Disclaimer: Thanks to J.K. Rowling for allowing me to take her characters for a lengthy stroll through my imagination.
Thirty-Two
Let the Pieces Fall
The sharp report of his heels against the polished floors gave his smoldering anger a measure of satisfaction. The startled students who bled into the shadows, even more so.
Let the snogging couples who had been seduced by the fulsome moon slink shamefully away; Snape was not in the mood to adjust House points this evening. A bit of intimidation by their superiors never did anyone any harm, he justified silently.
Tiny sparks of sinister fireworks accompanied his steps as he ascended the stone stairs spiraling up to the Headmistress’ office. He barely allowed a response to his sharp knock before striding inside.
Resisting the urge to sling the despicable object on the massive desk before him, he settled for flinging his long limbs into the adjoining chair. Turning eyes like thunderclouds to Minerva’s expectant expression, he gingerly placed the loathsome pink thing before him. He eased it before the Headmistress with the tip of his wand in order to avoid further contamination.
“Contraband!” he issued darkly.
“I can see that. Mobile phones won’t work inside Hogwarts’ walls,” she replied in a conciliatory tone. “It’s nothing more than a status symbol.” Holding it up by the long cord, she added, “Can’t you consider it an overly tasteless neck medallion and be done with it, Severus? It’s just a fad.”
“Not this one,” he snarled menacingly. “Some over-achieving miscreant reconfigured its internal organs to render it operable. In part, at least.”
With tightly controlled fury, he sent a spark of magic to light the damnable device from within. By its unearthly blue glow, Minerva adjusted the square frames of her spectacles to decipher the tiny lettering.
“It’s a conversation of sorts,” she mused. “Who’s Osiris?”
Snape glowered even more darkly than before. “Who do you think? I don’t do nicknames, Minerva.”
“No, of course not,” she agreed with the barest twitch to her pursed lips.
“I’m not one to invite such familiarity,” he rumbled, deciding to omit the names of those colleagues who, unwisely, did otherwise.
“No one asked you to.”
“It’s the fault of that revolting display of Slytherin hospitality…”
“Now, Severus, don’t overreact. If the party hadn’t been such a resounding success, no one would’ve ever come to associate you with such a deity. Consider it a compliment.”
“I can’t punish them unless they say it to my face, in other words.”
“Even then, a simple correction should be sufficient. No one’s ever been assigned detention for employing a nickname unless it was intended as an insult. Same goes for using someone’s given name.”
“I’ve never suffered such cheek in my classes!”
“Did this occur during class? Or later in the corridors?”
“Who rightly knows?” He threw up his hands in exasperation. “The ruddy contraption stores things in memory.”
“Then unless you catch the student entering the data before your eyes, we will have to assume it occurred outside of class.”
“Fine!” he spat. “I’m still confiscating the object as contraband.”
“That’s your right, as is deducting House points.” At his blank expression, she pressed, “You did deduct points -- or did you find the object just lying about?”
“I took it from Samantha Helmbright as she tittered outside the Common Room.”
“I see. She’s in Slytherin, isn’t she?”
“A regular trouble-maker, nonetheless.”
“A rather ingenious student to have circumvented the magical currents within the castle,” Minerva goaded him with barely contained amusement.
“Are you suggesting I reward her instead? What sort of a message does that send?”
Minerva sighed in resignation. It was likely that Samantha was just trying to locate Severus’ sense of humor. The Gryffindors did it to Remus all the time; he just pranked them back in ingenious, and often embarrassing, ways and everyone got a good laugh at the perpetrator’s expense.
“I trust you to take action as you see fit, Severus. Just don’t turn this toy over to Mr. Filch, I beg you. These gadgets are rather expensive and her parents are likely to raise a fuss. Confiscate it until the start of summer break and then warn her that she’s not to bring it back with her in the fall.”
“Spell out the dire consequences,” he promised.
“In as much glorious -- or inglorious “ detail as you wish. I suggest you locate her cohorts before you set any detentions, though. A conversation requires at least two to flourish. Based upon the different colors, I would wager at least four or five students were involved.”
“How do you suggest I crack this sordid ring? They all use aliases.”
“You could ask Miss Helmbright.” At his derisive snort, she amended, “Consider it a deductive puzzle of sorts, then. Surely a cadre of adolescents is no match for a man of your intellect.”
His indignant cry was cut short by a giraffe Patronus galloping across Minerva’s desk. It mutely lowered its silvery head to indicate a private communication.
“If you’ll just excuse me, Severus. I won’t be a moment,” the Headmistress implored as she briskly side-stepped into the adjoining reading room. She returned with a worried frown.
“Trouble at the Lupin residence?” he asked as she hovered near the gilded fireplace.
“We’ll soon see,” she concurred. “That was a request to open a private Floo connection.”
“Are we to expect his head to pop into the flames or his entire body to materialize?”
“I’m not rightly sure,” she admitted. What worried her most was the hurried tone in Remus’ voice that had slurred the words together almost to the point of being unintelligible. “Under a full moon, it can’t be anything good.”
Severus nodded as his obsidian eyes lost much of the fire the mobile phone situation had ignited. “I’ll give you some privacy then.”
“Please, Severus!” She caught him by the arm before he could sweep back down the stairs. “I’d rather you stay. If nothing else, to keep an old woman from worrying needlessly.”
“You’re thinking he may be having an adverse reaction to his course of treatment?” he posed.
“It could be anything!” she answered, her voice quavering slightly with emotion. “That interview with Fenrir Greyback…”
“An identity that is not public knowledge,” he stressed. “Nor is Lupin’s behind-the-scenes involvement.”
“It wouldn’t take much to determine that Ginny works for the WWN.”
“A labyrinthine organization that does not disclose its sources.”
“And then there’s the children,” she fretted.
“Minerva.” He allowed his rich voice to linger over the syllables until he had her undivided attention. “Lupin is a surprisingly cool character when he needs to be.”
“You’re right, Severus. It’s not like he’s deviated from the emergency plan.”
“The fact that said emergency plan exists shows that he’s prepared for any eventuality. Trust in his abilities.”
But as the minutes ticked closer and closer to the half hour, it was clear that things were no longer progressing according to the master plan.
“He should have been here by now!” Minerva insisted as she jumped to her feet with feline agility.
“Agreed. Any other fireplace where he could have emerged?”
“Thousands along the length of the Floo Network.”
“How many within the castle proper?” Snape clarified.
“Oh.” Her eyes blinked rapidly beneath a forehead creased with anxiety. “Perhaps as many as forty or fifty.”
“Then I suggest we begin by searching the castle.”
“That could take hours --”
“Only if we’re daft enough to do it ourselves!” he cried, employing her own vernacular.
“I don’t want to set the school in an uproar about an essentially private issue,” she warned.
“Then don’t. Command the army at your disposal.” At her blank expression, he emphasized, “The house-elves!”
With dawning realization, she leapt into action. Within moments, the elves had scurried off to the areas that were most familiar to each of them.
At Snape’s insistence, she resumed her seat and stared morosely into the empty hearth. Snape perched himself on the corner of the desk, his eyes drawn to the purple veins lining the backs of the Headmistress’ papery hands. Her strength of character had only intensified with age, he reminded himself.
The seconds ticked by with determined slowness as eternity beckoned rife with dire possibilities.
With a sharp crack that startled them both, an elderly elf materialized at knee level. “Begging your pardon, honored Headmistress,” he volunteered in a gravelly bass. “Kreacher has found him.”
“Where?”
“The Games Mistress’ quarters. They’ve been all but abandoned since Madam Hooch assumed other duties.”
“It’s faster by Floo,” Minerva proposed only to find the elf blocking the hearth with his bony arms outstretched.
“Not this time,” Kreacher warned solemnly. “There’s dangerous bits of glass everywhere.”
“What about blood? Is the professor injured?” Minerva peered into the elf’s protuberant eyes.
“Get Madam Pomfrey, Kreacher,” Snape ordered. “Come, Minerva. I know a short-cut.” He didn’t add that it had been Lupin and his band of reprobates who had led him on a merry chase down that very route many years before.
One look at the unfocused eyes and clammy skin and Poppy feared the worst. The erratic pulse was much too weak for a man of his build.
“Do I need to brew up an antidote?” Snape volunteered.
“Not yet,” Poppy insisted. “It’s likely to throw him into a state we’re not prepared to handle. If necessary, we’ll have to wait until the moon sets.”
“But that’s hours --” Minerva began to protest.
“Which is why I’d like to approach this differently,” Poppy stressed. “It might be best to determine why the blood won’t stop flowing on his hand.”
“Any ideas what was in that bottle he broke?” Minerva directed her soft words to Kreacher.
“No, Mistress. Nothing’s intact but the eye-dropper.”
“An unlabeled potion of sorts?” Severus mused. “Lupin doesn’t strike me as the recreational use type.”
“Sweet Merlin and his cohorts!” Poppy gasped. “Could it be the elixir I prescribed to counteract his side-effects?”
Snape peered at the coruscating colors remaining within the eye-dropper. Even by the wall brackets in the Hospital Wing, he could see that their luminosity was quickly fading. “If this is the narcotic that I think it is, there’s no known antidote. Lupin will just have to work his way through his own mind-maze in due course… How much would you say that bottle contained?”
“Not more than an ounce or two,” Poppy estimated as she coaxed another mouthful of Reviving Draught down Remus’ throat. His body twitched slightly, but his eyelids remained resolutely shut.
“And it likely wasn’t full,” Minerva put forth as she rejoined them.
Poppy nodded solemnly. “He actually succumbed to taking his medication on occasion. When he couldn’t work out a reasonable alternative.”
Snape concurred with a slight frown. “The obstinacy of a man who doesn’t wish to contaminate his body. I’m well aware of Lupin’s view on these matters; he’d likely eschew Wolfsbane if it wasn’t his only way to fit in with society’s demands.”
Minerva briefly hesitated in her restless pacing. “You think he’s fighting the effects internally?”
“If he’s able,” Poppy interjected. “A man floating on a cloud isn’t likely to put up much resistance.”
“When has Lupin ever been that amenable?” Snape growled.
At Minerva’s initial shock, Poppy capitulated, “He’s likely right, Minerva. The child who succumbed to my ministrations is now an adult who resents being fussed over.”
Minerva sighed in frustration. “I just received a Patronus from Arthur advising me that Teddy and Phoebe are anxious to see their father. They suddenly arrived by Floo at the Burrow, alone and unescorted, with a vague notion that their father was following. Minutes later, Remus sent his giraffe advising that he’d been detained at Hogwarts.”
“No indication of what prompted such rash action?” Severus asked pointedly.
“Perhaps Arthur can tell us more when he arrives. I opened a Floo connection to the Burrow as well.”
“It won’t ease their worries to see their father like this,” Poppy warned as she tipped a bit more of the draught past colorless lips. She applied her attention to changing the scarlet soaked dressing on Remus’ hand. “Finally, the blood vessels are beginning to contract. Soon I’ll be able to magically knit the skin.”
Jerking to his feet, Snape announced, “I’m going to find out what’s going on at Godric’s Hollow. Where’s the slip of paper from the Secret-Keeper, Minerva?”
“Is that wise?” the Headmistress cautioned. “You don’t know what you’ll encounter.”
Severus started fastening the long row of buttons on his black frock coat. “He came to us for assistance and I, for one, intend to render it to the best of my capacity.”
“Us, too,” Ron’s voice announced from the swinging door he held open for his wife to enter.
“But none of you know what the situation calls for,” Minerva argued.
“Some initiative, would be my first guess,” Hermione ventured with aplomb.
“I didn’t request any back-up,” Snape protested as his eyes quickly scanned the purple ink which read: The Lupin and Potter residence can be found at Marauder House in Godric’s Hollow.
“Perhaps, not,” Hermione allowed. “But neither Ron nor I are prepared to sit this one out.”
“Surely, you understand, Professor,” Ron added with a determined glare. “Harry’s been my best mate for years.”
“I’ll expect you to follow orders without argument,” Snape stipulated. “And no one else is tagging along. Stealth must be our closest ally.”
“Absolutely,” Hermione agreed.
Ron nodded vigorously as he took the slip of paper from the Headmistress’ hand.
“I still wish you knew what you were stepping into,” Minerva maintained.
“Perhaps there’s a way,” Snape considered as his dark shape swept to Lupin’s beside. “If I may?”
Poppy backed away uncertainly as Snape grabbed Remus’ shoulder with a firm hand. “Must you always be a thorn in my backside, Lupin?” Snape’s menacing tone so close to the ear made the other man jerk uncertainly. “If you don’t take heed of what Poppy is trying to accomplish, you’re going to make my Wolfsbane formula unfit to market!”
Much to the affronted matron’s surprise, Remus eyes snapped open. Focusing on Snape to the exclusion of everything else, he retorted hotly, “My children are at the end of an anonymous Floo somewhere, AND YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR BOTTOM LINE?”
“Thank you, Severus. That should do quite nicely,” Poppy confirmed as she resumed her place at Remus’ bedside.
Hermione barely kept her smirk from drawing Snape’s attention as Ron mouthed the words, “That man has an unparalleled ability to get under people’s skin.”
“Just heard from Molly,” Minerva announced as a wispy beaver Patronus sublimated into the wall. “She’ll bring the children here as soon as you’re stabilized, Remus. It won’t help them to see you in such a right state.”
“One last thing, Lupin,” Snape urged. “What will we find at Godric’s Hollow?”
“Umbridge…Werewolf Capture…” Remus managed with sweat breaking out across his brow. “Only the children and I were able to escape.”
“Can you recommend an incursion route?”
Remus nodded with haunted eyes. “Upstairs hearth. They checked that first. Tonks and the rest were cornered in the main drawing room.”
Snape gave a curt acknowledgment as he straightened his shirt cuffs with grim determination.
“Don’t do anything rash, Severus,” the Headmistress cautioned as she scurried to his side. “That woman…is …a scourge on humanity.”
With a singularly unsettling smile, Snape responded, ‘Let’s just say Dolores and I have some unfinished business. Since she had the temerity to question my suitability to conduct a Potions lesson, it’s time I returned the favor.”
“Take the lift up to my office,” Minerva offered. “It’s closest.”
In a voice clearly winded from his earlier outburst, Remus croaked, “If you just whisper Dobby’s name, he’ll give you the lay of the land.”
“The house-elf?” Snape muttered in disbelief.
“Our secret weapon,” Remus corrected.
“All right, Lupin. Let’s hope you’re not as delusional as that statement sounds.”
Without further dalliance, Snape spun on his heel and motioned for Ron and Hermione to follow. “Ms. Granger…” he held out his hand expectantly.
Hermione looked up sheepishly from the mobile phone she held in her hands. “Sorry, is this yours? I didn’t think pink was your color.”
“It isn’t. I confiscated it from a misguided…”
Their voices faded as the doors to the private lift closed behind them.
“I’d give anything to be a doxie on those drapes,” Minerva admitted to no one in particular.
“Bother that!” Poppy exclaimed. “I’d like to come out swinging!”
It seemed like it was only seconds later that the golden doors to the lift opened soundlessly once again. Framed within, Spook’s small silhouette took in his surroundings in the Hospital Wing with wide eyes.
A long row of empty beds stretched the length of the room like starched fingers, but Teddy instantly focused on the image of his father. Propped up between the familiar figures of the Head-Minnie and Miss Poppy-Flower, his father caught sight of him and immediately opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. The whispered conversations ceased as Teddy flung his small body atop the mattress with abandon.
“Mindful of the hand,” Remus cautioned through an incandescent grin. At his son’s worried look, he added, “Tripped like a right berk, I did.”
Teddy returned a similar smile then cuddled up against his father’s chest. Remus looked up to see Arthur approaching the bed, an indistinct bundle in his arms. But before he could ask after his daughter, Poppy leapt to her feet and made as if to shoo Arthur away.
“What’s the meaning of this, I say?” she decried. “Animals are not allowed within the Infirmary!”
“If you’ll just give me a moment --” Arthur began only to be cut across immediately.
“Shall I send for Hagrid?” Poppy persisted.
“Not really,” Arthur resumed. “Teddy insists the bunny belongs to him.”
Rising regally to her feet, Minerva approached Arthur with outstretched hands. “Here, let me see,” she crooned to the docile black and white rabbit which instantly nestled against her. “Teddy won’t mind, will he?”
Teddy shook his head but kept his eyes glued on the Headmistress nonetheless.
“What a lovely bunny you are,” Minerva coaxed softly.
“Really, Minerva!” Poppy protested with an imperious hand on her hip. “Think of the germs…”
Pointing his wand squarely between the rabbit’s eyes, Arthur intoned, “Scourgify!”
“See, that’s all better,” Minerva continued in a soothing tone. “Can’t we make an exception this time, Poppy? There’s no one else in the Hospital Wing to complain.”
“Fine,” Poppy replied curtly as she peered suspiciously into the bunny’s blinking eyes. “Seems healthy enough “ on the surface. Keep it away from Remus’ hand, though; the skin hasn’t totally finished healing beneath the bandages.”
Turning his attention from the drama playing out before him, Remus’ eyes twinkled with amusement as he posed, “Where’s Phoebe?”
Arthur rubbed his chin as he stumbled over his reply, “Well, you see…that’s the problem… we can’t seem to find her…”
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Remus roared. “Did you search your neighbors’ floos?”
“Don’t over-tax yourself,” Poppy ordered as she urged Remus to relax his body back into the pillows.
“I’m sure Arthur has a perfectly good explanation,” Minerva asserted with an expectant lift to her brow.
“I’m not sure I do,” Arthur admitted through a hang-dog expression. “Phoebe arrived with Teddy, make no mistake about that. But one minute she was there among the rest of the family and the next she was gone.”
Remus gave a long-suffering sigh. The exploits of his children were legendary, no doubt about it. Both of them had inherited an innate ability for Stealth and Concealment that would have made the strictest Auror proud. If only they wouldn’t exhibit it at the most inopportune moments.
“Don’t blame yourself, Arthur,” he mollified. “I know what my daughter’s like. The Burrow presents so many handy hidey-holes she probably couldn’t resist.”
“Let’s just hope she’s inside the house,” Molly fretted as she glanced nervously at the moonlight poring past the drawn blinds.
Remus’ veins turned to ice at her simple pronouncement. How could it have slipped his addled brain like that? It was a nightmare in the making, he wailed inwardly, not daring to voice his deepest fears lest he upset Teddy.
Nonetheless, some of the distress must have conveyed itself wordlessly as Molly hurried to his side.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” she whispered as she gazed apprehensively at the sleepy form draped across Remus’ chest. “Bill and the twins are experts at this kind of thing. Makes you wonder how many uncharted adventures they shared in their youth.”
Dobby filled them in with hushed whispers and nervous eyes. A phenomenon that was a bit off-putting, Hermione admitted to herself as she willed her encouraging smile to freeze in place.
As they crept down the back stairs in single file, Umbridge’s voice began to grate on her nerves. She blocked out the annoying background as she concentrated on the objective Snape had assigned to her and Ron: the kitchen.
“Disarm them soundlessly,” Snape ordered in a bare whisper. “If you Stupefy them, the other one of you had better catch the limp body before it crashes to the floor. And do be careful of the unmitigated disaster you’re sure to find. Those two dunderheads can’t pour water out of the tap, let alone brew a pot of tea.”
“Not without Malfoy,” Ron sniggered.
“No more chatter,” Snape hissed as his wand cast the slippery coldness of a Disillusionment Charm down their backs. “This will start to fade in about twenty minutes, so make the most of your time.”
Snape hesitated with his boot suspended in mid-step as Umbridge’s tiresome tirade took an inconvenient detour. How dare she demand her reluctant hosts give her a guided tour of their house! Perhaps he should underscore the polite refusals she seemed unwilling to accept.
With icy determination, he soundlessly retreated up the stairs and into Harry’s master suite once more. Now came the tricky part. It was next to impossible to tumble from one hearth to another within the same house; only the vastness of Hogwarts’ halls allowed for a strictly self-contained version. Perhaps with the proper coaxing, though, Snape pondered as he pinched but a single grain of the sparkling powder on the tip of his fingernail.
The flames barely reflected green for a millisecond as Snape thrust his long body through. Instead of announcing his destination, he turned on his heel and concentrated on Apparating into Lupin’s bedroom hearth. It was no more than a vague impression of slate as he had never properly visited that wing of the house.
With a soundless wave that shook the rafters, he tumbled to the floor to come nose to nose with Phoebe’s stuffed rabbit familiar. Hardly taking in his surroundings, Snape scrambled to his feet and worked his way down the hallway to where the voices echoed from the main portion of the house.
Remus made an instant decision: Boggarts had to be confronted; there was no other way. “I can’t let others assume my responsibilities. She’s my daughter!” he growled lowly.
“You’re in no condition…” Poppy began but trailed off at his fiery look.
Teddy lifted his head and insisted, “Phoebe’s fine. It’s because of the moon, isn’t it?”
Molly flashed a reproachful look as she dreaded that the word 'werewolf' might yet enter Teddy’s vocabulary before the night’s end.
A small, unexpected smile graced Remus’ lips as he softly urged, “And what, pray tell, did your mother tell you about the full moon?”
Without hesitation, Teddy responded, “It’s a lantern that draws all animals. Nice ones as well as those that prey”“
“Predators,” Remus encouraged.
“Pre-tators,” Teddy stumbled over the new word, “that might like to nibble on little children. We stay indoors.”
Remus nodded as he turned a grave face towards the others. “Are you certain Phoebe followed this advice?”
Molly worried the hem of her apron as Arthur spoke up, “Not with absolute certainty. But our property is ringed with protective spells. Bill boosted them the second we discovered she was missing.”
The looks passing between the adults conveyed the same distressing thought: could they have trapped a monster inside the perimeter?
“Tell me what happened,” Remus insisted, ignoring the small frown of disapproval Poppy turned in his direction. “Don’t leave out any details.”
Releasing the rabbit into Teddy’s outstretched hands, Minerva Summoned chairs for the Weasleys.
“I made both children wash their hands first,” Molly elaborated. “Then poured them some pumpkin juice which they both drank.”
“Then Bill and his girls arrived at the back door and there was a mass stampede onto the porch,” Arthur continued. “Noting that the moon was just on the horizon, we urged everyone inside.”
“Just as the screen was banging shut, Teddy dashed outside saying he’d forgotten something,” Molly established. “He returned holding that rabbit as Victoire and Yvette exclaimed to their mother that, ‘See, there are too rabbits in the woods.’ Teddy pulled away if anyone tried to take the bunny from him, so I just let it be. Didn’t seem worth arguing over really.”
“That’s when we got the Patronus saying you’d been detained,” Arthur finished.
“Did anyone see Phoebe on the back porch?” Minerva prompted.
After a shared look, both Arthur and Molly shook their heads ‘no’.
“Does this coincide with your version?” Remus posed as he addressed his son directly.
“Yes, but --”
“The girls flew up the stairs,” Molly interjected. “I assumed they were after the twins, but perhaps not.”
“What if they saw Phoebe waving from one of the landings?” Arthur suggested hopefully.
“That couldn’t have been Phoebe,” Teddy attested. “Rabbit was with me.”
“So she was inside?” Minerva clarified.
At Teddy’s effusive nod, a collective sigh rose from the others.
“Why didn’t I see her then?” Arthur asked as he kneeled to face Teddy at eye level.
Teddy shrugged. “She was right there,” he insisted in a small voice.
“Do you think you can find her for us?” Molly rejoined. “We’ll Floo back to the Burrow…”
“Why?” Teddy posed with a quizzical tilt to his head. “Is Mum finally there?”
Remus ground his teeth in frustration. With great effort, he willed his voice to remain even. “No, Spook. Mum’s still at the house…”
“…one of Harry’s old school acquaintances dropped by unexpectedly,” Minerva added deftly. “I’m certain Ginny recalls her as well.”
“Oh. Won’t they want us to join in with the party?” Teddy suggested.
“I’m sure so,” Remus responded. “But he’d want to introduce the entire family, Phoebe included.”
“Right.” Teddy nodded with a hopeful smile.
With a hint of exasperation, Molly suggested, “I’ll go see how Bill is coming along.”
“What the bloody hell…!” Umbridge cried at the unfamiliar sensation of the air buckling. Her suspicions were calmed as a laden tea tray Levitated across the room to settle on the low table before her. “Ah, there’s the tea!” she announced with a girlish giggle. “Shall I pour?”
“None for me, thanks,” Tonks supplied before she was asked.
“Never cared for the stuff,” Ginny echoed.
“Harry?” Umbridge demanded, beginning to sound a bit shirty.
“Er, sorry,” he stammered. “Having shared my Potions class with those two, I believe I’ll take a pass as well.”
Umbridge stopped with her cup half-way to her lips and glowered at him.
“What a heart-warming tableau,” Snape drawled dangerously as he leaned against the doorway leading from the Lupin wing. “One would almost think you were friends if one discounted the fireworks coming from Tonks’ hair.”
Umbridge’s cup rattled ominously in its saucer as she blindly placed in on the table before her.
“Why, Severus. Where did you come from?”
Voice dripping with sarcasm, Snape replied, “If it’s a lecture about the reproductive functions of wizarding society, I’m hardly an expert.”
Rounding on Harry, Umbridge railed, “I thought you said you weren’t expecting any visitors this evening.”
“Changed my mind at the last moment,” Snape supplied as he eased himself into everyone’s field of vision. No sense having others strain their necks just to tune into the floor show. “Did I arrive at an inopportune moment?”
Quickly recovering, Umbridge hissed, “Still haven’t succeeded in poisoning the students, have you, Severus?”
“They’re a resistant bunch of ingrates. Surely you remember that from your attempts to poison their minds.”
Harry chewed the inside of his cheek as a vein on Umbridge’s thick throat began to throb.
“You still haven’t adequately explained your presence!” Umbridge insisted.
“No?” Snape replied as he brazenly helped himself to a goblet of red wine. “Clearly I was issued an invitation from the Secret-Keeper or I wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the Fidelius shroud. Why do I sense that you arrived otherwise?”
“I’m here in an official capacity!” Umbridge bristled as she took a measured sip of tea. “The least you could do is offer refreshment to the others.”
“An exercise in futility. To wit: Tonks dislikes anything but white wine, Harry prefers the port on which he was weaned, and as for --”
“I prefer lemonade,” Ginny asserted. “A bit of tartness to counteract the sticky sweetness.”
Before Umbridge could react to the insolent look flashed in her direction, Snape interjected coolly, “Didn’t anyone ever chastise you for holding your hosts at bay? With their own wands, no less.”
“Wands away, children,” Ginny echoed in a pitch-perfect imitation of their despised Dark Arts lessons.
“I should’ve set you lines along with Potter, Missy,” Umbridge snarled as the plate of untouched biscuits teetered on the tray before her. “Or would I have found the two of you blithely inking obscenities upon each other’s naked skin?”
Unfazed, Snape warned, “I believe I speak for all when I protest being subjected to your sexual fantasies.”
Harry barely restrained himself from snidely insinuating that she save that for another occasion “ when she was alone. But he hadn’t Snape’s audacity, not by any means. He and Ginny would just have to laugh about it later.
“As for your former students,” Snape issued, “I’m fairly certain they’ve had enough of your dominatrix ways.”
“Such a caustic tongue, Severus,” Umbridge hissed as she slowly rose to her feet. “I would be doing the world a favor by sheathing it permanently.”
“You can try,” Snape taunted as he closed in with blanched palms held up to emphasize that he was unarmed.
“I can report you for not submitting to an official visit,” she cautioned as her pudgy fingers closed over the wands in her possession.
Snape tossed his hair with disdain. “As an outside visitor, I’m not bound by those rules. Later you can accuse me of being an inhospitable boor; no one will challenge your allegations.”
With a snarl, Umbridge lunged as magic ricocheted wildly about the room. The chandelier over the dining table exploded, sending slivers of glass raining down upon hastily covered heads. In a blur of motion, Snape had his own wand in hand and shot an unfamiliar spell towards the Toad Woman’s fist. With a muttered curse, she dropped the bundled wands and backed away, eyeing them warily as one would a poisonous viper.
Snape issued a sinister chuckle worthy of the Dark Lord himself. “Really, Dolores,” he sneered languidly, “for someone who claims to have taught defensive skills, you show remarkably little regard for incompatible magical mixtures.”
In a mere heartbeat, he issued a terse “Vidris Reparo!” and the iridescent shards coalesced into crystal pendulums once more. A small twist of his wrist and the entire fixture re-attached itself to the ceiling, only the slightest sway to indicate it had been displaced.
With a derisive curl to his lip, Snape handily tucked his wand up his sleeve and called for a stalemate. “Clearly, you’ve already imposed on these people enough, Dolores.”
“I’m not leaving without the werewolf!” Umbridge insisted with all the emphasis of a mewling infant.
“And as we’ve told you before,” Tonks issued through wooden lips, “there is no werewolf here.”
“Of course, he’s not here,” Umbridge snapped. “What conversational skills does a werewolf possess?”
“If you’d ever engaged in a battle of wits with Remus, you wouldn’t say that,” Ginny stipulated.
“Perhaps I should make a cursory search myself,” Umbridge decided as she made a wide circle around the discarded wands which lay in her path.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Hermione spoke up sweetly from the kitchen doorway. “Since you’re no longer employed by the Ministry, you could be considered a trespasser.”
“Not when I’m accompanied by members of the Capture Unit,” Umbridge growled. “You really should check the bylaws of your own Department, girl.”
“Oh, I did,” Hermione crooned as she stepped aside to allow Umbridge to see the Stunned figures of Crabbe and Goyle leaning drunkenly against the window seat.
“Indisposed would be my guess,” Ron announced from the other side of the room, effectively blocking Umbridge’s escape route in that direction as well.
“You didn’t really think those two idiots prepared the tea, did you?” Snape suggested to the impotent fury on Umbridge’s face. “Surely you recall from previous attempts to educate them that they share the same tired brain cells they keep passing back and forth between the two of them.”
“Or you would have, if you’d actually attempted to teach instead of babysit,” Hermione emphasized.
“I have to wonder, Madam, what the consensus would’ve been if your lessons had been inspected,” Snape dared.
“A teacher who says such things is likely to find himself before an empty classroom,” Umbridge threatened as she folded her meaty arms across her chest.
“Not that it wouldn’t have been preferable to your non-lessons,” Ron dismissed.
“Teddy, you’re trying your father’s patience,” Poppy provided with a stern look.
“No, I’m not,” he countered matter-of-factly.
“Let’s go over the facts: you know where Phoebe is.” At Teddy’s nod, Remus raised his little finger. “She’s not outside.” The ring finger joined the other. “She’s safe from predators.” Third finger. “Will Molly find her?”
“Not at the Burrow,” Teddy maintained with a stubborn set to his jaw.
“Will she be happy to meet Harry’s visitor?”
Teddy stopped to think for a moment then admitted, “I’m not sure about the last part. You’d have to ask her. She’s probably wondering where her supper is.”
Minerva smiled graciously. “Of course. Why don’t I order a plate of sandwiches for all of us? That should lure Phoebe out of hiding.”
As soon as Minerva was out of earshot, Remus leveled a steely look at his son. “Riddle time is over; you win. Where’s Rabbit?”
Nonplussed, Teddy handed the furry parcel into his father’s arms.
“Not this rabbit! Your sister “ who goes by that nickname!” Remus hissed.
“But it’s the same thing!” Teddy declared.
“Spook, how can you confuse a rabbit with a little girl?” Arthur gave him a piercing look.
As Teddy turned imploring eyes towards his father, Remus felt the universe jolt in the most unsettling manner. “Are you trying to tell us that the rabbit and little girl get themselves mixed up on their own?”
“You definitely took too much of that medication,” Poppy announced as she wove her fingers around the soft black and white fur to feel for Remus’ pulse.
“What will it take for us to see the truth as you see it?” Remus posed, focusing exclusively on his son.
“When she feels accepted,” Teddy answered. “Fear makes her retreat.”
To a man who had spent the better part of his life seeking the approval of others, it made perfect sense. “Then come cuddle next to me,” Remus told his son as he scooted the covers back.
Arthur and Poppy watched in awe as Remus spoke softly to the bunny he cradled in his arms as Teddy stroked the long, velvety ears that were stretched along its back. They couldn’t help being drawn to the heart-warming scene between father and son “ even if they could make no sense of their actions.
“Fine!” Umbridge spat. “If you won’t turn over the werewolf, then tell me where I can find him! By your smug expression, Severus, it’s obvious you know.”
“Lupin’s at Hogwarts, but you’re not likely to be invited past those gates,” Snape volunteered. “He’s being treated for a cut on his hand.” At the worried looks from the sofa, he added, “A mere scratch, I assure you.”
“Only a knucklehead like that half-breed, Hagrid, would tend to a werewolf during the full moon,” Umbridge harrumphed. “Compassion for all beasts and even less brain power.”
“I hate to disillusion you…” Snape’s attitude clearly conveyed he didn’t. “…but Lupin’s in the Hospital Wing.”
“So the intrepid matron bandaged his little paw and tucked him into his den,” Umbridge surmised. “I should’ve realized he was on the Wolfsbane regimen.”
“Perhaps we should just let Dolores show up at the school,” Harry put forth. “The Headmistress surely remembers the Stunners that were sent her way.”
“Although Hagrid’s not likely to comprehend her unintelligible squeals to unlock the gates,” Ron goaded.
Suddenly on alert, Umbridge’s eyes narrowed as she surveyed the intractable faces surrounding her. “Why are you so anxious that I leave? What would I find at Hogwarts?”
“Being a gentleman, I will ignore the first,” Snape drawled.
“As to the second, you’d find your objective,” Hermione promised. “Although not curled up on the rug as you expect.”
“An un-housebroken cur should be sent to the paddock,” Umbridge concurred.
Snape sighed dramatically as he finished his last swallow of wine. “At the risk of haunting your nightmares, you’ll find Lupin retains his humanity in spite of the moon. Not in an allegorical sense, but literally.”
“Such a thing isn’t possible!” Umbridge decried. “If you’d discovered a cure, your trumpet section would have announced it to the world!”
“Not a cure,” Tonks admitted. “A different method of treatment.”
“Why should I believe you?” Umbridge railed.
“Because I, myself, perfected the unique combination that keeps the more debilitating effects of lycanthropy at bay,” Snape volunteered with quiet dignity.
“You’d revolutionize the world…” Umbridge protested.
“Only a very small, insignificant portion of it,” Snape clarified. “Not much of a market share to make or break my enterprise. Might undermine some of the more ingrained prejudices, though.” At Umbridge’s persistent glare, Snape added in a bare whisper, “Or just the stranglehold others possess over the sources of potion ingredients.”
“Something to throw up in the Minister’s face, not mine!” Umbridge rallied. “If you can convince him to take the mickey, that is!” Tossing her head in Hermione’s direction, she growled, “I’m not about to fall for your tall tales, not this time.”
“No, of course not,” Hermione shot back with relish. “You never much rubbed elbows with those you wished to oppress during your days in the Magical Creatures Department.”
“All werewolves are the same dark creatures, aren’t they?” Tonks prompted.
“Like Fenrir Greyback,” Harry finished.
“A singularly unpleasant fellow,” Umbridge snorted. “Another man mired in the throes of post-adolescence is hardly one for the record books. Don’t try to tell me otherwise.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Ron conceded lowly.
“Determined to see evil intentions beneath every olive branch we held out to him,” Umbridge retorted.
“Jaded by experience, I warrant,” opined Snape.
“What did he know of good or evil?” Umbridge emphasized. “How dare he compare the Ministry with Voldemort’s forces and decry that there was no difference!”
“Because that’s how he saw it. A puppet by any other name…” Snape drew her out.
“How can one negotiate with such a beast?” she argued.
“See, that’s your error right there: assuming that Greyback speaks for other werewolves,” Snape objected. “His ego thrusts his cruel face into the limelight, but that’s it. He may envision himself as the werewolf Messiah, but it’s a self-aggrandizing delusion.”
Tonks took up the thread. “Like any other segment of the population, werewolves are individuals. Each unique and as much unlike the other as humanly possible. But it’s not an organized group. Despite attempts to the contrary, Greyback hasn’t realized his dark dreams of domination.”
By the time Minerva arrived Levitating the supper tray before her, Remus had his daughter securely embraced in his arms. His fingers joined Teddy’s as they stroked her long, straw-colored hair.
“She was there all along!” Arthur marveled.
“Well, I never…” Poppy began only to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. She held out a tentative hand to touch Phoebe’s arm and was rewarded with a shy smile.
“Did you know this?” Minerva asked as the pieces fell together before her.
Remus shook his head as his lips curled upward. “The Healers always said it was a possibility…But Animorphmagi are exceedingly rare. The stuff of legend, really.”
“Not with one in your very own family,” Poppy observed.
“What did you call Phoebe?” Teddy inquired with indomitable curiosity. “An Annie Magus?”
“Not quite, Spook. An Animagus is what Harry and I are when we use wands to change into animal shapes.”
“Some master the transformation wandlessly,” Minerva explained. “It takes a lot more energy, but I understand Remus had some school chums who could do it. Am I right about Sirius and James?” she posed.
“Peter never had enough control,” Remus supplied.
“He surprised us in other ways,” Arthur noted dryly.
“So Rabbit is just like you and Harry?” Teddy sought clarification.
“Not really,” Remus extrapolated. “She’s more like you and your mum actually. We can all change clothes and hair color if we study the proper spells, but the two of you manage it as easily as drawing a breath of air. It’s contained within your very essence. It’s the same way for Phoebe.”
“Can she be different animals?” Teddy pressed.
“It’s too soon to tell,” Remus considered. “We’ll just have to wait and see how her magic develops as she grows older. There isn’t a lot known about Animorphmagi.”
“And everyone’s different,” Poppy added softly. “I don’t have to tell you that.”