"Listen, Moony, you know Sirius won't apologize."
Peter had arrived first at the Room of Requirement. He had created a little pub of sorts, complete with low-backed wooden chairs, dark tables, and flickering light from the small oil lamps dotting the old, whitewashed walls. There were no windows. Exposed support beams divided the low, grubby ceiling; each thick chunk of wood could have been hundreds of years old, blackened by centuries of pipe smoke.
"I'm not expecting him to apologize," remarked Remus, placing the Marauder's Map on the grimy, round table. He had brought the map to avoid the five of them getting caught tonight because, frankly, he wouldn't have been surprised if Severus were now spying on them in earnest. He had also brought a World Wide Wizard map of England, and one of London, which he now tossed next to his map.
"And James is still pretty upset about you – well, about Lily getting bitten." Peter's voice followed Remus as he explored the room.
"I know. I don't blame him." Remus paced the perimeter of the pub briefly, then looked behind the bar where several bottles of firewhiskey waited. He balanced five squat glasses between his long fingers, grabbed a bottle, and returned to the table where Peter stood. "I'm not expecting either of them to apologize for pummeling Sniv – Severus. Or for taking his wand."
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Because I don't think they're going to."
"As long as they don't expect me to feel guilty for giving his wand back to him," Remus said shortly. "How can a student be expected to get by with no wand?" Remus didn't tell Peter that Severus had already bought another wand; his cheeks still stung when he thought about their little exchange in the empty classroom.
Peter cleared his throat, nervously fingering the maps on the table. "Remus, I – I'm sorry I spied on you. James and Sirius – "
" – put you up to it, I know." Remus poured Peter a firewhiskey, then one for himself. "Just don't make a habit of it. It's not very becoming."
Peter smiled, his small eyes twinkling in the lamplight. "Right," he said. "Pretty is as pretty does, like me Mum always said."
Remus smirked and downed the firewhiskey as quickly as he could manage, making a horrible face as the stuff fumigated his sinuses and burned its way down his esophagus. He would need a little help getting through tonight; he was going to be in the same room with James and Lily, probably for several hours. Great Merlin, get me through this. He poured another.
"How did you find out about it anyway?" Peter asked. "The wand and everything, I mean. They didn't even tell me."
Remus was prepared for this question. "Ve have our vays of extracting information," he joked in his best guttural German Gestapo voice, tapping his nose and raising his glass. Whether we want to or not, he thought ruefully.
Just then Sirius and James burst into the room, pushing a library cart between them piled with Daily Prophet and Quibbler issues. Remus hoped that the others might spot something he had missed, so the boys had snuck the cart out of the library underneath James's invisibility cloak.
"Got over your little fit, Miss Moony?" Sirius needled.
Remus knew better than to let Sirius get under his skin; it would only egg him on. He swallowed his second firewhiskey, shuddering audibly as it scorched his epithelium once more. "Dandy as a rose," Remus retorted cheerfully.
"Then let's get to work," James said, shoveling the papers onto a long table near the wall.
"Priorities, priorities," Sirius reprimanded as he poured himself a firewhiskey. "I've got some catching up to do, apparently." He eyed Remus and cocked his head, reflecting for a moment. "That's a first."
"Hard week," Remus half-lied, replacing his glass on the table. James and Peter downed a glass each while Sirius poured himself a second and a third glass. "But we don't want to get too pissed. We do have work to do."
"If I am to work on a Friday night, you must ply me with drink," Sirius countered, smoothly knocking back his third shot.
Lily entered the room and closed the door quietly behind her. She wore a jade-colored jumper that positively illuminated her eyes, and her hair cascaded onto her shoulders. Remus had to forcibly stop himself from smiling when he saw her, and he hoped he wouldn't start blushing. Lily kept her eyes away from Remus as she briskly greeted everyone and took in the room. She placed her book bag on another small table and busied herself with taking some parchment and a quill and ink from her satchel.
James approached her and leaned against the wall. "How's the bite?" For once he didn't run a hand through his hair when he spoke to her.
"Getting better. It's just a bruise now." Over James's shoulder, Lily's eyes flitted to Remus for a split second. She began to blush.
Remus felt his cheeks prickle in response. He quickly picked up the map of England and turned his back on his companions, pacing the room as he pretended to peruse the area around London. Lily had only just arrived. How on earth was he going to make it through tonight? Two shots of firewhiskey had given him a pleasant, mild buzz; but they did nothing to stop the pounding of his heart. He didn't dare drink more or he might become sloppy, speak to Lily too often, stare at her for too long …
In an attempt to tune out James's and Lily's hushed conversation, he abruptly steered himself toward the piles of newspapers and called for Sirius and Peter to join him. The three of them sat around the table and began shuffling through the issues together, reading aloud passages that referenced the Greybacks. James and Lily were now hunched over the maps at the other table, and Remus valiantly kept his gaze away from them.
"So you've already checked the Floo network?" Peter asked.
"Yes," said Remus. "Twice."
"And the wizard registry at the Ministry of Magic?" pressed Sirius.
"Of course," Remus sighed in exasperation. "Nothing there. It's as if the house never existed."
"And the Ministry records of the murders?"
"Yes," Remus snapped. "But I can't snoop around too much without calling attention to myself. It was a huge cover-up, remember? And before you ask again, yes, we've all checked the Ministry's werewolf registries near us – my parents, you, James, Peter, my grandparents … The man has disappeared."
"Touchy, touchy," Sirius chastised. "This week has been a veritable Remus rollercoaster. First we had Mopy Remus. Then, oh joy of joys, Raging-slash-Maniacal Remus. And now we have the unparalleled pleasure of Surly Remus. You need another drink, my friend."
Remus took a deep breath and steadied himself. Being near James and Lily at the same time was agitating him, and he had no desire for his Legilimency to flare up right now. He accepted the firewhiskey when Sirius thrust it at him. James and Lily approached the table and began picking through the papers. Not for the first time, James was sitting entirely too close to Lily; but Remus could say nothing. He threw back the shot and growled involuntarily. "Sorry," he muttered.
"Whoever this girl is," Sirius began blandly, "you need to ask her out."
Not this again. Remus's eyes nearly darted toward Lily, but he somehow he forced them remain on the pile of periodicals in front of him. He felt himself blinking rapidly and tried to keep his face blank. James, of course, dropped his Quibbler and began to smile the moment he heard Sirius teasing Remus. Lily opened a Daily Prophet and hid behind it.
"So who is this mystery vixen who's got you moping around?" James prodded, his lopsided grin inching its way up one cheek. Peter scooted his chair closer and grinned expectantly.
"It's no one," Remus replied. "I mean – she's not no one, she's … I mean, there's – it's – I'm not moping around, damn it!"
"You are such a bad liar," Sirius smirked. But his eyes were dead serious, and dangerous. "There must be some reason you haven't asked her out. Has she got the plague?"
"Come on, lay off, Sirius," Remus mumbled.
"Is she as painfully shy as you?"
"No. Now why don't we get back to work – "
James snickered, enjoying the banter, delighting in watching Remus squirm. This was Sirius's specialty, finding ways to make Remus blush; he was like a dog with a bone, unwilling to let go, and Remus was often an easy target when it came to girls. But Remus was beginning to think that this was more than Sirius's usual cut-and-thrust. Sirius picked at his fingernails delicately, avoiding Remus's stare.
"At the risk of sounding, oh, I don't know, gentlemanly … is she already spoken for?" His eyes, steely and full of meaning, bored into Remus's.
Lily tossed the paper down, her face impassive though her voice was sharp. "Don't let me interrupt the feeding frenzy, but I have a question for you all."
Remus could have kissed her.
"Yes, love?" Sirius asked innocently, turning his face to her.
"Is there a way to get into Hogsmeade without being seen? Specifically, a way into Honeydukes Sweetshop?"
"Is there ever!" Peter said, leaping up and grabbing the Marauder's Map. "We've been there loads of times already."
"What have you got in mind?" James asked.
Lily spread the blank map over the newspapers. "How does this thing work?"
Remus stood with her, facing her across the long, narrow table. "Point your wand at it and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' Sirius came up with the password."
Lily tilted her head and smiled down at the parchment, not daring to raise her eyes to Remus's. She drew her wand and uttered the password: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The map burst into life, and Remus felt a flutter of pride as he watched Lily's face brighten. She touched the map gingerly, laughing softly as different parts of the castle came into view. She cried out when she saw Professor McGonagall in her bathroom. "This is brilliant," Lily whispered.
Remus flushed. "My granddad helped me – "
"Shut up, Remus," James corrected, shoving his shoulder. "It is brilliant. Take some credit for once, you pathetic old tosser."
Now all five stood huddled around the map. Peter pointed out the secret passage to Honeyduke's through the statue of the humpbacked witch. Lily looked at each of the boys in turn, smiling mischievously. At last she brought her gaze to Remus, her eyes burning there for the briefest of glances.
"Let's go," she said. She folded the map and strode out of the room.
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you going to tell us why we're going to Honeyduke's?" Remus asked once they were all safely inside the passageway.
"It's just a thought," Lily replied. "But it might be worth checking out."
"What's worth checking out?" James trotted up next to her on the right.
"How old was Fenrir when he was bitten?" Lily asked Remus, who remained on her left.
"Seven," Remus replied.
"Aha," Lily said quietly. And she began walking faster.
"What?" Peter called from behind Sirius.
But Lily didn't respond. The boys hurried to keep up. After several long minutes of walking in silence, at last they reached Honeyduke's. It was dark inside, and eerily quiet as they crept through the storage room.
"Lumos," muttered Lily, lighting the tip of her wand. "Where is the office?"
"I don't know," said Remus. "Maybe upstairs?"
They found a small door behind the counter. Sirius opened it with an Alohomora Charm. Inside was a large wooden desk with some piles of paperwork on it – order forms, bills, pay stubs for employees and delivery people. A framed portrait of Madam Honeyduke hung on the wall over the desk. She dozed quietly, her snores buzzing through the room. Remus silently pointed at the portrait and mouthed, "That's Adelaide Honeyduke." The others stared at the portrait for a few moments. Remus wondered again whether the lady had actually died peacefully in her sleep, as the papers had said.
"Er, not to state the obvious," Peter began in a whisper, "but why don't we just ask her where the house is?"
"What, after we explain why we've broken into her shop in the middle of the night, or before?" James whispered back.
Sirius nodded. "I hear that Azkaban isn't nearly as glamorous as people say it is."
On the opposite wall was a long set of file cabinets. Lily went straight to the drawer marked with a "G" and opened it.
"Ta-da!" she intoned quietly. "Greyback. The last thirty years." She whipped out a thick file and turned to face the others with a look of victory on her face. Remus grinned at her. This woman was fantastic.
She sat on the floor and opened the file, carefully turning each page face down after she glanced at it. The boys gathered behind her, hands on knees, wands lit so that they all could see more easily.
"These Greyback people had some pretty big parties early on," Lily observed. The handwriting on each order form was a small, round cursive; and the signature at the bottom of each page was the same: Adelaide Honeyduke. In the middle of each form, there was a red handstamp: Delivery. Underneath each red stamp, there was another scrawled name; it was probably the delivery person's signature. There were dozens of orders for sweets galore to be delivered to a house whose name had been blotted out at the top in dark, magical ink. Page after page, the same dark blot. It was unreadable even when held up against the light of a wand, and no spell would wipe the ink from the page.
"What year was Fenrir bitten?" Lily asked.
Remus thought for a moment. "1952."
Lily quickly paged ahead and flipped through more forms. The orders were fewer now, requesting smaller batches of sweets, chocolates, and candies to be delivered to the unknown address. Only one or two modest deliveries per year were requested now. The same cursive signature approved each delivery, and the same scrawled name appeared under each Delivery stamp.
Until the twenty-fourth of November, 1954.
Perhaps the usual deliveryman was out sick that day. On that day in November, a new, angular signature appeared underneath the stamp. Lily turned the form over. There was writing on the back, in the same, squarish handwriting as the unfamiliar signature's: No. 9 Old Norn Way, Manchester. Merzi, etc.
"Yes," Lily breathed.
Remus sat down on the floor, hardly daring to believe that Lily, after all his months of searching, had found the address in one night. She glanced at Remus and smiled.
"There's the location," James said, leaning over her head. "But what's this 'merzi' thing?"
"A misspelling of the French for 'thank you,' maybe – merci?" mused Remus.
The group was silent for a moment, considering.
"Could it be a plant, or an herb?" Lily wondered. "Maybe a potion would enable the visitor to see or enter the house."
All was quiet once more.
"It couldn't be a Fidelius Charm," reasoned Remus. "The person who wrote this was a deliveryman. The Greybacks wouldn't have entrusted their secret with a deliveryman."
"I agree," Lily nodded. "They didn't need a completely secret hiding place if they were still getting shipments of sweets on a regular basis. Sweets aren't exactly essential, are they?"
"Might be an incantation," offered James.
"Or a password," Sirius murmured. "And incomplete, from the looks of it. 'Et cetera.' Why the hell couldn't he have written the whole thing out?"
"I suppose he had to memorize it, like the other fellow before him," Peter offered.
"What sort of charm is this?" frowned Remus.
"We'll figure it out," Lily said firmly.
"There's no doubt in my mind," Remus said with sincerity. "How on earth did you think to check here?"
"Children love candy," said Lily, an impish grin on her lips. "Even children who are werewolves."
Remus smiled back. Suddenly he realized that the room had been dead quiet for several minutes; there was no snoring from Madam Honeyduke's portrait. He darted a glance toward the portrait, but her eyes had snapped shut.
----------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. Real life stuff (all good, thankfully!) has gotten in the way. I am indeed planning to finish this story, as long as there is at least a handful of people who are interested in seeing how it ends.
This week's bribe: All who leave a review can raid the Honeydukes chocolate counter with the Marauder of your choice!