Picking Up The Pieces Chapter Fifteen Laughing Fits and Hugs All Around --
"This place was as cold as a tomb. Hope you don't mind I put a fire on." Sirius said, grinning.
Harry couldn't speak. He actually couldn't make his brain form words.
Hermione stepped forward tentatively.
"Sirius...where have you been? What happened?" She dropped to her knees beside him.
"That's the best welcome I get?" Sirius laughed.
Harry swallowed hard, feeling tears forming in his eyes from sheer surprise.
"From my own godson?" Sirius got to his feet, crossing to Harry.
Harry looked up at him, Sirius' dark eyes reflecting the light from the fire, his mouth curving into that knowing grin that always made Harry want to smile back. Sirius looked thin and gaunt again, but there wasn't the darkness that had hung over his eyes when Harry had first met him.
And suddenly, not knowing what came over him, Harry hugged him tightly.
Sirius put his arms around Harry, and just held him for a moment.
Harry felt the tears break the surface, and so he quickly stepped away from Sirius.
"I thought you were gone." He said quietly, absently wiping the tears off his cheeks.
"You should've known I'd find a way back. I did
promise your parents I'd look out for you after all"
Sirius said,
Harry nodded, unsure of what he could say that could possibly convey the effect Sirius' "death" had had on him.
"So what did happen to you?" Hermione interjected again, always one to want to go straight to explanations.
Sirius smiled at her, sitting down in the closest armchair, lazily throwing one long leg over the other.
"Well, after I'd fallen through the curtain, I thought
it was over. Everything was dark. Nothing really
happened...I just lay there for awhile...it felt like
I'd fallen a long distance. I thought, if this is the
afterlife, it's not really worth all the fuss people
make about it. That's when I realized there were other
people in there...I could never see their faces, but I
started talking to them. They told me that the curtain
is almost like a Portkey- if you fall through it,
you're transported to this...sort of prison where
Voldemort keeps people he wants the world to believe
dead. He uses them to test new curses,
potions--anything he or his cronies think of."
Hermione let out a little horrified gasp at this.
Sirius took no notice, and continued.
"Once a month, a Dementor came in and took one of us out at a time. We were fed and given water, but nothing else. So there wasn't much to do but talk to each other. They told me stories about people who hadn't been killed by the experiments, who were returned back...how they were just hollow shells of a person, empty and emotionless. Some of them wouldn't even speak anymore...or eat. They'd just waste away until they died, and then they'd be removed. This whole time, I was planning my escape. To myself, of course. I figured if I could escape Azkaban, I could escape whatever this place was."
"And you did?" Hermione said, sitting crosslegged on the ground in front of him.
"Well, yeah. My turn finally came around, the Dementor
took me out, I transfigured into Padfoot, and
high-tailed it out of there. It wasn't that
difficult--it was just some ancient old castle I was
in...pretty easy to lose someone, especially if you're
a dog and can fit in tight spaces. Dementors can only
track humans...they feel vibrations of human emotions,
and follow them. They couldn't find me, and by the
time they reported my escape to Voldemort, I was long
gone."
"Why couldn't I talk to you in the mirror?" Harry demanded.
"I wasn't anywhere near mine, Harry. It's kind of like a Muggle telephone...I have to be close enough to mine to hear you calling. Which is incidentally, how I found you two."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, seemingly mortified her tracking potion had failed.
"My side of the mirror can find Harry's wherever it is, and vice versa. Voldemort must have made the prison Unplottable, or else it would have led you to me. You must have taken it with you, because it led me here." Sirius explained.
"Yeah...yeah, I did. I started taking it most everywhere with me." Harry said softly, motioning to his trunk.
Hermione looked at him questioningly.
"I just thought...maybe...I should have it around"
Harry said lamely, not wanting to explain how often he
had checked the mirror when he was alone.
He hadn't ever actually expected Sirius to come back though.
It still hadn't quite sunk in that his godfather was here, sitting within arm's reach.
"So are you all right?" Hermione asked gently.
"I'm fine. Never been better." Sirius interlocked his fingers, leaning his head back against them casually.
"Really?" Hermione looked skeptical.
"Yes, really. I escaped, I found you two...which, by the way, where's Ron?"
Harry and Hermione shared a painful look.
"We lost him when we went to the Malfoy Manor"
Hermione said softly.
"What on earth were you doing at Malfoy Manor?" Sirius looked confused.
Harry began to explain their journey.
--
Narcissa Malfoy sat next to one of the windows in the old, decaying castle Voldemort was using as his temporary residence.
"Mum?" Draco entered the room, looking confused.
She looked up, smiling widely, her white teeth blinding.
"Darling!" She got to her feet, pulling Draco against her chest and embracing him tightly.
Draco laughed slightly, stepping away.
"Let me breathe, mum. Snape told me you were here.
How'd they get you out of custody?"
"Long story, dear. Look at you." She held his face in her hands, so happy to see him that she felt rather dizzy.
Her son, her precious boy, was safe. All because of Severus.
"I look the same as always." Draco rolled his eyes.
"No, you just...look so old. It just hit me all of a sudden. You're really an adult now, Draco."
"Not quite. I don't turn seventeen for a few months"
Draco sighed.
"You know what I mean." Narcissa ruffled his blond hair, still as soft as it had been when he was a baby.
"MUM." He hit her hand away, blushing slightly.
His mother had always been very affectionate with him,
and the older he got, the more it annoyed him. At
least no one was around to see him.
"Isn't this touching." Severus said from the doorway.
Draco turned, thinking he was being cruel, but then seeing a slight smile on Snape's face.
How odd. He had never seen Snape even come near smiling, unless he was mocking Potter. But this looked different. Genuine. Not malicious. It was unnerving.
"Severus, I think the Dark Lord was pleased with our suggestion." Narcissa smiled back.
"Of course he was. It was brilliant." Snape shrugged,
crossing to them.
She giggled, her hand on Severus' arm as she laughed.
Draco suddenly felt immensely uncomfortable. Why should he? It was just his mum and his favorite professor, who, from how they were acting, were old friends. He guessed he'd never really seen them around each other, and it was always strange when parents and teachers had friends and lives outside of Draco himself.
"What suggestion?" He chimed in.
They both looked at him as if just remembering he was there, the congenial mood between them suddenly gone.
How unfair. And his mum had been so happy to see him it was humiliating only moments earlier.
"Nothing, dear." Narcissa said, clearing her throat.
"Nothing of importance, Draco." Severus said, his smile fading as he put his hands in the pockets of his robes.
"Just wondering." Draco muttered, wishing he could think of some reason to get out of here.
The three stood there in awkward silence for a moment.
"Doesn't Draco look older, Severus?" Narcissa finally said, weakly attempting conversation.
Snape made a noncommital noise.
Draco clapped his hands together, rocking back on his heels.
"Well, I'll let you two catch up."
"Where are you going?"
"Check on the Weasels." Draco shrugged, walking off,
and closing the heavy wooden door behind him.
Narcissa and Snape stood there for a moment after he'd left, now even more unsure of how to act. It was the first time they'd been alone together in some time.
"We should owl our contact. Make sure the plan went off all right." Severus finally said.
"Yes, we should." She said, a little irritated that THAT was what he wanted to talk about.
Severus looked down at the floor.
She reached out, taking hold of his hand.
"I've missed you." She said quietly.
Severus stepped away, breaking contact between them.
"Not here, Narcissa. It's not the time."
"I didn't mean we should---I've just missed you." She said, feeling a little embarrassed.
Snape nodded.
"We'll talk about this some other time."
"When? When Draco comes back?" She asked sarcastically.
"No. When there's absolutely no chance of him walking in and hearing the truth. Can you imagine what that would do to him?"
Narcissa sighed.
"Fine. I'll owl the contact."
She walked off towards the door, trying to pull it open.
"You look good, though." Snape said to her back with a slight trace of awkwardness, as though trying to make up for brushing her off.
"After seventeen years, that's the best you can do?
Now I remember why you're such a lady killer." She
looked at him, smiling slightly as she finally got the
door open.
She waited for a moment. Snape didn't reply.
She rolled her eyes, leaving.
--
"Tonks and Shacklebolt haven't reported in?" Demetrius walked around the office, seeing both of their desks empty.
His assistant shook her head.
Suddenly, one of the Aurors, a tall Indian woman named Shoreh, came bursting out of the holding cells with an ear splitting scream.
"Kingsley's dead! And Narcissa Malfoy's gone!" She shouted for everyone to hear, terrified.
Words of "breach within the Ministry" and "could have been one of our own" echoed through the shocked office.
Demetrius raced into the holding cell rooms, seeing Kingsley spread-eagled on the ground, motionless.
"The Killing Curse." Demetrius said under his breath,
rolling Kingsley over to see that there wasn't a mark
on him.
"Whoever did this could have gone after Tonks as well." Demetrius' assistant said shakily.
Demetrius buried his head in his hands, his brain going a million miles a second. No one could kill an accomplished Auror this easily other than a Death Eater.
Or a fellow Auror, some horrible voice in his brain spoke.
"Contact her friend...that Remus man. See if he's seen her lately." He told his assistant, trying to keep his cool.
"I think they had a bit of a falling out-" His rather gossipy assistant whispered.
"JUST DO IT!" Demetrius snapped.
--
"This whole captive thing is more boring than you'd think." Ginny sighed, lying on her back, staring up at the gloomy midday clouds.
"No kidding." Ron yawned.
"You want to play a game?" Ginny rolled over onto her stomach, looking at her older brother hopefully.
"Are you serious?"
"Well, not if I'm keeping you from something." She grinned, the first time she'd smiled since being here.
"Fine. What kind of game?"
"Umm..."
"How about "Whose Going to Fail at Life the Most?"
Ron and Ginny looked over at Draco.
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"That wasn't even funny." She said.
"Not your best effort." Ron shrugged, as if pitying him.
"Sod off. At least I'm not imprisoned." He pointed out.
"Oh yeah, Malfoy, you could leave whenever you wanted,
right?" Ginny asked sarcastically.
Malfoy sputtered for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Ron and Ginny laughed, giving each other a high-five.
"We've shut him up at last." Ron snickered.
Draco merely glared, turning and leaving.
This abrupt exit made them only laugh harder. It
seemed absurd to be laughing in a glass prison cell,
but hey, their family made even the bleakest situation
look all right. Besides, there didn't seem to be in
any immediate danger. What was wrong with having a
laugh?
--
Lupin sat on a cliff outside the werewolf cave, lost in thought. The werewolves had recently moved, like a pack of animals, to a new location. Greyback had taken him back into the group, but seemed to be growing more and more suspicious of him.
He looked at the letter in his hands from the
Ministry. An owl had swooped by the cave, and Lupin
had recognized it as one of the tawnies usually used
by Ministry Post. He had followed it on a hunch to
this cliffside, and he'd been right. It was addressed
to him, telling him that Tonks had disappeared. No one
could find her after she had gone to meet with Snape,
and they wanted to know if he knew her whereabouts.
He had lost her. Just what he'd warned her would happen if he started to care about her. About bloody anyone.
Lupin had just totally blown the one relationship he had left that meant anything to him. He had just felt so tired, so inadequte that he couldn't even face her anger. And now it was over between them. And now she was gone...maybe even...
He couldn't even think it.
When he'd lost Sirius and found Tonks, he had promised himself to never let someone down again the way he felt he'd let down Sirius.
And now he'd done just that.
The memory of the look in her eyes when he'd turned to walk away wouldn't leave him alone.
What if that was the last time he ever saw her?
Lupin sighed heavily, leaning back on his elbows to
look up at the cloudy three quarter moon. Nearly time,
he thought to himself.
Suddenly, something was behind him.
Lupin turned, expecting one of his fellow werewolves.
He thought he'd heard something earlier.
But it was a stag...a glowing form of a stag.
Harry's Patronus.
"What is it?" He asked it, sitting up worriedly.
Harry and his friends had disappeared, he had heard people at the Ministry mention it when he had gone back there with Tonks.
They were hurt. They were in trouble. His mind started racing with a million horrible possibilites.
"Sirius." The Patronus said simply.
Lupin swallowed hard, confused.
"Excuse me?" He said shakily.
"Sirius is alive."
Lupin felt as though he was going to fall flat on his back. His arms started shaking.
"What do you mean?"
"Your friend is alive. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger require your assistance, if you'll follow me to a proper Apparition spot."
And the Patronus began to canter off.
Lupin jumped to his feet, not worrying about leaving,
not worrying about what it could cost him- if Sirius
was alive, he'd do anything to see him again.
He followed the Patronus, running as fast as he could.
Greyback stood a slight distance back, watching Lupin.
He chomped on his cigarette for a moment, laughing humorlessly. So the rumors were true. Lupin was in league with Harry Potter.
"Interesting." He snarled, throwing the cigarette to the ground and crushing it until the embers died.
--
A/N- Oh, Remus. You throw caution the wind and look
what happens. Next chapter- Remus and Sirius reunite,
and begin to help in the search for Ron and the
Horcruxes, Harry finds out Ginny's missing, Draco
plans his next great clever retort to really show Ron
and Ginny who's the cleverest, and Narcisssa and
Severus go on a date. To break Lucius out of jail.
Stay tuned...
And have a very Merry Christmas.