Remus awoke around mid-morning. His clothes were laid out on the valet chair, looking somewhat better than they had when he had last seen them. Obviously, Cappa had repaired them as well as cleaned them. After taking a long, hot shower and dressing, he went down to the dining room. Breakfast was waiting for him, but his hostess was nowhere to be seen. When Cappa brought out the tea, he asked, "Will Wendy be joining us?"
"Mr. Lupin, Mistress will be down later. She is taking breakfast in her rooms this morning."
"Is she all right?" I should have insisted she see a healer, no matter what sort of questions they would have had to answer.
"Mistress is fine. Just tired after coming home so late last night." Cappa replied evasively.
"That's good," he replied politely. He would not have wanted to tell the others that his partner had become seriously wounded on their first mission. That, and he would have felt guilty for not insisting she seek professional help.
After he finished eating, he decided to check on Wendy. He had a feeling that Cappa might not be telling the whole truth. Standing in front of her door, he steeled himself for the reception he was going to receive. When he knocked on the door, he heard a gruff, "What do you want?" and replied, "I've come to see how you are doing," as he opened the door.
She was sitting on a divan by the window, and adjusted her robe to cover her wounded leg as he entered her room. "I haven't died, if that's what you were checking," she said brusquely.
He had seen the wounds on her leg. Judging from the tray next to her seat, she was in the midst of changing her bandages. "Good morning, to you, too. I just came to see how you were doing. If you would go to a mediwizard or a healer…"
"NO! I'll be fine," she interrupted. "I've cleaned the wounds so there is no chance of infection. We'll leave for headquarters in an hour."
"Should I get you something for the pain?" he asked, trying to be helpful.
"Pain potions also dull the mind. I'll meet you in the foyer in an hour," she said dismissively.
An hour later, they Apparated outside Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He walked close to her in case she needed his help. She was limping slightly and he could tell she was still in a tremendous amount of pain. It must be a foolish sense of pride that had led her to decide she didn't need to use a cane. He performed the charms to unlock the door.
Molly was coming down the stairs as they entered the foyer. "How good to see you. We were worried about you when you didn't report back last night. Come in, come in. Some of the others are down in the kitchen."
Remus let Wendy precede him and watched her gingerly climb down the stairs as she leaned heavily on the handrail.
Kingsley stood and crossed the room to give Wendy a hug when he saw her. "Damn, girl, we were wondering where you were. Everything go all right last night?"
She did her best to look pleasant, though she did notice Sirius glowering at her from the far side of the table. "As well as can be expected. I learned some good information last night. I managed to interrogate their leader." She grimaced as she lowered herself onto a chair.
"Did you hurt yourself again?" Kingsley asked.
"Nothing too serious. A little bit of an exploding tree hit my leg. It could have been a lot worse had the jinx actually hit me. I'll be fine in a couple days."
"You interrogated their leader?" Sirius asked. "How convenient," he sneered.
"Black, just shut the fuck up. I'm not in any mood to deal with your snide remarks today. If you can't limit your remarks to something useful, I will turn you into a flobberworm," Wendy snapped.
"You don't have the guts," he replied confidently.
In a flash, she drew her wand and pointed it at him. "Try me. Ask Lupin, I think he'll tell you I do have the guts."
Sirius leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Actually, I shouldn't be surprised you would stoop to something so cowardly, that's the way Death Eaters operate, isn't it?"
She tried to leap from her seat to hex him, and the only thing that saved Sirius was the fact that she couldn't maintain her balance on her injured leg. With a complete lack of grace, she fell forward onto the table.
"Sirius, enough," ordered Kingsley as he wrestled Wendy's wand out of her hand.
Sirius had no intention on stopping. "How do we know she isn't a Death Eater? She was married to one. I saw him in Azkaban. Old Edgar didn't last long. He was crying all the time, whimpering and whining about how sorry he was and how he missed his beloved wife. I can only assume he meant you, but I can't see how anyone would pine for you. But I guess for a Death Eater you are the perfect match."
"I'll send you back. I'll send you right back to Azkaban. I had no idea what he was." She struggled against Kingsley's grip, but he was holding her tight.
"Oh, sure. You hung out with that whole lot of Slytherins that turned out to be Death Eaters. You played Quidditch with them. Malfoy, the Lestranges, Nott, Westin, they were all on the team with you. Not to mention your friendship with my cousins. I find it very hard to believe you didn't know what they were and are completely innocent. And now you tell us that you were able to interrogate the leader of this cell? How convenient," he replied snidely.
Kingsley admonished, "Wendy, he's not worth it. Leave him be. Sirius, if you can't behave, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We have important Order business to discuss."
"And I'm not important to it," he added. "I'm not important to anything because I'm stuck in this bloody house!"
"Stop this bickering!" Minerva ordered sternly as she entered the kitchen. "Now what is going on here?"
Wendy pointed at Sirius. "He slandered me, and I demand an apology."
"I will not apologize to that Slytherin. I stand by what I said," he replied defensively.
Wendy jerked away from Kingsley and straightened her robes. "When it is decided that I am a valuable member of the Order, I'll return. Until then, I'll be at my house. Lupin knows how to reach me." She took her wand from Kingsley and did her best to make a dramatic exit, given her injury.
"Wendy, would you be a dear wait in the drawing room while we sort this out?" Minerva asked. She then shot a glare at Sirius. It seemed Sirius was unable to overlook the fact that she had been a Slytherin and her husband had been in Azkaban.
Wendy sat in the drawing room and fumed. Why did I agree to this? I knew they would be suspicious and unappreciative. I should have walked away. Joining the Order was a world-class bad idea. She thought she heard something outside. Moving as quietly as she could, she peered out the door. "Why don't the lot of you come down here? There's no point pretending you aren't there, I can hear you." It was a few more seconds before a group of teenagers trudged down the stairs. She crossed her arms and scanned the crowd. "Eavesdropping are you?" She let them protest for a few seconds. "Don't worry about it, I would have done the same thing if I were you." She looked at the children, four boys and two girls. "Well, now, I've got a bunch of Weasleys, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger if I'm not mistaken."
"No, ma'am, you're not. I'm Fred, this is George, Ron and Ginny. And who might you be?"
"Fair question. I'm Wendy Westin, Auror. I think you know Mr. Shacklebolt, I'm a colleague of his."
"You're in the Order, aren't you?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I am."
"Then what are you doing up here?" Harry demanded.
"Harry," whispered Hermione, trying to get him to be polite.
She smiled. "It's okay. Black and I don't get along well. I decided to wait up here while he decides what's really important."
"You know Sirius?" Harry asked suspiciously. He wondered if she didn't like Sirius because he was still thought to be a convicted murderer.
She got the idea that Harry rather liked Sirius and decided not to revisit the unpleasantness she had just escaped downstairs. "Not well. I was a few years ahead of him and Lupin. I played Quidditch against your father though."
"You played against my dad?" Harry asked eagerly.
Now she wished she hadn't brought that up. It would invariably lead to them finding out which House she had been in, though she was sure Sirius would rather quickly volunteer that information if they asked. "I did, I was a Seeker, so I didn't interact that much with him. They were a good team, but not good enough." The five years she had played on the team, they had won the Quidditch Cup four times. Those had been happy days. She had enjoyed Quidditch and had even been offered a spot on the Falmouth Falcons, but that was considered beneath her station. Instead, her parents had found her a respectable husband.
"How did he play?" Harry was excited to have someone to talk to someone who knew his father. Sirius had been rather bitter lately.
"I really can't tell you much. You know that as Seeker you generally don't get to watch the game." She really didn't want to tell him that his father had been a bit of a dirty player. Of course, the Gryffindors had called their style of play aggressive. She wondered what was taking so long in the kitchen.
"Am I the only one that finds it suspicious that she was able to just infiltrate the Death Eater group like that?" asked Sirius.
"They were masked and robed. I didn't even know it was her until after the meeting when she took the leader aside," defended Remus.
"That proves my point. Death Eaters have rituals. How would she know what they were if she wasn't one?" He thought he had a very valid point and couldn't understand why no one else seemed to understand.
"That's enough, Sirius!" said Minerva.
"Wendy is not a Death Eater. If she were, I would know," added Severus.
"Oh, like I'm supposed to trust you? I notice that you haven't really turned up anything useful. How do we know the two of you aren't working together?" asked Sirius.
Minerva interrupted, "Sirius, I will not tell you again. Both Severus and Wendy are trusted members of the Order. The fact they were both in Slytherin has no bearing on their loyalty. Remus, what happened last night?"
Remus explained events from his point of view. He glossed over her methods of getting that information so as not further inflame Sirius. "So, while we weren't able to find out anything about any meetings of the next level, we have learned about planned Death Eater attacks in the Gloucester area, and that they have found a way to communicate without using owls."
"That is most troubling. I haven't heard of anything like this before. And there were no other details about this book?" Minerva asked.
"No. All he told us was that his orders appeared on the pages of the book. Once they had been carried out, he would erase the text. He didn't seem smart enough to have any knowledge on how something like that would work."
"Well, I think it's time we brought Wendy back down here. Sirius, I will warn you now, any further outbursts and you will leave. Understood?" Minerva watched Sirius nod once. "Remus, if you would?"
Remus headed up stairs to bring his partner back to the meeting. He found her having a conversation about Quidditch with the children. "Wendy? We're ready for you downstairs."
"About time. I was getting ready to head home." As she limped down the stairs, she muttered, "One snide comment and I'm turning him into a flobberworm." She gave Sirius an icy glare before sitting at the table and doing her best to look relaxed.
"Wendy, we've heard Remus' accounting of last night's meeting. We were hoping you could elaborate," said Minerva.
"He witnessed the most important parts. I was able to surprise and stun one of the Death Eaters while he was heading for the meeting and I decided that being in the meeting was the best way to get information. That way I would be sure who the leader was."
"What if you were asked questions? How did you know that you didn't replace someone important?" asked Molly. She hated to see people take unnecessary risks.
"Let's just say he wasn't the brightest person I've ever met. It was easy to find out he was a minion and what information he had to report. Aurors are well trained at undercover work so impersonating him wasn't hard. In the robes, all I needed to disguise was my voice and that's a simple charm."
"You tortured him for information?" asked Molly.
Wendy shook her head. "No, I used Legilimency. For surface thoughts like the ones I was after it was quite easy, especially since he was thinking about what he had to report for the meeting. At the meeting, I took note of the minor mischief and mayhem they were planning. It looks like they don't want to make any big moves early that would serve as an alert of their return to prominence. The biggest things I discovered were their leader's identity and about the books. Unfortunately, he didn't have his book and I was injured. I'd like to make arrangements to get the book. I think it could be valuable. Perhaps we could learn how it works and at the very least use something like that ourselves."
"And how to you propose to do this?" asked Sirius. "You're just going to walk into his house and take this book, which will surely become worthless once it's reported stolen?"
"Give me a little credit. That book will disappear in a way that he doesn't realize it's been stolen," she replied.
"I don't know that we're ready for that kind of risk right now. Once you have a proposal, let me know and I'll run it by Albus for approval," said Minerva.
"Approval? Are you serious?" Wendy asked incredulously.
Minerva replied soberly, "Very serious. We can't have members of the Order exposing themselves to danger needlessly. We are very few in number and we cannot afford to lose anyone."
Wendy leaned forward against the table. "Look, I assume I was recruited for some of my unique skills. I'm one of the best undercover Aurors around, Tonks excepted, but that's different. I specialize in this sort of work. Right now, we need to gather as much information as we can, keep one step ahead of the Death Eaters. We can't pass up this opportunity," she insisted.
"Albus will decide that," replied Minerva definitively.
"So in the meantime, what? I sit outside the Department of Mysteries in an invisibility cloak? Look, my family doesn't care about me. They would probably throw a party if I got myself killed. I'm the perfect person for dangerous missions." Wendy was clearly frustrated at having her activities restrained.
"Right now our advantage is that the rebuilding of the Order is secret. Our main goals are keeping him from getting into the Department of Mysteries and getting Harry safely back to Hogwarts. As valuable as the intelligence you could gather might be, the risk of discovery is too great. Your status with your family has no bearing on this decision," countered Minerva.
"I'm not going to get caught," Wendy insisted.
Kingsley cleared his throat. "Wendy, you have been caught in the past. You've escaped or been bailed out, but you aren't infallible. And right now you're also injured. Keep in mind that some of the people you'll be going up against know who you are. They won't know you're in the Order, but if word gets back to the Ministry that an Auror has gone rogue…"
Wendy sighed. "I know. I just feel like I should be doing something."
Sirius snorted derisively.
"We have to go slow, girl. The longer we can go without being noticed, the better. For now, we need to gather information and find out all we can about areas with Death Eater activity."
Minerva said, "Remus, you and Wendy will continue to gather information. I've listed several establishments we suspect of being Death Eater congregation places on this parchment. You'll have to work around Wendy's schedule."
Wendy leaned over Remus' shoulder to look at the list. "These are a bunch of cesspools. Aren't we going to try to investigate the more affluent Death Eaters?"
"We already have a very good idea of who they are. They tend to be more cautious then those you are investigating. Besides, you would not be a good choice to investigate them. Most of them know who you are," said Minerva.
"Intimately," Sirius added quietly.
Wendy couldn't take it anymore, she let loose with her hex and kept her promise to turn him into a flobberworm.
Minerva leapt out of her chair in shock and saw Sirius, the flobberworm, writhing on his chair. "Wendy! Turn him back this instant!" she ordered.
"I warned him. I told him that if he didn't hold his tongue I would do it. I hope he learns a lesson from this." She turned her attention to the flobberworm. "Learn a lesson from this, Black. I won't put up with you telling lies about me. I put you in your place when you were a boy and I can still do it." She waved her wand and restored him.
Sirius looked around the room for support. "You aren't going to let her get away with that, are you?"
Wendy sat smugly in her chair with her arms crossed, wand still held in her hand.
"You were warned to watch your tongue," replied Minerva acidly.
Kingsley was trying hard not to laugh. Molly still looked horrified by the whole ordeal.
"Don't fuck with me, Black. I've been an Auror for more than a decade and you are no match for me. I'm not the teenager you knew. Are we done now?" She was eager to leave. If Sirius wanted to start something he had the advantage of mobility.
"I have no further business. Anyone else?" asked Minerva. "That concludes our meeting. We'll meet again next Saturday afternoon."
Severus moved to Wendy's side. "I have a healing potion that could help your wounds if you would permit me to examine you."
"That would be much appreciated," she replied, and let Severus lead her upstairs.
Remus watched them go. He hoped she would not leave before he had a chance to speak with her. He turned his attention back to Sirius. "You shouldn't antagonize her."
"I don't trust her. She has always had questionable morality, and what we heard and saw today proves it. Surely you saw it last night."
Remus sighed and took a seat at the table. "I did. While it wasn't that horrible, it was not what I expected."
Sirius snorted. "Nothing she does would surprise me. So, she didn't use any Unforgivables?"
Remus shook his head. "Not that I saw. Do you really think she would?"
"I know she would. There was no remorse when she turned me into a flobberworm."
"You did sort of bring it upon yourself," Remus replied.
"So, now you're on her side?" Sirius asked angrily.
Remus defended, "No. I'm not on her side. I'm merely making an observation. You've known her since childhood. I'm going to assume she had a temper then. I just think that maybe you should be more careful what you say around her."
"Are you protecting your new best friend?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
Remus thought this was quite a good joke. "Hardly. She can't stand me. Typical werewolf prejudice with a dash of hatred of a Gryffindor. Well, maybe not so typical in her case. It doesn't really matter. We're being forced to work together and I'd like to make the best of it. She already requested a new partner and was denied."
Sirius leaned close and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper, mindful that Molly was starting lunch preparations. "Keep a close eye on her. I don't trust her no matter what anyone else says. She is not an honorable person."
"Were we?" Remus asked soberly. Last night, he had been reminded of some of the less than moral acts they had perpetrated at school. "Let go of your old grudge. A lot has happened in the last twenty years. I would think it's fair to say that we've all changed in that amount of time. I don't think she's a bad person; she's just been through a lot of bad situations. Take Severus, for example. I know you don't like or trust him, either. He has had plenty of opportunity to do something to hurt the Order, but hasn't. I'm not advocating you become best friends with either of them, just quit antagonizing them. I know pretty much everyone they went to school with is either a proven or suspected Death Eater, but that doesn't automatically make them Death Eaters."
"Don't you see? That's why I don't trust her, why I can't trust her. With all those dark ties, she just walked away? You did not see or experience the Dark Magic that she used to practice. I have no idea why she wasn't recruited to be a Death Eater. Perhaps Edgar wanted to keep her safe so she could bear his children, like Malfoy protects his wife. If she is a spy, she could find a way to pick us off, one by one. There aren't many of us, and she knows that. And you would likely be her first target."
"I think she would have acted by now. Besides, I've talked with her. She despises Death Eaters. You didn't see the look in her eye when she interrogated that man. She…enjoyed it." Now he began to feel some of the same doubts Sirius had voiced. Enjoying causing torment was most definitely a Death Eater trait.
"Remus, watch her. She's unorthodox," Sirius warned.
Remus started to think about the previous day's experiences. "You know, she did keep saying that we needed to not be afraid to be sneaky or use other underhanded tactics."
"Exactly. She's ruthless. Don't let her kid you and tell you that everything she did as a child was Bella's idea. It wasn't. All three of them used to delight in finding new ways to cause torment. They used to catch mice and rats to practice their techniques. I have no doubt she could cast an Unforgivable."
"I'll keep an eye on her. She's not a Death Eater, but she's also not completely converted to the way we do things. Though, she does seem to have a desire to use Death Eater tactics." Remus just had a hard time believing that she could be so callous. He always looked for the good in people, and he had to believe that she did have some good, no matter how hard she might try to hide it.
"Just make sure you do watch her. I worry about you being out with her." There was nothing anyone could say that would make Sirius trust Wendy.
"Thanks, my friend, but even though she hates me, I don't see her doing anything to hurt me. When I made a fool of myself, she ensured I was taken to a safe place." This proved that she did have a conscious and a small spark of compassion.
They both stopped talking when they could hear someone coming down the steps. Wendy entered the kitchen, limping less noticeably. "I'll be back here at six o'clock unless you have a place of residence where you would prefer to meet."
Remus shook his head. "No, I live here."
She looked at the two of them, wondering what lies Sirius was feeding Remus. "Then I'll be back at six. What you're wearing should be fine for the type of establishments we'll be visiting. So we don't have a repeat of the other night's performance, I'll bring a sobriety potion for you." With that she swept out of the room.
"What was that about?" Sirius asked.
"Nothing. It didn't go well the other night. Can we just leave it at that?" He had no interest in letting Sirius know how stupid he had been the other night. He still couldn't believe he had felt pangs of jealousy from watching her play her role as a whore.
"Sure thing. I have a closet to attack, care to give me a hand?" Perhaps he could ferret out the information while the two of them were working at cleaning more remnants of Dark Magic.
Remus was glad to have some time to spend with his old friend and followed Sirius upstairs.
While Wendy was waiting for someone to open the door she heard a crash and then the familiar shriek of Mrs. Black. When the door opened, she recognized Tonks. It all made perfect sense.
"Wotcher, Wendy. Sorry about the noise," Tonks apologized, looking quite embarrassed.
Wendy could hardly hear Tonks over the portrait's screaming and she went over to pull the curtains closed.
"YOU!" the portrait screamed as Mrs. Black pointed at Wendy. "Another blood traitor. And I thought you were better than my son. You had much better taste in friends. I had such high hopes for you."
"Shut up, you old bag!" Wendy screamed back as she got the curtains closed. Mrs. Black would settle down soon in the dark, so Wendy and Tonks headed down to the kitchen. "Where's Lupin?" she asked when she saw that he wasn't waiting for her.
"I think he's helping Sirius clean out a closet upstairs. Want me to get him for you?" Tonks offered brightly.
Wendy thought the odds of Tonks making it upstairs without setting the portrait off again were slim. "No. I'll find him. Thanks anyway."
She didn't see any sign of them on the second or third floors. When she got to the fourth floor, she could hear sounds of a struggle coming from a room at the end of the hall.
A/N: Thanks again to those who have reviewed. Nothing quite like a little rivalry, is there? You will learn more about Sirius and Wendy's history in future chapters.