Return to Grimmauld
‘This is boring,’ Sirius said, huffing into the glass of Firewhisky he'd been nursing for at least an hour.
Remus sighed and sank backwards into his seat, only to regret it when he realised how sticky it was. He leant forward again, tipping the rest of his drink into his mouth. The glamour on his face was itchy and uncomfortable and he’d had enough too.
‘We were going to have to move soon anyway,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
They exited the Troll’s Toenail, nodding to the barman and turned left onto Knockturn Alley. They’d laid eyes on their mark at least, but so far, the only overtly concerning thing about Thorfinn Rowle, the current pub chef, had been his dubious cooking.
‘That burger was foul,’ Sirius said, reading his mind, ‘maybe we could get him on a health warning or something.’
Remus snorted, ‘well that's the most they'd have against him at this point unfortunately.’
They'd been watching Rowle for a couple of days now and found frustratingly little to report. He worked at the pub, he lived alone, he didn't appear to be associating with anyone more suspect than the average Toenail patron. The Death Eaters on Moody's list seemed to fall into two categories: they had either risen through the ranks at the Ministry, supported by contacts and personal wealth and now had a frightening level of influence, or they had ended up in low paid jobs in London's dodgiest of Wizarding establishments. The latter were easier to keep an eye on so that's where they had started, but it was becoming obvious they were going to have to find some intelligence on the other group: the Malfoys of the world.
They turned into Diagon Alley, the street bustling with shoppers. Remus glanced at Sirius nervously, but he seemed unshaken by the crowd this afternoon. They passed Flourish and Blotts and Remus looked through the window, thinking of the last time they'd been there…
‘What about Narcissa?’ he asked abruptly.
‘What about her?’ Sirius said.
‘Do you think you - ?’ he paused, ‘the way she looked at you - when we saw them here that time -’
‘What way?’
‘Like - I don't know. She looked at you -’
What was he trying to say? What was it he had seen in her eyes? Whatever it was, he had recognised it. Some kind of longing…
‘I don't know,’ Remus said eventually, ‘but she looked at you like she - do you think she'd talk to you?’
‘Unlikely,’ said Sirius immediately, and then paused. ‘But maybe not completely impossible.’
*
On the morning of September 1st, they arrived for breakfast at The Burrow. Molly had sent an owl to invite them, and they'd been glad to have the chance to see Harry off away from the curious glances they'd be met with at Kings Cross. It was early, and it was raining heavily as they crossed the Weasley’s yard and knocked on the door.
‘Come in, come in!’ said Molly, ushering them through the door, ‘here, give me that umbrella. The kids will be down in a minute.’
She chivvied them through to the kitchen, indicating they should help themselves to a cup of tea as she dropped Remus’ umbrella into a stand by the door that was so stuffed with outdoor accessories and sporting equipment, he doubted he'd ever retrieve it.
‘Boys!’ she shouted up the stairs, ‘hurry u- oh!’
She was cut off by a popping sound in the fireplace that was accompanied by a small whoosh of green flame.
‘Oh - hello Molly. Arthur around? Rather urgent,’ said the head in the flames. The man had a beard and glasses and looked like a Ministry type to Remus. As Molly returned to the bottom of the stairs to shout again, Remus pulled Sirius slightly further into the kitchen, out of sight of the fireplace, causing Sirius to glare at him.
‘Wha-?’ he began.
‘Shh -’ said Remus, ‘we might want to hear this and Arthur - might not want his colleagues knowing they’re having breakfast with -’ he gestured between them, ‘- well, with either of us to be honest.’
Sirius rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to protest again, but was distracted by Arthur, who came clattering into the hallway, pulling his robes up across his shoulders, a trickle of toothpaste visible on his chin.
‘What? What is it? Amos! Good to see you - what’s happened?’
Remus and Sirius moved closer to the doorway so they could hear.
‘...Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d’you-call-’ems - please-men. It’s a real stroke of luck I heard about it - had to come into the office early, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off - if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one -’
‘What does Mad-Eye say happened?’ Arthur asked. He had his back to them, blocking their view of the man - Amos, Arthur had called him - in the fireplace.
‘They’re talking about Moody?’ Sirius whispered.
‘Says he heard an intruder in his yard.’ Amos continued, ‘Says he was creeping toward the house, but was ambushed by his dustbins.’
Remus and Sirius looked at each other - an intruder…
‘I knew there was something funny about the bins,’ Sirius hissed.
‘What did the dustbins do?’ Arthur asked.
‘Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell, apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up -’ Amos continued.
‘And what about the intruder?’
‘Arthur, you know Mad-Eye, someone creeping into his yard in the dead of night?’ Amos’ tone was sceptical. Remus could see where he was coming from - Moody was well known to be highly suspicious. ‘More likely there’s a very shell-shocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot gets their hands on him, he’s had it - think of his record - we’ve got to get him off on a minor charge.’
‘Might be a caution,’ said Arthur, ‘he didn’t use his wand? He didn’t actually attack anyone?’
‘I’ll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window,’ said Amos, ‘but they’ll have a job proving it, there aren’t any casualties.’
‘All right I'll be on my way in a minute - I'll go straight there.’
They watched as Arthur hurried back up the stairs, Molly now bidding goodbye to Amos. Remus turned, leaning against the kitchen wall, brow furrowed.
‘What do you think? Someone's caught wind of something? Moody being back in with Dumbledore?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Sirius, ‘but I don't like the sound of it, knowing what we know is bubbling away at the moment. Moody is right to be cautious.’
Arthur reappeared then, fully dressed, grabbing a piece of toast from the stack on the table. There was a thundering of feet behind him as Fred and George appeared, Ginny and Percy just behind them. They sat down for breakfast, shuffling onto the long benches either side of the table and loading their plates with eggs and bacon.
‘Oh! Hello!’ Arthur said as he caught sight of Remus and Sirius, ‘I didn't realise you were here already - so sorry I've got to rush off - ‘
‘You just look after Mad-Eye, we’ll be fine,’ Molly said, kissing him on the cheek.
‘What’s Mad-Eye been up to now?’ said Bill as he appeared in the doorway with Charlie beside him.
‘He says someone tried to break into his house last night,’ Molly said, bending over Ginny to cut her toast in half.
‘Mum-’ Ginny rolled her eyes.
‘Mad-Eye Moody?’ said George thoughtfully, ‘Isn’t he that nutter -’
‘Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody,’ said Molly sternly.
‘Moody’s no nutter,’ Sirius said, rather loudly, causing the chatter at the table to stop abruptly as everyone turned to look up at him.
‘Sirius?’ A shout from the hallway as Harry burst into the room, grinning, ‘Is that you? What are you doing here!’
‘Thought we'd drop in before you set off, say goodbye,’ said Sirius, smiling back at Harry and reaching out to ruffle his hair. Harry shook his hand away, but grinned even more widely.
‘Was that Dad leaving?’ Ron said, as he and Hermione appeared behind Harry and they all sat down at the table, squeezing onto the benches and beginning to fill their plates.
‘Yeah,’ said Bill, ‘Had to go and sort something out for Mad-Eye-’
‘Who?’ said Harry, glancing up at Remus as he asked.
‘He’s retired, used to work at the Ministry,’ said Charlie. ‘He was an Auror - one of the best. Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him-’
‘Isn’t that true,’ Sirius said suddenly with a hollow laugh. Remus shot him a warning look but he was staring down at his eggs.
‘What?’ said Harry, looking up in alarm, ‘He - You?’
Sirius nodded.
‘And you still don't think he’s a nutter?’ said George, incredulously.
‘Hes paranoid sure,’ said Sirius, ‘but he's right to be. Made himself loads of enemies in the last war. Put a lot of people in Azkaban. A lot of people with powerful families -’
Remus watched as Sirius speared a sausage on his fork, a little aggressively, seemingly unaware of the fact the entire table was staring at him, hanging on his every word. His loyalty to Moody puzzled Remus a little - a man who had helped to whip him away to Azkaban without a sniff at a trial - Remus certainly hadn’t forgiven him for that - but did he disagree with the basic sentiment? No, not really. Moody was coarse and abrupt, but his mind was sound - the maddest thing about him was his eponymous eye. He glanced up to find Harry watching him - watching him watch Sirius - waiting for his reaction. He cast around for something to change the subject -
‘Oh! Hi!’ Sirius said, suddenly, his voice suddenly high and soft, his gaze directed under the table, ‘Hi there! Where did you come from?’
A large ginger cat jumped onto his lap, purring loudly and nuzzling at Sirius’ hand.
‘Crookshanks get down!’ said Hermione, ‘sorry, sorry-’
‘No, no,’ Sirius said, scratching the cat behind its ears, ‘it’s fine, we’re old friends.’
They helped load the six trunks into the Muggle taxis Molly had booked, Remus doing his best to reassure the drivers that everything they were transporting was completely legal. Harry hugged them both tightly and promised he would call as soon as he got on the train and again after the feast, once he had got settled. They stood together in the drizzle outside The Burrow, watching the cars exit the driveway and turn off onto the road.
‘Do you think he’ll be alright?’ Sirius asked.
‘Yeah,’ said Remus, ‘we’ll make sure of it. Come on, let’s get home.’
*
‘Sirius! Remus! Sirius!’
Sirius pulled the mirror from his pocket and opened it, revealing Harry against a backdrop of crimson drapes.
‘Hey!’ Sirius said, turning the mirror so that Remus could wave hello too, ‘All settled in?’
‘Yeah,’ said Harry, ‘All fine. Feast was great. You’ll never guess what -’
‘Hi!’ said Ron, grinning over Harry’s shoulder, ‘this mirror is so cool!’
‘Hi Ron,’ Sirius laughed, ‘Never guess what Harry?’
‘That guy Mr Weasley went to see this morning - Moody - he’s here! He’s the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!’
‘What was that?’ said Remus, coming over to sit beside Sirius on the sofa, ‘Moody is the new Defence professor?’
‘Yeah!’ said Harry, ‘he made such an entrance! Middle of Professor Dumbledore’s speech and everything - the doors just swung open, there was lightning -’
Sirius laughed, ‘I can fully imagine it,’ he said, ‘was everyone terrified?’
‘Sort of,’ said Harry, ‘I can see where he gets his name from now.’
‘Yeah,’ said Sirius, ‘Watch out for that eye - he can see through things you know - don’t assume he can’t see you just because you can’t see him.’
Harry’s eyes widened for a moment, ‘So do you guys know him well?’
‘Not really,’ said Remus, ‘We worked together - for a bit - a long time ago.’
‘Tell them about the Tournament!’ Ron’s voice said, somewhere to Harry’s left.
‘Oh yeah!’ said Harry, ‘So also, the school is hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year! There are other schools coming to compete!’
Remus glanced at Sirius, whose brow had furrowed, his expression now tense, eyes fixed on Harry.
‘Isn’t that the thing they had to discontinue about a hundred years ago because of the -’
‘Death toll - yeah,’ said Harry enthusiastically, ‘Dumbledore mentioned that. Apparently they’re taking precautions - you have to be seventeen and they’ve designed it so no one dies or something - it sounds like it’s going to be great!’
It took him a moment, but Remus suddenly realised that he too was just staring at Harry, who was now looking between them, his smile starting to falter.
‘I - I guess that is what the dress robes are for,’ Harry continued, ‘There’s going to be a party or something with the other schools -’
‘Oh no,’ said Ron’s voice again, ‘Do you think that’s what they’re for? What am I going to do with these?’
Their field of vision was obscured briefly, as if someone had covered the mirror and they caught a flash of maroon as Harry reappeared, pulling the thing out the way and pausing to lob it back across the room.
‘Ouch!’ said another voice that could have been Neville’s.
‘Everyone’s really excited -’ he tried again, smiling at them.
‘Yeah,’ said Remus, recovering first, ‘yeah it sounds like lots of fun.’
‘Why are they doing it?’ said Sirius abruptly, expression still grave.
‘Um - I don’t know, Dumbledore said something about establishing ties with the students of the other schools. Making friends? I don’t know, it sounded like the Ministry had organised it.’
Remus glanced at Sirius again, wondering what he was thinking. Dumbledore hadn’t mentioned any of this when they had met with him only a week ago. Neither he nor Moody had said anything about the fact that he was about to begin teaching at the school. Both seemed like pieces of pertinent information.
‘It isn’t until October anyway,’ Harry continued, ‘so I expect we’ll find out more before then. I’d better go, the others are ready for bed.’
‘OK, Harry, sleep well’ said Remus, nudging Sirius with his elbow. Sirius blinked hard and managed a smile.
‘Night,’ he said, ‘Call whenever.’
‘Goodnight!’ Harry said, and closed the mirror.
Sirius snapped his mirror shut and turned to Remus. ‘Why did no one bring up the fact Moody was taking over? We’ve seen them both in the last week and it’s your old job - ‘
‘Not sure,’ said Remus, ‘maybe it was last minute?’
‘And I don’t like the sound of this Tournament,’ Sirius continued, ‘What is Dumbledore thinking, opening up Hogwarts to strangers when we know Voldemort is back?’
‘Well they are other children -’ Remus said, ‘and links with international schools might be a good thing - maybe that’s why he wants Moody around?’
‘Other children come accompanied by other adults,’ said Sirius darkly, ‘I want more information on this if it is happening where Harry is. We should go up there -’
‘Or we could write to Dumbledore,’ said Remus, bringing a thumb up to smooth the crease between Sirius’ eyebrows, his fingers gently cupping his cheek, ‘in a calm and rational manner?’
*
They didn't need to send an owl in the end, because Albus Dumbledore came to them. It was late morning and they were back at Grimmauld Place. Sirius’ anxiety over Harry’s return to school was currently manifesting in a desire to clean and restore the most secure location he knew of and so they had begun visiting again, working their way through the many rooms. Sirius had been upstairs in the drawing room for a while now, leaving Remus in the downstairs sitting room, listening to the sound of furniture being dragged back and forth above him while he organised Regulus’ notes into two piles: ‘not useful’ and ‘probably not useful’.
There was a light tap at the window and Remus looked up. Two owls: one with a paper in its beak and another with a note wrapped around its leg bobbed up and down on the other side of the glass. He got up and opened the window, relieving them of their burdens and tucking a coin into the Prophet owl’s pouch. He unrolled the letter first. It was a note from Dumbledore: ‘12pm, Floo, Grimmauld’ was all it said. Remus glanced at his watch - it was already 11:30, he supposed he’d better tell Sirius. He glanced at the ceiling, realising suddenly that he wasn’t sure when the furniture had stopped moving, and made for the door, grabbing the paper on his way out.
He ascended the stairs slowly, scanning the front of the paper and finding nothing of interest. He turned the page, folding it over as he climbed and stopped for a moment. There at the bottom of page three was a photograph of Arthur and Molly Weasley - he glanced up at the headline: ‘FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC’ it read. Remus rolled his eyes and continued through the article: ‘Mad-Eye Moody… no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder… false alarm… undignified and potentially embarrassing scene…’
‘Sirius?’ Remus called, speeding up on the stairs. ‘Dumbledore is on his way - and Rita Skeeter is writing rubbish in the paper again. Sirius?’
He reached the door of the drawing room and pushed it open, still looking at the paper.
‘I don’t know how she gets away with this stuff,’ he said, ‘there is literally no news in this article and she hasn’t even got Arthur’s name -’ he looked up.
Sirius was standing, frozen against the wall, his face ashen, his eyes wide.
‘Sirius?’ Remus said, hurrying towards him. Sirius didn’t move - Remus turned to follow his gaze which was fixed across the room. There, on the green velvet settee which stood against the opposite wall was - Sirius, hunched over, eyes locked with his counterpart. Remus looked back and then back again. It was another Sirius - the same, but different - slightly older, his hair long and matted like it had been a few months ago when Remus had found him at the shack, his cheeks hollow, his eyes sunken.
‘Sirius?’ Remus said, ‘Sirius what?’
He took a step, moving in front of Sirius to try and catch his eye. There was a sudden but familiar whip crack and he turned, swiftly, realisation dawning and pointed his wand at the moon now hanging in the air.
‘Riddikulus’, he said, turning back immediately, not waiting to witness the Boggart vanishing into smoke.
‘Sirius,’ he said again, putting both hands out in front of him, ‘Pads. It’s OK, just a Boggart. Gone now.’
Sirius blinked and his eyes shifted, looking at Remus for the first time.
‘OK?’ Remus said, reaching for Sirius' hands, taking one in each of his.
Sirius nodded, slowly, easing himself forward off the wall and standing upright. ‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘sorry. It was in the writing desk. Haven't seen one of those for a long time and it was different -’
‘What was it?’ Remus said, before he could stop himself.
‘It was me,’ said Sirius quietly, eyes back on the settee on which the Boggart had sat, ‘alone. Without - without anyone,’ he looked back, eyes meeting Remus' again. ‘Having to carry on - without you.’
Remus felt his stomach drop. His hands tightened on Sirius' and he pulled him forward, letting them go and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Sirius let him do it, standing still and straight and then letting his head drop forwards to rest on Remus' shoulder. Remus could feel him breathing, each inhale slightly ragged, his chest stuttering as he drew the air in. He closed his eyes and pressed his own face into the side of Sirius', inhaling his scent, feeling the tickle of his hair against his nose. They stayed like that for a minute, just reminding each other they were there, until Remus pulled, very gently, away.
‘I came to tell you we've had a letter. Dumbledore's on his way, probably only 10 minutes or so. We need to go and open the Floo.’
Sirius nodded without looking up. Remus wondered if he should try to persuade him to sit out of the meeting. To go and have a lie down or something, but he knew it would be pointless.
‘What does he want?’ Sirius said, in a shaky voice.
‘Didn’t say.’
‘I suppose we’ll find out.’ Sirius took a step towards the door but Remus put a hand out, catching his arm and holding him back.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he said, ‘I won't leave you.’ He looked into Sirius' eyes, trying to read what was going on in his mind, trying to tell him, silently just how much he meant it.
‘I know you won't,’ said Sirius, ‘if you have a choice.’ He pulled his arm out of Remus' grasp and headed for the door.
*
Dumbledore arrived at 12pm on the dot, stepping gracefully from the fireplace in the kitchen and taking a seat at the head of the table. Sirius asked Kreacher to make a pot of tea and settled himself on the bench, Remus opposite him.
‘The Triwizard Tournament?’ Sirius said, cutting Dumbledore off as he inhaled to speak, Iis this really a good time for games? Do you know who you are letting into the school?’
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and clasped his hands in front of him.
‘I did think you might have heard about that. It is good to see Harry is keeping in regular contact.’
Sirius didn’t avert his gaze. Remus looked between them as they stared at each other.
‘The Tournament is a Ministry directive,’ Dumbledore said at last, ‘it is being overseen by the Departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports and every precaution is being taken to ensure the safety of the students. Aside from that -’ Dumbledore paused, ‘having international allies at a time like this is not an opportunity to be missed.’
‘And hiring Moody? That one of your precautions?’ Sirius continued.
‘Well,’ said Dumbledore calmly, ‘I was in need of a Defence teacher-’ he glanced at Remus, who looked down at the table, ‘and Alastor has the necessary experience for the position.’
Sirius said nothing, but continued to fix Dumbledore with an unwavering stare. Remus watched for a moment and then cleared his throat, nervously. They both turned to look at him.
‘Erm,’ he said, ‘So - an update?’
Dumbledore nodded.
‘We have looked into several of the people on Moody’s list,’ Remus began, ‘the ones we could get immediate access to. Nothing of interest so far. If Voldemort is reassembling the Death Eaters he isn’t starting with the ones currently working dead-end jobs in Knockturn Alley.’
Dumbledore nodded again. Remus remembered how nervous his cool stare could make him.
‘What is maybe good news though is they don’t seem to be reassembling themselves. Whatever that was at the World Cup, it doesn’t seem to have really set anything off on its own,’ he paused and glanced at Sirius, whose eyes were on the tea tray Kreacher was levitating across to the table.
‘Thank you very much Kreacher,’ said Dumbledore as it landed neatly in front of him. He selected a cup and poured himself some tea, stirring milk into it and carefully balancing his teaspoon on his saucer. ‘You said you had found some things here?’
‘Uh, yes, maybe -’ said Remus ‘- I’ll just go and get -’
He got up from the table and hurried to the sitting room, where the papers he had organised earlier still lay, piled neatly on the coffee table. He shoved them into a box along with the books and returned to the kitchen, where Sirius and Dumbledore sat quietly, both sipping their tea. He stayed standing, pulling things out of the box in no particular order.
‘There are a couple of lists of names - people attending meetings we think, but no surprises -’ he passed the sheets of parchment over to Dumbledore who scanned the names. ‘And then there are these notebooks - Regulus’ notes - on various books, a lot of potions, they are pretty incoherent though - or coded - in places.’
Dumbledore took the collection of exercise books and opened them, flicking through the pages.
‘And then these were in the cellar-’ Remus passed him Moste Potente Potions, ‘we understand there's a copy of this one at Hogwarts so you might be familiar -’ and then the ruined copy of Secrets of the Darkest Art ‘- this one though is unreadable-’
Dumbledore took the book delicately, turning it over to read the flaking letters on the spine. He opened it carefully, finding as Remus had, that the pages were glued together, ravaged by mould.
‘I am familiar,’ he said quietly, ‘and Regulus was taking notes on this one you think?’
‘It is named, but he doesn't really summarise it. Just -’ Remus flicked open the topmost exercise book and ran his finger down the page, ‘he just lists it here with this Godelot book, Magick Moste Evile.’
Dumbledore sat for a moment, holding the ruined book lightly in his hands, eyes on the neat handwriting that filled the page. Remus glanced at Sirius who was staring fixedly at the old wizard, a strange look in his eye.
‘What is it?’ said Sirius, ‘What was he researching? What's in the book?’
Dumbledore paused and looked up at each of them in turn, and then down at the book again.
‘I think,’ he said slowly, ‘that this may confirm something I have suspected for some time.’
‘What?’ said Sirius again.
‘What do you know about Horcruxes?’