The Curious Chamber

Two weeks later the Weasleys were visiting. After meeting up again in Diagon Alley a fortnight ago then they had gone round to the Weasley’s several times, but today they were coming round to visit them.

It was a nice day so Lyall and Beth were preparing a picnic in the kitchen for everyone, they had three different kinds of sandwiches, homemade sausage rolls, and salad. They also had fruit salad and ice cream that Lyall had put a freezing charm on so it wouldn’t defrost on the hot day.

At twelve o’clock exactly, the Weasleys arrived via the flo.

“Hi Beth,” said Ginny giving Beth a hug as she arrived.

Ginny had become very good friends with Beth over the last few weeks.

Beth had also become friends with Ron and Hermione. She was looking forward to going back to school in a week she missed all her friends, not just Ernie and Susan, but Neville, Justin, Zach, Artie and Hannah as well.

“Have you got everything packed Lyall?” asked Molly as she came into the kitchen.

“You bet,” beamed Lyall.

Fred and George carried the heavy picnic basket between them, and they all climbed up the hill outside the house.

“These are my friends the sheep,” said Beth stoking one of the sheep.

“Do they have any names?” asked Ginny.

“No,” shrugged Beth, “they belong to the farmer, they’re just my friends.”

Molly helped Remus to spread the picnic basket over the grass.

They all settled into the grass and ate far too much.

After lunch Fred, George, Remus, Arthur, Lyall and Ron went off to go play.

Remus and Lyall were trying to teach them all how to play rugby. Arthur and Remus were on a team with Ron, and Fred and George where on a team with Lyall.

Percy was reading a book lying down on the blanket.

Beth and Ginny were lying in the grass cloud gazing and chatting. Molly was sat in the grass next to them.

“Beth,” said Ginny as she stared up at the clouds, “what house are you in?”

“I’m a Hufflepuff,” said Beth.

“Really?” said Ginny interestedly, “all my family are Gryffindors.”

“Well so are mine,” said Beth shrugging, “Mum and Dad were Gryffindors, and so were Uncle Remus, Peter and Sirius.”

Beth noticed that Molly’s head jerked slightly at the sound of Sirius’ name being casually mentioned.

“But Remus was a Gryffindor even though Lyall was a Ravenclaw and his mum was a muggle.”

“So,” muttered Ginny, “even though all my family are Gryffindors, I don’t have to be?”

“Spot on,” nodded Beth.

“Mum, does it matter if I’m not a Gryffindor?”

“Of course, not Ginny,” said Molly giving Ginny a hug.

“But if you’re made a Slytherin,” said Percy turning a page of his book, “Fred and George will never talk to you again.”

“He’s kidding,” said Ginny laughing nervously, “right?”

“Possibly not never talk to you again,” said Molly laughing, “but they might insist on a resorting.”

“Mrs Weasley,” said Beth propping herself up on her elbows, “you knew Mum, Dad and Uncle Remus when they were young right?”

“Arthur and I weren’t as involved in the Order as your parents or Remus, we had so many children, but we did used to help on the occasional mission.”

“Did you also know Uncle Peter and Uncle Sirius then?”

Molly looked slightly shocked again and Percy looked up from his book in a look of confusion.

“Why do you ask dear?” stammered Molly.

“Well,” shrugged Beth, “because Uncle Remus doesn’t really talk about them much, unless he’s talking about Dad. All I know is that Peter is dead and that he isn’t friends with Sirius anymore.”

“Well that’s the understatement of the year,” muttered Percy, as he turned another page.

Molly snapped her head around and glared at Percy.

Percy looked up at his mother for a moment and went back to his book.

“Maybe you should talk to your Uncle Remus about this dear,” said Molly nervously, “I don’t think I’m the best person to talk to about this.”

“Ok,” said Beth cheerfully before going back to cloud gazing with Ginny.

“She’s going to have to find out at some point Mum,” whispered Percy to Molly as Ginny discussed whether she wanted to be a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff.

“I know that Percy,” whispered Molly, “but I’m not the right person.”

“Hey girls!” called Remus, “do you want to play?”

“Sure!” said Ginny jumping up, “come on Beth it could be fun!”

“Girls can’t play rugby!” protested Ron.

“Oh, can’t they?” asked Lyall.

A few hours later, it was getting late and they all headed back to the house.

They all had dinner in the garden before the Weasleys headed home. As they finished dinner, there were clouds on the horizon and there was a slight rumbling of thunder.

The Weasley children all floed home but Mrs Weasley stayed to talk to Remus for a minute. Beth was getting ready for bed, when she realised, she had left her sketchbook downstairs and ran downstairs to find it.

She heard a muttered conversation from the sitting room and was about to go back up to her room when she heard her name mentioned.

“She’s asking questions Remus,” whispered Molly, “she deserves to know!”

“How am I supposed to tell her that!” whispered Remus who was clearly upset.

“Molly is right Remi,” said Lyall, “she needs to know.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Remus, how’d you prefer her to find out, from you or from looking it up. She’s a curious girl Remus, you know she’ll look it up if we don’t tell her soon enough.”

Beth heard an audible sigh from downstairs.

“I should get going thank you again for having us,” said Molly before leaving via the flo.

“I should go check on her,” said Remus getting up from the sofa, “we’ll tell her another time.”

He reached the staircase and found Beth sitting on top of the stairs who had tears running down her cheeks.

“Beth,” he sighed, “how much did you hear?”

“Enough to know you’re all keeping something from me,” she sobbed.

Remus took a deep breath and sat down on the stairs next to her.

“I think I’ve got some explaining to do,” said Remus running his fingers through his hair.

“Come here,” he sighed holding his arms open for her.

He picked her up and carried her down to the sitting room by the fire as the rain started to chuck down outside.

“I’m afraid it’s a bit of a long story,” sighed Remus, “but there is a reason we hadn’t told you yet.”

“I wanted to tell you earlier,” said Lyall, “but it’s Remus’ decision.”

Beth curled up in front of the fire in her dressing gown and Remus sat down next to her.

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered.

“This story starts I suppose when I was four years old,” said Remus.

“There was a werewolf, called Fenrir Greyback,” said Lyall grimacing. He always felt guilty for his part in this story.

“When Remus was four years old, I was working in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as I do now, and I arrested Greyback as he was dangerous and turning young children.”

“The ministry however,” sighed Lyall, “thought he was a muggle tramp and let him go free.”

Remus shuddered slightly even though he was sat next to the fire.

“A few nights later it was the full moon. Greyback was angry at me for arresting me, he wanted revenge. He didn’t want to turn me though, we wanted to hurt my son.”

“He snuck into the cottage one night. Remus’ bedroom window was open as it was a hot Summer, and Greyback got in through the window.”

“Hope and I heard a screaming from Remus’ room, but by the time I got there with my wand, Greyback was already halfway back out through the window and Remus had been bitten. I was lucky he hadn’t died.”

“I still have nightmares about it,” muttered Remus staring into the flames.

Beth moved closer to Remus by the fire and he pulled her in close.

“Why are you telling me this?” asked Beth.

“I already know you’re a werewolf.”

“Yeah we know,” said Lyall, “but it’s important.”

“When I reached eleven, I had never been to school and never had any friends.”

“Like me?”

“Yeah like you,” said Remus, “Professor Dumbledore told me I could go to Hogwarts and that it would be safe, so I was sent to school.”

“I was sorted into Gryffindor and there were three other boys in my house, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black.”

Beth nodded slightly and pulled her dressing gown on closer as he continued the tale.

“I tried to keep my lycanthropy a secret from my new friends. I used to try and tell them I was going home to visit my sick mother.”

“But James and Sirius were never stupid,” said Remus smiling reminiscently.

“By the end of our first year, they told me that they knew I was a werewolf. They started trying to find a way to help me with my transformation, Wolfsbane potion hadn’t been invented so full moons were a nightmare.”

“So what did you do?”

“They became animagi,” said Remus beaming, “they could turn into animals at will.”

“Like Professor McGonagall?” she asked.

“Yes sweetheart,” said Remus, “James was a stag, Sirius was a big black dog, and Peter was a rat.”

“How did that help you though?”

“Well,” said Remus, “when they were animals, I couldn’t turn them, and they used to keep my company during the full moons. We were a group of rule breakers, we used to spend the full moon exploring the forbidden forest.”

“We called ourselves the Marauders, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.”

“Which one was which?”

“I was Moony,” said Remus.

“Because you used to howl at the moon!”

“Exactly Cariad!” chuckled Lyall.

“Peter was Wormtail, Sirius was Padfoot and James was Prongs.”

“Cool,” said Beth.

“It was pretty cool yeah,” nodded Remus.

“Well as we got towards the end of our Hogwarts education Voldemort was getting stronger and stronger. We knew that when we all got to the end of our education, we were going to join Dumbledore and fight him.”

“What about Mum?” asked Beth.

“You haven’t mentioned her much yet.”

Lyall smirked.

“James had a crush on her since first year, they got together in seventh year and got married and had you soon afterwards,” explained Remus laughing slightly.

“Did you ever have a girlfriend?”

“Um no,” muttered Remus biting his lip slightly, “I wasn’t into girls.”

“What about a boyfriend then?”

Lyall snorted again at her abrupt question.

“Um yeah actually I did,” nodded Remus, “Sirius was my boyfriend, from late in our sixth year.”

“Oh cool,” said Beth, “so if he was your boyfriend why don’t you talk about him? Did you have a bad break up?”

“Have patience young Cariad,” said Lyall, “it’s a long story.”

“So we all finished school, Lily and James got married and moved in together, Sirius and I got a flat together. We all joined the Order of the Phoenix to help fight Voldemort and the deatheaters.”

“What did you used to do?”

“Well, my main job was spying on the werewolves and trying to get them to join our side rather than Voldemort’s like Greyback.”

“Ok,” she nodded.

“This was the Summer of 1978, in the Summer of 1979 James and Lily got married, a year after that you were born.”

“I was made your godfather, which was one of the proudest days of my life,” he beamed as he kissed her on the head, and she stared into the fire.

“Wasn’t Sirius Dads best friend?”

“Yes, but Sirius was going to be the first son’s godfather.”

“Ok,” she nodded.

Remus took a deep breath and tried to hold back his tears.

“In October of 1981, I was up in Northumberland living with a colony of werewolves. I was on a mission for the Order, trying to stop them from joining Greyback’s werewolf army.”

“The last time I saw Lily and James and Peter was on the 5th of October 1981, I was home for a couple of days and came round to Godric’s Hollow to see my friends and you. The last time I saw Sirius was on the 6th of October, we were living in a flat together and spent one last night together before I had to go back to Northumbria, little did I know that this was the last time I would see any of my friends.”

“Before we continue this story,” said Remus, “I need to explain to you about the Fidelius Charm. It is placed on a house and hides your house from everyone you don’t want to find you. Lily and James knew that Voldemort was after them. Dumbledore placed the charm on the Potter house and Sirius was made the secret keeper.”

Beth nodded that she understood.

“On the 1st of November my mission was over, I left the colony and apparated back to the flat. I was confused when I got there, the flat was empty, but it looked like Sirius had only been there a few hours before, I didn’t feel like there was anything wrong.”

“That’s when I went to Godric’s Hollow,” he sighed tears coming to his cheeks, “it was a ruin, the house was half blown up, Lily and James where nowhere to be seen, I started to try and search through the rubble of the house to find you.”

“I was on my hands and knees scrambling through the rubble trying to find you when Dad came.”

“That must have been horrible for you!” said Beth giving him a hug.

“I knew that Remus was leaving the colony that day and had just finished checking his flat,” said Lyall who was also crying, “Dumbledore had sent me a message that the Potters had died but that you had lived.”

“I calmed him down by telling Remus that you were safe and alive and took him home.”

“I was still worried about Peter and Sirius,” said Remus who was clinging onto his little Beth for dear life, “Peter was one of my best friends, Sirius was my boyfriend, our two best friends were dead and there was nothing I could do about it.”

“I can’t imagine how terrible that must have been for you,” sobbed Beth.

“It gets worse,” sighed Lyall.

“How could this get worse!”

“The next day,” sighed Lyall, “we were visited by Alastair Moody, he was an auror who worked in the Order with us.”

“You know about the fidelius charm, right?”

“Yeah,” nodded Beth.

“Well,” sighed Lyall, “the only way Voldemort could have found out where you were all hiding was if Sirius told him.”

“No!” stammered Beth.

“James was his best friend!”

“Well it turned out he was a spy for Voldemort,” growled Lyall his eyes full of age.

“This story’s not over is it,” muttered Beth pulling at her dressing gown cord.

“No sweetheart it’s not,” said Remus who was clinging onto had tears running down his face.

“Moody came to tell us that they had just found Sirius and Peter,” said Lyall slowly trying to keep calm.

“According to the witnesses, Peter had tracked Sirius down who had been on the run for two days. Sirius was worried that Peter or Remus would be angry at him for betraying Lily and James.”

“Peter accused him of betraying Lily and James to Voldemort and pointing his wand at Sirius, but Sirius was one step ahead of him.”

“By the time that Moody and the auror’s got there, Sirius had blown up the street, there was twelve dead muggles, and all they could find of Peter was his finger.”

“He blew up Peter,” Beth stammered, “and killed twelve muggles!”

Lyall nodded firmly, a look of loathing on his face.

“So this is when I was sent to the Dursleys?” asked Beth.

“Why didn’t you go look for me?”

“I lost my four best friends in the world in twenty four hours,” sighed Remus who was still crying, “Lily, James and Peter were all dead, and my boyfriend Sirius, the man I had trusted most in the world had betrayed two of them and killed the last.”

“I was in a bad place, I was depressed, if it hadn’t been for Mum and Dad, I wouldn’t have pulled through at all. Albus came around a few days after everything happened and told us that you were safe and well protected and loved.”

“We believed him and left you were you were thinking you were happy,” said Lyall nodding solemnly, “if we had thought for even one second you weren’t happy, or you were getting hurt we would have come to get you without a seconds thought.”

“Just when I started to feel better, in March 1982, six months after everyone had died, Mum got sick.”

“What?”

“She had cancer Cariad,” sighed Lyall, “she was very sick for a year, and died a year later. Remus looked after her the whole time until she eventually died.”

“And that’s about it,” said Lyall with a hint of finality, “any questions Beth?”

Beth was a bit shocked with all the news she had just been given in such a short time frame.

“Uncle Remus,” she muttered, she was still sitting on Remus’ lap by the fire.

“Yes sweetheart,” said Remus stroking her hair.

“You said you haven’t seen Sirius in nearly eleven years, where is he?”

“He’s in Azkaban,” said Remus, “it’s a wizard prison.”

“And he can’t get out?”

“No Cariad,” said Lyall shaking his head, “he can’t get out.”

“You’re safe here little one,” said Remus.

“Just one more question.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have any more than one,” said Lyall chuckled slightly.

“You said that Sirius was still your boyfriend when you last saw him, in that case you never actually officially broke up did you?”

“No,” muttered Remus biting his lip, “but he betrayed our best friends and killed the last. He wanted you dead too, I think it’s safe to say we broke up whether without actually saying it.”

“Fair enough,” muttered Beth.

“Now come on sweetheart,” said Remus getting up, “it’s nearly ten o’clock, time for bed.”

Remus picked her up and carried her up to bed.

“You ok little one?” he asked as he tucked her in.

“Yeah,” she muttered as she snuggled in.

Remus lit a candle on her bedside table, if any night was a night for nightmares, it was tonight.

“Remus!” she called.

“Yes sweetheart?”

“I understand why you didn’t tell me earlier,” she said as she got comfy, “but I also understood why I needed to know.”

“I was always going to tell you,” sighed Remus, “its just its difficult for me to talk about, and your parents being murdered was bad enough, without it being due to a betrayal of a best friend.”

“Night Remus,” muttered Beth as he kissed her on the forehead.

“Night Beth,” he whispered.

Remus left the room and Guinevere took over her nightly patrol duty.