly—you sure do seem to have it all," he stood up to go turn off the music only to have Sirius pull him back down.

"I'm not done with you yet…now how exactly did we wind up dancing in the dorm together?" Remus laughed.

"Now that part was all your fault. Your parents had tried to force you to learn to dance, proper ballroom dances and the likes—sort of like James' parents had." Sirius nodded.

"Pureblooded thing—but he got to learn the cool dances! He learned to Tango and Waltz! I hated dancing."

"So you asked me to teach you how to swing dance—which is filled with complicated twists and turns." Sirius grinned.

"Well, just because I hated dancing when my parents made me do it—doesn't mean I can't dance at all." Remus laughed.

"That's exactly what you said back then. And then Prongs jumped in and decided he wanted to learn too."

"So he went first and realized he couldn't do it at all," Sirius stated smugly. Remus nodded.

"And then you and I started and within a few minutes James had to push all the beds against the walls so we could have more room as we switched back and forth between leading." Sirius grinned and nodded before he closed his eyes.

"That was fun." Remus nodded.

"Yeah…it was." The music went silent for a moment before a new song picked up. Sirius looked at Remus, a mischievous smile crossing his facial features. Remus jumped off the bed.

"Oh no! Whatever you're thinking get it out of your head right now Sirius Orion Black!" Sirius laughed and stood up.

"Oh c'mon Moony! Have a little trust in me! I was just going to ask you to re-teach me!" Remus stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Re-teach you?"

"Yeah! I don't really remember how to swing dance—and I want to remember!" Sirius pleaded, grinning. Remus sighed.

"It has been quite a long time for me as well Sirius." Sirius grinned.

"Well we can relearn together!" Remus paused and then gave in nodding.

"Brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed quickly moving all the furniture out of their way and then going up to Remus.

"Ok, you lead first." Remus grimaced.

"This is…awkward…" he muttered before grabbing Sirius' hands. He listened to the music and started to hear the tempo in his mind before nodding.

"Ok…ready?" Sirius nodded energetically. Remus couldn't help but smile; the last time he had seemed so happy was when Harry was over for Christmas.

"All right on four…1…2…3…4!" Within seconds they were laughing, spinning and dancing around the old room to the upbeat tempo, seemingly without a care.

After a few minutes of getting used to dancing with one another, their eyes slid shut as they danced and they were no longer in number 12 Grimmauld Place, rather they were in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. They weren't in their mid-30s any more; they were two 15-year-old boys.

But more importantly, they weren't alone.

James sat on one of the four poster beds flush against the wall laughing and clapping in time with the music watching them spin and twirl and dance.

Just outside the door there was entire common room of people doing homework and playing games and enjoying their youth.

And out side of that there was an entire school filled with all sorts of people from the fuming Slytherin with pink hair to the smiling, bespectacled Headmaster trying hard not to laugh as the said Slytherin paced in front of him, ranting and raving.

There was no war that could affect them—nothing could get past the walls of Hogwarts. So they danced; as James made comments about dance competitions and teased them about how well they danced together.

Finally they opened their eyes. They could still feel James in the room with them; Lily sitting beside him. Both laughing as the animagus and the werewolf stole the spotlight away from them during their wedding reception at the request of James. The people around them laughing as they did their best not to trip on their dress robe; and those who knew them well laughing twice as hard knowing that there was most likely a very heated discussion over who would be leading the dance before hand.

The next song came on and Remus and Sirius continued to dance forgetting everything that had been on their troubled minds before. They were so caught up in it that they never heard Mad-Eye's buzzer going off announcing someone at the floo.

They only heard the trumpets, drums and the beat, as Sirius twirled away from Remus, and then back to him. On the way back out though Sirius tripped on a loose board and snagged Remus' robes for some sort of support before falling back, pulling the other man down with him. They landed in a breathless heap on the bed. Remus laughed into Sirius' shoulder.

"Smooth move Tinkerbell." Sirius laughed and hit the other man on the shoulder playfully.

"Oh shut up," he said. They laughed as Remus rolled off of Sirius and sighed.

"Well…I guess dancing is like playing Quidditch—well for those who actually play," Remus commented. Sirius smirked at him.

"Once you learn you never forget?" Remus nodded.

"That, and, as you get older and don't do it as often—it tends to get harder." Sirius laughed.

"C'mon Moons! We're not old! We're just—eh…out of shape?" Remus laughed.

"Oh real nice Pads, real nice."

"What!" Remus chuckled.

"Way to make a werewolf feel good about himself, just tell him he's out of shape." Sirius laughed and sat up.

"So what other music samples do you have?" he asked, eyeing Remus' trunk.

"Hmm. I've got my albums—I stole your A-Tracks, I think all my cassette tapes disappeared as a result of me trying to create a successful potion." Sirius snorted.

"Key word: trying." Remus nodded.

"Exactly."

"So let me get this straight—in the past 15 years you have been listening to the same music you listened to after we graduated?"

"Oh please Sirius, I'm not that hopeless! In fact…" Remus pushed himself off the bed and went to his trunk. He rustled around in it for a few moments. Sirius raised his eyebrow sitting back on the bed.

"Whatcha looking for Moony?" Remus shook his head.

"What was that name of that crazy muggle guy you were madly obsessed with in the 70s?" Sirius shook his head and sighed at Remus, lifting his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose.

"Remus," he said smiling, "they were all crazy muggle guys in the 70s." Remus rolled his eyes.

"No that one really big one that you absolutely adored. Daylin Something?"

"Daylin? What kind of name is that?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"No, that's not right…Dave…Davie! Davie Boony?" Remus tried. Sirius' jaw dropped.

"David Bowie you imbecile?" he cried. Remus shot up holding a CD case grinning.

"That's the one!" Sirius' gaped at him.

"You forgot David Bowie!" Remus laughed.

"I'm not that cruel, I was testing you. He released a CD in the late 80s. I think—in fact I'm sure you'll love it." Sirius laughed and sat up, pulling his legs on the bed—shoes and all, much to the displeasure of Remus—and sat Indian style.

"Put it on then! Let's hear it!" Remus nodded and walked over to where the Record Player was. He pressed a button on the side and a CD compartment appeared. He grinned over his shoulder at Sirius.

"I love being a Wizard." Sirius laughed.

"I can imagine, new technology and that poor Record Player gets another thing installed in it—can you play all your music on that thing now?" Remus nodded while fiddling with the controls. Soon the music blasted out of the player and Sirius fell back as the vocals came on.

"It's my God! It's my Idol! He has returned to my life! Oh joy to the world! Peace on Earth! Wow—this is really good!" Remus laughed.

"How old are you Sirius?"

"Twenty something. Now shut up, I'm trying to hear." Remus chuckled again moving to sit back down on the bed.

A few songs later Sirius had convinced Remus to swing dance to David Bowie. Some how they managed to pull it off quite well despite the odd combination of dance moves and rhythm. They had just really started dancing when there was a loud knocking on the door. Mad-Eye Moody burst in along with Tonks and Kingsley behind him. Remus let go of Sirius and pulled out his wand, immediately silencing the music. Mad Eye looked at them both with his roving magical eye.

"Been listening to that garbage for awhile now?" he growled. Sirius started to protest that it was not garbage thank you very much—it was music! But Remus stopped him.

"Actually, we were fixing Buckbeak's paw, we maybe came in here…15, 20 minutes ago I believe. I could be wrong of course." Mad-Eye huffed.

"Of course…" he turned and stalked out of the room. "C'mon Shacklebot, we've got things to do!" Kingsley nodded and waved at Sirius and Remus.

"Hey guys, catch up to you both later all right. Remus, I need to know how that meeting went sometime tonight."

"It was horrible!" Sirius cried as Remus tried to answer. Remus stepped on Sirius' toe causing the older man to squeak in indignation.

"Of course! Just come find me when you get a chance." The younger man nodded before disappearing, leaving Tonks to watch amused as Sirius hopped up and down to Remus' bed holding his foot.

"That hurt Moony!"

"You're over 30 Pads. You'll live, I promise," Remus replied moving to actually stop the CD player rather than just silence it. Sirius looked up at Tonks and grinned.

"Wotcher Tonks!" Tonks grinned.

"Wotcher Sirius!" she replied before actually moving inside the room to sit down on one of the old moth eaten chairs. Remus glanced over at her and smiled kindly.

"Hello Tonks."

"Hey Remus—abusing Sirius again?" Remus nodded.

"Naturally. I haven't been home in three days—I'm trying to catch up of course." Tonks laughed as Sirius glared at Remus as he moved to sit down on another chair.

"So, care to explain what's up with Mad-Eye's version of the Spanish Inquisition?" Sirius asked. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Sirius, it was one perfectly normal question."

"Yet he ran off with the answer rather fast with Shacklebot close behind, and showed up with two other fully trained Aurors." Remus opened his mouth to retort but then stopped and looked at Tonks.

"Rest the poor old dog's mind? I'm afraid he won't listen to me."

"Actually, Sirius is on the right track Remus. Harry tried to floo you guys about 15, maybe 20 minutes ago and got no answer. What he did get though, was a very nasty realization that Umbridge placed barriers all over her office, so he was caught. She brought in Severus to get some Veritaserum, and when he was about to leave Harry shouted out something about Voldemort having Sirius. Well, in code of course—but that's about it." Remus and Sirius both frowned.

"We didn't hear the ringing of the bell though…" Remus muttered.

"We were also swing dancing like two old loons," Sirius reasoned and Remus swallowed.

"Oh Merlin…is everything—what's happening there?" he asked worriedly, fear tying his stomach up in knots.

"No idea, that's all the information Severus could get to us. I'm sure he'll corner Harry as quickly as possible to warn him against doing anything rash, but in the meantime, Mad-Eye thought it best to have a team here just in case, so Severus can reach us if anything does happen and we'll be ready to go," she explained shrugging. Sirius glowered at the wall.

"Severus console Harry? Not likely. He'll most likely provoke the boy. That disgusting slimy greasy—"

"Sirius!"

"Sorry…" Remus sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Didn't you give him your two-way Padfoot?" Sirius muttered darkly.

"Knowing him, he probably thought it'd be better for me if he didn't use it."

"You can't exactly blame him Padfoot," Remus reasoned. Tonks coughed politely.

"Look, I'm sure he's fine. I mean, he's got Hermione and Ron right? And they've been through loads together apparently."

"Yet in the end it's always Harry…" Sirius muttered.

"Nothing we can do about that Sirius, look at what his near future holds for him. A very angry, very powerful Dark Lord. I'd like to see you get through that without having to rely on solely yourself and your wand after a period of time," Remus retorted. Sirius sighed. Tonks shook her head.

"You're both insane. Look, I'm bored. May I watch you two twirl each other around or shall we go do something—not quite as dangerous?" she asked. Remus and Sirius both looked away, their cheeks slightly tinged pink.

"Let's—Ah—go do something else, yeah?" Remus suggested. Sirius nodded vigorously as Tonks sat back laughing.

"Aw, a shame! I was hoping you could teach me to dance Remus!" she replied. The werewolf faintly blushed and muttered. Sirius snorted.

"Oh please Tonks! You'd trip up and would wind up sending poor Remus to an early grave!" he retorted. Tonks glared at him.

"I'm not that bad!" she exclaimed jumping up.

"C'mon Remus! Dance with me!" she pleaded stepping towards him. Remus stuttered.

"I-Um…I've never danced with anyone other than my mother and Sirius—it might be a bit strange," he admitted. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and Tonks stopped and made a slight face before grinning.

"You'll be fine! If it helps I can change my face!"

"I'm not sure that that's such a good—" Remus was interrupted by a squeaking Tonks as she tripped over the same floorboard Sirius had tripped over previously. The ex-convict roared in laughter as Remus moved forward to help the girl up.

"Are you all right?" he asked concerned. Tonks' face was a bright cherry red color. She nodded and mumbled.

"I'm good…thanks." Remus helped her straighten up as Sirius' laughter died down.

"I award thee, Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Muggle Ted Tonks, the Order of Worse Timing EVER and Winner of the Most Embarrassing Moment Award!" he announced grinning at her. She shot him a look.

"Don't even get me started Black. I'll string you up and feed you to the giant squid back at Hogwarts," she threatened. Sirius shrugged.

"I would go faster if you just tossed me to our resident werewolf. And that way he wouldn't go all manic depressive on you guys because he'll always have a bit of me in his blood stream, helping him stay healthy and active that much longer," Sirius replied adding on a romantic little sigh while batting his eyelashes. Remus grimaced.

"That's extremely disgusting Padfoot."

"Really? I thought it was more like sickeningly sweet." Tonks waved her hands frantically.

"Ok! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I really don't want to hear it! You're both insane!" she cried. Sirius laughed again and Remus rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why you're friends with him Remus! Honestly! I'm going downstairs to talk to normal people that don't give me images of Sirius bits floating through a blood stream! Come on Remus! Let's leave the dog up here to contemplate his existence in your digestive system alone!" she said walking to the door. Remus laughed and shook his head.

"He's the first best friend I had…and the only one brave enough to actually steal my books and tell me that I would not get them back until I was social for at least two hours, he's coming with us," he replied, holding out his hand to Sirius. Sirius swooned and grabbed Remus' hand.

"Oh Remus, you're such a gentleman!" he cooed in a high-pitched voice. Remus pulled him roughly to his feet and Sirius laughed.

"And you're a mongrel, come on, I'm hungry. I want real food in my system—not imaginary Siriuses." Sirius laughed as Tonks rolled her eyes and stepped out into the hallway, the other two men following closely behind, talking quietly but animatedly.

"Is 'Siriuses' even a word?" Sirius asked. Remus shrugged.

"It is now."

"Making a new Dictionary Moony? Going to put that one in there?"

"Might as well," Remus replied as Sirius laughed. Tonks shook her head.

"Men," she muttered as they walked down the rest of the stairs and stopped talking in the Main Hallway. They passed Mrs. Black's portrait where Sirius made an ugly face and Remus smacked him lightly upside the head as Tonks picked her way carefully around the Troll Foot Umbrella Holders and other such oddities. As they entered the kitchen where Moody and Kingsley were, Tonks spoke up.

"I don't see the obsession with Troll feet Sirius, what is up with that?" she asked sitting down at the table and taking the cup of tea Kingsley silently offered her.

"Something to do with the smell of decaying flesh—Merlin only knows," Sirius replied sitting on the other side of the table across from her and next to Kingsley. Remus sighed and sat down next to Tonks and glanced at the end of the table where Moody was going over some papers.

"Any news yet?" Moody grunted and Kingsley shook his head.

"Nothing, but I'm sure Harry's got something up his sleeve—if not him then one of the others. He had Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and some other girl. I think he said Luna Lovegood," the Auror replied. Remus nodded as Sirius looked up at the ceiling.

"Lovegood—that's the guy who prints off the Quibbler, yeah?"

"Sure is! He's such a nut case!" Tonks commented. Sirius grinned and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Nut case maybe, but to our friend Stubby Boardman here, he's a hero."

"I'll have to see if maybe Harry can pull off me meeting Luna or her father so that I may thank him properly," Sirius stated nodding. Remus shook his head.

"Mass chaos—that's all that would come out of that—mass chaos," he muttered. Moody grunted in agreement and then looked up.

"How'd the meeting with Mundungus go?" Remus groaned and sighed.

"I swear that man is such a pain. He had me wait at this disgusting and filthy place for three days before telling me to go some where else for the meeting. Then he proceeded to talk about his business while trying to carry it out rather then just giving me the information and letting me be," he complained. Sirius laughed.

"That's Mundungus for you all right, he's a character." Moody growled.

"A character indeed. A character I'm not sure we should be trusting for much longer." Sirius stopped laughing and looked at Moody.

"What do you mean?" he asked the older wizard.

"Some of the information that Dumbledore has trusted him with has gotten to the other side, no doubt he's 'slipped up' more then a few times," Moody explained. Sirius sighed and shrugged.

"So? We don't give him that much information for that reason. At least it's better then Snape, I'm just waiting for that slimy git to turn around and betray us completely." Remus glared at Sirius.

"Might I remind you Snape is giving Harry Occulmency lessons?" he said sternly. Sirius glared at him.

"May I remind you Mr. Lupin that Snape canceled those exact lessons because he's an evil disgusting ba—"

"Excuse me for interrupting your rant Black, but I'm afraid we have a problem," a voice said from the fireplace in the kitchen. The diverse group all jumped up to crowd around the fire place and stare down at a greasy haired, big nosed, glaring Severus Snape. Sirius sneered.

"Snivellus, how lovely of you to drop by."

"I assure you Black, I won't be staying long. I have better things to do with my time than stare up at you," Severus retorted. Sirius growled but Remus put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's the problem Severus?" he asked quietly but sternly. The potion master's eyes traveled to Remus and he sneered.

"Your Golden Boy and his precious Muggle born decided to take Umbridge on a walk to the Forbidden Forest. They had not yet returned when Mr. Draco Malfoy managed to run into my office with a few very well placed Bat-Bogey Hexes. It seems that the others managed to escape into the Forbidden Forest as well without my noticing."

"How long have they been gone?" Moody asked.

"Maybe 15 minutes at most, I wouldn't be concerned if it wasn't for one of my first years stumbling in here a few moments ago muttering about giant horse skeletons flying out of the forest. It seems he watched his older brother kill his Aunt's cat when he was younger." Remus swallowed.

"Threstrals…of course Harry would be able to see them, and didn't one of them tell us Umbridge did her inspection during Hagrid's threstral lesson?"

"Longbottom is going to be able to see them too, and Lovegood no doubt—think she watched her mother die," Moody added on roughly.

"Where would they go though?" Tonks asked.

"That I can answer as well. The Dark Lord's been giving Potter dreams. The Department of Mysteries. No doubt he had a dream where he saw the Dark Lord torturing Black down there," Severus replied.

"Maybe if someone had been teaching him correctly," Sirius growled. Severus whirled on him.

"I did the best I could! It's not my fault if that incompetent brat didn't practice! Didn't realize the dangers! Had he kept his curiosity to himself rather than gone off and—"

"ENOUGH!" Remus shouted. The room went silent until Tonks spoke up again.

"What's in the Department of Mysteries that He wants anyway? Time turners?" she asked. Severus' head in the fire turned a slightly lighter red.

"A prophecy. One of the Death Eaters heard a prophecy after Potter had been born. It was about the Dark Lord and a powerful boy born at the end of July whose parents thrice defied him. They only heard half of it though, but that half was enough to send the Dark Lord to the Potter's home and try to kill the boy before he could kill him. It backfired, the rest of the prophecy went on to explain why it did, and the Dark Lord wants it now. He wants to know what was supposed to happen." The room went silent again.

"We have to get there, Merlin knows what kind of tricks Voldemort has in there. Not to mention how dangerous the Department of Mysteries is already," Kingsley whispered.

"I'm going to search the forest just in case, Dumbledore should be there any moment—leave the mutt at home to tell him what has happened," Severus said before disappearing. Sirius shouted in protest as Moody turned to the younger group around him and nodded.

"Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin, come on, we're going to have to move fast if we want to get to the Ministry and done to the Department without raising some kind of riot," he instructed grabbing his wand off the table. Sirius turned to look at him.

"I'm going too!" he said.

"No, some one needs to stay to tell Dumbledore. Plus it's too dangerous," the old Auror replied. "You could be caught."

"Exactly! I could be caught—working with the good guys!" Sirius cried.

"Sirius…" Remus muttered trying to stop the other man.

"No! Don't Sirius me! This is my chance to prove my innocence! It's obviously my fault Harry is there anyway! I was the one who didn't hear him calling for me! I need to be there so he can see that I'm all right! We'll have Kreacher tell Dumbledore what happened."

"You've been inside for too long! You're more of a hindrance then anything!" Moody shouted back. Sirius growled and slammed his hand on the table glaring at the other man.

"And whose fault is that? Whose fault is it that I've been locked up in this hellish house for so long? Whose the one who just threw me in Azkaban with out a second thought to Crouch's order of no trial?" he hissed between his teeth. Kingsley grimaced as Tonks gasped. Moody's roving magical eye stopped dead as Remus made a small noise of dismay in the back of his throat.

"If it wasn't for you Alastor—if you had just taken the time to take the silencing spell off of me and asked me what had happened like you had debated about doing loudly the entire way there, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't even start digging up the past with me you foolish boy…" Moody growled. Sirius continued to glare at him unfazed.

"I'm going, and you can't stop me."

"You're staying—"

"That's enough!" Remus shouted interrupting Moody. He stared at the older wizard pleadingly.

"This could be his chance at freedom Alastor. Please! I'll keep an eye on him! And he can help calm down Harry, you don't know the boy like I do! Having Sirius there to show him he's all right will get us in and out much faster." Moody glanced between the two friends before snarling.

"Fine! But you'd better keep a close eye on him Lupin! Now let's move out! Now!" he cried. The three Aurors moved out of the kitchen and Remus looked at Sirius.

"Kreacher!" The old house elf appeared and glared at Sirius.

"You were listening in, weren't you?" Sirius sneered. The house elf held his head high.

"Kreacher did no such thing Young Master. The stupid blood traitors running off to try and defeat the Dark Lord. Their precious little golden boy shall die most painfully no doubt," the house elf replied. Sirius growled.

"You stay here, when Dumbledore arrives you are to greet him and tell him everything, is that understood?"

"Of course Young Master. Kreacher will tell the old bat most gleefully how the nasties have gone to get themselves killed by the Dark Lord. Mistress will be most pleased to have her home back." Sirius growled.

"Disgusting creature…" he growled. Remus stepped forward.

"Padfoot…"

"Don't Remus. Just don't. I don't need it right now," Sirius growled picking his wand off the table and storming to the door. Remus grabbed the other man's shoulder.

"Just promise me that you'll be careful—just like old times. Promise me you'll be careful, and promise me that we'll look out for each other if we wind up fighting them," he asked. Sirius turned to look at him and smiled.

"Just like old times?"

"Yeah, just like old times," Remus replied smiling before they hurried out the door and outside where the others were waiting. Sirius let out a whoop of joy at being outside and turned around to make a rude hand gesture at Grimmauld.

"See ya in another life!" he shouted. Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm dragging him to a dark spot on the other side of the road between two houses that Order Members had been using to Apparate in and out of. Sirius took one last glance where the old house resided and grinned as Remus let his arm go.

"C'mon Pads! Let's get out of here!" Sirius nodded and closed his eyes taking a deep breath as he apparated the farthest distant he had been since his escape.


Review! I might just put the next part up! HK