Chapter 53: Interlude- Sirius
Sirius shifted back to his two legged form as he approached the house after his early morning run, gave his four legged companions each a pat on the head, and nodded to Remus who was watching them from the dining room window.
Harry hadn't even been back at Hogwarts for two weeks yet, but even with horcruxes to research and puppies to train, Sirius already missed him like crazy. Which meant that he had been especially thrilled to receive an owl from Remus informing him that he'd had to- once again- abandon his mission with a pack and that he would be back in time for the monthly Order meeting.
Sirius had encouraged his friend to spend a few days at Potter House instead of immediately returning to his spartan flat. It wasn't even difficult to convince him that he wanted the company in Harry's absence because it wasn't a lie, but he did have an ulterior motive. September was bringing with it a total lunar eclipse at the end of the month, a particular kind of hell for Moony and he would need to be as healthy as possible for the event. Sirius knew that the Potter elves would do everything in their power to prepare him and that he wouldn't be able to brush them off the way he would any human who tried to help him.
"Morning Moony!" He called as he entered the house and made his way towards the dining room.
"Padfoot," Remus greeted in response, then turned his attention to the puppies who had come to a halt at Sirius' side. "Butch, Sundance," he nodded to them in turn, his lips twitching with obvious amusement, then he looked back at Sirius. "Can I assume this project you have going on outside has something to do with them?" He gestured out the window.
Sirius didn't need to look to know that he was referring to the partially constructed obstacle course spread out over the grounds. "It's for speed and agility training," he said simply.
At that Remus laughed out loud. "Are you planning to enter them into those muggle competitions?"
Sirius just shrugged, because what he actually intended to do, but couldn't tell Remus, was kick Draco's smug arse- or at least his dogs'. A couple of ancient intellectuals didn't have a chance against his cowboy outlaws and when Plato and Aristotle were eating Butch and Sundance's dust, the little git could eat his taunting words doubting Sirius' ability to train them properly.
"I never thought I'd see the day, Padfoot. You're behaving almost responsibly. Except for the part where you named your dogs after two criminals at least," Remus snickered.
"Don't make me sic them on you," Sirius threatened with an exaggerated glare.
"Ohhhh! I'm shaking in my boots!" He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.
Sirius rolled his eyes but said nothing else as they seated themselves at the table for breakfast.
When Remus had arrived the night before he'd been beyond amused to be introduced to the new canine members of the Potter/Black family. He'd declared Sirius to be utterly predictable and laughed for half an hour straight. Sirius- pretending to be extremely put out about it- had gone to bed without really speaking to him. He had amused himself as he drifted off to sleep by considering Remus' reaction if he could tell him that the way he'd really gotten the puppies was by adopting them from Draco Malfoy who was basically just a puffskein in disguise, but whose witch wouldn't allow him to keep so many dogs.
"Seriously though, you seem to have them well in hand already," Remus continued as he loaded his plate, "you said you've had them less than a month?"
"Yeah, but Sunny's a natural and Butch would follow her over a cliff," he admitted, he suspected that without his sister's influence Butch would be content to spend his days napping and following the elves around begging for belly rubs. Much to Sirius' chagrin it hadn't registered with him that he'd been named after a tough guy.
"And how do Hedwig and Holly feel about this development?"
"Hedwig couldn't care less, you know how Harry spoils her rotten. She's completely comfortable with her place in his life. And apparently Holly told him that it made no difference to her if we got another dog. But the kid could totally be lying about that, for all I know he can't even really understand that snake."
Remus pointed his fork at Sirius. "Oh yes, he's been faking that whole parselmouth thing in a long term plot to undermine you," he chuckled. "How has Harry been?" He continued, his tone turning serious.
"You know how he is," Sirius sighed. "He's coping, just like he always does."
"Even without Hermione?"
Remus had been mostly out of touch while on his mission which he had departed on before the conclusion of the last school year. But Sirius had managed to relay to him a bare bones explanation of the story Sirius had fed to the Order about Hermione being sent to school overseas. "He's hurt, obviously, but their friendship had been fracturing for months." In reality the conversations via mirror and owl that Sirius had had with Harry thus far had made it very clear that his friendship with Hermione was stronger than ever which meant that he missed her a great deal, even though she resided just down in the Hogwarts dungeons.
Remus frowned. "I'll admit, I didn't think she was foolish enough to allow a wizard to have so much influence over her. Especially a wizard like Draco Malfoy."
Sirius looked away and quickly gathered himself. So far this lie was weighing on him more heavily than any other he'd been forced to tell since he'd joined forces with the Malfoys nearly three years ago. It was incredibly difficult for him to essentially assassinate the character of a witch for whom he actually had the utmost respect. Of course, his primary concern for ending this war was for Harry's sake, and he was willing to do anything necessary to accomplish that, but he would also be thrilled to see the end of all this subterfuge.
"I wouldn't say foolish, foolishly optimistic maybe. What matters is that she's safe now, away from Malfoy's influence, and hopefully she's learned from the experience."
"That's uncharacteristically optimistic of you actually, Padfoot."
"I'd really rather not talk anymore about it."
"Of course." Remus cleared his throat. "And how was your summer? How has Harry's training been developing?"
"I took Harry to his first society events, like we discussed. He hated it all as much as I thought he would."
"I'm sure you didn't have any influence over that," Remus teased.
Sirius smiled to himself. "Maybe. He understands his duty to House Potter, he wants to represent his legacy well, but I won't pretend that I'm not glad he doesn't take it too seriously. He's very much like James in his attitude towards it all, he would be proud. They both would be."
"I see more of Lily in him," Remus confessed quietly.
Remus was glancing at him, clearly hesitant to make this observation so Sirius nodded to reassure him. "Once you get past the looks, I agree completely. He has more poise than he really has any right to, considering the way he grew up. And Merlin he is a smart arse! Plus there's that temper- James' was always more of a slow burn."
They grinned at each other and Sirus assumed that Remus was also remembering the times Lily had nearly screamed down Gryffindor Tower in her anger, anger that was often directed at the Marauders.
"As for his training, it's coming along. He's a remarkable wizard, I just hope it's enough. But I don't know what else is to be done."
Remus nodded, but didn't press for more information and Sirius suspected he found this as difficult to think about as Sirius himself did. The task in front of Harry seemed insurmountable and Remus didn't have the benefit of the knowledge of the two other young people who wielded extraordinary magic between them, and who he knew would stand beside Harry up to the gates of hell, if necessary.
Other people would aid him as well, of course. It was the Order's entire mission to defeat Voldemort, and they considered Harry to be the key to doing that. But it had been several months since Sirius had begun to suspect that Draco and Hermione were just as vital to accomplishing that as his godson was. He had faith in them, even though he could not begin to understand his own instincts over the matter.
They ate in silence for awhile until Sirius could practically feel Butch's eyes boring into the side of his head as he waited patiently on the floor for some bacon. They both knew he'd get some sooner or later.
"How's Tonks?" Remus asked eventually with such obviously feigned nonchalance that Sirius didn't even bother to try and hide his eye roll, but he didn't respond right away. Instead he gathered his thoughts.
When it had become apparent that his best friend and his cousin fancied each other, Sirius had initially sworn to stay out of it. In fact, he'd done his best to pretend that he hadn't noticed and waited for them to work it out for themselves. Knowing Remus' history he'd assumed that the lycanthrope would brush her off and she would eventually give up and move past it. Which may have seemed harsh, but as much as he hated that his friend didn't believe he was worthy of a relationship, the woman in question wasn't some random witch. Sirius cared for Tonks a great deal and he didn't see how any good could come from him inserting himself into the situation the way he might have tried to do when they were teenagers.
What he hadn't counted on was the depth of Remus' attraction to the witch, that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to definitively reject her. So, now he had Narcissa's voice in his head telling him that it was unfair of him to sit back and essentially allow Remus to lead Tonks on. He took a deep breath.
"Tonks is well, or as well as she can be while working for a Ministry that continues to fall under Voldemort's influence a little more every day. But she's brave and smart, and she knew what she was getting into when she became an auror. She's essential to the Order because we have so few members in positions of real influence who aren't already closely associated with Dumbledore."
"I know that. She's an impressive witch."
"She is. So let me ask you a question."
"Okay," he answered tentatively, sitting back in his chair while eyeing Sirius carefully, and Sirius knew he suspected he'd just walked into a trap.
"Then why do you treat her like she doesn't know her own mind?"
"I would never!"
"You keep telling her that you're too old for her, too poor, too damaged, too dangerous. She's not a child, and she knows you well enough to understand your situation. You should have some respect for her judgement, in her decision that she wants you. Now, if you don't want her then tell her that, make it clear and let her move on. But don't keep her dangling with these excuses. It's not okay to keep her around because you're too afraid to act one way or the other."
Remus opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "It's not fair to her. She can do better."
"That's for her to decide. Don't condescend to her under the guise of protecting her." He let out a loud breath and pushed away from the table. He met his friend's eyes as he stood up, "I don't pretend to be any kind of expert at relationships, but I'm right about this," he said before walking out of the room and leaving a thoughtful wizard in his wake.
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Sirius was happy when it was finally time for the Order meeting the next night. Not that he had been particularly looking forward to it, he was simply ready to get it over with. It was the one permanently scheduled meeting they held each month, which meant there were usually several hours of mundane nonsense on the agenda.
In theory an organization like the Order of the Phoenix should have been meeting much more frequently than that. They were in the middle of a war, after all. But in practice it was a quiet war, and there was really only so much for them to do. It was highly disconcerting and all this one Sunday evening each month did was remind Sirius that as a group they were ineffectual at best, and sitting ducks at worst.
He had considered it a small victory when, following the Marauder's Army example, Sirius and a couple of allies had convinced the group that they needed to start holding combat training sessions. He hoped, by some miracle, that they would make it through this war without needing it, but it had been utter foolishness that most of them had been walking around armed with only the skills they'd learned in school.
He and Remus entered Grimmauld Place together but while the other wizard swiftly made his way towards the kitchen, Sirius dawdled. He was sure to keep quiet so as not to awake his delightful mother, but he inspected the house carefully as he went. He had actually missed the August meeting. He'd been an ocean away at the time with Harry at the Potter/Black/Malfoy/Granger house in America, and Dumbledore thought that his 'mission' to look after the so-called Chosen One was the priority, so he hadn't attempted to force his attendance.
Nobody had been inhabiting headquarters in months and the house had only deteriorated further in that time. Following Arthur's death the previous December, Molly had wanted to stick close to the Burrow. He didn't blame her for that decision, but he did wish she'd allow him to send the Potter elves to occasionally clean the Grimmauld Place- something elves were far better equipped than humans to do in a dwelling infested with years and years of insidious magic and creatures, on top of just normal grime.
But she had insisted that she could take care of it herself. He had understood her initial distaste for Kreacher, but he didn't understand her stance on other elves. However, he didn't fight her. They could already barely tolerate each other. She thought he was an unfit guardian for Harry and an irresponsible wizard, and he thought she needed to learn to mind her own business. The issue hadn't seemed like an important enough reason to challenge their very fragile detente. Unfortunately, he was beginning to think he might have to put his foot down. The house was now more than merely embarrassing, it was quickly becoming a death trap.
He sighed and picked up his pace towards the kitchen. He'd think about the situation once he got through the meeting.
Dumbledore was the last to arrive, as usual. Sirius hadn't laid eyes on the old headmaster in weeks and, as far as he knew, it had been at least as long for all of the other members as well. He wasn't certain what Dumbledore was up to, but he'd been cryptic- even more than usual- for months. He hadn't even attended any of Harry, Hermione, and Draco's lessons since June.
The last time Sirius had spoken to him he'd instructed him to encourage Harry to find a way to get into Horace Slughorn's good graces. Remembering Old Sluggy well, Sirius knew that while Harry would hate it, he also wouldn't have any trouble doing it. The professor would be chomping at the bit to 'collect' such a famous student. It was distasteful, but at least it wasn't dangerous.
Harry had been even less pleased to receive these instructions than Sirius had assumed he would be. They were both exasperated that the only reasoning Dumbledore would supply was that Slughorn might possess some information that they might need in the future. But in the face of Hermione's willingness to become a Slytherin for the cause- the ultimate sacrifice in Harry's opinion- he didn't complain overly much and Sirius knew that he'd already secured an invitation to one of the infamous Slug Club get togethers.
Dumbledore called the meeting to order but instead of beginning with the usual housekeeping issues he turned to Snape who was just staring blankly at them all. Once he was addressed by the head of the Order the man drew himself up and sniffed self-importantly. Sirius suppressed a sigh at his antics. He was beginning to learn that his life was more peaceful when he could pretend that Snivellus didn't exist, and drawing attention to himself wouldn't accomplish that.
"Bellatrix has taken ill," Snape announced.
While Sirius would have liked to claim that he couldn't have cared less about anything Snape had to tell them as he considered the man to be basically useless, this got his attention. It was certainly news to him. But he forced himself not to react until he felt a penetrating gaze on him. He raised his head and immediately met the eyes of the headmaster who, sure enough, was staring.
"Well," Bill Weasley spoke up after a moment of silence, "it couldn't have happened to a nicer person and I'm sure we all wish her a speedy recovery," he snarked, "but what does that have to do with us?"
"Obviously he thinks somebody's gotten to her," Moody snapped, "isn't that what this is about Snape? Why Albus thought it was worth our time to begin our meeting with this? Your Dark Lord must be furious," he chortled.
Snape paused, licked his lips, and glanced at Dumbledore as if he was asking for permission to continue, but the older man was still staring at Sirius, and Sirius was certain that he knew why. Dumbledore had surely had the same thought when Snape had delivered this news to him as Sirius just had: somebody named Malfoy was responsible for whatever was ailing Bellatrix.
Dumbledore had thus manufactured this scenario to give himself the best chance of gauging what Sirius knew about the situation. A year ago it would have worked, using Snape definitely would have gotten a rise out of him one way or the other. Today he was determined not to give anything away. If Albus wanted to know something he could very well ask Sirius instead of playing games.
"I doubt anybody in this room was responsible though," Moody kept talking while he looked pointedly around the room. "If you did, I've been underestimating you because I can't imagine anybody here getting close enough to harm her and escaping not only with your life, but apparently without being detected. What's wrong with her anyway?" He asked thoughtfully. "I hope it's painful," he added, a malicious edge to his tone.
"Well that's the thing, Moody," Snape drawled. "It's been weeks, but despite her obvious infirmity nobody the Dark Lord has brought in to attend her has been able to identify an underlying cause. The best they've been able to do is treat the symptoms."
"How severe are we talking? Can she fight?" Tonks wondered.
Snape shook his head. "Her physical condition improves and worsens seemingly at random, but though she tries to hide it, and has mostly been successful doing so with the majority of the Death Eaters, her magic is weak and unreliable."
"Maybe we've finally gotten lucky," Hestia Jones mused.
A series of dubious snorts sounded throughout the room.
She shook her head. "I just mean, who cares? This is good for us right? But there's nothing we can do about it except maybe hope that they can't figure it out and she doesn't recover. Her loss would be a major blow."
"Unless we can figure it out and harness it as a weapon," Moody said. "As much as I hate to admit it, she's a damn powerful witch and anything that can impair her would be extremely useful to us."
Molly, who had been listening to this entire conversation with a frown on her face, gasped. "Are you suggesting that we become assassins? Then we're no better than they are!"
Moody rolled his eyes, or rather he rolled his normal eye while his magical eye spun wildly. "Are you suggesting that they should get a pass as long as they hide in the shadows like cowards?" He countered. "Are we supposed to wait for them to come out and go after innocents before we fight back? If we can, we should take the fight to them! That's the only way we're going to win this war. Simply reacting when we were able to, and hiding when we couldn't almost decimated us last time."
"I'm not here to sacrifice my morals," she insisted.
"Then you might consider seeing yourself to the door," he replied, but his voice had gentled.
She huffed but didn't respond and he turned back to Snape expectantly. "So is that why you've brought this to us?"
Snape glanced at Dumbledore again and though he didn't look back, this time he gave a slight nod. "Not precisely. Several theories have been whispered among the Death Eaters as to the cause of her illness and that is what the headmaster asked me to share with you. The first is that this is somehow a result of her time in Azkaban."
"How so?" Questioned Remus, and now Sirius could feel that he'd joined Dumbledore in looking at him.
Snape shrugged. "There's not exactly any precedent for anybody living in those conditions, with daily exposure to Dementors for over a decade, and then returning to normal life." He paused dramatically. "Other recent escapees excluded. But perhaps the idea has some merit. Perhaps," he paused dramatically, "Black could shed some light on that for us, he has a unique perspective."
And now Sirius knew that every set of eyes in the room was focused on him, but he couldn't even bring himself to be bothered by the man's petty insistence in reminding everybody as often as possible that he'd spent time in prison. "I'll admit that Azkaban is no luxury resort, but I've had a clean bill of health since my time in St. Mungo's, and there was no permanent damage to my magic either. The conditions in the prison were atrocious, but unlike some people," he glared at Snape, "I was innocent and that knowledge shielded me from the worst effects of those conditions. I really can't speak to what would happen to actual Death Eaters."
"Yes," Remus chimed in, "and, in addition, you aren't in the habit of practicing the kind of purposefully destructive magic that Bellatrix is well known to relish."
Sirius appreciated Remus' support, but the silence in the room spoke volumes. Molly wasn't alone in thinking he was reckless and his name alone made many harbor doubts about his commitment to the light.
"This is all very interesting, intellectually, but I still don't see how it concerns us. The other Azkaban escapees will get sick, or they won't. I suppose it's nice to be aware of any weaknesses in their forces, but that seems to be the extent of the relevance," Bill sighed, obviously running out of patience with this topic.
"Now wait a minute. Albus," Elphias Doge addressed the headmaster, as he always did, he seemed to think that speaking to an average Order member was beneath him. "Was there a reason you had Severus bring this to our attention, or were you simply keeping the Order up to date?"
Dumbledore sighed and removed his glasses. He cleaned them methodically on the sleeve of his robes and the room waited in silence until he replaced them on the tip of his nose. "I simply thought it was an interesting development and I wanted to see what the rest of you made of it. I do believe, of course, that it is important to identify potential weaknesses amongst the Dark, and to keep you updated on the whole."
Liar, Sirius thought. He knew that made him somewhat of a hypocrite, but at least he neither pretended that he was totally transparent, nor that he thought he knew what was best for everybody. Dumbledore was very attached to his omniscient personae and while it used to be an annoying- though sometimes amusing- quirk, the longer this war dragged on, the more dangerous it became. No one person could make all the decisions.
And that, Sirius was almost certain, was what all of this was actually about.
Dumbledore had entered this meeting with the intention of gauging Sirius' reaction to the news in order to try and ascertain how far he was in the Malfoys' confidence. But he had also been testing the rest of the Order to see how far they could be pushed, what tactics they would tolerate using against the enemy. He'd certainly seen Moody's conclusions coming a mile away.
Because that's what he did; he learned to anticipate the thoughts of those around him so that he could formulate a plan that best suited him, while finding a way to make his target audience feel like it was what they had wanted all along. As the leader of the light, a de facto general, Sirius understood that to a certain extent this was a necessary tactic. Otherwise nothing would ever be accomplished, they'd be reduced to behaving like a bunch of squabbling children, easy pickings for anybody who cared to target them- especially Death Eaters. But being fifteen years older than he had been during the last war, and working with Dumbledore much more closely than he had back then, he was increasingly concerned that the man was too convinced of his own infallibility.
"Severus, I believe you have more to add?" Dumbledore said after a few moments.
Snape nodded. "Another theory is that somebody did do this to her out of jealousy."
"Because You Know Who favors Bellatrix?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked with a frown.
"Yes, and because, if Bellatrix is to be believed at least, the Dark Lord is planning to father an heir with her. Of course, the Dark Lord does not comment on such things and she wouldn't dare brag about it in his presence the way she does in front of others."
There was a collective gagging sound. The disgusted noises changed rather rapidly to something closer to discord as they all began to realize that despite what Dumbledore had just expressed, they were not being kept completely up to date because the way Snape talked, it sounded as if he'd been aware of this for some time.
"Well that creates an entirely new dimension to the issue," growled Moody.
"How do you mean?" Asked Tonks.
Before Moody could respond, Fred Weasley chimed in. "Well it narrows down the suspects, doesn't it? In theory, every Death Eater has a reason to be jealous of Bellatrix, but less would be truly concerned about the idea of her giving him an heir. For instance, its more likely to be somebody like Malfoy, he has the most to lose."
"Why do you say that?" Sirius was unable to contain his curiosity at this unexpected turn and what seemed to him like a large leap in logic. The Weasley twins were still new members of the Order even though they'd been of age for over a year, their mother had successfully prevented them from joining until after they finished their N.E.W.T.s. Sirius was still getting used to their presence in meetings instead of watching them get shuffled off with their younger siblings.
"Well, Malfoy's kind of his right hand man, isn't he? And Draco must be next in line. I mean he's already basically recruited him, that's what all that business with Hermione was about, wasn't it? And he's only sixteen, so You Know Who must have big plans for him. But if he had his own kid then he wouldn't need Draco."
Ironically, Sirius would bet his own life that a member of the Malfoy family was responsible for whatever was going on with Bellatrix. Of course he knew that it wasn't in some attempt to ensure Draco's place in what amounted to be the line of succession of evil. In fact, he was confident that even if Lucius had remained a loyal Death Eater, he would have been unwilling to turn Draco over to Voldemort for those purposes. Draco was his heir.
Sirius understood now that while Lucius had once been loyal to the pureblood cause, he'd never been as slavishly devoted to Voldemort himself the way some other followers, including Bellatrix, were. If he had been, Sirius was convinced that Draco and Narcissa would have disappeared a long time ago, or Lucius would have mysteriously ended up dead because Narcissa would never have stood for it. Draco was her first and, when necessary, her only priority.
However, Sirius also knew better than to believe that anybody here would understand that. Their views of the Malfoys were incredibly two dimensional, as his had once been. They were also predisposed to write Narcissa off as an empty-headed socialite. It was excellent for the family's cover, but very amusing to somebody who regularly got an up close and personal view of their family dynamic.
The conversation quickly devolved as they discussed this theory. Sirius was somewhat surprised that nobody dismissed it out of hand. Snape remained silent and Sirius thought that he probably understood Lucius better than that, but found it amusing to watch them all spin their wheels. For once he couldn't blame the man.
"What do you think, Snape?" George Weasley finally asked.
"Lucius is ambitious enough to place that ambition above certain loyalties, even to his own family. Especially a sister in law who has been nothing but a thorn in his side, but I still don't know how he- or anybody else could have accomplished it and that is troubling."
"What exactly is wrong with her?"
"Her symptoms are something like the muggle flu. Some days are worse than others, some days she can pretend that nothing is wrong and some days she cannot get out of bed. Almost all of her major organs have been damaged, her liver and kidneys are beginning to fail, but any number of ailments can cause this. The tests for all known diseases and poisons have come back negative, at least all that have been considered, it's not like there's a blanket diagnostic for either. The Dark Lord is convinced it's the result of a curse, but I am not."
"Why? What do you know that he doesn't?" Demanded Shacklebolt.
"Nothing. That conclusion simply doesn't ring true to me."
"Great," Tonks griped, "that's not exactly a reason."
"You should know better than to dismiss an instinct like that, Nymphadora!" Moody snapped, but he was eyeing Snape with even more suspicion than usual.
"So we just wait and see how this develops?" Bill sighed.
"Actually," corrected Snape, "The Dark Lord is running out of patience with the situation. He feels undermined and it's only a matter of time until he orders a large scale attack in an attempt to vent his frustration. We will need to be prepared."
There was a long, heavy silence as everybody looked to somebody else for reassurance and it sunk in that nobody had any to give.
"And now I can't even enjoy this news that my lovely aunt it incapacitated," Tonks rolled her eyes, trying to break the tension.
Snape just looked at her for several long beats. "The quiet takeover he's thus far been engaging in has not satisfied his blood lust- it was always only a matter of time. He is a megalomaniac and he was always going to need to exert his power in a more direct manner."
Well that was just perfect.
They transitioned into a discussion of the various- admittedly paltry- plans they'd prepared to enact in the event of various Death Eater maneuvers, but Sirius largely tuned it out. The meeting lasted a couple of more hours and Sirius sat through it with even more impatience than usual. He needed to get home and contact Lucius and Narcissa. Whatever one or both of them were up to, he wasn't certain they'd fully considered the consequences.
But he was going to allow himself some time after he'd spoken to them to laugh himself silly at the very suggestion of Draco Malfoy, puffskein in disguise, the wizard who was putty in his witch's hands, puppy dad, and all around softie, as some kind of dark lord in training. Maybe he'd call Draco and let him watch him laugh, the kid needed to learn to respect his elders.
Secrets were exhausting, and he was only going to continue to collect them until Voldemort was defeated, so he'd have to enjoy himself however he could.
Author's Note: Hello lovelies! So it's been forever, huh? Thank you so much for sticking with me, for continuing to read and review even through over a year of radio silence. Your concern and love for this story really helped me through some tough things and encouraged me to get back to doing this thing that I love. I cannot tell you how much it means. Love to Weestarmeggie who is my number one cheerleader and who calls me on my bullshit, love you lady! I know this is Dramione- free but they'll be back in the next update at the beginning of the week. Thanks for reading!