Lost: One Godson, Answers to Harry

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"Will you stop moping about, snapping at people and acting like someone's broken your heart?" Sirius began.

Tonks's hair flared up gloriously red and colour flooded into her cheeks. "Oh, I'm just acting, am I?" she said furiously. Hestia stepped away a bit, alarmed. "Doesn't it count as a broken heart if the person you love has just chosen a horrid – stinking – ugly little werewolf over you? Doesn't it?"

"Tonks…" Sirius began, but Tonks overrode him.

"Because just because you're going to remain a bachelor the rest of your life doesn't mean the rest of us want to, Sirius!" cried Tonks, balling her fists.

"Hear, hear!" chimed in Hestia, then quickly withdrew when Tonks shot her a look of pure venom.

"Tonks!" Sirius took her arms and before she could wriggle free, he forced her to sit down in the seat Lupin had so recently vacated. "Sit!"

"Don't you…!"

"Sit and listen for five minutes!" Sirius clapped his hand over her mouth. "Remus is not in love with Maud."

He removed his hand to see how Tonks would react to this, but her frown only deepened. "Don't be so stupid. He spends every minute of the day with her."

"Tonks, do you really think that anyone who had more than two brain cells to rub together could possibly fall in love with something as wretched as Maud, especially if they spent every minute of the day with her?" Sirius leaned against the counter, rolling his eyes at her. "Just hush up for a moment. Remus has just spent about three months in the company of some of the most cruel, low-life werewolves in Britain. He's had to befriend them. He had to pretend that he's one of them. How would you feel if you went to a convention of other people with Metamorphmagus powers, and you found out that they were all Death Eaters?"

Tonks continued to frown, but after a moment she said slowly, "I'd guess…I'd wonder if I wasn't something like that too…"

"Exactly," said Sirius. "We all know Remus is one of the most kind-hearted people around, but he can't always see that. He's hardly ever met any other nice werewolves. He's starting to wonder if he isn't a cruel low-life as well. He's starting to think that maybe all werewolves are monsters, including him. Heck, he's always been paranoid about that."

Tonks nodded, then she tensed again. "But what's Maud got to do with all that?" she asked.

"Remus is trying to redeem her," said Sirius patiently. "He thinks he can see the good in her that the rest of us can't. If he can turn her from a bitter, feral little hag into a normal, functioning member of society, it will prove to him that not all werewolves come from the same mould – and it will prove to him that he isn't a monster at heart either. So stop thinking you've been shoved aside in favour of Maud, because you haven't. Have some sympathy for Remus. In fact, perhaps he might realise that he doesn't need Maud to be a good person – he's got you to show him that. Go and tell him you love him."

"He doesn't care…"

"Rubbish. He's just a wuss," Sirius folded his arms. "Keep telling him until he listens."

"Alright," said Tonks. Her bright red hair slowly faded and settled on a soft, glowing pink. "Yeah, alright," she got up. "You really think…I mean, he's always…"

"Tonks, he doesn't just love you, he needs you. He just doesn't know it."

She ran her hand through her hair, which was now shimmering white-gold, and shook her head. "Then I'll go now. You guys can finish shopping without me, right?"

"Probably," said Sirius sarcastically.

"See you, then," Tonks smiled. "I better not use the floo powder again, I think we've encroached on this poor man long enough," she waved to the bookshop owner. "Thanks, Sirius. I didn't think of it like that…"

And with that, she walked past Sirius and out into the sun.

Sirius turned to Hestia.

"Now you," he said.

Hestia raised an eyebrow. "You're going to ask me who was the man I was talking to just before, when you two were pulling Remus out of that mess?"

"That's exactly what I was going to ask."

Hestia took his arm and steered him outside where the bookstore owner couldn't hear them. She spoke in a hissing whisper. "I got up to follow you, when that man just appeared in front of me. I know him: he was one of the fellows I met when I was going to talk to that jeweller. He's a werewolf, he's in with Greyback's lot – if Greyback is still alive – and he didn't talk to me last time. But when he came up to me before he said, 'You can tell Black that if he wants his boy back, he'll come to meet me.'"

Sirius stared at her for a moment, as his heart began to race. He realised he was now holding Hestia's arm, so tightly he could feel her bones under his fingers. He released his grip. His mouth was dry as he spoke, "Where? Where does he want to meet?"

"Here," Hestia put her hand in the pocket of her robes and took out an ice cream napkin with an address scribbled on it. "Corner of Ruts Road and Wyndham Avenue. I think I know where that is. He wants to meet tonight, at midnight."

"Midnight? Do you think its some kind of ambush?"

Hestia frowned for a moment. "I don't think so…I get the feeling he's acting mostly for himself, and I don't see what he'd have to gain from killing or kidnapping us…"

"He's a werewolf. He's in with Greyback."

Hestia shrugged. "And their lot is in total disarray, so we haven't got anything to fear from them. No, I think the only thing we've got to worry about in that quarter is Remus finding out. It wouldn't really be very kind to him if he knew we were fraternising with the people he hates so vehemently."

Sirius nodded. He suddenly realised he was only holding Hestia's arm because his legs were beginning to buckle. He put his hand on the window of the Florish and Blotts to steady himself. Harry…this could be it…But he couldn't get ahead of himself. They'd had so many false hopes before. This could be nothing more than another dead end.

"Come on, we did promise Remus some clothes," Hestia said. "We'll figure out what to do as we walk."

"What to do?" Sirius asked, and there was the faintest growl of excitement in his voice. "We're going to go and meet this guy, that's what we're going to do."

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Lupin's new house was a single-storey place in the monotonous and close-knit quarters of the London suburbs. The last rays of the sun were hidden behind low banks of cloud on the horizon as it came into view, looking like every other house on the street. A muggle walking his dog in the late evening passed them on the street, wrinkling his nose at them in the way that suggested full-length robes were a social disruption in this neighbourhood.

The wards around the house went off as soon as Hestia and Sirius approached the front door. A thin, high ringing filled their ears, and an invisible wall prevented their feet from moving any closer. The muggle that ad passed them was nearly wrenched off his feet as his dog took off on the opposite direction to escape the high screech. A moment later, the front door of the house opened and Lupin waved to them, though whatever words he was mouthing could not be heard over the ringing. He disappeared for a moment, and the ring was cut off.

"Sorry about that," Lupin called, reappearing in the doorway and ushering them into the house. "Kingsley made the wards for me but he seems to have taken liberty to assume I won't be having any visitors at all. Albus is coming around in a couple of days to set some proper alarms. I've shut them off now, I'm sick of that screeching every time the postman drops a flyer in my letterbox."

Inside, the house had the distinctive barren look and clean smell of a home that has not been lived in very long. Tonks was sitting on the couch, and Sirius judged by the fact that both she and Lupin were smiling that something had gone right between them for once.

"Clothes," Sirius explained, holding out the packages in his arms. Hestia was rotating her finger in her ear, trying to restore her hearing after the deafening ringing. Lupin took the packages as Sirius explained each one. "Those ones are for you. Then there's a dress for Maud, a coat for Maud, new socks for Maud…I did my best to get the ugliest of everything but Hestia seems to think it's kinder to treat her like a real person."

"What? Did you say my name?" Hestia said, loudly because she still couldn't hear properly.

"Thank you," Lupin grinned, unwrapping one of the packages to reveal a nest of brightly coloured socks. "How much was it all? I'll see if I can find a few sickles…"

Sirius quickly interjected. "You can pay us back later," he knew perfectly well that Lupin had not a sickle to spare. Even the house had been a gift from Dumbledore's coffers.

Lupin gave him an exasperated look but did not protest. "Why don't you stay for dinner, then?"

"Er…" Sirius glanced quickly at Hestia. If they were planning to meet Hestia's strange contact that night, they wanted to be away at once. Since they'd never actually been to the corner where he planned to meet them, they had decided that it would be best to walk the way there, so that they weren't Apparating straight into a trap.

"We're a bit busy tonight," Hestia said casually. They had both agreed that until they knew what they were dealing with, Lupin wasn't to know they were meeting other werewolves.

"Oh? Where?" Tonks asked at once, leaning over the back of the couch. Her hair was blonde and curly and she was twisting one strand around her forefinger.

Sirius racked his brains and opened his mouth to make some excuse, but Hestia beat him to it. "We're going on a date!" She invented hurriedly. Sirius had to control the sudden urge to bang his head on the nearest wall. Or perhaps bang Hestia's head against the nearest wall.

"That's great," Lupin smiled. Before he could say anything else, there came a loud wail as Maud appeared in the doorway and saw the packages in Lupin's arms. Her lank brown hair had been cut to remove most of the tangles, but she seemed to have acquired new tangles very quickly. She snatched one of the newly opened packages off the couch and held up her new dress.

"I'm not wearing this!" She yelled, throwing the dress to the floor. "I don't want your horrid clothes!" She fled, still wailing, down the hall and they heard the door slam in some distant part of the house.

"Oh, dear," Lupin sighed dramatically. "I'll go and deal with it," he hurried into the hallway after her.

Tonks rolled her eyes. "I tried poisoning her this afternoon," she said in a loud stage whisper. "But she seems to be able to smell it."

"We better get going," Sirius added as he heard Lupin patiently asking Maud to unlock the door of the bathroom, followed by what sounded suspiciously like the contents of a medicine cabinet being hurled against a wall.

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The waning quarter-moon could not be seen through the thick clouds of London smog. The street lamps provided illumination enough, along with the headlights of cars on the road, careering down the street and throwing up old chip packets and soda bottles in their wake. Hestia and Sirius walked side by side down the pavement, staying within the light of the street lamps wherever possible. Both of them were full to the brim with nerves, and read to Disapparate at the first sign of trouble.

"Here we go, Wyndham Avenue," Hestia pointed at the street-sign above her head, "I thought Avenues were supposed to have trees on them?"

"I guess not this one," Sirius looked up and down the street. Dilapidated old buildings lined it and the gutters were beginning to crumble. The cars that had been frequently passing them seemed to have retired for the night. Sirius looked up at the sign above their heads with the two arms, reading Ruts Road and Wyndham Avenue.

"At least there's no cover for an ambush," said Hestia, indicating the empty lot on the corner.

They waited for about twenty minutes, and then Sirius heard faint shuffling footsteps and his head whipped around. The hunched shape of a man in a long cloak with a grizzled face had appeared in the next streetlight on Wyndham Avenue. With the light directly above him, his features cast elongated shadows on his face, making his cheeks and forehead look like yellow pools in a black swamp.

"Sirius Black?" came a low voice from somewhere around the man's mouth.

"Me," said Sirius, trying to keep his voice forceful.

The man turned around and began to shuffle away down the pavement. Sirius and Hestia glanced at each other before they padded after him, keeping a few paces behind, both of them unconsciously leaving their hands close to their wands. The man did not speak or turn to check that they were following him as he lead them down the street, turned into a side alley, then down another alley, then down another, and another, until Sirius was not sure he would be able to find his way out if they had to run for it.

At last the man stopped outside a set of stairs leading down to a door sunken into the pavement, the entrance to a basement in the shabby building in front of them. He went down the steps, took out a key and unlocked the door, then went inside.

Hestia and Sirius paused at the top of the steps. There was no light in the doorway, just a rectangular black hole. There could be anything in there.

"Maybe we should…?" Hestia whispered, but she seemed unsure of how to finish the sentence.

Sirius drew his wand and whispered, "Lumos." With the soft glow of his wand tip to guide him, he headed down the steps and through the doorway, with Hestia following close behind, raising her own wand.

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The first thing Sirius noticed was the smell. It was fetid; a sickly, rotting smell which he recognised from his old Auror days. The smell of live flesh, an infected wound gone bad, the smell of someone who was dying, slowly and painfully.

He raised his wand, urging the light at the tip to glow brighter, and as Hestia's wand-light joined his, the room was illuminated.

It was a small room, and it was filthy. Papers lay scattered among discarded sheets stained with blood and bodily fluids. A decrepit table in the corner was leaning was if it was about to collapse, and the walls seemed to be constructed of mildew and bare plaster. The man who had led them to this place was lighting a candle, which spluttered into life and added its own yellow glow to the light from their wands.

In the centre of the room was a large padded chair, big enough for two normal people, its seams beginning to split and one broke leg supported by a stack of old magazines. Sitting in the chair was Fenrir Greyback.

Sirius had heard a lot about Fenrir Greyback – from Lupin, from the Prophet, from the Aurors who had fought him – but he had never actually met him before. Photographs did not do justice to his cruel, whiskered face. He was a large man, with a wide chest and thick, hairy arms. Sirius could see the hair on his arms because he had naked from the waist up, except for a swath of sheets tied around his stomach. Blood and yellowish pus was seeping through the makeshift bandages, and Greyback seemed to wince a little with every breath. He did not look as if he was strong enough to even stand up. His hands, each finger ending in a long yellow nail, clutched at the arms of the chair.

"You came," said Greyback. His voice was a rasping bark.

"I hear you have information I might be interested in," said Sirius coolly. The smell from Greyback's wounds made him want to gag. Hestia was standing back a little, as if she did not want to move more than a few feet from their exit. "About my Godson, Harry Potter."

Greyback gave a coarse chuckle that turned into a painful cough. "Course I do," he said. "They needed my consultation, see? They knew the boy was a werewolf, but they didn't know how to control him. I told them to piss off, don't control him at all, I said. But they offered a lot for my services, so I helped them eventually, silver chains and all that."

"You're talking about the Death Eaters?" Hestia asked. She could not keep a slight tremor out of her voice. Like Sirius, she was having trouble keeping the contents of her stomach where they were.

"Harry's safe?" Sirius interrupted.

"Yeah, I'm talking about Death Eaters," rasped Greyback, and he spat to one side. "Wizards. All rotten. All stupid. But I don't mind using a wand when I need to, and I don't mind dealing with wizards when they give me something in return," his eyes gleamed for a moment in the candlelight as he looked at Sirius. "As for whether the kid's safe or not, I wouldn't have a clue. Never saw him, myself. But they seemed pretty eager to keep him alive at the time – they were setting up a nice cosy house for him, by the sound of it."

"And you can tell us where that is?" Sirius asked. He kept his voice clear but his hand shook for a moment, and the light shining from the end of his wand wavered.

"Maybe, maybe," Greyback shrugged, and winced as the movement pulled at his wound. "They didn't tell me where exactly, but I listened more than they thought, and it wouldn't be too hard to figure out where from the information I gathered."

"Then tell us," Sirius said. "And let us get out of this stink-hole."

"Wait your patience," Greyback grinned, enjoying his guest's anxiety. "You want what I got, you got what I want. Trade one for the other, that's fair."

"What do you want?" Hestia demanded. "Information on the Ministry? Planning to assassinate Minister Moody? I think you'd be better off going for that foul Umbridge woman, she's the one making trouble for werewolves."

Greyback shook his shaggy head. "Nah, nah, my boys haven't got the strength to pull off something like that. And truth be told, I'm not going to last more than a few days anyway. I'm not going to worry about politics before I die. The only thing I want now is revenge." For a moment, his eyes glinted and his voice no longer sounded weak and sickly.

"Remus Lupin," Greyback continued. He was panting now, as if the effort of speaking was costing him more strength than he had. "The stinking rat who sold us out to the Ministry. He makes me sick, snuggling up to wizards – betraying his own bloody kind! Well, I'm sitting here full of spell-holes because of that filth. I want to see him beg me for mercy, beg me for death, I want to see him strung up from my rafters, so if I have to cark it, I can die with that happy image."

Sirius had gone very silent. Every muscle in his body had tensed, as if ready to leap forward and fight. He couldn't even breath, all he could feel was blood rushing to his head, and the corners of his vision seemed to be going red.

"You…" Sirius growled. In his extensive vocabulary of curses and swears, he could not think of any word harsh enough to describe Greyback. "You…"

Hestia grabbed a hold of Sirius' elbow before he could move. "Mr Greyback, if that is all we can offer you, I think our business hear it finished," she said, her voice as calm and dignified as she could manage.

Greyback grimaced. "What's the matter? Suddenly got cold feet?"

Sirius was seething, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. "You loathsome scum, you disgusting, low-life…"

"Sirius!" Hestia jabbed him in the ribs with her wand. "Shut up."

Greyback grinned, revealing teeth filed to a point. "Ah, I thought that might be it. You're all close and cuddly with that traitor, aren't you? Well, I'm not asking you to bring him to me tied in a sack. I just want to know where to find him, see? Send my boys over to have a little chat."

"You gruesome son-of-a-"

"Sirius!" Hestia shook his arm. She had never seen anyone channel so much hate into a face. He was barely even recognisable as Sirius Black because his expression was so twisted. She turned back to Greyback. ""I think we're a bit reluctant to offer you any information about Lupin, Mr Greyback. Surely there's something else you'd prefer? For instance," she glanced at the stinking wound under his bandages, "I could probably get you a bed in St Mungo's with no questions asked. Then you'd wouldn't have to…how did you say?…cark it at all."

Grey back shook his head again, and gave his rasping laugh. "And get myself thrown into Azkaban as soon as I step foot out the door? I'd rather be dead," he spat again. "I promise you, what I could tell you will lead you straight to your Potter boy. But I want Remus Lupin," he snarls, "and I won't take anything else."

"Then there is no reason for us to remain here," said Sirius, the fury finally fading from his face, to Hestia's relief. He turned and strode to the door, clutching his lit wand by his side. Hestia hurried after him, glad to turn her back on the awful smell and Greyback's ugly, mocking face.

As Sirius pushed open the door, Greyback called after him.

"One way or another, Black, I'll get him. It's your loss if you don't take my offer," he began to laugh again, a choking, painful sound.

Sirius slammed the door behind Hestia and they slipped away down the alley.

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"Sirius."

Sirius was walking so fast Hestia had to jog to keep up with his long legs.

"Sirius!"

She was plucking at his cloak, trying to slow him down. He ignored her.

"Sirius!"

Hestia grabbed his arm and dug her heels into the pavement. Sirius tried to shrug her off but she clung on tighter. "Slow down and talk to me!" she gasped.

Sirius pushed her away. "I was going to do it!" he roared. "I nearly did! I would have given him Remus, just to get Harry back, and I didn't care! I was so angry – but I didn't care! I was going to give him Moony!"

Hestia gave a little squeak of terror. "But you didn't," she said desperately. "That's what matters. Sirius, he was probably lying…he wouldn't have been able to tell you where Harry was…you did the right thing…"

"Don't tell me about right and wrong," hissed Sirius, turning away.

There was a crack and a blast of inrushing air as he Disapparated.

Hestia, suddenly alone, realised that the warmth had been drained out of the summer night, and a cold wind was blowing. She shivered, wrapping her cloak more tightly around herself, and made ready to Disapparate. As she turned, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye – a shadow retreating into the bushes of the empty lot not far away, and a soft patter that might have been running footsteps. Hestia looked harder, but if there had been someone there, she couldn't see them now.

Uneasily, she looked away, and a moment later there came the crack of her Disapparation.

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TBC

A/N: As always, thank you to all reviewers.

Next chapter will be Harry and Frank, and I will try to get it up soon, but on Saturday (my Saturday, it might be your Friday depending on where you live in the world) I am going tramping with my family for seven days. Unfortunately, it means I will be out range of cell-phones, internet, word processors and other modern paraphernalia…heck, I will even be out of range of flush-toilets. So there won't be an update for at least a week after Saturday. Possibly longer because I need time to recover.

Cheers,
Tawa