The New Marauders

“Are you sure you gave them the right address?” Remus asks, checking the clock for the umpteenth time, a strange nervous energy emanating from him.

“Yes Moony, yes,” I reply sharply, “they just got off the train, give them time to say goodbye to everyone or to pick up their luggage.”

He pinches me on the side as soon as I finish speaking. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to answer you badly,” I murmur, leaning on him.

I’m a bundle of nerves; the idea of seeing Draco again after our unpleasant meeting makes me anxious, I didn’t exactly give my best that time. Moreover, I’m making them move away from their homes for what? To lock them in a safe house? To forbid them contact with the magical world, hiding them from everyone? I hope they appreciate the attempt, I hope they are happy to stay away from their family; it was the only decent plan I managed to come up with.

The sound of the doorbell echoes through the house, making my heartbeat increase. Remus gives me a tender kiss on the neck before we both get up from the couch, reaching the door together.

I open the door faster than usual and find myself in front of a spitting image of Lucius Malfoy. I could think he’s his father when he was young if it weren’t for those eyes, that pale and spectral gray is distinctive of the Black family. His posture is rigid and tense, he seems almost uncertain as he looks at us, I would even say with a hint of terror.

“Sirius,” he says, uncertain how to introduce himself and bending slightly forward, like a true pureblood. Godric, how much he reminds me of myself when I was young.

“No formalities, Draco,” I greet him cheerfully, hugging him briefly. He remains still in my arms, but when I detach myself from him, I notice a glimmer of relief in his gaze.

“Professor Lupin,” he says, shaking his hand. Then, with a deep breath, he moves slightly to let us see a tall, elegant boy with a surprised expression. “This is Theodore Nott,” he concludes, pointing him out.

“I… don’t understand…” I murmur, staring at the strange trio in front of me. I’m really not understanding anything.

Sirius Black has just hugged Draco Malfoy, and Professor Lupin is standing there as if nothing happened, as if he didn’t have a murderer and two Death Eaters’ sons next to him. What are we doing here, exactly? Will he be the one to train us? Is the professor perhaps a Death Eater? After all, he is a werewolf.

A smile appears on Black’s face, who invites us in for tea. I remembered him as thin and unkempt from the photos in the newspapers, but the man I have in front of me now is elegant and well-groomed.

Now, however, the question that haunts me is one and only one: am I really having tea with the multiple murderer Sirius Black?

I settle down on a green sofa in the center of the room, while the teacups float between our hands. Black and Lupin ask Draco all sorts of questions, on any topic, they talk to each other as if they were old friends.

“Excuse me, could you explain? Shouldn’t we be lost in some isolated place in the world for deadly training?” I ask interrupting them, visibly irritated after a while, in an attempt to draw their attention to more relevant issues than Malfoy’s report card.

“Oh yes, sure, sorry” Black replies with a smile, turning in my direction. Salazar, has Sirius Black just smiled at me?

“Towards the end of the third year, Draco came to me asking me to help him run away from home. I was able to contact him only at the beginning of the fourth year and, together with Professor Lupin and other members of the Order, we came up with this plan to not let him go home for the summer”.

My surprised gaze rests on Malfoy, who stares straight ahead with the usual expression of coldness that has always distinguished him. Only that for the first time I see a crack in his mask.

“On the night of Cedric’s death, he informed us that you were in a similar situation and asked us to involve you too, so here you are. There will be no training with a Death Eater, but just a summer away from home”.

Damn. I alternate my gaze between all three, unable to believe what he is telling me, I observe their eyes, study their expressions, looking for a clue, even the smallest one, that all this is just a lie. I am surprised and confused at the same time, but most of all, if this should be true, I am relieved.

The magnificent prince of the Serpents, the glorious son of Voldemort’s right-hand man, is actually as terrified as me by all this situation? Is it really so?

I spent years behaving in the worst possible way, so that, if he had reported to my father, I would have avoided perhaps some curse; and now they are telling me that he is probably the only friend I have.

“I might even believe it, but you…” I say hesitantly, addressing Malfoy directly, “if you don’t believe all that, if you’ve been plotting it since the beginning of the year, why did you continue to behave as usual?”

The Slytherin drops another piece of the mask while a small tip of panic is reflected in his eyes, he is about to speak when Sirius Black intervenes on his behalf. “We decided it together, he had to continue to behave as he always did. Legally you are still under the guardianship of your parents and we couldn’t risk them getting suspicious”.

Malfoy completely destroys his mask, running a trembling hand through his hair. It’s the first time I’ve been able to see him nervous. “I know that was what we had decided, but Sirius, I’m really sorry for how I behaved, especially with Harry. I hope I didn’t go too far…” he murmurs uncertainly, fearing that Sirius might refuse him the help he is already offering.

Attention, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the rarest event of the last two centuries. I didn’t think I would live long enough to see Draco Lucius Malfoy apologize.

“Don’t worry, Draco, we agreed on that,” the multiple murderer reassures him, patting him on the back.

Do we realize how surreal this situation is?

“Anyway, for what it’s worth” Draco continues, turning to Lupin behind him, “I’m sorry for the werewolf story, professor. I don’t think you can forgive me, but I’m really sorry for every single word. I don’t really think those things”.

Okay, no, this is at the limit of madness. Not only Malfoy apologizing, but apologizing to a half-blood werewolf. I must have ended up in another world, I have definitely drunk a potion that causes hallucinations.

Professor Lupin puts a hand on his shoulder and I watch his body stiffen. “All forgotten, Draco, and please, both of you call me Remus”.

I repeat, it’s pure madness.

“I don’t want to be indiscreet, really, but you didn’t kill the Potters? I mean, aren’t you a Death Eater?” I ask legitimately, I know I shouldn’t expect answers, but I’m entrusting my life to Sirius Black and I think I deserve to know the truth.

Draco