Chapter 103: Tuesday, June 25, 2002

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go."

-T.S. Eliot


Remus blinked his eyes open and smacked his lips together a few times in a desperate attempt to restore moisture to his mouth. He did the catalogue of stretches and movements to check to see what was broken or pulled and to his relief found he was, yet again, in one piece. He groaned as he pulled himself upright, his head still spinning slightly.

"Good morning."

Remus startled at the sound of Hermione's voice, "You're up here already?"

"You turned back over an hour ago," she explained. "I gave you a pain potion and you fell right to sleep. Are you feeling okay? It was an okay night but you seemed a bit restless."

He closed his eyes, trying to make sense of the swimming yellow-tinted memories that surfaced while he was in werewolf form. He remembered a lot of pacing.

"Are you okay? I didn't keep you up all night, did I?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, I managed a few hours of sleep. Remus, we need to talk about last night."

Remus swung his legs over the side of the mattress, reaching for his clothes which were left folded on the stand next to the bed. He stepped into his pants, standing up to pull them over his hips before shoving his head through the tee shirt and fastening the buttons to his trousers. He knew she'd want to talk about what happened with the Death Eaters. Judging by the amount of pacing around the room he did last night, he must have been anxious, even in wolf form, about the conversation.

"What is there to say?" he asked, finally.

"You used your lycanthropy to intimidate them into telling us—"

"We needed the information and they weren't going to talk," Remus said simply, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I wasn't going to hurt them."

"I know that," she insisted. "But, I've just never…" she sighed, letting her head fall backward to stare up at the ceiling for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "It felt wrong to let them believe you were like them. Even if it was only a moment—it felt wrong."

"I'm a Dark Creature, Hermione. I have no intentions of infecting anyone else with this hell but, if it helps us get the information we need, I will use it to my advantage."

"Dark Creature," she snorted. "You laid with your head on my stomach as I scratched your ears all night. Remus, you aren't like them. You don't have to use your lycanthropy—it's not all you are."

"Would you have rather we tortured them?" He deadpanned, staring at her with one eyebrow raised in question.

Her mouth pressed in a thin line and she shook her head, "No, of course not."

"Then how do you think we should have gone about getting the information? You were there, what else should we have done?" Remus felt his jaw click a few times in agitation, "Bill was right to bring me in and let me scare them a little bit. They should fear us. That was the problem last go around, wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Order was a joke!" Remus exclaimed with a bitter laugh, "We had no structure, no idea what we were doing half of the time. You were there for most of it—it was maddening! The Death Eaters should fear us. And if they think we have a savage on our side I will play the part to foster that assumption."

He watched as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, nodding slowly. "Okay," Hermione agreed. "Okay. But, you can't make good on any of those threats. I won't let The Order be the reason you neglect your morals again."

Remus nodded sharply, "Okay."

Her shoulders visibly relaxed some and she stepped into his space, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him tightly. "You have a shift at the Ministry today, are you going in or should we have Neville Polyjuice again?"

Remus returned her embrace, wrapping long arms around her shoulders and hunching slightly to kiss the top of her head, "No, I want to go in. I think I know how we can get the location of Rowle's Keep."


Remus stepped off the lift at level six, wiping the sweat from his palms on his Ministry robes. Leaving the archive office was always a nerve racking experience considering the amount of people who would have him killed if they knew what he was. In the almost two months since he began his job, he hardly ever left the comfort of the dank, dark archive room. He passed the doors, reading the plaques that held the office names as he went.

601: Floo Network Authority

603: Broom Regulation

605: Portkey Office

607: Miscellaneous Magical Permits

His hand rested on the knob to office 607 as he pasted what he hoped to be a polite and non-threatening smile to his face and opened the door. When he stepped through, Remus' eyes roamed around the room, taking in the layout.

The office wasn't very large, at least, not when compared to the veritable warehouse that was the archives department. There were several grey filing cabinets lining the walls behind a counter with a false top that swung open to allow entrance to the back. Pieces of parchment fluttered in the air down the aisles, quills scratching notes into them as they went. Behind the counter sat an ancient witch with enormous, heavy looking glasses and a strange beehive hair-do. She wore a strong geranium scented perfume that barely covered the mothball smell that came from her and Remus had the strong urge to pinch his nose shut.

"File number?" The witch grumbled in a bored tone, not bothering to look up from the copy of Witches Digest open on the counter.

"Erm, hello. I don't have a file number exactly, you see—"

"Permit type?" She licked the tip of her finger and turned a page of the magazine.

Remus stifled a huff and stepped closer to the counter, "I'm looking for a deed on a cabin in Yorkshire. I've been told it's been abandoned and I would like to purchase the property but I—"

"Last known occupant of the property?" She interrupted, her finger now following along the line to the article she was reading.

Remus took another step closer, eyes scanning around the office. "It's an interesting set up you have here. I, myself, work down in the archives and I can tell you that file sorting is a mess," he attempted a friendly chuckle. "You must have a wonderful sorting system."

Finally, the witch looked up from her magazine, her eyes roaming over Remus with scrutiny. "It's alphabetical by name," she huffed, her short tone indicating that Remus' attempts at flattery had fallen upon deaf ears. "Who was the last known owner of the property?"

"Oh, erm, Lupin."

"Lupin."

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Is the previous owner still living?"

Remus stifled a sarcastic laugh, passing it off as a cough. "Sorry, erm—no. No, not to my knowledge."

"I'll be back in a moment," she drawled, slowly turning her back and disappearing around the corner.

"Accio Thorfinn Rowle permits," Remus muttered.

He waited a moment, the file cabinet four down from the front rattled, but did not open.

Shit.

Remus pressed his palms to the counter and leaned over, checking to see if the ancient witch was within eyesight. He waited a beat before sliding down to the false top of the counter and pulling it up, he stepped through to the back. With quick steps, he made his way down to the fourth cabinet, thanking Merlin that his older self was dead and thus, the files wouldn't be held for easy access.

He tapped the drawer with his wand, silently unlocking it and yanked the jittery folder from its space of wedged manilla. With a sigh of relief he shut the drawer, just as the woman made her way around the corner.

"Hey! You can't be back here!" she hissed, "These are private documents meant only for the—"

"Thanks for all your help! You've been lovely," Remus called over his shoulder, speeding out of the office with the file clutched in hand.

"Come back here right this—" her shouts died as the door slammed shut and Remus sprinted to the lift, jamming his finger into the button and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

The second the doors clanged open he rushed in and sighed in relief, opening the file and scanning over it quickly to make sure his efforts hadn't been wasted on the wrong thing. He sighed in relief when he saw Rowle, Thorfinn at the top of the page and hastily stuffed the documents into his cloak.

When the lift stopped at the Atrium, Remus tore through the large space, using his long legs to his advantage to cross over to the door off to the side and take the stairs down to the bowels of the Ministry as fast as he could. He all but sprinted through the Department of Mysteries, wrenching open the door to the lower level Archives and nearly tumbled down the stairs when he missed the second step in his haste.

When he finally slid into the chair at his desk, his fingers fumbled as they flipped through the documents. He took in every detail as quickly as he could, knowing his time was limited before someone came down and arrested him for nicking Ministry files. He felt incredibly stupid for telling the rude woman which department he worked in—he could have lied about that, at the very least.

Every creak of the floor and groan of the pipes set his nerves on edge. His knee bounced restlessly as he read the file, eyes darting around, waiting for Magical Law Enforcement to burst into the room and apprehend him for stealing it. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat and when Penelope opened the door to the office, he nearly shouted.

"What did you do?" Penelope spat, glaring at him furiously with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I don't know what you mean," Remus said, as convincingly as he could manage.

"So the three officers from the DMLE that just cornered me after my meeting asking about 'a tall bloke that works in archives' are all talking about someone else?" Her eyebrow arched high on her forehead as her lips pressed in a thin line.

"I...well, you see, I needed—"

"What did I tell you?" Penelope hissed, "You were to work here and keep your head down. Do you not know who the Head of Magical Law Enforcement is?"

"Mad Eye Moody?" Remus guessed, sheepishly.

Penelope barked a rather angry sounding laugh, "Mad Eye has been dead for years. No, the DMLE is headed by Corbin Yaxley! And, I'd much prefer he not be banging down my door looking for my new hire who went and stole files out from under Esmerelda Hoff. Have you any idea what will happen if I can't talk you out of this?"

"I needed the files," Remus said, his bouncing leg finally stilling. "I had to get them somehow and I couldn't exactly bounce in and ask for the location of a Death Eater's home, could I? This file," Remus picked up the folder and waved it around to prove his point. "Is going to save Justin's life."

"Be that as it may, it was risky and stupid. I swear to Merlin, Gryffindors are all the same! None of you take the bloody time to think—" at this, she tapped furiously at her temple, narrowing her eyes at Remus "—about your half-baked plans before you execute them!" Penelope snarled.

"I did think about it!" Remus argued, slamming the file back down to the desk, "This is more important! They have our people and I was capable of finding out where they're keeping him!"

Penelope tutted and shook her head, "Pack your stuff, John."

"You're sacking me?" Remus scoffed in disbelief.

"I can't risk you getting another idea and pulling me into hot water with you! What I do here is important—we need someone here and I won't let your pride be the reason we lose the last bit of connections we have in the Ministry. Now, pack your things up and clear your desk."

With that, she turned on her pointy heel and stormed out of the office, the door slamming shut behind her.

Well, it was nice to be employed for a few weeks.

She's not wrong. You are incredibly stupid with half-baked plans.

Remus snorted, undoing the clasp of his Ministry robes and draping them over his chair before grabbing his own, tattered, tan robes and pulling them over his shoulders.

This half-baked plan could save Justin's life. Some would call it resourceful.

Those people would be equally as dense as you are, then.

I'm a Gryffindor. What use is having the courage to do something if you never use it?

That line of thinking is going to be my guess as to why you die at the age of thirty-eight. Hell, you might get lucky and get us killed even sooner now. Fucking idiot.

Remus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hopefully, the rest of The Order wouldn't share Moony or Penelope's sentiments.


Hermione groaned in frustration as she shoved her hair from her face and pointed to the map that was spread before her on the table.

"There is no way Thorfinn Rowle's estate is in Bath, Ron! Look at the surrounding area!" She motioned wildly down to the map, "There's nothing but muggles and tourists crawling through the place. You honestly mean to tell me that a Death Eater who is apparently prominent enough to have their home used as a Headquarters, would live in Bath?"

She stared at him, brows in her hairline as she waited for his answer.

"Well, maybe not. But, there's a lot of old money there—"

"If we're talking old money," Draco cut in, "Kensington or Westminster could be likely."

"Westminster?" Ginny snorted, "You mean where the Parliament is at? The muggle government?"

"Oh, let's not forget the fact that it's in London," Hermione agreed. "You lived with Death Eaters, you're marked for Merlin's sake! Use your head!"

"Excuse me," Draco scoffed. "You asked for a map that had—and I quote 'the posh places' marked on it. I delivered. Don't get snippy with me because you don't have a better answer."

"It's not that I don't have a better answer!" Hermione hissed, "It's that there isn't a real answer right now because we went and Obliviated the only connection to the place we had!"

"He wasn't going to talk," Draco huffed. "You know that, Granger. He was probably under a Vow or something. It would have done no good to keep him around here any longer than necessary."

"I didn't say—"

"Oh my God, will you two shut up?" Harry snapped, crossing both Bath and Westminster off the map with a large 'X'.

Hermione glared at Draco before setting her dagger-filled-look to Harry, "We aren't making any progress. We obliviated two people and dumped them off at hospital and for what?"

"Oh, I don't know, Hermione...maybe so they wouldn't come back here and kill us?" Harry retorted. "Look, I know it's not ideal—"

"For her, maybe," Draco grumbled, under his breath.

"But," Harry pressed on, shooting a severe look at Draco. "We have to protect ourselves. Who knows if they've tortured any information out of Justin? I know memory modification bothers you but you should understand better than anyone—"

"That isn't fair, Harry, and you know it!" Hermione huffed, "You know I had no choice!"

"And neither do we!" Harry let out a long, exasperated breath and Hermione did not miss the smirk that pulled Draco's lips when he did. Before she could get a word in edgewise, Harry pushed on, "It's not just us here to worry about. We have an entire school of kids just over the hill that rely on our location remaining secret."

Hermione let out a resigned breath, avoiding Harry's eye. "I know."

"I know you're not a fan of obliviating," Harry reached over the table, placing his hand over hers. When she finally looked at him, his eyes swam with apologies. He frowned slightly and sighed, "But, it was necessary, Hermione. We're at war," Harry said, with an air of finality.

She folded her arms across her chest and pulled her gaze away from Harry's, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of her shirt. He was right, she knew he was right, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. She could feel Harry's eyes leave her before she heard the marking of locations recommence and Ginny and Ron began debating over the likelihood of Leeds or Brighton.

After another ten minutes of bickering that involved a lively debate between the merits of the two cities and the likelihood of them housing Death Eaters, Remus came into the room with an extremely satisfied smirk on his face and a folder in hand. Hermione looked at the clock that hung on the wall and felt her brows pull together in confusion.

"Remus? Shouldn't you still be—"

"I got sacked," he shrugged, throwing the file onto the center of the table.

"Sacked?" Hermione repeated, "What for? We've been so careful—"

"That's not why," he interrupted, waving her off. "It was worth it, I promise."

Harry reached out to the file, tugging it toward him and barked a laugh. "You stole the deeds to his house?"

Remus' smile grew wider, still. "Yeah, but I got caught nicking them from the Miscellaneous Magical Permits office. Penelope was rather irate with me over it."

Ginny snorted again, "I can imagine. Less of a sense of humor than even Percy has and I didn't even think that was possible."

"Nevermind that," Hermione said, waving off any further comments. "It doesn't matter—you got the location, just like that?"

"Just like that," Remus confirmed, looking rather pleased with himself as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"We've been exhausting resources for years for this type of lead," Harry muttered, his eyes flying over the documents. "It was a shock to catch a snatcher that actually knew something, but this? Fuck me...Remus, this is amazing."

"You're not his type," Draco sang. "I've got it on good authority he goes for swotty women with massive hair."

Remus laughed as Hermione rolled her eyes, standing up from her seat to wrap her arms around Remus' waist. She smiled against his chest as Draco and Ginny whooped and whistled.

There had been a nagging in the back of her mind over the last two months—a constant voice reminding her that this could not play out well. That Remus being here could only damage things as they knew it and eventually he would have to turn around and go back to 1982. As Remus' chest shook with mirth and his arms wound even tighter around her frame, she felt the incessant reminder in her head quieting.

He was here, regardless of the warnings she and everyone else had given him about the timeline. And, he was helping. Remus had already proved himself useful and the stolen documents spread between Harry and Ron would only further drive that point home. For the first time in months, Hermione felt as if she could see this—Remus being here, with her—happening.

"So, what now?" Ginny asked, just as Hermione and Remus took their seats on the opposite side of the table.

"Now, we plan," Harry smiled.

.


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a/n: Happy Saturday! Updates will be every Saturday now! Well, at least for a couple weeks. I'm going on vacation next weekend and hoping to get some prime writing time in at least one day that I'm gone! So fingers crossed! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know?

xo

Mimi