The Lewis House 15 страница

Remus was touched. He had only taught at Hogwarts for one year, yet his students’ faith in him had somehow remained high. "I know you’ll do your best to get it right," he said gently. He wanted to tell her that she had better damn well make sure to get it right, but somehow, that didn’t seem appropriate.

"I will," Ginny swore. "You don’t have to drink it if you think it isn’t right."

"I’ll drink it." Remus stepped closer and surveyed the carefully labeled bottles and bags that Ginny had lined up on the desk. His stomach tightened with fear – and something else. Something he hadn’t felt about the full moon since the days when it had still held a promise of racing through the Forbidden Forest with his Animagi friends. Excitement. "I need to take the first dose seven days prior to the full moon, as I’m sure you already know," he said, in what he hoped was an even tone. "You'll just need to make sure that it’s complete by – "

"Moony! You will NOT believe – "

Ginny spun around so quickly that her ponytail continued to move seconds after she had.

Remus jerked his head toward the door and saw Sirius standing by a bookcase, looking unusually excited about something. He had recently taken to Apparating home in the study rather than in the sunroom in order to deposit his things before seeing anyone else, a point that had slipped Remus's mind earlier in the day when he'd agreed to meet with Ginny. Of course, at the time, he hadn't realized that Ginny would want to talk about something so important.

The almost joyful expression on Sirius's face faded as he took in the scene in the study. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" He looked quickly at Ginny. "Where's Harry? Is Harry – "

"Everything's fine, Sirius," Remus said lightly, attempting a grin. "It's nothing. Harry's in the village with Ron and Hermione. Ginny and I were just having a talk, that's all."

But Sirius had thrown down his enormous briefcase and taken a few steps forward, his gaze now upon the ingredients that were neatly lined up on the desk. Frowning, he picked up a vial containing the scales of a Runespoor, and turned it over slowly in his hand. He returned it to its place among the other containers and pulled out a small paper bag labeled 'Moonstone powder'. He turned slightly pale.

"Interesting ingredients," he said quietly, looking straight at Remus. "Planning on brushing up on your Potions skills?"

"Actually," said Ginny, moving between Sirius and the desk, and forcing him to step back, "I'm the one who's working on a project." She shot Remus a harried look. He was not surprised that she'd picked up on the fact that he'd rather discuss this with Sirius alone.

"Oh?" Sirius asked coolly, crossing his arms. "What kind of project? Must be very advanced if you're planning on using Runespoor scales and Moonstone powder together. As a matter of fact," Sirius's voice was growing lower, "I can only think of one potion in which both of these ingredients are used –" He reached around Ginny, deftly grabbed a small, opaque bottle marked ‘wolfsbane’, and dangled it between two fingers, looking murderous. "What the hell’s going on?" he demanded.

Remus felt his stomach tie itself into a knot, but he managed to give Ginny a nod. "Ginny, why don't you take your things upstairs for tonight? You can set up in here a bit later on." He felt terrible for making her drag the cauldron all the way back upstairs, especially since he had just invited her to use the study as her work space, but he didn't quite trust Sirius's actions if left in the same room with the potion ingredients.

Nodding, Ginny pointed her wand at her materials, which packed themselves quickly into the cauldron. "Accio," she finished calmly, making the little bottle of wolfsbane fly from Sirius’s fingers into her own. Quickly, she floated her cauldron through the door. Remus raised his wand to shut the door after her, but Sirius was now standing inches away from him, his pale-blue eyes narrowed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Sirius asked in a would-be-calm voice.

Remus lowered his wand and surveyed him without a word, not sure how to approach an explanation without getting a bit explosive, himself. Sirius had always been violent towards people who posed a threat to Remus’s safety, and though Remus understood that Sirius’s overprotection was the result of many years of secrecy and dedicated friendship, it still rankled him that he would now be expected to justify his decision to trust Ginny with the potion. It would be a difficult decision to account for, at the best of times – and Sirius wasn’t at his best, at the moment. On the contrary, he had been spending long hours overworking himself in London and at Culparrat. The briefcase that he’d thrown on the floor upon his arrival was filled with case files. Remus had been spending his own days at home, poring over them, trying to glean any possible information of importance, in an effort to help relieve his workload, but Sirius refused to work at a reasonable pace. He wasn’t sleeping. He wasn’t enlisting help. He was the one who deserved a lecture.

"Ginny has asked my permission to make the Wolfsbane Potion this month," Remus said simply, deciding that straightforward honesty was the quickest way to start and end the unavoidable argument.

Sirius's eyes narrowed even further. "Well, that's not really a good one for her to practice with," he said, slowly and distinctly. "I mean, she won't be able to test it anywhere, will she?"

Remus nodded his head firmly, once.

Sirius's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious," he hissed.

"No, you're Sirius," Remus joked through gritted teeth, walking around the large desk in order to push a large pile of case files towards his friend. It was time to try and change the subject. "These are for you, they've been marked up. There's some really interesting information in there on Simon Flannery. I never would have guessed when we were in school with him."

Sirius would not be sidetracked. Ignoring Remus's comment, he strode over to a bookshelf and, after a moving his finger across the spines of several books, found what he was looking for. He pulled a small, green, barely used book from the shelf, and meaningfully slapped it against his hand.

Remus sighed. The book was called Calming the Wolf: Development of the Wolfsbane Potion, and it detailed the horrors of the first batches that had been used. "I don’t need a reading-to," he said, his voice low. "If you’d like to discuss this, then there are better ways – "

But Sirius opened the book to a random page and began to read aloud. "Early on it was thought that the proportion of dragon's blood to wolfsbane should be three to one. However, when this version of the potion was tested on Ivan Berndt, a German werewolf, he not only transformed at full strength, on the night of the full moon, but he was also rendered fiercer than ever before. Able to break free from his restraints for the first time in his life, he tore out his wife’s throat and ate it, then proceeded to mutilate his children."

Remus felt ill. Those were the things he was capable of. "I am fully aware," he said faintly, "of every story in that book. I am also aware that the old combinations have been removed from the list of ingredients."

Sirius continued to read, with more force. " ‘It was then decided that more wolfsbane should be added, in the hopes that the poison would render a werewolf incapable of attack. The unfortunate result of this experiment was the death of not one, but six werewolves, who bravely volunteered to try potions at different strengths. Even now,’ " and Sirius stressed the word with all the venom in his voice, " ‘though we have reached a successful recipe, if the vital ingredient is not measured with perfect exactness, the Wolfsbane Potion will not only be ineffective, it will be deadly.’"

"Shut that book," Remus said, his voice like iron. "I don’t need to hear that."

Sirius shut the book, but did not let up. "I think you do," he countered, "if you’re going to put your life in the hands of – "

"Unless Ginny's hand slips," Remus felt his voice getting louder as his temper got the better of him, "and she adds an enormous quantity of the wolfsbane itself – which somehow, I doubt she’ll do – all that can happen to me is that I go through one more unregulated transformation."

"All?" Sirius shouted, pushing his wild hair out of his eyes. "Unregulated? I’ve been there with you, Moony – don’t pretend to me that you don’t care if that happens. And just where do you plan on being restrained?"

"The shed."

Sirius looked sick. "This is unbelievable stupidity," he breathed. "I never thought you'd be willing to risk not only your life, but your peace of mind – and mine – in order to boost some little girl's self-esteem."

"I'm not a little girl!"

Over Sirius's head, Remus saw Ginny enter from the hallway. She stood several feet from Sirius, her eyes flashing, but her posture straight. She seemed very tall to Remus.

"And you're not an adult," said Sirius, straightening as well. "You've not even had your seventh year at school and besides, adults don't go eavesdropping and listening in –"

"I was going to close the door! Besides, you were shouting. I could hear you on the stairs."

Sirius crossed his arms, and, using what Remus considered a very patronizing tone of voice, asked, "Where do you plan on getting all of the ingredients? I know the recipe by heart, some of those things – "

Ginny interrupted Sirius again. "Harry helped me," she said shortly. She seemed totally unwilling to justify herself any further, and Remus was glad to see it.

"Oh, well, if Harry's helping you with a potion, I'm sure it will work. He received such excellent marks in that class," Sirius snarled, slamming his fist on the desk. "Do you have any idea what happens if you don't make this potion correctly? Do you have any idea what it's like to turn into a werewolf against your will?"

"Do you?" Ginny shot back.

Remus cleared his throat. Ginny and Sirius turned both turned their attention to him, and he spoke in a clear, steady voice. "I hope neither of you ever discover what that feels like." He glared at Sirius, who still appeared to be livid, and Ginny, who looked hurt and angry, then walked over to the door and gestured through it. "Ginny, if you’re starting the potion in the morning, then I want you to get some sleep. You can start in here as early as you want."

She nodded, and turned to go. But as she stepped into the hallway, Sirius took three long strides to reach her, holding Calming the Wolf: Development of the Wolfsbane Potion in his hand. "Here," he said, shoving it out to her. "It might be educational to read this."

Ginny looked, for a moment, like she might say something horrible. But instead, with the grace and dignity of another redhead that Remus remembered well, Ginny accepted the book from Sirius, thanked him, and left.

This time, Remus made sure to close the door all the way. He locked it with his wand and slowly turned around to continue his discussion with Sirius, who had sunk into the armchair, arms crossed.

"Do you honestly plan to carry out this experiment?" he asked in a tone that made Remus feel for anyone who might be up against Sirius in the courtroom.

"Yes. I’m not endangering anyone. I know the shed’s strong enough to hold me, should anything – unexpected – happen."

Sirius laughed shortly. "Unexpected..." he muttered to himself, then looked up at Remus darkly. "What explanation does she have?" he asked. "Why is she suddenly so interested in something so far over her head?"

Remus said nothing. There was no solid answer.

Sirius waited for a moment. When no reply came, he let out something between a sigh and a growl, and said firmly, "Fine, be an idiot. But Padfoot will be joining you. And don’t try telling me no."

Remus felt a rush of the same warm gratitude he’d got at age eleven, when Sirius had come down from an Astronomy lesson in a rage of discovery, flanked by James and Peter, demanding the truth about Remus’s monthly sickness. Remus had been prone, in bed, recovering from that month’s transformation. After a long and unrelenting interrogation by all three of them, he’d confessed the truth, then rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, dangerously near tears, certain that none of them would speak to him ever again. Never had he been so mistaken – they’d responded with support and protection, rather than fear, and curiosity, rather than revulsion. They’d become his whole life.

And Sirius was all he had left.

Remus looked down at the mop of black hair that meant more to him than he could put into words. Sirius was a good man, if a haunted one, but he was very young still, in many ways. He’d been almost twenty-four when they’d thrown him into Azkaban, and now, at almost forty, he was still as sullen, stubborn, difficult, and moody as he had been in his youth. But he always had Remus’s best interests in mind. Remus knew it. And Moony wanted Padfoot with him during the transformation so badly that he found himself almost looking forward to the full moon.

However, wanting it badly didn’t make it possible. Remus shook his head slowly, hating the words he had to say. "You can't be in there. If things go wrong, it’s too small a space. If I have a... violent night..." He stopped. "If I hurt you, I’d never forgive myself."

Sirius looked up at him with weary eyes, then held up one hand and began ticking off the facts with his fingers.

"So. You are going to do this whether or not I think it's a good idea. You aren't going to let me be in that shed with you. You do want me to just hang around outside and listen to you whining, and howling, and throwing yourself up against the walls, and clawing at steel, and ripping holes in yourself all night long – "

"Or," interrupted Remus, trying not to fear exactly the things that Sirius was mercilessly detailing, "you may hear nothing. We don't know that the potion won't work."

Sirius snorted.

"I mean it," Remus insisted. "She’s very well prepared and I think – well, we just don’t know what will happen."

But Sirius didn’t seem to care. "Don’t do this," he pled. "This is willingly putting yourself in danger. This is ludicrous."

"Ludicrous like you, spending two weeks at Azkaban, rounding up prisoners and getting close to Dementors?" Remus leveled at once, with quiet precision.

"Not the same thing," Sirius protested automatically.

"Why not? You did something you felt you needed to do, regardless of the pain, and I need to do the same thing. It’s a risk, but I need to take it."

Sirius looked at him moodily. "Why?" he asked, flatly.

"Because I haven’t taken a good one in a long time," Remus answered, realizing as he said it, that it was true. "I spent twelve years of my life hating myself, trying to hate you, regretting... " He pulled a chair over to where Sirius was sitting, sat down himself, and leaned forward. "Twelve years is a long time. Unlike you, I had a choice. I could have returned to England and kept an eye on Harry. I could have given Dumbledore potentially helpful information. There were many things that I could have done, but I didn't do them, because I was sick of taking risks and losing everything."

"Fine, Moony. There are lots of things that you can go do now. Plenty of risks you can take that don't involve this," Sirius said, motioning up towards the ceiling, above which the girls' room was located.

"I want to do this. For me, it is worth one restless night if I at least let Ginny give it a go. She's not going to kill me. And if it works... well, think about it. I won’t have to leave every month, and Padfoot can be with me every time. In any case, you're the one who always used to go on and on about how I needed to be more adventurous, remember?" Remus reached out and punched Sirius's leg lightly.

Sirius gave a sort of half-laugh, but it didn't diminish the concern in his eyes. "I'm still not thrilled about this," he muttered.

Remus nodded. They weren’t going to agree, but the argument had come to a close, and he was relieved. He glanced at the case files on the desk, and at Sirius’s overstuffed briefcase that was still on the floor, hoping that perhaps now, he could successfully turn the subject to other matters. "Would you like my help?" he asked, pointing to the files.

Sirius shrugged. "You don’t have to help," he answered, rubbing his eyes.

Those words indicated more clearly than anything else that Sirius was exhausted. Normally he would have refused help entirely, but he was too tired to make pretenses of self-sufficiency.

"I know I don’t," Remus returned, getting up and grabbing the briefcase. "But then, I’m generous."

Sirius opened one eye. "Right," he scoffed. "So generous that you’re trying to give me a heart attack – " But he stopped, when Remus gave him a warning look, and handed him a stack of files.

"You take these and I’ll take the others."

Sirius accepted the files with a nod and opened the first one in his lap, pulling his wand to Summon a quill. Remus did the same thing. Moments later, they were both engrossed in the lives and transgressions of imprisoned, alleged Dark wizards, making notes on the material just as if they were back at Hogwarts, doing their homework. And, just as they had often done in school, the two worked side by side, well into the night, stopping every so often to complain to each other and eat something.

~*~

Bill Weasley had expected his father’s office to be a bit more crowded. He checked his watch, saw that he was five minutes early, and settled himself in the chair next to Alastor Moody’s, rubbing absently at his temple with two fingers.

"Bill," Moody greeted him, gruffly. "Goblins still giving you a headache?"

"No, no," Bill said lightly. "I don’t mind being knocked down, sat on, and interrogated six times a day. Getting to like it, actually."

"You get that from me," said Arthur, looking up from a stack of papers and grinning. "That’s exactly why I married your mother."

There was a rap at the door, and a security officer entered. "Sirius Black," he announced.

"That’s fine, Lawrence," Arthur said. "He’s always cleared."

"I have identification," came Sirius’s irritated voice, from beyond the door. "Get out of the way."

"He’s just doing his job," said a woman’s brisk voice, also outside the door. "Here’s my ID, Lawrence. Secretary Privy to Magical Matters, Rose K. Brown."

"Let her in," Arthur called. "And you can let Charlie and Mick right in, when they get here – no announcement necessary. We’re going to get this one started on time."

"Yes sir." Lawrence shut the door.

Sirius glared at the door, for a moment, before dropping into a seat beside Bill’s.

Rose K. Brown, on the other hand, smiled at all of them from beneath a neat sweep of wavy blonde hair. She sat easily next to Arthur’s desk and adjusted her ID tags and Ministry pin, before opening her tidy-looking briefcase. "We’re missing someone?" she asked shortly, looking at her watch.

Bill fought back a sigh. Rose had been a Slytherin prefect, in Charlie’s class, the same year that Bill had been Head Boy, and she’d eventually become Hogwarts’ Head Girl. She’d been famous as the only trustworthy Slytherin, for though she was as ambitious as any of them, she always played fair. As a result, she’d had good friends in every house, and she’d even frequented the Gryffindor table without fielding any protest. Partly, perhaps, because she looked so deceptively sweet – she had a translucent face, dreamy blue eyes and a soft, feminine voice. But everyone who’d ever crossed her knew better. Rose was such a stickler for rules and regulations that she’d got Bill himself into detention-sized trouble, not once, but four times, during the course of his time at Hogwarts.

"We’re missing my son Charlie and his associate," Arthur replied calmly. "But there’s plenty to discuss, so let’s get start –"

"They’re late?" Rose clicked her tongue. "And this business with dragons was your son’s idea, is that correct?"

Arthur got the patient look on his face that Bill had not seen since long ago dinners with Percy, as he turned to Rose. "Yes, that’s correct. Why don’t you start us off with your concerns about this business, while we wait?"

"The Council’s concerns are with the dragons themselves," Rose countered. "I expected an expert on the subject to be present for this briefing."

"Look, they’ll be here," Bill said tightly. "Let’s get started."

"I wasn’t aware you’d become an employee of the Ministry, Bill," Rose returned, her voice smooth as cream. "And, as a matter of fact, I wonder at this information not being classified, Arthur. It’s no offense to your son, of course, but do you really think it’s wise– "

"He’s a member of the Order," growled Moody, as though this should outrank any Ministry official by a mile. Bill glanced at him appreciatively. It was the great honor of his life, being inducted into the Order of the Phoenix, and he felt the same way that Moody did – Ministry employees or not, they were all working toward rebuilding the wizarding world, and he would offer whatever help he could.

"Bill’s here because he’s got training in curse breaking and finances that we need, at the moment." Arthur shrugged at Rose. "I agree it would be helpful if we had a full staff, but as we don’t, maybe we can make use of Bill, as our Gringotts Liaison."

Rose looked at Bill doubtfully, but nodded. "For now, I suppose that’s fine." She withdrew a clipboard from her briefcase and scanned down a parchment list, with her quill. "Here’s a question unrelated to the physical problems posed by dragons. Regardless of what we decide on that score, shall we create an office specifically dedicated to handling the containment of the Dementors? The Council proposes a PAP – Permanent Azkaban Patrol division, to be separately staffed and funded. Thoughts?"

"Permanent?" Sirius leaned forward on his knees. "Don’t you mean semi-permanent? We’re not going to have to patrol the Dementors forever."

Bill held in a sigh. Sirius was dead set on the total destruction of the Dementors, not just the control of them, and though Bill had to admit he agreed with that plan of attack, he didn’t see a way to make it possible. "I’ve done a lot of work with complex curses and spells that ward off Immortals – like the Sphinxes over in Egypt," he began slowly, "and from what Moody tells me, the Dementors are resistant to magical attacks. We haven’t even come across a curse that does minimal damage. They seem to be unclassified Immortals, or at least to have some kind of natural armor against death."

Sirius’s jaw clenched. "Then we’ll just have to try something else. It’s unacceptable that those... things," he spat out the word, "are alive and capable of Kissing. They were the servants of Voldemort, just like the Death Eaters, and Azkaban isn’t a punishment for them. They need to die."

Bill exchanged a glance with his father, who nodded. "I agree with that," Arthur said, adjusting his glasses and running a hand over his high, bald forehead. "But if we can get a grip on these dragons, I think it’s as good a solution as we have, for now. If you’d rather, we can consider it a semi-permanent solution."

"No, Arthur, that’s not good enough. You know we need to destroy those things entirely – that must be a high priority."

Before anyone else could answer Sirius, Rose spoke up. "Mr. Black is quite right. The costs of keeping dragons for an extended period of time are incredibly high and will be a very heavy tax on Ministry resources. The Council believes that we should find another way to contain the Dementors, until they can be eradicated."

"Eradicated how?" Bill asked, trying not to let his annoyance creep into his voice. "I just told you – "

"That it hasn’t been done does not mean that it can’t be done," Sirius barked, his eyes darkening. "Spells can be built. New curses can be created. It’s our duty to make that happen."

Bill didn’t answer. There was no point in fighting about Dementors with a man who had been imprisoned by them for twelve years. Sirius Black had personal issues at stake in this argument that no one in the office could fully comprehend, and everyone seemed to feel it, because they all remained quiet for a moment and allowed him to regain his composure.

"I propose," said Rose quietly, in the silence, "that we therefore establish two departments. I’d like to maintain that the PAP is a good idea, for now. However, I do suggest a second new division in the Ministry, which would be responsible for researching the extermination of Dementors. Thoughts?"

"I’ll head it up," Sirius said at once. "Let’s get that started."

"Black." Moody turned in his chair and his peg leg scraped the floor. He fixed both eyes on Sirius, and in his gnarled old face there was something like exasperation. "You're mad. You're prosecuting a third of the wizarding community, you've got eighty percent of those Stunned Dark wizards still to research, trials start in a week, you're trying to stand in on meetings about Azkaban, and you want to head up another department, do you?"

"Yes." Sirius didn’t bat an eye.

Neither did Arthur. "No," he said, very firmly. "Rose has certainly given us something to sink our teeth into, and I’d like to look into creating a team responsible for that sort of research, but Sirius, I need you dealing with Culparrat, and that’s the end of it."

"But, Arthur –"

"The end, as in, conversation over." Arthur looked at Rose. "Excellent proposal. You take that back to the Council. I want to hear what they have to say about a division like that, before we plan and implement it."

"Yes, sir."

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04