Chapter 8

"He's gotten himself into quite the bit of trouble, hasn't he?"

Remus turned in surprise to his old Head of House as she suddenly broke the silence.

They were a floor below Dumbledore's office, and so far, had walked along the corridors together with a companionable quietness.

"Harry?" He asked, but McGonagall shook her head, "No... Well... I suppose he has as well, actually. Probably the cause of it, in fact".

"Minerva?" Remus questioned, confused, and she glanced over at him before sighing, "Alex Rider. Fighting all those Death Eaters at the Leaky Cauldron... And Harry fighting alongside him, no less".

He came to an abrupt stop.

"You know Alex?!"

She frowned and turned to face him properly, "The boy did not tell you?"

"Well, to be honest, he hasn't actually told us much. Siri and I only met him last night, and then we left early this morning at about eight, so we didn't see him then either".

She gave a somewhat-knowing smile, "Oh, don't worry Remus, you may not have seen him this morning, but he most definitely saw you... Alex doesn't particularly like to sleep, and he was always a bit of an early riser anyway".

The werewolf frowned, "Minerva... How, exactly, do you know him?"

She sighed, "Alex was… is… quite a unique boy, Remus".

"I heard" He replied softly, "I saw him in the Ministry after the war and dug around a little... I got approached by a rather important woman who explained the story to me... All the things he's done for this country… I honestly barely believed he even existed until yesterday evening".

She slowly nodded, "Yes, well, he's had more than his fair share of bad experiences, to put it mildly. More than even Harry himself, and that's saying something... And when we found him… Well, enough about that, it's a story for another time, perhaps. I believe Dumbledore will explain things much better than myself anyway. He is the one who introduced us after all…"

"Come in".

Opening the door, McGonagall ushered Remus inside, before stepping in herself, and placing a strong silencing charm on the room.

That simple action alone, was enough to put Remus on edge.

"Ah, Mr Lupin, I'm afraid it's been too long" Dumbledore said cheerily, "You are well, I hope? And Mr Black? Still getting up to mischief, as usual? He always did have a talent for quite the eccentric jokes".

Remus smiled, "Yes, Headmaster, we're all fine. And Sirius has been doing his fair share of pranking recently, so I believe that he has never been better".

"Good, that's good" He replied, before gesturing towards the seat in front of his desk, "Please, sit. I have a feeling I know why you're here".

"It seems that everyone does" the Werewolf replied, "But I am still at loss as to how".

And suddenly, the Headmaster grew weary.

"You have not yet seen the paper, have you, my boy?"

Remus frowned, "The paper? What has the paper got to do with anything?"

Sighing, Dumbledore picked up the Daily Prophet from his desk, and handed it to him.

And there, across the front page were the words:

'BOY WHO LIVED NO LONGER MOST POWERFUL?'

Remus stared, slowly reaching forwards and picking up the paper, quickly glancing through the article.

Below the title there was a large moving photo of Harry and Alex side by side in the Leaky Cauldron, both with their arms outstretched, one with a wand, and one without.

Further down the page, there were two more photos, one of Alex squaring off Kingsley and the Minister all-but running away, and the other, Harry and Alex again, this time facing each other as they stood outside Knockturn Alley.

The article itself, took up the entire page, impossible to miss, and as Remus read through it, he got more and more frustrated.

'Boy Who Lived has new competition in town…'

'He's obviously less powerful than this new wizard…'

'After today's fight, he came out on top…'

'Stronger than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? I believe he is…'

'Is a new dark wizard emerging before our very eyes? I firmly believe…'

'Alexander Jonathan Rider, but who is he? Is he-'

And there, at the bottom of the page, were two words.

Rita. Skeeter.

Glaring at the name, he looked back up at Dumbledore, "How the hell did she get these photos?!"

"I'm afraid I don't know" He replied sadly, "But needless to say, she has blown things considerably out of proportion. I fear that every wizard in Britain has read the front page at this stage… And there's nothing we can do but to wait for it all to blow over".

"He got out of this life, Albus" McGonagall interrupted, "Alex does not need the extra fame right now".

"He's been put through a lot worse, Minerva. Though it may make him uncomfortable-"

"-that's putting it mildly-"

"-he will continue on the same way he always does" the Headmaster finished, "You know what that boy's like. He'll survive anything they throw at him".

"Will someone please tell me just how the hell you two know him?!" Remus finally snapped.

They shared at look for a minute, before Dumbledore sighed and turned back to him, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Remus. It's Alex's story to tell… But I just want you to know that how he got his extraordinary powers was… Painful. Unnatural. Unorthodox… But none of it, none of it, was Alex's fault, do you hear me? None of it".

He frowned, "So… Alex isn't… a wizard?"

"Oh no, he's a wizard alright. And a very powerful one at that… He just didn't get his magic at age eleven".

"So, he's never attended Hogwarts? Ever?"

Dumbledore sighed once again, "I'm afraid not. I approached him about it, when he was 15 years old, but… He turned me down. Politely, yet quickly".

"But then… How does he have so much control over it? The sheer power that just radiates off of him is..."

Remus trailed off, not capable of finding an appropriate enough word.

"... He spent a few months here" Albus finally said, "During the summer, after we... found him... He taught himself most things. The topics he didn't understand, he came to myself or Minerva with".

He smiled, "In fact, now that I think about it, he reminded me a lot of you when you first started Hogwarts. His thirst for knowledge was just... endless".

Remus flushed lightly, but refused to let himself get derailed by the change of topic.

"You said that you found him? What do you mean by that?"

"… Alex will tell you in his own time, Mr Lupin" the Headmaster replied, "But now, if you'll excuse me, I have a very important meeting to attend…"

Standing up and heading for the door, Remus could only feel that he had gotten no answers from the Headmaster…

Only more questions.