Author's Note:
Being back at school reminded me why I hate school so much =_= Anyways, I'm trying to keep my updates not too long apart but that's failing miserably, I hope you don't mind though as you all would understand, school is crazy terrible. Thanks for bearing with me, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and reviewing and do remember to leave a review if you can. Thank you so much!
Chapter 08 – Where to Place Your Trust
In the middle of a large stone tunnel that resembled the muggle sewage system without all the waste and after products, Alexis and Tonks were bent down beside a large black dog, motionless, bounded by a full body bind spell. Tonks turned from her raven haired cousin to the black dog, memories of her childhood returning to her. She remembered spending time with both Alexis and Sirius, the dog, and the emotional side of her seemed to be over-ruling the auror side of hers. But Mad-Eye Moody had told them not to let any emotions get in the way of their work. She turned back to the large black dog, wondering what to do.
After what felt like too long of a silence, Tonks sighed and much like Alexis rubbed her forehead as she used a non-verbal spell on the black dog with a quick flick of her wand. "Mad-Eye's so going to have my head for this," Tonks grumbled.
The large black dog suddenly moved again, stirred under Alexis' palm, and soon he transformed from his animagus form back into that of a human. A boney, lanky, man with long and unkempt raven black hair and beard stood up looking at them. Alexis was on her feet beside Tonks, their wands pointed at him. He had grey hollow eyes, haunted and dark. His face was marred with dirt and his body was covered in various tattoos. He breathed heavily, his beady eyes turning from the pink haired girl to the one with black hair close to his.
He suddenly laughed, a low, mad chuckle as his shallow eyes turned from one girl to the other. "Are you going to kill me now? Free me first, get my hopes up, and then kill me?" He asked them, his haunted eyes looking at their wand tips pointing threateningly at him.
For a short moment Tonks had bemusement in her eyes, but soon she turned towards Alexis who had a small smirk on her face, about to break into a full grin. "Well I suppose we could just kill him and not go through the trouble of hearing him boast about how cool and awesome he is," Tonks spoke conversationally, smiling a bit.
"Yes, but killing him would be too much effort," Alexis joked, her voice even and calm.
Sirius Black, the escaped prisoner and currently most wanted man in the Wizarding world suddenly allowed a grin to appear on his face. He allowed himself to laugh, a hearty laugh he hadn't experienced in such a long time. Suddenly, without warning he wrapped his boney arms around both girls' thin frames, hugging them tightly, longingly. The last time he'd seen them they were mere kids, asking when they could go to Hogwarts. Now, they were grown women, long past the childish days of Hogwarts.
"Lexi, Tonks," Sirius breathed, patting their backs, grinning, laughing. "You girls are too foolish, too trusting," he proceeded to nag them. They were the only people he'd ever meet who would stand in front of an Azkaban escapee and smirk like that.
"Maybe," Alexis shrugged. "Or we're just really confident in our ability to hold you down if it's necessary. Tonks is an auror now."
"What are you then Lexi? You can't be an auror, you always hated physical activities."
"Alexis Black, bumbling cousin, rule-bending Unspeakable," Tonks smiled as she helped stable Sirius' stance, his hand gripping hers and trembling slightly.
"Are you mad? You trust me enough to put your wands away?" Sirius asked, breathing heavily as he smiled at the two girls who were tucking their wands away. "What if I am the insane murderer they all said I was?" he asked.
"If you're mad you wouldn't have hugged us," Tonks pointed out. "And if you wanted to kill us, you would have already taken one of our wands and tried to kill us already."
"Now sit down Padfoot, we need the story. How did you escape Azkaban? And if you've escaped, why didn't you just run as far as you can? Why did you come here to Hogwarts?"
Sirius chuckled as he dropped down to the stone ground. Tonks came down slowly beside him as she gripped Lexi's arm, helping her down slowly. Alexis still saw black dots in her vision, her head throbbing as she sat down, but the pain could be ignored for the moment.
"One question at a time Lexi," Sirius smiled. His grin was familiar on his once darkly handsome face. "And Tonks, sorry about your arm," he spoke, gesturing to her new red scars.
"It's fine, I've had worse than this in auror training from Mad-Eye," she smiled. "Now really, we need you to tell us everything that's happened."
"Aren't you afraid that I'm lying? After all, I've been in Azkaban for twelve years."
Tonks suddenly turned to Alexis, her eyebrow raised expectantly at her cousin.
"It just so happens that I have some Veritaserum on me," Alexis sighed as she took off her jacket slowly and searched her pockets for the small, clear, crystal vial of the truth telling serum. After a moment of searching, she found the small vial with a few drops of liquid that looked no different from water. She handed it to Sirius and he was careful not to use all of her small portion, dripping one drop onto his tongue.
"What's your full name?" Tonks asked him, trying to think of a good security question.
"Sirius Orion Black the third," Sirius replied easily.
Alexis rolled her eyes. Yes her cousin was brilliant, but within that brilliance there were moments of idiocy as well. "Blimey Tonks, even I could've answered that. Alright Sirius Orion Black, what's your worst memory when you were back at Hogwarts?" Alexis asked.
Sirius' eyes widened as he tried to hold back his answer but the effects of the Veritaserum were too strong for him to resist. "When I was dating this girl named Melody Heinz, we were just about ready to shag and right in the middle of it she chickened out and the entire night was so awkward and terrible," Sirius breathed.
Alexis grinned when she saw the sign of resistance but the truth still spilled anyways.
"Sounds just like Sirius," Tonks smiled. "Now tell us everything from the beginning."
"I don't remember what the date was exactly, but it was one of those routine checkup days where Fudge would come in and do a round check on all the prisoners. He went into my cell with the Daily Prophet and said some stuff. Sorry I really don't listen anymore after being there for so long. All I know was that he was taunting me with the Prophet, saying how I wouldn't know what was going on in the world because I was locked up for life. Then he left the papers in there for me after I mocked him and said I bet I was better at the crosswords than he was. I looked around the papers and found this," Sirius spoke, pulling out a crumpled piece of the magical newspaper from his tattered prison robes and handed it to them.
Tonks took the wad of paper and straightened it, looking at the picture of the Weasley family who had won a trip to Egypt which they had used to visit their eldest son Bill Weasley. "This is just a picture of the Weasley family," Tonks spoke, showing Lexi the paper.
"Yes, but look at the rat in there," Sirius spoke, pointing to the animal on Ron's shoulder.
"That's Ron's pet rat Scabbers," Lexi spoke, looking closer at the small animal.
"Scabbers?" Sirius scoffed. "That's Peter."
"Peter Pettigrew?" Tonks questioned. "But he's dead! All they found of him was…"
"A finger," Sirius nodded. "But I'd know his animagus form even if he turned to ashes," the man scoffed. "If you go check on that rat, Scabbers, you'd find that he's missing a finger, just like Peter. Show this to my old friend Moony and he'll recognize the little guy as well."
"So you escaped, because you thought you saw your old friend?" Tonks asked.
"There's more to the story behind the Potter's secret keeper isn't there?" Alexis smirked.
Sirius snapped his fingers and grinned at his cousin. "Ah Lexi, always the wit of the band," he smiled. "I wasn't the Potter's secret keeper. Peter was."
"How?" Tonks questioned. "Sirius we need you to tell us everything."
"It was dark times Nymphie, dark times," Sirius began in a low voice. There was a sad look in his eyes as he began reminiscing the last memories he had of his old friends. "It was the first war. We joined the Order of the Phoenix a resistance group against Voldemort ran by Albus Dumbledore himself. We had no idea what we were doing. When the disappearances began, we were doubting each other. After a prophecy was made about Voldemort's target being revealed as the Potters and the Longbottoms, each family had to go into hiding. Unfortunately, Frank and Alice Longbottom were caught before they could hide and tortured into insanity. James and Lily were scared, worrying for their son Harry. They hid as quickly as possible and as you know, they had to find a secret keeper. At that time, we didn't trust Remus, not when he keeps disappearing for reasons he couldn't tell us and Peter kept mentioning that Remus was a werewolf and the werewolves supported Voldemort." Sirius suddenly paused and chuckled bitterly. "Not trusting Remus Lupin was probably the biggest mistake I've ever made in my entire life. James trusted me and made me Harry's godfather. It was told that I was their secret keeper. But it was too obvious, don't you think? If Voldemort wanted to know who their secret keeper is, the first person would be me, James Potter's best friend and Harry Potter's godfather. So I told James that to make Peter their secret keeper. You would've never guess that they'd pick a spineless worm like Peter Pettigrew to hold that big of a job," Sirius scoffed. "But Voldemort got to him, told him he'd be allowed to live and given protection throughout the war if he told them the Potter's location. Then you knew what happened next. That damn spineless coward sold out his own friends!" Sirius yelled, slapping his hand hard on the stone ground.
"So Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper? He sold the Potters out to…Voldemort?" Tonks questioned, hesitating for a moment when she spoke the dark lord's name. "Can you tell us exactly what happened the night you got caught?"
"I was just going there to check on them like usual. When I got there, James was dead. Lily was dead beside Harry's bed," Sirius began to choke on his words, the memory being too much for the broken man to handle. "I picked Harry up. The poor kid was crying his eyes out. I knew Peter was the secret keeper and only he could've revealed James' location to Voldemort. I brought Harry to Hagrid and sat with him for a bit. After a moment I ran and looked for Peter. You know where the location is, on a muggle street in London. I caught the little snitch, grabbed him by his collar and threatened to kill him for betraying our friends. He yelled out to all the muggles that were there that I had betrayed the Potters. That caught me by surprise. I wondered how the rat got so cunning. He pushed me back, killed the twelve muggles around us with an explosion spell, then cut off his own damn finger and tossed it in the explosion. By the time I got back up, he'd already transformed into his animagus form and slipped away because he was so small. When I was about to run after him, the aurors had already came. Mad-Eye Moody caught me, and as you both would know, once the old codger's got you, there's no escaping him."
"And finding you at the scene of the crime with your wand active and you being the last to see the Potters with everyone else thinking that you were their secret keeper, they immediately thought that you were the murderer as well and jailed you," Alexis spoke.
"Basic auror protocol," Tonks nodded solemnly. "But when they caught you, you were laughing," she added, looking up at her cousin who wore a bitter smile on his hollow face.
"Black's don't cry," Alexis spoke in a low voice as she turned to Sirius.
"James and Lily's death sort of unhinged me. After Peter escaped, I didn't know what else to do. So I laughed. Laughed like a psychotic maniac I'm guessing," he smirked.
"And now that you saw Pettigrew's animagus form being Ron's pet rat Scabbers, you knew that he'd be at Hogwarts, so you came here. You came here not to kill Harry Potter, but to kill Peter Pettigrew," Tonks spoke, making sense of the rest of the story.
Sirius nodded. "That little snitch," he spoke through gritted teeth.
"Sirius you're innocent this whole time," Tonks breathed. "We have to help you."
"Well I've already gotten help from a large orange cat that looks a lot like a small tiger," Sirius smiled. "He's been helping me look for the rat inside Hogwarts."
"Crookshanks," Lexi spoke. "Hermione's tiger of a cat, that's why he hates Scabbers."
Sirius laughed and nodded. "Yes, Crookshanks, his help is greatly appreciated. But it would be better if you two could help me. Once you find him, just use the same spell you used on me to force him to transform back into his human form."
Tonks crossed her legs and turned to look at Alexis. "What do you think?"
"Well he could be lying," Alexis shrugged conversationally. "The Veritaserum wore off a while ago. But his story does make sense, and Ron's pet rat had always bothered me."
"But you trust him," Tonks spoke, knowing the trusting look in Lexi's eyes.
"And you trust him," Alexis smirked as she glanced from Tonks to Sirius.
"We should tell Remus this," Tonks sighed. "He'll be happy to know the truth. He can help us too. He's a professor and is brilliant, he'll be able to help us," Tonks added.
Sirius smirked. "So you girls know Moony. And I see Tonks has taken a liking to him."
Alexis scoffed and leaned back on her elbows. "She's taken more than a liking to him."
"Ah," Sirius smirked. "Little Nymphie has a crush on my ol' pal Moony," he teased.
"Do not!" Tonks protested too quickly, beginning to blush. "But we still should tell him."
"It can wait until after the moon," Sirius interrupted in a low, serious voice. "I've been paying attention to the cycle and the October full moon is nearing. Let's not stress my friend out more than necessary. Especially this month's moon, it will be harsh on him.
Alexis seemed to understand Sirius' reasoning about the moon. Tonks personally didn't know, but she figured that telling Remus now would only give him one more thought to worry about during his transformation and would do him no good. She decided to follow them and nodded as she sat back. Tonks sighed and looked at her lanky raven haired cousin she hadn't seen for twelve years, ever since she was a child.
"So, how's Azkaban treating ya?"
"Pretty well actually, considering that I'm still sane enough to recognize my family."
Alexis scoffed and shook her head. Of course only Nymphadora Tonks would ask an escaped prisoner such a question, and only Sirius Orion Black would answer so casually. "You two are so much alike it's scary," she smiled, still shaking her head.
"And you're one to talk," Sirius smiled, more at ease now with his two cousins. He had expected to see two little girls still pestering Andromeda about when they could go to Hogwarts. Instead he met two wonderful women who not only still fully trusted him but were both extraordinary in their own ways. "Alexis Black, you bear more of the patrician beauty present in the Black family than I ever expected," he teased her, knowing the girl always hated it when he said she resembled the insane family of theirs. "And Nymphadora Tonks, you look a lot like your wobbly dear aunt Bellatrix," he continued, teasing her as well.
"We're not going to kill you but it doesn't mean we won't hex you," Tonks warned.
Alexis cleared her throat subtly. "Actually, I never said I wasn't going to kill him," she spoke as-a-matter-of-factly but her small smirk and teasing tone gave away her seriousness.
Sirius smirked and leaned back, looking at his cousins, his family. "So tell me, how's life?" he asked casually. The three soon got pass the awkwardness and engaged in an animated conversation, catching up with Sirius on everything that had been happening ever since the day he unexpectedly left his old life behind. They trusted him enough to sit and talk with him. But what made them comfortable with each other wasn't the trust. It was the underlying fact that they still saw him as family, and he never proved them wrong. It was the feeling that they were all family, a different kind of family, but still family nonetheless. After a while, Alexis and Tonks saw that the lanky, haunted man from Azkaban still had traces of the same old cousin Padfoot they both remembered. They could trust him, and they could smile with him just like before.
The sun was already setting fast on the horizon. Mad-Eye's electric blue mechanical eye was whirling around like mad, an uneasy feeling crossing his senses. He clonked out of the castle beside Silvia, both deciding that since no students would be outside at that hour, they wouldn't have to use the Ghost Necklace just yet. He grunted and grumbled to himself as they walked. Often Silvia would glance at him, her eyebrow raised as she wondered what had him on edge. The Hogsmeade trips were no longer a problem, and yet the paranoid old auror was never at rest.
"Where are they?" Moody grunted as he looked around for Tonks and Alexis at the point they were to meet for shift change. "They were supposed to be here already," he grumbled.
"Maybe they're late," Silvia shrugged, looking around as well.
"It's not like neither of them to be late," he grumbled in a hoarse voice.
"Then maybe they ran into something," Silvia mused, still looking for the two girls.
Moody emitted a sound from the back of his throat seeming like a low growl. "They're not anywhere on the grounds," he grumbled.
"How do you know?"
"My mechanical eye can see through the trees up to thirty miles. They're not here."
"Well they couldn't have just disappeared. Are you sure you're not just missing them and over-reacting?" Silvia questioned, flipping open her locator and setting it to Lexi's name.
Moody shook his head and emitted another low growl as Silvia raised her eyebrow when the locator seemed lost as well. "Can it find them?"
"No, it's like they just disappeared," she replied, looking at the small Unspeakable instrument and wondering if it was broken. "The locator's not picking up Alexis or Tonks."
"Could it be that they've abandoned their post and gone to Hogsmeade?" Moody growled. "This is why I was so hesitant to put Alexis and Nymphadora together. Their track record from Hogwarts is more than enough to prove that putting them together was a bad idea."
"Now wait a minute, you're just freaking out here Alastor. The locator Rookwood gave me isn't picking up anything. If they're at Hogsmeade, their location still would have appeared."
"Contact Kingsley and tell him to check with Bode on his locator and have him and Dawlish check Hogsmeade to see if they're there. If I know Alexis Black right, she'd know a way to elude the locators. And Nymphadora Tonks would just about do anything if she wanted to. We'll go back to the castle and get some more people to help look for them in the grounds. If the locators don't work we'll have to search by foot and Hogwarts is too big for the two of us."
"Alright, I'll contact Kingsley. But you shouldn't be too judgmental of the girls you know. Sure Alexis likes to tinker but she wouldn't dare to mess with anything from the Department of Mysteries. And Tonks may seem reckless but she's actually very responsible."
"I'm not judging them," Moody replied as they turned on their heels and headed back to the castle. "I'm predicting their actions based on what I've learned about them. Nymphadora is responsible but she can be stubborn and reckless as well. In the past she'd gotten away with many things and it would lead her to believe she still could in the future. And Alexis Black is rebellious and she would push the line with what she is allowed to do as an Unspeakable."
Silvia rolled her eyes. "Ugh, whatever you say. You seem like you know them so well," she sighed. "Should we get some of the teachers to help too? It's after their classes and they would know the grounds and castle a lot better than we would."
"Whoever's free," Moody replied. "Now hurry up," he grunted at Silvia while taking longer, faster strides, making her work harder to keep up with him. "We've got a reckless auror and Unspeakable missing. If they're in danger we have to find them fast. If they're abandoning their post we have to make sure they're not doing anything stupid," he continued as Silvia ran after him, continuing to roll her eyes much like Tonks would, but not going as far as calling him names and making a joke of everything he said like Tonks would.
The moon was already high in the dark night sky. Marrick Kingston with his dark brown hair disheveled was turning sharply from one direction to the next, his dusty green eyes on a lookout for two girls, one with raven black hair and another with bubblegum pink hair. He'd grown used to having to look for them from when they were in school together. But he never expected to have to look for them again when they were all grownups on an important mission. The tall young man huffed and ran a hand through his already messy hair as he turned again when he heard footsteps. He didn't see the girls. Instead he saw Professor Remus Lupin, walking slowly as he seemed to be ill. Remus came up to him with a small, wan smile on his face, silently asking if Marrick had seen any traces of the two girls.
He shook his head to the ill-looking professor and huffed again. Remus Lupin, to him was too kind of a man. He was sick, barely able to walk, and was out with them looking for two infamous troublemakers. "I've already searched the area near the Quidditch pitch," he spoke.
"Do you think you could find them with one of those locator things Alexis used and Nymphadora had a spare of?" Remus asked as he stopped beside Marrick, his eyes wary.
Marrick shook his head as he looked around. They were just walking away from the Quidditch pitch, the tall wooden towers of house colors still visible through the trees. "Silvia already tried looking for them with her locator and found none. Besides, I don't have one tonight. Alexis took it with her when she went out to patrol with Tonks."
Remus shook his head and continued walking. Marrick deliberately slowed his pace down so the tired professor could keep up. "I just hope they haven't run into any trouble."
"Alexis and Tonks could handle themselves," Marrick sighed. "Though she's an Unspeakable, Alexis is rather skilled at dueling. And Tonks is trained by Alastor Moody. She'll be able to take care of herself," he reassured the man, knowing he cared especially for Tonks.
Remus nodded. "Yes, but I'm just worried. Nymphadora isn't irresponsible and wouldn't abandon her post like that so maybe something could have happened to them," the professor spoke gently, his calloused, scar crossed face illuminating under the faint moonlight. Marrick could see more clearly the claw like scars that crossed Remus' face and for the first time, he wondered what the gentle professor had done that gave him those scars.
"I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility that they've abandoned their post," Marrick spoke in a low voice. "I've known them since school Professor Lupin, and they were quite the determined rebels back then. When they're together, it's like to say there's nothing that they can't do. Knowing Alexis, she'd find a way to elude the locators."
As he walked, Remus paced his steps slowly and hoped that his body would be strong enough so he wouldn't fall down. He nodded to Marrick's words while still looking around, hoping to catch sight of Alexis or Tonks. It was dark and Alexis' dark hair would be hard to spot, so Remus hoped to see any traces of bright, bubblegum pink hair instead. Though they were in Hogwarts, he knew better than to think that the school grounds were completely safe, especially at night. There was also the possibility of them wandering into the Forbidden Forest. Whatever happened or wherever they were, Remus hoped they were alright. He had become too close to Tonks to simply turn a blind eye when something happened to her. And he'd grown rather impressed by Alexis as well when she figured out the Marauders' nicknames so easily.
They walked for a little bit more, both Remus and Marrick in a companionable silence as they continued looking for the girls. Suddenly, some sounds in the bushes caught their attention and when they came to check, instead of finding the two girls, they were met with two other troublemakers, younger, boys, with flaming red hair. The Weasley twins looked up at Remus with a guilty grin on their face and a raised eyebrow at Marrick.
"What are you two boys doing out here this late at night?" Remus asked, gathering as much tone as he could and trying hard not to seem too ill.
"Nothing at all," they replied together.
"Professor Lupin what are you doing out here?" Fred countered him.
"And Marrick, you're out here too," George added, quirking an eyebrow at him.
"Why this late?" the twins asked again, together.
Remus turned to Marrick and heaved a sigh. He figured that since the twins were friends with Alexis and Tonks, they wouldn't mind keeping an eye out for the girls' location. Maybe they even knew where the two girls were. But Remus could only hope on a whim for that idea.
"Alexis and Tonks are missing," Marrick spoke after a glance at Remus.
"Us and a few other teachers have been looking for them all night," Remus sighed.
Both Marrick and Remus noted that George Weasley's grin suddenly dropped immediately, much faster than his brothers as he looked at them with a dead serious gaze they didn't even know the Weasley twin could pull off. Remus saw that George looked genuinely concerned as he badgered them with questions of where the girls were last seen and so on. Obviously the Weasley twins have no idea where Alexis and Tonks were.
"How about you two return to your common room and while there keep an eye out for Alexis and Tonks?" Remus told the twins. "We can't have you wandering around at night, it isn't safe. The two girls will be found and they will be alright," he reassured them and himself as well.
"Alright," George Weasley nodded. His expression still solemn.
"But Marrick you're telling us immediately when you find them," Fred added.
"Of course," Marrick nodded and watched to make sure the twins were heading back in the direction of the castle. He and Remus then returned to their search. As they turned back, Marrick noticed that Remus looked even worse than when they began the search and thought that maybe it would be better for his health if the professor returned to the castle and rest up rather than strain himself in search of two troublemakers that can remain hidden if they didn't want to be found. Marrick turned and suggested the idea to the professor and smiled lightly when Remus hesitantly agreed. Later he found Silvia and Moody and joined them in the search after Remus had returned to the castle, looking more ill and tired by the minute.
Back at the castle, Remus stood staring hopelessly out his open window. He was partially watching the moon casting her silver glow, her curse upon him as his body grew weaker and more ill by the minute, bathing under the wan moonlight. Another part of him was staring blankly into the dark trees below, hoping to catch a glimpse of vivid pink hair or to see Nymphadora Tonks' face and be reassured that she was safe. He stood there by the window for what felt like a long time as the night grew longer.
After a while, Remus finally pushed himself away from the window and turned to his shelf beside his desk where a black cauldron of wolfsbane potion laid waiting for him. He opened the lid and poured himself a goblet full of the potion. Remus casted one faint look at the moon before he drank the concoction, willing himself not to gag and waste any of it.
Remus continued to gaze out the window, his eyes searching for vivid pink as his mind began to wander. He wondered why he was so worried for her. He wondered why earlier, when he heard news that she was missing, his heart suddenly dropped. Surely Remus only saw Tonks as a friend. That's what they've been. She'd quickly struck up a strong friendship with him and they only grew closer from then. Remus was sure they were friends. But at that night, when he was worrying about her, he began wondering if maybe he wanted to have more than just simple and innocent friendship with her. He was genuinely worried for her, and when he thought about her he noticed a feeling in the pit of his heart growing stronger and stronger. Surely that feeling wasn't something he would feel for a simple friend.
"Nymphadora and I are just friends. That's all there is to it," he tried to remind himself.
But as Remus continued to worry and wonder about her, the more he realized that he could possibly want more than friendship with her. He shook his head once and forced himself to turn away from the window. He was in danger of falling for her. Remus knew he shouldn't and so turned away from the window, deciding to stop his own search for her that night. If he loved her, he would only be causing himself more pain than necessary. If he fell in love with Nymphadora Tonks, there would be nothing he could do. Remus always thought he wasn't worthy of her. She was a young a beautiful auror who deserved so much better than him, a shabby old werewolf. Remus huffed and leaned back on the side of his window frame, trying to put the battle inside his head to rest as he sloppily pulled the window closed. He shouldn't fall in love with Nymphadora Tonks, and that battle in his mind was settled.
They had spent so much time with Sirius that both Alexis and Tonks nearly lost track of time itself. After leaving Sirius quickly and closing the entrance to the underground tunnels to which they came from, they made sure to get rid of any trace of Sirius being around to protect him from the searching aurors. Tonks and Alexis began heading back to the castle, realizing how much time had passed when their eyes met the waxing moon that hung high in the night sky.
"Bugger, we've been gone too long," Tonks spoke as she gazed at the moon while walking beside her cousin, not paying attention to the many obstacles in her path and tripping.
Alexis caught her that time by grabbing tightly onto Tonks' arm. "Careful. It's not a good idea to take your eyes away from your path if you're notoriously clumsy," Alexis smirked.
Tonks stuck her tongue out at her cousin. "Reckon they'll be looking for us?"
"I'm sure they are."
"How come they haven't found us yet? And what if we gave Sirius' location away? With the locators that Rookwood and Bode still has, they'd be able to find us, and Sirius."
"If you keep talking about him then they'd know we've contacted him," Alexis told her cousin. "I've tampered with the locators so that we're practically invisible to them."
"How?"
"I'm the one who drew up most of the blueprints for the locators," Alexis scoffed. "I made sure to create a spell that can trick it as well," she smirked.
Understanding and realizing that Alexis must have used a wandless and non-verbal spell some time earlier to trick the locators, Tonks shook her head and sighed at her bumbling rebel of a cousin. "One day you're going to get into so much trouble," she sighed.
"And until that one day comes, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing."
Tonks sighed and shook her head. As they walked she gazed upon the moon, wondering where Remus was. She wondered how he would feel once he found out Sirius hadn't betrayed them after all, that Sirius was still his loyal best friend from many years ago.
Alexis noticed that Tonks' eyes were within the allure of the moon. She knew that when her cousin looked up at the moon longingly like that, she was thinking about one person in particular. Alexis never really understood the complicated concepts of love, but she knew that Tonks was in love without even having to ask. After a moment, she too glanced up as well, looking at the waxing gibbous and realizing what time of the year it was.
"The Blood Moon is this month," Alexis commented softly.
"The Blood Moon?" Tonks asked, turning to her cousin at the odd but familiar name.
"It's the October Full Moon. During the Blood Moon, a werewolf will…"
But before Lexi could finished they suddenly heard Silvia's voice. "Tonks!"
"Alexis! Tonks!" Marrick's voice called after them and the two girls looked around.
"Bloody hell, do you think they sent a search party out to find us?" Lexi asked.
Tonks was interested and wanted to know more about the Blood Moon, but Marrick and Silvia were approaching them. Marrick's hair was disheveled, his face wearing an expression of frustration while Silvia had dried leaves stuck in her long, curly dark brown hair and her eyes seemed tired. Tonks glanced at Lexi once and realized that her paranoid old mentor Alastor Moody probably had sent out a search party just to look for the two girls.
"There you two are," Silvia sighed. "We've been looking for you everywhere! You two just practically disappeared! Even the locators can't find you," she sighed, catching her breath.
"Really?" Alexis asked, feigning innocence at the mention of the locator. "I thought they'd work. Rookwood and I made sure they'd work properly in any situations."
Silvia shrugged but Tonks noticed that Marrick was looking intently at Alexis. "Where have you two been?" Marrick asked in a low voice, his eyes studying both girls.
"We fell down a path that led out of Hogwarts and got lost trying to get back in," Tonks lied, hoping her lie was believable. Hogwarts did have many secret passage ways and it wouldn't have been a surprise to Marrick or Silvia, hopefully. "I got scratched up by something," she continued, showing them her arm with the claw marks crossing her pale skin. "And Lexi cracked her head on a rock. She was unconscious for a while, that's why we couldn't get back," she lied.
Lexi glanced at Tonks for half a second and immediately caught on with her cousin's lie. Just like how they were back in school, Tonks would come up with the excuse and it would fall into Alexis' hands to make it seem believable since she was the better actress. Lexi allowed her pain from her throbbing headache to show through as she stumbled backwards a bit while Tonks made up their excuse. Silvia and Marrick immediately reached out, Marrick holding Lexi up while Silvia checking out Tonks' scratches.
"It's just a light scratch," Silvia sighed. "Tonks these look like claws. What did you run into?" she asked, observing Tonks' scratched up forearm.
"I think it was a really large cat or something," Tonks replied, pulling a confused face.
"Alexis do you have a headache?" Silvia asked, turning from Tonks to Lexi.
"Yeah and there's a bloody huge bruise on the back of my head," Lexi whined, feeling the bump on the back of her head. She didn't even have to lie at all.
"Come on. Let's get you back to the castle. We've been worried all night," Silvia sighed.
"Alexis, where have you two been?" Marrick asked as they began walking again.
"Didn't you hear? Tonks just explained everything," Lexi replied dryly.
"You're lying," Marrick spoke. He was too straightforward for his own good sometimes.
Lexi huffed as she threw her arms down heavily to her side. "If you think I'm lying then why do you even bother to ask, Kingston?"
"I'm just worried. You and Tonks have disappeared for most of the day and…"
"Nip it," she spoke shortly. Alexis rolled her eyes at him, knowing that Marrick could see through their act, having so much experience from catching them during school and listening to their excuses. Lexi knew she wasn't going to fool him, and settled for just fooling Silvia.
"No," he countered, not backing down. "I just didn't want you and your cousin to end up doing something reckless or stupid. When you and Tonks are together, you two tend to cause mischief. It's the same back in school and it's the same now."
Alexis usually didn't mind what he said, but somehow, being so tired that day and having Marrick jump to conclusions about her and Tonks just drove her off the edge. She and Tonks were doing something reckless, but it wasn't immature mischief like their days in school, and she wanted to yell at Marrick for relating it to that.
"Look Kingston," she spoke icily to him. "Even if Tonks and I were doing something completely stupid and reckless, I do believe that it is none of your business to worry about. Besides, I would appreciate it if you don't automatically jump to conclusions about me and my cousin, comparing what we do now to the childish and immature acts of ours back in school." Alexis' tone was sharp and Tonks could spot some of the Black family aristocratic hauteur in her cousin's voice. She never said it out loud for fear of Alexis becoming irritated, but Alexis was more like a Black than anyone else, especially when she's angry.
"Lexi," Silvia called after the raven haired woman as Alexis stormed away, angry.
Tonks sighed and looked at Marrick. "Great, now you've angered her."
He shrugged and continued walking but his gaze never left Alexis until he could no longer see her in the night, heading back to the castle. He knew she was lying. He could tell, not because of being in school with her and Tonks for so long, but because he knew the look in her eyes. Marrick couldn't explain why, but Alexis' eyes grow colder when she lies, and he saw it grow colder then when she and Tonks were explaining where they were. He wanted to know why she lied, but ended up irritating her before he could even explain anything. He only shook his head and walked a little faster to keep up with Silvia and Tonks.
After having to repeat her story or rather lie to Mad-Eye Moody and the rest, explaining why she and her cousin Alexis disappeared for hours and showed up injured, Tonks was finally given a break when Mad-Eye nodded, seeming to believe her story and let her go. Knowing that Alexis was already back at their sleeping area, Tonks decided to pay Remus Lupin a visit after hearing from Marrick that the poor professor had been genuinely concerned about them and though he looked ill, still came out to help look for them.
Tonks was already inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and was slowly making her way up to his private office. She didn't know what she'd say to him when she saw him, but all she knew was that she wanted to see the man. She also wanted to tell him about Sirius, but she knew that she should wait until after the moon passed less Remus became further stressed out. He didn't need anything else to trouble him.
She sighed and knocked on his door softly. After a moment Tonks heard soft footsteps and sounds from inside and could feel Remus approaching the door. When the door opened and her eyes fell on his, soulful dark eyes meeting gentle blue eyes, she felt her heart beat at a different rhythm. Suddenly, before she could even say anything, Remus' eyes suddenly lit up when he saw her and he pulled her into a tight hug, an embrace.
"I'm glad you're alright," Remus sighed, still hugging her. "You had us all worried."
"Thank you," Tonks replied, hugging the man back, unsure how to respond to him.
Remus slowly pulled back and led her into his office, his soft, gentle eyes on hers. "So you came to see me? You didn't have to. You should rest," he smiled warmly.
"No, you should rest," Tonks countered in a tender, soft tone. "Marrick told me you went out looking for us. You shouldn't have strained yourself. The moon is drawing closer and you're tired. You should be resting, not running around looking for us."
He smiled and let out a soft breath, shaking his head at her. "I'm stronger than I look, trust me," he replied. "I'm just glad you're alright."
"Thanks for worrying though," Tonks smiled as she sat down across from him on the long, threadbare sofa. "It's nice to know there's someone worrying about you."
"What are friends for?" Remus smiled and shrugged.
Tonks smiled warmly, watching him. She noticed that Remus looked worse than usual. As if his pre-moon symptoms were already taking a harsher toll on him and his wander out in the dark looking for her didn't do him any good at all. She wondered why his complexion paled more than usual, why he looked darkly ill and unstable. His eyes, when she took a closer look without losing herself in the gentle blue, she noticed they were bloodshot.
"Remus, you look at lot paler today."
He smiled wanly and nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid since the Hunter's Moon is this month, it's taking much more of a toll on me than it usually would," he sighed.
"The Hunter's Moon?" Tonks questioned. "First Sirius was worried about stressing Remus out with this month's moon, then Lexi mentioned the Blood Moon this month, and now the Hunter's Moon? What's so special about this month's full moon?" Tonks wondered to herself.
"The Hunter's Moon, also known as the Blood Moon," Remus explained, beginning to answer some of Tonks' many questions. "What most people don't know is that for werewolves, during the October Blood Moon, our transformation worsens and our instincts take over more parts of our mind than any other moon, if that's even believable," Remus scoffed bitterly. "Meaning even though I'm on wolfsbane, the transformation would be much harsher. I would still be able to prevent myself from harming humans, but my wolfish instincts and senses are enhanced so much that the wards I place on the Shrieking Shack won't be enough to hold me there. I'm usually more worried about this moon as I'd be wandering around the area as a full grown werewolf," he finished, his voice low and somewhat uneven.
"But you're not dangerous," Tonks spoke as she absorbed his words.
He nodded but still didn't seem convinced. "Yes, I'd still be able to keep myself from hurting humans, but there's always the slight chance. And besides, wandering around as a full grown wolf, if someone catches me something bad would happen. I'd either hurt them to defend myself or they'd try to kill me," he sighed and ran a shaky hand through his light brown hair that looked greyer than usual.
Tonks reached over and held his hand, tightening her hold gently. "You won't hurt anyone and no one will hurt you," she reassured him and herself as well, needing to know he'll be fine even with the pull of the moon.
Remus nodded and smiled to her. He looked like he wanted to talk about something else, anything else but the topic of the fast approaching Blood Moon. "Just a curious question," he began. "Where did you and Alexis wound up during the hours you were gone?"
"We ran into a couple Dementors," Tonks replied, trying hard not to lie to him but not to tell him about Sirius as well. "Actually, after we ran into the Dementors, we met an old friend of ours near Hogsmeade and decided to stay and chat to catch up with each other. Lexi knew of a way to trick the locators since she drew up most of the blueprints for them," she spoke. Technically Tonks wasn't lying. She was just being very vague. "Please don't tell anyone."
He appreciated her honesty and shook his head, smiling. "As long as you're safe, I won't tell anyone," he promised her, his hand still touching hers and he felt a warm feeling surge up his spine and traverse throughout his body, bringing him comfort and possibly love.
They continued sitting there, having comfortable small talk in the night as the warm fire blazed under the mantelpiece beside them. Tonks wanted to tell Remus about Sirius, eager to see his grin brighten when he realize that his friend is still alive and very much the same man he was, not some deranged traitor and murderer, but she knew that he'd be stressed out as well because of Sirius still being thought to have betrayed the Potters and the complicated betrayal and switch story of the Marauders. She settled on waiting until after the full moon to tell him.
As Tonks sat there and talked with Remus, she realized that her heart was beating faster, racing almost. An odd feeling churned in her stomach and her body felt exhilarated. It was a feeling that made her jumpy and hyper, but it was a good feeling. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she's had that feeling around Remus for a while, only that night it had gotten stronger and much more noticeable. She wondered why she had such feelings, but didn't know how to word her questions and so settled for the small talk they had and simply making the tired, pre-moon symptom Remus Lupin laugh and smile as much as possible. For a moment though, Tonks wondered if that feeling was telling her that she wanted to be more than friends with him.
I hope it's ok, and if you're wondering why or how Alexis and Tonks could accept and trust Sirius so easily, I think I sort of explained it in there but tell me if I didn't do a very good job please. It all comes down to family, they're your family and there's something about family that has a magic of its own. I sort of explained this up there ^_^