Chapter 23: Recovery
"We're lucky we made it out of that alive," said Lupin in a low voice.
"Speak for yourself," said James grumpily from his four-poster bed, where he was reclining with a murtlap-essence soaked cloth against his right arm to staunch the bleeding from a gash.
"Keep up the pressure on your arm, Potter," reminded Ariadne.
"Got it, Nurse Morrigan."
They were gathered in the seventh-year boys' dormitory around Sirius's bed in the small hours of the morning, not having gone to sleep after the ambush in the Forbidden Forest. Lupin was seated cross-legged on the floor in front of Sirius's bed, his chin in his hands, looking rather brooding. Sirius was draped across a chair, his feet up on the small desk against the wall. Only the frequency and agitation with which he ran his fingers through his shaggy hair betrayed any emotion of anxiety. Ariadne had been graciously granted a spot on the bed, where she had already shed her cloak and robe, feeling somehow suffocated by them.
Sirius turned to her. "Are you convinced now that we're involved in something bigger than a teenage prank?"
"I've never failed to take this seriously, Black."
"I believe I recall you dismissing my security precautions a few days ago because, in your own words, 'this isn't the Department of Mysteries, we're 17.'"
"Right, and look how beautifully your 'secrecy and discretion' worked out."
"It made sense at the time to keep Clarice's identity a secret. It helped protect her and gain her trust, and I knew you wouldn't like the idea of meeting with her."
"I could have warned you she can't be trusted and saved us all a lot of trouble."
James groaned and rolled over on his bed. "Could you two stuff it for just a minute? We've been over this already. Sirius was wrong, Ariadne was right, blah blah blah."
"I wasn't 'wrong," began Sirius, irritated.
"And how d'you figure that, mate?" asked James.
"I did the best I could with the information available to me at the time," he answered.
"No, you didn't," pointed out Ariadne.
"Pardon?"
"You didn't use all the information available to you at the time, because you failed to take advantage of my intimate and exclusive knowledge that Clarice is a lying, selfish, power-hungry egomaniac."
"I thought since you two are related, you would be able to connect to her better or something, and get her to talk. I thought she'd trust you."
"Clarice isn't the person I need to trust me, Black."
Something about that statement seemed to affect Sirius more than anything else Ariadne had said. He swung his feet off the desk and sat up to face them all more fully. "All right, I admit that I…messed this up. I placed my trust in the wrong person." He glanced ever so briefly at Ariadne, now hugging her knees on his bed. "I was blinded by my overconfidence and put everyone in danger." He looked at James. "I'm sorry about your arm, James."
"S'alright, mate. I've gotten worse for less important things."
Sirius glanced down at Lupin, still huddled at the base of his chair. Remus smiled. "You may have concocted this particular plan, but we all went along with it. Because we trust you. We knew there would be risks involved."
Ariadne was well aware that she was next in line as the eyes of the three young men focused on her. "I kind of want to hear Black admit he was wrong one more time."
James snickered and Lupin cracked another smile. "Savor the moment, Morrigan. It doesn't happen very often," responded Sirius wryly.
"Oh, I intend to. And I won't forget it, either. Now, do you promise you'll share ALL of the details of your next harebrained scheme with us and trust my judgment?"
"I'm going to regret this," muttered Sirius. "Fine, Morrigan, I promise."
"Good. I was going to ask you another question but I now see that that is pointless."
"What?"
"It's not important."
"Morrigan, tell me."
"I was going to ask whether you think Clarice's boyfriend, that tall kid on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, might also be in Yaxley's gang, but it's obvious now that you're a terrible judge of character, so don't bother."
James sat up too suddenly and winced. "The tall Chaser? That bloke is a walking rulebook. Can't pass the Quaffle for his life, but can cite every possible foul or violation at you."
"Sounds like a charming guy," murmured Lupin.
"I hadn't considered that…." said Sirius, frowning, and seeming to let Ariadne's dig go. "We obviously have a lot of work to do."
"For once, I agree. We vastly underestimated Clarice and the rest of Yaxley's crew. They played us, and easily. We need to be much smarter," said Ariadne.
"Seems like the junior Death Eaters aren't as dumb as we thought," added James.
"We weren't wrong about everything, though," said Lupin, now stretching out his arms and leaning back on them.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we were right that Yaxley is forcing his initiates to prove their loyalty. Clarice's test, as we've now seen, was to pretend to go rogue, double-cross us and lead us into an ambush," explained Lupin.
"Bolger must have leaked the story to Boris Etheridge on purpose, knowing that he'd tell Miralda…" said Sirius slowly.
"…and knowing that Miralda would tell one of you," finished Ariadne.
"And Clarice must have been selected for this particular mission because of her connection to Ariadne. They thought we would be more likely to trust her," said Lupin.
"I played right into their hands," muttered Sirius, burying his face in said appendages.
"Still, it's a gamble on Yaxley's part. We now know the identity of one of his followers. And, if my hunch about her boyfriend is right, perhaps two," said Ariadne.
"I bet he thought he'd really get us in the Forbidden Forest. Luckily for you all, I am a master of defensive spells and as a result, you all escaped without a scratch," piped up James from his bed, grinning.
"Using your arm as a shield was certainly an innovative defensive strategy that I haven't seen before," Sirius bantered.
"It was a sacrifice I was willing to make for the greater good," responded James dramatically.
"Potter's… 'heroism' aside, Remus is right—I don't think Yaxley expected us to get away without serious injuries. I think he meant to scare us off for good. But we're okay, and now we have more information that we can use against him," said Ariadne.
"Morrigan is right, too," said Sirius, resuming an air of seriousness. "In fact, if she's really right about snake-face's boyfriend, then we have our two targets for impersonation."
"Don't you think it'll be too obvious if we try to impersonate Clarice? Yaxley might suspect it," asked Lupin.
"Not at all. In fact, for the same reason she was the perfect choice to betray us, she's the perfect choice to infiltrate the meeting. Ariadne knows all kinds of things about her, so she can act as a convincing Clarice."
Ariadne stared at Sirius. "You're not actually suggesting that I should be the one to infiltrate the first meeting."
Sirius looked back at her evenly. "That's precisely what I'm suggesting."
Ariadne unfolded her legs. "Look, I got on board with this to help you brew some Polyjuice Potion. I never agreed to this level of involvement."
"Well, you're in it now, Morrigan," said Sirius, again in that even, low tone.
There was a brief silence. Then James announced from his four-poster, "Welcome to the Marauders, Ariadne Morrigan!" He then stage-whispered to Sirius and Lupin, "I think we should show her the map now."
Sirius glanced at James a bit warily. "She already knows about the map."
James looked surprised, and then slightly offended. "You showed her our baby without telling me?" Even Remus raised an eyebrow.
"It was the night of the Quidditch party, and I needed to show her that McGonagall and Filch weren't on our tails…well, never mind. She already knows," explained Sirius evasively.
"Have you told her about…?" James broke off when he saw Sirius give him a warning look.
Ariadne rolled her eyes internally. "Yaxley could pick up a few pointers from you all about running a cult."
James and Sirius were still too busy communicating with each other, in that silent way that only two friends who had basically grown into adults together could, to respond to her comment.
"All right," said Sirius at last. "We should get some rest and regroup later to figure out how to proceed. Assuming that Morrigan accepts the role I've proposed to her," he said, looking at her pointedly.
Ariadne looked away. "Let me sleep on it. For a few hours, at least," she said, glancing at her watch with a sigh. Sirius merely looked at her in response, which she supposed she'd have to take as a yes. Lupin got off the floor and made for his bed at the far end of the room near the door, and Ariadne began gathering up her robes and cloak to make for the door as well.
James, shifting around on his bed to get comfortable, seemed surprised by Ariadne's movements. "You're not staying, Morrigan?"
Ariadne looked at him in confusion. "My dormitory is right down the stairs, Potter."
James now glanced at Sirius and shrugged. "Well, as you wish, my lady."
Ariadne frowned and pushed through the dormitory door. As she was leaving, she heard James saying in a tone of indignant surprise, "…showed her the MAP but you still won't sleep together?"