People Are Crazy
Chapter 12: People Are Crazy
October 14, 1993
"Watch out," called James, for what seemed like the fourth time, as Tonks almost knocked a candle off the table.
"Sorry, sorry," she mumbled. "Can't we just move the candle?"
"In theory, but how else will you learn? Practice makes perfect. Leave the candle there and continue."
Tonks muttered something incoherent. "Fine. Back to the point. Where else could we find a lead as to where they could be?"
"You see, it's complicated," said James, furrowing his brow. "In order to find where my daughter is, we need to find where Sirius Black is, and nobody knows where Sirius Black is."
"Check the newspapers, maybe?" suggested Tonks. "The Daily Prophet? It's the most reliable."
"Accio Prophet," called James with a lazy flick of his wand, and a rolled-up newspaper flew towards him. He unrolled it and scanned it.
"Nothing much here," he reported. "It says that there was a scandal in Sussex involving this really dingy bar someplace there, and then some man got rich in Yorkshire, and…"
"How'd he manage that?" cut across Tonks, stretching. "Maybe we could try it too."
"Er, let's see," said James, opening the newspaper to page six. "'Wyatt Baker, sixty-seven, came across a dead Acromantula in Yorkshire.' Blimey, a dead Acromantula? Who killed that for him?"
"Keep reading," urged Tonks.
"'He quickly collected the Acromantula venom and sold it out in various apothecaries, where the demand was high. According to Baker, the Acromantula was already dead by the time he got there, attempting to gather some firewood. Baker claims that he does not know how the Acromantula could have died. Local rangers have been sent to check the cause of death of the Acromantula. Reports are still coming in, but many footprints have been found, at least three trails, leading in circular paths around the forest. There have additionally been found paw prints, most likely of a large animal, the size of a wolf or a...'" He stopped in the middle of the sentence suddenly.
"Why'd you stop?" Tonks asked, scrutinizing him closely. "What about the wolf?"
"Paw prints," whispered James, everything spinning around in his head. "A… A dog."
"Okay?" asked Tonks, clearly concerned. "A dog? So?"
"That's… That's where Sirius is. Sirius is where that dog is. They have a… a connection. And if Sirius is there, so is Liana. We need to…"
"Yeah, okay," said Tonks. "You and me? Or do you want me to stay back? What's the deal?"
"Wait, wait, wait." James held his hands up. "Calm down. You're the official Auror on this case, so you have to go. I trust you. And Liana's going to fret if she sees me there."
"Okay, but I can't go on my own!" protested Tonks. "I'm still an Auror-in-training. I need someone with more experience. Come on, James, you need to come."
"If I go, Liana would freak. Her own father going after her? How scary would that be, Tonks? Tonks, I trust you. You can handle this."
"No," said Tonks, shaking her head. "No, I can't. And if we find Sirius? What's the connection with the dog? I don't know about any of that, I need someone who knows Sirius. I don't even know what Liana looks like, James!"
James scratched his chin. "Good point. But… Hey, I have an idea. I know you guys have some weird history, but would you mind going with Remus? He knows Sirius, and he knows Liana, and he probably wouldn't scare the living daylights out of Liana like I would."
"Yeah, I don't mind," Tonks replied, "but what time? He has classes to teach."
James frowned. "Didn't the Prophet say that there were rangers out there right now? If we go now, they'll see us, and then the media will get involved. Then everyone will know that Liana and her friends are missing. We don't want the publicity, that'll make it worse than it already is."
"So are you suggesting we wait until next year?" asked Tonks. "We need to find her as soon as possible."
"Relax, they won't have gone anywhere," said James. "There's nowhere to go in that forest. We'll find them."
"Okay," relented Tonks. "Can you let Remus know?"
"Yes, I will," replied James. "Don't fret over it. We'll find Liana at some point. Besides, she has two of her friends with her. They'll be okay."
"I hope so, for your wife," grumbled Tonks. "She's scared beyond words. I hope for your sake you've offered her some comfort."
"Yes, I have." James drew himself up proudly. "Thank you for your concern."
She snorted. "Okay. I'll get the paperwork signed. See you."
Sirius- in dog form- watched apprehensively as the Potter and her two friends started trudging towards nowhere in particular, in hopes of finding… him? He followed from a distance so that they wouldn't notice that he was trailing them. That would not be good.
There came a scattering noise from behind him, and he turned around to see, to his horror, a Blast-Ended-Skrewt walking towards him, growling.
Sirius had never paid attention in Care of Magical Creatures. He didn't know what to do in this situation.
As a human, he could obviously wave his wand and create some sort of effect on the beast. But as a dog, there were only a few things he could do. Bark, walk, and rub his back against trees. None of which were effective against Blast-Ended-Skrewts.
But how could he turn into a human without revealing that he was there, that alleged notorious mass murderer Sirius Black was actually stalking them?
He would have to fight in dog form, or he would have to be quick.
He chose to be quick, since he didn't fancy his chances against a Blast-Ended-Skrewt while he was a dog.
In one movement, he was a human again, and he had sealed his location with protective enchantments. How it ached to transform. He had slipped between forms a few times in the past few months, but it still took getting used to after having been a dog for so long.
With a wave of his wand, the Blast-Ended-Skrewt was dead.
And then he became a dog again.
But then he realized that he was leaving a trail. Slowly, but surely, he was leaving a trail of signs pointing towards him; dead creatures. He was leaving behind dead Acromantulas, and now a Blast-Ended-Skrewt. If people caught scent of his trail, his location could be compromised.
He needed to get out of there, and he needed to get out of there with the Potter and her friends.
"Excuse me?" came a voice from behind her.
Penelope Clearwater turned around to see a first year standing in front of her, shuffling his feet nervously. They were on the seventh floor, and Penelope had a free period this afternoon.
"Yeah?" she answered.
"I ended up here because the staircase moved," explained the first year, scratching his head. "How do I get to the dungeons?"
"I can take you," offered Penelope. "Just learn how the castle works so you can do it on your own next time. The staircases can be confusing."
"Tell me about it," muttered the first-year darkly. "Thank you."
Penelope nodded and took the first-year down the more reliable staircase, walking until they reached the dungeons. Then she pointed him towards the Potions classroom, where he was trying to get, and with a mutter of thanks, he was off.
"Hey, Penny."
She jumped and whipped around to see her boyfriend leaning against the wall, grinning.
"Percy!" she chided. "Don't scare me like that!"
She ran towards him and enveloped him in a hug.
"Good to see you too, Penny," he greeted. "You have a free period?"
"Yep," she responded. "I didn't know you had a free period now, though."
"I was supposed to have a Herbology class, but there was an accidental explosion, and the entire greenhouse blew up," explained Percy. "So we were let out early."
She giggled. "Nice." She traced her finger down his cheek. "Hey, did you hear Kaitan was sent to the Hospital Wing?"
"Oh?" said Percy, running a hand up and down her back.
"Yeah, his mother sent a Howler this morning and he was too traumatized by it."
Percy snorted. "That sucks. My mother's capable of sending Howlers, one of my brothers got one last year. I'm pretty sure it was Ron. No, was it… Yeah, it was Ron. Though my twin brothers get them all the time; she probably just has to press a button to send them to the twins."
Penelope laughed. "They are quite the troublemakers. It's a pity you have to scold your own brothers."
"The law is blind, Penny. Same goes with the rules."
She smiled at him. "Whatever you say, Percy. Now," She checked her watch, "I have about twenty more minutes. Fancy heading to a deserted classroom?"
He grinned. "I like the way you think."
"All right," instructed Lily to her class. "Most of you should be finished with the worksheet now. I'm going to go over the answers. Let me know if you want me to explain any of them. There were forty problems. Let's see how well you did."
Her class nodded.
"Good. Number one, you should've gotten six. Number two is fire. Number three is wood. Number four is five. Number five is insect. Number six is… Yes, Jonathan?"
"Can you repeat the first one?" Jonathan asked.
She sighed in exasperation. "Number one is six."
"Oh, okay. Thanks."
"Number six is white," she continued. "Number seven is…"
The door burst open and James strolled into her class.
"What happened?" she asked urgently. "Is everything okay? Did something happen with…" Lily's heart was pounding.
"No, no, everything's fine," James assured her, grinning. "I just wanted to see you. Hi, everyone."
"Hi, Mr. Potter!" said the class enthusiastically.
"Now?" Lily asked incredulously. "James, I'm in the middle of a class!"
"So?" James asked, sitting on her desk. "You just don't want to see me?"
Lily glanced at her class hopelessly. All of the students were now giggling. Great.
"I do want to see you, you know that, but I'm in the middle of a class!"
James gave her a look.
"Fine, fine," she said. "Sit here and be quiet. Er, was I on number seven? Yes. Number seven is crab. Oh, wait, that's eight. Er, number seven is wool, which means that number eight is crab. And number nine is paper, and number ten is air, and number eleven is… hey!"
James grabbed the piece of paper out of her hands and looked down it quickly. "We're starting on eleven. Sheep, snail, bread, grass, two, blue, earth, black, kettle, heat. That's until twenty."
The class didn't even seem to be checking their work anymore. Lily glared at her husband. "I told you to be quiet! Let me teach my class."
"Fine," said James resignedly. "You obviously don't want me around. I'll leave, then." She could swear he winked at her class.
"James," she groaned, "don't be ridiculous. Come here."
She gave him a one-armed hug and patted his back. "Happy? Now let me teach."
"Okay, Lils," said James, grinning. He planted a wet, sloppy kiss on her nose before heading out of the room.
Suffice it to say, Lily didn't get any more teaching done that day.
Yes, thought Sirius. It's working.
He just hoped that the girls would follow the silvery ball of light the entire way.
"Dean, would you look at that!" said Seamus. "I told you Sirius was after us!"
"Yeah, so?" asked Dean, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, Harry's sister has gone missing," Seamus explained impatiently. "Don't you think that's kind of fishy? Sirius Black is after Harry, and now his sister goes missing! Just a while after he broke into the castle!"
"Yeah, but," Dean furrowed his brows. "I guess you're right," he admitted finally. "But what are we supposed to do about it? Should we ignore Harry? We can't do that. Harry's our friend."
"I never said we should ignore him!" insisted Seamus. "I just think we need to be careful where it concerns Sirius Black. We need to watch out during Hogsmeade trips and stuff." He frowned, lost in thought. "Hey, Dean, I have an idea."
"What?"
"Do you know Aliya Mehra? She's a Hufflepuff in sixth year. One of Diggory's friends. The really popular one."
"Yeah, I've heard of her. Why?"
"Well, one of her relatives owns a shop in Hogsmeade. I'm not sure which. Maybe we can ask her to help us spread the word to everyone that we need to watch out during Hogsmeade."
Dean raised an eyebrow again. "Can't we just tell McGonagall to tell everyone, then?"
Seamus sighed. "Would you be thinking about McGonagall's advice when you're in Hogsmeade? Come on, Dean. The place is so attractive. People aren't going to remember what McGonagall says when they're in Hogsmeade."
"Maybe we can just make people travel in groups and stuff like that," suggested Dean. "So that we at least stick together."
"Exactly," agreed Seamus. "I'll see if we can talk to Aliya one day, and we can come up with some precautions. And then maybe we can suggest those to McGonagall too."
Dean grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
Remus was waiting outside the castle.
It was very windy, and it was chilly. The November weather had definitely started to settle in. Thank Merlin it hadn't started to snow yet. The weather conditions weren't looking ideal for a mission.
"Hey," came a voice from beside him, and he turned to see Tonks there, wearing a faded pink, threadbare jumper, and jeans. Her hair was a soft coral, and swept to the side by the wind.
"Hi," he said with a smile. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," she said, as another gust of wind shook them, and he noticed that she gave a slight shiver. "I have the location."
"Er, aren't you going to be cold?" he asked her. "You're wearing such a thin jumper."
"Yeah," she admitted. "But I deserve it, I think. Maybe next time I'll remember to wear something warmer when it's November."
He laughed quietly, then realized he should probably be doing something to help her, so he started removing his jacket.
Her eyes widened when she saw what he was doing. "No. Remus, please, I'll be fine. It's your jacket. I'll be more responsible next time. I'll be fine, seriously."
"Please, take it," he said. "I have my own jacket. I don't want you to get cold."
"Are you sure?" she asked, looking apologetic.
"Absolutely," he said firmly. "Here." He draped it around her shoulders, helping her fit her arms through it. "I know it's kind of big, but…"
She threw her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. In the unlikely event that you want one of my sweaters, I'll happily lend one to you."
He laughed. "I'll be sure to ask you if I ever need one."
She beamed. "Let's go?"
"Let's go."
"Okay. As I was saying, I have the location of the forest, so we'll have to look around there for any sight of the girls, Sirius Black, or a black dog. Finding one should lead us to the others. If we find any of the three, we alert James, who may or may not call for backup, depending on the situation. Sounds good?"
He was amazed at how thoroughly she had this all planned out. "Yes. Are we Apparating, or…"
"Apparating, yeah. You're going to have to hold me somewhere, since you don't know the location."
Hold her somewhere? Oh, Merlin. Remus had plenty of ideas in mind, most of which would not be very appropriate considering the situation. He settled for closing his hand around hers, and with a small nod, she closed her eyes, concentrating.
They ended up in a damp forest. The stormy weather was apparently affecting this part of the country as well, because the wind was roaring ferociously, and the air was thick with humidity.
"Wands out," she whispered. "We should try to be as quiet as possible. Hard for me, since I'm inherently clumsy. But I'll try."
"You definitely didn't get it from your mother," Remus answered in a low voice, smirking. He then realized he was still holding her hand, and he let go reluctantly.
"Definitely not," she agreed, a beam of light erupting from her wand as he lit his wand as well. "Everything's orderly for my mum. I don't know how she does it."
"I think it was the fact that she grew up in the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black," Remus offered, watching the forest around them closely. "Where everything is very orderly. Which way do you suggest we go?"
"You're asking me?" she asked, sounding surprised. "I'm still an Auror-in-training. I'm not as experienced as you are."
"Of course I'm asking you. I trust you. Which direction?"
She glanced around. "The wood is thicker to our right. If I was a bunch of first-years, I would want to avoid the dense part of the forest. I think they'd have headed to our left. But I could be wrong, we don't have to…"
"I think you're right. Left it is. Don't doubt yourself so much." He gave her an encouraging smile and they walked to their left quietly, trying to find any sign that Liana and her friends, or Sirius had been there. He noticed that James hadn't told her that Sirius was actually an Animagus, but he was glad that she didn't pry.
"For the love of-"
He caught her before she fell, and for a moment, they both just gazed into each other's eyes, as though the world around them didn't exist. Remus noticed that her eyes were a dark violet, and innocent, and just… beautiful.
"Darn tree root," she muttered. "I'm so sorry."
"It's completely okay," he assured her. The wind was blowing more violently now, and he had to speak a little louder to be heard.
"I'm trying," she said, smiling apologetically. "I'm going to fail Stealth and Tracking otherwise."
A gust of wind thrust her hair towards the side, the ends of it brushing against his cheek. The desires it flared inside him were intolerable. He took a moment to close his eyes and compose himself.
Focus, Remus, he chided himself. You're supposed to be watching out for Liana, not thinking about your crush.
Even though it was proving very hard for him to focus.
They walked alongside each other for a few more minutes, and then Tonks grabbed his arm. "Look."
He looked down to where she was pointing, and saw, beneath a leaf, a paw print.
"The dog?" she questioned.
He nodded. "Yeah. Sirius. I mean… Sirius is around here somewhere." He glanced around cautiously. Remus didn't know what he would do if he did come face to face with Sirius. What would he say? After all that Sirius had done, after betraying James and Lily, after selling them to Voldemort, after pinpointing the blame on him, after severing Remus's relationship with the rest of the Order. What would Remus do to Sirius when he got the chance?
He then noticed a trail of imprints into the caked dirt below them.
"Footprints," he whispered, pointing to the ground where they were. "Follow?"
"Yeah," she agreed, and carefully, they swept the fallen leaves out of the path so that they could better follow the footprints that had been left. There were three distinct trails of footprints stamped into the ground. After following the footprints for a few minutes, Remus noticed that they had stopped, clearing off suddenly.
"Where…" began Tonks, "did they go?"
"Either they disapparated from here, or they cleared their footprints if they realized someone could be following them. But I don't know how kids could disapparate, so it must be the second. I don't know if they'd know how to clear their footprints this well, either, but…" He noticed that she wasn't even listening. "Tonks? What is it?"
"Do you… Do you think they could've been searching for Black? Do you think they wanted to go after him, and that's why they left Hogwarts in the first place?" she asked.
He thought about it for a second. "It's definitely a possibility, but how would they know where to find Sirius? And does that mean Sirius was here?"
She opened her mouth to answer, but then a rustling sound from behind them caused both of them to turn in the direction of the sound, wands raised. Before Remus could properly inspect what it was, a flash of light shot at it from Tonks's wand, and it was dead.
"Sorry, I should've warned you," Tonks muttered, lowering her wand. "There are a bunch of Acromantulas in this forest."
He blinked. "You did that so fast."
"Reflexes."
"R-Right. Anyway, I think our best bet is to search this entire area. If we don't find them, that means they shifted somewhere."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Do you think Sirius knows where they are? Do you think they know where Sirius is?"
"I'm not sure. If they did find him, they would only have seen the dog…" He trailed off. A thought had just occurred to him. That was how Sirius must have escaped. Through his Animagus form.
"How exactly is the dog related to Sirius, if you don't mind me asking?" asked Tonks softly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just think it would be relevant to the mission."
"I… I should probably confer with James before telling you," he admitted.
"Oh," she said. "Okay, then. No worries."
"Wait," he said quickly. "I'm not finished. But I'm going to tell you anyway, because I think you deserve to know. I'll tell you about the backstory later, but Sirius Black is an Animagus. He is the dog."
Her eyes widened. "No way. Are you serious?"
"Yes. So if Sirius knew that the girls were here, he could have cleared the footprints."
"That makes sense," whispered Tonks. "So you think Sirius knows where the girls are?"
"If he does, then what would he be doing with them?"
She looked tense. "Do you think he… killed them here?"
Silence.
He took a deep breath and let it out. "No. Sirius is trying to get to Harry. Which means that he would follow them. The girls are a source of information for him. He would follow them back to Hogwarts."
"Right," she said, her voice quavering.
"Don't worry, Tonks," Remus said quietly. "I think they'll be okay. Besides, Sirius doesn't have a wand. He won't be able to kill them."
"That's right," she whispered. "Sorry. You're right. I… I'm just worried."
He put his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "It's completely natural. That's what we're here for. Let's not mention this to Lily, though."
She laughed. "Yeah. Thank you, Remus. Let's keep looking?"
"Sure," he agreed, and they continued searching.
After more than two hours, they had searched the entire forest, finding nothing except for two more dead Acromantulas, a few more scattered paw prints that led around in a circle, and a dead Blast-Ended Skrewt. Remus was beyond impressed at her skill, and her thoroughness, and how meticulous she was. He noticed that she tended to second-guess herself a lot because she was not yet a fully qualified Auror. He felt that she was most likely shunned by the Aurors at the Ministry (save James, of course), and this caused her to be more doubtful of herself. In his opinion, she was extremely sharp and came up with very good ideas. But sometimes people were bigoted, and biased, and he felt that such was the case at the Auror Office.
Finally, they decided that the girls were not in the forest, and nor was Sirius, and that they would have to send another mission. They disapparated back to Hogsmeade and made their way to the castle, Tonks promising to report to James what had happened. But neither of them were disappointed, because that was the way it was, and they both knew it.
Just as they were about to go their own ways, Tonks called softly, "Remus?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For trusting me today. A lot of people don't. That was really nice of you."
"I meant it," he said firmly.
She gave him a small smile. "And thank you for lending me your jacket. You can have it back now."
"No," he said, "I want you to keep it. Please."
She tilted her head to the side. "But it's your jacket."
"I want it to be yours," he answered truthfully. "You look really nice in it."
She turned magenta. "Thank you. If you want it back, though, let me know."
He smiled. "I will. Good night, Tonks."
"Good night, Remus."
It took him a long time to fall asleep that night.