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Chapter 12:
Things like What?
Somewhere on the border between consciousness and a deep abyss, Remus wandered the shadows. He kept seeing images that had no connections for him, nothing he could understand. Up in the sky, a silver full moon shone brightly, then turned into a hand. Up ahead, on the path was an old Muggle-style motorcycle and when he passed it, it swung up like a trapdoor. In the back of his mind, a pale hand gestured with a thin, deadly-looking knife, while a pair of tan hands twisted in on themselves. But the most common image was a pair of eyes: green, if so simple a word could describe them, ancient, haunted eyes. In every vision, the eyes would lock on his and fill with tears.
But, the only person with green eyes that he could remotely think of was Lily Evans, and he hadn't seen her since-- he racked his brain--since... someone's birthday party, still, for the life of him, (or not, as he was convinced that he was dead) he couldn't remember who the person was. Besides, the mysterious eyes weren't the same shade as Lily's; they were much more misty than Lily's emerald greens. The fact that he couldn't recall who they belonged to irritated him. The fact that he felt his heart miss a beat every time he saw them irritated him even more. But, most annoying of everything in this strange void, the thought of those crying eyes made him incredibly sad.
If he concentrated, if he believed that he wasn't dead, he could occasionally hear a woman's musical voice talking to him, calling his name; it made his heart beat faster. At other times, he heard the strange woman weeping, and that made no sense (like so much else recently). Women never cried over Remus John Lupin. Crying women were much more Sirius's department; he reduced women to tears all the time. Speaking of Sirius... Remus strained his ears so hard they twitched. Ah, there was Sirius's voice, telling someone that it would be all right. The only reply was a soft sniffle.
At times, Remus could hear a deep, soothing voice telling him what to do, one he knew he had never heard before. He didn't think he was crazy, though. What the voice told him made sense; it showed him the convoluted paths hidden in this strange, misty place. The voice was definitely male, probably a little older than himself. It made him think of his best friends, and his father at the same time.
Remus...
"What do you want?" he called, looking around cautiously. "Who are you?"
"Remus?" came that feminine whisper again; he hated the way the raw hope in it twisted his guts.
"Moony?" That was Padfoot, he was sure of it. He clung desperately to anything stable as the ground began to shake near him.
"Sirius, leave him alone!" she, whoever she was, yelled angrily.
"I'm not doing anything!" Padfoot shouted right back.
No, please don't fight... Please don't make her cry again...
Remus, you need to open your eyes, boyo. The time is coming near.
"My eyes are open!" he called hoarsely. "What time? What are you talking about?"
But, as he watched, the landscape began to blur. It was a slow process that gradually sped up. He began to run in the opposite direction, away from the unsettling image that made him feel like he'd stepped into a Dali painting. After an indeterminable amount of time, he could hear the girl (a name clung just out of reach) softly whispering his name, over and over. His eyes drooped like there were weights on them. Why couldn't he see anymore? The crying girl got louder, and in desperation, he ran blindly in her direction.
Remus, this is the balance point. Either you wake up or we'll lose you to your allergies! Your heart is too slow!
That definitely didn't make sense, as the only thing he was allergic to was... silver. A memory played tag with his mind. Chains... chains, and foul-smelling walls that sparkled entirely the wrong way. There had been so much fear.... He shook his head, which he quickly discovered was a bad idea, then stumbled and fell into the darkness he'd fled, too startled to even scream.
#
The first fact Remus truly became aware of that he was covered in sweat; the second was that he was clothed only in a thin pair of shorts (which certainly surprised him, as the last thing he remembered was wearing trousers and a button-down shirt). And the final thing, the revelation that made his eyes snap open, was the cool, soft weight resting on his chest. Startled, he looked down to find a mass of blue and black hair resting on his chest, with one soft hand resting near his cheek; he could smell her scent strongly. He was surprised, and somewhat dismayed, to find that it soothed him.
"What the hell?" he groaned, before flopping back on his pillows.
Sleep, boyo. All of you have been through an ordeal. The fight has been won; it's time to rest.
It was impossible to resist that compelling voice. Remus barely had time to think how unfair it was; after all, he'd only just woken up.
#
Sirius tiptoed into the room, expecting another argument, only to find Bridget standing at the foot of the bed. He relaxed. "How is he?" he asked quietly, noticing how her eyes lit up to a warm brandy color when she smiled. He liked it when she smiled at him; it seemed like such a personal thing.
"He's fine. Better. He's finally asleep, instead of unconscious." Sirius snorted derisively, watching with secret delight at the play of emotions over her face. "What?" she asked, frowning at him; he felt his good mood plummet.
Sirius quickly tried to backtrack. He'd noticed that she didn't like being treated like a small child with an amusing, but ultimately silly idea-- even if she was a little odd, she was quite brilliant-- and realized that that was exactly what his reaction could be taken as.
"He doesn't look any different to me, that's all."
Bridget shrugged. "You just need to learn more about body language and what it shows when someone can't or won't say anything; after all, most of our communication is nonverbal. See?" She pointed in Remus's general direction. "His shoulder and neck tendons aren't tense anymore, and his eyes are fluttering now, which means he's dreaming. All the crinkles on his forehead are gone, too, which means he's relaxed quite a bit." Sirius stared at her until she pulled at her sleeve nervously. "What now?"
"You seem to know the oddest of things." Looking past her, he noticed the newest addition to Remus's chest and smiled broadly. "Hm. James and Peter owe me money."
She followed his gaze, her lips forming a small 'o' as she took in the implications of the scene. Though Remus was pale when standing next to his friends, the skin visible beneath the mass of hair seemed tan when compared to the snow-white complexion of the sleeping girl. Kagumi twitched in her sleep, the fingers resting on Remus's cheek curled then relaxed. Jet smiled slightly.
For the past two days, Remus had hovered between an allergy-induced coma and a semi-awake state, and Kagumi had not left his side much. Every morning, she took a shower for roughly ten minutes. Then she fixed a light breakfast for everyone; Jet grinned when she thought about how proficient Kagumi had become at household charms (since there was definite teasing material there). Then for the rest of the day, the girl sat in the hard chair by Remus's bed, bathing his forehead in a vain attempt to cool his fevers when they struck.
After the second time Remus had fallen out of bed because of violent twitching, she and Bridget had been ushered out of the room while the boys stripped Remus and put him in an old pair of Sirius's cutoffs. At dinner, Kagumi usually just gave the house-elves a recipe and had them cook and serve the last meal (she was so out of it that she never realized that none of her meals were being made and Bridget was taking advantage of her absence to make some of the dishes she missed the most). Not even her newfound love of flying had been able to pry her from his bedside.
"Those two..." Sirius muttered. Jet turned to look at him, and caught the tail-end of a laugh. "Those two aren't fooling anyone. They can cuss themselves hoarse at one another, but if one of them gets a scratch, the other hovers like a mother hen. Without, of course, seeming to hover."
That did sort of describe the way Remus and Gumi had been acting. But to Jet's experienced matchmaker eyes, the caution had gone from mistrust and suspicion to...something else. Perhaps there was more attraction there than either of them wanted to admit. After all, the group of friends still snickered about the Twister game at Gumi's birthday, though not where either of the participants could hear and thusly jinx them. In fact, the first time that Gumi has caught Sirius laughing about it with James, both boys wore flapping ears from a well-aimed hex for two hours before Mr. Potter finally stopped laughing, took pity on them and cast the counterjinx. Bridget was the only one who could get away with it, and that was merely because her friend would promptly bring up the (multiple) times Bridget had ended up on top of Sirius.
Jet shook her head, deciding that Remus would probably need more convincing then Kagumi on the romance end, and Sirius was the best choice to help; or the most convenient target. Whichever. "So what? She's a born worrier. She probably fell asleep trying to telepathically count his white blood cells or something."
Sirius nodded. "Still, I feel bad. Before she fell asleep, we got into an argument. I was sitting on the edge of the bed and Moony started shaking again. She thought I was doing something to him, and we got to yelling at each other. I stomped off and heard her crying again. I'm glad that she's getting a little rest."
Smiling crookedly, he picked up a blanket from the floor and draped it over the girl's shoulders, kissing the top of her head. He grinned down at Bridget when he had finished. Bridget stood tense and silent. She wasn't stupid; Sirius was up to something. (It was an opinion shared by both girls that James and Sirius had been born 'up to something.')
"It's strange, Bridget. It's not even been two months since the two of you fell into our lives, yet I care deeply about both of you. It's cute, the way she hovers over all of us, but the way she treats Moony makes me think of things. Things I haven't really seriously thought of before."
"Things like what?" she asked, voice cracking half-way through 'what.' "And you know Gumi will hurt you if she hears you calling her cute. She detests being called cute." Bridget was babbling, and she knew it. But the predatory gleam in Sirius's gaze made her nervous beyond accountability.
Sirius slowly walked towards Jet, as if to avoid scaring her off, and carefully closed his arms around her. She trembled, feeling slightly trapped with his hands pressed against her back and her hands on his chest, and he smiled warmly at her, lowering his face until he was less than an inch from her.
"'Things like what'?" Sirius sounded entirely too amused. "Well, for one thing that I think you're adorable all the time, unlike Gumi. For another, how completely brilliant it would be to do this." He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to hers, enjoying the way her breath hitched, and her fingers splayed over his collar bone, palms pressing against him in a way that did not say 'get off me.' And she'd definitely kissed him back. Drawing back, his eyes twinkled. "I will hold you to that promise, Bridget. I think about you too much not to pursue you." Kissing her once more, he all but skipped out of the room and Jet's eyes followed his exit, feeling as though a year or four had passed her by.
Jet pressed a hand to her lips and tried to calm her breathing; she'd never dreamed that he could affect her like that. Wincing at her lack of self-control, she spun around and went to march out of the room, running nearly face-first into James. "Whoa!"
"Whoa yourself, Chaser girl. What's the problem? You're shaking like a little mouse." James genuinely looked worried, and she tried to smile; she could tell by the look in his eyes that it failed spectacularly.
"I'm fine. Just gonna go down and find something in the kitchen. I'm a little hungry." Jet looked down, hoping to avoid more questions.
"Yeah, I noticed that our resident chef is asleep, and we are finally running out of brownies." James sighed dramatically, then brightened. "Do you wanna go flying with me in a few minutes? Sirius is searching for leftover brownies, convinced that Gumi must have hidden some," Bridget frowned; well, she wasn't going there anytime soon. James didn't notice and continued speaking, "and I'm utterly bored. Peter's gone and gotten lost exploring the basement, so I expect it'll be hours before we hear from him again."
At Jet's cautious nod, he grinned brilliantly and said, "See ya in a few," leaving Bridget alone to slow her heart. It wasn't until the blood pounding in her ears had quieted that she could hear the soft snickering coming from the bed. Angrily, Jet spun around again, catching her hip on the low table that held fresh towels for the guest bathroom.
"Ow! Damn it!" Rubbing the spot that was sure to become a bruise, she turned towards the bed, which was now shaking with not-so-silent laughter.
"How long have you been awake?" Jet demanded.
"A while," Kagumi replied vaguely, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She stretched, and Jet pretended not to notice the lavender-colored bags under Gumi's eyes. "Since Sirius kissed the top of my head. I'm a light sleeper, usually."
"I've noticed," Jet deadpanned, the night they had dropped into this mess still a vivid memory. "At least you didn't punch anyone this time."
Kagumi nodded, yawning again. "No need to be particularly violent now. What time is now, by the way?"
"Nearly seven in the evening. James went to find Peter, Sirius is probably rearranging the kitchen while he looks for food, and the parents are still at the Ministry. Of course, you know where Remus is." Jet smiled smugly, knowing her friend's weakness for Remus Lupin.
"Yes, but I also know that I am not the only one who caved when it came to romance. So... he thinks about you too much, huh?" Kagumi smiled like a cat who got the cream. "Anyway, before you can get mad at me again, I'm going to go make sure that Sirius doesn't rip apart the kitchen too much." With that, she pulled the covers over Remus's chest and slipped out of the room, leaving a blushing Bridget to fume alone.
#
In the kitchen, Sirius was standing in front of one of the cabinets, opening its doors, closing them and then opening them again as if doing so enough times would result in food magically appearing. Kagumi stood leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. After the fifth time, she cleared her throat. He spun around, grinning guiltily, with the full knowledge that anyone rearranging the kitchen was a big irritation to her.
"Is there a secret code, transmitted via door openings, that makes food appear, Siri darling?" Kagumi asked sweetly. He scuffed his foot against the floor; that saccharine tone meant he was in trouble.
"No, but you were asleep."
"Well, I'm not now, so what do you want?" she pushed away from the door and went over by the stove, pulling ingredients as she went. Sirius stared.
"Where did those come from?" he demanded. "I swear they weren't there a minute ago!" At her mischievous smile, she opened a cabinet door, showed him it was empty, opened and shut the door to a certain pattern that sounded familiar and watched his eyes widen as food and ingredients appeared. His lower lip dropped open a bit as she quickly fixed a chicken breast with some sort of pasta and dressing, along with some grilled red peppers. Pushing the plate in front of him, she said, "Eat."
"I knew it!" he took a bite, "There was a secret door-opening-code-thinige!" He paused, and took a few more bites of chicken and pasta, before looking up shrewdly. "So, there's something I've been meaning to ask you, since you nearly stabbed that woman," he began, after eating about half of the chicken; Kagumi winced. She didn't like being reminded of her lack of control. "How did you learn to handle knives?" She sighed.
"Truthfully, it came in two parts. One, I'm a cook. We use knives daily. Two…" Kagumi paused, a little half-smile on her face. "Two, my older sister taught me the basics of fighting, including how to stab someone if I ever needed to. She ran with a rough sort of crowd."
Sirius paused with the fork halfway to his mouth. "Wait a tic here. You've got an older brother, Ram. You've got two younger brothers, Alexi and Matt. And now you've got an older sister? Just how big is your family, Gumi?" She chuckled.
"It's quite big, and those are just the ones in America. Trust me, there's a lot of us, and we've all got weird names. Hers is Jadalycya, Jade for short. She was in several gangs when we were growing up, being five years older than me." At his incredulous look, she laughed again. "No joke, I swear. She was always the wild child. In fact, her first real job was at a bar on the 'bad side' of town."
"God, it sounds like a bad joke: Three pranksters, a gangster and a chef all walk into a bar…Ow!" Kagumi smacked him with her towel.
"You wanna hear this or not?" He feigned innocence, and finished his bite of chicken. "We were walking down the street one day, my…" She stopped, knowing that he wouldn't understand the word 'freshman.' "When I was rising thirteen. One of her ex boyfriends came at us with his groupies and friends hanging all over him. He tried to pull a knife on her, and she cut his pants off of him. It was so fast, he couldn't even follow it.
"One minute he was bad-mouthing her, and the next, his trousers are down around his ankles and his friends are running for their lives. My sister threw the dagger, and it landed next to his head." Kagumi smiled with the memory. "He said that she had amazing aim; she replied that she missed. Of course, she didn't. She only wanted to scare him. You know, right then, he asked for her to take him back? She just waved the knife again, and he left."
"Why didn't she just hex him?" Sirius seemed absorbed in the tale, food forgotten. "I mean, it's not like he didn't deserve it."
Kagumi threw her head back and laughed. "He was a Muggle, Siri love. Unless she wanted a stiff fine from our government, she had to do it the normal way. So anyway, she tucks the knife back in her boot and warned me that if I ever saw him again, I was to tell her immediately. I agreed, and then begged her to teach me how to use a knife like that. I thought it was the best thing in the world." Kagumi's eyes were far away as she reached under the back of her shirt. With a shing, she pulled a seven inch blade engraved with strange looking runes from a sheath sewn into her jeans. It was the same dagger from last night.
"I got this in the mail for my fourteenth birthday. There's a golden pentagram inlaid on the hilt, along with Gaelic inscriptions naming the blade. Over all, it cost her about three hundred dollars. The other engravings," she turned the blade over and showed him other runes, straight and deadly looking, "the other runes are from a language we discovered in a book. 'Aliit orishya tal'din.' Family is more than bloodlines." She ran her fingers down the runes as she whispered them again, a look of comprehension deep in her eyes. "…Aay'han."
"What was that last one?" Sirius asked, finally starting on his cold food again.
"What?" She was running her fingers over the blade again. "Oh, Aay'han? It's the name of the blade. It means…Roughly translated, it means 'a perfect moment of happiness and sorrow.' Like enjoying life to the fullest, but also wishing for the past at the same time. Bittersweet doesn't even begin to cover it. It's difficult to put into English." She shook her head. "It took us the better part of four years to learn the language."
"What language?" Peter asked, his hair sticking in different directions as he closed the basement door. He gently pulled a long cobweb from his ear, and shuddered, checking for spiders.
"A language called…" Kagumi hesitated as she heard someone else come down the stairs; Jet would certainly kill her if she was caught talking about a language that didn't even exist yet after the little discussion they'd gotten into. "It's called Mando'a. If you want, I'll put some basic starter pamphlets in the Den and you guys can pursue it at your leisure. But for now," she yawned. "I think I'm gonna go ch-- I mean, take a shower." The memories of her sister weren't pleasant ones, and she needed to feel a measure of control in this fantasy world.
She started to walk away when Sirius asked, at Peter's prodding, "Gumi. Where's your sister now? You said you got that in the mail; why didn't she just hand it to you?" Kagumi stopped cold and replied without turning around. Sirius watched her shoulders square, and knew that she was frowning. He wondered why.
"She's always had a mechanical touch. So… a few years back, she up and left. Last I heard, she was fixing cars and motorcycles somewhere in Florida. I haven't seen her in five years. And I've got no idea where she is now." With that, she fled, leaving the two boys to look after their friend and wonder what had happened.
#
Kagumi sat by Remus's bedside. It was late out, the moon high in the sky, and nearly everyone else was asleep. Kagumi had gone for a long fly on her new broom, getting to know its quirks, and had taken a shower when she got back. The towel wrapped around Kagumi's long hair no longer held in the heat of her shower and she shivered. He looked peaceful, she thought, far peaceful than she herself felt. The strain of fighting her emotions caught up to her, and something responsible inside broke. Hesitantly, she began to speak, saying things that had been trapped in her head since the birthday party.
"Remus, I know that you're asleep. I'm glad that you are, because I don't think I could possibly have the courage to say this to you if you were conscious. This was much easier in my head, I'll have you know." She smiled. "Despite the fact that your allergy scared me half to death, these last few days have been the nicest you've been to me. Of course, that could be because you've been unconscious."
Kagumi smoothed his hair, lip in teeth before continuing. "Your mum's been by a time or two. Said that with such a severe reaction, we were lucky you weren't dead. Nearly twelve hours of constant exposure slowed your heart to the point that we... I…" she hesitated. "For a while, I as afraid that you would die. I don't want you to die, Lupin. Then who would I have to fight with?" She sniffled, but refused to let the tears fall. Gathering courage from the fact that his breathing was still deep and even, she wiped her eyes with one hand; there was no need to cry.
"I care what happens to you, Lupin. I don't know why, but I do. I just wish you'd give me a break. I wish I could let you in on my secrets, wish I could gain your trust and prove to you that I'm not as bad as you think. Then again, I've always had a weakness for attractive men." She joked, then remembered that he was asleep. Her fingers traced the faint scars on his cheek, her touch feather light, and she smiled sleepily. He's not better yet, but he will be...
#
"Should we be eavesdropping on this, Cor?"
"Sh!" Cordan shushed his friend, trying to hear what Kagumi was saying.
Raminus crossed his arms. "I just think it's a very private moment, is all. Maybe it's not right to listen in."
Cordan sighed and turned to Raminus. "Will you shut your mouth? I want to hear what she's saying!" Cordan glared until he realized that he'd done the wrong thing. Raminus' eyebrows scrunched up, and his fist connected with the side of Cordan's face before he could blink twice. "Ow!" Cordan punched Ram right back, and the two of them set to scuffling (quite a feat in a broom closet) and rolling around. Somebody hit the door and it flew open, tumbling them both into the hallway a few feet. Raminus wound up sitting on Cordan's back, with his arms pinned.
"Quit eavesdropping on my sister!" he grunted, pulling the tendons even tighter. Suddenly, Raminus let his opponent go, too stunned to even move after Cor threw him off. Cordan flexed his arm muscles, rubbing angrily at the tendons where Ram had stretched them the wrong way, and caught sight of his friend's face.
"What's with you?" Cordan grumbled, still irritated that even after so much time, Raminus could still get the better of him.
"She's not my sister, Cor. So why do I feel like this?" Raminus looked up at his friend, confusion etched into his eyes. "I know you feel the same with Bridget. But why?"
"I told you boys there were certain consequences to getting too involved," Godric's voice said from behind them. "I tried to warn you that it wasn't all fun and games. By pretending to be their family, and being believed, you've become their family. You've made those bonds, and there's no way to break them. Your fate is tied to theirs now." Cordan's grandfather stepped back into the shadows, chuckling into his mug of cocoa.
The two men stared at each other in alarm, and raced back into their little 'office', neither having qualms about spying now that it affected them all.
#
"That was fun," James said in a bright and cheery voice. Bridget pulled nervously at the grass, her mind on other things. "Then again, it would probably have been more fun if you had been paying attention." He sighed. "Jet?"
She looked up and blinked at him. "Hm?"
"What's going on?" he asked, waving a tired hand. "Did Sirius do something? Because he's been humming all day, and I was starting to suspect he'd done something to my stuff."
"Nope. Nothing at all." Bridget's voice was too innocent, her answer too quick, and James knew something was up.
"Bridget," he gave her a stern look over his glasses, "you're glowing bright red." She ducked her head, and James decided that was a sign to throw an arm over her shoulders. "C'mon, I won't laugh. Probably. Possibly."
"I... um... he kissed me," she mumbled into her hands.
"Good Lord, is that all?" He stood up, extending a hand to help her up to. "C'mon, let's go. I told Sirius to meet us, said we had something to tell 'im. You know, about the article idea."
"But, I don't want to." She dug her heels into the soft ground, and even if James practically picked her up off the ground, it was the defiance that counted. Sort of.
"This was bound to happen sooner or later, Sirius never gives up something he's interested in, and he is definitely interested in you." James sighed, A Look on his face. "If you don't get up, I will carry you there."
She stuck her tongue out at him.
In the end, he did.
#
"I don't know, Lupin. I feel like I'm going stark raving mad. I want to be your friend, at least, but you keep pushing me away and then I get angry and push you right back." She yawned again, longer this time, and sighed. "Well, I'm just going to say one last thing, and maybe some part of you will understand it. I know about your furry little problem, Lupin, and I don't mean an ill-tempered bunny rabbit."
Kagumi leaned very close to his ear, breathing softly. "And I also think you should know that I don't find it particularly frightening. I will never treat you as anything but human, love, and I certainly don't think you're a monster. And now I understand why you were so determined for us not to like each other. I'm glad to say that it didn't succeed. " With that, she kissed his cheek gently and left to seek her own borrowed bed.
#
Cordan and Raminus stared at each other, completely shocked. "Did you see that?" Cor asked in awe.
"Yep."
"You know what that means?" Cor asked.
"Yep."
"You know that things are going to be good soon, right?"
"Yep."
"You know that you're gayer than a tree full of monkeys sniffing nitrous oxide?"
"Yep." Raminus paused, his fried brain sifting through that one again. "Wait, what?" He looked at Cordan, who grinned slyly. "You tosser, that's not true!" And so started another cramped fight; this one was less erratic than the last, and burned off worry quite effectively. Godric smiled as he hefted himself from his position of leaning against the door, taking a long sip of his cocoa, and left the hallway, shaking his head.
#
Once the sound of Kagumi's footsteps had faded from the room, Remus opened his eyes. He'd heard the last part of what she'd said, and it made him feel something he couldn't put into words. The words echoed in his head, and as he listened to it over and over, the knot of fear in his chest loosened. He hadn't smelled any deceit or fear in her scent, no lies. Waves of guilt crashed down on him, and he understood what Sirius meant about being surprised. Not just surprised, even.
Her reaction outright scared him.
Not because he was afraid of her, but because she wasn't afraid of him. She didn't hate him, or fear him, or denounce him the way he expected everyone to. The way anyone with any sort of sense would. She even wanted to be friends. Well, I did accuse her of being senseless... The ironic thought brought a smile to his lips, and he yawned.
He half raised up, intent on getting up, but the effort left him drained. Irritated, he fell back on his pillow and tried to ignore the way her scent permeated the little puff of air. How much time did she spend in here? He wondered before his eyes drifted shut again. In another realm, far away, two dead and yet not dead, sort of family members smiled, even as they wrestled, knowing that long-awaited plans were finally coming to fruition.
In his dreams, there were no limits. Remus sighed deeply, breathing in a gentle scent, and his lips curved into a smile.
#
James was a lot stronger than Sirius gave him credit for. After all, he wasn't muscular, he had the thin build that most Chasers did, built more for speed and accuracy then strength, so this was impressive. He'd known, after the fact, that Bridget wasn't going to be too keen on seeing him anytime in the near future, but he hadn't expected that James would have to drag her to their meeting. He wasn't sure how he should feel about that.
"We had an idea," James was saying when Sirius finally wrenched his attention away from Bridget's blushing face. "About what we should do with the, um, wolfnapping thing." He poked her, making the girl yelp with surprise.
"What?" she snapped at him, glaring at James furiously. She still couldn't believe he had carried her there.
"You tell him; it was your idea."
"It was not. We had it at the same time."
"Tell him."
Sirius sighed loudly. This back and forth was likely to give him a headache. "I am sitting right here, you know. I don't care who tells me, as long as someone does."
"Well, I-- we-- had an idea," Bridget finally said, when she realized that James was going to sit there with his mouth firmly shut until she did something.
"I'd gathered as much."
"Will you listen?" Sirius made a show of leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms before giving her a pointed look. "Good. Well, they were going to use the Prophet, so I figured we should use the Prophet, as, I dunno, ironic revenge or something. We can interview all of the kidnapped peoples and write a series of articles based on their experiences. Build up sympathy. If we can make them human, it'll be easier to accept them." She paused. "Of course, they'll all be anonymous; not everyone can be open-minded."
"I talked to Dad about it," James continued. He seemed satisfied that she was over her embarrassment, but she'd still have to find a way to get back at him, "and he set it up with Herbert Longbottom, the editor. They went to Hogwarts together. You know, Frank's dad."
Bridget gave Sirius a nervous look. James had thought it was a brilliant idea, but even she could tell he was easily excitable. He was an idealist; Sirius was, oddly enough, much more realistic, and he knew more about closed-minds. If he thought it wasn't going to work, it probably wouldn't. He blinked, and a slow smile spread across his face.
"Genius. How are we going to do it? Did anyone tell Moony? Gumi? Who's going to write it? I suppose we could trade off--"
"I'm writing it."
Sirius looked up, surveying Bridget with shocked gray eyes. "You?"
"I'm a good writer-- at least that's what I've been told-- and I have experience with news-writing," she said. She'd already had to go over all this with James. "Lead reporter for my school paper and youth correspondent for the Advertiser back home. I did a piece about the Hawaiian sovereignty movement last year, too, and one about race prejudice in Hawaii, so I know how to tread lightly with difficult topics. Persuasive writing is my specialty, but I can do unbiased work, too."
He smiled, and Bridget couldn't help but smile back. "You are brilliant."
James clapped his hands together. "Ace. I already sent the owls out. We'll figure out who will go with Jet for each one when I get the dates. Pete should probably go with that little girl; she was sweet on him."
"What? Why do you have to go?" Sirius asked her, ignoring his best friend's enthusiasm. "It could be. . . "
"Dangerous?" Bridget arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "We'll not go the night of the full moon, and if they don't want it, then we won't go. I have to be there. If I don't hear the interview, the entire tone will be off, and responses always lead to more in-depth questions." She smiled sharply. "Now, I have to go write some prep work before Gumi pries herself away from Remus."
Bridget stood up and swept out of the room, throwing the pillow she'd been holding at Sirius as she left. He heard a snickering sound next to him, and stuffed the pillow in James's face. "Shut up."
#
Kagumi served lunch the next day, which was fast becoming the only meal she could rouse herself enough to make, and noticed wary looks from one whole side of the table. Peter and James were shying away from her, whereas a week ago they'd have been right in with the affection-play that had become her life. Remus was still in bed, and grumbling loudly about it. But, she thought, with a mental smile, at least he was alive to grumble.
"For Merlin's sake," she rolled her eyes as Peter stepped on James's foot in his hurry to get away from her as she grabbed a knife to slice the rest of the vegetables. James sat down in his favorite chair, tipping it back with his feet; Peter sat at the end of the table. Bridget was bustling around the kitchen just as much as Kagumi, smiling and laughing as though nothing were wrong (who knew, maybe she really didn't notice anything amiss), and Sirius was dipping his fingers into the stew when he thought neither girl was watching.
Dumping the copious amount of sliced vegetables into the stew pot, which was easily as half as tall as herself, Kagumi slammed the knife back down onto the cutting board. "I've had it!" she snarled, whipping around and facing the two cowering boys. Peter squeaked, and James's chair titled back too far, dumping him out onto the kitchen tile.
"You two are going to sit there, and cower in front of me, run for cover when I even look at a knife, and then wonder why I'm avoiding you?" Kagumi clenched her hands tightly. "You're the ones avoiding me!"
James came up red-faced. "I'm am not!" he called, setting the chair back upright.
"Oh really?" Sirius asked calmly, looking up from the latest comic book Kagumi had lent him.
"To be fair, you spend quite a bit of your time with Remus," Bridget put in. She ignored Kagumi's glare. "You're not really making it that difficult to avoid you."
"Listen to me, both of you." Peter squeaked when she turned her piercing gaze on him, deciding it was best not to acknowledge Bridget's point. "Yes, I lost control. Yes, I overreacted. Believe me, it's haunted my dreams a lot more than it has yours."
"You didn't just lose control; you tried to kill someone!" Peter said, cheeks burning defiantly.
Kagumi's shoulders shrank in on themselves; her whole form seemed to wither. "I know," she said simply. "I know."
"You know? You tried to kill someone. You don't kill someone unless you have to," James continued. He sounded almost angry about it. In unison, Kagumi and Sirius winced. "Killing them... it just brings us down to their level."
Bridget's eyes darted from James to Kagumi, and passed over Peter and Sirius before resting again on James. This was quickly getting out of hand. Kagumi looked like she was about to burst into tears, James seemed extremely self-righteous while Sirius, for once, didn't seem to know what to do. Wonderful; she had to get involved.
"True," she said. Great, now Gumi looked even more upset. "James, you're right. It's not right to lose one's temper that badly, nor is it right to, well, kill someone without proper provocation. Just listen for a sec, okay? Be open-minded and all that rot. You're a Gryffindor, right? Noble? I'm sure you can manage it."
"But--"
"James. You've done stupid things. Sirius has done stupid things. I'm sure Pete and Remus have done stupid things as well, although I can't name any. I know I've done stupid things. You can listen to Gumi explain why she'd done her stupid thing." She gave him a pointed look, and returned to her book. Playing catch up had her busy. "Continue."
He stared at her for a moment, eyes wide behind him glasses, and he seemed to deflate a little before turning to Gumi. "Why?" It seemed to be the best course of action. Bridget had sounded a bit like Lily and he didn't want her to chuck her book at his head.
"Because she really made me angry." Kagumi's sorrowful gaze lifted for a moment to the ceiling, flicked across each of them once, and then settled on the floor once more. "Because she tried to harm a member of my Pack."
"Pack?" Sirius asked, one eyebrow raised; this was interesting.
"It's what I've always called my family. You're all part of my family now. We've been living together for over a month, closer to two, and even though Remus isn't fond of me," she glared at Peter's exaggerated cough, "I couldn't stand to see him that way. I hate bigots. Hypocrites are even worse."
"So...it was just...fighting for us?" James asked, apparently forgetting about his soapbox speech reaction from earlier and sinking slowly into the chair. "You were just protecting us?"
"Yeah," Kagumi said sadly. Bridget gave her a brief hug and Sirius's eyes flickered over his friends, wondering if he should offer Gumi a hug as well. He'd, after all, understood immediately; he knew what it was like to want to kill someone, and he knew how James felt about it. They still didn't speak about... that.
"Oh, all right then." James's casual dismissal of the incident was enough to bring Gumi's head up.
"What?" she asked, not sure she'd heard him correctly.
"Well, you were just protecting your family. So... that's all right then. Right, Pete?" James's hazel eyes focused on Peter and the boy nodded. With the bonds mended, Kagumi ladled out the stew into bowls, ruffling each boys' hair in turn. Jet shared an amused glance with Sirius and Peter as James pretended to ward her off with crossed fingers and then pouted when, instead of handing him his homemade piece of bread, Kagumi elected to throw it at him. Forcefully.
#
"You want to what?"
"Well, we're going to go help support Remus in his horribly afflicted suffering of tonight," Sirius's melodramatic voice answered; Kagumi's eyes narrowed.
"So wait. You, three puny humans, want to go to a werewolf's house, and 'support' him, when you're his prey?" Kagumi held up a finger. "And you want Bridget and I to come with you?"
"Pretty much," Peter nodded, as if talking to a child who couldn't grasp a particularly difficult concept.
Kagumi looked at Bridget, who hadn't even seemed to notice and was still reading.
"Sounds good," the girl said. She winced when Kagumi kicked her in the shin. "I mean, does he have a safe room?" Bridget asked, looking up from her book.
"Of course. We're Marauders, Jet, not stupid," James sounded horribly amused by the whole ordeal.
"When do we leave?" Kagumi asked, already packing a large bag full of food. The boys spun around, surprised (though why they should be, when they'd heard her outburst to Skeeter's article) by her speed. She glanced up to see two dropped jaws and one thoroughly thoughtful look. Bridget snickered, and pulled out her own bag, the same lime green First Aide kit from Hawaii.
"We packed last night, with extra clothes for him, some raw meat as a peace offering and first aide for when dawn comes," Jet's voice was a little on the smug side, as if she'd expected better out of the three boys. Kagumi smirked, and held up a large portion of Kobe Beef, which she'd had the House-Elves run to Diagon Alley's Gourmet Market for (Mrs. Potter had basically loaned the Elves to her, so they didn't need her express permission to leave the Manor anymore.), wrapping it snugly in parchment paper.
"We won't go with you," Kagumi said softly, knowing that the boys didn't yet trust them quite enough to reveal their Animagus forms, "but we'll arrive shortly before dawn. So you're taking the peace offering, and we'll be there to patch him up and haul him back here." Kagumi's eyes twinkled as she tossed the meat to Sirius, who caught it numbly, and watched as she sank back into the comfortable chair. He was aware that she was giving them a time limit, a curfew, almost, without saying right out that she suspected something about them.
"We'll see you around dawn, then," James said, tipping an imaginary hat (the group had watched an American Muggle movie last night called McLintock! and James had been off on a cowboy kick ever since) as the three boys walked slowly to the door in the waning light.
#
"I'm telling you, they know that there's something odd about us," Peter insisted, his alert eyes having caught the girls' completely unsurprised reactions.
"Well, I'm telling you that it's fine, because I trust them." James's voice was final as he made sure that the bolt on the cage door slid easily enough for dog jaws to open.
"You didn't trust Gumi until she yelled at you," Sirius grunted, half-supporting, half-carrying an exhausted looking Remus into the cage; James threw him a dirty glance, and Sirius smiled cheekily. "And I do too. They've helped us far more than I ever expected."
"Guys," Remus's voice was slightly slurred as the moon began its inevitable climb into the sky. "Guys, leave it alone: its hard enough to find people who accept me, and I don't want anyone running them off quite yet." Sirius' hand brushed casually through Remus' hair and he pulled out his wand, casting the same charm he'd used on the fanatics in the warehouse.
"Sleep, Rem. Sleep through the pain," he murmured, cradling the thin boy against his chest as the two of them waited for moonrise. "Gumi'll kill me if I let you get too exhausted."
- - -
Author's Notes: Alright, so there it is, the sort-of conclusion to Wolfnapped. See, Remus is alright. Please, don't kill us. Next, the story moves on, and there will interest. Like us? Love us? REVIEW!!! Please? It makes us write faster.
Posted on: 2/12/09
Last Edited on: 2/12/09
Preview of Next Chapter (dun dun duuuuuuun):
"I'm not going anywhere in your arms, Potter." Lily crossed her arms over her chest, better to deny the effect James was having on her.
"Well, then you'll be stuck here, with your sister, all day, Evans," James said, mimicking the exact tone Lily used, his arms also crossing.
"Somehow, Potter, that doesn't bother me half as much as willingly stepping into your arms." And that was that, or so she tried to tell herself.