A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.

~Jose Bergamin

Chapter Seven: The Falling of the King's Ward

The king was not just ill, which was what James had been expecting on the walk up to his father's bedroom. Bellatrix was already there, seated beside him and a few of the knights that had found him collapsed in the throne room were there as well. James rushed up beside Bellatrix and took his father's hand. Dumbledore was also there, mixing some remedy on the king's desk. Remus and Sirius, both stayed in the back with Arden.

"What happened?" Remus asked quietly.

"D'know." Arden seemed worried, wringing his hands and chewing on his bottom lip. "But this isn't good. He's never been sick before, he's always been in perfect health."

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Sirius said, patting Arden on the back.

"Why are you even here?" Arden spat. "You have no right." Sirius withdrew his hand.

"I'm a friend of the Prince, I was with him when he got the news, I thought it would be rude to just up and leave."

"But you're not allowed in-"

"Why don't you go and stand next to the other knights." Remus whispered to Arden, before either of them could cause a scene. Arden casted a disparaging look at Sirius and then complied.

"Arse." Sirius muttered.

"He's scared. People do stupid things when they're scared."

"Whatever."

"Remus," Dumbledore waved him over.

"Did you leave something in you room?" He asked, coming up beside him.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded and put an arm around Remus's shoulders. "It's a curse." He said quietly. "He's been poisoned with magic."

"And you think that I had something-"

"No, of course not. I need you to go look in that book that I gave you for anything that could cause skin irritations, narrowed airways and yellowed eyes."

"Alright." Remus turned away and headed for the door.

He was a few floors down when he started to fully understand the gravity of the situation that they were all facing. If the king were to die, James would be made king prematurely. There would be no queen, the lords and nobles would probably force him into an arranged marriage simply to appease neighboring kingdoms and assure them that the change in leaders wasn't going to affect relationships. Not the mention the wreck that James would be in if his father died. They weren't exactly close lately, and they were rarely on the same page anymore, but he was the only family that James had. Sure Bella and James got off alright, and they probably thought of each other as siblings, but they weren't. Not really. They would both be lost if the king were to die.

Remus reached his and Dumbledore's quarters and summoned the book from his bedroom to the table.

"What the hell!?"

Remus spun around on his heel and saw Sirius standing in the doorway, eyes wide and locked on the book.

"You're a-" He looked behind him and then stepped inside and slammed the door. "You have magic?" He asked, looking at Remus with almost a reverent expression. Remus on the other hand have frozen to the spot. "Why didn't you say anything before! That's amazing!"

"You can't tell anyone." Remus stammered out quickly, trying to snap himself out of his shock. The king was still counting on him to find the answer to whatever curse had been placed upon him.

"Course not. Can't have you losing that pretty little head of yours, can we?" Sirius walked by Remus, ruffled his hair and then took a seat at the table and flipped open the book. "Does James know?"

"No." Remus said quickly. This answer only seemed to please Sirius even more.

"What are we looking for, warlock?"

"Don't call me that." Remus said, pulling the book towards him and taking a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Alright. What are we looking for, wizard?"

"Stop. I need to focus or the king could die."

"I could help."

"You know nothing about magic."

"That's not strictly true."

Remus's head shot up and Sirius chuckled. "I myself don't dabble in the art, though I wish I did, but I knew someone once who… Well, he actually turned out to be- not who I thought he was. Let's leave it at that for now. What happened to the king?"

"Dumbledore thinks he was cursed. Something that causes skin irritation, narrowed airways and…"

"And?"

"Let me think." Remus pressed his knuckles to the side of his head. "Yellow eyes! We need to find a curse that causes skin irritation, narrowed airways and yellow eyes."

"And death."

"And death."

They both looked over the book for a few moments and then Sirius sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Did you see the way Bella was looking at him?"

"What?" He repeated. He looked up at Sirius who was now leant back in the chair, balancing it on two legs. "I don't see how that's relevant right not."

"She was always a strange kid when we were growing up. Secretive and… just strange."

"I forgot she was your cousin." Remus sighed, flipping to a new page.

"It was almost as though she wanted him to die."

Remus looked up at Sirius without moving. "Why would you say something like that?" He whispered.

"Because that's what I saw."

"The king is like a father to her."

"He's also directly responsible for her actual father's death." Sirius shrugged. "I'm not saying that she tried to kill him or anything. I'm just saying that if it turned out that she did try and kill him, I wouldn't be surprised at all."

"Lily has been working for her for years. She would have mentioned something if she thought Bella was some sort of psychotic loon."

"Psychotic loons are notoriously good at hiding their true nature."

"Found it!" Remus pointed to a page in the book and summoned a quill and parchment towards him, writing down the ingredients and the name of the curse on the paper. "There's no antidote listed…" He flipped through another couple of pages, but found nothing. "This will have to do. Come on." He flicked his hand and the book and quill flew back to where they had been before he summoned them.

"That is amazing." Sirius shook his head, a goofy smile on his face. "Does Lily know?"

"No." Remus sighed, holding the door open and waiting for him to get through.

"So I'm the only one?"

"You and Dumbledore. Now get moving or I'm going to leave you here."

"Alright." Sirius jumped out of his chair and followed Remus back up to the king's room. Remus discreetly slipped Dumbledore both the parchment and the random herb he had thought to grab last minute.

"Just what I needed." Dumbledore said, holding up the plant for everyone to see. "Thank you, Remus." He slipped the parchment into his robes, quickly mixed some herbs together and then rushed over to the king. "He will be fine." Dumbledore said quietly, pouring a greenish liquid into the king's mouth. As soon as it touched his lips the king's color seemed to return and after a moment, he took a large breath and everyone in the room seemed to do the same.

Remus found himself looking at Lady Bellatrix. She was still standing next to the king, and when Dumbledore announced that the king was going to be fine, there was a moment's hesitation between an expression that looked like disappointment and the expected euphoria. It could have been because she doubted Dumbledore, who hadn't been sure that the king would live until that moment, or it could have been because Sirius had just planted the idea in his head. Either way, Remus saw something, and he wasn't sure what it meant.

oOoOo

James and Bella gave Remus and Lily the day off following the king's almost death. They both wanted to spend the day with King Charles and neither Remus nor Lily had to be present for that.

"I can't believe that happened." Lily sighed, putting a hand to her chest as Remus finished relaying what had happened over breakfast at Lily's house. She had prepared a few eggs that Remus had swiped from the castle's kitchen.

"Can I ask you something?" Remus said tentatively. He hated that he couldn't let it go, but after what Sirius had said and then what he thought he saw… he had to ask.

"Of course." Lily said, taking another bite of her eggs and smiling at him.

"Does Bella ever-" He faltered and crinkled his eyes. "Does she ever do anything that seems- I mean, does she-"

"What are you trying to ask, Remus?" Lily's smile was playful, as though she knew what he was getting at.

"Is she a bit strange?"

"If you're asking me if I think she tried to kill the king," Lily's voice went down to a whisper and she shot a look out her window. "I don't. She loves James and the king. They're like her family. But if you're asking me if she's a bit batty, then yes."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Sirius is her cousin."

"That bloke you stood me up for?" Lily asked sternly. Remus grinned and nodded. "He said she was strange?" He nodded again. "Well, family knows best."

"He said that he wouldn't be surprised if she was behind it." Remus whispered, also throwing a look out the window.

"I wouldn't go that far. She gets jealous of James sometimes, and I think half of the emotions she shows are fake, but she's not the murdering type."

"She looked a bit… disappointed yesterday."

"What do you meant disappointed?"

"When Dumbledore said he was going to be fine. She looked upset." Lily paused before saying anything this time.

"That's ridiculous." She finally said. "You must have misread her expression." Remus nodded and took another bite of his eggs.

"Yeah. That's what I thought too."

"Anyway, let's not waste our only day off talking about work and our employers. Let's do something fun."

"Like what?"

"There's this place that I used to go when I was a little girl that I never get to go to anymore."

"Sounds vague."

"If I tell you anything more then you won't want to come."

"Alright then." Remus picked up their dishes and put them in the basin on the counter. "You've convinced me."

"Good." Lily smiled, reaching out and taking Remus's hand. He looked down at their hands and then up at her smiling face and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was another thing he hoped he was misreading.

"There's horses where we're going, aren't there?" Remus asked, pushing the other thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Just a few." Lily said. "But that's not exactly why you won't want to go."

"You're unconvincing me."

"You'll be fine. I promise."

She didn't let go of his hand the entire time they were walking to wherever she was taking him, not even when Remus was sure she noticed his palms get sweaty or when someone tried to walk in between them. The gesture felt friendly, but that couldn't have been all there was too it. She had kissed him on the cheek the other day, she went out of her way to help him, when she needed to talk to someone, he was the first person she went to.

It wasn't that he didn't like the idea of having a relationship with Lily. She was very pretty, clever, amusing and fun to be around. She made him do outrageous things because he wanted to prove to both of them that he could, but he and Lily couldn't be in a relationship. Remus had watched James infatuation grow into something real, he had given him advice and stood beside him while he continuously tried and failed to get Lily's attention.

And it wasn't only James' feelings for her that was keeping Remus at bay. Despite the fact that she was very pretty, clever, amusing and fun, he didn't think of her in that way. He didn't fancy her. She was a wonderful person and Remus would think himself very lucky to end up with someone like Lily, but that didn't change the fact that he felt nothing more than friendship when he looked at her.

"Here we are!" Lily said, finally releasing his hand and swinging her arms out in unnecessary grandeur. Behind her was a hut that seemed comically disproportionate. The door was about three times as wide and almost two times as tall as a normal door, but the stairs leading up to the door and the windows all seemed to be the size that they should be. The pumpkins growing next to the hut were larger than Remus himself, and the dog sitting next to the path leading up to the hut had to be the largest dog Remus had ever laid eyes on.

"Where are we?"

"Hagrid's." Lily said with a cheerful grin, grabbing hold of his hand again and pulling him through the gap in the stone wall surrounding the hut and towards the dog that could probably swallow him whole.

"Why are we here?" Remus whispered, trying not to make eye contact with the animal. He heard somewhere that dogs take eye contact as a challenge and since he didn't wish to die at that particular moment, he didn't think challenging the dog would be a good idea. It bothered him immensely that Lily seemed completely at ease, swinging her free arm at her side and smiling at everything. Remus felt sick just looking at her.

When they reached the door, Remus finally started to think about what kind of person would need such a large door. He didn't have much time to contemplate however because not a moment after Lily's tiny little fist knocked on the door, did a man come and answer it. If you could call him that.

The term 'giant' quickly came to mind.

"Lily!" The man roared, smiling widely and bending down to scoop her into a hug. "Haven't seen ya' in ages, lass. Hardly be able to reco'nize you if you weren' the only ginger I'm on speaking terms with at the moment."

"What do you mean? What about the Pwettes and the Weasley's?"

"Molly's both and we're not really getting along right now." Hagrid shrugged. "I wish I could say it was so'm simple like 'er saying she owns part o' me land or so'm. We've already been through that song and dance though."

"Molly's stubborn, but then again," Lily smirked. "So are you."

"Still the no nonsense type, I see." Hagrid grinned.

Lily nodded and then turned to Remus, who hadn't even tried to utter a single sound whilst they were conversing. "Hagrid, this is my friend Remus, he works up in the castle with me. Remus, this is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the keys and grounds here in Camelot."

"Only one in the whole city with a key to the castle." Hagrid puffed out his chest, looking mighty proud of himself. "Aside from the king o'course." He then quickly stepped aside. "I'm sorry, come on in please. Making you stand on my steps is mighty rude o' me."

"Don't worry about it, Hagrid." Lily smiled, stepping into the hut. Remus took a deep breath, still not having said a word and then stepped through the massive doorway and into a living area where the furniture all seemed to have been handmade to accommodate Hagrid's inhuman size. The dining room table came almost to Remus's shoulder and the chairs to his waist, the fireplace was about the size of his bed and the silverware hanging on the wall were longer than his arm.

"Tell me about yourself, Remus." Hagrid said, bringing a massive kettle over to the table once Lily and Remus had climbed onto a pair of chairs.

"Well," Remus said, leaning as far away from Hagrid as he could, while the giant man brought the kettle a bit too close for comfort. "I moved here a few months ago. I live with Albus Dumbledore, he's an old friend of my mother's and it was her idea to move me out here, though I like it here so I'm not complaining. Soon after moving here I got a job working for Prince James, and that's about it. Nothing too terribly exciting."

"Well, Dumbledore's a good man." Hagrid said. "Known him since I was a lad. You'd best do right by him."

"He's being modest." Lily smiled, putting a hand atop Remus's and preventing him from saying anything more to what Hagrid had said. "He saved the Prince's life the first week he was here, and that was after getting thrown in jail for fighting with the Prince. And now, he may be James's servant, but he's also his best friend."

"I s'pose I approve then." Hagrid chuckled. "Tell me more about your fight with the prince. Lately he's been a right smarmy pain in the bum."

"I don't know about that." Lily said, sliding her hand back across the table, letting her fingers tap along to some unknown rhythm. "He's actually grown up quite a bit in the last few months." She looked up and Remus and smiled. "I think it's mostly your doing."

"I wouldn't say that he's grown up that much. I can stand to be in the same room as him for longer than a few minutes now, but he's still a prat." Hagrid laughed at that, and the loud booming sound of it almost caused Remus to fall out of his chair.

"Hagrid?" Someone called from outside the door.

"Come on in." He called, and the door flew open. A slight, blonde girl stood in its wake, her face a bit flushed, and a sheen of sweat covering almost every patch of visible skin. "Marlene? What's the problem?"

"It's Fang," She said, attempting to catch her breath. "He's gone and chased Dory up a tree again. I don't know why he doesn't like her, but can you- can you come and call him off her?"

"Shite." Hagrid grumbled, standing up from his chair and rushing out the door. Remus and Lily followed. Remus quickly caught sight of the massive dog jumping and barking around the base of a large tree, in which Dory had managed to climb up a safe distance.

"Oh get away from me you massive brute!" She called, throwing a stick at the animal.

"Fang!" Hagrid called. The dog instantly dropped to the ground, his ears back, looking extremely guilty. "Would you leave that girl alone?" He waved his hand towards the hut. "Get inside, would you?" The dog slunk away and was soon gone from sight. "I'm sorry about that, Dory." He reached up into the tree and lifted her out. "Don't know why he's like that round you."

"Me either." She sighed, brushing herself off a bit. "He loves Mary and Marlene. It's just me he's got a problem with." She looked up and smiled when she saw Remus and Lily. "'Lo." She waved.

"Hello." Remus replied. "Are you alright?"

"Course I am." She shrugged. "The only good thing about him being that large, is that he can't turn very fast. I got away before he could bite my head off."

"Well… that's good." Remus wrinkled his brow, unsure as to how she seemed to be perfectly at ease too soon after she was almost mauled to death by a dog the size of a horse.

He really did need to get over this aversion to horses.

Lily cleared her throat and Remus shook his head. "Of course, I apologize," He nodded at Lily. "Lily, this is Dory. Dory works for-" Dory cleared her throat. "With, she works with Lancelot. Dory, this is Lily, she works in the castle."

"Nice to meet you." Lily said.

"You as well." Dory smiled briefly and then turned her attention back to Remus. "Sirius told me that Bella tried to kill the king yesterday."

"What?" Hagrid blanched.

"That's not what happened." Remus sighed. "The king did get sick yesterday, but it wasn't because of anything Bella did. And he's fine now."

"He told me that she was acting strangely." Dory shrugged. "And you may have forgotten, that I grew up with Bellatrix. Well, Sirius at least. Bella's mother and my mother weren't too fond of one another, which made us want to be friends at one point. Didn't last long. I watched as she made dolls that looked like her parents and then threw them into the fire, told me she wished they were voodoo dolls and that's when I stopped talking to her."

"That- That's disturbing." Remus allowed. "But she didn't try and kill him."

"I'll just introduce myself then?" Marlene said, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking Dory with a half sarcastic glare.

"Glad you haven't forgotten how." Dory smirked, looking as though she was enjoying some inside joke.

"Marlene." She said, ignoring Dory and sticking her hand out to shake both Lily and Remus's. Remus instantly liked this new girl, she had a certain air about her that just put him completely at ease. Her blue eyes were wide and bright, and she had a smile on her face that just oozed confidence.

"Are you new around here?" Lily asked, she was also smiling at the girl and Remus figured that she was getting the same feeling that he was.

"Yes." Marlene nodded. "I just moved here with Dory and Mary. And Lance I suppose."

"Did you?" Remus asked. "Why haven't I met you before now?"

"Well, unlike Mary and Dory, I don't feel the need to come to every one of Lance's training sessions and stalk the knights." She threw Dory another look. "We've been staying here with Hagrid, so I've been helping him out to ear our keep."

"We're just looking out for Lance." Dory shrugged.

Marlene laughed. It was a pretty laugh that sounded like bells. Remus quite liked the sound. "Anyway, you're sure the king is alright?"

"Positive." Remus nodded, still smiling at her. "Dumbledore was able to find out what was wrong and fix it rather quickly."

"What was wrong?" Dory asked.

Remus hesitated only slightly, looking away from Marlene. "He was poisoned. Dumbledore thinks it happened slowly over the last several months. He said that that's why the king hasn't been himself lately, and why he's been so tired and angry."

"I think there are a few other reasons as well." Dory muttered. Remus tried rather hard not to laugh at that, but he failed and Lily elbowed him in the ribs.

"You know it's true, Lily." Dory said with a shrug. "The king has a stick up his-"

"Alright." Lily put her hands up took a step away from everyone. "It was very nice to meet you two, and Hagrid, it was nice to see you. But Remus and I have to be going now."

"You're not going to stay for dinner?" Hagrid asked, looking slightly disappointed. "I was going to make the girls here some chili." Both Dory and Marlene forced lips to curve into a grin, but failed at making them look sincere.

"I have to make dinner for Petunia and my dad, otherwise we would stay. It's been nice catching up and hopefully I'll get to come around soon."

"A'right, it was good to see ya, Lils." Hagrid took a massive step forward and for brief moment, Lily disappeared behind his arms. "Tell your family I said hullo."

"Of course." Lily nodded.

"Good meetin' ya Remus." Hagrid waved.

"You too." Remus nodded. "And it was nice to meet you as well, Marlene." She smiled at him and nodded her head. "See you round, Dory."

And then Lily was dragging Remus back towards her house. It took them twenty minutes to walk back, same as it had taken them to walk there, and again, Lily held his hand the entire way, but this time Remus was not worrying about what the handholding meant. He was thinking about everything that had just happened. Between the giant dog almost mauling Dory, meeting Marlene and Hagrid, and having to fib about the king, he had plenty to think about.

When they were back in Lily's house, Lily slammed the door and started pacing back and forth, the length of the kitchen. "I can't believe she almost said that." She muttered under her breath. "I cannot believe she was going to say that. Do you know what would have happened if a knight had heard her say that?"

"Probably nothing." Remus said. The knights frequently badmouthed the king when James wasn't around to hear it. He was a pain in the arse, and they complained about it. Lily didn't seem to care though.

"And then you were laughing!" She poked Remus in the shoulder. "I know that James gives you a lot of slack when it comes to him, but you can't be associating with people like them. They're going to get you into trouble, Remus."

"Don't worry about me." He said, in the same tone and rhythm that he had every other time he had said those exact words to her over the last three months. It never did anything to make her worry less, but Remus didn't really know what else to say.

Instead of sighing exasperatedly or rolling her eyes, Lily clenched her fists at her sides and became rather rigid. "I can't help it." She said. "You leave me no other option."

Remus had no response to that and found himself feeling rather guilty.

"You're the only friend I've got, and I'd rather not lose you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." He nodded, looking down at his shoes.

"Good." She sighed. She hesitated for a moment, and then pulled him in for a hug. Remus didn't really think so much as he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly into her hair. She smelled slightly of fish and sweat, but there was also a hint of lavender, and Remus suspected that it was probably one of Bellatrix's many perfumes that got on Lily just by her being around Bella so much.

"Good." She muttered, squeezing him just a bit tighter. Then she pulled away, and nodded her head. "I really do need to get dinner started now."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Remus said, already walking towards the door.

"See you tomorrow."

oOoOo

James was waiting for Remus when he came in the next morning. He had woken up early so that he could be sitting in his armchair, facing the door when Remus walked through. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face that had been there since yesterday afternoon.

When Remus did walk through the door he was a bit startled to find James glaring at him. "Morning." He said, his brow crinkled together. "Why do you look as though I've drowned your pet?"

"You're fired." James said in a flat and even tone. Remus laughed and continued walking into the room. He put James' breakfast on the table and then walked over to gather his night clothes. "I'm not joking, Remus. You lied to me, and I'm firing you."

"Alright, I'll play along. What did I lie to you about?"

"Oh, and now you're going to continue to lie to me?" James asked, crossing his arms, and raising a brow. "I thought that even you might be man enough to come clean and admit it to me if I confronted you."

"I promise to 'be man enough' if you give me some clue as to what this is about."

"Lily." James said bluntly. Remus narrowed his eyes and waited for James to say something more. He didn't.

"What about Lily?" He asked.

"You told me that you and Lily were just friends." James said, jumping up from the chair and taking a few steps towards Remus. He looked beside himself and Remus dropped his nightclothes and took a few steps back.

"We are just frien-"

"Don't lie to me!" He shouted. "I saw you with her yesterday."

"And?" Remus asked, his temper rising along with James'. "We're friends, we do things together. You already knew that."

"You were holding hands!"

"You need to calm down, James." Remus said, trying to take his own advice. First Sirius, and now James saw something going on between himself and Lily, he really needed to talk to her about this. "Nothing is going on between Lily and I."

"Bull shite." James cried, both hands raking through his hair. "All this time you've been telling me to back off and lay low, it wasn't advice-"

"Yes it was, you were scaring her."

"You were trying to wade off the competition! You wanted her all to yourself- You -You wanted to come in and steal her away from me!"

"Alright listen to me!" Remus raised his voice and put his hands up. "Firstly, I was not trying to get you to back off because I have feelings for Lily. I don't have feelings for Lily. Lily and I are just friends. Secondly, Lily is a fully grown woman and can make decisions for herself, decisions that you need to respect regardless of whether or not you like them." James tried to interject something here, but Remus spoke up. "She doesn't like you, she doesn't like me, and you need to sit down and take some deep breaths until you can think rationally about this."

"I know that she's- You're putting words in my mouth and-" James sputtered out and then fell back onto a chair, causing the front legs to rise slightly before falling back to the floor with a thud. "Why doesn't she like me?"

"So you've accepted that Lily and I are just friends?" Remus asked, wanting to make sure they weren't going to revisit that subject ever again. He had honestly thought that James was going to hit him for a while there.

"Yes, fine. I don't know why I thought she would like you anyway. She told me she didn't."

"She did?" Remus asked, curious not only to the context of that conversation, but when it would have come up as well.

"I made some crack about how you were an idiot and she called me out on that. I thought it was because she liked you, and I said as much. She then made a joke about how she was going to marry my dad and… Look, it doesn't matter alright. Why were you holding hands?"

"I don't know." Remus shrugged, still curious as to the conversation between James and Lily. "She was taking me somewhere, I just let her lead the way. That's usually how things go when I'm with her actually."

"Way to be a man." Remus took a deep breath and forced himself to keep his mouth closed. "I may have overreacted a bit."

"Really?"

"I'm sorry I almost attacked you." James muttered, toeing at the carpet. "I was out of line."

"You usually are." Remus sighed and went to pick up James' laundry again. "Why don't you work out what we're doing today and I'll meet you in the Great Hall."

"Sounds good."

oOoOo

"I think it's rather obvious who we're looking for." Dumbledore sighed, closing one of the large dusty books that he had pulled from his shelf earlier that evening.

"Well, then that makes you smarter than the two of us." Sirius had his head propped up by his fist and was playing with the remains of his dinner; building small towers out of bread and vegetables. "Because I haven't a clue as to who could have done this. The only person I know with magic is extremely far away and intent on becoming immortal. He doesn't have time for murderous interludes." After a moment of silence he nodded in Remus' direction. "And Remus, of course."

"Of course." Dumbledore said with a small smile. "Though, the only reason you haven't a guess is because you weren't here three months ago."

"What happened three months ago?" Sirius asked, sitting up straight.

"Three months ago, King Charles had some man executed in the main square for practicing magic and then his mum attempted to kill James to get even." Remus said. He was pacing back and forth, trying to focus on the task at hand, but he found that his mind kept wandering to Lily. What James had said, what Sirius had said when he told him, what Peter had said, and the look that Dumbledore had given him made him extremely worried. They were just friends. He was sure she felt the same way. Maybe.

He really needed to talk to her.

"Sounds about right." Sirius said. "And I don't mean to speak treason-"

"Then don't." Remus sighed, sitting down beside him and stealing a piece of his bread.

"-but the king is a horrible person. Why didn't you just let him die?"

Dumbledore didn't look horrified, as Remus expected him to, at such a suggestion. Instead he peered over the tops of his half-moon glasses and said, "All life is precious, and if we have the ability to save it, then we have the responsibility to save it."

And instead of making some wise-arse comment, as Remus expected him to, Sirius sighed and said quietly, "But what if not saving one life, saves hundreds of lives? How do you justify saving someone who is only going to bring pain and misery to people?"

"You must give them the opportunity to choose better." Dumbledore said. "Everyone deserves a chance to choose better."

Later that night, after Sirius had gone, Remus was helping Dumbledore put away the dishes and the rather large pile of books that had accumulated on the table.

"You know what happened to him, don't you?" Remus asked, not feeling the need for any preamble. "Why he was disinherited and travels around a lot?"

"I've heard stories." He nodded, tossing his beard over his shoulder to keep it out of the suds. Remus hoped that if he was quiet long enough, Dumbledore wouldn't need further prompting, but that was not the case.

"What have you heard?"

"You know that I'm not one to perpetuate rumors, but Sirius has had quite a hard life. Everything that I say to you is to stay in this room." He said solemnly. Remus nodded in agreement. "He made friends with a lad I once knew," He smiled fondly at Remus. "He was a lot like you actually."

"Sirius?"

"No, the boy's name was Tom. He was naturally gifted when it came to magic, never needing to study or use spells. But he lacked something very important that you have." He placed his hand on Remus's shoulder. "Heart." Remus looked down and felt his face flush. I may have been months since he moved in with Dumbledore, but he still wasn't used to the affection that the older man gave so easily. "Sirius never got on well with his family; they all lead very elitist and traditional lives, which means they have rather strict views on how commoners should be treated and why marriages happen.

"When Tom showed up, he was a welcomed distraction in Sirius's eyes. When bad things started to happen, everyone suspected that Tom was involved, but Sirius refused to turn Tom in, not so much believing him to be innocent as believing that his family deserved what he was doing to them. That was until Sirius's brother got in the middle of things." Dumbledore sighed and leant up against the basin that they were washing the dishes in. "Regulus and Sirius were close. When Sirius told his parents what Tom had done to Regulus, they blamed him for not turning Tom in earlier and banished him."

"How was he supposed to know-"

"There were signs." Dumbledore interrupted softly. "Not that Sirius should have seen it coming, but Tom was a very troubled young man. When you're close with someone, especially when you have very few other people to turn to, you tend to overlook their flaws." He looked down at his hands and Remus got the feeling that there was a whole other story that he wasn't going to hear about tonight.

"He blames himself though, and that's what you meant earlier. Telling him that everyone deserves a second chance?"

"People have tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault," Dumbledore said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "But like I said, Regulus and Sirius were close. How could he not blame himself? He was the older brother… he was supposed to- protect Regulus." He cleared his throat and turned away. "I think it's time we turned in for the night. I'll see you in the morning Remus."

Remus was a bit startled by his sudden exit, but managed to bid him a goodnight before the door to his bedroom closed.

Most of the time Remus was all for secrets. He believed that people who had secrets had a right to keep those secrets, and other people had no business digging around in other people's lives. However, these were two very special cases. He cared about Dumbledore and Sirius, and he wanted what was best for them. They both seemed to have this extra weight that they were carrying around, and how was Remus supposed to help shoulder that burden if he didn't know what it was?

oOoOo

Bella had been acting rather strangely since the king had almost died and Lily was getting rather tired of pretending that she hadn't noticed.

It was mostly just small things; she was refusing to brush her hair or wear dresses that were brightly colored. She was also spending as much time as she could outside of the castle. And alone.

At first Lily had understood, and enjoyed the time off, but now… Now she was getting worried.

"I'll be needing my horse directly after lunch." Bella told her as she walked in that morning. Bella was still sitting in her bed, waiting for Lily to pull her covers off and help her into her day clothes, and she was already making plans to leave for the day.

"Of course, Lady Bellatrix." Lily said, pulling at the corner of the her duvet, and trying not to think about how she had almost frozen last night with nothing other than her old quilt that her mum had made her years ago. It didn't do to start thinking like that, and normally she didn't. She was already annoyed with Bella though, so it was easy to knit pick.

"And I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I was going out." She said this while avoiding eye contact.

"Lady Bellatrix?"

"It's none of your concern." She said sharply, pulling her robes on and taking a seat at the table. She started pushing the food around on her plate and Lily didn't know what to do. She couldn't let Bella go somewhere by herself, without anyone's knowledge. What if something were to happen to her? What if she was injured, kidnapped, or worse? That would be on Lily.

She also couldn't directly disobey Bella without consequences. If nothing went wrong and Bella found out that she had told someone, with the way she was currently acting, she wasn't sure what Bella would do. Hopefully she wouldn't fire her. Lily didn't know what she would do if she had to find another job. She had only ever had this job.

"I hope that's not a problem for you." Bella said, her voice an odd mixture of honeyed and forceful. "Keeping this information to yourself that is. I know that you're rather close to James' servant boy, but this stays between you and I." Bella lowered her voice. "It would be a shame if I had to find a new maid. You and I have gotten on for so long, and I would hate to go through the whole process of finding someone new." Lily quirked a brow at this. She was threatening to fire her? What was she planning on doing this afternoon?

"I will keep it between us." Lily said. "And I feel hurt that you felt the need to threaten me into silence." She added, still considering telling someone. Probably Remus. Bella knew her fairly well.

"Of course!" Bella smiled. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to stress that I wasn't making the suggestion lightly. It's very important to me that no one knows that I'm out this afternoon."

"Yes, alright." Lily nodded. "And where should I tell them you are? If they are to request an audience?"

Bella bit her bottom lip for a moment while she thought. "I suppose you could tell them that I'm feeling unwell and would like to be left alone." Lily didn't like to help people lie, but for some reason, she couldn't help but point out the problems with that answer.

"After what just happened with the king, I don't think that would go over too well." She said, now working on making Bella's bed.

"Of course." Bella thought on it again. "Tell them I'm in a mood then." She said at length, now having finished her toast. "Tell them I'm in a mood and wish to be left alone."

Lily didn't see how that would hold up if the king wanted to see Bella, but he very rarely wanted to see her, so she didn't think that should be a problem. "Sounds good to me, Miss."

It didn't sound good to Lily though and as soon as Bella excused her, she ran off to find Remus and ask him what she should do.

"I should follow her, right?" Lily asked after relaying the entire story to Remus. Remus shrugged, standing an awkward distance from her with his arms crossed over his chest. Lily tried, yet again, to take a step towards him but he, yet again, just took another step back. If they continued at this little song and dance for much longer, he was going to tumble down a set of stairs. Lily was almost tempted to keep it up, just to see if he would continue to do it after it became obvious to him that she knew what he was doing.

"I don't know if following her is the best course of action. I could always just let it slip to James-"

"Weren't you listening to anything I said?" Lily sighed, unintentionally taking a step closer to whack him over the shoulder. Remus didn't even fully register her hitting him before he took a step back. "If you tell James, Bella is going to fire me."

"Right, yes. Of course." Remus nodded and then looked at the floor thoughtfully. "Wait, no she won't."

"She said that she would."

"And you believe her? You don't think that she might be bluffing?"

"I don't really care to find out. I'm just worried about her. I think I should follow her." In all honestly, Lily hadn't really found Remus to ask him what she should do, she had found Remus to get him to agree with the plan that she had thought up about two seconds after Bella had sworn her to secrecy.

"I really don't think that's the best idea, Lils." Remus kicked his boot at the floor and avoided eye contact.

"Firstly, it's a brilliant idea. Secondly, what in God's name is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm fine. You're the one wanting to go chasing after a mad woman through the woods alone without telling anyone about it!"

"I'm telling you! And Bella is not a mad woman."

"Telling me hardly counts, and that's debatable."

"Why are you standing so far away from me?"

"Why do you want to stand so close to me?" He countered.

"I like standing near people while I talk to them. That way I don't have to shout everything I want to tell them." She took a firm step forward, raising a brow, daring him to step back again. Which he did.

"I just like my personal space, that's all. Plus, I'm not feeling to well and I don't want to get you sick. We should probably just stay away from each other for a few days. Until I feel better at least."

Lily scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. You're coming with me."

"I'm coming with you? Where?"

"You and I are going to follow Bella together, because while most of your ideas were horrible, you were right about one thing. I should not go riding off into the woods by myself. That's dangerous and stupid and what I'm trying to prevent Bella from doing."

"I just told you that I'm ill-"

"You were lying."

"And you know I don't like horses."

"You're afraid of them. Frankly it's ridiculous and you need to get over it."

"Lily-"

"No arguing, Remus." Lily interrupted. "Meet me in the stables after lunch."

AN: And there is my latest installment! I hope you enjoy and leave me a review if it's not too much trouble. Thank you so much!