Hello lovelies!
I'd like to apologize for the significant delay in getting this chapter up. I've posted an AN at the bottom of this chapter, and hope updates will become a bit more regulated in a few weeks. Enjoy!
Remus took the steps at 27 Finch Street in twos. His fingers wrapped around a serpent-shaped handle and shouldered his way into a pristine foyer.
"Charlie!"
His voice met still air, softly scented with an herbaceous incense the homeowner frequently burned and listed to his own heavy breathing. He had spent the late afternoon assisting Molly with decorating the burrow in shades of plum and silver, wrangling the Weasley twins away from the party crackers, and listening to the shrill, angry screams of Ginny. He was, in other words, exhausted, and longing for the pint he had expected to have when the day began.
Instead, as guests arrived with graduation presents, he became acutely aware of the reason for their celebration's absence. He had assumed, up to an hour ago, that her arrest had simply run late. He recalled hearing something about Swooping Evils from Arthur, who had checked in with Mad-Eye when assignments were handed out, and assumed that since he knew Charlie had spent most of Professor Kettleburn's class in various states of indecency with Sirius, that she was probably struggling.
It was not until Cian Dearborn and Emmeline Vance arrived without the coffee-haired witch that he had realized something had gone awry.
"Lupin."
The Hogwarts Potion master had appeared while Remus caught his breath, a dark brow raised to smooth the scowl that seemed permanently engraved in the wizard's face.
"Is Charlie here?"
Lupin's words left his mouth breathlessly, and he watched the dark eyebrow pitch higher.
"Do you presume she is enjoying my company?"
"She didn't come to the Weasleys."
Severus's scowl was replaced with narrowed, dark eyes, "What?"
Remus spent several moments repeating Cian's own words to the wizard.
Everything had gone well – as well as could be expected once one had a mouthful of pungent marsh water – with Charlie's arrest. She had returned to the Ministry, turned her arrest in for processing, and showered. Cian recounted that she had then gone to Moody's office for review of her arrest and spent no longer than a half hour in his office before leaving. Maureen, at the front desk, had confirmed for him already that Charlie had been processed in as a Hit Witch, received her shield, and left the Ministry headquarters quarter to six.
Severus stood silently as Remus recounted his wife's actions in the last several hours.
"Have you spoken to Alastor?"
Remus fell silent, his eyes darted around the foyer, as though expecting the dark-haired witch to be hiding in the buffet cupboard.
"I spoke to him at the Ministry."
The black-haired wizard appeared to be losing his patience, "And what did he say?"
"That he gave Charlie a babysitter. They're not actually going to make her a Hit Witch. She has the title and the badge, but she'll be working for Dearborn. He doesn't plan on actually using her."
"Until the Dark Lord returns," Severus finished him.
Lupin felt his stomach sour.
"Did he tell her?"
For a moment, Remus did not want to tell him.
He recalled during the days of the wizarding war what Severus Snape's anger looked like. Lupin had seen in firsthand, that day in the Ministry of Magic. He hadn't known then that it had been Charlie.
He had simply seen the aftermath.
Many in what remained of the Order of the Phoenix did not believe that Snape held any affection for his wife. They had simply seen how easily Severus had transitioned into living without her – he went to work just as he had previously, he was occasionally seen shopping for items in the apothecary, and occasionally had a pint or two with Lucius Malfoy or Augustus Rookwood in Diagon Alley. On the surface it looked as though the potion master was entirely unaffected by the estrangement with his wife.
Remus had chosen to remain silent as the chatter continued in the Diagon Alley when what remained of them gathered to share a pint and stories of the war.
Perhaps he had done it for Charlie. She had never shared any wartime stories with any of them, she did not offer any tales of her actions during the war. Remus could argue that he had not wanted to further tarnish any reputation she was growing with her new comrades in the Ministry.
But there was a part of him that knew over the last several years, he had grown a semblance of friendship with the wizard. It was mere tolerance by Severus, but it had come with respect. Remus did not know if he could hate the man who had cared diligently for his friend for years. Remus had seen him carry her when she was too weak to walk, protect her from the harsh words spoken behind her back, and endlessly searched for a cure. Severus Snape loved her, even if he hadn't realized it himself.
"He told her that an auror would accompany her on any arrests of previously suspected Death Eaters. I don't think he told her that those would be the only arrests he would assign her. I imagine she simply read that in her processing paperwork."
Snape's eyes had morphed into serpentine slits, "So she's worked herself half to death for nothing?"
His voice was venomous, and Lupin flinched at the octave the potion master's voice had arisen to.
"I never would have encouraged her, Severus, if I had known."
"They never would have told you, foolish mongrel! You would have run it straight back to her!"
Remus felt his face heat, "They're not cruel, Severus. They didn't do this to hurt her."
Snape snorted loudly, "You hold far too much ignorance for a man of your intelligence, Lupin."
The werewolf swallowed as his face grew hotter.
Charlie herself had brought concerns to him. Remus had thought Alastor was simply being precautious. Perhaps he wanted to use her skill in possession to assist him with apprehending violent criminals. Remus had told himself that between Dumbledore and Mad-Eye, Charlie was in good hands.
Dumbledore had never willfully harmed anyone in the Order.
"Stay here, wait to see if she comes home."
"Where are you going?"
Severus didn't supply an answer, checking his pocket for his wand and apparating in the foyer.
Remus stood in the foyer for several moments, waiting for the rush of air which accompanied an apparation to settle. Slowly, he made his way up the foyer stairs to the kitchen.
A tea kettle sat abandoned upon a trivet, still softly steaming at the spout. Several books had been spread across the wide kitchen island accompanied with scraps of parchment and a worn pheasant quill sat swimming in an ink well.
Oftentimes, it was simple to forget that the estranged married couple both occupied this space in turns. Through the week, Severus lived at the townhome and Remus knew that the Malfoys had come to visit him on a number of occasions, as well as Avery and Louisa Rosier. During those days, Charlie stayed at the Magical Law Enforcement dorm rooms to be closer to the office.
Remus had never been to the house when Severus occupied the space. It held a strange, unfamiliar stillness to it. Whereas Charlie's personality lit the otherwise cool décor, filling rooms with her quiet laughter and fluorescent smiles, the furnishings complemented the otherwise cold exterior of the potion master she had married.
His fingers reached to turn on Charlie's wireless radio, positioning himself onto one of the leather-topped stools to fill the silence.
When Charlie had taken the position at the Ministry of Magic, Remus had been skeptical. He had assumed that it was Mad-Eye who had pulled the strings along to suit his own means and had often wondered when the auror would begin grooming Charlie to use for possession. After speaking with the Head Auror, Remus doubted he had been quite as far-thinking.
That had always been left to Albus Dumbledore.
Charlie certainly would've had the ability to quell any dangerous arrests. She could likely slip into a wizard or witch's mind and have them march themselves directly to Mad-Eye's desk. Remus could see how that would appeal to Moody. He had argued it himself, not far from where he now sat.
He would never simply keep Charlie on a shelf to use for a day that may never come.
Even if Dumbledore's assumptions about Voldemort were true, and the dark wizard did return, it was impossible to presume what time that would take place. It wasn't in Moody to simply pay Charlie to do a job she wasn't going to do.
No, it had been Dumbledore.
Dumbledore would've wanted Charlie around. He would've wanted her to build friendships that she otherwise would not have encountered in the life she had planned to live after leaving Snape. In the Ministry, Charlie had forged friendships. She had supper regularly with the Weasleys and had been out to London with Emmeline a handful of times. She, Kingsley, and Dearborn had been to several Quidditch games together.
But in the other life, Remus realized now, she would've forged friendships, too. The Malfoys, for instance, would likely have taken her in. During the war, he knew she had often stayed at Malfoy Manor and that Narcissa had kept rooms for Charlie's work for Voldemort. Perhaps she would've remarried – Rookwood, or Avery, perhaps – and had a family.
That life would've taken her further from Dumbledore, Remus now knew.
Remus wondered if there would ever be a time in Charlie's life where she wasn't being used as a pawn to someone's desires. Snape had used Charlie to climb the ranks for Voldemort. Remus, in his own way, had used her to fill the void in his life left by the murders and imprisonment of his own friends. She reminded him of happier times. Now, she was being used for the Order.
He could not quite imagine how it must have felt.
He could still recall the day they stood, watching her house being set aflame. He could still hear the guttural scream that had left his friend's mouth before they silenced him, the inhuman noises of grief he had made after they dragged him home. Lupin wondered if Charlie felt like that all the time, watching the fire which had been set at the feet of her life being stoked and blown out by opposing sides.
Not for the first time, Remus wondered what would have happened if Charlie had married Sirius.
The reasons Sirius had for betraying the Potters ran as a wheel of possibility in Lupin's mind each time he thought long enough about it. For all purposes, Sirius had loved James like a brother. He was Harry's godfather, and though Remus knew James had loved all of them, Remus knew that James had loved Sirius just a bit more. It was evident in all the small ways – that whenever James had hatched a plan at Hogwarts, Sirius had been the first to know. Whereas the others had often attempted to hide their debauchery from Remus – he had, after all, been a Prefect – Sirius and James could scheme together as though they were split from the same mind.
In all his moments of grief, he could only arrive at one assumption.
Perhaps Sirius had blamed James for Charlie.
It was no secret that James Potter had hated Charlotte Fraser. He blatantly ignored her when he was not targeting rumors at the dark-haired witch. On several occasions, Remus had caught James tripping the girl in the corridors, sending her howlers, replacing her quills with ones that exploded and coated her in ink.
Remus had thought it was innocent fun, but after a time, he realized it for what it was.
James, in part, had been jealous of Sirius's relationship with Charlie. Sirius had never needed to chase Charlie. After all, she had lived in his house. They fit together like simple puzzle pieces. Whereas Charlotte could be soft and quiet, Sirius was loud and outspoken. He ran hot and she ran cold. They had always complemented one another, and perhaps James had hated it. He had spent six years at Hogwarts hounding after Lily Evans to no avail. It had not mattered if he was picking on her or surprising her with bouquets of roses – Lily had routinely turned him down. Oftentimes, Remus wondered if she had finally broken down and agreed to date James simply to make the harassment stop.
It had been James who had encouraged Sirius to purchase the flat nearby Godric's Hollow. He had known, of course, that Charlie had been afraid of muggles. They all had. James had insisted he wanted Sirius close by as the war became more violent. Whether it was to protect him or satisfy his own desires, Lupin could never know for certain. But James, he remembered, had never batted an eye when Sirius had left Charlie after their last argument. If anything, he had been overjoyed.
He had set Sirius up with a girl from the Ministry, whose name Lupin could no longer recall. But in honesty, after Charlie, none of the girls had lasted long. He had cycled through them with an air of disdain. Sirius couldn't be bothered with their birthdays, holidays, or anniversaries. Not in the way he had painstakingly chosen gifts for Charlie, or the way he had staked out the Great Hall to break into a ballad of 'Happy Birthday' for the chocolate-haired witch.
Remus doubted Sirius had ever loved anyone but Charlotte Fraser.
Perhaps he had set up Lily and James – who had frequently tried to replace Charlie – in some act of rebellion. Remus didn't think Sirius ever had it in him to actually kill them. Perhaps he had intended to intervene at the last moment.
He tried not to think of it too often.
But perhaps Charlie could've married Sirius. He knew at the very least, the two would have led happier lives. Perhaps the Potters would still be here. They'd be preparing, at the time of year, for Harry's birthday. Peter would be asking after Lily's shortbread, and Sirius and Charlie would be sitting on a sofa – as they had often done – with their foreheads pressed together.
Remus knew about injustice.
As he sat on Charlie's leather-topped bar stool, he thought this might be the greatest injustice he had ever seen.
A storm is brewing in Spinner's End, reports are now flying in! Black clouds have blocked out the summer sun. Reports say they suspect this is an act of juvenile magic. We ask that you avoid the area until the Ministry can intervene…
Remus grew cold.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. We've had a rough few months in the Kestrel household during this pandemic, and I hope all of you are safe and healthy. I relate a lot of Charlotte's PTSD with my own. Unfortunately, I've been quite unwell with the shut down and have been struggling a bit to keep up with work, moving, and getting this written out. We're moving next month into our very first house, so updates next month might be a bit slow as I get everything relocated. This time, I'm uploading this story onto a hard-drive so you aren't waiting weeks like we did the last time we moved! I hope that you all remain safe and well. You are all in my thoughts, and I thank you to the readers who reached out to me via Facebook and on here to check in with me. I truly have the very best readers. #Snarlie forever, thank you DeeD59, for the name!
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