Chapter Two-The Hunters and the Hunted
"I suppose I'll be on my own then." Remus Lupin sighed as he pushed his graying hair out of his eyes.
Sirius was building a house of cards out of the Weasley twin's deck of Exploding Snap. Ever since the Weasley family recently moved into #12 Grimmauld Place, things had been much livelier. "I'm sure someone is free Moony." he said as he added another card to the house.
"I've asked around already, everyone is already paired up for another mission or is too busy with other work."
"What about Kingsley?" Sirius suggested. "Isn't he off this weekend?"
"Yes, but it's because he's been falling behind at work since he's been juggling the whole Order business. He told me he has to catch up or Scrimgeour's going to get suspicious."
Sirius placed the last card on the house before it blew up in his face. Blinking the soot out of his eyes he said in a restless sort of way, "Well there has to be someone who can go with you. You can't track Oedipus Moore all by yourself."
Oedipus Moore was an extremely powerful and wealthy wizard. His pureblood family in the past had had important secret ties to dark wizards. The Moore family gave money in exchange for protection and positions at the Ministry. The Order had gathered barely enough knowledge to suspect that Oedipus himself was carrying on family tradition and was passing off family gold to some probable Death Eaters. Now it was getting imperative to discover if he was in league with them or not and Remus felt privately honoured that Dumbledore had appointed him to such an important task.
Unfortunately because of the dangers it might involve it was strongly advisable when tracking to travel in pairs. Remus had no one at this point to go with him and had no idea how he could possibly face Dumbledore and tell him the disappointing news.
"What about Dedalus Diggle?" asked Sirius.
"I've already asked him. He's taking up Hestia Jones's place for Emmeline's mission. She's got a bad case of Sniftinwaffle."
"What about Arthur?"
"He's going to track Nott that night with Mad-Eye."
"Poor Arthur." Sirius said with a bitter smile. "Well…" he thought for a moment with a rather sour look on his face. Remus knew just how much Sirius was dying to get involved and get outside the house but couldn't. He suspected he was the only one who did know how badly his friend was suffering in this gloomy house.
"It's fine. I'll think of someone eventually." Remus said hurriedly.
"What about Tonks?" Sirius asked in an irritated voice. "My cousin…"
"Oh…Nymphadora was it? I completely forgot about her." He confessed.
Sirius put his feet up on the nearest table. It gave a shrill squeak of protest and he kicked it back angrily. "I don't think she's on duty this week, and she's not busy or sick. She's really nice too-I've been talking to her a lot recently. She stops by the house a lot these days when she's not working or anything."
Remus felt a swell of admiration for Tonks. So she had taken his advice after all, and from the sounds of it she was doing well to cheer up her bitter, restless cousin whom she had thought until only recently was an insane, merciless, mass-homicidal maniac…
"Do you know if she's stopping by tonight?" he asked Sirius.
"No, but she might be here tomorrow. Do you want me to ask her about the mission?"
"That would be a great help." Remus said as he picked up his large pile of papers. He was only halfway through them and they were due very soon. "Bloody anti-werewolf legislation." He muttered angrily.
"Moony if I were you, I'd just put a check in the 'yes' box for everything. It would make life a lot easier."
"Thank god you are not a werewolf then, they'd have locked you away if you did. All of these papers are carefully examined and reviewed…they are hardly a laughing matter."
"What do you mean if you don't pass they immunize you and put you to sleep if you don't pass?" Sirius grinned.
"Probably." Remus said with a wry smile. "No, they review them to see if I'm still eligible for proper citizenship by taking into account my past record and current behavior."
"Proper citizenship." Sirius snorted. "The law doesn't give werewolves proper citizenship to begin with."
"I know."
Sirius grabbed some of the many papers from the pile and starting reading them. Within seconds, his brow furrowed as he asked incredulously, "What the hell kind of a question is this?"
"Which one is it?" Remus asked warily.
"'Do you have an unsatisfying lust for human blood in your transformed state?'" Sirius read out loud. "Of course you do! You lose your human mind as a werewolf! You turn into a murderous beast that hunts humans! These stupid, sodding-" and he began cussing out the anti-werewolf legislation so badly that if Molly Weasley had heard would have resulted in him having his mouth scrounged out with soap.
"And what the hell is this one?" Sirius asked as his eyes caught another. "'When was the last time you felt the compulsion and desire to lick another animal?'" he looked up over the large stack of papers at Remus. "Moony," he said in a deadly serious voice, "When was the last time you wanted to lick me?"
"I've never wanted to lick you; I've always found owls more attractive." Remus said sarcastically. "Wait until you read the 'Personal Questions'."
"There's a personal question page in here?" said Sirius as he began rifting through the papers.
"A few pages. I believe that it starts on page 58."
Sirius found the page after searching around abit and found it. His eyes widened in disgust. "This is obscene!" he said loudly. "I'd take this to court!"
"I couldn't even if I wanted to. We 'dangerous half-breeds' don't have rights to begin with." Remus said darkly, feeling very bitter over the whole thing.
"I'm sorry mate."
"I really do hate them." Remus spat. Sirius watched him with interest. It took a lot to get him angry and he supposed that for people watching him, it was interesting to observe. "As if it weren't hard enough with all the transformations and the prejudice, now we have to fill out this worthless, draining report."
"I agree with you, it's totally unfair."
"Unfair!" Remus exclaimed and stood up abruptly- the neatly organized papers spilling to his feet. Sirius looked startled. "It's horrible! No one more then I believes that werewolves should be registered to protect others, but this!" he indicated to the pile of papers. "I've never been able to get a job after this came out a few years ago. Not decent jobs either mind you, just a job. Every few years I have to fill out all these stupid files all over again and I have to be ready to present them to my employer when they hire me. Isn't the knowledge that I'm a werewolf and I have to provide a legal record and identification enough?"
"Remus?" came a concerned voice from the doorway. Remus turned around to see Molly Weasley wearing a flowery apron, cautiously. She was looking at him apprehensively, a concerned look on her face. "I'm sorry to bother you dear, but Mad-Eye's just arrived downstairs and he wants a word with you."
"Oh. Right…of course. I'll be right down Molly." Remus said, trying to compose himself again.
Mrs. Weasley glanced about the room as if trying to see if they were up to something while Sirius glared at her in a defiant sort of way. Unable to find anything to scold them about she shut the door and left.
Sirius picked up one of Remus's papers that had fallen to the floor and held it up. "I say we burn it in protest."
Remus smiled. "We can't do that Padfoot."
Sirius looked disappointed.
"I'd better go talk to Mad-Eye." Remus said as he headed towards the door.
"Oh…well, be careful." Sirius said airily.
"I will." said Remus, his hand on the knob when suddenly there was roar of rage from downstairs and the portraits in the hall all began to shout.
Remus turned to face Sirius who was starting to build another house of cards again with an innocent expression on his face. "What did you do now Padfoot?" he sighed.
Sirius looked up, pretending to be shocked. "What are you talking about?"
Mad-Eye Moody's yells of rage could be heard thundering up the stairs as Sirius's mother began shrieking her usual insults.
Sirius cocked his ear towards the door, listening for a moment. "It sounds like someone picked up that bronze vase…you know, the one that Mad-Eye's likes to check most of the time for 'unnoticed foes'?"
"And is that bronze vase jinxed, perhaps?" Remus asked. There were now noises from downstairs: successions of small explosions and from under the doorway were flashes of scarlet light. "A Gryffindor noisemaker jinx, like the one we created and used on Filch in our 4th year?"
Sirius leaned back in his armchair and grinned slyly up at his friend. "It might be."
Remus shook his head but could not stop the smile from spreading across his face.
He had managed to get in touch with Nymphadora Tonks. To his relief she was available and seemed rather enthusiastic. From what he had observed she was putting a lot of heart and soul into the Order these days but still always found the time to give him a cheery 'Wotcher' whenever they briefly passed eachother. He spent the next few tedious days with a moody Sirius at Grimmauld Place, and managed to drop off his papers for the werewolf registry in enough time so that when Friday rolled around- he had plenty of time to meet Tonks at Diagon Alley that night. They had agreed to meet in front of Gringotts where Dumbledore had told Remus Oedipus would be.
He was walking to Diagon Alley by way of Muggle London. He could have apparted of course but he needed to think for a little while and reflect upon a few things. Oedipus Moore was in polite terms a sneaky git. He was too good at not being caught. He would most likely leave Gringotts with the Death Eater money-(if he truly was giving them money, Remus reminded himself) and take enormous precautions to make sure he wasn't being followed. Being from a well-to-do family however could give him some difficulty if he was trying to avoid drawing attention. As Remus stood there in the light drizzle, at a corner light in Soho, waiting for it to change he hoped that Tonks was a good tracker since experienced and careful tracking would be essential for this type of mission. Of course she was an auror so she must have had to do relatively well-
"Hey!" came a brusque and unfamiliar voice from behind, interrupting his thoughts.
Remus turned quickly to see a young, tattooed man wearing more leather and chains then an escaped lunatic from an asylum. He looked like the type of person Sirius back in the day would have bought a drink for at a bar after beating the shit out of him earlier.
The boy waved a grimy take-away menu in front of him. "Do you know where this place is?"
"What place?"
"Chinese grub man! Lee Ho Fooks!"
Remus shook his head. "Never heard of it. Sorry."
"Aw shit." He grumbled. "I would murder for some beef chow mein."
Remus didn't doubt it. The young man looked positively criminal.
"Come'on Michel!" yelled another man from across the street. Remus saw some of the man's friends, all similarly garbed waiting for him across the walkway.
"Shit." The boy grumbled and walked off without a goodbye or thank you.
Remus rolled his eyes and continued walking inwardly thanking the lucky stars that Harry hadn't turned out like that. He could have turned out to be slightly mad like Sirius, but luckily he had turned out to be a very decent boy. He wasn't as conceited as James had been at that age, but he did have an enormous disregard for the rules that would have made Lily cringe. He smiled sadly as he thought of what his two long dead friends would have to say now if they could see their son.
Upon reaching Gringotts, Remus immediately settled down on the steps and unfolded a paper that he pretended to read as he periodically checked his watch. Tonks would be there any minute hopefully-
The doors of Gringotts swung open and Remus looked up hopefully expecting to see Tonks or even perhaps Oedipus Moore himself, but to his disappointment it was neither, only a young blonde-haired women walking cautiously down the marble steps.
To his utter astonishment the blonde-haired women turned and made a bee-line straight for him as she walked down the stairs of Gringotts.
"Wotcher, Remus." She said quietly as she approached him.
"Tonks?!?!" he said incredulously as he stood up.
"Ah! Monsieur, it 'as been too long!" she said loudly in a flawless French accent as she threw her arms around him. Remus was startled, and nearly fell over from the the sudden imbalance. "Do you remember me? You probably do not! It 'as been a few months!"
Remus stared blankly at her as she winked, her bright blue eyes sparkling.
"You interviewed me at 'The Three Broomsticks' that time for a private interview you forgetful man! About my work after ze Triwizard Tournment!"
"Oh, right." Remus said, hoping Tonks knew what she was doing and that they had to stay close to Gringotts and certainly be keeping a watchful eye out for Oedipus Moore. "How are you these days, Miss-?"
"Very well, zank you." She said beaming as she quickly cut him off. Her small teeth were very white and straight. Then with a quick glance over her shoulder as she flicked back her long mane of blonde hair, she lowered her voice and dropped her French accent but still retaining an animated expression as she talked quietly to him. "I've been inside for the past half hour disguised as Fanny, French bon-bon so that I could get into Gringotts and talk to Bill. He's going to kill me later, but he told me he hadn't seen Oedipus all day until about 15 minutes ago when he personally appeared at Gringotts himself. Me and Bill watched him go with a few goblins down to the most secure vaults to make a withdrawal and he's about to come out within the minute."
"Brilliant." Remus said hoarsely.
"When he walks out, we can slowly start walking down the steps and pretend we're going to get a drink somewhere so we can talk."
"I'm thinking he'll probably try to throw off any would-be trackers but he won't go to any grimy or seedy place. People would notice such a prestigious figure. He's from a very well-to-do, pure-blood family-"
"He's actually distantly related to me." Tonks grumbled.
"-and although he doesn't know he's being tracked, he's not stupid and he doesn't want to draw attention to himself."
"Sounds logical. Keep a sharp eye then and I'll do the same."
"So how do we know eachother?" Remus asked with a nod to her disguise.
"Just as I said earlier. You interviewed me for an article or something after I finished the Triwizard Tournament."
"And yet we remain on a friendly baisis because?"
"Oh I dunno. I just needed to come over and talk to you." Tonks said with a smile. "Make something logical up, your Mum was French and so we had a lot in common as we smoked a few fags over some snail food or whatever."
Remus blinked. "Alright, that sounds plausible."
"Good because it's all I can think of at the-"
"There he is!" Remus hissed.
Tonks almost jerked her head around to stare over her shoulder but caught herself just in time and stopped, fixing her loose white blonde hair with her hand as if that was what she intended to do all along.
Remus had indeed seen the grey-haired Oedipus Moore walk out of Gringotts. He was carrying a midnight black sack in his hands, one that matched the same colour as his stately robes. He looked about quickly before he made his way quickly down the steps.
"Oh, oui monsieur! You are too kind!" Tonks exclaimed loudly, falling back into the French accent. "I would love to go for a drink."
Oedipus Moore barley glanced sideways at them both before continuing to descend the marble stairs.
"I know a good place just up the road." Remus said with casual ease as they slowly followed after him.
"Zat would be lovely." Tonks said. "So do tell me, 'ow is your muzzer these days? Did she enjoy her stay in Rouen?"
"Loved it. She's planning on going back next summer." Remus said, keeping an eye on Oedipus who was quickly making his way through the crowd. Remus frowned. He had not expected this. The wizard was all but running as he made his way through the crowd towards a certain direction.
"Go!" said Tonks. He didn't need telling twice. He picked up his pace as Tonks followed right behind him and started to track him as he took a sharp turn onto Knockturn Alley.
Tonks swore under her breath as they dove down the dark and sinister alley where the most suspicious and unnerving of wizards were lurking in the shadows, eyeing Remus and Tonks as they made their way down the windy road.
Oedipus looked over his shoulder and caught sight of them a good ways behind him. Before he or Tonks could do anything however to continue their innocent passerby façade he broke into a sprint and disappeared into a small crowd in the middle of the road.
"RUN!" Tonks hissed. "Run before we loose him!"
Remus ran forward through the crowded street, keeping his eye on the grey-haired wizard far ahead.
He narrowly dodged a man wheeling a side cart of various bottled potions and ran ahead.
Within seconds, a deafening loud crash came from behind him and he knew before even turning around that Tonks had not been so graceful in avoiding it.
The cart had completely overturned and some of the green jars had smashed to the ground spilling most of the odd coloured and foul smelling potions all over the road. Tonks was sprawled out on the ground, drenched in what looked like cat sick.
"Go!" she exclaimed. "Go find him! I'll catch up."
Remus turned and saw with a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that Oedipus Moore was nowhere to be seen on the crowded street. He looked around in vain but knew it was already too late.
He turned back to Tonks and helped her to her feet. "Doesn't matter now. He's long gone."
"Gone!" Tonks cried. "What? NO!"
She looked about desperately but when seeing he was completely right, her face fell.
"YOU STUPID, CLUMSY GIRL!" screamed a lean, unshaven man, the obvious owner of the cart who was now striding over to them. "YOU'VE BROKEN MY EFFECTS! YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Tonks said nervously as she dropped to the ground and attempted to pick up some of the broken bottles. A small crowd had gathered, talking and murmuring amongst themselves as they watched the scene before them.
"I'LL SUE YOU!" the man shouted, his face rapidly turning a dark purple.
"Is that really necessary?" Remus asked the man as he turned on him. "It was just an accident."
The man stuck out his jaw in a determined sort of way. "She broke 'em!"
"And I'm sure you'll agree that with your cart parked in the middle of the street like that- it was simply an accident waiting to happen."
Tonks looked at him in surprise, obviously startled from his cool firmness with the man.
"I have a right to put my cart wherever I pleases." The man leered.
"Then perhaps the side of the road would be a wiser choice for next time." He took Tonks's arm and started to pull her away but the man jumped in front of them with a laugh.
"You think you can get away so easily? I'll report you! That's broken property! Now pay up!"
Remus turned and stared at the man coldly for a moment before glancing over the man's shoulder at the broken cart. He stepped around the man and walked over to one of the smashed bottles and picked up a shard that was drenched in the odd, silver liquid. He examined it for a moment, turning the shard around on all sides.
"What're ya doing?" the man said suspiciously. "Pay up and get on your way before I have to get-"
Remus sniffed the silver liquid delicately and smiled, his suspicions confirmed. He looked at the man.
"What is this stuff?"
"None of your bloody business!"
"From the sign on your cart, it says your selling 'Re'em blood' he said, nudging the sign with his toe. But this-" he said holding up the liquid drenched shard. "This isn't Re'em blood at all."
The man paled. "Look'ee mate. You pay me up now and I won't report you."
"Won't report us?" Remus said, taking a few steps forward. "From the looks of it sir, it's us who should be reporting you." He lowered his voice. "It is illegal to sell homebrewed potions containing Ramora scales these days and I understand there are a few cells in Azakaban reserved for those that break that specific statue in the Class A Trading Restrictions."
The man recoiled as if Remus had physically hit him. "That's er- ah, very true. I mean…your right, it was just an accident- of course, I should get a move on- er-"
Remus went to Tonks's side and lead her away from the now shaken man.
"How on earth did you know that it contained Romora scales?" she asked as they pushed through the slowly disbanding crowd.
"There are advantages to knowing the Dark Arts and different creatures." Remus said darkly. "I may be horrible at making potions but I'm good at telling them apart."
"Thank you." Tonks said quietly.
He smiled. "Your welcome."
They walked abit further before Tonks grimly spoke up, "Moore is gone now and it's entirely my fault."
"Don't be ridiculous." He reassured her.
She shook her head looking miserable. "No. It is. You shouldn't have brought me along. I always botch everything up."
"You tripped. It couldn't be helped." Remus said kindly. Inwardly he was wondering just how disappointed Dumbledore would be about their failed mission but he was determined to comfort Tonks at present.
"Well its over now." Tonks said flatly as she hung her head. "I suppose we ought to go back and face the music then, huh?"
Remus scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, er- not right away if you wanted."
Tonks stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him in surprise.
"I mean-" Remus said hastily, attempting to get his intentions across perfectly clear. " Perhaps we could just walk around for awhile. We're both in the Order but I still feel that I don't know you too well. Maybe if you wanted to…just talk."
She grinned. "Alright. I could do with some 'talking'." She fell into step with Remus again. "So where to?"
Remus shrugged. "I'm not sure. Any suggestions?"
Tonks looked thoughtful for a moment. "How about we just walk around until we find someplace we want to go?"
"That sounds fine."
"So." She said cheerfully. "Let's talk."
Remus smiled. "About my French mother over a plate of snails?'
Tonks laughed. "I forgot about that." After looking about to make sure nobody was watching, she shut her eyes very tightly and a moment later she looked like the Tonks that Remus was familiar with, with the exception of a short spiky purple hair style. "Au revoir Fanny bon-bon." She smiled at Remus. "Bill really is going to kill me later though. He really thought I was his girlfriend for a moment until I corrected him with a friendly slap, but he played along relatively well."
Remus was glad he was going to get to have a relatively normal conversation for once. Recently it had all been Order work for him or comforting a moping Sirius and here was somebody who seemed nice to talk to and fortunately didn't know about his condition. Nymphadora Tonks seemed like a potential friend as well as an Order alley and so he hoped to put off the unhappy truth about his condition from her for as long as possible.
"So…" Tonks said as they rounded a rather deserted corner. She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment for a moment and glanced around to make sure no one was listening,
"So, you're a werewolf." she said bluntly.
Well so much for that. Remus felt his blood turn icy cold and felt the blood drain from his face as he stopped short to stare at her. Unexplainably, she was smiling kindly, if somewhat apprehensively.
"Yes." he said quietly. "I am."
She looked apologetic. "Sirius let it slip."
Remus made a personal note to go kill Sirius in a very long and uncomfortable way when he saw him next. "Well, yes. He is right."
Tonks wiggled about uncomfortably. "This may be really personal so you don't have to answer it if you don't want to - but…how did it happen? It's just…your so…" she trailed off looking helpless. "I mean, I know that sounds terrible doesn't it? Horribly prejudiced I bet… But I dunno, I've encountered only one or two werewolves before and they're just…so different from you."
Remus after filling out several days of paperwork for the Werewolf Registry had no desire to talk about werewolves at all but he was so touched by her sensitivity he found himself answering her. "I am different from most werewolves." He said. "I tried to live alongside wizards. It is difficult- but I try…" He frowned as he thought of the first part of her question. "I was bitten as a young child. I was reckless enough to wander in the local woods at night on a dare and the result…" he smiled humorlessly. "Well, it changed the rest of my life."
Tonks was watching intently him, listening closely to every word.
Remus began to slowly walk down the road, with Tonks by his side. "My parents didn't abandon me as some might have, and indeed many parents have done before with their bitten children-they raised me with all intention of keeping me involved with wizarding society as much as possible and Dumbledore who was the headmaster offered me a place at Hogwarts despite my condition, and so it was on his kindness and generosity that I was able to attend school like a normal student and within a few years graduate from Hogwarts."
"What about full moons?" she asked.
"Dumbledore had the Whomping Willow planted on the school grounds the year I came. The tree guarded a hidden tunnel that lead all the way to the Shrieking Shack at Hogsmeade and I transformed there."
"The Shrieking Shack?" Tonks exclaimed. "That's the most haunted building in Britian! What's in there? Did you see any ghosts?"
"Its…not haunted." Remus said slowly.
"Not haunted? But all the screams and noises…" she trailed off and her eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Merlin's beard. That was you ?!?"
Remus hesitated. "It's…painful to turn into a werewolf. Since I wasn't around any humans to bite I often bit and scratched myself instead."
Her hand went to her open mouth as she looked at him in horror. "Oh, Remus!" she exclaimed. "That's terrible! You were just a small boy and you-"
"I imagine that some of the rumors got very far-fetched." Remus said with a wry smile. "And I'm sure a good many of them were much more exciting than the truth."
"You by yourself! Oh my god, that's the saddest thing I've ever heard. Little boys should not be alone, screaming in pain and agony."
Remus gave her a reassuring smile. "It wasn't so bad. I had friends and there were many times where I temporarily forgot about my condition and felt like a normal student."
He knew from the look on her face that she didn't believe a word of it and a small part of him found that he was grateful for her understanding. So he had lied. It was better than having her think of him as a very depressed and lonely, woe-is-me, pitiable bloke. In truth he rarely forgot his condition. He had had many nightmares at school where he'd wake up in a cold sweat imagining he'd bitten someone. And in the beginning, the lies to his friends were too much for him to keep up and kept him feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Inside, he had always felt like an outsider, different from all the other students unless he was with his three friends who knew his secret and still accepted him for it.
Tonks's eyes were filled with doubt still, but she asked another question. "Dumbledore told me Sirius learnt how to become an illegal animagus when he was still at school and that's how he escaped Azkaban. Did that have anything to do with you being a werewolf?"
"Yes." Remus said. He felt Tonks deserved to hear the whole truth with Sirius being her cousin and him now telling the whole truth about his real identity. "Sirius, James and Peter discovered that if they were animagi they could accompany me in my werewolf state since a werewolf is only in danger to humans. They studied hard for a few years and in the end of our fifth year figured out how to do it. Sirius became the black dog I'm sure you knew about already. Peter I'm sure you also know was a rat, and James was a stag. We used to wander the school grounds at night going off on various adventures."
"Moony…" Tonks muttered. "Ah. It makes sense now. And Padfoot…"
"And Prongs and Wormtail." Remus added.
"Clever." Tonks chuckled.
"We liked to think so." Remus smiled.
"My biggest accomplishment to date as school was the time I passed McGonagall's transfiguration class. Forget turning myself into an animagus. It's hard enough to get around in my own skin." Tonks laughed.
She didn't mind. She didn't mind…well maybe she did, but she was still treating him like a normal human which was infinitely better than most people handled it. There were very few people that took his true identity with stride. And yet here was Nymphadora Tonks still walking beside him with a smile on her face.
"So that's why you couldn't make the Advance Guard on the day we originally had it." Tonks said. "Full moon in a few days."
"Yes." He expected her to say something else about it but to his surprise she said something totally different.
"We'll be getting Harry in a few days." She said cheerfully. "You said you've met him before so I bet you'll be happy to see him again.
"Very much." He admitted.
"Oh, by the way, you also said that you've seen Harry fly before. Does he play Quidditch then?"
"Seeker."
"What type of broom as he got then?"
"A Firebolt."
Her eyes widened with shock. "A FIREBOLT?!?!?" she repeated. "No bloody way!"
"It's true." Remus smiled.
"A REAL Firebolt?" she asked.
"Yes."
"How the hell did he get it?"
"Sirius."
That was obviously not the answer she had expected. "Sirius! Sirius Black? My cousin, Sirius?"
"Yes. That one." Remus said, amused by her reaction. "He got it for him as a birthday while he was still on the run."
"Harry got a Firebolt from Sirius?!?! No fair! I'm his cousin!"
"And I've been his friend for more than half my life. Don't talk to me about fair."
She looked at him suspiciously. "Are you serious about this? A real Firebolt?"
"If you don't believe me you'll get to see just for yourself when we pick Harry up."
"You bet I will." Tonks grinned. "So where to now? I think we should probably get out of Knockturn Alley as soon as possible."
"Well, perhaps we get a drink in Diagon Alley or something if you feel up to it?" he asked. "It's getting late and a lot of the stores are closing down."
"Good idea. Pub or someplace else?"
"I'll probably just get a tea wherever we go."
"Boringgg." Tonks sang. "Well I dunno about you, but I'm craving a strawberry smoothie right now, though I have no idea why."
"Well," said Remus slowly. "I have no idea where we could-"
"I know a place." Tonks said happily.
Remus followed her to a shop that seemed to sell every sort of drink available but was now mostly empty due to the lateness of hour. Tonks pleaded with him to buy something else besides tea but he was insistent. Tonks got her smoothie and they sat down together at a small table by the shops open window.
They casually talked for some time about their school days and even touched upon their childhoods when Tonks had a confession to make,
"I used to be a bit of a tomboy when I was younger. I used to hang out with the neighborhood boys and run around causing trouble. For the longest time I didn't like dolls unless it involved decapitating them or cutting their hair into weird styles. I loved my pet Puffskein though, his name was Harold."
"Our family had a few crups." Remus said reminiscently. "But then again there were always magical creatures running around the place. My mother was an obsessive animal lover too so that didn't help much. She taught me an awful lot about magical beasts…good and bad."
"How do you know so much about Dark Arts though?" Tonks asked curiously.
"That was my father. He was an Auror and taught me a lot on that subject because I was so interested in it."
"You'd make a good Auror."
Remus looked at his plate, embarrassed. "I don't think so, I'm not sure if I'd have the making of an auror."
"Making of an auror?" Tonks snorted. "What is that? You don't have to look like Mad-Eye at the beginning or the end to have the making of an auror. Besides, you're in the Order Remus! And look at me!" Tonks said brightly waving her arms about and knocking over her glass of water by accident. "Oops! Sorry."
Remus fixed it quickly with a flick of his wand.
"See? I'm dead clumsy, still a qualified Auror though."
Remus shrugged. "I considered it at first- but…well….it's complicated."
"Bollocks. You should have been an auror. You'd have been the only auror that could get a day off each month. It's bloody impossible to get time off these days, though I have no idea why since the Ministry is acting so daft, ignoring the comeback of You-Know-Who."
"Not just because I am a werewolf, there was something else that I wanted to do instead for a career."
"Oh? What was that?"
"I wanted to teach."
"Teach?" Tonks repeated, looking amazed. "You're a Professor?"
"Yes." He said modestly.
Tonks grinned… "Mr. Lupin…Professor Lupin…it has a nice ring to it…Professor…"
Remus smiled.
"So what made you want to teach over wanting to be an auror?" Tonks asked, playing with her straw.
Remus thought about this for a moment. Nobody had really asked him before. "I'm not sure." He admitted. "I just always had that passion to want to help others and I felt that I had the knack to teach. As much as I thought I might want to continue in my father's footsteps I realized that it wasn't the right path for me in the end."
"I think that you'd be a great teacher."
Remus raised an eyebrow at that, not sure if Tonks was doing what he thought she was. He looked at her closely, she was still playing with her straw absentmindedly but she had a sly smile on her face- not totally unlike Sirius's- and her dark eyes were twinkling.
Impossible. He was going delusional. Perhaps he was hitting an early mid-life crisis. He was not going to tell Sirius that he suspected his younger cousin of flirting with him. For one- Sirius might just die of laughter.
Tonks gasped suddenly and looked up towards the ceiling. "I LOVE THIS SONG!" she exclaimed.
Remus raised an eyebrow. In his personal opinion it sounded dreadful. Lots of guitar, wailing bagpipes, drums and singers screaming their lungs out. "The Weird Sisters?" he guessed.
She grinned and nodded, "-you caaaaaaan't try to leave me-!" she sang.
Remus smiled politely, never in his entire life had he encountered someone like Nymphadora Tonks before.
"I've seen them in concert." Tonks bragged. "It was bloody amazing!"
"I've never been to a concert of theirs."
"NEVER?!?!" Tonks exclaimed. "Have you ever been to see a band in concert?"
"I went to a Screaming Skulls Concert back in 1975."
"Oh my god." She snorted. "You and Sirius need to get out more- well, Sirius I can understand- he was in prison- but where were you?"
Remus shrugged. "Getting by."
Tonks shook her head. "No excuse. I'm going to have to work on you. When Sirius is pronounced innocent, I'm going to work on him too."
"The Screaming Skulls were a classic band."
Tonks laughed. "They were so old school, although to be fair- the drummer… what was his name?"
"Charon Miller."
"Yeah, him- he was actually pretty hot under all that face makeup."
Remus smiled slyly at that. "I dunno. But, Seigfried Yan Wong Geminus was a great guitarist."
"Didn't he think he was a reincarnated Chinese fire-breathing moth, though? He used to wear those sequined tights…"
Remus winced. "I forgot about that- god, the 70's were a scary time. Still, look at your band- the Weird Sisters- one of them has a Mohawk now, doesn't he?"
"Merton Graves."
"There you have it- all musicians are a little strange."
"Mohawks do not even compare with that hairy man in bright yellow tights. I saw that picture when I was little and I was scarred for life."
"Then I suggest you go ask Sirius to find his Seigfried Geminus costume someday."
Tonks who was halfway through her strawberry smoothie, chocked and clutched her nose to stop it from coming out her nostrils.
"What?!?!" she gasped. "Sirius has a Seigfried Geminus costume?!?!"
"I'm sure he'll deny it." Remus laughed. "But I happen to have a picture somewhere from that costume party where he dressed as Segfried and went as him in yellow tights and all."
"Oh my god…" she shuddered. "That is so horribly disturbing…I have to see it."
"I will try to find it for you then." Remus said as he took a small sip of his tea.
"Brilliant." She grinned. "So tell me about-Oh no! Quick! Hide me!" she attempted to duck under the table before he could ask her what was wrong. Unfortunately her foot hit another nearby table and sent it falling over with a tremendous crash.
"Nymphadora Tonks!" came a loud, confident voice. Remus turned around in his seat to see a tall, muscular blonde haired wizard striding towards them.
"Hain." Tonks replied looking very disgruntled and unenthusiastic. "What a surprise…"
"Where have you been Tonks? You've been so busy these days-" he leaned over and extended his hand to her with a charming smile. She got up on her own and brushed herself off, glaring at him. Remus decided immediately and most irrationally that he did not like this man. Nevertheless he stood up and picked up the fallen table before straightening one of the fallen chairs.
"Yeah well, I have a life outside of the office you know." Tonks grumbled.
"Yet I still don't seem to be apart of it." Hain said with a rather suave and worldly laugh.
Tonks attempted to smile and it looked to Remus more like a grimace.
Hain's eyes narrowed as Remus stood up straight and began placing the books neatly back on the desk. "Excuse me-" he said.
"Oh." Tonks said. "Remus, this is Apollo Hain, Hain, this is Remus Lupin."
Hain sized Remus up and down, his eyes lingering on his patched and shabby robes, his brown hair flecked with grey and his pale and sickly complexion. Finally he stuck out his hand and shook Remus's pale hand roughly in a display of tough manhood.
"Remus Lupin is it?" he asked with a cold smile.
Remus nodded.
"Hm. It sounds familiar. Have we met before?"
"I don't believe we have." Remus replied honestly. He looked into Hain's face and thought it looked familiar as well but could not imagine for the life of him why.
"Do you work at the Ministry as well?" he pressed.
"No."
"What do you do then?" he asked in an annoyingly superior way.
"Hain!" Tonks said loudly, "Why talk about dull things like work, eh?" she said it carelessly but her dark eyes were flashing dangerously.
"I'm just wondering, cupcake. We're all friends aren't we?"
"My name is Tonks!" Tonks snarled. "Not 'cupcake'!"
"Where do you work if you don't work at the Ministry?" Hain asked Remus, ignoring Tonks's outburst.
"I'm unemployed." Remus said quietly.
Hain looked very smug at these words, Remus watched him calmly knowing from past experience what the next inevitable question was going to be.
"Why?" asked Hain.
"Health reasons." Replied Remus.
"Is that so?" Hain sneered eyeing Remus's ill, tired complexion again.
"Remus is also a qualified Professor." Tonks cut in sharply.
Remus looked at her, slightly startled by the venom in her voice.
"Perhaps you taught me when I attended school!" Hain smiled humorlessly.
"Remus isn't that old Hain." spat Tonks.
"Is that a fact?" asked Hain nastily.
"Well-" Tonks said furiously, her dark eyes blazing. "Me and Remus would love to stay and chat but we really must be on our way." She said grabbing her smoothie from the table and with a knowing nod to Remus.
"Mind if I come along?"
"Yes." Said Tonks before Remus could even think of an answer. He thought that his reply however would probably have been the same as Tonks'.
Hain looked taken aback, but recovered quite quickly. "Perhaps we could go out for a drink then? What's the rush Tonks?"
"We're going dragon hunting in Norway-none of your bloody business Hain!"
"Well fine. Be that way, I'm off to go slay a few werewolves myself." Hain said jokingly and then suddenly his eyes widened. He stared at Remus who saw the recognition in Hain's eyes. "That's where I saw you!" Hain gasped. "You were in Beast Division the other day!"
Remus remembered him now too, when he had gone to the Werewolf Registration Office at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to drop off his file he had to wait at the desk for a long time as the wizard behind the desk took forever to make sure Remus's signature was on all the papers it needed to be. It had taken even longer then it should have due to the presence of the wizard's friend who was talking to the desk wizard while reading Remus's answers over his friend's shoulder as he stood by much to Remus's embarrassment.
The annoying friend of the wizard was Hain.
"Ah." said Remus lamely.
Hain stared at him with a look of fear mingled with horror and disgust.
"Well good, now we all know each other at last." Tonks said breaking the long silence. Remus looked at Tonks nervously but Tonks seemed unfazed and was staring at Hain with a rather peeved expression. "I'll see you on Monday, Hain." She said and began walking towards the exit of the shop.
"Tonks! Wait!" Hain cried racing up to her. "Can I have a word with you?"
Tonks stopped and faced her fellow auror, "Alright, but make it quick."
Hain looked over nervously at Remus as if he might suddenly grow six inch fangs and attack them both with foam and spittle flying from his mouth. Remus put his hands in his pockets and stood there patiently.
"I meant a private word." Hain hissed in a rather pointed way.
Tonks narrowed her eyes. "Whatever you have to say can be said right here."
Hain lowered his voice as if Remus somehow wouldn't be able to hear them any better. "Do you think….this is…" he glanced back at Remus. "…very wise?"
Tonks folded arms. "What are you talking about?"
"He's a werewolf!" Hain hissed.
"He's my friend!" Tonks said angrily. "And I don't see what business it is of yours!"
Hain opened his mouth to reply to this but Tonks had already turned away from him and was marching towards the front door.
"Come'on Remus!" she said loudly, "We're leaving!"
Remus couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he nodded his acknowledgment to Hain and followed Tonks out of the store.
The door shut behind them with a merry tinkle of bells.
"The NERVE of him!" Tonks raged, her dark eyes flashing angrily. "I can't BELIEVE him! ARGHHH!"
She threw up her arms looking absolutely furious.
"I take it that you don't get along very well with him." Remus said calmly. For some reason he felt as if he were several pounds lighter and he felt that the broad smile that he couldn't wipe off his face was making him look utterly absurd.
She let out a loud laugh at that. "No. He's just such a conceited arse. He just brags all the time about all the things he's done and he's so big headed he doesn't realize that everyone around him is retching into their wastebaskets. Sadly, his supply of girls he uses as arm candy is endless and when it comes to me, I'm afraid he is under the delusional idea that my greatest ambition in life is to be Fanny French bon-bon hanging from his arm."
Remus felt a strong but odd twinge of great annoyance at this information.
Tonks let out a heavy sigh and shook her head apparently to compose herself. "But enough about my obnoxious colleagues…Where to?"
Remus opened his mouth but suddenly felt his heart leap as he caught sight
of two men standing near the shadowy mouth of a side alley. He grabbed Tonks and swung her around so that he would be in front of her.
"Wha-" she said in surprise before she saw the two men and her eyes widened. "Oh, my giddy aunt." She whispered.
Oedipus Moore and a Death Eater that Remus knew by the name of Jugson were standing by the shop and talking quietly amongst themselves. Remus could not think of how they could get closer without drawing attention to themselves, and yet they were so close-
Tonks suddenly tugged hard on his sleeve and he looked down to see her handing him an odd flesh covered string.
"What on earth is that?"
"I'll explain later." She hissed shoving the string roughly into his ear. "Borrowed it from the Weasley twins."
Remus watched the end of the fleshy string crawl its way along the side of the wall and suddenly he could hear the conversation between Moore and Jugson as clearly as if he were standing beside them.
"-and that should be everything." Said Moore as he handed the sack of money over to Jugson. "I shall expect results of course."
"The Dark Lord will speak to Lucius Malfoy immediately." Jugson said, all but snatching the money from the other wizard. "You can expect a promotion soon enough."
"I should think that The Dark Lord might be grateful for more ears inside the Ministry."
"Indeed. And he will reward you all the more greatly when he decides to come into the open. Perhaps a new Ministry will be established and you can be sure that you will be one of those at the top of it."
"And until then I will be counting down the days with my new job at the current Ministry." Moore said smugly. "Now if you don't mind, I have other business to attend to."
Jugson gave a mock bow as Moore apparated away. He looked at the sack of gold in his hands and carefully pocketed it before apparating away himself.
"Well fancy that!" Tonks said from his side. "Death Eaters meeting in Diagon Alley. Who would have thought?"
"It is quite clever actually. Oedipus was very smart to think of backtracking." Remus admitted as he tugged the fleshy string out of his ear. "No one would ever suspect them of meeting there in broad public."
"Well they were off to the side a little bit."
"Still in Diagon Alley though."
"True."
"This was amazing." Remus said as he handed back the string to her. "And you said the Weasley twins had it?"
"Made it actually. I caught them using it one time trying to listen on me, Bill and Mad-Eye in the kitchen as we went over a few Ministry maps. I promised not to tell anybody in the Order about it if they promised to not use it again, though I highly doubt they actually listened to me. But when I found them that day, I insisted on borrowing it from them for one time in the near future and I thought it might come in handy today."
"Impressive." Remus said as she pocketed it. "And very clever, I have no idea why Zonko's didn't think of it before."
"Why didn't the Marauders invent something like that?" she grinned.
"We were too busy making a map."
"A map?"
"Long story." He said. "But thanks to you and the Weasley twins invention we have the information we needed. Oedipus Moore is obviously in league with the Death Eaters. Family gold for new titles and positions at the Ministry."
"Well, I was the one who botched it up in the beginning." She said. "Least I could do really."
"Everyone makes mistakes." He said kindly. "I wouldn't have had this mission go any differently than it already has and I wouldn't have wanted to go on it with anybody else." He turned to look at her and was surprised to see her pale face turning a slight pink.
"Thanks." She said quietly.
He smiled at her and quickly winced as she walked right into a brick corner of a small building. "Are you alright?" he asked, steadying her as she stumbled about.
"Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Perhaps we ought to apparate back to Headquarters? Might result in less broken bones that way."
He nodded and they apparated together at the end of Grimmauld Place where they started to walk up to the road towards the dark and gloomy house up aways.
Remus let out a sigh of relief. Everything had worked out afterall. They had discovered that Oedipus Moore was in fact providing the Death Eaters with money, neither of them bad been seriously hurt (Tonks's acquired bruises had to count for something) and he had made a new friend by the name of Nymphadora Tonks. Just for a moment, everything seemed so blissfully calm, peaceful and perfect.
As they walked back together down the street, the clouds in the dark sky parted to reveal a bright, nearly full moon in the sky- Remus even after years of bad experience recoiled slightly from the blinding brightness and the almost full shape of the moon. The moonlight flooded the street and everything on it with a pale silver glow.
Tonks spoke up suddenly from his side, "You don't look so bad in the moonlight." she said with a playful smile.
And for the first time in his life as he stared back at Tonks, her pretty face half lit by the moon's silver glow, Remus Lupin thought the moonlight was absolutely beautiful.