Chapter thirty-two: young and free

The next morning Alicia rose with the sunrise; as she had done every day since she had started the Animagus trials. She yawned after she had recited the incantation and went downstairs to get some tea.

With a steaming cup and a good book she curled up on the couch and started preparing her conversation with Remus in her head. She had to be persuading, but not stubborn. She had to convince him, not reluctantly but wholeheartedly. This was not an easy task.

Two hours later Remus stumbled into the room. Today was his day off work – he had switched between three different factories since last summer – so he had decided to walk around in his pyjama pants, a shirt and a cardigan. He was barefoot, and his toes looked cold on the stone floor.

'Morning Moony,' Alicia said with a radiant smile.

He smiled lazily and came over to give her a kiss. 'Lately you are an early riser again. Any particular reason?'

She had not yet told him about her trials. It would be a nice surprise if one day she could just turn into an animal and watch his jaw drop to the floor. 'Sitting around in this house is not as tiresome as working with dragons. I feel like I'm overdosing on sleep.'

He chuckled and made a set of kettle, teacups, milk and sugar float over to where they were sitting. 'Are you sure? I would think that Padfoot is more tiring than twenty dragons.'

That was a perfect opening for her. 'Pads is having a really rough time. I can see him slipping further into a vegetable state each day. We need to do something to make him happy.'

Remus nodded slowly. 'I agree, but I hardly think that is an option. He only wants one thing.'

At this point she turned to face him on the couch. 'Yes. He is only asking for one thing. And I think we can give it to him. In a controlled, safe way.'

He stared at her hard before he sighed. 'You want to take him out of the house.'

'Yes,' she replied quickly, 'Him, me and Charles. He has asked me a couple of times now and I think it is possible. I will be extra vigilant. And if shit does hit the fan, we have a dragon to protect us.'

Remus swallowed and spoke with a small voice. 'We had a dragon last time. Still we nearly died.'

'I wasn't fast enough to change him back. But that will be my first action now. Remus, remember when you said that you were going to back my decisions? Please, Moony, back this decision,' Alicia pleaded.

Remus rubbed the stubble on his chin. He stared thoughtfully ahead of him. Then he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could reply Sirius had entered the room.

'Sirius,' Remus said.

'Moony. Nessie,' Sirius said back with a smile. 'Did I walk in on something private again?'

'We were actually discussing you,' Alicia informed him.

'My favourite subject,' Sirius smiled and sat down. 'What about me? Did you…ask him?'

'Yes. He was about to tell me what he thinks of it,' Alicia said.

'Oh one more thing Moony. Apart from having this wonderful lady and her dragon as my protection, I also got some extra insurance. Let's just say that it will be hard for anyone to recognize me,' Sirius added while he placed the tips of his fingers against each other like he was plotting something.

'Okay.'

Alicia had to shake herself and focus on Remus to make sure she hadn't imagined it. 'Sorry what was that?'

Remus shrugged good natured. 'I said okay. I agree with the both of you. You seem to have given this a lot of thought and I understand the necessity of it. If both of you are comfortable with this idea, then I won't stand in the way.'

The other two were very silent.

'What? I'm not always a spoilsport,' Remus stated.

'And apart from allowing me to leave the house, you are also okay with me partying with your wife?' Sirius asked with a little smile.

'Partying? What exactly do you have planned?' Alicia asked while she raised an eyebrow.

'Even better,' Remus said while leaning back in his seat. 'In the dark it is even harder to recognize you.'

'Night club? Drinking? It's all cool with you Moony?'

'Sure.'

'Are you also going to ask me whether I'm okay with it?' Alicia piped in, feeling ignored.

Sirius turned to her. 'You are twenty years old. You can't protest against going out. You already hang out too much with an older crowd. It's time to help you remember what your generation looks like.'

'Give it to me straight, why don't you?'

Sirius smirked.

'Also, in case you have forgotten, you are actually 'the older crowd'. You are going to stand out in a place like that,' Alicia reminded him.

'Pff. Don't worry about it darling. Just make sure to wear something cute. I need to hold up an image,' Sirius said importantly.

'Oh yes I know that image. It's the mug-shot one, right?' Alicia retorted.

'In case anyone is interested,' Remus spoke up, effectively breaking off their sarcastic battle. 'I am going over to talk to Severus today. So I might not be back before dinner.'

'We might not be back before sunrise,' Sirius said happily. 'Don't wait up, old man.'

'Sirius? Are you ready?'

Alicia was standing in front of the door to his bedroom, knocking on it. She felt unaccustomed to the clothes she was wearing: a little red dress with high black heels. Her hair was curled and she had lost the braids for tonight, having decided that the look was too outlandish. Over her arm she carried a coat with heating charms in the lining and bigger-on-the-inside pockets. She had done her make-up so effectively – and partially with magic – that the scar on her cheek was almost invisible. The same applied to her arms and legs, which were usually covered up but now showing off her slightly tanned skin.

It had been so long ago since Alicia felt this kind of feminine. In Romania she had tried so hard to blend in with her colleagues she sometimes forgot she was a woman. And at Hogwarts she went for a powerful/terrifying look so that people wouldn't underestimate her. She and Remus have had some date nights when they were living together, and that was probably her last time dressing up and overdoing the make-up.

She checked the small black and gold watch around her wrist. 'I've been standing here for seven minutes already. Are you planning on opening this door anytime soon?'

'I'll be right with you darling. I just need everything to be perfect!' came the reply.

She sighed. 'I appreciate that, but you are taking longer than all my high school girlfriends combined. I'm giving you ten seconds.'

'Alright, come in then,' said Sirius from his room. His voice sounded muffled.

As she pushed the door open, she expected him to be dressed in one of his extravagant velvet suits and maybe to have done something to his hair. But when she looked into the room…

Sirius wasn't there.

'Who…' she was going to ask the stranger in the room. The words died on her lips as she stared him down. It was a young man, somewhere in his beginning twenties, with the most handsome features she had ever seen on a real-life person. His face was long with defined cheekbones. He had the whitest teeth showing in the most dashing smile. His black hair was voluminous and framing his face like a dark portrait. But his eyes…those stormy grey eyes…she knew them too well.

'S-sirius?' she whispered.

The boy smiled even brighter. Alicia could not deny it. He was hot.

'Hi there Nessie. So, what do you think of my disguise? Do you like it?' he asked and finished it off with a wink.

'Is…is this really what you looked like? When you were-,'

'Twenty years old, oh yes. I'm exactly your age! I made my own de-aging potion and I can proudly say it works brilliantly!' he beamed. Sirius did a little twirl to show off all of him. He didn't have a bad side to him.

Alicia just stared.

'I'm taking your silence as an approval then,' Sirius chuckled.

The young witch looked back up to meet his eyes and blushed fiercely. She had been checking him out and he had caught her…somehow she kept forgetting this was the same man she had known for years.

'I think it's genius. I don't think anyone will recognize you. Well except from the people that knew you back then,' Alicia said quickly. In her nervousness she started playing with her hair.

'Yes, about that. I was quite the party animal when I was in my twenties, so I figured we should go somewhere else than London. How do you feel about Amsterdam? Shouldn't be too hard on Charles, right?'

Sirius started gathering his stuff. She noticed that he was dressed in very nice muggle clothes; dark trousers and a white blouse that was unbuttoned at the top. He threw a leather jacket over his shoulders before he looked back at Alicia.

'I've never been to Amsterdam before. Let's do it. Charles did a trip from the North of Norway to here in record time so it should be fine,' Alicia informed him.

He smiled another radiant smile. 'Great! Let's get the hell out of this house then. Oh, you look positively glamorous by the way.'

Alicia smiled shyly. Sirius helped her climb onto the roof where Charles was waiting. Sirius marvelled at the full-sized dragon for a moment before he climbed on his back. He took a deep breath, enjoying to be outside again.

'Let's get this party started!'

Severus had already let Remus wait for thirty minutes. He tried not to get worked up about this fact, as he still needed to persuade the Potions Professor to continue his Occlumency lessons with Harry. So all he could do was pace around in his office, preparing their conversation in his mind.

After forty-two minutes the door opened. Severus Snape walked in, his tell-tale black cape trailing behind him. It gave Remus the impression of a bat, sweeping down on a prey.

'Lupin. You are still here. I thought you would have gone by now,' he said, sounding disappointed at Remus' persistence.

He smiled. 'I understand that you don't like to have this conversation, but I'm afraid I have to insist.'

Severus watched him closely for a long moment before he gestured towards the chair in front of his desk. Remus thanked him and sat down, Severus followed.

'As I'm sure you know, I'm here about Harry's Occlumency lessons. They are helping him to repel Vol…You-Know-Who from his mind and-,'

'They were helping. I am no longer teaching him,' Severus interfered.

Remus tried to stay calm. 'Yes, I heard that. But Severus, you must understand how important it is. You have to continue teaching him, even if the both of you don't like it.'

Severus clasped his hands together on top of his desk and leaned forward. 'I bet Potter couldn't wait to share his unfairly acquired knowledge with you and Black. I'm sure you were…entertained.'

'Of course not,' Remus tried calmly, but felt his own temperature rising, 'Harry only wanted to understand what he saw.'

'Oh and you told him that his father was a saint, didn't you? That it was all my twisted mind that saw it like that. You and Black were no better than him,' Severus sneered.

Remus took a deep breath while he stared the other wizard down. 'No. We told him the truth. That James was a bit of an idiot when he was younger, but that he grew out of it with age. Severus, we are talking about something that happened twenty years ago. Me nor Sirius are trying to talk what we did right, but we are discussing something that is much more important than one memory. Harry is in danger, and as long as he opens his mind…we all are. Hogwarts, the Order…nothing is safe as long as Harry knows about it. Please Severus,' he stopped for a moment to make him see that he was actually begging him, 'please continue the lessons with Harry.'

He looked away, lost in thought. There was an unpleasant grimace on his face and Remus was afraid of his chances.

'I will…consider it.'

Remus exhaled deeply and ran a hand frantically through his hair. He couldn't hope for more out of Severus' mouth.

But when he looked up, he was smiling darkly again. 'So what did you think of the actions of your wife? She made a right fool out of herself to lose her temper like that. She could have exposed all of us. Personally, I think she is too young and weak to meddle in business like the Order.'

Oh and you never do anything out of anger or self-pity, do you? Remus clenched his fists on the chair and decided to ignore it completely. Severus was only trying to agitate him.

'I'll write to Harry to hear how the Occlumency is going. Always a pleasure to see you, Severus,' he said while he stood up and made his way to the chimney.

'I wouldn't expect too much out of that boy Lupin. He doesn't stand a chance against Legilimency. He is too much like his father and godfather,' Severus decided to say right when Remus picked up a handful of floo powder.

With an innocent expression he replied: 'Oh in that case, I think he will do just fine,' and disappeared into the green flames.