Disclaimer: If only….
Author's note- Yeah, so I sort of inadvertently lied. I know it's been more than a month since I last updated. I am here, but I've had a lot of stuff going on and chapter five was a bit harder to figure out than I initially thought it would be. Hope I still have some readers, and thanks to those who have been waiting patiently!
Thanks to: Excessivelyperky- Thanks … that would be interesting if he did that to Snape. More like hilarious actually. Hmm … Sirius drunk in Snape's body. Very interesting. Not gonna work for the story, though. Totally going to have to work off of that for something. Laubo- Yeah, the whole war thing, kinda important. Gion back in religion? You're really grasping. Yippee, thanks for the review! Alex202- I'll definitely try not to drop Dumbledore. It may take a little while to establish his story fully, but he's certainly still there. KillinBuddy- You scare me. Darth Bob would love it here….
Thank you to all readers and anyone who ever takes the time to give me some input!
The Next Great Adventure
Chapter 5
Sirius sat beside the basin the next morning devouring a bagel loaded with Philadelphia Cream Cheese and going over the plan once more in his head. He watched as Remus Lupin busied himself with the tea kettle in the kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and he began pondering on how exactly they would need to go about doing this.
The key to getting Remus (the one living person they could really use for this, as he was the only true Marauder left on Earth) into the Department of Mysteries and in front of the archway was to somehow tell him to do so. James had told Sirius around the time of his arrival to Heaven that the dead can still influence the living; they can act as a 'guardian angel,' guiding those on Earth. It's like when someone loses their way in a forest and has no idea where to go until some small voice directs them, leads them in the right direction. It's why Sirius felt compelled to ask Cornelius Fudge for his newspaper four years ago during his visit to Azkaban.
The problem wasn't communicating to Remus what he needed to do, it was actually getting him to do it. Even if he did feel the need to suddenly make a visit to the Ministry of Magic, it would be extremely difficult for him to get in by himself. Ever since Voldemort's return (or at least as it was known to the majority of the Wizarding World) security at the Ministry had been heightened immensely. Remus wouldn't be able to just walk in, especially without someone who worked at the Ministry to accompany him.
And then, as a disheveled Tonks clambered into the kitchen and greeted Remus with a smile, it occurred to Sirius that there was someone that could smuggle him in. "That's it," Sirius muttered.
"What's 'it?'" said a cheerful voice from behind him. He turned to see Lily gazing at him, and then glancing at the basin.
"Oh, er, nothing really," said Sirius quickly. "Just checking in on Remus and Tonks, you know, the whole relationship thing."
"Oh yeah," Lily breathed, taking a seat in a chair next to him. "You know, I'm glad Remus has decided to lighten up a bit and get together with your cousin. His life was beginning to bore me and I had started to think that he might be gay."
Sirius snorted into the last bite of his bagel. Considering Remus had had a deep fixation with Lily for a while back at Hogwarts (known to just about everyone in Gryffindor except for the future Potters, of course), Sirius had some trouble picturing him as gay.
"Well come on, Sirius," Lily continued with a smile, "the guy has had the most uninteresting love life I have ever seen. It's a natural assumption to make."
"Fair enough," said Sirius, staying true to the promise he'd made Remus in their second year to take the secret of his affections to the grave and beyond.
"Anyway," Lily sighed, "I was wondering if you might want to take time out of your, erm, busy schedule," she stole a contemptuous glance at the basin, "to maybe do something with me today?"
"Lily, I've told you a thousand times that I will never understand, nor will I ever try to understand, that bloody muggle game of golf."
Lily laughed. "We don't necessarily have to play golf," she said. "We can, er, play Quidditch or something…."
There was a mildly pleading note to this suggestion, even though Sirius was quite aware of how much Lily detested Quidditch, He could tell that she was only mentioning it to galvanize him into doing something other than just sitting here all day.
"Well thanks for the offer," he said kindly, "but I actually already have plans today."
"Really?" she replied, the shadow of concern behind her eyes vanishing slightly. "Doing what?"
"That would be between me and him," said Sirius, nodding toward the figure now approaching.
Lily rolled her eyes as her husband joined them. "Of course," she said. "You two have so many secret rendezvous' that I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it turned out you'd been hiding a more-than-Marauder relationship all these years."
She kissed James on the cheek as she rose to leave.
"That's you, Lily," Sirius muttered, "always attracting the 'gay' guys."
"What?"
"I said 'I'll catch you later for that game of Quidditch!'" he grinned mischievously. Lily scowled at him and then departed.
"What was all that about?" asked James, watching Lily's retreating back.
"Oh nothing, said Sirius dismissively. "Your wife just finds my death a little too boring is all."
"Wish I could," said James, smiling as he took Lily's seat.
"Yeah, yeah, we all feel for you, Prongs. Now let's get this started already."
"Okay, but Sirius, you have though this out fully, haven't you?" asked James in an oddly severe tone.
"What do you mean?" said Sirius.
"I mean that you have thought of every possible thing in this plan, right? Like the full moon for instance. I don't fancy being in Moony's body while he's, you know, Moony."
Sirius looked at him, an almost bored expression on his face. "Full moon was a week ago," he said, "a couple of days before Dumbledore died. Yes, I have thought of these things. Now can we start?"
"I guess so," said James, still eying Sirius warily. He seemed to steel himself for a moment, paused, and spoke again. "Erm, but one more thing before we do."
"Of course."
"Which one of us will go first? We obviously can't share Remus' body, so who's going down first?"
Sirius didn't say anything for a moment. He had thought about this and he supposed that the answer was obvious. "Well, it should be you, shouldn't it?" he said. "You are Harry's father after all."
"Yeah, but …."
"What?"
"Harry's going to have a hard enough time believing that we're not a Death Eater, much less that we're his dead relatives in Remus' body. He's never even met me, and you know him better than I do. I may be his father, Sirius, but for two years you were."
"James - ," Sirius began awkwardly.
"It's alright," James interrupted. "Let's just do it."
Remus Lupin had been plagued with strange and disconcerting thoughts all day. He lay in the darkness of Sirius' old bedroom, the night pressing in close around him. He liked to lay here, to almost feel Sirius again. Not in a 'I secretly love my dead best friend' type of way, but rather just to remember him. Being here was like being a Marauder again, he didn't feel so alone anymore.
It was in this room that Remus could usually go to think, to reflect, and to find some semblance of peace, even in the darkness that infested every corner. Tonight, however, as during the rest of his day, there was simply no escaping the images and thoughts consuming his mind. A fluttering, tattered black veil and a crumbling stone archway lingered with him no matter how hard he tried to think of something else. Blue flames, levels of blank and abandoned stone benches, and smooth daises that served as the doorsteps to death all haunted him incessantly. He hadn't thought about the Department of Mysteries this much since Sirius' death nearly a year ago, and he told himself that the upcoming anniversary was the only reason he was doing so now. This, combined with Dumbledore's recent passing, was surly to blame for these endless musings about a place he wished more than anything he could forget.
Somehow, though, Remus managed not to completely believe this theory. There was just something about it all that felt different than any other time he found himself dwelling on the Department of Mysteries. For some unexplained, indefinable reason, he knew that he had to go there. In every fiber of his being he could feel the unwanted need, the relentless urge to revisit the location of his best friend's death.
Overwhelmed by a sense of dreadful resignation, Remus drifted off to a restless sleep, already knowing what tomorrow's rising sun would bring.
Dumbledore gazed down at the courtyard from the high perch of his office window. The scene before him lay buried in a mist-like fog, swirling in silent eddies around the only two figures positioned by the basin. He didn't know what they were doing, he couldn't know what they were doing, and yet at the same time he knew exactly what they intended to accomplish.
And that was why he didn't tell them. Sirius had always had the reckless desire to do the impossible. James would do anything he could for the ones he loved. No, they simply could not know. Fate, and the events, changes, and consequences that it bore, had to play out on its own.
Looking down into the basin, Sirius watched as one of his best and loyal friends carried out his plan. He remembered briefly the years during the first war, when friendships were clouded with suspicion. How he could have suspected Remus then of being a spy was beyond him. He would trust the man with anything, just as he did James. He only hoped that he could be as trustworthy.
Remus had appealed to Tonks in order to enter the Ministry that morning. Security on the ninth level was more lax than on those above it, even considering the fact that it was here that Death Eaters had been caught a year before.
Remus crept along the Department of Mysteries corridor, all the while watched by James and Sirius who had followed his progress from the moment he had slipped away from Tonks in the Auror office. Under an invisibility cloak loaned to him by Mad-Eye Moody, he waited silently and patiently just outside the plain black door, not daring to open it himself for the numerous Stealth Sensoring Spells that had undoubtedly been placed around it. He waited, completely unaware of what lie ahead, a reckless sense of curiosity gradually building up inside of him. When a short, balding man - an Unspeakable - finally opened the door after some uncalculated stretch of time, Remus passed by him and into the circular room beyond, as light and as swift as a ghost.
Sirius looked up at James and they moved together toward one of the paths that was now bathed in soft moonlight. It was time.
The veil looked just as Remus remembered it. Flowing gently on a breeze of whispers and soft mutterings, shrouded in a cold mystery that was almost intoxicating. He was drawn to it, his feet planted firmly on the dais and his hands reaching forward barely an inch from the ebony material. He felt a presence reaching out to him, warm and familiar.
And then all at once an unseen force began to pry him from his own body. He was leaving, going through the veil, but he didn't know why. Smothered in darkness, he soon saw a blinding white light breaking slowly on the horizon.
Author's note- Sorry if I went too fast or if it was too confusing, but I didn't want to stretch it out to be too boring either. If there's anything that needs to be clarified or corrected or something, please let me know. Thanks for reading.