Author's Note:
Reviews and Comments: To loverofmuggles: Hermione just needed a second to catch her breath and Harry jumping down her throat didn't help. It's not one of our favourite girls, promise. To WarMunger98: It is all coming back to haunt him and I think he'd just started to make peace with himself being in Azkaban and then all of this happens. How will he react if/when he comes into contact with Harry or the Marauders again. Yes, Cho showed her true annoying colours. Harry definitely noticed Ginny's hair but he has no idea he noticed her hair LOL. To Steelcode: Voldemort is obviously up to nothing good. Thank you! The gang is excited to become Animagi. To scrappy8: Thank you! To Wolf's scream: Harry did not ask Sirius for kissing advice with a Mandrake leaf, but since he and Cho broke up, I don't think it's something he's thinking about as he doesn't have the leaf yet. Harry speaking to both Remus and McGonagall helped so talking to Hermione kind of balanced them out. Cho definitely is unwelcoming and we're glad to be rid of her. Harry is definitely going to teach Ginny everything he learns in duelling club.
To Obscure-Reference-Girl: Thank you! I also am not a fan of Cho. I hope the Animagus stuff will be exciting! I'm looking forward to seeing the reactions of the animals they become. To Guardian of the Inheritance: Thank you! To love reading20613: Thank you! I love Zee, too! I'm glad other people are starting to love her as well. To Saz: Gutted, I bet LOL. Yes! Harry definitely snaked his arm around Ginny's waist. He wants her to be near him while he gets distracted by her hair, but has no idea LOL. Yes, this poor woman. Nothing good. Thank you! To coloredwords: Nothing good is what they are up to, nothing good. Yes, I really love Harry having a friendship with Luna. I just find her character extremely difficult to write and often avoid it. Yes, Harry does deserve praise for stopping Cho. We don't like her and are glad she's gone! Thank you! To .1: Thank you! It is fun to write Harry just having fun being a teenager sometimes, but yes, it is a bit of a calm before the storm. Cho definitely deserved to be kicked to the curb, and yes, he is starting to notice Ginny, he just doesn't know that he knows he's noticing Ginny. LOL.
To storp930: Thank you! To Claire Fraser: Yes, Sirius is adamant about Harry's book learning! Thank you! I liked the idea of Harry adding his own additions to the Marauder's Map. I agree, the way Cho was intentionally snogging Harry and saying it was better than him hanging out with his friends was a definite low blow, but she's gone! Yay! Thank you! Thanks for the second review — yes, her and her husband do sound adorably in love, don't they? It makes it worse that Voldemort would want her and Peter and Bellatrix kidnap her. To speedsONEandONLY: Yes, they are going to case the place first. They don't know the Room of Requirement exists yet, but maybe, we'll see. Thank you! I love your excitement about Harry "noticing" Ginny. To HPforLife: Thank you! I am also glad Harry broke it off with Cho, LOL. To oh_sinnerman: Thanks for catching up! Yes, the gang will register as Animagus.
Thank you to my Beta — SilverStarwolfe!
My posting schedule: Every Tuesday or Wednesday (usually the latter) and sometimes on the weekends.
Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!
Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY:
The One Where Sirius and Tonks Decide to Fuck With Snape
Remus looked up from his marking at the knock on his office door the next evening and smiled warmly at Hermione.
"Hello, Hermione, please come in," he said, kindly. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "I've just finished marking your essay and you have nothing to worry about, you received perfect marks."
She blushed as she sat down. "Er, thank you, but that's not why I'm here actually."
"Oh?" Remus asked, dropping his quill and leaning back in his seat. "Then what can I do for you?"
She took a deep breath and then got up to close his office door before sitting back down. "Professor, I wanted to formally apologize for any unintentional prejudice that I had towards you after doing the homework assigned to us by Professor Snape. I think that you're an amazing teacher and I have learned so much from you and I know how much Harry loves and admires you. I am so sorry."
Remus smiled kindly at her. "Hermione, that's very kind of you, but I do understand your sentiments on the subject. There's nothing to apologize for."
"But you shouldn't have to understand! It was wrong of me."
Remus smiled. "You're a very intelligent young woman and I know that you're smart enough to know that I will not hurt you, but I can be dangerous on the full moon and it's not wise to pretend otherwise. I do understand. Now, you are very much forgiven, my dear."
"Thank you," she said, smiling warmly at him.
Remus only raised an eyebrow when she continued to stare at him. "Is there something else you need, Miss Granger?"
She fidgeted for a moment and then her chin rose and she stared directly at him. "Um... I was wondering… I know after how I acted that I don't have any right to ask this of you but… Harry mentioned that you play the piano?"
He nodded. "I do. Not as much as I used to I'm afraid, but my mother taught me when I was a boy. It used to calm me and help with the anxiety that I felt before transforming. Harry told me that your parents bought you a piano for Christmas?"
She smiled, brightly. "They did! Dad found it at some old antique store. It's really old, but it's in great shape and... if it isn't too much to ask, would you be willing to give me lessons?"
Remus smiled at her. "I would enjoy that very much. Like I said, I don't get to play as much as I used to. I'm afraid that I have quite a lot going on what with the new duelling club that I am helping Professor McGonagall with, my OWLs and NEWTs exam preparation classes, and not to mention my personal lessons with Harry. But if you were all right with it, maybe we would try to squeeze in one hour after dinner on Monday nights when possible?"
Hermione beamed at him. "Thank you! That would be wonderful!"
He nodded. "All right. Next Monday at six then. I'll meet you in the orchestra room."
"Thank you, Professor!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"Oh, and Hermione?"
She turned to look at him.
"Thank you for keeping my secret."
She smiled at him. "I am happy to do so, Professor. You really are a wonderful teacher and I would hate to lose you. I know almost the entire school feels the same way."
Remus smiled at her, incredibly touched by her words. "Thank you just the same. See you in class tomorrow."
When she left, leaving his office door open he couldn't help but smile. Sometimes people still managed to surprise him and he was glad that Harry had found such great friends in his life.
~ ASC ~
The notice for the new duelling club was hanging on the bulletin board in the Gryffindor common room when they woke up on Tuesday morning. McGonagall was looking for interested students, third years and above, to meet in the duelling room down in the dungeons for six o'clock on the second of March. Harry sighed when he realized that he had Quidditch at the same time.
"Of course, it's at the same time! Do you think Oliver would consider rescheduling?"
George snorted as he read the poster over Harry's shoulder. "Nice try, Harry. Wood is hardly going to reschedule."
He sighed. He knew that George was right. After Transfiguration that morning, he stayed behind to speak to McGonagall.
"Harry, what can I do for you?" she asked, moving her notes into a folder and pulling out a large binder for her next class.
He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked towards her desk, reaching down to scratch Nyx behind the ears when she stood up to greet him. "The duelling club, I really want to join up, but I have Quidditch practice next week at the same time. Is missing the first lesson going to be a big problem?"
McGonagall smiled warmly at him. "No, not at all. We will just be explaining what it will be and Professor Lupin will teach the disarming spell, which you have already mastered."
He grinned at that. "Oh, good. Can I ask why you deemed it third years and above? Last year the duelling club was for second years too."
"It was," McGonagall said, carefully. "But I think that the third years are better designed to learn some of the more difficult spells. In third year, you've chosen your new class electives as well and are growing more into becoming the great witches and wizards that I know you all will become. So no, second years will not be allowed to attend — no exceptions."
He nodded. He knew better than to argue with McGonagall.
She smiled kindly at him. "And of course I wouldn't want you to miss any Quidditch practices. Saturday's game against Ravenclaw, I'd love to see us win."
He grinned at her. "Don't worry, Professor, we won't let you down. This is our year!"
McGonagall simply beamed at him.
~ ASC ~
That night when Harry made it up to his dorm, he pulled out his mirror to call Sirius. He smiled when he saw his father's face appear.
"Hello, my Prongslet!"
He grinned. He always felt ridiculously delighted when Sirius greeted him that way even as the voice inside his head told him that he was getting to old to let his father call him by childish names. "Hi, Uncle Padfoot, my Quidditch match is on Saturday."
Sirius nodded. "I'm aware. It's on the calendar on the fridge."
Harry grinned at that. "No, I know, but you were going to check out the shack on Saturday and well, I know that's more important so, if you can't make it that's okay and —"
"— I'm not missing your game, Harry," Sirius interrupted with a smile. "I will be there in the stands to cheer you on and when you win the game and are celebrating, we will be checking out the shack."
Harry beamed at him. "All right, good."
Sirius grinned. "Harry, first and foremost is always you, remember that. Nothing is more important to me and with that comes cheering you on at every game no matter what; especially your first game on that new Firebolt."
"Thanks," he said, grinning back.
"It's kind of early for you to be calling me tonight," Sirius noted, his eyebrows rising. "Where's Cho?"
"We broke up the other day," he said and quickly told Sirius what had happened.
Sirius nodded in understanding. "It does sound like it was for the best. Your friends are important, and your girlfriend should always understand that. You doing okay, though? Breakups are tough."
"I think so," he said, honestly. "She was fun to snog but… that was it."
Sirius smirked at him. "I'm sure you'll find another girl to snog soon, Harry." He blushed and Sirius grinned. "But you have the outline all done for the Chamber?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think it's finished. I was going to show it to Uncle Moony tomorrow."
"Good plan. Have him go over it and make sure that the measurements are correct. Jamie was the brains behind the measurements, but Moony was a pretty close second."
"Brilliant, thanks Uncle Siri."
He smiled at him. "Anytime. I'll see you on Saturday. Goodnight, Prongslet."
"Goodnight," Harry said, tucking the mirror back into his pocket.
He pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket and used his wand to open and illuminate it, smiling as he watched the little dots move around the castle. He frowned when he noticed that Seamus wasn't in his bed and he quickly scanned the map looking for his name. He was curious as to why his friend was up in the Astronomy Tower with a name that he didn't recognize: William Matthews. He shrugged it off and closed the map as he stifled a yawn and made himself comfortable.
He was asleep in minutes.
~ ASC ~
Seamus was more than okay with being out past curfew. The thrill of potentially getting caught was nothing to the thrill that he was currently feeling with his back against the wall of the Astronomy Tower and the hot lips sucking on his neck hard enough to leave marks. He moaned when a hand snuck under his jumper, sliding over his stomach and up to stroke his nipple and he tugged on the soft brown curls to bring his lips back to his.
He wasn't sure entirely how it had happened if he was honest with himself.
He had been studying in the library after dinner, but he had felt someone watching him. When he had turned to look, he had seen the curly brown haired boy with green eyes staring at him from across the room. The same fourth year who had been watching him quite a bit lately, it seemed. He had smiled and nodded at him before turning back to his homework. A few minutes later, the chair across from him had been filled by the boy.
"Er, hi," Seamus said, staring at him in confusion.
"Will Matthews," he said with a catching grin, extending his hand.
"Seamus Finnigan," he replied, accepting the hand.
Will smiled at him. "Sorry to be staring, but you looked rather adorably flummoxed and I figured you must be working on Potions because it's the same look I get."
Seamus chuckled. "Good guess and yeah, writing an essay for Snape always seems to be like asking for a death sentence if it's done incorrectly."
Will laughed. "Fair point, mate." He moved his chair closer to Seamus to look at his textbook. "Ah, the Confusing Concoction, that's a good one; how did your brewing of it go?"
He shrugged. "So-so."
Will smiled and Seamus couldn't help but notice that he had really soft lips and dimples. "I'm a fourth year so, I remember brewing that last year. One of the blokes messed it up and ended up with singed eyebrows for a week."
Seamus smiled at him. "Sounds like me."
He laughed and his hand brushed his when he tapped the textbook. "I'd be happy to help you out if you wanted. Potions is one of my best subjects."
"Oh?" Seamus said, casually, his heart beating quickly in his chest. Will's hand brushed his again and his breath hitched slightly.
Will nodded, his eyes twinkling at him. "Yeah. That is, if you wanted any help."
Seamus swallowed slowly. "No, yeah, help would be great, thanks."
Will smiled at him. "Sure."
They worked well together for almost thirty minutes and Seamus finished his essay, feeling pretty good about it. He closed his textbook and turned to thank Will for his help and soft lips pressed against his.
He pulled back in shock.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, looking around the library frantically to see if anyone had seen, but the area was completely deserted.
Will only licked his lips, a brown curl hanging over one eye. "I thought I was kissing you, but I guess I read the signs wrong."
"Read the — what?"
Will smiled at him and boldly reached up to run his fingers through Seamus' soft sandy brown hair. "I thought I felt something between us, but I guess it was just on my end."
Seamus simply stared at him, his eyes wide in surprise, but he made no move to push his hand away. "I just broke up with my girlfriend."
"Perfect timing for me then," he said with a smirk. "Ever snogged a bloke up in the Astronomy Tower?" At Seamus' look of astonishment he simply grinned. "I'll be up there at eight, if you change your mind."
Seamus had watched him walk away, completely bewildered. But at eight o'clock he had found himself standing in the Astronomy Tower and Will had walked towards him, a big smile on his face.
"I'm so glad that you came, Seamus," he said, taking his hand and tugging him into the open room of the tower. "I think that you're so fit and I've been thinking about kissing you for days."
"Days?" Seamus asked, letting him lead him further into the tower.
Will nodded, tugging him into a dark alcove. "Days."
Then he leaned forward and captured his lips and Seamus had leaned into him, kissing him back. His soft lips yielding under the firm mouth, his strong tongue swiping the boy's lips and meeting his own, the tongue hard enough to elicit a moan from him that had him grinning against their mouths. Seamus wrapped his arms around his neck, tugging him closer; wanting to kiss him harder, and sighing when his lips did just that.
Will's hands were on his waist, gently slipping under his jumper to rub the skin of his hip and Seamus had boldly slid his own hands up the back of Will's jumper and over the smooth contours of the boy's back as they kissed. Will's mouth moved to his neck, sucking the skin there and Seamus tilted his head back in pleasure. Snogging Lavender had never been this intense, had never felt this real, he thought, gasping for breath as he hardened.
Soon both of their jumpers were off and their shirts unbuttoned and they were kissing more passionately, hands running along their bare chests, mouths to nipples and they were both groaning, rubbing against each other as they kissed. Will kissed Seamus' belly button, his tongue playing with it, in and around it, teasing him and he arched his hips desperately.
Will smiled and slid a hand down to cup him through his pants. "Getting a bit excited, love."
Seamus smirked at him and tugged his mouth back up to his. Will moved his body closer, the feel of his hard cock pressing against Seamus' through their jeans was enough for both of them to groan aloud. He rocked his hips forward and Seamus groaned. "Yes!"
Soon they were panting, hips rocking into each other and their mouths met desperately as they moaned and came.
Seamus stared at him, his eyes sleepy and satisfied. "That was…"
"Incredible," Will said with a smile, moving to suck on Seamus' ear. "I'm so glad you decided to come up here."
Seamus kissed his chin and his neck. "Me too."
Will performed a cleaning charm on both of them and kissed his lips once more. "We should probably head back. It's late."
He nodded, closing his shirt and putting his jumper back on.
"Seamus?"
"Yeah?"
Will leaned in and kissed him softly, biting on his bottom lip just a little. "I'd really like to do this again."
"So would I," he said, surprising himself.
Will smiled, brightly. "Maybe we can go Hogsmeade together in a few weeks?"
Seamus blanched and shook his head. "No! People can't — I mean — people would…"
Will nodded, his green eyes staring at him for a moment. "You don't want people to know you're gay."
"I'm not gay!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So, this was… a straight bloke and a gay bloke just fooling around then?"
Seamus flushed. "No, I… I had a girlfriend. I'm not gay."
Will leaned in and kissed him softly. "Well, Not Gay Seamus, I want to snog you senseless again as soon as possible and I want to get on my knees and suck you off until you're begging my name and then I want you on your knees and I want you to suck me off. How does that make you feel?"
Seamus swallowed. He was hard again and the image of Will on his knees in front of him was enough to almost make him come on the spot.
"I'm not gay, Will. This is just… we're just fooling around, that's all."
He nodded and cupped Seamus' growing erection through his trousers. "All right, I'll play it your way," he said, rubbing his hand against him. "For now." He dropped his hand and kissed his lips. "Tomorrow night, same time and place?"
Seamus nodded. "Okay."
He watched Will walk away and he sighed. That had been the most intense thing he had ever done, but it didn't make him gay. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower lost in thought. So he had blown Dean a few times and had willingly wanked him, but that was different, they were best friends and had been experimenting. It didn't make him attracted to blokes. He had been helping a friend, he stubbornly told himself. Besides, it wasn't like he had ever kissed Dean. And Dean had never helped him the same way, but then again, Seamus had never asked him.
He snuck into his dorm, changing into his pyjamas and slipping into bed. He touched his swollen lips. He could still taste Will's lips on his. He had liked snogging Lavender. He had liked it a lot and the feel of her pretty breasts pushed against him had been really sexy, but it hadn't really turned him on, not like touching Dean did. When she had let him kiss her tits he had thought that was nice too, but nothing with Lavender had ever felt as good as it had tonight. It had never felt as good as when he had his mouth wrapped around Dean's cock. The feel of Will's body with his, touching him, kissing him, grinding against him… and they had both still been fully clothed below the waist and yet they had both climaxed.
No, nothing with Lavender had ever even made him feel close to that.
He groaned at the image and his hand slid down his pjs to grip himself, tightly. He imagined Will on his knees in front of him and the thought of him taking him in his mouth was enough to push him over the edge as he pumped himself furiously. When he finished, he cleaned himself off and rolled over, punching the pillow into a better position refusing to think about what had just happened.
He wasn't gay, he thought, stubbornly, and he soon drifted off to sleep, a smile forming on his face as he thought about Will.
~ ASC ~
Sirius stepped into Zee's kitchen the next morning stifling a yawn. The phone on the wall started to ring and he stared at it. Telephones really were the weirdest thing to him.
"Sirius, can you answer that?" Zee called out from the bath as he heard the shower shut off.
He grabbed the phone and put it to his ear. He could count on one hand how many times he had actually used one of these things. "Hello?"
"Who the hell is this?" A man exclaimed loudly on the other end.
Sirius merely raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell is this?"
"Where's my Zahira?"
Sirius grinned at Zee when she stepped into the kitchen with her hair wrapped up in a towel and another towel snug around her breasts, water droplets still on her skin. He ignored the man on the phone, merely passed her the receiver.
She took it with a puzzled smile and then her smile widened. "Grandpa!"
Sirius moved to make himself some tea as she chatted, ignoring the conversation she was having. He sipped his tea and instead and watched in interest the way she had tucked the towel closed at her breasts. When she moved, it inched, revealing the swell of her bottom and he grew hard watching her. He put his tea on the counter, moving behind her and slipping his hand under the towel to cup a full cheek and she squealed, glaring at him.
"Nothing Grandpa, I thought I saw a spider. Uh-huh, you know how much I hate them."
Sirius merely smirked and dropped a kiss to her shoulder, over her arms and back, licking the water droplets, his fingers hooking in the towel now. Zee made an attempt to hold it in place, her head holding the phone to her ear as she mouthed 'stop it' and he simply grinned wider and sucked on her exposed neck and ear. He heard her say something about goodbye and hung up the phone so, he spun her around and kissed her deeply. She moaned into his mouth.
"I was trying to talk to my grandfather!" she insisted, pushing him away.
"And?" he asked, finally succeeding in tugging the towel loose. His hands cupped her breasts, stroking her nipples, and her head fell back.
"I have to go to work, Sirius."
"Uh-huh," he said, bending his mouth to a breast and slipping his hand between her legs. "Want me to stop?"
"Don't you dare!" she breathed.
He grinned and tugged her down to the floor.
A little while later, once Zee had hurried upstairs to get dressed for work, Sirius watched her from her bed.
"Skive."
She smirked at him. "I can't. I have a meeting this afternoon about my counter proposal about the Undesirables legislation."
Sirius sobered at that. "Do you think it's going to pass?"
"Not yet, no, but I'm hoping to get more people on my side. I think it's going to depend on what happens in the Wizengamot session on the eleventh."
"Who the hell does this Umbitch woman think she is?"
Zee smirked. "It's Umbridge, actually."
"Mine's better."
Zee chuckled as she used a quick charm on her hair to help keep the curls in place since Sirius had distracted her before she could dry it properly and it was now a curly mess around her face, and she quickly pinned it up off of her neck.
"I have to go." She leaned down to kiss him. "Remind me to call my grandparents back later."
"What did they want?"
"Just checking in. I haven't spoken to them in a while and I think they might be planning a trip out here for my birthday."
Sirius' eyebrow rose. "The American ones?"
"Yes. They want to meet you and Harry," she said, adding mascara to her eyes.
Sirius' eyes widened. "Er, I think we'll be busy."
"Coward," she said, making him laugh as he pulled her down on top of him. "Sirius!"
He grinned at her and kissed her softly. "Go. Good luck on that proposal."
She smiled, grabbed her purse and her wand and hurried out of the bedroom, whistling for Lady Godiva.
Sirius stretched across the bed before he made his way downstairs to clean up their breakfast and then headed on home. He was glad that Zee's department was working on a counter legislation against the new bill because it was one of the most deplorable things that he had ever seen passed by the Ministry of Magic.
He greeted an excited Marauder when he stepped into the house, giving the dog breakfast before he moved to check the mail. Nothing of interest really caught his eye until he saw the article on the third page.
NEW BILL PASSED BY MINISTRY OF MAGIC
MAKES REGISTRATION MANDATORY
FOR ALL UNDESIRABLES!
New bill claims that every witch or wizard must be registered within the Ministry of Magic as a British Magical Citizen of the United Kingdom. This registration will look at birth records and magical history, including any blood curses or contracted diseases that need to be made known to the Ministry of Magic for the safety of our communities.
"Too many old families are hiding ancient traits like blood curses, dormant Veela genes, lycanthropy, vampirism, or giant relatives — and these are things that need to be addressed for the public's well-being," a Ministry official was quoted as saying. "Most are completely harmless like Metamorphing, but the more dangerous ones such as lycanthropy or vampirism are a vile contagion that can easily spread if not kept contained. Those who are infected with this contagion need to be kept away from the general public, which is why this new bill promises safety to our community by limiting where they are able to work and to live."
Does this mean that werewolves and vampires and other quoted 'Undesirables' are being driven out of the United Kingdom?
The Ministry of Magic says no. The new legislation instead demands answers from those living in the shadows and is working to ensure that these contagions are not being passed on to others.
"We ask that you register with the Ministry of Magic as soon as possible so that the Ministry can work with you to help solve these problems. It is not strictly against werewolves or vampires, it is for every British Magical Citizen."
How the Ministry plans to solve a problem like lycanthropy and vampirism is another question. Werewolves are asked to register their name and birth, the date of infection, the name of the one who infected them, and if they belong to a pack, the pack leader's name, all in the Werewolf Registry; where vampires have often been given a pass on the same. This is nothing new. Werewolves have always been more greatly feared than vampires. The new legislation however, has made it illegal for anyone with lycanthropy or any of the cited 'Undesirable qualities' to marry or to have children.
The new legislation explicitly states that marriage or extramarital relations with someone suffering from an 'undesirable quality' is forbidden and those who don't comply can be sent to Azkaban for their crimes.
The questions remains: Is this new legislation for the safety of our community or is it strictly anti-werewolf?
"It's completely anti-werewolf," a representative from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures stated. "It is one person inside of the Ministry pushing forward their prejudices and somehow succeeding. The Wizengamot needs to wizen up and get this new bill removed from the government. There's already a petition started to assist in this. We're not saying that werewolves and vampires and even people with blood curses and with Veela genes can't be dangerous because they can be — but if you isolate them and make it so that they can't work, that they can't live like the human beings that they are, how are you going to expect them to act like anything else other than an animal?"
Dolores J Umbridge, recently promoted from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to be the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, claims that her bill is none of the above.
"It is looking out for the people of our community; helping us trust our neighbours. I don't see what all of the fuss is about it. It is full of good values and old-fashioned rules. Those who follow it will help us to live in harmony together in a safer society."
Anyone interested in hearing the motions of the bill is welcome to attend the open Wizengamot Assembly on Friday the twenty-fifth of March at one PM. The petition will also be available to sign before the Wizengamot once more seals the doors to make any decisions regarding the new legislation. Other topics of discussion will include: Wand rules and regulations, underage magic, educational programs, the new bill on retirement and pensions, and other political discussions.
Sirius swore as he threw down the paper.
It was bullshit in his opinion. This new legislation actually gave vampires more political rights than werewolves. When Remus saw this he was going to beat himself up and it was the last thing that he wanted to happen; especially tonight, the first night of the full moon.
Two Fridays from now, he thought, looking at the calendar, his thoughts moving quickly enough to make his head pound, but he knew that he had already made a decision. He had made it months ago if he was honest with himself and had been procrastinating about accepting it. He quickly went into the living room and bent his head into the fire, smiling when his head appeared in the fire of the Headmaster's office.
"Albus?"
"Sirius?" Dumbledore asked, quietly, coming around the desk and spotting his head. "Sirius, good morning!"
"I have a question for you — do you have a few moments?"
Dumbledore nodded and moved to sit on the floor in front of the fire. "I do. What can I help you with?"
"No one has sat in the Black Family seat in the Wizengamot since my grandfather died and frankly, no one has sat in it for almost a decade before that due to my uncle's illness."
"I'm aware. We were discussing whether to put it up for auction if you still remained uninterested in claiming it."
Sirius nodded. He knew the Wizengamot often did that when family members denied their family seats. "Hypothetically if I were to claim my seat as Lord Black, would I have to attend every session and spend all of my time in the Ministry?"
"Not at all," Dumbledore said with a smile. "The Wizengamot only meets once a week, Sirius and it's only to discuss any problems within the Ministry or to discuss new bills and legislation that departments have passed. Right now, the big one is Bill 426-A17, which I believe is why you've suddenly grown an interest in politics?"
"That bill is bullshit and you know it, Albus. If there is anything that the Black name can do to help get it pushed off of a cliff, I want to do it. How the hell did it even get passed to begin with?"
"Umbridge went directly to Cornelius, claimed that she had a tiny bill that kept getting stopped by the department head in the DMLE before she could present it to the Wizengamot, and how she felt that it was best for the Ministry and for the magical community if it was passed. Knowing Fudge, he probably just skimmed it, signed it and passed it on. All of the departments became aware of it being passed at the beginning of December and well, as you know, there's been an uproar about it ever since."
"People have been fired from their jobs, Albus! Someone was a janitor in the hospital! How is that a threat to national security?"
"I know," Dumbledore said sadly. "I spoke to Remus about it the other day. He was worried for me and about the fines that I'm risking for him, but I refused to accept his resignation. He is not registered as a werewolf within the Ministry of Magic and I hope to keep him from being so. I don't mind him dodging the law on that when I know what kind of man he is and I know how important it is to him that he not be defined as the wolf before the man."
Sirius nodded. "Thank you, Albus. That means more to him than you can possibly know and it means a lot to me as well. Listen, since your Chief Warlock, tell me, Albus, how do I go about reclaiming my seat?"
Dumbledore simply smiled at him. "I think the next session of the Wizengamot is going to be quite interesting with you there, Sirius."
Sirius grinned. "You can bloody-well bet it will be. So, what do I have to do?"
~ ASC ~
Snape placed the steaming goblet on Remus' desk that evening, sneering as usual. "Your potion, Lupin."
Remus gave him a bright smile. "Thank you, Severus. It means so much that you continue to brew this for me."
"Good thing I do," Snape said. "Wouldn't want you to be caught by the Ministry right now."
Remus frowned. "Dumbledore has assured me that despite the new Ministry regulations, I have employment here for as long as I wish it."
"Oh, I'm sure that he has. Have you been keeping up on the backlash and comments, Lupin?" At Remus' look, his sneer widened into a grin. "Better rethink that moving out of Hogwarts thing. Your Auror could be arrested soon."
"What?"
"Oh, you didn't read today's Daily Prophet?" Snape asked rather innocently as he pulled the paper from his pocket. "Oh, yes, they finally released part of the new bill to the public, here it is… 'extramarital relations between an Undesirable and a British Magical Citizen is forbidden. Marriages between an Undesirable and a British Magical Citizen are forbidden and any marriages that have been concluded are invalid and void, even if concluded abroad to circumvent this law.' Oh and my favourite one..." he looked up at Remus' pale face with nasty grin before he continued. "'Any Undesirable found to be breaking this law will be fined up to five thousand Galleons and could be sentenced up to ten years in Azkaban Prison. If the fine is not paid, the prison sentence will be extended.' My, my Lupin, you really are a threat to society these days."
Remus tore the paper from Snape's grasp, his eyes raking over the article. "Thank you, Severus for informing me of this. We both know that this legislation is ridiculous."
Snape's eyebrow rose in disdain. "Do we? You know that Dumbledore can be removed as Headmaster if anyone discovers that he's harbouring a werewolf here? Finish out the school year, Lupin, but then resign. Go crawl into a hole somewhere and ride this thing out and for Merlin's sake, stop dragging that Auror down with you. She deserves better than what something like you can ever give her."
The door to his office closed behind him and Remus took a few deep calming breaths, but they didn't help. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he wanted the wolf. He wanted to tear his way through everyone who had approved this bill and he wanted to kill them. He downed the potion and headed to the Floo.
His cottage was almost done. He and Tonks had been taking their time painting it. They had bought a new king-sized four poster for the bedroom, but it wouldn't be set up until the room was done. He was even in the process of re-doing the bath; all things that he would never have been able to do without the financial support of Sirius and his investments. Sirius had made him more money in the last few months and Remus was keeping more of it in muggle banks as of late rather than in the magical world, in fear of it being taken away due to the new constricting laws. Thankfully those laws hadn't mentioned any financial aspects, but he couldn't be too careful because if anyone found out that he was a werewolf and had been hiding it from the Werewolf Registry, he could only imagine the consequences would be on more than just his financials.
He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration as he started to undress and made his way into the cellar, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Prison… being with the woman he loved could not only hurt her, but it could mean he could go to prison... he rubbed his hands over his face and screamed in frustration just as Sirius came down the stairs.
Sirius merely raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Moony?"
Remus' gaze met his and the emotion there made Sirius swear. He moved to tug his friend into his arms.
"She doesn't care, Moony."
"Why doesn't she care?" he asked, desperately.
"She loves you," Sirius said simply. "Its as simple as that."
He felt his friend sigh in defeat before he pulled away. Remus turned towards the wall to undo his jeans and slip them over his slim hips. Sirius transformed into his dog and waited for his friend to deal with the moon.
He watched Remus pace back and forth all night; growling at Sirius, at the room, at the walls. He was restless and Sirius knew that as he watched his friend that this wasn't something that Remus was going to sweep under the rug. He wrestled with the wolf, snarling and growling as Remus attacked him, scratched him and did everything in his power to push the dog away from him, but Sirius wouldn't budge.
When the dawn came up, Remus tugged his jeans on, not bothering to fasten them before walking up the stairs barefoot and not saying a word to his friend.
The door to the cellar opened before he got to the top and Tonks stood there. She grabbed his arm and tugged him towards her, leaning down and kissing him deeply, her fingers in his hair. She leaned her head against his forehead and looked into his eyes.
"Don't even say it." He made to speak and she placed her finger over his lips. "Don't say it. Do you think I care? Do you honestly think that I could walk away from you now? After you've marked me? I am not letting you walk away from me, Remus Lupin. This law won't last. It's barbaric and it's immoral and it's unconstitutional."
Remus buried his face into her shoulder. "You deserve someone better, Nymphadora. You deserve someone who isn't... a disease. Someone who isn't an… Undesirable."
Tonks framed his face in her hands. "There is no one in this world who is a better man than you, Remus Lupin. No one." She placed a hand over his chest, her fingers sliding through the soft hair there, covering his heart. "I love you and you are so fucking desirable."
He smirked a little at that. "But the article… you could… it's against the law, Dora."
Tonks simply kissed him again, kissing his cheeks, his nose, his chin, his neck. She sucked on his Adam's apple and he groaned. "In case you didn't notice, I'm an Undesirable as well, and there is no law saying that two Undesirables can't desire each other. You are mine, Remus Lupin."
He stepped up the two steps to scoop her up into his arms and carried her into the kitchen. He sat her on the table, his hands resting on either side of her. "This is serious, Nymphadora."
Sirius snorted from behind them. "No, that would be me. I spoke to Albus this afternoon. I'm claiming my family seat in the Wizengamot in the next Assembly. This legislation is going down if I have to bribe the entire Ministry of Magic to do it. Zee is working with the DRCMC and the DMLE to get it revoked and for those who have already been fired due to the law to get their jobs back and to be properly compensated for their loss, all of which should happen when the bill is thrown out of the Wizengamot."
Remus stared at him. Tonks still had her arms wrapped around his neck, refusing to let him go. He looked at the long scratches on Sirius' chest. "I'm sorry, Padfoot."
Sirius waved him off. "They'll heal. I wasn't letting you push me away last night either. We will get through this. Listen to your mate, Rem."
"But what if someone finds out and she loses her job? You love being an Auror!"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "King won't let me lose my job over something so stupid, Remus. He knows you and he likes me. The only way I would get fired is if I royally screwed up my job, and I would deserve to be fired then. Everyone in the department knows that I'm a Metamorphmagus and a few people have told me that they don't consider me dangerous and that my job is safe. Don't worry about me."
He sighed as Sirius squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him goad me, I knew it but…" he shook his head, pulling Tonks closer to him and closing his eyes. "It was stupid."
"Let who goad you?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowing. "You didn't see the article yourself?"
Remus shook his head, turning to look at his friend. "No, I try not to read the paper, you know there's never anything good in there — and Severus brought it to me when he brought the potion for me last night. Told me to work out the school year and to resign for the safety of all. He's right, Sirius. Dumbledore wouldn't accept it earlier, but he will at the end of the school year. I can't stay at Hogwarts and teach, not with the new laws and not with… I can't."
Sirius glared at him. "I'm going to bloody kill him."
"Padfoot —"
"— No! Do you not see what he's doing, Remus? We took away his opportunity to pick on Harry, so now he's moving onto you! That fucking slime ball! That self-serving blighter of a gormless tit!"
"Sirius!" Tonks said, laughing now. "Calling him names isn't going to rectify anything!"
Sirius glared at her. "Oh, I know it. Snape and I are going to have words on Saturday after the match, I can tell you that much."
"Sirius, watch yourself," Remus warned him.
Sirius only grinned at his friends. "Won't have to. Tonks is going to have my back, right darling?"
Tonks' grin widened, her cheek still pressed against Remus'. "Abso-fucking-lutely."