-1Ch. 6 Wolves, Snake, and the Delivarios

The rain had finally stopped to pour, and alas the skies were able to show at least overcast across the city. It had been a couple hours after the whole incident at the Malfoy Manor, and Remus felt utterly exhausted. It really was just too much to handle with in one night. He had already declared that he had enough problems on his plate. He was now the official decider of the Order as Dumbledore was, and even when one would consider that an honor he found it to be a tiresome burden. He also found it exhausting trying to plan out Hogwarts for the year with the new Headmistress Mcgonagall when he really had no idea how you were to plan a school year. It was all just utterly exhausting, and Remus needed a break. He needed a moment where he could actually just sit in his bed and think about what he just had for dinner.

As a sigh left his mouth, his eyes wondered about Lafandian. His shift was luckily almost over, and as he sat on a bench near the cemetery, he awaited Tonks who would be taking his spot. His eye lids became slightly heavy, and ever so often did he feel his head droop down, but catching it up to awaken him, he tried to concentrate. A smile suddenly crossed his face, and there appeared Tonks before his eyes. She looked just as radiant as ever. Her hair was of course tussled about, but her hair color was oddly a deep dark blue that seemed almost black, but when the light hit it, it gleamed from her. Her eyes sparkling green watched as her poor fellow friend drifted so very often to sleep in his chair, and as she sat down beside him, a small gentle kiss on the cheek was made, and he awoke with a smile wide as ever.

"Hello my friend," he called to her, shifting slightly in his seat. She smiled," and hello to you too, I see your exhausted. You should go ahead, and go get some sleep." He sighed heavily and leaned back against the bench as he watched her then looked out over the town. Even though the weather hadn't been the best these couple of years, the air seemed decent, and with her beside him, nothing else seemed to matter.

He turned to look towards her and spoke," What are you doing here, by the way? You shift isn't for a couple hours?" Not that he cared really. He actually found it to be very nice and pleasurable that she was right beside him. He knew he liked Tonks, and they both came out with their affections last year, but it just never seemed like the right time to start a relationship, and with times now... it just wasn't the time for it. Tonks shrugged slightly, and did the same to look out for a moment. "I just thought you could use some company is all. Besides, I was restless and couldn't sleep at all. So, I knew you would be here."

A smile hit Remus face, and sighed as he looked further out. He wanted to be happy with her. He longed for it. It was a long time since he had an actually intimate relationship with anyone, but he just couldn't risk it. Not now, not while every moment was taking a risk from his life. Everything just seemed calm and pleasant at that exact moment for him, that he was very glad she was with him. They really hadn't spent that much time together since Albus had passed, and this actually bothered him. He had never really been in love. Of course minor flings in school, but once he got out things were different. His life changed from there, and he had been alone ever since.

"So how have you been Tonks?" he asked curiously as he shifted his body to face her. She herself looked like she was exhausted, and with times like these he didn't blame her. He looked towards the cemetery to make sure nothing else was in sight and turned back to her," Lafandian's actually been quite pleasant these past couple of weeks..." Tonks looked around the town, and nodded as all seemed quite pleasant within the town." Well that's good; all we need is some disturbance here. I'm doing ok, just tired, and completely stressed you know?"

Remus smiled lightly and nodded," Very good, I know what you mean though. I just hate this waiting around," sighing heavily, he looked around once more," I just don't understand why he hasn't made his move yet... I just want to get this all over with." He then leaned over and placed his head into his hands, rubbing his face, and then sat back up with his elbows on his knees.

"I just want to know when all of this will be over Tonks," he shook his head and started to suddenly feel frustrated. None of them deserved to go through this. Voldemort needed to pay for all the hate he had created throughout the years, and if anything, he was going to stop him from winning. Silence arose between them, and he felt calm once she placed her gentle hand on his shoulder. She didn't understand all of it either, but she knew he was tense. He was a very strong man.

"Harry doesn't deserve this..." he finally spoke and looked towards her with sadness overcoming his face," None of this should be happening to him, he's only seventeen, he's just a boy..." Tonks interrupted him, and lifted his chin up to her level," That is why we need to work our very best to stop that man. Harry's going through way too much right now, and you of all people need to talk to him. Why haven't you?" Truth be told, he really didn't know why he hadn't talked to him yet. He just assumed that time and commitment had gotten a hold of him, and with this he felt disappointed within himself.
"I'm not sure Tonks, but he deserves some answers doesn't he?" Tonks merrily nodded towards him, and with a small smile he pulled her closer into his arms, and hugged her tightly. She was quite surprised by this sudden action, but she didn't mind in the slightest, and merrily embraced him. Remus suddenly felt his heart jump as her soft gentle lips pressed on his cheek. At this moment his cheeks flushed in red, and he grinned happily as he stroked her arm. Today was finally a perfect day that he could keep note in his head, and this memory would never leave. He just sat pleasantly, as he held her close by, and watched the town's people as they did their everyday things.

Suddenly Remus looked up towards the skies, watching as it turned much darker then it once was. He sat up abruptly and stood to look up at the sky," You see that," he pointed as he spoke to Tonks," That means that our enemy has something brewing, and soon it will happen."

He looked back at Tonks with fear in his eyes, but surprisingly he had a sign of relief." Perhaps we can actually get this war starting... quit us being sitting ducks." He then sat back down with a small sigh and thought about it once more. His face all concentrated, and his hand gently caressing his face as he thought. He really wasn't sure what he wanted, but he just wanted all this over. If they did go to war though, life would be different as he once knew it, and this frightened him. Tonks nodded as she eyed the skies open mouthed. She hoped that this was surprisingly good news. She knew that she didn't want to be involved in another one of his pathetic plots, but if this meant that the war would be over soon, then she was ready to take the challenge. She squeezed his hand and smiled gently as they both stood watching the scene.

Anya was not very fond of the summer. Not many people understood why a girl her age utterly hated the summer. After all, it was normally a teenage girl's favorite season, though England had been experiencing some very bleak weather, and even her poor mother didn't understand it. To Anya, fall was the best season. Perhaps it was because the air was always so cool and fresh that when it blew against her soft ivory face, it suddenly soothed every bone in her body, or maybe it was the way the trees changed their beautiful leaves to accumulating colors of the rainbow.

What she knew about today was that she was very depressed. She hated that school was out, though she hated everything about the studies and such, but she dreaded coming home every summer to her parents. Not only was this time more stressful for her now that Albus Dumbledore had died, and her parents ties were to the Dark Lord, but now more pressure was placed upon her. She was of age now to choose which path she wanted to take. She sighed hopelessly as she arose from her bed from the early morning birds that awoke her, and walked towards her window at the end of the room to see if the weather had changed at all. The only good thing was that it had stopped raining.

More then anything she missed her brother. He was like her rock, her savior, and her inspiration, but now that his path was that of opposing their parents, he was surely to be banned from ever seeing her or her parents again and this hurt her more then anyone could know.

With the morning to be as boring as it was, she decided to make her way to Diagon Alley. Perhaps something eventful would happen while she was there, after all, it was summer. She hurried herself throwing on some clothes, and a light coat, then started to make her way out from her bedroom door when shouts filled her ears from down below. It appeared to be her brother towards the door with all his belongings in his arms, and her father threatening him as he usually did. Unfortunately for her brother, her mother was not around to keep him close by.

"You walk out that door boy, and your as sure as dead!" her father yelled as he stepped a few feet closer to Eric. Eric, who happened to be Anya's brother was very handsome, and strapping. He also looked the same as Anya with their dark brown eyes, and flowing brown hair. Eric just stood with his wand out before him, and smirked," You honestly think I'm going to stay her with you? You've got to be kidding me; I can't stay here with a man who supports another killing millions of innocent lives. I would rather save them."

"Damn your pride Eric! If you leave here and join the Order then you will be a disgrace to this family!" Eric just rolled his eyes and started to open the door," I thought I already was. Good bye." And with a simple wave, and glance up the stairs he departed leaving his father in the door way. Her father stood for a moment, and the stormed off leaving the room to be quite deserted with her as the only witness. So he was gone, and she was left her alone with them. He left her to be tortured, and molded into what they wanted, and he left her to be a hero. She teared slightly, but being as strong as she was, she ignored the situation, and continued with her plan.

Finally she arrived to Diagon Alley as planned, and with a swift turn of her wrist, she walked inside the old book store named ,' Flourish and Blotts,' and looked around to see what she was exactly in the mood for to read. One thing about Anya was that she was overly excited about books, and you never saw her without a piece of literature. Sighing deeply to herself, she walked over towards a shelf and began to sift through some books, dusting and blowing as she went. So many new books to read, that she really had no time to even spend on sifting through them. Anya scanned book titles closely, and skimming through the books to see which one she preferred. She really wasn't sure on the mood she was in at the moment. She did have a wide range of books in her library at home, but she had already read all those, and besides, being at home meant being around her parents which she figured was best she stayed away from.

Finally she found a book that caught her eye, and all concentration was in the front page. Mouthing each word, she began to walk slowly until suddenly a small tap hit her shoulder which sent her four inches from the ground and dropping her book. Wide eyed, she turned to see who it was and gently sighed with relief as a fellow Slytherin stood before him. Hayden O' Malley was the name, and her eyes suddenly lightened up as her sights fell upon him.

She knew Hayden quite well. Maybe not on a personal level, but she did take many classes with him of course, and saw him around the common room. He had definitely gotten more handsome over the summer, which he was already cute to begin with, but for some reason he caught her eye more so this year. She gave a small smile and knelt down to pick up her book," Why hello there Hayden," she replied and stood up with her book caressed in her right arm," I didn't expect to see yourself here during the summer... fan of literature, or just study nerd?" she joked, not exactly sure how he would take it.

Hayden shrugged his shoulders. "Well...I've been wandering Diagon Alley for quite a while when I saw you in here. I haven't seen anyone in, like, forever...so yeah." He grinned at her, and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"How about you? I can SO picture you at some beach in the Mediterranean...just lapping up the sun and sea." He really could see her doing that. Hayden couldn't stand a whole day at the beach. It was such a long time to just...sit in the sand. He couldn't take it for long periods. Anya laughed slightly and a small smile appeared on her face," I see, well I didn't picture you the type to spend their summer in a book shop, so that makes sense." She smiled again towards him, and leaned herself up against the bookshelf to prop herself up. She then pushed her long brown hair behind her ears as it always seemed to irritate her, and sighed towards herself. " You would say I'm a book worm, to answer your question."

Hayden laughed slightly, actually kind of surprised that she was actually what you would consider a book worm. She was always very personable, and popular at school, and none at all the studiest type, but he found this very attractive.

She really wasn't sure on how to act towards him. She thought he was cute, or perhaps extremely handsome, but personally she was a hand full, and she just didn't know this boy that well. She then shook her head with a small laugh," Well, actually now that I think about it, normally you would be right, but my family is going through some issues at the moment, so they decided to stay here with the whole Dark Lord thing and all... but I can spend some time in a book store.. I'm not that illiterate you know?"

Hayden laughed once more, " I see , well that makes sense," and as his eyes wondered about, he noticed the book she was holding. "Watcha got there," he asked, motioning at the book.

She quickly took her book and scooted back a bit, hiding it behind her back as he went to grab for it," Nothing of your concern, just a ruddy Old book, really..." she replied quickly. Why did it matter what she was reading anyways? So she was reading muggle literature... it was better then reading on charms, and hexes for a change. He then became slightly startled, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to upset ya. I just was wondering. And I'm sure its not as embarrassing as what I read sometimes." At the thought of his Dark Arts books sitting at home on his desk, made him blush slightly.

As she slid the book out of sight behind her back, he just let her and didn't push the matter. What was hers, was hers and should remain that way, or so he figured. She blushed slightly," Oh sorry," she replied as she placed the book back. She didn't mean to act so weird, but what she was reading probably would have sent him away." I didn't mean to aggressively pull it away, just erm... embarrassing really." It's okay..." he said soothingly, "It can't be as bad as what me and my family sometimes read." He sighed and pushed hair out of his face. "Sorry if I bothered you, though."

Anya looked up at him and smiled. Bother her? He wasn't doing anything of the sort. On the contrary, he was actually being decent with her which was something not many Slytherin boys did with her. She was rich, and came from strong Slytherin ties, So she was always looked at differently. It seemed as if she was some trophy to be won, because if you married a Delivario girl, you would have perfect breeding. This made her sick, which is why she was normally on her guard.

" You're not bothering me in the slightest," she replied with a small smile, and with that a tint of red hit her cheeks. Blushing? Did she blush? "Oh, I'm glad," he said. "I definitely hoped I wouldn't." Then, he noticed her cheeks slightly reddening. Perhaps it was that she was blushing. At him. Or perhaps it was simply the weather. It wasn't too hot, but you never could know. Different weathers could get to different people. But he didn't feel that it was the weather She looked around the shop and could not believe she was about to ask, but the opportunity sounded opportune," Well, this is a book store, and it can get rather boring, so would you like to go somewhere else? Ice cream, or Quidditch shop? "

Hayden was very pleased with himself. He was making civilized conversation with Anya. And that was hard to do. She was of the purest Slytherin blood. And half the boys in the school, let alone in the Slytherin House, would be more then happy to have Anya as their trophy wife. However, Hayden's parents had done at least one thing right. They had taught him to treat girls with the ultimate respect. And now he did. He couldn't help it. That's just who he was and was part of his personality.

He grinned fully, teeth and all. "I'd love to. It can be quite boring...since I'm not usually the book type. He was very happy to be able to get to know Anya a bit more. "How about ice cream? My treat." Anya smiled lightly. To go with Hayden would sure be a way to spend the day, but that would mean her opening herself up to a boy she hardly knew. How could she trust him? She really just met him here in the book store, and didn't know him very well, but oddly enough something told her to trust him. So, sure enough she let herself do so.

" Alright then," she replied and grabbed her purse to head out," Ice cream actually sounds great." She hadn't had ice cream in quite awhile, so being able to accompany quite a charming , and handsome young man was quite interesting for her today.

She started to make her way out when she forgot about her book she wanted to purchase," Oh, wait one sec," she replied and ran over to grab the book from the shelf," Let me buy this real quick."

She then head over towards the cash register and bought the book placing it back in her bag," Alright, lets go then."

Morning finally arose into the afternoon, and Harry still laid in his bed until the Hedwig hooted wildly with the feeling of hunger at the pit of her stomach. She was quite sick of her master always forgetting to feed her , and sadly this was starting to become a daily thing. Harry shifted slightly not sure what he was hearing within his ears, but as he rolled over to where his face was looking towards the cage, Hedwig made the loudest hoot she possible could, and sent Harry in the air a couple feet. He looked around breathing heavily, and once he saw Hedwig all puffed in the chest inside her cage, he knew all too well that it was her being upset at him that woke him up. " I'm sorry girl," he simply replied , and grabbed some bird seed from his trunk pouring it into her empty bowl.

With her last hoot of frustration, she dove her beak inside , and continued eating. Harry yawned slightly and frowned as his eyes wandered to Ron's empty bed. He suddenly felt guilty with the thoughts of the night before. It was his fault that Ron was mad at him, and his fault that Ginny got all upset. If it wasn't for Draco, or just the whole situation of last night , he was sure we would have been fine, but all just seemed to add up, and his mood suddenly dwindled. He scuffed up his hair a bit, then figured he should dress a bit for the afternoon. Once he was done throwing on some jeans and an old t-shirt, he quietly opened the door, and found the hallways to be completely deserted. This he found odd.

He walked a bit further down the stair case, and when hearing no noises, he opened the door to the kitchen to find it also completely deserted. " What on earth?" he asked himself. He walked around the hallways quietly to see if he could hear anything, but seeing as the place was deserted he made way to the main study room. Maybe someone would be there. Finally after a bit of walking he opened up the door leading to the study, and surprisingly found Remus standing in front of the fire. His eyes lingered as Harry reached the door, and a small smile arose on his face.

" Well good afternoon Harry," he called, but Harry did not look at all happy to see him. On the contrary he looked very disappointed, and frustrated which Remus really wasn't surprised with at all. He hadn't been the best friend to Harry since all the chaos had started, and he was sure Harry had a lot of questions, that Remus never answered. Harry just froze not sure of what to do. He wanted more then anything just to talk to Remus, but would he actually hold a conversation with him?

" Hey, I'm sorry to intrude but-" " It's quite alright," Remus interrupted and motioned his hand over to a nearby chair. " Please stay. I could use the company." Harry looked at Remus curiously not sure as to if he should, but taking upon the action he sat himself in the chair , and just stared with utter confusion. An awkward silence appeared for a moment, but Harry finally decided to break it ," Where is everyone?" Remus turned his gaze from the fire, and spoke, " Oh, Molly decided to take everyone out to get some fresh air, and to also give you some room to relax a bit. After last night, I think it was the best idea."

Harry placed his hand on his face where bruises had appeared from the night before, and guilt suddenly filled his stomach. " Oh, right, sorry about that. I just, I just don't understand how you could let someone like that in here." Remus sighed and sat himself in the chair next to Harry giving a concerned look. " It's quite alright. I think I would have felt the exact same, but I had my reasons. Draco has many problems Harry, and we all know this, but he also has a heart, and I knew that once I found out he had the chance to kill Dumbledore, and didn't."

Harry was slightly confused. A heart? Draco? It just couldn't be , " Ok, so then why haven't you talked to me since I've arrived?" Remus froze slightly, and with a heavy sigh continued, " I've had way too much on my mind right now Harry, and I didn't feel the need to welcome you into this mess. I apologize for making you feel that I do not like you though. That was not the case. " and with a small smile he stood up, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder, " How about some breakfast, you look hungry?" Harry gave a small grin and simply nodded, " Sure."

(not finished)