In the Present
A HariPo fanfic
by mew-tsubaki
Note: I haven't finished To the Future and already I'm starting its second companion story. AGH! However, J.K. Rowling's characters are in good hands by now, so I hope everyone enjoys this Rena story. But to reach the present, one must glance at the past, where our story begins… READ & REVIEW!!!
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The Seventh Harvest (& the Eighteenth Wax)
Remus had a tune stuck in his head the following morning. Well, the wisps of one, at least, because when he tried focusing on the words, they always stayed out of his grasp.
Sirius joined him on the way down to breakfast, looking a little alarmed at such a happy Mooney. He even asked as much. "Why are you on Cloud Nine?"
He shook his head, smiling. "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius… This beats Cloud Nine. And winning the House Cup. Even winning the Triwizard Cup. Merlin, even defeating Voldemort."
Padfoot eyes widened. "You told Luna you love her," he guessed.
"I did that ages ago, back around the beginning of March."
"It's May now!!" Sirius gawked.
"Yeah, I know."
"But that's not it," Sirius concluded while they waited for the stairs to change. "What else happened?"
"Yesterday," Remus started, "she told me back. She loves me. She's in love with me, Sirius."
Sirius smiled, raising an eyebrow. "As much as you're in love with her?"
Remus nodded. "She told me she loves me and I got to kiss her over and over and-" He pinked, realizing he was dangerously close to going into detail.
"Oh-Oh my god!" Sirius exclaimed, cringing and wincing at once. "You- You did it and were about to tell me!! U-Ugh!!!!" he cried, mimicking sticking his finger down his throat.
Several students watched the spectacle curiously, and Remus's blush crimsoned. "P-Padfoot! Stop it! You're drawing attention to us!" he hissed.
Sirius shook his head –as if that could get rid of the nasty pictures from his brain. "God, Mooney, don't ever tell me anything like that again!"
Remus glared at him. "Then the same goes for you, Snuffles!"
"But things went well, I presume?" Sirius asked politely as they entered the Great Hall.
"Yes," Remus whispered as he sat in Charlie's seat. He had switched with the eldest Weasley boy after Sirius and Ginny had been found out, mainly because Charlie was too tempted to Avada Kedavra Sirius's arse. However, with Neville still on the other side of the Animagus, the two Marauders had to keep conversations like this one quiet.
His best mate smiled at him and patted him on the back. "So that solves your problem, then!" he laughed.
Remus frowned at him. "Other than my little furry one, maybe."
"Oh, Remus, don't worry about that," Sirius chided as he faced his breakfast. He looked out into the sea of teenagers while chewing his toast, and his chewing slowed. His eyes were focused elsewhere.
The werewolf followed his gaze to the Gryffindor table. Ginny was there, all right, but she was kissing a someone. Someone who wasn't Sirius. Ignoring the catcalls and whistles from some of the other students, Remus watched as Ginny and her friends sat down. He recognized the boy with Ginny as Sturgis Reaves, a sixth year, and the other Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They looked good together, but Remus thought Sirius and Ginny were perfect for each other, like he was with Luna. And that's something you can't easily break up, Remus pondered, finding himself glaring at the site at his former house's table.
Owls flew in then with the morning mail, and some of Ginny's friends got some packages. Remus turned back to Sirius, who was staring at his plate.
"Lost your appetite again, mate?" Remus asked quietly.
Sirius gave a tiny nod.
"You're going to be skin-and-bones soon, Sirius," he told his friend.
But Sirius shrugged and leaned his cheek in his hand, swishing his goblet of water around and around. Sirius had never looked so hurt, so broken over a woman before, and because Remus knew Sirius like a brother, he also knew that Ginny really was the one for Sirius. Padfoot was the typical womanizer, but Ginny had reined him in; she had a pull on him that all other women would go green with envy for, but she wasn't using it. She wasn't even with him, and now he was crushed.
"Sirius, at least finish your br-"
With something much more horrific than a great BOOM!, an explosion went off in the Great Hall. There were screams echoing throughout the place, and the sounds of chairs scraping the floor resounded at the staff table. Sirius was the first up, knocking his chair back on the floor, and Remus was up with Dumbledore and McGonagall and the others. Some dust cleared as the faculty rushed to the Gryffindor table, and Remus saw Ginny. Another student –Ginny's friend, Miraphina Atherton, a seventh year and one of Remus's D.A.D.A. students –fell to the ground.
Ginny screamed. "MIRA!!!!!"
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"How the hell could this have happened?" Sirius roared once the Great Hall had been evacuated.
Remus kicked a distorted tray amidst the debris. "I dunno, mate."
"Ginny and her friends were the only ones hurt," Neville stated, picking up a partially-blasted piece of fruit and tossing it.
"How did something get into the school, though?" Charlie thought aloud.
Flitwick sat down at the Ravenclaw table. "The owls are all supposed to be checked!" he squeaked. "Checked! Does this look like anyone checked the mail?!"
"Owls are a ruddy way of gittin' the mails thru," Filch groused, standing guard at the Great Hall's entrance.
"The method of communication does not matter right now," Snape stated. "What matters is that we find what exploded." His eyed scanned the floor up and down, looking for whatever he had missed.
"I think this is it!" Sirius called to the others. The other teachers and Filch approached the item in question: the remnants of a pale green box on top of a tattered chocolate brown ribbon. "This was the package Atherton got from the owl this morning. She had just opened the flaps when it went off, sending dirt, dust, and debris everywhere."
"We've got to get it out of here," Remus said, and he, Sirius, and Snape worked a few containment spells to lift the present up and had Filch carry it away. Flitwick stayed behind with the others to magically trace any leftover bits of spells, but they came up clean. The attack had been restrained to that one box.
Dumbledore and McGonagall returned as the rest were fixing the Great Hall. The headmaster's grave look stopped all of them where they were. "Miss Crowley and Miss Atherton are in an unstable condition, too critical to move them right now. Madam Pomfrey is attending to them, but she does not know the source of the ailment. Can anyone provide some insight?"
"We only just found the box, Albus," Flitwick piped up. "Remus, Sirius, and Severus have made it somewhat safe and Argus moved it, but we don't know what it is yet."
"Are the others all right?" Remus asked, knowing that the question was lodged in a nervous Sirius's throat.
"They've only suffered minor injuries," McGonagall answered. "I say we interview them to find out what happened firsthand."
"An excellent point, headmaster," Snape commented, nodding to Dumbledore.
"Very well," Dumbledore said. "Leave the hall as is. We shall see Miss Weasley and her friends in the Hospital Wing."
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Along the way, one of the paintings told Dumbledore that Raven Crowley and Miraphina Atherton were stable enough that Madam Pomfrey was with the other kids. Dumbledore gave his thanks and marched on, McGonagall whispering to him urgently on one side and Snape angrily lost in his own world on the other. Neville, Charlie and Flitwick conversed ahead of Remus and Sirius, and Filch followed behind them.
They entered the Hospital Wing and Dumbledore went straight to Ginny. He gave her a worried smile after glancing at all of them. "I am glad to see all of you are well."
Not really, they aren't, Remus observed. The black boy, Mavrick Morris, one of the team's Beaters, winced as he leaned forward; it looked like he had a broken wrist, and the rest looked rather beaten. "What about Raven?" he asked in a rushed tone.
"And Miraphina, too," Sturgis added.
Remus and Sirius and the rest watched Dumbledore purse his lips. "I'm afraid Miss Crowley and Miss Atherton have suffered terribly, but they are alive. We were hoping that the five of you could help us piece the events together."
"Do you have any idea who sent a package to Miss Atherton?" McGonagall inquired.
Ginny shook her head. "It was unmarked. Sturgis suggested it might be foolish to open it, but Mira stated that it wouldn't have reached her if it contained Dark Magic. She undid the bow and nothing happened. It exploded when she actually opened the box." Her eyes were wet, but she didn't cry. "What was in the box?"
Dumbledore worded his response carefully. "We are not sure yet, but Mr. Filch has secured the item and the professors Snape, Lupin, Black, Weasley, and Longbottom are going to dissect its remains." At that, he motioned to those five and they shuffled out of the Hospital Wing. Ginny averted her eyes when both Charlie and Sirius tried making eye contact, and Remus felt bad for both men.
Back on the restricted third floor corridor, a magical cage stood, and Neville, Charlie, Sirius, Remus, and Snape stared at it. The shoddy box lay in wait inside.
"I guess we should test it first," Sirius said to Remus. He drew his wand. "Ready?"
Remus produced his own wand. "After you."
The two of them tried nearly every offensive and defensive spell they could think of. They even tried a few suggestions from the other three. However, it was not responding to incantations.
"I don't know about touching it," the werewolf stated, "but it seems pretty harmless right now."
"Fool, of course it seems harmless," Snape retorted. "But that doesn't mean anything."
"Hold on, there's something inside it," Sirius interrupted. He knelt down and turned off the cage. "It's a powder." The Animagus reached out.
"Don't touch it!!" the other four professors bellowed.
Sirius winced. "It's a dry potion, I think."
"Oh, joy," Snape remarked, rolling his eyes.
"We should help you determine the ingredients," Charlie said, gesturing to him and Neville. "I don't think I've ever heard of a potion with simple enough ingredients to do what it did to Raven and Mira."
Remus put the barrier back up. "We should see Dumbledore first," he suggested. "Catch him up on things."
The others mumbled in agreement and left the corridor. Sirius hung back a smidgeon to speak with his best mate. "I think I would've preferred the Dark Arts. At least then I could do something," he wisped.
The brunette wizard nodded. "I know, Sirius." He gripped the Animagus's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, but it did little to comfort him. Sirius was comforted by one fact: Ginny hadn't been hurt worse.
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Okay, nice and exploding-y. YAY! The plot thickens…! Dun, dun, dun!!! But you love it, right? Man, I can't wait to write some more of this stuff! Keep REVIEWING, PEOPLES!!!!!
See you in 19 (I'm already THIS FAR?!!!)!
-mew-tsubaki
