Chapter 5
Niya looked up from her four cauldrons as a gong sounded through out the lab and then chuckled as she realised that it was the alarm that Albus had finally set up for her to remind her of the time. It was set to go off at one in the morning, again at seven in the morning, at midday for lunch and again at six thirty for dinner if she was in the lab. She set the alarm on her wand to go off in another hour as by then the first batch of Headache cure would be ready to be bottled and cased ready for transport to Hogwarts.
She quickly washed up and made her way to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Morning Molly." She greeted the woman at the stove.
"Oh, Good Morning Niya, I thought you were in the lab?" She returned the greeting as she started to dish out two plates of food.
"I was, the alarm Albus placed in my lab was quiet sufficient at getting my attention." She chuckled as she poured herself a cup of tea.
"Oh what did he use? He wouldn't tell us." Molly asked with a chuckle of her own.
"A very loud gong, timed to go off on time for every meal and one in the morning when every I am in the lab." Niya shook her head.
"I am surprise it didn't give you a fright." Molly sounded a little worried. "Or caused an accident."
"I'm used to that sound being use to get my attention. My old teacher used to use it." She shrugged. "Albus must have gotten in contact with her and asked a few questions." She sipped at her tea as Molly took her own seat and they ate in a comfortable silence.
"Niya would you have any idea how to keep those boys out of trouble?" She asked quietly as she finished off her breakfast and placed her dishes in the sink before starting up breakfast for every one else.
"Ask Remus, I gave him a list of things that would keep Dray and Harry occupied until school started. I don't know the other well enough to even guess." She suggested as she placed her empty dishes in the sink and poured herself another cup of tea.
"Hmm Remus did mention something about going the Diagon Alley this morning for a few things." She nodded slowly.
"What is the date?" Niya asked.
"Thursday the 13th" Molly replied with a chuckle. "It's hard to believe that it has only been eleven days since you came to stay with us."
"I agree there, it feels so much longer." Niya agreed with a nod. "I'm going to go have a shower and then start on the Infirmary potions that are needed. I might not be up for lunch but I will show up for dinner." Niya said before hurrying up to her room and grabbed a change of clothes and had a nice long shower before heading back down to the lab just as her wand alarm went off and bottled the three cauldrons of headache cure and packed them into two different crates. One marked for Severus and the other for the infirmary.
She read through the lists of potions and quantities that Madame Pomphrey wanted and with a chuckle found that she could restock most of what the nurse wanted from her own stores that hadn't been already allocated else where. She carefully crated what she had, marking off what she had already done and started on the ones that she didn't have enough of, as well as making back up supplies.
She was in the middle of tending six cauldrons when Severus slipped into lab looking around and raised an eye brow at the two crates one, nearly triple the size of the other.
"The small crate is for you, the other is the potions for the infirmary" Niya said with out looking up as she added a few ingredients the three different cauldrons at nearly the same time.
"All of them?" He inquired, shrinking them both and pocketing them.
"No, just what I had on hand already that won't be missed until I do up new batches." She shook her head. "I know that I have all summer to do them but right now it is giving me something to do other then to listen to Ron complain and whine at everyone." She growled in irritation. "I swear that boy is a three year old. It is something that Harry and Draco can do with out right now." She pulled out on of her many potions journals and flicked it open to a page filled with theories and recipes. "Could you look over the four potions in there for me?" She asked glancing up at him. "I am trying to make a good dreams potion that will keep nightmares at bay but promote good dreams that will last for at least six hours."
"May I ask why? It sounds like a good idea…"
"I'm trying to make it for Draco and Harry so at least they can get some sleep." She sighed. "The last lot I made did work but only lasted for three hours and that is not enough for them to be able to survive on, and I dare not give them dreamless sleep unless I absolutely have to."
"Good thinking." He nodded in understanding. "How is it that they aren't looking exhausted?"
"Harry has a little control over wandless magic, he uses it for glamour's. At the moment he is using it on himself and Draco so they won't worry any one, but I can feel their exhaustion, it's getting worse every day to the point they are getting desperate for a few hours of sleep." She explained sounding tired herself. "I have been trying for nearly a year to get the recipe right…"
"And now you know that you need a fresh pair of eyes and a new perspective." He nodded in understanding. "To be truthful I have been trying for something like this for years and come up with nothing…at least you have a few that work partially." He admitted sounding a little impressed. "Have you tried giving them the partial working one and soothing them for a few hours after it wares off?" He asked as he continued reading. "It would do for a short while."
"I have, and it did work for a few hours but they would need to spend the night in my room, so no else is effected and some how I don't see Molly agreeing to letting two boys sleeping in my room for the night." She nodded sounding a little frustrated. "I tried to get her to agree to it last night, but she wouldn't listen past the point of my wanting then to sleep in my room and jumped to the wrong conclusion."
"Well I authorise it, I'll even play bloody chaperone if I have to." He scowled. "I'll have to think on these for awhile…I agree with you theories and agree with your notes that there is something missing but I am not sure what." He looked up startled as the gong went off again. "What in the bloody hell was that?"
"That is my lunch alarm." She grinned at him. "Albus installed it last night, it goes off at every meal when I am in here and again at one in the morning to remind me to go to bed." She chuckled as his scowl deepened. "It's the same sound that my potion's teacher used to get my attention so I am used to hearing it and knowing that it means it's time to stop for a little while." She stirred one of the cauldrons before turning off the heat and then poured it out into tubs that had already been sterilised and set up and then set the cauldron down near the sink ready for cleaning and then slapped the lids on each tub that had already been labelled.
"You're not going up for lunch?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, Molly already knows that I won't be up until dinner." She shook her head. "I told her I was working on potions all day, but the true reason is to stay away from Ron before hex him and get into trouble."
"Some one had better do it or I will" Snape growled under his breath before disappearing up the stairs once more.
"Give it time and some one will." Niya shook her head turning her attention back to her cauldrons humming a song under her breath as she worked ladling out the potions in to the correct containers before stacking the dirty cauldrons near the large sink on the far side of the room for the next trouble maker to clean and sat down, pulling out several journals, quills and ink and began reworking some of her theories, and updating her potions journal on what she had been working on that day.
"Afternoon Niya" She looked up at the greeting and gave the twins a small smile and chuckled at their dismayed cries at how the dirty cauldrons were breeding, just to spite them.
"Afternoon George, Fred." She returned to her writing before getting up and checking the last cauldron that she had left to steep. "Any chance of you getting another helper?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she heard arguing coming from upstairs.
"More then likely." They chuckled evilly as they pulled on their dragonhide gloved and began scrubbing. "Ron is really asking for it. He has done nothing but antagonise nearly every one today." Fred added frowning at one of the cauldrons.
"Even had a go at Remus a little while ago, some thing about buy sweets for Harry and not for him." George added with a shake of his head. "Don't know what is wrong with him really…"
"Hmm…" Niya frowned looking up at the ceiling where she could feel the most emotions coming from.
"You going to be doing any more brewing?" Fred asked, looking as if he was serious hoping she would answer no.
"Yes I will be as soon as those ones are clean and dry." She nodded distractedly, as she opened her senses a little more. Slowly she stood and made her way up to the main floor and followed the sounds of the sound scolding that Ron was currently getting from his mother. She stood just out of their view and studied the youngest Weasley boy with her barriers around her empathy down completely sensing that something was off with the boy, She just wasn't sure what it was.
"Honestly Ronald, what is wrong?" Molly demanded. "You have been whining, sniping and growling at every one for the last three days." Her fists propped up on her hips and a disapproving looking etched deeply on her face.
"I don't know." He yelled back, then his face slowly paled as he realised he had just yelled at his mother and shank back a little from her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout…" He murmured running his hands through his hair. "I don't know what is wrong." He continued sounding very frustrated. "No one has told me why Malfoy is here, Harry won't talk to me, I don't even understand about Niya…"
"Draco was disinherited by his father after some fight they had, Harry and Niya trust him and that is more then enough for everyone here." Molly glared at him.
"Why? Why is it enough?"
"Because she is an empath and a very good healer." Molly sighed and dropped her arms from her hips. "Her father was a good friend of the families, we haven't seen her in years." She studied her son for a moment. "You really don't know why you are upset do you?"
"No I don't" Ron sighed.
"Have you eaten any of Harry's little chocolate biscuits?" Niya asked as she suddenly walked forward watching him carefully, before reaching out a hand and ran it an inch away from his skin from his forehead to his stomach.
"Umm…yeah he left some sitting on his bedside table." Ron flushed a little.
"Oh Ron…" Niya sighed pinching her nose. "How many and when?"
"Two days ago and only three." He looked at her a curious look on his face.
"Those cookies that you seem to like so much were specially made for Harry by me." She shook her head and flipped open her thigh case and pulled out a thick grey vial of potion. "They were made to stop making him grumpy in the morning after a bad night of not sleeping or to help him sleep, by changing his mood to something a little more pleasant." She handed it to him. "Drink it once you get to a bathroom, it will detox your system and get the potion out of your system." She glared at him. "Hopefully this will teach you not to eat food that doesn't belong to you and wasn't offered."
"How long?" Molly asked her looking a little concerned.
"A few hours before he feels a little better after drinking that, it'll be another day or two before he is back to normal though." She sighed. "I'll talk to Haz and let him know that he had better put his cookies out of sight." She shook her head and headed up the stairs following the bond that she had with Harry to find him. "Haz?" She knocked on his bedroom door and slipped into the room and smiled as she found both the boys once again curled up on the bed.
"Need something?" Harry asked sounding sleepy.
"Just to ask you to hide your cookies that I make for you." She gestured to the tin sitting on the bedside table. "Apparently Ron has been into them hence his bad moods for the last couple of days."
"Well that does explain that." Harry sighed as he sat up, placed the lid on the tin and then tucked it away under the mattress.
"How did you two sleep last night?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Better then we have in awhile." Draco admitted cuddling back up to Harry as he slid back into the bed. "Did you do something new to the potion?"
"No." She shook her head with a small smile. "I joined you for a few hours last night." She chuckled as they both just blinked tiredly at her. "I had a small theory that maybe the bond that we all share was a little strained from being so far apart for so long and then to have the traumas on top of it…it strained it a bit too much. So every few hours I will be joining you two in sleep, just to see what happens." She studied them both carefully. "If things get a little easier I'll have to monitor the bond more carefully in the future."
"It could be the cause." Draco nodded resting his head on Harry's shoulder. "We don't actually know much about this bond, so it could be apart of some of our problems."
Niya nodded in agreement as she looked around the room frowning when she noticed something different and then spotted the Ron's things had been moved. "Ron not in here anymore?"
"Kept complaining about being woken up…" Harry grinned slowly. "Hey we aren't going to complain, Remus even put up silencing spells so the rest of the house wouldn't get disturbed by our strange sleeping patterns and what not."
"Hmm I see you two getting into trouble in the near future." Niya chuckled with a short shake of her head. "Just remember that no one knows that you two are more then friends." She warned them as she stood. "I'll be up in a few hours, most likely with Professor Snape as Molly blew her top at the very thought of me being in here with two boys unaccompanied." She wrinkled her nose. "He is going to play chaperone while I see if I can calm the bond and work on the potion."
"Are you getting enough sleep?" Harry asked in concern opening one of his eyes pinning her with a one eye glare.
"I've been getting between three and six hours." She shrugged. "That's pretty good for me." She grinned at them as she stood up and kissed them both on the forehead. "Are you two going to eat?"
"We ate dinner two hours ago, Niya." Draco chuckled.
"Damn…that means my dinner gong didn't get my attention." She frowned as she walked out of the room and trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen and chuckled as Molly pointed sternly at a seat and set a large plate of food down in front of her.
"I take it that the gong didn't get your attention for dinner?" Albus asked with a small chuckle.
"It did this morning but I must have been too deep in thought to hear it for dinner." She sighed. "with all luck Ron's little mood swings have been taken care off."
"Thank Merlin for that." Remus growled. "I was ready to hex him."
"You and every one else." Niya scowled. "He ate something that didn't below to him nor did he ask and it had a potion baked into it…it obviously didn't agree with him, he should be at this very moment be throwing up to get it out of his system." She caught Severus's satisfied smirk out of the corner of her eye. "He should be fine in a few days as his moods readjust, hopefully he will ask before eating something that was just left out."
"Is he going to be hungry when he is done?" Molly asked looking a little concerned as she glanced towards the door.
"No, he wont be hungry for another nine hours, anything in his stomach will make him nauseous. He'll only be able to drink water and mild tea until breakfast tomorrow." Niya shook her head. She turned her attention back to her meal ignoring the rest of the talking going on around her as she pulled a journal out from one of her pockets and made a few notes on what Ron had done and how it had affected him and the treatment she had given.
"Niya." Albus's voice called for attention and she had a feeling that it wasn't the first time. She glanced up and saw him chuckling and looked back down to see that her dinner plate was gone and a bowl of what looked to have been pudding had been consumed along with a cup of tea.
"Yes sir?"
"Severus and Molly tell me that you wish to spend a few nights observing Harry and Draco, to see if you can fix a potion that you have been working on?" Albus questioned looking at her over his glasses.
"Yes sir." She nodded. "They both could use some more sleep and that is what this potion should be able to do with out taking their dreams away completely."
"Very well, for this purpose Ron has been moved in to another room so he will not disturb you while you are working." He nodded in understanding.
"What about a chaperon?" Molly demanded.
"I don't think will be necessary, she is after all a healer and an empath…" He ignored Molly's concerned look. "Niya is very responsible and I don't think that she will let the boys talk her into anything," Albus chuckled. "But if you insist Severus has offered to watch over them all."
"Give Ron this in his water when he comes down later." Niya handed over a vial with a thick clear fluid in it. "It will help him rehydrate" She stood. "There are a few things that I need before I settle down for the night watching Haz and Dray."
She hurried down to the lab and carried her blue trunk up to their room and settled down on a chair that had been placed in the corner of the room and pulled out a journal and a self inking quill. She left the trunk open just in case in a trance she felt the need to brew a potion up on the spot.
Haz and Dray were already sound asleep, dark circles around their eyes that seemed to have sunk into their skulls showing how bad things were actually getting.
"Any thing you need me to do?" Severus asked as he came into the room.
"A one way silencing charm around them would be good, so they can't hear us but we can hear them." She nodded as she made herself comfortable in the chair. "Other then that? Not much unless I ask for something so I hope you brought a nice thick book, this is basically going to be very boring." She shook her head.
"Will you be in a trance?"
"Yes." She nodded and leaned back in the chair, journal balanced on her knee and slowly lowered her barriers, wincing as all the emotions around the house crashed into her mind all at once and it took her a few minutes to block all but her two friends.
She concentrated on the bond that spread from her to them, going over every inch of it, checking for damage, strain or if it had maybe strengthened with out her knowing about it. Her hand absently took notes as she found that the bond was strained, more so then it had been with being apart for nine months.
The only thing that she could put down as a cause was the attacks that had happened and then her shock and grief with the death of her father and their near death experiences.
She frowned a little, she hadn't quiet realised at the time that either boy had been so close to death by the time she had made it to their side to heal the damage. She slowly strengthened the bond where it had become too thin and was causing some of the troubles they were having before focusing on the boys physical condition.
She was pleased to find that all the injuries were nearly completely healed and that they were getting enough to eat…so it wasn't a physical injury causing the problems.
Her hand jotted down her discoveries and her thoughts on them and adding what she was discarding as not important but took note of it any way just in case at a later date it did was pertinent to what was wrong.
"This is going to be a long night." She muttered not aware that she had spoken aloud and continued with her search.
Niya slowly came out of her trance as she felt both boys wake from their peaceful slumber and blinked a few times to get her eyes to focus and saw with a small smile that she had taken at least ten pages worth of notes. She glanced to her right and saw that Severus was slowly waking as well from the doze he had fallen into.
She stretched slowly and placed the journal into her trunk with out saying a word and Severus stood and floated her trunk back down to the lab with a small nod. She made sure that every thing was limber before even trying to stand so not to cause any cramping. She gave the boys a encouraging smile as they smiled sleepily at her, she knew that they were enjoying waking slowly and not remembering nightmares that usually plagued their sleep.
"Take your time guys, it's only seven in the morning, breakfast wont be starting for another hour at the most." She told them softly before walking out of the room and made her way to her own room, dug through one of her trunks and pulled out a change of clothes and everything she need for the bathroom before entering the nearest bathroom and locked the door.
She enjoyed a nice long leisurely shower, letting her muscles relax in the heat before shutting off the water and dressing in comfortable jeans and a tight fitting sleeveless shirt. She pulled her hair in to high tail and braided the rest so it was out of the way.
She had just finished when some one pounded on the door rather rudely and Ron's voice demanded that who ever was in there to hurry up as they had been in far too long.
"Really Ron." She chided him as she opened the door and stepped out of the room. "There are three other bathrooms on this floor and another four on the ground floor, no need to be so rude." She chuckled as Ron flushed red and bolted into the room. Niya shook her head in amusement and dropped her dirty clothes off in her room before trotting eagerly down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Good Morning!" She chirped happily and sat down as Molly placed a plate food of food in front of her along with a mug of tea.
"Well you sure are in a good mood." Molly chuckled.
"I am." She nodded. "I think it is partly because Haz and Dray feel so good right now, they got a decent night sleep and feel a lot better. I also had a nice long relaxing shower and I think I know what is causing their problem." She explained before digging into the food, complementing Molly between bites.
"Well you are in a better mood then Severus is at least." Molly shook her head.
"He's just cranky because he has a crick in his neck." Niya shrugged as she gulped down most of her tea and held it out for a refill as most of the adult population entered the kitchen and got served their morning beverage.
"Morning" Albus greeted them all and raised an eyebrow at Niya's chirpy response. "I take it that you found out what was wrong with Harry and Draco and they are feeling much better."
"Yes sir." She nodded as she finished off her breakfast and pushed her plate out of the way and nursed her second cup of tea.
"And?" Severus growled from his seat, nursing his own cup.
"Don't snap at me, not my fault you fell asleep in that position." She glowered at him for a moment. "As far as I can tell there is two causes both of which are fixed and both are preventable so it doesn't happen again." She paused as she took a long drink. "The first was caused by hexes they were hit with, when and where I am not sure about but they were something like a nightmare inducer. I have removed the hexes and repaired the damage that they caused." She smiled at Remus as he offered a refill and gladly accepted.
"The second?" Remus asked as he sat back down.
"The bond we share." She sighed. "It was strained. First by the nine months apart and was only partly recovered by the meeting we had on the 2nd of July. Then I had the shock of learning my father was dead and losing myself for days and they couldn't get to me to help. Third by Dray's attack which very nearly killed him and fourth by Haz's attack which nearly killed him." She stared into her mug, her good mood slowly disappearing. "The week that we have spent here may have been enough to heal their bodies but it is going to take weeks of close contact for the bond to recover completely. I've strengthened the bond in places where it had become too weak and was close to snapping."
"I take it that would be bad?" Remus asked looking worried.
"Very bad." She nodded. "For all three of us, the only reason those two are still alive is because of the bond."
"How so?" Molly asked looking beyond worried.
"It doesn't matter right now." Niya shook her head. "If you need to know I will tell you but none of you don't need to know right now, the only person I will tell is Madame Poppy and that is because she is their mediwitch."
"That is reasonable." Albus nodded in agreement and gave Molly a signal to leave it alone.
"Sir I have a question about my doing magic out of school as I am not seventeen yet…" Niya said a little hesitantly.
"While you are not yet of age, you have graduated from your school, they have already put the paper work in and we are just waiting for the results." Albus assured her with an understanding smile. "For the moment you have what I guess you could call a guarded permission permit. As long as there is adults near by you have no fear of reprisals for using your magic."
"Well that will make my job a little easier when it comes to healing." Niya nodded a little bit of worry disappearing from her face.
"The little infirmary will be ready by tonight for you to go over and approve, and if you still want your room moved that can be done at the same time." Albus added with his eyes twinkling as the students began stumbling in sleepily.
"That would be easier for me." She nodded. "With the permit I'll be able to ward my own rooms as I am used to doing that." She emptied her mug again. "Let me know when the infirmary is finished and I'll go over it." She stood. "I need to go over the notes I made last night and see what I can make out of them." She excused her self with a small nod of her head and made her way back down to her lab.
Niya rubbed her eyes tiredly as she packed away her journals and the various pieces of parchment that were sterone around her.
She had been working on the notes that she had taken on Haz and Dray for hours and had found nothing physically that would cause their symptoms. The only things that she could really point to were the immense strain on the bond and the horrifying life of abuse that they had both lead.
The bond strain she could cure over time like she had hold Albus at breakfast. But the nightmares of abuse and torture that they had taken from family and Voldemort were going to take months if not years to fully heal.
She knew that if offered councillors they would refuse as they were both private people and really didn't think that they were worth the trouble it would take to keep everything under secrecy spells and all she could really do for them was to be there when they wanted to talk…true some of the time that they had come to her for help by talking things out she had been brewing and in a trance but the way she had been trained and the way her instincts worked, they still ended up with help…she just didn't remember a lot of it.
With a tired sigh she placed everything away in her trunk and made her way back up to the kitchen and smiled slightly as she found Haz and Dray in the kitchen talking over tea and Haz automatically held out a cup a tea for her as she sat down next to them.
"What time is it?" She asked around a yawn and shook her head to clear some of the fog out of her mind.
"One am" Dray chuckled. "You've been working for nearly fourteen hours straight on the data you go last night."
"I know a few people went down to talk to you" Haz smirked at her. "Molly came back up looking stunned and a little guilty, Albus and Remus came up looking thoughtful and Severus was glowering at anything and everyone."
"Oh dear." Niya blinked.
"For those who know Severus, know that glowering look as 'I've been told the truth but I don't want to admit it' look." Dray chuckled. "I really don't know what you said but Mrs Weasley has really cut down on the lockdown watch that she has had on all of us and doesn't demand that we clean every minute of the day."
"Intriguing." Niya murmured as she sipped at her tea. "So why aren't you two sleeping? I know you are tired enough and I know you haven't tried…" She glared at them.
"Well partly to tell you that the infirmary is done and only waiting your look over and that your bedroom has been moved to near the lab, it used to be a sitting room with a closed off study in the back." Dray replied with a small shrug.
"Kind of like a bedroom and lounge all in one, as you don't sleep much and Dumbledore thought you might like a small library to work in with out having to fend off every ones emotions all the time." Haz added.
"Thoughtful of him, I'll have to ward it before I get lost in anything else…" Her glared intensified at them. "Stop distracting me, why aren't you sleeping? With all the repairs I did to the bond last night you should be able to get a good nights sleep with the potion I left by your bed."
"We know, Ni, it's just that…" Haz nibbled on his bottom lip.
"It's just gotten to the point where you are afraid to sleep." Niya nodded in understanding. "It'll get better guys, I'll be stopping in during the nights to check on you until I know that you are both sleeping properly with out me…" She gulped down the last of her tea, stood and kissed them both on the forehead and hugged them. "Up to bed, I'll be up as soon as I ward my rooms." She ordered.
"Yes mum" Dray drawled.
"Funny Dray." She chuckled. "Just remember that you can join me at any time you need to."
"Thanks Ni." Haz kissed her cheek before leaving the kitchen with Dray a few steps behind her.
"And here we thought you were all the same age." Remus's soft voice came out of the shadows in the corner of the kitchen.
"Actually they are about three to six months older." She shrugged turning slightly to face him. "Dray in March and Haz in July." She tilted her head at him slightly. "You've been watching them?"
"Trying to figure out a small puzzle." He slowly came out of the shadows looking a little pale.
"What puzzle?" She frowned.
"How close they are, they seem closer then friends, even closer then brothers at times." He sighed.
"Of course they are." She smiled softly at him. "We are all bonded in an emotional bond that helps us help each other, we can feel each others emotions." She chuckled a little as he just continued to look at her as he sat at the table. "They have lived much the same life, Remus. That causes a bond as well, a bond of survivors."
"Are they seeing each other?" He asked bluntly.
"Some times." She nodded slowly.
"Like friends with privileges?" He asked with a small snort.
"Something like that." She laughed. "For comfort, for love, for reassurance. There are many reasons why they get together and many reasons why they break it off again but they will always be friends…it's a little complicated but it helps them through the rough patches that they go through and they understand each other perfectly." She shrugged. "It may very well come to a point where they will come together permanently or break it off to be only the best of friends. But for now it is what they need."
"You said something like that earlier." He muttered,
"I tend to tell nothing but the truth when in a trance and asked questions." She shook her head in amusement, "Trust me it is nothing harmful to them, it is actually something that is very good. When they are ready they will move on." She moved to the door. "If you will excuse me I have a room to ward, friends to check up on, an infirmary to go over, potions to check and a bed to fall into."
She left the room with Remus chuckled quietly behind her.