STORY TITLE: To Be A Master

PART: 10 of ? Fallout
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson ( )
DISTRIBUTION: , HP FanFiction Archive, Archive of Our Own, Hentai-Foundry, Questionable Questing,
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, they all belong to JK Rowling and her publishers.
SUMMARY: After the Interview with Rita Skeeter, Luna approaches Harry with a strange request

FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Harry/Luna/Cho/Hermione/Multi
RATING: NC-17
WORD COUNT: 5,950
SPOILERS: None, if you don't know how the Harry Potter story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
WARNINGS: If You've ever read any of my stories, you know what to expect, Oral, anal, Femme-slash, dom/sub, multiple partners, and Femme-cest.

NOTE ON LEMONS: Don't expect much, if anything, in the way of lemons this chapter. The characters laughed at my outline and ran off with my keyboard. They surprised the hell of me as well!

AUTHORS NOTES: Hogwarts starts at 13 in this universe, so Luna is 16 at the time of the story and Harry is 17.

The Burrow

Ottery St Catchpole, Devon

Tuesday, February 20h, 1996

3:00 am

It was the sound of Molly being noisily sick that woke Arthur. Stumbling out of bed, he turned on the lights and hurried to the bathroom, only to find his wife of so many years curled up on the floor tears pouring down her face. Grabbing a washcloth, he ran it under the cool water and knelt down beside her, gently washing her face and then using a mouth cleaning charm.

Putting his arms around her, he said "What happened, Molly-wobbles? It's not like you to get sick like this?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, "Dumbledore! That's what happened Arthur! He's been putting compulsion charms on me since Ginny was a little girl! He turned me into a monster, and I'm going to kill him for it if it's the last thing I do!" The tears had dried as she spoke, replaced by a look of cold fury.

Arthur was stunned, he had no idea what Molly was talking about until she started describing what Albus had forced her to do for so many years, how he was determined that Ginny get pregnant with Harry's baby before he died facing Voldemort. By the time she finished, the two of them were dressed and had their wands in their hands. Arthur was a peaceful man by choice until you threatened his family, and then may Merlin have mercy on your soul, because he certainly won't!

The two of them were heading to the door to make their way to Hogwarts when Molly heard one of the hands on the clock moving. Turning to look, she saw that Percy's hand was shifting from 'Traveling' to 'Home' and there was a loud 'Crack!' of apparition from right outside the front door.

Arthur pulled open the door to find his estranged son standing in the doorway, dressed in his pajamas and crying. The next thing he knew, Percy had his arms around him and was sobbing, begging for forgiveness, that it was all Dumbledore's doing, and he wanted to come home!

It was almost two hours later that they put Percy to bed in his old room after an early Molly Special Breakfast. Their son had been almost pathetically grateful to be welcomed home, but he had been shocked that Dumbledore had been acting against other members of his family. He would have gone with them to confront the meddling old man, but Arthur wouldn't hear of it, Percy was almost collapsing on his feet from the stress and exhaustion and they needed to have him at the Burrow to call Bill and Charlie and see if anything had happened to them.

"Besides," Arthur said, his mouth set in a thin line, "there is a very good chance that we'll be pulling the Twins and Ron and Ginny out of Hogwarts this morning, so you'll be seeing the rest of the family soon enough. Get some sleep, son. We'll be back before you wake up."

Percy would have protested, but he was falling asleep at the table and was fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow in his old bed.

Closing the door gently behind them, the caring expression Molly was wearing dropped, replaced once again by the look of cold fury. "Forget killing him, that monster deserves nothing less than a Dementors Kiss for what he's done to us! And I'm sure it isn't just us that he's used his spells on, remember what Harry said about how he would complain to different teachers and the school nurse about how he was treated, and they always promised to do something, but then nothing happened?"

"You can add charges of Muggle baiting to everything else. He'll be lucky to see Azkaban, especially with the way Fudge is tearing him down. But just talking about it isn't going to accomplish anything, let's get going."

The Dursley Residence

Number 4, Privet Drive

Little Whinging, Surrey

Vernon woke up from a sound sleep and waddled to the bathroom to relieve the pressure on his kidneys. Taking care of what was needed, he squinted at the alarm clock and saw he could still sleep for a couple of more hours.

Climbing back into bed, he smiled sleepily as Petunia rolled over and cuddled against him, a happy expression on her face.

Putting his arm around his wife, he was soon sleeping again. When they awoke, the two of them agreed it was an extremely restful night.

Ministry of Magic

Secure Medical Wing

Immediately After the Previous Scene

James and Lily had both looked up when the door opened, and James grinned, "Damn, Mad-Eye, it's good to see your ugly face again!"

For the first time in far too many years, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody was literally struck dumb! He stared at the couple sitting up in the hospital beds, his mouth open, but nothing was coming out. Hearing a tired laugh from beside him, he turned to look at Amelia and she said, "I told you that you wouldn't believe me if you didn't see it for yourself. And the Potter's weren't the only people that fucker had prisoner."

Pushing the door open further, there was another bed in the room, with an attractive blonde woman, she looked familiar, but she hadn't been part of the Order or an Auror, so he couldn't come up with a name.

The woman smiled slightly, "Hello Auror Moody, my name is Selene Lovegood, and James and Lily told me quite a few stories about you over the last few years."

Moody nodded as politely as he could while holding on to the door frame. He couldn't help it, he felt like he was about to collapse from one shock too many.

Amelia pulled over a chair and helped him to sit, before saying, "James, Lily, Selene, now that the healers have examined you, what can you tell me about how you survived your deaths?"

James scowled, "Simple Amelia, Lily and I weren't there! The two of us had gone to sleep in our beds in Godric's Hollow the night before Halloween, and the next thing we know it's the middle of November and Dumbledore is waking us up in that building where we were held prisoner! The bastard would never answer questions, he just came in to give us copies of the Daily Prophet and make sure we had food. After Lils and I had been there for several years, he brought Selene in. Now, what can you tell us about Harry and Luna, and when can we see them?"

"And we need to get this nonsense about Sirius being the one to betray us cleared up, it was Peter that betrayed us, not Sirius!" Lily said, leaning forward and staring at the two of them intently.

Moody shook his head, "That's already being taken care of. It was Peter Pettigrew who pointed us toward the building you were found."

Before they could say anything, Amelia handed all three of them calming potions. "Go ahead and drink them, you'll need it, I know I'd love to have something stronger, but that can wait." When they downed the potions, Amelia said,

"Peter Pettigrew turned himself in to Moody last night, and requested Veritaserum questioning, which was done by Moody and myself. Pettigrew stated, and provided memories, that Dumbledore used compulsions and memory charms to force Pettigrew to join the Death Eaters. He told us that earlier last evening, all of the charms failed, and he escaped from where Voldemort was holed up. He's currently in one of our holding cells, sleeping. I have to tell you that I believe his story, simply because, at about the same time, I had multiple memory charms drop as well, that were placed by Dumbledore right after that night."

Moody watched their reactions as Amelia gave them an overview of the events of the night before, and was suddenly glad that the three of them had taken the calming potions, because there were times that both James and Lily looked like they were ready to explode in anger at what Dumbledore had done to their son.

As Amelia finished, she said "In a few hours I'm going to be going up to Hogwarts and collecting Harry and Luna so you can see them, and they can see you. It's way too early in the morning to be waking them, and you all need to sleep. And Selene, I'll be bringing Xeno with me as well. But, all of you, try and get some sleep, you'll need your strength to be able to handle the reunions."

None of them looked happy about having to wait to see their family, but Amelia just looked at them, and they laid back on their bed. As he and Amelia were heading for the door to let the healers back in, Lily called out, "Can you find out what happened to Lin Chang? She was supposed to take care of Harry if anything happened, and since she didn't, Dumbledore probably had her under the same kind of charms."

Amelia nodded, and they walked in silence back to the elevator. Moody finally shook his head, "How the hell did he fool us for so long? I've known the man since the Grindelwald war, and I had no idea... And we've still got to deal with the rest of what Fudge and Umbridge confessed to!"

She just shook her head, "One thing at a time, Mad-eye. But right now, I want you to head down to the ready room and sack out for a couple of hours. I'm going to call Rufus in and brief him, and then I'm going to do the same thing. Neither of us are going to be any good if we're not clear headed and alert."

He wanted to argue, but he wasn't as young as he once was, and finding that somebody he'd considered a friend had betrayed all of them like that? He really needed to deal with that, so he just nodded and headed to the Senior Aurors ready room.

TBAM & TBAM & TBAM

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Potion Master's Quarters

Tuesday, February 20h, 1996

6:00 am

Severus stared at his left arm in shock, the Dark Mark was completely gone! It had been there when he went to bed, a constant reminder of how far he had fallen, but now it was gone! Did Harry manage to fulfill the prophecy somehow, the final death of Voldemort would be the only thing he could think of that would remove the Mark completely.

It was strange, he was feeling lighter this morning, as if a weight was gone from his soul, a weight he had barely realized he was carrying. And if Voldemort was truly dead, then only Dumbledore was left to be dealt with and his debt to James and Lily would be paid.

Showering quickly, he had to struggle to keep from smiling, it wouldn't do at all to let Dumbledore know about the breaking of the compulsions or the loss of the Dark Mark. When the old man was dying would be a good time to tell him exactly what had happened. Something to look forward to in payment of everything the old man had done.

Dressing in his usual black robes, he spent time in front of the mirror schooling his expression so it looked normal to all observers. When he was satisfied, Severus walked out of his rooms and headed toward the Great Hall, where he walked into absolute chaos! Minerva was sitting in the Headmaster's chair, with a shocked look on her face, Arthur and Molly Weasley had Harry and Ginny in their arms and Molly was crying her eyes out, while Harry looked angry and Ginny confused. Oddly enough, Granger and Lovegood were standing next to Cho Chang, and Chang had her arms around the other two as they watched Harry. And were two of them wearing collars? What the hell was going on here?

Hearing footsteps coming up from behind him, he turned to look and saw Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody, followed by several other authors walking down the corridor. When Madam Bones saw him, she stopped and waved him over.

"Potions Master, do you have any calming drought available? I've brought several doses, but more may be needed when I speak to Lord Potter."

"Of course, would a half dozen be sufficient?" Severus was extremely curious about what brought the Aurors here but knew better than to ask questions. He'd get the answers at the same time as everybody else.

Calling Tippy, the elf that was assigned to assist him, he told her to bring him a case with the calming potion, and, after checking that Tippy had brought him what he requested, he handed the case over to Madam Bones. She gave him what passed for a friendly smile and they continued their walk into the madness.

He watched as Amelia stopped to speak to Lovegood, and then extracted Harry from the Weasley's embrace. As much as he wanted to know what she had to say to Harry, it was more pressing to talk to Minerva and find out where Dumbledore was.

As he got closer to the Head Table, Severus was watching Minerva's reactions and wasn't liking what he was seeing. She seemed like she was in a daze, not paying attention to anything going on around her, which was very unusual, and the way her hands were fumbling with the goblet of water in front of her? It almost looked like she had suffered a stroke, he had seen the symptoms in his father before the man died. At the time, he hadn't cared, but he was a great deal fonder of his colleague than he was of Tobias Snape!

Quickening his pace, he moved around the table and sat next to Minerva, his wand sliding into his hand. At least she turned to look at him when he sat down, which was better than he expected. "Minerva? What's wrong? You don't look well, at all."

She stared at him for a long second, before she blinked, and her eyes seemed to clear as she focused on him. "What's wrong?" She gave a bitter laugh, "What's not wrong? I was woken up in the middle of the night by the feeling of the Wards settling on me, and at the same time, a bunch of memories I'd forgotten poured into my head, and I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that a man I'd trusted and looked up to for 40 years wasn't who I thought he was..."

"You aren't the only one, Minerva." Severus said quietly, "he used his spells to force me to join Voldemort," he noticed with interest that she didn't react to the name, "I'd already turned Lucius down three times, but Dumbledore calls me into his office and I'm practically begging to join? That's not even the worst of it, how he made me treat Harry and Longbottom was something that, if he's still alive, I would happily kill him for!"

"You'd not be the only one, Severus. But we can plot murder later, we both owe Mister Potter an apology and explanation first."

TBAM & TBAM & TBAM

This was probably the strangest morning Harry could remember, and it had started out so well too! He had woken up right on time and hadn't had any dreams about the corridor this time. Instead, his dreams were of the events in the Chamber, and how Cho had lost her mind when he buggered her the first time. Ginny had been nervous at first, but she had enjoyed the experience as much as Luna and Hermione did, which was good since he absolutely loved buggering all four of them!

And, from what Hermione had mentioned, both Lavender and Parvati enjoyed taking a toy in their bottoms when they were playing, so it was very likely the two newest girls would be equally as eager.

After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, he was greeted by Hermione and Ginny in the Common Room, and both girls made it a point to show him they were sans knickers and bra's this morning. He was also pleased to see that Ginny had used the grooming spell and removed the red curls that covered her. Using the bond between them, he'd contacted Luna and found her and Cho awake and dressed already, so they were going to meet at the entrance to the Great Hall and have breakfast together. With the Umbitch out of the castle, and the Potter family rings on his and Cho's fingers, none of the staff would be able to say anything about them sitting at the same table.

Of course, the universe decided they had other ideas, and they had just met up with Cho and Luna when Ginny was practically tackled by Molly Weasley! He had pulled his wand and was about to fire a spell to get the woman away from his concubine when he realized that Molly was sobbing and trying to apologize to Ginny, and him as well when he moved closer.

It took some time to make out what Molly was apologizing for, but when he did, the first feeling Harry had was of relief. He was genuinely fond of the entire Weasley family, even if Percy could be a bit too rules obsessed, and thinking that Molly was conspiring against him had really hurt. Moving closer to the woman, he put his arms around her and hugged her, hard.

"You're forgiven Mrs Weasley, you aren't the only person that Dumbledore has used, but I'm wondering why the charms all failed last night?"

That was when Amelia Bones stepped up to them and cleared her throat. When he turned to look at her, she said "I think I can answer that, Lord Potter, but part of what I have to tell you is for you and Miss Lovegood's ears only. The rest will be in the papers in the next day or so." Pulling her wand, she put up a privacy charm around them and continued

"The reason the charms broke is because Albus Dumbledore is dead, he has been since just after Midnight last night. We discovered this because Peter Pettigrew turned himself in and requested to be questioned under Veratiserum. He is currently under heavy guard in one of my holding cells after telling us, and giving memories to back it up, that he was forced to join the Death Eaters by Albus Dumbledore. He also cleared Sirius Black of all charges against him, so if you have any way of contacting him, can you ask him to contact me? We can get him cleared easily with Pettigrew's testimony."

If it weren't for Cho and the other girls surrounding him and supporting him, Harry was sure he would have collapsed at that moment from all the shocks. Pettigrew wasn't a traitor? Sirius would be free? He tried to get control of his emotions, not wanting to let his hopes get too high, not after what Fudge did the last time.

"That's wonderful news, Madame Bones, if you can make it happen. I thought my Godfather would be freed once before, but Minister Fudge refused to believe us, and tried to have Sirius kissed. And with Lucius Malfoy telling him what to do, how can you be sure that he won't try to have Sirius executed again?"

"Because former Minister Fudge is sitting in a cell next to Dolores Umbridge, and both of them will be lucky if they only get a life sentence to Azkaban. I'm going to be pressing for Umbridge to get kissed by a Dementor, and I've got enough on both of them to be sure it's going to happen. And this last part is absolutely Most Secret until an announcement is made, but Lucius Malfoy is dead, he was killed resisting arrest last night."

"Oh, yeah I can see why you are confident this time. If you write down what you told me about Pettigrew, I'll write a letter of my own, and send it to him."

Grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen from Hermione, who was practically bouncing with excitement, he sat down at the nearest table and started writing.

"Snuffles, I just spoke with Madam Bones, Wormtail turned himself in and confessed last night! And she's telling the truth, I was accepted as the Head of House Potter last night, and the ring was reading her as she was speaking, you'll be free! There's a lot more going on, but I'll talk to you later using your Christmas gift. I'm enclosing Madam Bones' letter with mine so you know it's not a trap."

Just as he finished, Amelia handed him a sheet of parchment, which repeated what she had told him, except it didn't go into what Dumbledore did. Which made sense, that was news that needed to be told in person.

Folding her letter inside his own, he sealed it with the House Ring and called for Dobby. The elf arrived almost instantly and took the letter before popping away. With a smile, Harry said "I'd expect to hear from him before lunch, if not sooner. Now, what did you have to say that is just for Luna and I? Because I want Cho, Hermione and Ginny there as well. Cho will be my Lady Potter, as you can see by the ring, and Luna, Hermione and Ginny are bound to my family as well, in payment of multiple life debts."

Hearing Molly's shocked gasp and Arthur's exclamation, he grimaced. "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, we should have told you earlier, but it just happened last night." Putting his arm around Ginny, the two of them led her parents away from the others, and he said

"Ginny was really worried after the last letter you sent her, because if she had done what Dumbledore wanted, it would have seen the two of you in Azkaban, and she came to me and begged for my help. After discussing different ideas, I offered to claim her as my concubine in payment of the two life debts your family owes me. And yes, we did finalize the bond."

He braced himself for an explosion from Molly that he and Ginny had sex, but Molly and Arthur sharing a look before starting to laugh wasn't the reaction he was expecting. From the way Ginny tensed next to him, she wasn't expecting it either. But when Molly got herself under control, she pulled Ginny into a hug and said, still chuckling, "Congratulations, you kept your virginity almost three days longer than I did! Arthur got my knickers off in a private room at the Three Broomsticks on Valentine's Day our fourth year, and we never stopped."

Arthur cleared his throat, "Molly dear, while you and I find our love life endlessly fascinating and enjoyable, I doubt that Harry and Molly want the details. Just like I'm sure you don't want the details of their love life do you?" Molly blushed slightly and shook her head, but Harry caught the wink she gave Ginny, and he had an idea that Molly was quite interested.

Arthur ignored the byplay between his wife and daughter and looked at him seriously. "Harry, no I'm sorry, Lord Potter. The Weasley family accepts the offer to settle the life debts we owe you. However, I do ask that you allow Ginny to continue attending Hogwarts at least through her OWLs. Is that acceptable."

Harry didn't have to think about it. "Mr. Weasley, I was expecting Ginny and my other ladies to sit as many NEWTs as they want do, and if they want to study for a Mastery, I'll support them in that as well."

Arthur looked relieved, but before he could say anything, Amelia walked up to them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but this information is extremely important, and since the others are part of your family, I'll tell them at the same time. But, we do need to be somewhere much more private for the conversation."

Harry grinned, "Private? I know just the place. Follow me." Gesturing for Cho and the others, he led Amelia out of the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. He could feel Luna and Hermione's excitement as they realized where they were going, and Cho was smiling widely. Amelia was looking around curiously when they arrived at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but then her jaw dropped when he hissed at the sink. He turned back to her and said, "Welcome to the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. It's the most private location I can think of."

She shook her head, and he heard her mutter, "Of course he's a parseltongue, why wouldn't he be? I should have listened to my mother and gone into something safe, like curse breaking, but no, I had to be an Auror!"

He and the others managed to avoid laughing, but it wasn't easy. Calling for the lift, they crowded on and Harry closed the entrance behind them before starting the trip down to the Chamber.

When they were all in the Chamber, Amelia reached into her robes and pulled out several vials of a pink potion. Handing one to each of them, she said, "These are calming potions, I need each of you to drink it. The news I have is very upsetting, and I don't want you losing control of your magic."

All of them drank, and sitting on the couches, Amelia stood in front of them. "Right, the easy one first. Voldemort is dead, permanently this time! Pettigrew volunteered the location and Master Auror Moody and members of the Unspeakables were sent to Riddle Manor, where they witnesses the body of Voldemort crumble to dust after being struck with several stunning spells. A black cloud floated up, but was pulled into a portal that opened above it, and Moody and several of the others stated there was a distinct smell of brimstone when the portal closed. Make of that last part what you will."

Harry knew he was smiling, and so were his ladies, but other than a feeling of relief that they wouldn't have to face Voldemort again, he didn't feel anything, and wondered just how strong those potions were?

"This is the part that's going to be upsetting, but it's also good news. When Peter confessed to killing Dumbledore, he told us that it was outside a building in Knockturn Alley that the old man visited on a regular basis. We obviously wanted to know what he was doing there, so I went there, accompanied by a team of curse breakers. It's a good thing that they were there, because the wards were designed to be fatal to anyone but Dumbledore or a specific house elf crossing them."

Taking a deep breath, she stared at nothing for a moment, before shaking her head in disgust. "In side the building, we found three prisoners, Selene Lovegood, and James and Lily Potter."

Harry was already moving when he felt the spike of emotion from Luna, and barely registered the other two names, his Luna needed him, and that was all that was important. It was only when he had his arms around her, and she was clinging to him, sobbing helplessly, that he realized just what Amelia said, and he started laughing. It was all too much, first Peter was forced to betray them, and Sirius would be free, now his parents and Luna's mother were still alive. What's next, Snape will turn out to be a nice guy, and start teaching Potions properly? No that's too much, even for today.

Eventually, he calmed down and leaned back on the couch, his arms still around Luna, who was holding on tight, but her sobbing had stopped. He looked around at the concerned faces and said, "I'm sorry, but it was just, everything hit me at once, all this good, no, bloody amazing, but shocking news, and I just couldn't deal with it. I think I'm okay now, but Luna my love, I think your father might need to change the front page article of the Quibbler now. It's a little out of date."

Luna giggled slightly, and Cho and Hermione laughed, although Ginny looked confused. "Don't worry Ginny, we'll explain later."

Looking directly at Amelia, he said "You are planning on taking us to see them aren't you? And have you contacted Luna's father? Because he needs to be there for Luna."

Amelia nodded, "I have someone that knows him speaking to him now. And yes, I've got portkeys to take us to my office ready to go. Moody was going to be explaining things to Professor McGonagall and the rest of the staff, and he will let her know that you will be out of class today."

Harry stood, still holding Luna, and said, "We'll need to be out of here for the portkey to work. I can get us outside the wards, follow me."

He led them to a tunnel he had discovered during his third year, and they came out behind the Shrieking Shack. Before Amelia could say anything, "It's blocked with a parseltongue password that you have to give before you can even see the entrance, and a different password to get in. And nobody other than me, until I showed you just now, even knew it existed. Now, where are the portkeys?"

She pulled out a shrunken plastic hoop, and when it was enlarged, they all grabbed hold, and Amelia activated it. Harry cursed mentally at the feeling of the hook behind his navel, but they were being pulled through a tunnel of colors for an eternity, before landing in a pile inside an office.

The man sitting behind the desk smiled as they climbed to their feet, and he said "I thought you'd finally got the hang of portkey travel, Amelia? Or was I mistaken?"

She glared at him, "Ha bloody ha-ha Rufus. I'd like to see you do better when you have somebody that would overpower Merlin shoving his magic into the damned thing!"

Brushing herself off, "I'm taking these five to the private ward. I'll be back as soon as I can."

TBAM & TBAM & TBAM

12 Grimmauld Place

Earlier that Morning

Sirius had held Tonks until she fell into a fitful sleep and then started dozing off. He couldn't believe that Lucius was dead, and Fudge arrested. He felt bad for those poor girls who were held prisoner and was going to have Tonks ensure that all their medical expenses were covered if the Ministry wasn't going to do it.

He had just fallen asleep when the whole house rattled with a howl of fury and anguish coming from Moonys' room. Leaping out of bed, he and Tonks grabbed their wands and rushed out of the room, stopping when the door to Remus' room was yanked open, and he stalked out, his eyes flashing yellow.

"Moony, what's going on? You look like you're about to transform." Sirius tried to keep his voice calm, but seeing his friend like this was frightening, he could actually see the fur starting to grow on Remus' face and arms.

Remus turned his head and looked at him, and Sirius was relieved to see that, even through the yellow flashes, that it was Remus in control, not the wolf. "I'm going to kill Albus Dumbledore for what he did to me and the rest of us! That bastard deliberately kept me from contacting Harry for years, and even when I was his Professor. I would have raised him, taught him about James and Lily, but he kept our cub from me!"

Turning to Tonks, Sirius said, "Go and grab some of the emergency chocolate, we need to be calm to plan an assassination like this, and chocolate's the only thing that will help calm the wolf down."

"Chocolate? Really?" Tonks stared at him in disbelief, and Remus chuckled roughly,

"Yes, for a change the mutt isn't joking. Something in the chocolate calms Moony when he gets angry."

Tonks shrugged and padded down the stairs to the kitchen, and came back a couple of minutes later, holding a bar of Honeydukes Finest. Remus grabbed the bar and tore it open, consuming the bar in three bites. To Sirius' relief, the wolf faded back and it was Remus looking back when he looked into his friend's eyes.

Once he finished the chocolate, Remus grinned at the two of them and said, "You know, if we're going to be doing some serious plotting, it might be helpful if you put some clothes on Sirius. I don't mind what Tonks is wearing, in fact, if she wanted to wear that all the time I wouldn't complain. But I saw enough of your furry arse during seven years of Hogwarts and don't need to see any more of it."

Sirius looked over at Tonks, and down at himself, and realized they had been naked when they fell asleep, and he hurried upstairs with Remus' laughter in his ears. He had just finished pulling on his trousers when Tonks strolled in, a wicked grin on her face.

"What's the grin for, Tonks? Were you teasing Moony? Better be careful, he might take you up on it, and the wolf gives him stamina like you wouldn't believe!"

"Oh? And you know this how?"

Sirius shrugged, "The two of us shared a girl a few times when we were in school and after graduation, I always ended up needing to take a break and he would still be going strong." He grinned at the look in her eyes, and said,

"If you're up for trying the two of us, we can talk about it after we get rid of Dumbledore. And I'm going to want to know exactly how Remus knows what Dumbledore did before we commit to killing him. And if we agree he needs to be taken out it will give us all something to look forward to. But we need to focus, because the old man isn't going to be as easy as capturing Lucius would have been."

The two of them, fully dressed left the bedroom to plot a murder.

End Chapter 10