Chapter summary: The capture of Peter Pettigrew.
Word count: About 6300.
Author's note: Well, it's Tuesday 10th May somewhere. Australia for example or my country. For me it's a nice and sunny morning, my coffee is still pleasantly warm and I know that this chapter has been anxiously awaited. It concludes this part of the series and paves the way for the new part details of which you will find below this chapter.
As for the posting schedule. Because I hadn't received any suggestions to the contrary 1st chapter of the Secrets & Keepers – Contentions will be posted on 17th May (Tuesday) and following chapters will be posted on every Tuesday for as long as I have something to post (and considering that at the moment I'm on chapter eight you might at the minimum expect eight weeks of scheduled posting, probably far more than that).
Dedicated to all of my readers who stuck with me for so long in spite of my shortcomings. Thank You, I hope that You will find this story enjoyable. I adore seeing your reactions because not only they're thought provoking but also can be so inspiring that I will go out of my way to write a nearly 100k words spin-off. Not that I'm seeking validation but I do enjoy dialogue.
Beta read by nexandvinny.
The show must go on
The show must go on
I'll face it with a grin
I'm never giving in
On with the show
I'll top the bill
I'll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
On with the show
Show
Show must go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on
Brian May / Freddie Mercury / John Deacon / Roger Taylor
Secrets & Keepers – Entropy
Chapter twenty-three: The Show Must Go On
Remus Lupin, 31st August 1993, Diagon Alley London
It became evident from the very first moment they started discussing how to capture Pettigrew that for everyone's sake Sirius should take no part in the capture in any shape or form. Surprisingly he didn't put much of a fight on the subject, claiming that he learned from the last time he made a mistake of facing the cornered rat alone. But that didn't exactly mean that he was comfortable with having no control over the process. As things stood the whole process was meticulously planned mostly by Sirius.
Staking out the Weasleys household was out of bounds. The family didn't live in a particularly closed off wizarding community but it was just dense enough in wizardfolk (mostly old married couples with a couple of younger families) that any suspicious activity would have been noticed and alerts would have been made. Those to the Ministry wasn't particularly concerning as much as prospective missives made to the Weasleys themselves that someone was hanging around their house. That would definitely alert the rat and it wasn't something they wanted to do.
That left them with two ways the capture could be handled without involving the Ministry right away (not that they would have listened). Both were surprise ambushes, in theory swift and effective and with removing Pettigrew from the vicinity of potential victims. Sirius was vehemently against allowing Pettigrew to set a foot in Harry's vicinity anywhere to the point of sending Dora out on an errand to pick the stuff that Harry was going to need during the school year. That rendered Harry's trip to Diagon Alley as obsolete and along with the cover of keeping Harry with Snape for the rest of the summer impossible.
Harry was mildly put out that he couldn't see his friends until they would be all at Hogwarts but didn't kick up a fuss over it. He accepted Sirius's decision as given and proceed to write an acrid missive to his friends about how unfair 'Snape's' treatment of him was. Ronald Weasley was sympathetic in his reply and equally put out as he apparently had a lot to tell him. The reply of Hermione Granger on the other hand was sympathetic in tone but vaguely skirting the edge of 'you brought it on your own head'. Her reply, unlike Ronald's, had been longer and contained some of her own misadventures (that apparently involved hosting a party that narrowly missed being a disaster) that brightened Harry's mood.
What both letters ascertained that both parties with their respective families would be at Diagon Alley on 31st August and would spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron before heading to King Cross's Station.
With that knowledge the plan of allowing Pettigrew to return to Hogwarts and capture him there was swiftly vetoed and was pushed to the position of a backup plan if they wouldn't be able to capture the rat at Diagon Alley.
With that time frame and restricting timetables it became evident from the start that all of the heavy lifting would be performed by Remus and Dora and Sirius… Well, Sirius gave into pathological paranoia that only narrowly missed involvement of Polyjuice Potion only because it wasn't on hand. To alleviate his anxiety and improve the odds of a successful capture he put both Remus and Dora through rigorous application of camouflaging spells.
Dora took in stride, considering it as additional Auror training and withstood with grace some of the most of ridiculous of Sirius's ideas. As did Remus. Hence his current disguise.
Never particularly too caring about his looks and with the history of past clinical depression Remus accepted the beard as an obvious disguise. He also accepted that his own beard was to quote Sirius 'shite' and all the accompanying spell work that Sirius suggested (which had Dora in stitches) to remedy that issue. Dora suggested a bronzer to change his complexion, Bathsheda added her own idea to dye his hair, Snape made a comment about chopping his legs off or fattening him up. Against Kreacher's best efforts the fattening up didn't work thanks to werewolf metabolism and the approaching full moon so he accepted the fat suit that Regulus offered.
The finished product looked less like a British destitute werewolf pre full moon and more like some middle-eastern gentleman of somewhat corpulent built. As ridiculous as he initially felt in it the disguise, aside of the beard, the rest was easy to discard and change.
Meanwhile Dora accepted the disguise of being his wife as given, as well as a couple of alternatives suggested by Babbling and other resident Metamorphmagus.
Regulus, initially determined to participate in the capture accepted his cover with great reluctance and morbid humour and spent a great deal of time at going over with Dora over his own experiences which seemed to put her at ease.
Then the others departed to Hogwarts and Remus and Dora, as Mr and Mrs Parikh departed to the Leaky Cauldron to enjoy their trip for the foreseeable future. They enjoyed their apartment and finer establishments in the days leading to the Weasleys arrival. Dora with gusto, Remus with some reluctance between sussing out best places for ambush and making back up plans to Sirius's back up plans.
The problem was, not everything was going according to the plan. The Weasleys arrived to the Leaky Cauldron in the morning of 31st August, almost on the time they gave Harry, five minutes past nine o'clock. Arthur immediately settled with Tom their rooms, he splurged on four after debating whatever or not he should take three.
Their children meanwhile did what most teenage children do after reaching a certain age, they scattered. The older three boys made a beeline to their friends (the twins) and straight for the Diagon Alley's entrance (the oldest one). The one that interested Remus the most, Ronald, along with the traitorous rat that accompanied him unfortunately had been held back by Molly Weasley who very sternly informed him that he was going to accompany her and his sister on a shopping trip if any of his friends wouldn't show up.
The appointed meeting time came and went apparently and a very displeased by the situation Ronald, along with Pettigrew in his pocket had been led into the alley by his mother and his sister, without the company of the other trio member.
They headed to Madam Malkin where Remus didn't follow them but Dora had while he loitered on the other side of the street. Madam Malkin catered to general population and had a peculiar talent for talking people into purchases. Remus didn't need another robe or any other piece of clothing. Kreacher, generally cordial towards the guests at 12 Grimmauld Place developed a vendetta against Remus's clothes and in the span of the last couple of weeks burnt down six out of seven of Remus's shirts and made giant holes in two out of three of his trousers. He was very apologetic about it, climbing to the heights of house-elves hysteria until one of the two arseholes with a vendetta against his clothing came to calm the elf down with an offer that no real harm was done and that they would replace his damage clothes with new ones. Which they had.
That's how Remus acquired two sets of summer suits in impeccable condition that according to the less apologetic Sirius belonged to his grandfather and almost all of his shirts that were left behind in one of the guest bedrooms. His were the only clothes that were recycled as the clothing that belonged to Sirius and Regulus's parents had been thrown away, with the exception of two of Mrs Black fancier dressing-gowns that neither Sirius nor Regulus ever remembered seeing her in them. Those had been given to Dora and Bathsheda. Snape too had been handed a dressing-gown that apparently was an unopened gift aimed at one of the older Messrs Black. The collection of scarves has been mostly appropriated by Kreacher after instructions to attire himself in something more presentable than a pillowcase, the silken scarves of Mrs Black had been turned into a tunics and thicker scarves of Mr Black had been turned into warmer throws.
The Weasley contingent exited Madam Malkin after a while with a slightly scowling Dora following them shortly after. As she caught Remus's eyes she shook her head slightly.
The rest of the day pretty much followed in the same fashion with either Remus or Dora following Mrs Weasley and her youngest children around various establishments, well with the exception of the Ollivander's shop. Pettigrew stubbornly remained in Ronald's pocket, only a couple of times letting his head peek out of it before returning to the safety. Coward.
Not that he didn't have a reason to be scared as Remus decided as he and Dora were admiring the cages in front of Magical Menagerie where the Weasley boy (and accompanying him Pettigrew) had been attacked (and in a somewhat vicious manner) by a red-furred cat that eerily reminded Remus of Himself, Lily's feline whose origins he wasn't sure of, that the cat was a gift he could remember but from whom exactly he couldn't recall.
That Pettigrew's paranoid pocket stay had nothing to do with Remus himself Remus was certain of as Sirius was adamant that even the best and consistent disguise would be worthless against Pettigrew if he would fail to alter his scent. Which Remus had, this level of camouflaging hadn't been exactly up his alley in the past but over the last couple of days that lead to their departure he spent with Sirius at practicing the spells. He was certain that he smelt nothing like himself.
It was then, as he looked at the window of Magical Menagerie when he caught a reflection of something that made his heart jump to his throat. By the stand on the opposite side of the street, leaning slightly against the leg of one of the ladies that was looking something up at one of the stands was Padfoot.
Remus took a deep, calming breath and shook his head slightly. Sirius was at Hogwarts, of that much he was certain. He and Dora talked with him over the two-way mirrors before they came down for breakfast. He made no mention about joining them at Diagon Alley, alone as much as with company. What he did instead was grumbling about the very thorough sweeps of the castle that had been conducted by the dementors in search of him. One was conducted yesterday, the other was supposed to be conducted later in the day and another on the next day.
Could it be Sirius, Remus pondered. The dog was eerily familiar in size and colouring to the point that Remus was barely capable of restraining himself from approaching the dog. It could have been Sirius had Sirius been less concerned about Harry's safety and the successful capture. They all knew that Pettigrew would be able of recognising him and that it would be impossible for Sirius to approach him without alerting and spooking him first.
It was not good. Not that Remus was inclined to believe into bad omens. And as far as omens went the dog appeared to be very uncaring about being one. It was just a bloody dog. But a dog that was capable of scaring off Pettigrew, if he caught the sight of him. Hopefully he did not.
Their luck in capturing Pettigrew at the Leaky Cauldron after the Weasley matron returned with her children to the pub was just as rotten as it had been in the alley. Soon after the return from the shops Ronald headed off to one of the bedrooms, he was followed shortly after by his older brother and while they both occasionally vacated their room they had never done so at the same time until it was time to head down for dinner.
Remus was getting so frustrated and agitated with the upcoming full moon that he barely kept himself from making a beeline to the empty room and he was glad that he did so when he caught the sight of the girl that seated herself in the small armchair few feet away from the door.
She sat there through the entire time the Weasleys were down in the pub for dinner and vacated the place for roughly two minutes only for her spot to be filled by a teenage boy that appeared to be a couple years older than Harry.
"This is getting us nowhere," Dora grumbled before she pulled Remus down to the pub for dinner.
"Agreed," Remus grumbled in reply before he dug into the stew. "And the time…" he started and grimaced.
"The best one would late during the night," Dora replied. "They're bound to fall asleep at some point, him included."
Just as the full moon was bound to raise eventually. And while Remus had been dutifully taking Wolfsbane potion through the entire week, in the last couple of days delivered to him by Kreacher he wasn't going to risk turning in public.
They lost a couple more hours staking out in the corridor by the Weasley boys room under disillusionment charm but didn't have an opening until midnight when Remus was forced to admit that he had to retire from duty in order to prepare himself for the full moon.
"Good luck," he said to Dora when he admitted that he had to go. "And stay safe."
"Oh I will," she assured him vehemently. "You too," she added before pressing a good bye kiss to his lips that quickly turned from innocent to very promising and only Remus's iron control kept him from jumping her bones. She had a job to finish and he had a full moon to prepare for.
Secrets & Keepers – Entropy
Nymphadora Tonks, 31st August / 1st September 1993, Diagon Alley, London
She was finally able to size the chance to enter the room of the Weasley boys at too fucking late in the night for people to be constantly loitering around the corridor, passing down and up and at times snogging or just talking. It was downright frustrating and when the brief opening presented itself she just sized and slipped inside the room.
She was a natural klutz, occupational hazard of having a body that grew and shrunk as it pleased when she slept since she hit puberty. It wasn't always bad, as occasionally her breasts decided to grow up a size or two, which earned her appreciative glances at school and compliments from pleased by the change boyfriends. But her shoes and clothing situation… Well, she learned to make a conscious effort to keep her feet in the same size as her shoes since they were harder to replace.
Her particularity perplexed Regulus, the only other Metamorphmagus and the two of them spent a substantial amount of time at theorising why Dora's body acted the way it did. Regulus's theory was that her body was going into haywire when she had no control over what it did because she never found a form she was happy with. Which was true to a point, when she found herself on the short side she regretted not being tall and alternatively when she found herself towering over Regulus and Remus (the tallest of 12 Grimmauld Place occupants) she regretted not being shorter.
So in the spare time between research and her having a very vigorous physical relationship with resident werewolf Regulus continued to put her through a series of physical tests that were supposed to find the form she found acceptable.
By the time they were ready to separate into groups the two of them managed to establish that Dora felt the most comfortable with the height that reached Remus's nose. Her body type remained largely unchanged over the years because even though she was never sure what height she wanted to be she always had been fit and active. The only thing that got adjusted in that regard was the size of her breasts, a test in which Remus was very pleased to help with.
Her face and hair was a subject of constant changes though, not the eyes though, she always liked having the same colour of eyes as her Mum, warmer kind of brown, a characteristic that they both shared with Regulus. The nose length and shape that she found favouring was for most of the time the blend between Sirius and her Dad (when she wasn't pulling at Snape's leash, per Regulus's instructions to try her best to duplicate the occupants of Grimmauld Place). Her hair she still liked mostly short and in vibrant colours but with Remus she often found herself into giving into allowing them to flow down (because she discovered that she was a sucker for head massages).
So the Dora that entered the room of two sleeping teenagers and one traitorous rat was much less of a klutz than the old Dora from the start of the summer. She didn't trip over anything as she made her way through the room, her own feet as much as the carpeting and cautiously examined the room.
The boys were sleeping, completely lost to the world but the rat…
The rat wasn't there. She looked very carefully but she couldn't find him anywhere. There was no cage in which he could be sleeping and after careful examination of the bedding and clothes no lumps that could contain the rodent.
She took the quietest and deepest breath she could muster and willed her magic into the charm that was supposed to detect living auras. Aside of her own she felt two, both belonging to the Weasley boys.
Fuck. Fucking, fuckety fuck. This wasn't good. No good at all. Where that traitorous shit could be.
Was it the dog that spooked him? She and Remus saw it earlier when they were loitering around the Magical Menagerie and later in the company of Mrs Granger, mostly hidden under the table when it wasn't filching snacks from the woman. The dog looked eerily like Sirius's Animagi form, Padfoot, in size and colouring to the point that for a brief moment she doubted in Sirius's ability to sit the ambush out as he promised to do.
Think, she chided herself. If I was a traitorous rat believing that the man I betrayed was coming after me where I would hide. Not somewhere where he could find me was the obvious answer. The Weasleys were useful to him for as long as they could provide him with a shelter and source of information and if he had half a brain and knew how he could use it, he would be able to figure out that Sirius was coming after him and from what she and Remus managed to overhear the older Weasleys repeated earlier suggestions that Sirius was heading to Hogwarts.
Could Pettigrew decide that Hogwarts no longer offered him safety? It was entirely possible and if she was him and being hunted she wouldn't be willing to risk the odds of hiding at Hogwarts against a determined fucker that Sirius was, that Pettigrew had to know he was.
Then Ronald suddenly mumbled something in his sleep as he turned over, drawing her attention to him and to a dark spot by his head. Gingerly she tiptoed closer to examine it and breathed in sharply as she cast identification spell.
Blood. Blood and cat hair. Red cat hair, much like that cat of Ms Granger. Except she hadn't seen the cat nowhere near the room, for as long as she had her eyes on him it was in Ms Granger's lap or in the room she shared with her mother. It hadn't passed by through the corridor or somehow managed to slip into the room.
She took the quietest and deepest breath she could muster and cast a tracking spell. It was a long shot and a finicky one on that as it didn't always worked as it was supposed to. But she had to try.
And she succeeded, a silvery mist rose slowly from Ronald's bloodied pillow and moved towards the window. Dora moved with it, apparating to the other side of the window and then following it through the roofs to an eventual fire escape that led her down to the street level.
How much of a head start he could have? The Weasley boys stopped coming and going from the room at around ten but they were teenagers so they could fool around for Merlin only knows how long. They could fall asleep shortly after ten or about a half an hour ago. That meant about three and half of an hour head start. And paws of terrified rodent, she tried to cheer herself up. He couldn't have gotten too far,
Except he had, she realised sourly many hours later and she greatly underestimated his survival instincts. The sun was steadily climbing in the sky as she left London following his trail. On foot, just like he had, not that she didn't feel tempted to summon her broom or liberate a bike or at least a scooter for herself. No, she very much had but on any sort of transportation form his tracks would be easier to miss.
So she continued to follow his paws, grateful that he didn't have an idea to hide in any drain canals or maybe he had but had a clear destination in mind and didn't want to be lost in the canals.
She finally lost his trail on the west side of Rochester where he probably managed to get himself a form of transportation. She allowed herself to curse loudly but didn't give into alarming Sirius just yet, Merlin only knows he had enough of his plate and she was bloody determined to succeed.
She had no idea where Pettigrew was heading in the end but from the start he was heading south east, towards Dover and most likely to the continental Europe. She still had a chance to catch him before he left England.
Secrets & Keepers – Entropy
Sirius Black, 1st September 1993, Hogwarts
He spent most of the previous days in his Animagi form, trailing behind Reg and Harry who blessedly didn't trail too far away from each other. They spent some time in the library, to the displeasure of Madam Pince. Sirius without a problem recognised in her the familiar likeness to her son, from her sharp eyes to equally sharp tongue. He found her nosiness and intolerance of even the quietest of whispers a huge downgrade from the previous librarian, always cheerful and very helpful Madam March. The only amusing thing about her was how helpful she was towards helping Filch finding clearing solutions and how Snape's mere presence in the library made her twitch.
Snape for his part hadn't breathed a word about her, other than confirming when gently prodded (over another batch of potions) that yes, she was his good-for-nothing mother and that yes, she was one of the banes of his existence. In the presence of other professors and students (Harry and Regulus for now) Snape was coldly civil around her and out of their immediate vicinity he ignored her existence altogether.
Dumbledore to Sirius's relief wasn't there, not since his summons to Reykjavik and judging by the nearly permanent scowl on McGonagall's face he wasn't going to return until the very least minute before the start of the new year. If he was going to return on time, as Sirius once heard her speculating with Flitwick. He found himself almost pitying her for being left with all of the administrative mess, out of nothing but remains of the fondness to his old head of the house.
One of the things responsible for the scowl on McGonagall's face was Fudge's brilliant idea for the dementors that were already guarding the school to conduct sweeps through the castle in search of him. McGonagall was vehemently against them, not that they yielded anything seeing that Sirius could predict their movements to the point of successfully avoiding them by a wild margin. In so far hiding at Hagrid's as soon as the dementors entered the school, along with Reg and Harry, who could stand the proximity of dementors only thanks to Sirius's Occlumency, proved to be excellent evasion technique. Not that they would be able to recognise him. Of that much Bathsheda was certain, the collar he wore made his magic undetectable among other things and then was the magic itself.
It changed, gradually expanding his magical range. Not in power levels, he felt as powerful as before (considering that he only had a couple of days to gauge his current levels of power). He didn't feel much more powerful than he had been prior to Azkaban, if anything he felt a bit more comfortable in his skin and with his instincts in casting. Duelling helped with that, especially with Snape, who from the moment he deemed him healthy stopped the pussyfooting of giving Sirius a head start or any sort of advantage, like Regulus, Remus and Dora had.
In the last couple of days he, Harry and Regulus spent quite a lot of time outside. If they weren't helping Hagrid in his orchard the boys (because an adult Regulus might have been but in an eleven years old body it was easy for Sirius to think of him as a boy) were helping Madam Hooch with sorting out Quidditch equipment. Not that Hooch had some reservations over allowing them to fly but she gave into their pestering after seeing Reg fly. Sirius happily settled himself at her feet in the teachers stand and watched them both while she was making adjustments to the Quidditch calendar or pursuing Quidditch catalogues.
Harry was flying as if he was born to do it. Much like James he was natural flier but his instincts seemed to be sharper than James's. And Reg? Reg was Reg, still the same daredevil at thirty-two that he had been at twelve, in spite of strong likelihood of not touching a broomstick since he put himself out of commission. Watching both of them was a delight and it gave him an idea what to get both of them for Christmas. A top-notch broom, Quidditch league or racing quality.
The night between 31st August and 1st September he didn't sleep a wink. Too anxious about the full moon that Moony was supposed to spend alone, which was bloody ridiculous because Moony spent more full moons alone than he did with the rest of them and there was the potion. And then there was the anxiety of waiting for Pettigrew's capture. The daylight hours of 31st August passed without news of any sort from Remus and Dora and the late night update (made while Harry was in the bathroom) hadn't given anything substantial, other than Remus telling him that he was going to pass the mirror to Dora once he was going to head home for the full moon.
The night passed with no contact whatsoever. Then came breakfast (which he opted out of attending, not that he would be able to stomach anything). Then there was another sweep which came and went and still nothing.
Once the dementors departed from the grounds Bathsheda came to relieve him in watching after Harry and Reg and sent him back to the castle. He headed to her rooms but after a couple of minutes of pacing back and forth there he decided to head down to Snape's quarters.
Maybe it was the general demeanour of her rooms that was getting to him and Snape's much darker and gloomier (more Slytherin) felt more comfortable. After all instead of being a good doggy and spending nights at Reg's side in Bathsheda's quarters he was down in Snape's in Harry's temporary room.
When he got there Snape was nowhere to be seen but he could hear him puttering around in his private laboratory.
He took a deep, slightly shaky breath as he pulled a mirror from his pocket and called out. He wasn't loud but the disturbance made Snape peek out of his laboratory for long enough to roll his eyes at the sight of Sirius before returning to whatever he was doing there. But he was curious enough to leave the door open.
But the reply didn't come.
Secrets & Keepers – Entropy
Severus Snape, 1st September 1993, Hogwarts
He woke up this morning with beginnings of a migraine that refused to abate after downing an anti-migraine potion with two anxious Gryffindors for a company. Blessedly both kept relatively quiet allowing Severus to drink a cup of camomile tea while Potter was packing his stuff and Black… Well, Black was twitching in anxiety while at the same time he tried to remain perfectly motionless.
By the looks of it neither Lupin nor Tonks had made a contact since yesterday night. Severus didn't need to ask about the outcome of their efforts. The lack of success was evident from Black's rigid posture and expressionless face that morphed into a smile as soon as Potter exited the bathroom.
Severus felt his eyebrows raising slightly at that. Black was a bundle of nerves but he was determined to not burden the boy with it and devoted next couple of minutes to elevating the levels of the boys anxiety.
Severus left them with that before he headed out to perform his part in this mad plan. He and Bathsheda deliberated over what they were going to do for hours. What needed to be done was obvious. They needed to get to Dumbledore's locked up office, without leaving a trace of coming in and out and while they were in there they needed to confund the Sorting Hat into believing that Aaron Babbling aka Regulus Black was an unsorted eleven years old, that the only place that he was supposed to end was Gryffindor and that no other boy to be sorted on 1st September was going to end in Gryffindor.
Piece of a bloody pie. Well, it wasn't. Getting into Dumbledore's office wasn't a problem, neither was doing that unnoticed, seeing that Bathsheda pushed into Dumbledore's office the spell that was supposed to put all of the portraits to sleep. Luckily for them Dumbledore departed with his flaming chicken in tow.
But confunding a sentient magical object that was the Sorting Hat? That was hard and what was worst maintaining the sleeping spell on the portraits rendered Bathsheda pretty much useless with that endeavour, not if he wanted her to alter his Confundus afterwards to remain obsolete to most likely bewildered Headmaster that would surely be wondering why there was only one first year Gryffindor boy. Well, hopefully not but it was better to be safe rather than sorry.
They returned to their respective beds in very early morning hours, physically and magically exhausted. Severus was so exhausted that he just fell on his bed and was asleep no sooner than he managed to pull a pillow towards his head.
Once Potter was packed and ready to head upstairs for breakfast Severus sent the boy's trunk to Gryffindor tower, where it would be put in the appropriate bedroom by the elves later in the day. Black, to Severus's mild bemusement, elected to stay behind through the meal but vacated the premises before Severus returned to his rooms, just in time for the sweep.
The remains of his headache abated shortly after the dementors left the grounds to a tolerable enough level for him to tinker with something stronger to chase away the remains of it. He was so focused on his task that he didn't realise that his rooms became infested until he heard Black call out for Tonks. He really wasn't loud but nevertheless his voice startled Severus slightly.
He wanted to ask Black what the hell he was doing here but as he rolled his eyes at the man he decided not to. Until he was free to haunt Gryffindor Black felt comfortable to be in his human form in two places, Bathsheda's quarters and Severus's. And after spending last couple of weeks with Black and seeing his bedroom (and hearing about that of his old one) it wasn't really surprising that Black found Severus's darker rooms more comfortable than Bathsheda's considerably brighter ones. How Regulus put it? Something about seven years in Gryffindor not being able to undo twelve earlier years of Slytherin conditioning. Which come to think about it was downright ridiculous because Black was a model Gryffindor.
Black of old, a thought passed through his head. But the Black Severus got to know in the last couple of weeks gave into Gryffindor bravado and rashness only when Potter's safety was at stake. That Black was determined to turn the world upside down in search for a way to get rid of the Dark Lord's Horcrux inside Potter with stubbornness of a Hippogriff. He hardly disturbed Severus in the same endeavour and he had yet to bring up that bloody name that the Marauders came up with for him. And in his own way he apologised. It wasn't enough, it will never be enough. But it didn't have to be. No, they were allies with a common goal and they didn't need to be friends to succeed. Severus's concern in Black's freedom was limited to how it could benefit their cause.
He was too preoccupied with his potion however that he completely missed the exchange between Black and Tonks and had been pulled from his thoughts by somewhat ominous sound coming from the sitting room. It sounded somewhat familiar, something that he had heard before.
A song, one of many that the brothers occasionally played over the couple of weeks and sure enough he had found Black standing in front of Severus's gramophone looking at the turning vinyl as the song played.
Empty spaces, what are we living for?
Abandoned places, I guess we know the score, on and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?
Another hero, another mindless crime
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line
Does anybody want to take it anymore?
The show must go on
The show must go on, yeah
Inside my heart is breaking
My makeup may be flaking
But my smile, still, stays on
Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache, another failed romance, on and on
Does anybody know what we are living for?
I guess I'm learning
I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning, round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free
The show must go on
The show must go on
Inside my heart is breaking
My makeup may be flaking
But my smile, still, stays on
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
Fairy tales of yesterday, grow but never die
I can fly, my friends
The show must go on
The show must go on
I'll face it with a grin
I'm never giving in
On with the show
I'll top the bill
I'll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
On with the show
Show
Show must go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on
The look on Black's face was unreadable but Severus didn't need Legilimency to recognise that whatever kind of news Black received weren't good.
"Did he…" he started.
"Escaped," Black replied flatly. "Luckily with no causalities and is heading for the continent."
Severus stared at him. Black was eerily calm for someone who just received the news that his chance for freedom had vanished. Well, maybe not completely but without Pettigrew proving Black's innocence wasn't going to be easy or fast.
Black closed his eyes as he gestured at the needle to return to the beginning of the song. It played through to the last chorus when the Black opened his eyes again and looked at Severus. And if he was calm earlier now he practically radiated with serenity, the rigidness left his shoulders.
It was unnerving but Severus didn't say as much. Instead he asked, "What now?"
"The show goes on," Black replied. "Dora might get lucky in Dover but I have a feeling that she might be only wasting her time."
"And?" Severus pressed.
"We both know where he's heading," Black answered calmly. "That's where I will find him when I will go after his Lord. But there are more important things to take care of for now."
Severus nodded slowly. As unnerving as Black's calmness was it beat a hysterical meltdown. Not that Severus would have been able or willing to offer more than a handkerchief for Black to sort himself out.
Black was right. The show had to go on. They had a sorting to get through in the next couple of hours, Potter and the others to inform about the development and once the brothers' placement at Hogwarts would be secure a research to continue.
The End
Till Next Part of the Series
Secrets & Keepers – Contentions
The template to Secrets & Keepers - Contentions (for interested parties).
Disclaimer:
I don't own Harry Potter or anything you can recognise from any books or TV series or movies. I do however take liberties with the plots or mentions provided by JKR or other writers. The only profit I'm getting out of it is improving my English.
Title:
Secrets & Keepers – Contentions
Rating/Warnings:
R/M [AU; Manipulative Dumbledore (therefore not Dumbledore friendly); teenage dramas that covers a bunch of issues, from included in previous instalments: past abuse, identity crisis and etc.; family feels (mostly oriented around Harry, Hermione and the Black family but not only); relationship struggles (amongst the adults but let's not forget about the teenagers, they are equally capable of that). Also includes profanity; canon typical violence; pureblood politics and good (or at the very least more sensible) Slytherins.
Characters and pairings:
The core cast will include the characters from previous instalments. Mostly in the flesh but due to certain circumstances mostly in spirit. The most important ones are: Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Bathsheda Babbling, Hermione Granger, Arcturus Black, Mrs Granger. The story will also contain appearances and mentions about the members of the Weasley, the Greengrass, the Malfoy and the Tonks families but the focus on them isn't as strong as it is on the main cast of the previous instalments. But the main focus is on Hermione's quest for truth and Harry coming in terms with his condition.
All adults behave more or less paternal towards Harry and Hermione as well as generally friendly or at the very least civil towards each other unless otherwise specified.
Pairings:
Adults:
Severus Snape/Bathsheda Babbling (as whole, in past references as much as in the present and with everything their relationship entails); allusions and references to Severus Snape/Lily Evans (Snape-sided);
Sirius Black – no current romance but the story will reference and most likely quite liberally Sirius's past crush on James Potter and past Sirius/OFC;
Regulus Black – no serious romantic relationship to speak of at the moment but let's not forget that he's a grown adult that's surrounded with hormonal teenagers and has his needs, he will definitely sneak out of Hogwarts to scratch an itch or two which might or might not get him in trouble;
Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks – still on it, in the same manner they had been in the past instalments, due to their current circumstances in lesser frequency, no great romance to speak of just yet, just a lot of occasional adult fun.
All of the remaining minor pairings from previous instalments are likely to also appear, mostly in mentions.
Teenage pairings:
I didn't need to include that in previous instalments because there were no teenage romances to speak of. But let's be frank, they're teenagers, they're all bound to have crushes, first dates, first kisses, etc. with all of the accompanying drama those things entail. And let me tell you there will be a lot of drama and a lot of angsting, also kissing (with and without romantic intent behind it) in the near future.
The issue that I'm having with naming the teenage pairings is… There's really no nice way of saying it, click baiting. I can name them, all right, but none of them seem fair to people who will come here looking for a specific pairing just to discover that this is 5th part of the series (and 4th big one on that) and that they most likely will have to get through over 500 000 words to understand where a particular character is at the moment just to discover that all they got for it is a kiss. And then there's the endgame, romantic endgame I mean. I have it, had it for a longer while but putting that down doesn't really seem fair either when I'm writing what feels like the longest, slowest slow-burn in the history of all slow-burns. None of the parties involved in it is in a place that's good for developing romantic feelings and the closest I can get to it is conclusion of this part of the series. Even then it's not going to turn into a full-blown romance, maybe mutual pining that's believed to be one-sided by both parties.
See my problem now? The question for you is whatever you would like me to be upfront about endgame pairing(s) or the happy tagger that will tag every single paring as long as there's a basis for it (physical contact – generally kissing, maybe snogging, they're thirteen/fourteen for Merlin's sake; resolved and unresolved feelings towards one character by the other, etc.). But bear in mind that the latter is extremely likely to include stuff like say Seamus Finnigan/His Right Hand if Harry believes that they're up to no good.
Spoilers:
All seven books with occasional, brief references to ground work for HP & CC main plot as well as Secrets & Keepers – Collision Course, Secrets & Keepers – Supernova and Secrets & Keepers – Entropy.
Summary:
The new school year begins for Harry and Hermione after a quite eventful summer. There's work to be done, certain meddlers to be taken down a peg or two, new and old friendships to maintain and develop. There are also unsolved mysteries that are waiting to be discovered. It's also time to grow up and revaluate past decisions, behaviours, and relationships. Sequel to S&K – Entropy (direct).
Chapter summary:
The ride to Hogwarts.
Word count:
About 7000.
Author's note:
I spent a lot of time on individual plots and quite quickly a certain overarching theme emerged from layering them over. As the title of this part suggests it's conflict. It's everywhere, at every turn, with everyone and over everything. There are of course an unspecified number of inner conflicts that come with revaluating past decisions and behaviours. All of this affect relationships. And if I was going to name the most serene thing that I have in so far then it's a very tentatively budding friendship between Sirius and Severus. They both certainly grown as characters through Entropy and while they aren't nowhere near the point of being ready to braid each other's hair (and like it had been mentioned in the past such event would require quite a lot of alcohol consumed by both parties) I do like where they are and where they're heading.
I love Harry in here and he does grown as a person quite a lot but at the same time we're going to deal with his feelings and issues over being Voldemort's Horcrux. He will have occasional moments of levity (and being a teenage little shit) but he will definitely be struggling with depression a little further into the school year. As for Hermione? Hermione has a new and shiny spine and to be direct not a lot of fucks to spare for certain kinds of behaviour. And it's not that she doesn't have a lot of things to angst over. She does and has a growing list of it. She goes into rebel mode straight from chapter one while still remaining the same kind and helpful Hermione to people that deserve her help and kindness.
As usual I dedicate this story to all of you, my readers, for sticking with me for so long in spite of my shortcomings.
The last couple of months hadn't been easy on me and for quite a long period of time writing anything felt like a chore. You deserve better than that from me and I will try my best to deliver you a story you deserve. I adore seeing your reactions and answering your questions. They motivate me, and yes, sometimes an innocent question will make me go out of my way to write a nearly 100k words spin-off that I will integrate into the story. Am I seeking a form of validation from you? To a certain extent, yes, I do, as most likely does any other writer in any of the existing fandoms. We like knowing that what we do matters to someone.
Your comments and kudos are and always will be welcome here because they're my motivation.
