Listen To Me
“Hagrid, I know you said that you assigned the books because you thought they were funny, however, nobody knows how to tame them except you,” the werewolf pointed out as one of the examples used to show that Hagrid was stronger than the average man.
“But all you have to do is stroke the spine,” the giant of a man said, not sure why no one else got that.
“Yes, but no one can hold them long enough to do that,” Remus pointed out.
“Oh, I see,” was Hagrid’s response. That was want got him thinking. If they couldn’t control a small book, what couldn’t they do with a hippogriff.
Remus spent a good portion of the night talking to Hagrid, but he finally got through to the gentle man that he was much stronger than a normal human and indefinitely stronger than teenagers and children. Hagrid promised to keep a close eye on his classes and tone down any of the animals that he brought.
He also promised not to breed anything. That was a great relief to Remus. There would be no Blast Ended Skrewts this time. Remus would still keep an eye on Hagrid, he was known to forget what he promised. He’d just get too into his cups and do whatever came to his mind.
Remus’s first class with Harry was about to start and he was still doing the boggart. He was curious about what Harry’s boggart would be now that the dementors were not in play. Severus was still in the room when he brought the class in the Teachers’ Lounge.
“Longbottom is a menace,” the dour teacher predicted as he made his way out of the room.
“I was hoping that Mr. Longbottom would be most helpful,” Remus said, looking at the terrified child. He knew what Neville’s boggart was, and he knew what to do to help. However, he knew that it would make Snape treat the boy worse later. So, he was hoping to come up with something else. But really there wasn’t anything that he could think of that would be better. In order to get the boggart to back off, it had to be funny. And having Severus in drag was hilarious.
“Are you sure, sir?” the timid boy asked, moving forward slowly at Remus’s waving.
“Yes, Neville, I’m sure you will do fine. Now tell me, what is your worst fear?” the professor said, having gone over what a boggart was already.
“Professor Snape,” the boy said, fear laced his tone as he glanced at the door the man left through, like he’d appear just from his name being mentioned.
“You have a grandmother, don’t you?” Remus said, sticking to script.
“I don’t want her here either,” the boy said, just as fearfully.
“Picture your grandmother’s clothing,” Remus said, putting an arm around the boy’s shoulder and guiding him to stand in front of the wardrobe the boggart was. He then moved to the doors of said wardrobe. “When you say the spell, pictured Professor Snape in your grandmother’s clothes,” he suggested.
And so it went, just like in the books, spiders on roller-skates, and so on, up until it was Harry’s turn. Remus was on pins and needles. He had no idea what to expect. He wondered if his original thoughts were warranted, and Voldemort would make a showing this time. He stood at the ready to jump in just in case.
Harry stood ready to face his fear. He waited his turn, the spell on his lips and scenario after scenario on his mind. Would it be his uncle? or his cupboard? or darkness? what was his fear? He didn’t know. He hoped it wasn’t Voldemort. He had already faced him twice. Or it might be a basilisk. Or a three headed dog. He didn’t know. There were so many things he had faced since he had been in this world.
He stood there waiting for anything. When the boggart landed in front of him it turned in to Sirius Black. Only it wasn’t the fun-loving man that he had met twice, it was a mean man. He was sneering at him. “Why would I want a freak like you?” came out of the boggart’s mouth the bitterness dripping in its tone. Worse than anything that had ever come from his relative’s mouth.
“Riddikulus,” Harry said, turning Sirius into the man he had met before, only with more of a clown quality to him. Boggart Sirius laughed and laughed and laughed, slapping his knees as if he had just made the funniest joke in the world. This was the Sirius that Harry liked.
Remus jumped in front of Harry and the boggart turned into the full moon and the werewolf said the spell and popped the moon and banished it back into the wardrobe.
“Very good, class. You all did a great job. I am very proud of all of you,” he said, guiding them out of the room and back to the DADA class. “Now for homework I want an essay, no more than ten inches, about boggarts,” he said as he dismissed them for the day. “Harry, stay, please,” he called to the teen as he was leaving.
Harry waved his friends on and went to the front of the room. “Yes, Professor?” he said, standing in front of the desk. He hoped the man wasn’t upset that his boggart was his best friend.
“Don’t worry, you are not in trouble,” the man said, easing his worries. “I won’t tell Sirius about your boggart, but you might want to. That is up to you,” he added, hoping the boy did.
“Oh,” Harry said, sighing in relief. He would have to think about whether to tell the other man or not. It was a tricky subject. How do you tell someone that you are scared that they might think you are a freak? He talked to Sirius every night so far, so maybe he’d bring the subject up tonight. Maybe not.
“I wanted to know if you would like to learn a spell that I would not be teaching in this class. It’s a spell that you can teach others if you want, but I can’t teach it to everyone,” Remus said, hoping the boy would take him up on it. “It would give me a reason to spend some time with you,” he added as an incentive.
“What spell is it?” Harry wanted to know.
“The Patronus Charm. It’s protection against Dementors and Lethifolds,” Remus said, folding his hands on his desk. “You haven’t come across them, but you might, and I’d like for you to know the spell. That and it’s extra credit on your OWLs.”
“I’d like that,” Harry said, learning new spells was always fun to him. He was a practical person.
“Every Wednesday after dinner then,” Remus said, making a note on his calendar. He had nothing to do on those nights.
“I’ll be here,” Harry said, grinning and then running off. He met up with Ron and Hermione as he left the room. He excitedly told them about the spell he was going to be learning. Hermione could be heard saying they needed to get to the library right away to look it up.
Remus just hoped there wasn’t any jealousy there. He just wanted to spend time with Harry and not his friends. Harry could teach it to them on his own time.
Tonight, he was going to the Room of Requirements to see if he could find the horcrux. He hadn’t been able to yet because he was dealing with classes. But he was free tonight. So, it was an ideal time. If he found it, he would call Dobby to take it to Sirius. He hoped he could manipulate the room to just the horcrux. He didn’t feel like hunting in mounds of lost items.
Hphphp
Sirius received a note from Gringotts to come and talk to Slashtongue. So, he got dressed and went the day he received the note. Best not to make them wait. When he got there, he handed the note to one of the tellers and was shown to Slashtongue’s office.
In the office was Bill Weasley. He was a younger man, who was dressed in well worn, but clean clothes. He had longish red hair, of the orangish shade. There was a dragon tooth dangling from his right ear. He was lanky and tall, from what Sirius could tell from the man’s seated position.
“Bill, nice to meet you,” Black said, holding out his hand to shake. He walked up to the young man with a smile on his lips.
“How did you know my name?” the redhead said, shaking the man’s hand. His eyes showed some wariness.
“The hair,” Sirius said, coming up with something quickly. He really needed to stop spouting his knowledge out so easily.
“Oh, right, should have guessed that. Slashtongue said you wanted to hire me for a project,” Bill said, worrying his hat. He was nervous for some reason. He had never been hired out from Gringotts and he was representing them. If he made them look bad, he could lose his job.
“I need some help and I have it on good authority you are the man for it,” Sirius said, sitting next to the younger man. “Shall we get a contract signed?” he said to Slashtongue. He really wanted to get this over with. The sooner they got the horcruxes dealt with, the sooner they could just live their lives.
“I have a standard contract here,” the manager said, holding out a piece of parchment.
Sirius took it and read it. It was pretty straightforward. He was responsible for paying Bill’s room and board, and he paid Gringotts for Bill’s time, while they paid Bill his normal wages. There was a time limit of three months. He could terminate the contract before that without penalty, but he would have to pay more to extend it. He nodded and signed it and handed it to Bill.
Bill read it over and signed it too. He had no idea what was going on, but he trusted his employers. He knew it had something to do with tainted objects, that might have something to do with Herpo the Foul. He was all for getting rid of anything to do with that man.
“Come on Bill, I’ll get you all caught up,” Sirius said, standing and going to the door.
“Remember, Weasley, you are representing Gringotts,” Slashtongue said to the young man as they left.
“Yes, sir,” Bill said, closing the door behind him. He followed behind Black, still shocked that the man was a free man. However, Slashtongue had filled him in on the story while they had waited. It was a sad story to be sure.
It didn’t take long to get to Sirius’s house. Sirius led him to the living room and waved for him to sit. “You’ll be staying here,” he said, gesturing to the house in general. “I have plenty of room, and a house elf. If you need anything just ask.”
“Okay,” Bill said, looking around the posh room. He had never been in such an elegant place before. He was almost afraid to touch anything. Though it did look lived in, so he didn’t feel too out of place.
“I need a vow of secrecy. I know you have one with your work, but I need one for just this job. One that states that you won’t speak of this with anyone already not in the know,” Sirius said, sitting in the chair across from his and leaning forward a bit.
“I expected as much,” Bill said, pulling out his wand and taking the oath.
“What I’m going to do is give you a book to read. It will be a last book in a series. It is about a future that I am trying to prevent. I swear it is real,” Sirius said, handing the seventh book to Bill. “Only I, Remus Lupin, and Amelia Bones, know about these books. I’m starting you backwards, so you know how important your job is,” he added, pointing to the book.
Bill looked at him funny, then down to the book and read the title. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. “Are you for real?” he asked Sirius, opening the first page, and reading the first sentence.
“I have never been more serious about anything. We’ve already tested it, and they are real. We are trying to prevent Voldemort from returning. And a lot of good people from dying,” Sirius said, getting up and pouring himself a drink of butterbeer.
Bill was already deep into the story. He was reading about Harry Potter and his life at his relatives. He never would have guessed that the Boy-Who-Lived lived with muggles. Even if this wasn’t real, it was intriguing.
Sirius decided to leave the young man to it and go and do something else. He had some other things that needed tending too. There were laws that needed to be gone over so when he took his place on the Wizengamot he could have his say. That and he needed to take back his seat on the Board of Governors for Hogwarts. Too long had Malfoy sat in that seat.
He had some letters to write.
Hphphp
Amelia had finished the fourth and fifth book. She was halfway through the sixth and one thing she knew is that the ministry was rotten to the core. She thought she knew what was going on in this building, but she had been blind. She was truly going through life with blinders on. She needed to do something.
Crouch had already been tried. Sr. was in prison for life. The Imperius was a lifelong sentence, no exceptions. Jr. was Kissed for escaping, even if it was his father that did the deed. Then he was thrown in the Veil. They wanted to make sure he was dead this time.
Fudge had tried to get them off, but that fell like a lead balloon. She was in his office right now. “Cornelius, why are you trying to get the Triwizard Tournament going again?” she asked, glaring at the portly man. She was going to harp on him until he saw what a problem this was going to be. That or when it did become a problem, she could say ‘I told you so’.
They had gotten rid of two of the major players, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t take their places. If Harry Potter’s name was drawn, she wasn’t going to let this government railroad that kid again. She had pull, and by Merlin, she was going to use it.
“It will boost our ratings among the people,” he said, puffing out his chest.
“How? By killing the competitors?” she asked snidely. She slammed her hands down on his desk. “That competition was cancelled for a reason,” she said, standing back up and folding her arms. “The competitors kept dying. Is that what you want? Some kid’s death on your head?” she demanded, glaring for all she was worth.
“Now, Amelia,” Cornelius said, making pacifying gestures with his hands.
“No, don’t you try to placate me. This is a deadly competition,” she snapped. “If you want good ratings, try giving more of the budget to the Auror Department, or even the Sports and Games Department. Don’t bring this tournament back,” she said, all but stamping her foot. “It will bring you nothing but trouble,” she warned, making sure her voice was dead serious.
“You are just being overly cautious,” Fudge said with a smile. “I know you are trying to be the voice of reason, but what could go wrong,” he said, spreading his arms wide.
“Hem, hem,” came a sickly-sweet voice from behind Amelia.
“Shut it, Dolores, no one invited you into this conversation,” Bones snapped, slamming the door in the toad’s face. “Listen to me, Fudge, if you do this, I promise there will be nothing but trouble brought to your door. Please, reconsider bringing it back,” she said, then turned and left the room. She walked straight by Dolores Umbridge without acknowledging the woman.
She went back to her office and picked up the sixth book and started reading from where she left off. It was her lunch hour, and she was going to get this book done today before it disappeared. She needed to get together with Sirius tonight and get the first four. She wondered what had gone on Harry’s first two years of Hogwarts. When she knew it all, she could then make more definite plans.