Chapter VIII - Dark Arts

It was just past lunchtime when Harry made his way downstairs, ignoring a loudly-muttering Kreature along the way. Ron and Hermione had done nothing to improve his mood and it seemed the only one giving him the slightest bit of information was Sirius, so he made the decision to spend a little more time with his godfather before having to leave for Hogwarts. At the very least it might make Sirius feel better as well- Harry knew he was having a hard time staying here while everyone else in the Order of the Phoenix contributed in some meaningful way. He caught the sound of voices as he entered the dining room, one of which he was happy to note as his godfather's.

"What are you talking about? You're the scruffiest out of all of us- and you've still got the fleas, too."

"I'd like to see you go through what I've had to endure and come out of it without fleas," Sirius said. There was a moment of silence.

"Technically, you had fleas before-"

"You're not helping, Remus."

"Come to think of it," Rosemary said with a grin. "Your fleas conveniently show up only when you're covered in fur. Why is that?"

"Er..." All three heads turned to see a very confused looking Harry standing in the doorway.

"You've noticed that, haven't you, Harry," Rosemary asked, smiling brightly. Harry didn't answer, but instead looked to Remus for an explanation.

"They're discussing their Animagus forms," he said. "Or perhaps 'insulting' is a better word for it."

Harry's expression changed as he looked to Rosemary again. "You had an Animagus form too?"

"Yeah, mine is a grey wolf. I was fortunate enough not to get fleas with it." She shot Sirius an innocent smile.

"The flea joke never gets old," he said flatly.

Harry smiled. "Anyone else I know have an Animagus form?"

Rosemary counted off on her fingers. "Mine's a grey wolf, Sirius' is a flea-ridden dog, as you know, James was a stag, Peter was a rat, no surprise there, and Lauren-" she paused as if contemplating how to explain it. Harry glanced again at Sirius, whose smile had become a little forced. "Aha, wolf on stilts."

"What?"

Sirius gave a small snicker as Remus translated. "She means a maned wolf. Tall, red and black, almost looks like a fox... 'Wolf on stilts' is an old inside joke of sorts."

Harry still looked as though he had no idea what they were talking about but wouldn't ask any more questions on the matter. Rosemary glanced down to check her watch and Sirius shook his head. "It's something you would have to see to understand."

Rosemary looked up at Sirius and said quietly, "We don't have long now. Hopefully your favorite person has something of use this time."

Harry started to ask, but decided perhaps it wasn't the best thing. Remus nodded understandingly at him. "Order matters, Harry."

"Can't I stay," he asked, his gaze wandering to Sirius. "just a little longer?"

For a moment Sirius seemed to give in, but quick as it had appeared it left and his face hardened. "Mrs. Weasley will have a fit if she finds out you were here so close to a meeting."

"Er... I'll just be going," Harry said, a dejected note clear in his voice.

The trio said nothing more before the first Aurors arrived, Mad-Eye Moody among them. In a little less than half an hour nearly every member of the Order, including the eldest of the Weasleys, was once more piled into the dining room. As usual, Dumbledore was one of the last to arrive, with Snape arriving soon after him. Dumbledore took his usual seat and the meeting commenced, but it was Snape's report once more that had everyone on the edge of their seats.

"Severus," Dumbledore said, his voice as calm as ever, almost casual. "There was a Death Eater meeting recently?"

"Yes," the sallow man answered. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named captured a Ministry worker, one particularly close to Fudge."

"There was a disappearance," Tonks broke in. "The Ministry covered it up."

Snape's eyes trailed to the younger woman and he paused for a moment.

"He was asking for something but remained too quiet to tell what it was. Naturally, I suspect something inside the Ministry itself."

Dumbledore nodded. "Was Lauren present?"

"Yes. She conducted the murder herself. There is something else of interest, Professor. She was wearing a necklace."

"A necklace?"

"One I believe is important," Snape emphasized the last word ever so slightly.

There was a pause from Dumbledore.

"Yes, thank you, Severus," he said finally. "Alastor, your report, if you will?"

Several other members gave their reports and assignments were adjusted here and there, but nothing more was said on the subject of Lauren. The meeting ended soon after, leaving Dumbledore to linger a little longer than everyone else.

Snape remained in his seat for a moment before standing to address the older man. "Professor," he said quietly, glancing to Rosemary, Remus, and Sirius, who had also chosen to stay behind. "The necklace- I believe it to be of great importance. It's highly improbable that the Dark Lord would simply give her such a trinket if it were not."

"Can you describe it?"

"She wore it inside her robes last time, I'm sure. I remember seeing the chain during the first meeting. This time, however, it was in plain view. The pendant was large, almost certainly some ancient heirloom."

"And the stone itself?"

"As red as blood."

Slight concern washed over Dumbledore's face for the briefest of moments and he looked as though he was thinking intensively. "Thank you, Severus. We'll await your next report."

Sirius stepped forward from where he had been listening quietly as Snape exited the room. "We're just going to wait for another report?"

Dumbledore turned to look at him. "Yes, Sirius."

Tension was clear in his voice. "Anything could happen in that time. Snape-"

"As I've said before-"

"I'm beginning to question just how much you're actually concerned about this, Dumbledore."

The old man paused a moment, watching him before speaking. "I do care, Sirius." Sirius gave a little scoff. "You shouldn't presume to know how I feel on this."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of sh-"

Dumbledore cut him off with a raised hand, his voice quieter than it had been before. "Lauren was a very dear student of mine, and that still holds true today. I fear the delicacy of this situation more than you know. If anyone were to attempt anything so early, regardless of our other plans and anyone else's safety, she would be in far more danger than she's in right now. To Voldemort, she is an asset."

Sirius interrupted. "And when she's no longer important to him?"

"We will have her before things get to that."

For a moment Sirius seemed only somewhat satisfied, but it became clear that it wasn't quite enough for him. "I suppose I'll be expected to sit back as usual, and continue to trust her in his hands."

A small crease formed in Dumbledore's brow. "You know the enormous risks that would cause just you, Sirius. Imagine the risks it would cause the Order."

But Sirius would have nothing of it. He was already turning, briskly walking out of the room. Remus, who had been quietly listening aside Rosemary, sighed and, with a brief look her way and a short shake of his head, headed after him. Rosemary started to follow in tow before Dumbledore's voice stopped her.

"Miss DiNozzo," he said, and she turned back his way.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Hogwarts is short an Ancient Runes professor this year. Would you be so kind as to take up the position?"

A little confused at this offer, she nodded. "Yes, sir, if you'd like... But-"

He smiled. "I am in need of someone to attend meetings in my absence, and report information to me. With the Ministry's increase in pressure on me this year-"

"No need to explain, Professor." She said with a slight smile. "I'd be happy to." With that she left the room to find Sirius and Remus.

She found Remus standing outside the door to the master bedroom, looking a little stressed. "Sirius," she could hear him say as she ascended the stairs. "There's not much good pouting will do."

"There's not much not doing anything will do, either," came the muffled answer. Somewhere just on the other side of the door, Buckbeak squawked.

"Is he being difficult?" Rosemary asked quietly, approaching Remus where he stood outside the door.

"No more than usual."

She sighed and knocked at the door. "Sirius? Please open the door. Maybe we can think of something that'll help, and Dumbledore will act sooner."

There was silence for a moment.

"Did Remus tell you to say that?"

"No- look, if you open the door we can talk better. If you don't like what we come up with, you can close the door and we'll come get you when dinner's ready."

There was another moment of silence, and Remus took a moment to mutter to Rosemary. "What are you doing? You heard Dumbledore, there's nothing we can-"

"Shh, maybe we can get him to stop this. Obviously your method isn't working, is it?"

Before he could answer there was the sound of footsteps in the room beyond, and then the door creaked open. Half of Sirius' face peered through at them. "What?"

"We'd better take this somewhere private," Remus interjected, glancing around.

"Can we come in?"

Sirius was quiet a moment, looking at them. Finally he opened the door fully. "Watch out for Buckbeak."

The pair entered the large room with him and he closed the door behind them, eyed by the hippogriff reclining on the bed. Buckbeak glared at them with a single golden eye before shifting slightly away and closing it again. Sirius took a seat next to the creature on the bed, while Remus perched on a chair nearby and Rosemary opted for the floor in front of them.

"Just like old times, eh?" she said with a grin, but it was soon lost on them. The grin slid from her face and she cleared her throat. "So... Snape said she was wearing a necklace, right? And that he thought it was important? Maybe that's how he's controlling her?" She looked to Remus for clarification.

He nodded. "Sounds right. I think that's what Snape's thinking- even if it's not exactly right."

"We can't exactly walk up to Voldemort and ask why she has it, so if we're going to do anything we're going to have to guess." Sirius said.

"Alright," Rosemary looked back to Sirius and motioned a little with her hands. "Let's say it's got some sort of enchantment on it. It's probably a dark one, knowing You-Know-Who. Since we don't know any..."

"That doesn't help at all," Sirius concluded.

"No..." Remus said, his brain beginning to follow where she was going and formulate a solution. "We just haven't learned any yet."

Sirius shot him a look. "You want to learn the dark arts? Weren't you a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a reason?"

Rosemary stifled a snicker, and Remus shook his head. "No, we don't have to learn any, just what they are and what they do- and how to break them. We won't be able to do anything outside of that ourselves, of course, but maybe if we present anything we find to Dumbledore-"

"-he'll agree to act sooner and we'll get her back," Rosemary finished with an excited clap of her hands. "Remus, you're brilliant."

Sirius seemed to think on this, but answered with a slightly skeptical, "but where are we going to learn about the dark arts? Snivellus?"

"We... haven't thought that far yet."

Rosemary sighed. "Well, I think we'd better start as soon as we can, I won't be here much longer."

They looked at her. "Why not?"

"Dumbledore asked if I'll teach Ancient Runes. And, you know, fill him in on any meetings he might not be able to make it to. I think I might be able find out some information from whatever Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is there this year."

Remus shook his head. "I doubt it. Even if the professor knew anything, we'd be risking letting someone outside of the Order know what's going on, or they would suspect you're up to something."

"Why not just use the Restricted Section?"

They both looked at Sirius. "That's actually pretty smart, Sirius," Rosemary said. "Alright, so while I'm there I'll look through the Restricted Section for anything I find and I'll tell you when I get back anything that looks at all important. But then, if there's nothing... We might need an outside source on the dark arts. We can't just go waltzing up to a Death Eater- well, we could..."

"I've got a library, I think. I never even touched the door since Lauren and I moved in, but I'm sure she didn't clean everything out and my parents were such Voldemort fanatics that I wouldn't doubt that they had books on the dark arts."

Rosemary got to her feet. "Let's go find this library and see if we can't get inside." Sirius grabbed his wand from the dresser and the three of them left the room together.