sam_storyteller (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-07 02:00 pm
sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-07 02:00 pm
Entry tags:
Laocoon's Children, Year Two, 4 - 5
For a week the boys had talked of very little but school -- seeing the dormitories again, sending letters home, watching the Sorting, taking new classes; how hard the new classes would be, and whether they'd have lots of homework. They had written collective letters to Padma, who was coming to buy her school things soon, and Harry had decided (decreed, really) that Sirius and Remus would take them all shopping together, for their books and potions supplies. Andromeda had already fitted them for new robes, all the while talking excitedly with other Hogwarts parents about how much children grew from one year to the next.
The last day in August dawned fine, and everyone was up early, checking their lists of necessary supplies and anxious to get to the top of Diagon Alley, lest they miss the Patils coming through.
"Harry!" Padma shouted, waving at him from the throng of people emerging from the back of the Leaky Cauldron. "Neville, Draco! Over here!"
Soon the Patil twins were surrounded by boys, and Sirius was introducing himself to Padma's parents, Ram and Sarasvati, whom he knew only slightly.
"Of course we've heard about you," Ram said with a grin, as the children exchanged greetings and Sarasvati took Parvati off to see about new robes. "In all the papers, weren't you, when you vanished last June. And when you showed up again just recently."
"Well, you know how it is -- must keep a low profile at times," Sirius answered. "Sure you're all right with us kidnapping Padma for the day?"
"We don't mind if she doesn't. Mrs. Tonks has invited us up for tea later, I assume we'll be meeting you again then? Padma, don't run off without your Galleons," he added, tossing a small leather sack to Padma. She caught it and peered inside, then laughed and passed small chunks of honey-flavoured sweets to the boys. "Try not to spend too much of it on books, love."
"We'll keep an eye on her -- Remus is taking them to Mardjinn Alley after they pick up their school books at Flourish & Blotts," Sirius said.
"We have to tell Parvati not to buy too many clothes; with Padma, it's books," Ram said affectionately. "Of course, if she runs out of money and there's still something she needs -- or especially wants -- we'll repay you for it. Yes, coming, Sara," he called, as Sarasvati summoned him over to the window of Tonks & Tonks. "See you around three, eh?"
"Three it is," Sirius said, turning to find that Remus was already herding the children towards Flourish & Blotts.
They spent a long time in the bookshop, the children piling up their school-books and restocking their dwindling supplies of quills and ink, parchment, magical ink-erasers, and all the gadgets and pencil-boxes that the shops put on sale every autumn for school.
Remus browsed the section on Dark Arts, looking wildly out of place in his tidy Muggle clothing amongst the hags and warlocks who usually dealt in the volumes kept behind locked cabinet doors; he eventually came up with two new books on lycanthropy, one on the handling of Dark Creatures, and one on Dark magical theory. Sirius made sure Neville didn't knock over the inkpots and kept Harry from climbing the shelves to get at the interesting books even as he approved Padma's purchase of three Wizarding novels and a book about Great Witches In History. Draco managed to slip three comic books and a new deck of Exploding Snap cards past Sirius' watchful but tolerant eye; he only had pocket-money of his own, but Narcissa had an account at nearly every shop in Diagon Alley, and he simply charged it to her.
They left the books packaged in brown paper and waiting to be picked up when they were done shopping, and made their way down the street. They stopped to look at racing brooms and joke shops, and buy ice lollies from a cart near the pet shop while Padma went in to see about a bigger jar for Elmo, who had grown a bit over the summer. Harry, meanwhile, stared at the snake tank in the window.
"Domestic bred," he finally pronounced to Remus in a whisper. "Thick as bricks. Not like Snake."
"Glad to hear you've got a smart one," Remus replied with a grin. "Come on, it's not too much further to Mardjinn Alley."
The entrance to the second-hand district of Wizarding London was just past Knockturn Alley, on the right as they approached Gringotts bank. Sirius abandoned Remus to take care of some banking, and eventually caught up with them in a used-cauldron shop where Remus was helping Neville pick out some spares (he always melted a few) so that he wouldn't have to use up all of Professor Snape's.
"They really should put some kind of regulation on cauldron-bottom thickness," Remus was saying, as he showed Neville how to tap them to find the solid ones. "This cheap stuff they sell to the students hardly lasts a year even when you use them properly."
"Remus," Harry called, "Can I have three Sickles for a book about divination?"
"What do you want a book about divination for?" Remus called back. "You won't even be taking it until next year!"
"S'got interesting pictures," Harry said, coming over to show off his find.
"Where's Draco gone?" Sirius asked, ducking around Remus' arm to study the book's woodcuts.
"He and Padma were outside looking at the two-Knut books a minute ago..." Remus turned to glance out the grimy front window of the shop. "Bugger, where have they gone? No, you stay here with Neville and Harry, I'll go track them down, they can't have gone very far."
Outside, he glanced around, wondering if they were hidden behind a cart; satisfied that they weren't on the street, he made for the used-books shop next door, where they'd probably wandered into. Hopefully they hadn't wandered up Parshee Alley to Horizont, the red light district. If they had, he'd never hear the end of it from Padma's parents.
"Aren't you a clever one."
The voice came from inside the bookshop, and stopped him cold; he paused, listening without moving. He knew that voice...
"Well, one needs all the proper supplies, true."
Chill and precise, no wasted words; it was associated with the smell of unpleasant things. Is there any other vermin to be put down?
Yes, it was coming from the bookshop, and Remus passed into it as silently as he could, listening warily.
When he woke with his leg in bandages they had caught the thing that had chased him down in the fields; Alastor Moody was waiting by his bedside, but before he could ask any questions he smelled gunpowder and blood. Through his half-open bedroom door he saw a dead man on the floor of the clean-scrubbed kitchen, and another man spattered with blood still holding a rifle with a clip of silver-coloured bullets on his belt.
Is there any other vermin to be put down?
No, his father said, as Alastor Moody told eight-year-old Remus Lupin to be quiet, to keep still; no, his father said, it didn't bite anyone.
Because if there's anyone it bit it'd be best if they were put down now, said the man spattered with blood, as Alastor Moody muttered and closed the door, and Remus' heart thumped because he realised the vermin the man was talking about was him.
He was eight and Walden Macnair a fresh-from-school eighteen, freelancing for the Ministry, hunting feral werewolves and vampires in the dark old days just before Voldemort's rise had begun. Macnair hadn't even known the family's name; all he'd known was that there was a werewolf in the woods behind the house, and Rufus, Remus' father, had thought he would catch the poor sod, not shoot him. Moody had been there to make sure Remus wasn't a danger to anyone, and had ended up hiding him from Macnair instead.
Macnair had gone on to become a Death Eater, and they'd tangled once or twice when the Order was active, but when it was all over he had an alibi for every murder, an excuse for every action, and he was employed by the Ministry now to handle dangerous animals. Which was sort of a good thing, because nowadays the Ministry did more than frown on people who shot werewolves. Nobody liked werewolves much, but at least they --
"Here you are; run along with your girlfriend, then -- oh, excuse me, miss," said the cold voice. Remus saw Draco and Padma step out into the main aisle of the shop, and realised Macnair must have been talking to them.
"I told you two not to wander off," Remus said, frowning sternly at them. Padma looked penitent, but Draco merely clutched what must be a recently-purchased book to his chest, and jutted out his jaw.
"We were bored," he said. "We only went next door."
"The boy has an inquiring mind," said Macnair, emerging behind them. He laid a hand on Draco's shoulder, and Remus stifled the urge to slap it away. "His mother and I are good friends, I've been minding him and the young miss. They've come to no harm."
"Miraculously," Remus said, and Macnair bridled. "Come along, you two. Sirius and the others are waiting."
"Enjoying playing lapdog to a rich boy?" Macnair asked under his breath as the children passed.
"Enjoying your job as dogcatcher?" Remus answered. "Keep away from the children, Macnair, or -- "
" -- or you'll call the Order down on me?" Macnair sneered. "They couldn't lay a finger on me the day Lucius Malfoy went to Azkaban, and they can't do any more to me now. Run along, manservant, and tell your master I send my regards."
"You could tell yours to go to hell," Remus snarled, "except he's already there."
Macnair growled and lunged forward, one arm drawing back for a punch, but Remus had moved forward too, closing the space too quickly, shoving him back into a shelf which wobbled precariously. The air whooshed out of Macnair's lungs, and one of the books caught him a glancing blow across the temple as it fell.
"Brilliant!" Draco crowed, and Remus turned around.
"Out of the shop," he ordered, following them before Macnair could regain his footing. Neville and Harry were waiting outside with Sirius, who was juggling a handful of parcels.
"Let's get out of here," Remus said. "I'll tell you later."
***
They collected the books from Flourish & Blott's, and -- weighed down with packages -- were staggering back to Tonks & Tonks when Neville dropped his packet of quills just outside the shopfront, and Padma nearly lost control of her new salamander jar when she tried to help him pick them up. Draco got his foot on most of the quills so that they wouldn't blow away, and nearly unbalanced himself.
"Oof," he said, as Remus caught him one-handed, pushing him upright again. "I wish I'd asked mum to send Dobby along to help carry everything."
"Master Draco!"
Harry blinked as a knobby, pillowcase-clad house-elf raced past them, nearly slamming into Draco.
"I wish I had a house-elf too," Neville said. He looked around expectantly, but when no more elves were forthcoming, he sighed and turned his attention to Draco and Dobby.
"Dobby is so glad to have found Master Draco!" Dobby was saying, bowing and already accepting some of Draco's packages. "Dobby must speak to Master Draco -- " he glanced around at the others, as if only just noticing them. "Dobby is very pleased to see Mister Sirius Black and Mister Remus Lupin and the young misters and mistress," he said politely, then turned back to Draco and said, in a clearly audible whisper, "Dobby must speak to Master Draco in private."
"In private?" Draco asked, as they passed through Tonks & Tonks and made for the stairs that led up to the flats on the upper floors. "Why, is something wrong with mum?"
"No no no, Master Draco, Mistress Malfoy is..." Dobby paused, and his ears wilted a little. "Dobby shall have to iron his hands for thinking ill of Mistress Malfoy," he murmured.
"I'll give you something else to do," Draco promised absently as they reached the landing, shifting another package to the growing tower of them that Dobby was carrying, so that he could open the door for the others. "Are you sure it has to be private?"
Dobby nodded, and the packages wobbled.
"All right then," Draco said dubiously.
"Use my room, we have to put all our things there anyway," Neville said, as the adults began exchanging greetings and Harry and Remus ran up to stow away Harry's school things in his own room over the Tonks' kitchen.
"Tea, Sirius?" Ted called from the kitchen.
"Yes, thanks," Sirius replied. "Better make Remus' herbal."
"Oh?" Andromeda asked. "Is he...not feeling well?" she asked significantly.
"Had a bit of a scuffle in a bookshop," Sirius answered with a grin. "He hasn't quite told the whole story yet -- "
"He shoved someone into a bookshelf," Padma supplied helpfully. Ram Patil gave Sirius an inquiring glare, the sort that almost asked 'What have you been exposing my child to?' all on its own.
"I'm sure he had reason," Sirius said. "Sorry, were we interrupting at all?"
"No, I don't think so." Andromda glanced at the Patils. "We were just discussing the new Muggle Protection Act that Arthur Weasley's been sponsoring."
"Oh yes? Weasley's behind that?" Sirius asked. "I'm afraid I'm still not quite up to speed on politics after a summer in the wilds. I'll have to ask him about it."
"Well, he's done most of the legwork," Ram said. "Or so I hear. I'm not entirely sure I'm for it, really, though of course I'm not the one dealing with charmed desk lamps day in and day out."
"Desk lamps?"
"Apparently there's been a rash of desk lamps bouncing off their tables in Muggle households recently, caused by a batch of charmed prank lamps that were sold...injudiciously," Ted said, as he carried Sirius' teacup over from the kitchen counter. "Weasley says children and cats are often blamed."
"Well, having spent a good deal of time living amongst Muggles," Sirius said, as Remus and Harry descended the stairs again, "I think there's probably no harm in a little protective legislation."
Ram shook his head. "I worry about too much integration between magical folk and Muggles, that's all," he said. "I mean, I wouldn't like to see Muggles hurt, but it's rather like...well, vampires, say, or werewolves."
"Werewolves?" Sirius inquired mildly. Remus shot him a warning look.
"Yes -- I mean we have laws regarding dangerous creatures, and Muggles are just as dangerous, in their own way. Who's passing the Wizarding Protection Act? More of us are hurt every year by their lorrys and such than Muggles are hurt by our broomsticks. I wonder if we give them too little credit, that's all."
"Well, it's up to the Wizengamot to decide," Andromeda pronounced. "Ted, did you put tea on for Remus?"
"Oh -- "
"It's all right, I'd rather just have water," Remus said. "I'll get it."
"Sirius tells us you were being a bad example to the children today," Ted said, as Remus found a glass in the kitchen and filled it. He tapped it with his wand, and a thin crust of ice formed across the water's surface, which he broke and stirred into the water, chilling it.
"The children were being quite bad enough on their own," Remus said, with a stern look at Padma. "I caught them sneaking into a bookshop they knew they weren't supposed to, and consorting with people of ill repute."
"Is this true?" Sarasvati asked Padma, who sank a little lower in her chair.
"Yes, mum," she murmured. Parvati looked smug.
"You ought to give Walden Macnair and his sort a wide berth," Remus continued. "He's a vicious reprobate."
"What's a reprobate?" Padma whispered to Harry.
"I think it's to do with money," Harry whispered back.
"Draco says you shoved Macnair into a bookshelf," Sirius prompted.
"If I hadn't, he would have blacked my eye," Remus answered. "I sent the children out of the shop when I saw him; he made a remark that I happened to take rather personally. I made one back, and he tried to punch me. I'm very sorry you had to see that, Padma," he added.
"What on earth did you say to him?" Andromeda asked.
"Nothing that bears repeating," Remus said, taking a drink of water. "It's not important, Andromeda."
"I don't think I've ever seen you hit someone," Ted said thoughtfully.
"Nor did I then. Just a little shove, enough to keep him from coming back for a second try."
"Wish I'd been there," Neville said enviously.
"Well, I'm sorry our daughter's actions caused you trouble," Ram said, with a significant look at Padma. "If she can't learn to follow directions, perhaps she ought to be given less responsibility."
"It was my fault," said another voice from the doorway, and the Patils looked up in surprise. Draco was standing there, shifting his weight uneasily. "I said we should go in the other shop. I told her Remus said it was all right."
"Did he?" Sirius asked Padma, who looked indecisive.
"I did say," Draco insisted. "It isn't Padma's fault. She oughtn't to be punished."
"Listen to all this talk of punishment," Andromeda said. "Draco, come and have your tea."
"Where's Dobby gone?" Harry asked.
"Sent him home," Draco replied, accepting a biscuit and a cup of tea. "He was keen to iron his hands. I told him to dust the upper floors instead."
"Must he?" Neville asked. Draco shrugged.
"M'not old enough yet to give him orders that contradict mum's, and she says he's to punish himself."
"Well, at least it's not grievous bodily harm," Andromeda said. "And as for your punishment, Draco, we'll discuss that later. Today was supposed to be fun, you know. I hope you did have some fun before you took up a career in misleading people."
"The joke shop was brilliant," Neville supplied anxiously.
"Yeah, and Padma got a new jar for Elmo," Harry put in. "And I got a brilliant book on Divination."
"We'll have to unwrap everything and pack it up after tea," Sirius said.
"That's right, we're having dinner with Arthur and Molly this evening," Remus said. "It's quite good of them putting us up for the night, all things considered. Haven't properly seen them in donkey's years."
"Dunno how we'll all fit in the Burrow, but I think the lads are going to camp outside," Sirius added. The boys exchanged excited looks.
"Any particular reason for it?" Ram asked.
"Well, yes -- with three boys plus luggage, we thought it might be convenient to have transportation," Sirius said. "Arthur's told me he has a Muggle automobile -- he's going to take all the luggage in the car, and the rest of us are going to floo to King's Cross."
"Some of the rest of us," Remus murmured. Sirius grinned.
"I'm taking my motorbike," he said. "But I've promised not to fly at all."
"Well, we should probably be off," Sarasvati said, finishing her drink. "Thank you for tea, Andromeda. What do you say to Mr. Black, Padma?"
"Thank you for taking me shopping," Padma said to Sirius, with a proper tilt of her chin. "I had a very good time, especially when Remus shoved that man. He called me Draco's girlfriend."
Parvati went off into giggles as Draco blushed furiously.
"See you tomorrow on the train!" Padma said, as her parents said their goodbyes. "Save me a spot in the compartment if you get there first."
"All right," Andromeda said, closing the door behind Ted, who was leading the Patils back out through the store-rooms and shopfront to Diagon Alley. "We've got a lot to do to get you two ready for this evening, and I'm sure Harry has loads of packing to do."
"You aren't going to write to mum about this afternoon, are you?" Draco asked anxiously.
"Well, that depends. Either I can write to your mum and she can decide your punishment, or you can accept mine without complaint and we'll keep it between ourselves," Andromeda said. Draco pondered for about two seconds before nodding.
"You tell me, then," he said. "At least you'll be logical about it."
"Logical?" Andromeda asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Well, you won't go on and all," Draco explained. "I mean. You'll tell me to do something and I'll do it and that'll be the end of it, won't it."
Andromeda smiled. "Something like that."
"Give him detention," Harry suggested. "With Dora."
"Detention?" Andromeda asked.
"Sure. Tell him he has to do a week's detention with Dora -- "
" -- that's Professor Tonks to you," Sirius said, ruffling Harry's hair.
" -- Professor Tonks, you know, scrubbing desks and all."
"It's not a bad idea," Remus said. "That's about what he'd get at school, really."
"Well, if Remus approves, it must be all right," Andromeda grinned. "I'll just send a letter along with you for Professor Tonks -- I do like the sound of that -- and you can serve your detention with her. Now you two go pack, and I'll just dig up something to send along for dinner. I think Ted made you some treats -- but you are to think very carefully about what you've done while you're eating them," she said sternly to Draco, who grinned and dashed down the hall after Neville.
"Come on, Harry, I've got something for you," he called over his shoulder. Harry glanced at the adults for permission before following, and was soon rewarded with the box he'd given Draco, complete with invisibility cloak.
"Thanks, it was great this summer," Draco said, as Harry peered inside to make sure the cloak hadn't come to any harm. "Going to miss it like anything. We'll have to learn some concealing charms, won't we?"
Harry grinned, and stroked the slick material of his father's cloak. "Some of us will."
***
The sight of a vintage Ford Anglia, driving down the normally pedestrianised cobbles of Diagon Alley, was something Remus Lupin wouldn't have missed for the world.
"Good afternoon!" Arthur Weasley called, easing the bright turquoise car up against the kerb outside of Tonks & Tonks. Everyone in the vicinity stopped to stare.
"Arthur, how are you?" Remus called from behind a chaotic mess of young boys, trunks, book-bags, and pet-boxes. "Making an entrance, eh?"
"And why not?" Arthur asked, sliding out of the car and opening the boot. "Need help loading everything?"
"Ah, you're help enough just taking us to the station tomorrow," Remus replied, hefting Harry's trunk and easing it into the seemingly endless boot.
"My pleasure -- any excuse to show it off," Arthur answered. Neville's trunk followed Harry's, and the boys began piling their bookbags on top of the trunks as Remus lifted Draco's into place. "Back seat, lads, and do up your seat-braces."
"Seatbelts, I think," Remus said gently. "As cars go it's not bad, is it?"
"Well, certainly not for the price," Arthur chuckled. "I got it for a Galleon out of a Ministry impound warehouse."
"How'd you get it into Diagon Alley?" Remus asked, climbing into the passenger's seat as Arthur circled again to take the driver's seat.
"I've lost Trevor!" Neville cried. "Don't leave yet!"
"It's all right, we're not going anywhere yet," Arthur said, then turned to Remus. "I drove it in through the old Roman gate, down near Gringotts. Of course in Muggle London it looks like an empty, fenced-off car park -- took me forever to find it."
As he spoke, Neville fumbled with the car door and dashed across the pavement to where Trevor's traveling box was sitting near the entrance to the shop, nearly forgotten.
"He's okay," Neville sighed with relief, passing the box through the window to Draco.
"All present and accounted for, now?" Arthur asked.
"Just waiting for -- speak of the devil," Remus interrupted himself as Sirius wheeled his motorbike out of a side-street where he normally kept it parked under an anti-theft charm.
"Right, I'm following you," Sirius announced, pulling his helmet on. He was dressed in his riding clothes -- black leather jacket and boots, white t-shirt and charm-reinforced jeans that wouldn't shred even if he crashed. People who had stopped to stare at the car were now staring at Sirius, who was clearly drinking in the attention.
"He looks cool," Draco said, leaning across Neville to stare out the window as Sirius pulled on a pair of black gloves.
"Yes, he does a bit, doesn't he," Remus agreed, voice slightly hoarse. They were very tight jeans.
Arthur turned the ignition, let out the clutch, and eased the car out into the foot traffic once more, Sirius following sedately behind on the motorbike.
They picked up speed as they passed through Diagon Bar, the old Roman gate that led to Muggle London; by the time they were bound for Ottery St. Catchpole, where the Weasleys lived, Sirius had pulled up alongside the car and was grinning fiercely as the motorbike skimmed along the road.
"How are Molly and the children?" Remus asked, ignoring the laughs and good-natured wrestling in the back seat.
"Oh, doing fine -- Bill's out in Egypt, now -- "
"That was his goal, wasn't it?"
"Yes -- he's quite happy there, or seems to be from his letters. Charlie's gone to Romania, still mad about dragons, you know. Percy did terrifically well on his OWLs, he's in a load of advanced classes -- Arithmancy and Potions and all."
"He's always been a bit ahead," Remus remarked.
"In...some things," Arthur allowed. "We worry about him, but the twins are there to keep him from taking himself too seriously. More or less."
"Are they still playing Quidditch?" Harry asked from the back seat.
"That they are, and they've sworn to break your nose with a Bludger sooner or later," Arthur said, grinning at Harry in the rear-view mirror. "Oh, come on, Remus," he added, when Remus gave him a horrified look, "It's not really Quidditch if you don't break any bones, and they're only joking. I'm pretty sure," he said, a trifle uncertainly.
"Be good to see Ron again," Neville mused. "Reckon he's got high hopes for the Cannons this year."
"He always does," Arthur said indulgently. "Poor boy, doomed to a life of disappointment in that regard."
"Is little Ginny starting Hogwarts this year?" Remus asked, having sufficiently recovered from threats of violence against Harry's nose. "She's a year below Ron, isn't she?"
"Oh yes -- she's terribly excited. It was very lonely for her this past year. We spoiled her a bit, I'm afraid, but she's used to having at least a few brothers around."
"Well, it'll be a full enough house tonight," Remus grinned.
"You don't know the half of it -- the twins have invited Lee Jordan over, and Percy has his friend Oliver -- didn't he and Harry used to know each other?"
"Oliver?" Harry asked, eagerly. "He's captain of Gryffindor team, he's brilliant."
"Glad to see such good sportsmanship," Arthur said, pleased. He signaled to Sirius that they were turning off and Sirius followed behind them, the motorbike kicking up dust as they bumped down the path to the Burrow.
A crowd of ginger Weasleys poured out of the side door to greet the newcomers, along with the dark, dredlocked head of Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood's sandy-brown. The twins gravitated immediately to the motorbike, while Percy pompously welcomed the younger boys and Oliver grinned and thumped Harry on the back. Molly, standing on the step, gave her husband a kiss hello and invited them all around to the backyard, where an enormous picnic table was arranged along with two shabby, faded tents.
"Dinner's almost ready -- oh, thank you Sirius, that's lovely," she said, accepting a basket of food from him: crackers and cheese, wine, and a box of cookies Ted had sent along for dessert. "If you want to put your things up in the rooms -- Sirius, we gave you the twins' room, don't mind the strange smell, it's just...something that exploded..." she sighed. "Remus, Percy said you could have his room, or you're welcome to Ron's room under the attic if you like."
"Oh, well..." Remus gave Sirius an uncertain look. "Percy's is fine, that's across the hall from the twins', isn't it? That'll do nicely."
"Arthur, will you help me with the food?" Molly called, over the shouts of the boys as they called back and forth to one another, exploring the interiors of the tents.
"They've got whole rooms inside!" Draco said, poking his head out. "With bunk beds and everything!"
"And the lingering smell of cabbage. Haven't you ever been camping before?" Fred -- possibly George -- asked.
"Mum doesn't like the outdoors," Draco answered. "Harry hasn't either, have you Harry?"
"Not in wizarding tents," Harry said, impressed. "We just had the regular kind."
"The regular kind?" Oliver asked.
"Muggle tents," Sirius grunted. "Same inside as out."
"Ooh," Lee Jordan said, impressed. "That's like...survivalist, innit?"
"Well, we had a camp stove and instant breakfast and such," Remus said, amused. "It's not as though we were living on berries and leaves."
"Here we are," Arthur announced, reappearing at the back door with an enormous bowl of pasta in his hands and a veritable parade of plates and cutlery following him, along with Molly, who had a likewise gigantic bowl of salad and a platter of garlic bread. Sirius took the bread while Remus marshalled the boys and Ginny -- who was looking shy and somewhat overwhelmed -- into places around the table. This was not easy, since the younger boys were all jockeying to sit next to an older boy they admired, or a best friend, and kept changing seats. Ginny wanted to sit with Harry, but Harry and Neville and Ron all wanted to sit with Oliver, who naturally wanted to sit with Percy, who'd invited him. Draco and the twins (accompanied by Lee Jordan) were vying for seats near Sirius, who really just wanted to sit with Remus, who was trying desperately to sit somewhere -- anywhere -- that he'd have another adult within hearing range.
Finally settled, there was a collective pause while Molly, beaming as only a pleased hostess can, gestured at the food.
"Go on, eat up then," she said, and that was all the benediction they needed. The adults, who had managed to cluster around the head of the table, helped the younger ones dish out food, and soon everyone was contentedly eating (or flinging breadcrusts, or helping clean up Ginny's knocked-over water glass, or "sharing" their food with an enormous beetle that was trundling peacefully along the table).
"Draco, take some more tomatoes," Sirius said, as Draco, at his elbow, very carefully selected bits of salad. "This is wonderful, Molly."
"Thank you," she said, beaming. "It's my pleasure. We thought since Ginny -- " she gestured at Ginny, who was gleefully sitting between the Boy Who Lived and the incredibly cool Lee Jordan, " -- was leaving and it would be just the two of us after today, we ought to have as many people over as we could the night before."
"And of course it's good to see you lot again -- hardly got a glimpse of you at all after you came back to the Wizarding World last year," Arthur said. "But then Molly had taken on a few extra students in home-school, and I was working day and night it seemed like, getting this bloody bill ready to go to the Wizengamot..."
"Yes, someone mentioned you were behind it," Sirius said with a grin. "Bit of a departure from your usual chasing-after-enchanted-objects, isn't it?"
"I think it's splendid," Remus said, almost defiantly.
"Good! I'm glad you think so. It's nothing terribly revolutionary, but it will help keep people from tormenting the poor Muggles. Vanishing keys, teakettles that never boil -- and I do mean never -- suicidal desk lamps...it's really like kicking puppies when you think about it. They can't help being what they are. At any rate, it's sort of like the...oh...lads, what's that law you've been working all summer trying to get round?"
"The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," the twins chorused.
"Boys after my own heart," Sirius laughed.
"It'll detect when someone's put a permanent enchantment on a Muggle artefact, and as soon as that artefact leaves the possession of the enchanter, it'll sound the alarm," Arthur said. "Help with people 'accidentally' picking up enchanted objects, too."
"There's a very careful loophole there," Molly said, a little disapprovingly. Arthur looked guilty. "So long as it's in your possession, of course, you could...say...enchant a car to fly, couldn't you, Arthur?"
"Does that old Anglia fly?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"You got a whole car in the air?" Remus said, the pair of them beginning to resemble schoolboys confronted with the accomplishments of an older and wiser senior student.
"Very wrong of me to do," Arthur said dutifully, "But I thought if ever there was an emergency it's a bit easier to handle than a broomstick -- "
"Imagine my shock and surprise -- " Molly said, " -- George, mind your elbow, you'll put it right in Percy's salad if you're not careful -- imagine my shock and surprise when I -- "
"Neville!" Remus shouted down towards the foot of the table. "No throwing the pasta!"
"He started it," came the faint and impenitent reply.
" -- when I came out to the yard to call Arthur in for lunch last Saturday and found both him and the car completely vanished. A few minutes later I was still wondering what had kidnapped my husband and his latest foolish Muggle toy -- "
" -- they're quite useful, really -- " Arthur put in, plucking Trevor out of the salad.
" -- only to see a blue Ford Anglia come roaring across the open field twenty feet above the ground and land light as you please on my flower bed."
"I didn't mean to," Arthur said. "I did replant them all..."
"How'd you do it?" Sirius asked. "I didn't think cars worked that well in the area of low-level aeronautics."
"Sirius barely got the motorbike up there and it's still not good for more than about six hours at a time," Remus added.
"Most people would be thrilled to last six hours," Sirius said, and Remus choked on a piece of bread.
"Well, it's a very good car, isn't it. I mean, if you wanted to make a car fly, it's a very efficient car to do it with," Arthur pronounced.
"Reckon if you worked in the fuel system..." Sirius said thoughtfully. "When I modified the motorbike, I was just a kid -- I didn't know the first thing about Muggle mechanics..."
"I didn't either, when I started work," Arthur said. "I had the manual though, and that was very useful. I did end up using the fuel system to help power the lifting charm, but of course Muggle petrol's a filthy thing to run a nice car like this with, so I put a perpetual combustion charm on the engine. It activates when you put it in gear."
"An internal charmbustion engine," Remus said amusedly. Arthur roared with laughter.
"That's it exactly!"
"We should have a race," Sirius said, and Remus noticed the younger boys becoming immensely interested in the conversation. "My motorbike against your car. First one to ten thousand feet wins."
"Absolutely not!" Molly exclaimed. Arthur gave Sirius an apologetic look, and Remus tactfully changed the subject.
When they were finished with the dinner and the washing-up -- and the cleaning of the kitchen that was necessary after ten children "helped" with the washing-up -- Sirius lit a campfire outside and they spent the evening sitting in the balmy late-summer air, watching insects buzz against the no-fly charm Molly had cast and talking about school.
When Ginny dropped off to sleep, leaning against one of the picnic benches, Sirius gathered her up and carried her into one of the tents, while Molly beamed approvingly at him.
"He's made a very good father," she said to Remus. "Mind you, I had my doubts."
"So very many doubts," Remus agreed with a grin. "He does all right by Harry."
"You love him, don't you."
Remus' heart jumped into his throat, and he glanced at her nervously.
"That's why you stayed, isn't it?" she continued, blithely. "He is a charming young boy."
"Yes, yes of course," he said, relieved. "Who wouldn't?"
"It must be awfully lonely for the two of you. I've given up on poor Sirius ever settling down, he simply isn't the sort, but you ought to find yourself a nice girl, Remus, and stop hiding in Sirius' shadow all the time."
"Oh, I -- we get along," he said. "I'm not hiding in anyone's shadow, Molly."
She patted his hand, and he was immensely grateful that Sirius returned then, dusting off the seat next to him before sitting down. He was still wearing those impressively tight riding jeans, and Remus felt his face flush again when their thighs brushed.
Hiding in Sirius' shadow was all right, if it meant having Sirius.
***
The next morning, the boys and Ginny were awake at dawn and had thoroughly destroyed any chance of natural hot water by the time the adults wanted a wash. Sirius yelped under the cold water and cast a quick heating charm on the showerhead, while various crashes and shouts could be heard coming from the general direction of the kitchen. He was so distracted by charming the water the perfect temperature that he didn't notice the click of the door opening and closing until the door to the shower opened and a warm body pressed up against his.
"Morning," Remus murmured, hair sticking out at odd angles, arms wrapping around Sirius' waist from behind.
"Moony -- "
"Don't worry -- I charmed the door shut this time," Remus said against his ear, then nipped the earlobe lightly. Sirius leaned back a little, any annoyance at being interrupted vanishing like the steam from the hot water.
"This is Molly and Arthur's shower," he protested, mainly for the form of the thing.
"I know," answered Remus, nuzzling around the side of his neck.
"We'll never be able to look them in the eye -- "
"Worth it, don't you think?" Remus asked, one hand splayed over Sirius' stomach, the other sliding down his thigh. Sirius leaned his head back a little, trying to get the proper angle for a kiss outside of the stream of water. He was going to lose this argument, not that he particularly wanted to win it; he was already hard, and he could feel Remus' erection pressing insistently against him, feel Remus' breath hitch as it moved against his skin.
"Mm, Moony," he managed, as Remus' hand slid up again to curl around him, stroking gently.
"Mine," Remus said in his ear, softly, but with a sort of frightening urgency that Sirius didn't fully understand. He bit again, too, the sensitive flesh at the base of his neck -- Moony didn't like to bite, because it was dangerous, but once in a while --
"Yes, yours," he gasped, as he felt himself turned and pushed against the cool, damp wall. Remus pressed up against him again, kissing him so hard it was difficult to breathe, hips thrusting roughly. Another light bite on his shoulder, a kiss, hands holding his wrists up against the wall.
Sirius made a sound very close to a whimper as their bodies touched, feeling helpless in the onslaught of feeling and scent and Remus, the murmured word Mine still in his ears. He tried not to moan, but it seemed he had no control over the situation in the slightest, not even --
"Fuck, Remus," he cried, as teeth bruised the side of his neck and Remus came against him, silently and more fiercely than he was used to, even from Remus. A hand slid down before he had even processed what was going on, and he came without even being allowed to inhale first. He went dizzy for a moment, and let Remus catch him before he fell.
"Good thing I cast a silencing charm too," were the first coherent words he heard, and he glanced up to see Remus grinning at him, feral light in his eyes.
"What the bloody hell are you on about?" he asked, as Remus smoothed wet hair out of his face and stroked one cheekbone with his thumb, affectionately.
"Didn't you like it?" Remus asked, faltering slightly.
"Well, yes..." Sirius turned to let the water cool him off a bit -- his heating charm was dying. It stung the marks on his right shoulder and neck, where bruises were already forming. "It was just a bit...I mean to say. There was that one time, but normally you don't hold me down -- "
He turned back, and found Remus staring at the bite-marks, horrified.
"What?" he asked.
"I bit you."
"Yeah -- you don't normally do that, either."
"I'm sorry -- "
"It's all right, nothing a few concealment charms won't fix and if I'd really have objected I could have knocked you cold," Sirius said with a reassuring grin.
"I just...turn the water off, all right?"
Sirius turned the knobs and the water died, as Remus opened the door and stepped out, looking rather stunned.
"I didn't mean to," he said.
"Didn't mean to?" Sirius asked. "You don't accidentally bite someone on the neck while you're shagging them against a wall, Moony."
Remus gave him a quick smile, the sort that said he might be funny but he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"It's just -- I missed you last night, and Molly said these awful things about 'settling down', and I wanted to make sure of things," Remus said. "And I think I made it worse, didn't I?"
"I'm not going to abandon you over a few ruddy bitemarks," Sirius proclaimed, reaching for his wand and drying them both with a quick spell. Remus' pyjamas lay in a corner and he gathered them up, pulling them on again.
"I don't like that," Remus said. "It's something wolves do, not people."
"I dunno, I knew this one girl -- "
"You know what I mean."
Sirius ruffled his still-damp hair. "It's all right, Moony. Are you still afraid one of these days I'm going to see a short skirt on someone and chuck three years of putting up with you snoring?"
Remus rubbed his forehead with one hand. "The whole world thinks I'm some servant of yours, and sometimes I just need to...make sure I'm more than that."
Sirius grinned. "If you are, clearly I'm not paying you enough. And very few servants shower with their employers, so if you'll excuse me, I'd better run along before Molly catches us. I really won't be able to look her in the eye," he said, as he opened the bathroom door. Remus gave him another smile, more sincere this time, and he laughed as he closed the door.
***
They were late arriving at the train station, in a magically-expanded car that held four Weasley children, five young houseguests, one very patient Remus, and Arthur, Sirius following behind on his motorbike. Padma was nearly jumping up and down with impatience as she waited for them near the entrance to the platform. Arthur took his brood ahead with Oliver and Lee, while Sirius loaded up their trunks onto a couple of trolleys.
"Ready then? I'll go through first," Remus said, ducking into the magic false wall between platforms nine and ten.
"Harry, you're up, looks like we're last," Sirius said, giving Harry a grin and a gentle push. Harry, nervous, almost broke into a run, and by the time he'd reached the barrier --
-- he hit it with enough force for Snake's box -- fortunately without Snake inside it -- to go flying.
"Watch yourself now, young man!" said a station attendant as he passed, replacing the box atop the trunk. Harry turned to look at Sirius, wide-eyed.
"It's not working!" he said, shoving the trolley against the barrier again.
"Right, I'm sure it's just some kind of a...." Sirius had no idea what it was. "Harry, move aside and let Draco give it a go."
Draco pushed his trolley forward more hesitantly, and when the edge of it met the barrier, it clanked.
"I'm stuck too," he said. Sirius swore under his breath and moved forward to knock on the wall. Solid brick.
"Listen, are you lot coming or not?" Remus demanded, re-emerging from the barrier. "The train's about to leave."
"We can't get through," Harry wailed.
"Can't get through?" Remus reached out to put his hand through the barrier and taught all four children a new swearword when his knuckles cracked unpleasantly against it.
"Something's gone wrong," Sirius said.
"What if we miss the train?" Padma asked Neville, who shook his head in wide-eyed horror.
"You won't miss the train," Sirius reassured her, glancing around and slowly withdrawing his wand from his trouser-pocket. He tapped the bricks with it and muttered a few charms, but the wall wouldn't budge.
"Dobby," Draco said suddenly.
"What?" Remus asked.
"That little -- Mum's house-elf," Draco said. "He was going on and on about me not going back to school. He said he'd stop me if I tried, and I told him I'd like to see him, a little house-elf, stop a Malfoy doing whatever he wanted -- "
"House-elves have powerful magic," Remus said ruminatively, "but they're not allowed to use it without permission -- "
"I don't think Dobby's much of a one for permission," Draco said.
"Either way, this isn't any use," Remus said disgustedly. "It's five past -- the train must have gone."
"We'll miss the feast, too," Padma sulked. "Wish I hadn't waited for you after all."
"It's all right, we'll think of something," Remus reassured her.
"I think I just did," Sirius announced. Remus noticed that he had a distinctly disturbing look in his eye -- the sort he used to get at school right before some unsuspecting Slytherin suffered. "Come on everyone, this way."
"Are we going to floo my parents?" Padma asked.
"We can," Sirius said, as they made for the exit, "But I have a better idea, if you're up for it."
"Is it dangerous?"
Sirius grinned. "It might be."
Padma looked disapproving, but she didn't say anything. Remus was considering possible counterspells in his head; some of them were useful for charm breaking, but none of them appropriate in the middle of a crowded rail station. Either that or he was going to get them to Hogwarts some other way.
Some other way...
"Arthur's gone and left the keys right in the car," Sirius said. "Shame that. Anyone could nick the thing."
Remus leaned against the car and glanced at him. After a few seconds, both men smiled widely.
"You drive," Sirius said. "I'm taking the motorbike."
To the Next Part
The last day in August dawned fine, and everyone was up early, checking their lists of necessary supplies and anxious to get to the top of Diagon Alley, lest they miss the Patils coming through.
"Harry!" Padma shouted, waving at him from the throng of people emerging from the back of the Leaky Cauldron. "Neville, Draco! Over here!"
Soon the Patil twins were surrounded by boys, and Sirius was introducing himself to Padma's parents, Ram and Sarasvati, whom he knew only slightly.
"Of course we've heard about you," Ram said with a grin, as the children exchanged greetings and Sarasvati took Parvati off to see about new robes. "In all the papers, weren't you, when you vanished last June. And when you showed up again just recently."
"Well, you know how it is -- must keep a low profile at times," Sirius answered. "Sure you're all right with us kidnapping Padma for the day?"
"We don't mind if she doesn't. Mrs. Tonks has invited us up for tea later, I assume we'll be meeting you again then? Padma, don't run off without your Galleons," he added, tossing a small leather sack to Padma. She caught it and peered inside, then laughed and passed small chunks of honey-flavoured sweets to the boys. "Try not to spend too much of it on books, love."
"We'll keep an eye on her -- Remus is taking them to Mardjinn Alley after they pick up their school books at Flourish & Blotts," Sirius said.
"We have to tell Parvati not to buy too many clothes; with Padma, it's books," Ram said affectionately. "Of course, if she runs out of money and there's still something she needs -- or especially wants -- we'll repay you for it. Yes, coming, Sara," he called, as Sarasvati summoned him over to the window of Tonks & Tonks. "See you around three, eh?"
"Three it is," Sirius said, turning to find that Remus was already herding the children towards Flourish & Blotts.
They spent a long time in the bookshop, the children piling up their school-books and restocking their dwindling supplies of quills and ink, parchment, magical ink-erasers, and all the gadgets and pencil-boxes that the shops put on sale every autumn for school.
Remus browsed the section on Dark Arts, looking wildly out of place in his tidy Muggle clothing amongst the hags and warlocks who usually dealt in the volumes kept behind locked cabinet doors; he eventually came up with two new books on lycanthropy, one on the handling of Dark Creatures, and one on Dark magical theory. Sirius made sure Neville didn't knock over the inkpots and kept Harry from climbing the shelves to get at the interesting books even as he approved Padma's purchase of three Wizarding novels and a book about Great Witches In History. Draco managed to slip three comic books and a new deck of Exploding Snap cards past Sirius' watchful but tolerant eye; he only had pocket-money of his own, but Narcissa had an account at nearly every shop in Diagon Alley, and he simply charged it to her.
They left the books packaged in brown paper and waiting to be picked up when they were done shopping, and made their way down the street. They stopped to look at racing brooms and joke shops, and buy ice lollies from a cart near the pet shop while Padma went in to see about a bigger jar for Elmo, who had grown a bit over the summer. Harry, meanwhile, stared at the snake tank in the window.
"Domestic bred," he finally pronounced to Remus in a whisper. "Thick as bricks. Not like Snake."
"Glad to hear you've got a smart one," Remus replied with a grin. "Come on, it's not too much further to Mardjinn Alley."
The entrance to the second-hand district of Wizarding London was just past Knockturn Alley, on the right as they approached Gringotts bank. Sirius abandoned Remus to take care of some banking, and eventually caught up with them in a used-cauldron shop where Remus was helping Neville pick out some spares (he always melted a few) so that he wouldn't have to use up all of Professor Snape's.
"They really should put some kind of regulation on cauldron-bottom thickness," Remus was saying, as he showed Neville how to tap them to find the solid ones. "This cheap stuff they sell to the students hardly lasts a year even when you use them properly."
"Remus," Harry called, "Can I have three Sickles for a book about divination?"
"What do you want a book about divination for?" Remus called back. "You won't even be taking it until next year!"
"S'got interesting pictures," Harry said, coming over to show off his find.
"Where's Draco gone?" Sirius asked, ducking around Remus' arm to study the book's woodcuts.
"He and Padma were outside looking at the two-Knut books a minute ago..." Remus turned to glance out the grimy front window of the shop. "Bugger, where have they gone? No, you stay here with Neville and Harry, I'll go track them down, they can't have gone very far."
Outside, he glanced around, wondering if they were hidden behind a cart; satisfied that they weren't on the street, he made for the used-books shop next door, where they'd probably wandered into. Hopefully they hadn't wandered up Parshee Alley to Horizont, the red light district. If they had, he'd never hear the end of it from Padma's parents.
"Aren't you a clever one."
The voice came from inside the bookshop, and stopped him cold; he paused, listening without moving. He knew that voice...
"Well, one needs all the proper supplies, true."
Chill and precise, no wasted words; it was associated with the smell of unpleasant things. Is there any other vermin to be put down?
Yes, it was coming from the bookshop, and Remus passed into it as silently as he could, listening warily.
When he woke with his leg in bandages they had caught the thing that had chased him down in the fields; Alastor Moody was waiting by his bedside, but before he could ask any questions he smelled gunpowder and blood. Through his half-open bedroom door he saw a dead man on the floor of the clean-scrubbed kitchen, and another man spattered with blood still holding a rifle with a clip of silver-coloured bullets on his belt.
Is there any other vermin to be put down?
No, his father said, as Alastor Moody told eight-year-old Remus Lupin to be quiet, to keep still; no, his father said, it didn't bite anyone.
Because if there's anyone it bit it'd be best if they were put down now, said the man spattered with blood, as Alastor Moody muttered and closed the door, and Remus' heart thumped because he realised the vermin the man was talking about was him.
He was eight and Walden Macnair a fresh-from-school eighteen, freelancing for the Ministry, hunting feral werewolves and vampires in the dark old days just before Voldemort's rise had begun. Macnair hadn't even known the family's name; all he'd known was that there was a werewolf in the woods behind the house, and Rufus, Remus' father, had thought he would catch the poor sod, not shoot him. Moody had been there to make sure Remus wasn't a danger to anyone, and had ended up hiding him from Macnair instead.
Macnair had gone on to become a Death Eater, and they'd tangled once or twice when the Order was active, but when it was all over he had an alibi for every murder, an excuse for every action, and he was employed by the Ministry now to handle dangerous animals. Which was sort of a good thing, because nowadays the Ministry did more than frown on people who shot werewolves. Nobody liked werewolves much, but at least they --
"Here you are; run along with your girlfriend, then -- oh, excuse me, miss," said the cold voice. Remus saw Draco and Padma step out into the main aisle of the shop, and realised Macnair must have been talking to them.
"I told you two not to wander off," Remus said, frowning sternly at them. Padma looked penitent, but Draco merely clutched what must be a recently-purchased book to his chest, and jutted out his jaw.
"We were bored," he said. "We only went next door."
"The boy has an inquiring mind," said Macnair, emerging behind them. He laid a hand on Draco's shoulder, and Remus stifled the urge to slap it away. "His mother and I are good friends, I've been minding him and the young miss. They've come to no harm."
"Miraculously," Remus said, and Macnair bridled. "Come along, you two. Sirius and the others are waiting."
"Enjoying playing lapdog to a rich boy?" Macnair asked under his breath as the children passed.
"Enjoying your job as dogcatcher?" Remus answered. "Keep away from the children, Macnair, or -- "
" -- or you'll call the Order down on me?" Macnair sneered. "They couldn't lay a finger on me the day Lucius Malfoy went to Azkaban, and they can't do any more to me now. Run along, manservant, and tell your master I send my regards."
"You could tell yours to go to hell," Remus snarled, "except he's already there."
Macnair growled and lunged forward, one arm drawing back for a punch, but Remus had moved forward too, closing the space too quickly, shoving him back into a shelf which wobbled precariously. The air whooshed out of Macnair's lungs, and one of the books caught him a glancing blow across the temple as it fell.
"Brilliant!" Draco crowed, and Remus turned around.
"Out of the shop," he ordered, following them before Macnair could regain his footing. Neville and Harry were waiting outside with Sirius, who was juggling a handful of parcels.
"Let's get out of here," Remus said. "I'll tell you later."
***
They collected the books from Flourish & Blott's, and -- weighed down with packages -- were staggering back to Tonks & Tonks when Neville dropped his packet of quills just outside the shopfront, and Padma nearly lost control of her new salamander jar when she tried to help him pick them up. Draco got his foot on most of the quills so that they wouldn't blow away, and nearly unbalanced himself.
"Oof," he said, as Remus caught him one-handed, pushing him upright again. "I wish I'd asked mum to send Dobby along to help carry everything."
"Master Draco!"
Harry blinked as a knobby, pillowcase-clad house-elf raced past them, nearly slamming into Draco.
"I wish I had a house-elf too," Neville said. He looked around expectantly, but when no more elves were forthcoming, he sighed and turned his attention to Draco and Dobby.
"Dobby is so glad to have found Master Draco!" Dobby was saying, bowing and already accepting some of Draco's packages. "Dobby must speak to Master Draco -- " he glanced around at the others, as if only just noticing them. "Dobby is very pleased to see Mister Sirius Black and Mister Remus Lupin and the young misters and mistress," he said politely, then turned back to Draco and said, in a clearly audible whisper, "Dobby must speak to Master Draco in private."
"In private?" Draco asked, as they passed through Tonks & Tonks and made for the stairs that led up to the flats on the upper floors. "Why, is something wrong with mum?"
"No no no, Master Draco, Mistress Malfoy is..." Dobby paused, and his ears wilted a little. "Dobby shall have to iron his hands for thinking ill of Mistress Malfoy," he murmured.
"I'll give you something else to do," Draco promised absently as they reached the landing, shifting another package to the growing tower of them that Dobby was carrying, so that he could open the door for the others. "Are you sure it has to be private?"
Dobby nodded, and the packages wobbled.
"All right then," Draco said dubiously.
"Use my room, we have to put all our things there anyway," Neville said, as the adults began exchanging greetings and Harry and Remus ran up to stow away Harry's school things in his own room over the Tonks' kitchen.
"Tea, Sirius?" Ted called from the kitchen.
"Yes, thanks," Sirius replied. "Better make Remus' herbal."
"Oh?" Andromeda asked. "Is he...not feeling well?" she asked significantly.
"Had a bit of a scuffle in a bookshop," Sirius answered with a grin. "He hasn't quite told the whole story yet -- "
"He shoved someone into a bookshelf," Padma supplied helpfully. Ram Patil gave Sirius an inquiring glare, the sort that almost asked 'What have you been exposing my child to?' all on its own.
"I'm sure he had reason," Sirius said. "Sorry, were we interrupting at all?"
"No, I don't think so." Andromda glanced at the Patils. "We were just discussing the new Muggle Protection Act that Arthur Weasley's been sponsoring."
"Oh yes? Weasley's behind that?" Sirius asked. "I'm afraid I'm still not quite up to speed on politics after a summer in the wilds. I'll have to ask him about it."
"Well, he's done most of the legwork," Ram said. "Or so I hear. I'm not entirely sure I'm for it, really, though of course I'm not the one dealing with charmed desk lamps day in and day out."
"Desk lamps?"
"Apparently there's been a rash of desk lamps bouncing off their tables in Muggle households recently, caused by a batch of charmed prank lamps that were sold...injudiciously," Ted said, as he carried Sirius' teacup over from the kitchen counter. "Weasley says children and cats are often blamed."
"Well, having spent a good deal of time living amongst Muggles," Sirius said, as Remus and Harry descended the stairs again, "I think there's probably no harm in a little protective legislation."
Ram shook his head. "I worry about too much integration between magical folk and Muggles, that's all," he said. "I mean, I wouldn't like to see Muggles hurt, but it's rather like...well, vampires, say, or werewolves."
"Werewolves?" Sirius inquired mildly. Remus shot him a warning look.
"Yes -- I mean we have laws regarding dangerous creatures, and Muggles are just as dangerous, in their own way. Who's passing the Wizarding Protection Act? More of us are hurt every year by their lorrys and such than Muggles are hurt by our broomsticks. I wonder if we give them too little credit, that's all."
"Well, it's up to the Wizengamot to decide," Andromeda pronounced. "Ted, did you put tea on for Remus?"
"Oh -- "
"It's all right, I'd rather just have water," Remus said. "I'll get it."
"Sirius tells us you were being a bad example to the children today," Ted said, as Remus found a glass in the kitchen and filled it. He tapped it with his wand, and a thin crust of ice formed across the water's surface, which he broke and stirred into the water, chilling it.
"The children were being quite bad enough on their own," Remus said, with a stern look at Padma. "I caught them sneaking into a bookshop they knew they weren't supposed to, and consorting with people of ill repute."
"Is this true?" Sarasvati asked Padma, who sank a little lower in her chair.
"Yes, mum," she murmured. Parvati looked smug.
"You ought to give Walden Macnair and his sort a wide berth," Remus continued. "He's a vicious reprobate."
"What's a reprobate?" Padma whispered to Harry.
"I think it's to do with money," Harry whispered back.
"Draco says you shoved Macnair into a bookshelf," Sirius prompted.
"If I hadn't, he would have blacked my eye," Remus answered. "I sent the children out of the shop when I saw him; he made a remark that I happened to take rather personally. I made one back, and he tried to punch me. I'm very sorry you had to see that, Padma," he added.
"What on earth did you say to him?" Andromeda asked.
"Nothing that bears repeating," Remus said, taking a drink of water. "It's not important, Andromeda."
"I don't think I've ever seen you hit someone," Ted said thoughtfully.
"Nor did I then. Just a little shove, enough to keep him from coming back for a second try."
"Wish I'd been there," Neville said enviously.
"Well, I'm sorry our daughter's actions caused you trouble," Ram said, with a significant look at Padma. "If she can't learn to follow directions, perhaps she ought to be given less responsibility."
"It was my fault," said another voice from the doorway, and the Patils looked up in surprise. Draco was standing there, shifting his weight uneasily. "I said we should go in the other shop. I told her Remus said it was all right."
"Did he?" Sirius asked Padma, who looked indecisive.
"I did say," Draco insisted. "It isn't Padma's fault. She oughtn't to be punished."
"Listen to all this talk of punishment," Andromeda said. "Draco, come and have your tea."
"Where's Dobby gone?" Harry asked.
"Sent him home," Draco replied, accepting a biscuit and a cup of tea. "He was keen to iron his hands. I told him to dust the upper floors instead."
"Must he?" Neville asked. Draco shrugged.
"M'not old enough yet to give him orders that contradict mum's, and she says he's to punish himself."
"Well, at least it's not grievous bodily harm," Andromeda said. "And as for your punishment, Draco, we'll discuss that later. Today was supposed to be fun, you know. I hope you did have some fun before you took up a career in misleading people."
"The joke shop was brilliant," Neville supplied anxiously.
"Yeah, and Padma got a new jar for Elmo," Harry put in. "And I got a brilliant book on Divination."
"We'll have to unwrap everything and pack it up after tea," Sirius said.
"That's right, we're having dinner with Arthur and Molly this evening," Remus said. "It's quite good of them putting us up for the night, all things considered. Haven't properly seen them in donkey's years."
"Dunno how we'll all fit in the Burrow, but I think the lads are going to camp outside," Sirius added. The boys exchanged excited looks.
"Any particular reason for it?" Ram asked.
"Well, yes -- with three boys plus luggage, we thought it might be convenient to have transportation," Sirius said. "Arthur's told me he has a Muggle automobile -- he's going to take all the luggage in the car, and the rest of us are going to floo to King's Cross."
"Some of the rest of us," Remus murmured. Sirius grinned.
"I'm taking my motorbike," he said. "But I've promised not to fly at all."
"Well, we should probably be off," Sarasvati said, finishing her drink. "Thank you for tea, Andromeda. What do you say to Mr. Black, Padma?"
"Thank you for taking me shopping," Padma said to Sirius, with a proper tilt of her chin. "I had a very good time, especially when Remus shoved that man. He called me Draco's girlfriend."
Parvati went off into giggles as Draco blushed furiously.
"See you tomorrow on the train!" Padma said, as her parents said their goodbyes. "Save me a spot in the compartment if you get there first."
"All right," Andromeda said, closing the door behind Ted, who was leading the Patils back out through the store-rooms and shopfront to Diagon Alley. "We've got a lot to do to get you two ready for this evening, and I'm sure Harry has loads of packing to do."
"You aren't going to write to mum about this afternoon, are you?" Draco asked anxiously.
"Well, that depends. Either I can write to your mum and she can decide your punishment, or you can accept mine without complaint and we'll keep it between ourselves," Andromeda said. Draco pondered for about two seconds before nodding.
"You tell me, then," he said. "At least you'll be logical about it."
"Logical?" Andromeda asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Well, you won't go on and all," Draco explained. "I mean. You'll tell me to do something and I'll do it and that'll be the end of it, won't it."
Andromeda smiled. "Something like that."
"Give him detention," Harry suggested. "With Dora."
"Detention?" Andromeda asked.
"Sure. Tell him he has to do a week's detention with Dora -- "
" -- that's Professor Tonks to you," Sirius said, ruffling Harry's hair.
" -- Professor Tonks, you know, scrubbing desks and all."
"It's not a bad idea," Remus said. "That's about what he'd get at school, really."
"Well, if Remus approves, it must be all right," Andromeda grinned. "I'll just send a letter along with you for Professor Tonks -- I do like the sound of that -- and you can serve your detention with her. Now you two go pack, and I'll just dig up something to send along for dinner. I think Ted made you some treats -- but you are to think very carefully about what you've done while you're eating them," she said sternly to Draco, who grinned and dashed down the hall after Neville.
"Come on, Harry, I've got something for you," he called over his shoulder. Harry glanced at the adults for permission before following, and was soon rewarded with the box he'd given Draco, complete with invisibility cloak.
"Thanks, it was great this summer," Draco said, as Harry peered inside to make sure the cloak hadn't come to any harm. "Going to miss it like anything. We'll have to learn some concealing charms, won't we?"
Harry grinned, and stroked the slick material of his father's cloak. "Some of us will."
***
The sight of a vintage Ford Anglia, driving down the normally pedestrianised cobbles of Diagon Alley, was something Remus Lupin wouldn't have missed for the world.
"Good afternoon!" Arthur Weasley called, easing the bright turquoise car up against the kerb outside of Tonks & Tonks. Everyone in the vicinity stopped to stare.
"Arthur, how are you?" Remus called from behind a chaotic mess of young boys, trunks, book-bags, and pet-boxes. "Making an entrance, eh?"
"And why not?" Arthur asked, sliding out of the car and opening the boot. "Need help loading everything?"
"Ah, you're help enough just taking us to the station tomorrow," Remus replied, hefting Harry's trunk and easing it into the seemingly endless boot.
"My pleasure -- any excuse to show it off," Arthur answered. Neville's trunk followed Harry's, and the boys began piling their bookbags on top of the trunks as Remus lifted Draco's into place. "Back seat, lads, and do up your seat-braces."
"Seatbelts, I think," Remus said gently. "As cars go it's not bad, is it?"
"Well, certainly not for the price," Arthur chuckled. "I got it for a Galleon out of a Ministry impound warehouse."
"How'd you get it into Diagon Alley?" Remus asked, climbing into the passenger's seat as Arthur circled again to take the driver's seat.
"I've lost Trevor!" Neville cried. "Don't leave yet!"
"It's all right, we're not going anywhere yet," Arthur said, then turned to Remus. "I drove it in through the old Roman gate, down near Gringotts. Of course in Muggle London it looks like an empty, fenced-off car park -- took me forever to find it."
As he spoke, Neville fumbled with the car door and dashed across the pavement to where Trevor's traveling box was sitting near the entrance to the shop, nearly forgotten.
"He's okay," Neville sighed with relief, passing the box through the window to Draco.
"All present and accounted for, now?" Arthur asked.
"Just waiting for -- speak of the devil," Remus interrupted himself as Sirius wheeled his motorbike out of a side-street where he normally kept it parked under an anti-theft charm.
"Right, I'm following you," Sirius announced, pulling his helmet on. He was dressed in his riding clothes -- black leather jacket and boots, white t-shirt and charm-reinforced jeans that wouldn't shred even if he crashed. People who had stopped to stare at the car were now staring at Sirius, who was clearly drinking in the attention.
"He looks cool," Draco said, leaning across Neville to stare out the window as Sirius pulled on a pair of black gloves.
"Yes, he does a bit, doesn't he," Remus agreed, voice slightly hoarse. They were very tight jeans.
Arthur turned the ignition, let out the clutch, and eased the car out into the foot traffic once more, Sirius following sedately behind on the motorbike.
They picked up speed as they passed through Diagon Bar, the old Roman gate that led to Muggle London; by the time they were bound for Ottery St. Catchpole, where the Weasleys lived, Sirius had pulled up alongside the car and was grinning fiercely as the motorbike skimmed along the road.
"How are Molly and the children?" Remus asked, ignoring the laughs and good-natured wrestling in the back seat.
"Oh, doing fine -- Bill's out in Egypt, now -- "
"That was his goal, wasn't it?"
"Yes -- he's quite happy there, or seems to be from his letters. Charlie's gone to Romania, still mad about dragons, you know. Percy did terrifically well on his OWLs, he's in a load of advanced classes -- Arithmancy and Potions and all."
"He's always been a bit ahead," Remus remarked.
"In...some things," Arthur allowed. "We worry about him, but the twins are there to keep him from taking himself too seriously. More or less."
"Are they still playing Quidditch?" Harry asked from the back seat.
"That they are, and they've sworn to break your nose with a Bludger sooner or later," Arthur said, grinning at Harry in the rear-view mirror. "Oh, come on, Remus," he added, when Remus gave him a horrified look, "It's not really Quidditch if you don't break any bones, and they're only joking. I'm pretty sure," he said, a trifle uncertainly.
"Be good to see Ron again," Neville mused. "Reckon he's got high hopes for the Cannons this year."
"He always does," Arthur said indulgently. "Poor boy, doomed to a life of disappointment in that regard."
"Is little Ginny starting Hogwarts this year?" Remus asked, having sufficiently recovered from threats of violence against Harry's nose. "She's a year below Ron, isn't she?"
"Oh yes -- she's terribly excited. It was very lonely for her this past year. We spoiled her a bit, I'm afraid, but she's used to having at least a few brothers around."
"Well, it'll be a full enough house tonight," Remus grinned.
"You don't know the half of it -- the twins have invited Lee Jordan over, and Percy has his friend Oliver -- didn't he and Harry used to know each other?"
"Oliver?" Harry asked, eagerly. "He's captain of Gryffindor team, he's brilliant."
"Glad to see such good sportsmanship," Arthur said, pleased. He signaled to Sirius that they were turning off and Sirius followed behind them, the motorbike kicking up dust as they bumped down the path to the Burrow.
A crowd of ginger Weasleys poured out of the side door to greet the newcomers, along with the dark, dredlocked head of Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood's sandy-brown. The twins gravitated immediately to the motorbike, while Percy pompously welcomed the younger boys and Oliver grinned and thumped Harry on the back. Molly, standing on the step, gave her husband a kiss hello and invited them all around to the backyard, where an enormous picnic table was arranged along with two shabby, faded tents.
"Dinner's almost ready -- oh, thank you Sirius, that's lovely," she said, accepting a basket of food from him: crackers and cheese, wine, and a box of cookies Ted had sent along for dessert. "If you want to put your things up in the rooms -- Sirius, we gave you the twins' room, don't mind the strange smell, it's just...something that exploded..." she sighed. "Remus, Percy said you could have his room, or you're welcome to Ron's room under the attic if you like."
"Oh, well..." Remus gave Sirius an uncertain look. "Percy's is fine, that's across the hall from the twins', isn't it? That'll do nicely."
"Arthur, will you help me with the food?" Molly called, over the shouts of the boys as they called back and forth to one another, exploring the interiors of the tents.
"They've got whole rooms inside!" Draco said, poking his head out. "With bunk beds and everything!"
"And the lingering smell of cabbage. Haven't you ever been camping before?" Fred -- possibly George -- asked.
"Mum doesn't like the outdoors," Draco answered. "Harry hasn't either, have you Harry?"
"Not in wizarding tents," Harry said, impressed. "We just had the regular kind."
"The regular kind?" Oliver asked.
"Muggle tents," Sirius grunted. "Same inside as out."
"Ooh," Lee Jordan said, impressed. "That's like...survivalist, innit?"
"Well, we had a camp stove and instant breakfast and such," Remus said, amused. "It's not as though we were living on berries and leaves."
"Here we are," Arthur announced, reappearing at the back door with an enormous bowl of pasta in his hands and a veritable parade of plates and cutlery following him, along with Molly, who had a likewise gigantic bowl of salad and a platter of garlic bread. Sirius took the bread while Remus marshalled the boys and Ginny -- who was looking shy and somewhat overwhelmed -- into places around the table. This was not easy, since the younger boys were all jockeying to sit next to an older boy they admired, or a best friend, and kept changing seats. Ginny wanted to sit with Harry, but Harry and Neville and Ron all wanted to sit with Oliver, who naturally wanted to sit with Percy, who'd invited him. Draco and the twins (accompanied by Lee Jordan) were vying for seats near Sirius, who really just wanted to sit with Remus, who was trying desperately to sit somewhere -- anywhere -- that he'd have another adult within hearing range.
Finally settled, there was a collective pause while Molly, beaming as only a pleased hostess can, gestured at the food.
"Go on, eat up then," she said, and that was all the benediction they needed. The adults, who had managed to cluster around the head of the table, helped the younger ones dish out food, and soon everyone was contentedly eating (or flinging breadcrusts, or helping clean up Ginny's knocked-over water glass, or "sharing" their food with an enormous beetle that was trundling peacefully along the table).
"Draco, take some more tomatoes," Sirius said, as Draco, at his elbow, very carefully selected bits of salad. "This is wonderful, Molly."
"Thank you," she said, beaming. "It's my pleasure. We thought since Ginny -- " she gestured at Ginny, who was gleefully sitting between the Boy Who Lived and the incredibly cool Lee Jordan, " -- was leaving and it would be just the two of us after today, we ought to have as many people over as we could the night before."
"And of course it's good to see you lot again -- hardly got a glimpse of you at all after you came back to the Wizarding World last year," Arthur said. "But then Molly had taken on a few extra students in home-school, and I was working day and night it seemed like, getting this bloody bill ready to go to the Wizengamot..."
"Yes, someone mentioned you were behind it," Sirius said with a grin. "Bit of a departure from your usual chasing-after-enchanted-objects, isn't it?"
"I think it's splendid," Remus said, almost defiantly.
"Good! I'm glad you think so. It's nothing terribly revolutionary, but it will help keep people from tormenting the poor Muggles. Vanishing keys, teakettles that never boil -- and I do mean never -- suicidal desk lamps...it's really like kicking puppies when you think about it. They can't help being what they are. At any rate, it's sort of like the...oh...lads, what's that law you've been working all summer trying to get round?"
"The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," the twins chorused.
"Boys after my own heart," Sirius laughed.
"It'll detect when someone's put a permanent enchantment on a Muggle artefact, and as soon as that artefact leaves the possession of the enchanter, it'll sound the alarm," Arthur said. "Help with people 'accidentally' picking up enchanted objects, too."
"There's a very careful loophole there," Molly said, a little disapprovingly. Arthur looked guilty. "So long as it's in your possession, of course, you could...say...enchant a car to fly, couldn't you, Arthur?"
"Does that old Anglia fly?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"You got a whole car in the air?" Remus said, the pair of them beginning to resemble schoolboys confronted with the accomplishments of an older and wiser senior student.
"Very wrong of me to do," Arthur said dutifully, "But I thought if ever there was an emergency it's a bit easier to handle than a broomstick -- "
"Imagine my shock and surprise -- " Molly said, " -- George, mind your elbow, you'll put it right in Percy's salad if you're not careful -- imagine my shock and surprise when I -- "
"Neville!" Remus shouted down towards the foot of the table. "No throwing the pasta!"
"He started it," came the faint and impenitent reply.
" -- when I came out to the yard to call Arthur in for lunch last Saturday and found both him and the car completely vanished. A few minutes later I was still wondering what had kidnapped my husband and his latest foolish Muggle toy -- "
" -- they're quite useful, really -- " Arthur put in, plucking Trevor out of the salad.
" -- only to see a blue Ford Anglia come roaring across the open field twenty feet above the ground and land light as you please on my flower bed."
"I didn't mean to," Arthur said. "I did replant them all..."
"How'd you do it?" Sirius asked. "I didn't think cars worked that well in the area of low-level aeronautics."
"Sirius barely got the motorbike up there and it's still not good for more than about six hours at a time," Remus added.
"Most people would be thrilled to last six hours," Sirius said, and Remus choked on a piece of bread.
"Well, it's a very good car, isn't it. I mean, if you wanted to make a car fly, it's a very efficient car to do it with," Arthur pronounced.
"Reckon if you worked in the fuel system..." Sirius said thoughtfully. "When I modified the motorbike, I was just a kid -- I didn't know the first thing about Muggle mechanics..."
"I didn't either, when I started work," Arthur said. "I had the manual though, and that was very useful. I did end up using the fuel system to help power the lifting charm, but of course Muggle petrol's a filthy thing to run a nice car like this with, so I put a perpetual combustion charm on the engine. It activates when you put it in gear."
"An internal charmbustion engine," Remus said amusedly. Arthur roared with laughter.
"That's it exactly!"
"We should have a race," Sirius said, and Remus noticed the younger boys becoming immensely interested in the conversation. "My motorbike against your car. First one to ten thousand feet wins."
"Absolutely not!" Molly exclaimed. Arthur gave Sirius an apologetic look, and Remus tactfully changed the subject.
When they were finished with the dinner and the washing-up -- and the cleaning of the kitchen that was necessary after ten children "helped" with the washing-up -- Sirius lit a campfire outside and they spent the evening sitting in the balmy late-summer air, watching insects buzz against the no-fly charm Molly had cast and talking about school.
When Ginny dropped off to sleep, leaning against one of the picnic benches, Sirius gathered her up and carried her into one of the tents, while Molly beamed approvingly at him.
"He's made a very good father," she said to Remus. "Mind you, I had my doubts."
"So very many doubts," Remus agreed with a grin. "He does all right by Harry."
"You love him, don't you."
Remus' heart jumped into his throat, and he glanced at her nervously.
"That's why you stayed, isn't it?" she continued, blithely. "He is a charming young boy."
"Yes, yes of course," he said, relieved. "Who wouldn't?"
"It must be awfully lonely for the two of you. I've given up on poor Sirius ever settling down, he simply isn't the sort, but you ought to find yourself a nice girl, Remus, and stop hiding in Sirius' shadow all the time."
"Oh, I -- we get along," he said. "I'm not hiding in anyone's shadow, Molly."
She patted his hand, and he was immensely grateful that Sirius returned then, dusting off the seat next to him before sitting down. He was still wearing those impressively tight riding jeans, and Remus felt his face flush again when their thighs brushed.
Hiding in Sirius' shadow was all right, if it meant having Sirius.
***
The next morning, the boys and Ginny were awake at dawn and had thoroughly destroyed any chance of natural hot water by the time the adults wanted a wash. Sirius yelped under the cold water and cast a quick heating charm on the showerhead, while various crashes and shouts could be heard coming from the general direction of the kitchen. He was so distracted by charming the water the perfect temperature that he didn't notice the click of the door opening and closing until the door to the shower opened and a warm body pressed up against his.
"Morning," Remus murmured, hair sticking out at odd angles, arms wrapping around Sirius' waist from behind.
"Moony -- "
"Don't worry -- I charmed the door shut this time," Remus said against his ear, then nipped the earlobe lightly. Sirius leaned back a little, any annoyance at being interrupted vanishing like the steam from the hot water.
"This is Molly and Arthur's shower," he protested, mainly for the form of the thing.
"I know," answered Remus, nuzzling around the side of his neck.
"We'll never be able to look them in the eye -- "
"Worth it, don't you think?" Remus asked, one hand splayed over Sirius' stomach, the other sliding down his thigh. Sirius leaned his head back a little, trying to get the proper angle for a kiss outside of the stream of water. He was going to lose this argument, not that he particularly wanted to win it; he was already hard, and he could feel Remus' erection pressing insistently against him, feel Remus' breath hitch as it moved against his skin.
"Mm, Moony," he managed, as Remus' hand slid up again to curl around him, stroking gently.
"Mine," Remus said in his ear, softly, but with a sort of frightening urgency that Sirius didn't fully understand. He bit again, too, the sensitive flesh at the base of his neck -- Moony didn't like to bite, because it was dangerous, but once in a while --
"Yes, yours," he gasped, as he felt himself turned and pushed against the cool, damp wall. Remus pressed up against him again, kissing him so hard it was difficult to breathe, hips thrusting roughly. Another light bite on his shoulder, a kiss, hands holding his wrists up against the wall.
Sirius made a sound very close to a whimper as their bodies touched, feeling helpless in the onslaught of feeling and scent and Remus, the murmured word Mine still in his ears. He tried not to moan, but it seemed he had no control over the situation in the slightest, not even --
"Fuck, Remus," he cried, as teeth bruised the side of his neck and Remus came against him, silently and more fiercely than he was used to, even from Remus. A hand slid down before he had even processed what was going on, and he came without even being allowed to inhale first. He went dizzy for a moment, and let Remus catch him before he fell.
"Good thing I cast a silencing charm too," were the first coherent words he heard, and he glanced up to see Remus grinning at him, feral light in his eyes.
"What the bloody hell are you on about?" he asked, as Remus smoothed wet hair out of his face and stroked one cheekbone with his thumb, affectionately.
"Didn't you like it?" Remus asked, faltering slightly.
"Well, yes..." Sirius turned to let the water cool him off a bit -- his heating charm was dying. It stung the marks on his right shoulder and neck, where bruises were already forming. "It was just a bit...I mean to say. There was that one time, but normally you don't hold me down -- "
He turned back, and found Remus staring at the bite-marks, horrified.
"What?" he asked.
"I bit you."
"Yeah -- you don't normally do that, either."
"I'm sorry -- "
"It's all right, nothing a few concealment charms won't fix and if I'd really have objected I could have knocked you cold," Sirius said with a reassuring grin.
"I just...turn the water off, all right?"
Sirius turned the knobs and the water died, as Remus opened the door and stepped out, looking rather stunned.
"I didn't mean to," he said.
"Didn't mean to?" Sirius asked. "You don't accidentally bite someone on the neck while you're shagging them against a wall, Moony."
Remus gave him a quick smile, the sort that said he might be funny but he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"It's just -- I missed you last night, and Molly said these awful things about 'settling down', and I wanted to make sure of things," Remus said. "And I think I made it worse, didn't I?"
"I'm not going to abandon you over a few ruddy bitemarks," Sirius proclaimed, reaching for his wand and drying them both with a quick spell. Remus' pyjamas lay in a corner and he gathered them up, pulling them on again.
"I don't like that," Remus said. "It's something wolves do, not people."
"I dunno, I knew this one girl -- "
"You know what I mean."
Sirius ruffled his still-damp hair. "It's all right, Moony. Are you still afraid one of these days I'm going to see a short skirt on someone and chuck three years of putting up with you snoring?"
Remus rubbed his forehead with one hand. "The whole world thinks I'm some servant of yours, and sometimes I just need to...make sure I'm more than that."
Sirius grinned. "If you are, clearly I'm not paying you enough. And very few servants shower with their employers, so if you'll excuse me, I'd better run along before Molly catches us. I really won't be able to look her in the eye," he said, as he opened the bathroom door. Remus gave him another smile, more sincere this time, and he laughed as he closed the door.
***
They were late arriving at the train station, in a magically-expanded car that held four Weasley children, five young houseguests, one very patient Remus, and Arthur, Sirius following behind on his motorbike. Padma was nearly jumping up and down with impatience as she waited for them near the entrance to the platform. Arthur took his brood ahead with Oliver and Lee, while Sirius loaded up their trunks onto a couple of trolleys.
"Ready then? I'll go through first," Remus said, ducking into the magic false wall between platforms nine and ten.
"Harry, you're up, looks like we're last," Sirius said, giving Harry a grin and a gentle push. Harry, nervous, almost broke into a run, and by the time he'd reached the barrier --
-- he hit it with enough force for Snake's box -- fortunately without Snake inside it -- to go flying.
"Watch yourself now, young man!" said a station attendant as he passed, replacing the box atop the trunk. Harry turned to look at Sirius, wide-eyed.
"It's not working!" he said, shoving the trolley against the barrier again.
"Right, I'm sure it's just some kind of a...." Sirius had no idea what it was. "Harry, move aside and let Draco give it a go."
Draco pushed his trolley forward more hesitantly, and when the edge of it met the barrier, it clanked.
"I'm stuck too," he said. Sirius swore under his breath and moved forward to knock on the wall. Solid brick.
"Listen, are you lot coming or not?" Remus demanded, re-emerging from the barrier. "The train's about to leave."
"We can't get through," Harry wailed.
"Can't get through?" Remus reached out to put his hand through the barrier and taught all four children a new swearword when his knuckles cracked unpleasantly against it.
"Something's gone wrong," Sirius said.
"What if we miss the train?" Padma asked Neville, who shook his head in wide-eyed horror.
"You won't miss the train," Sirius reassured her, glancing around and slowly withdrawing his wand from his trouser-pocket. He tapped the bricks with it and muttered a few charms, but the wall wouldn't budge.
"Dobby," Draco said suddenly.
"What?" Remus asked.
"That little -- Mum's house-elf," Draco said. "He was going on and on about me not going back to school. He said he'd stop me if I tried, and I told him I'd like to see him, a little house-elf, stop a Malfoy doing whatever he wanted -- "
"House-elves have powerful magic," Remus said ruminatively, "but they're not allowed to use it without permission -- "
"I don't think Dobby's much of a one for permission," Draco said.
"Either way, this isn't any use," Remus said disgustedly. "It's five past -- the train must have gone."
"We'll miss the feast, too," Padma sulked. "Wish I hadn't waited for you after all."
"It's all right, we'll think of something," Remus reassured her.
"I think I just did," Sirius announced. Remus noticed that he had a distinctly disturbing look in his eye -- the sort he used to get at school right before some unsuspecting Slytherin suffered. "Come on everyone, this way."
"Are we going to floo my parents?" Padma asked.
"We can," Sirius said, as they made for the exit, "But I have a better idea, if you're up for it."
"Is it dangerous?"
Sirius grinned. "It might be."
Padma looked disapproving, but she didn't say anything. Remus was considering possible counterspells in his head; some of them were useful for charm breaking, but none of them appropriate in the middle of a crowded rail station. Either that or he was going to get them to Hogwarts some other way.
Some other way...
"Arthur's gone and left the keys right in the car," Sirius said. "Shame that. Anyone could nick the thing."
Remus leaned against the car and glanced at him. After a few seconds, both men smiled widely.
"You drive," Sirius said. "I'm taking the motorbike."
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