Remus's father Owen stood in front of the desk of an official-looking wizard. He had been speaking in quiet tones with him for quite some time now while the man wrote on a piece of parchment. Remus and his mother Rowena stood a step behind Owen. He felt her hand lying heavily on his right shoulder. It was springtime, and surprisingly warm inside the Ministry of Magic; but, as this was his first time here, and they had official business to conduct, his parents had insisted that he wear his nice shirt, tie, and dress robes. His face was slowly mending now; but his left shoulder was still bandaged, and he felt sweat running down his back underneath his hot robes. His parents were dressed up, and they were sweating, too, Remus noticed. His mother pinched his good shoulder, but Remus knew he shouldn't squirm or say anything.

The man behind the desk looked tired; his eyelids and the corners of his mouth drooped in a sour manner. He was very old, and partially bald, with shaggy white hair that stuck out behind his ears, making him look rather clownish. The man stared at Remus while he spoke to Owen and Rowena, and Remus looked back at him politely, even though the man never asked him any questions.

"Stand over there, please," rasped the man, pointing to a blank wall.

Remus's mother guided him to the wall and placed his shoulder blades firmly against it. She straightened his collar and smoothed his hair, her green eyes meeting his with the smallest twitch of a smile.

"All right, then. Smile, my sweet," she whispered quickly, backing away to stand next to his father. He saw Owen take her hand and grip it. Somehow Remus couldn't bring himself to smile as he stared at their clasped hands and their white knuckles.

POP! There was a quick burst of light, and moments later the wizard produced two photographs, in each of which a miniature Remus stood solemnly, looking around and blinking in a daze. The sour man magically duplicated the parchment upon which he had written, then he attached one photograph to each of the two stacks of parchment.

Rowena brought Remus back to sit on a hard chair between her and Owen. Another few minutes were spent while his parents answered more of the man's questions. Then all three of the adults signed several pieces of parchment in the two stacks.

"So … that's it for now?" Remus's father said in a peculiar tone. The unfamiliar expressions and voices his parents were using today made Remus feel anxious. "When do we see you again?"

"Come back in for another photograph just before its next birthday," the man replied.

Its. The word echoed in Remus's mind.

In an instant, Rowena clamped her hands over her son's ears. His father leaned across the desk and had nearly grabbed the man's robes in his outstretched hands.

"His name is Remus, you old bigot!" Owen muttered in a strangled voice, banging his fist on the desk. "HIS name!"

Remus could no longer see the man behind the desk, but Remus's mother was now crying over his head, "How dare you? How DARE you?" He felt her body shaking, her breath coming in shuddering gasps as her hands pressed painfully over his ears.

A man in some sort of uniform came into the room and bustled the three out, and soon they were back on the street, a copy of the sour man's paperwork thrust into his father's hands. The parchment rustled and rapped with each huge stride his father took, taking them farther and farther from the Ministry of Magic. His mother practically had to run to keep up. Remus's parents didn't speak for several blocks, nor did they attempt to hail the Knight Bus right away. Even though he was really too old at seven to be carried, Remus knew that he shouldn't argue with his mother just now. He watched over her shoulder as the orbs of the unlit street lamps bounced past them in the morning light, fading one by one into the distance as the family marched aimlessly up and down the strangely deserted side streets of London.

Remus opened his eyes drowsily, the familiar feeling of dread still lingering. Peeking through the bed curtains, he saw that the sun was just coming up. The breathing of his dorm mates was still heavy and even, and Remus envied them their slumber. He sat up on his elbows and blearily watched the owls coming home from an evening of hunting.

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Over breakfast, Remus quietly told James, Sirius, and Peter all about his strange experience with Adelaide Honeyduke, beginning with the story of Fenrir Greyback and his parents. His friends sat wide-eyed and cursing when he described the effects of "the latest research," and they grew somber when he reported that Voldemort, in his pursuit of power, might somehow be using Fenrir to advance his dark cause.

"And Honeyduke said that Voldemort had somehow gotten another werewolf to attack Fenrir when he was seven. I wonder if Voldemort's gotten some of the werewolves to follow him. I know he's working on the giants; that's common knowledge."

The other boys nodded. Everyone was reading every bit of news and rumor that they could get their hands on.

"Remus, we've got to do something!" James burst in an undertone, his brow furrowed. "We can't just sit here. More and more people are being bitten by werewolves these days, and you know it's not a coincidence."

Remus had to agree with James. He looked at Sirius, who was leaning on his elbows across the table. "Are you with us?" Remus asked him.

"Hell, yes!" he whispered, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Peter?"

"Of course. I'm with you," Peter replied quickly, his small eyes darting toward each of his friends.

Remus nodded. "All right. Good. I've got to do some more digging to find out where Fenrir might have gone. Something is telling me that we've got to get into the Greybacks' house."

He couldn't believe he was saying all of this; subterfuge seemed more the penchant of James and Sirius. But he had a gut feeling that there was evidence in the manor that had been overlooked by Ministry officials, if they had even examined the place at all.

"Just tell us what to do, mate," James said, his eyes locked seriously on Remus's. Remus returned the gaze and was sorry that he had snapped at him last night in the bathroom.

"Thanks, Prongs," Remus smiled. "Give me a couple of days."

Just then, the morning owls swooped down on the breakfast tables, bringing mail and newspapers to their waiting recipients. A copy of the Daily Prophet was plopped on the table in front of James; he shared his subscription with the other three boys. Opening it, James scanned the front page as he leaned back on two legs of his chair. While his friend read, Remus chewed his last few bites of bacon and wiped his mouth on his napkin. Peter had pulled out some homework he hadn't finished last night, and now he tried to think of some intelligent-sounding filler to add to his last foot of parchment; in desperation, his scrawl became larger the further down the page he went. Sirius downed his coffee and proceeded to finish tying his tie, crouching down and using an empty goblet as a mirror. James's paper rustled as he turned the page.

"Hello, what's this?" James mumbled, his eyes narrowing as he stared at page three. His chair clunked back down on all four legs and he brought the paper closer to his nose to read it.

"What?" Peter asked, leaning across the table to see.

On the front page, Remus saw another two deaths in the headlines. There had been so many in the past year that James didn't even bother reading these out loud for the group anymore unless it was someone they had heard of or knew personally.

"In broad daylight … " James whispered, chewing on his lip.

"What is it?" Peter repeated.

"Two people abducted from St. Mungo's yesterday," James muttered. Remus thought he saw his friend's hands trembling as he held the paper. "The paper doesn't mention that they were werewolves. What the hell …"

Sirius quickly stood behind James's chair and peered over his shoulder. "Five hooded Death Eaters entered, blah blah blah …"

"Werewolves?" Remus breathed, realization settling on him like a cold fog.

"Bloody hell," Sirius swore, snatching the paper from James's shaking hands. "It's the two we looked after over Christmas!" His eyes met Remus's. "Araminta Drury and Tristan Kimball are missing."