Chapter 3: Chipper As Ever

Chipper As Ever

July 22nd, 1997

"Sirius?" Hermione touched his cheek affectionately, her worry written clear as day on her face as he stared at her in shock. When she said his name, he opened his mouth to repeat the only word he had uttered since waking: Mia . "Sirius, it's Hermione. You're going to be just fine. We're here with Remus and Tonks. You're safe."

Sirius's wide, grey eyes stared at her as if she were the only thing in the room that mattered. His fingers flittered over her skin as gentle as a butterfly's wings-worshipping her. Finally, he swallowed hard, his gaze turning over Hermione's shoulder to Remus, who stood there looking grief-stricken as he slowly shook his head.

No .

Sirius removed his hand quickly from Hermione's face as though he had been burnt and turned his focus completely away from her, trying to move, but physically unable to.

He hissed as pain shot through his body. "Fuck, it feels like I haven't moved my legs in…" He looked up at his surrounding audience. "What happened?"

"You should get some rest, Sirius," Hermione instructed. "Remus will explain everything when you feel better. I have to get back to The Burrow. Harry's coming home soon," she offered with a bright smile.

Her words triggered something inside of him: panic. "Is Harry all right? I remember…" He blinked rapidly before shutting his eyes tightly in an attempt to focus. "I remember something."

"Don't worry about it. Focus on getting better," Hermione urged. "Meanwhile, Harry is perfectly safe and healthy."

Sirius silently nodded in reply, finally looking up at her, grateful for the news of Harry's safety. Tears began forming in her eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks, and it was physically painful for him to not brush them off her skin.

She smiled at him and leant forward, pressing her lips to Sirius's forehead, and he shivered in response.

"I have to go." Standing quickly, she turned to Remus, hugging him close to her and chastely kissing his cheek. "Thank you."

Sirius watched as Remus clenched his jaw tightly while the girl held onto him, his gaze meeting Tonks's sad smile as he let Hermione go.

"Thank you. I can't tell you…" Remus began but looked down, clearing his throat.

"Then don't." Hermione turned to give Tonks a hug. "Thank you so much for your help."

Tonks grinned and hugged her back. "You know me, always up for a little adventure."

Hermione laughed and made her way toward the Floo, glancing back once more. As brown eyes met grey, she exhaled shakily and turned her attention back to Remus and Tonks. "Can you call an Order meeting? Tomorrow night? If he's well enough, bring him to the Burrow; if not, then… I'll just explain as best I can, but the Order needs to know." She gave them all a smile as she threw the powder into the fireplace and said, "The Burrow!"

"What the hell happened, Remus?" Sirius roared the moment Hermione vanished. He sat up, albeit too quickly, and started to slide off the sofa before Tonks rushed to his side to help him stay upright. He grimaced, bringing a hand to his head.

"You should be resting, idiot," Tonks scolded. "Do you want some Sleeping Draught?"

"I want some firewhisky," Sirius grumbled.

"That's definitely not going to happen." Remus shook his head firmly as he approached the fireplace.

On the mantle rested a stack of parchment, an inkwell, and a set of quills. While Sirius complained under his breath from the sofa, Remus scribbled out several short notes, folded them quickly, and walked over to the window where a small cage housed a young barn owl. "Get these to the Order," he instructed, passing the bird a small treat before attaching the neatly folded pieces of parchment to her foot. "The Burrow first."

The owl promptly took flight through the open window, and Remus let out a small sigh before turning back to his recently-returned friend.

"Coffee then? Am I allowed coffee? Or am I back in Azkaban where every move I make is dictated for me?" Sirius said, his voice gravelly as he levelled Remus with a hard glare to emphasise his indignation.

"Well, you're just as chipper as you've ever been, love." Tonks stood, dusting her hands off on her robes. "I'll go and get you some tea." She paused as Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. "No, you'll drink tea . Hermione was insistent that you need rest." She smirked at him before turning, squeezing Remus's hand, and then leaving the boys in the living room.

"What happened, Remus?" Sirius asked again, this time at a lower volume.

He scanned the room, immediately recognising it as the old Lupin Cottage where Remus had grown up. Sirius had not been here since Voldemort's return. Before that, it had been when he had broken out of Azkaban and fled Hogwarts on Buckbeak's back. He had gone to the cottage for a quick stop to get information before making a break for it and spending another year on the run.

Remus chuckled, but the laughter never reached his eyes. "That's the question, isn't it?"

Sirius stared into the face of his best friend, catching sight of many new lines, a few extra scars, and a bit more grey hair than he remembered. "Mia?"

"Hermione."

Scowling at the correction, Sirius cleared his throat. "She's grown up."

Remus angled his brow at his friend. "Still Hermione ."

"Shit."

"Agreed."

"Harry?"

"You've missed a bit since you've been gone."

"He's all right, though? Safe? I remember fighting." Sirius narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to focus on the details that he felt were slipping away from him. His emotions ran strong-worry and panic at the very top of the list-but also the brilliant feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"Department of Mysteries. Voldemort put a vision in Harry's head and made him think you'd been captured. Harry and his friends broke into the Ministry to save you," Remus explained in short sentences as he tried to fill in the blanks, while Sirius put the pieces together himself.

"I think I remember something like that," Sirius muttered. Suddenly, an image flooded his mind, and his fists clenched. "My cousin?"

"Tonks?" Remus blinked and glanced toward the kitchen where he could hear his wife putting on the kettle.

"No," Sirius growled fiercely, shaking at the memory. "The crazy bitch!"

"Bella," Remus hesitantly confirmed. "She got away."

"Fuck!" Sirius threw his arms and legs out in frustration, unable to reach anything to throw or break, and became abruptly aware that he could not feel a wand on himself. He looked up and saw the familiar piece of chestnut wood resting on a nearby table, and he snatched it up quickly, checking to make sure it had not been damaged.

At the feel of his wand in hand, Sirius scowled as the memories came flooding back. The Department of Mysteries. He had gone to rescue Harry. Not just Harry, though. No, she had been there too. She and a number of other students: the youngest Weasleys, he remembered; Alice and Frank's boy had been there; and there was a girl who bore a striking resemblance to a witch Sirius had been acquainted with in school.

There had been fighting. Death Eaters had broken into the Ministry: Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix, and a number of other people Sirius had the misfortune to know by name.

"I remember duelling," he recalled laboriously. "And you and Tonks were there. Kingsley and Moody too. Some big room that looked like the most depressing theatre I've ever seen."

"It's a room in the Department of Mysteries. Appropriately called the Veil Room or… the Death Room."

Sirius's eyes widened as he peered up at his friend. "She killed me, didn't she?"

"To be fair, you're not exactly dead right now," Remus said with an awkward shrug.

Sirius glared at him impatiently. "You know what I mean, Moony!"

"Well, yes and no. She didn't physically kill you, but she is the one who caused you to fall into the veil."

"And Mia brought me back?"

" Hermione brought you back, yes," Remus corrected him again.

Sirius snarled at him. "Don't talk to me like I'm stupid, Remus. I know who she is."

It was starting to feel like their first real conversation after the incident in the Shrieking Shack following his breakout from Azkaban: Sirius asking questions, demanding answers, and Remus constantly setting him straight on the proper use of names.

"No, we both know there's a difference," Remus insisted. His eyes, while normally a soft green colour in human form, briefly flashed specks of gold-the wolf coming to the forefront as it did during stressful and emotional peaks.

Sirius caught the change immediately and inclined his head until Remus's eyes softened once more. "How have you been handling it?"

"Not… well." Remus shook his head. "It was hard enough dealing with the ghosts of my past before you… left, but between losing you, the war, and… other inconveniences, I sometimes have difficulties even on days when the moon isn't closing in on me."

Sirius nodded sympathetically. The extra grey hair was starting to make sense.

"Tonks has been very understanding, all things considered," Remus added quietly.

Catching the tone, Sirius glanced down at Remus's modest wedding band and smirked, glad for something to break the uncomfortable tension in the room. "You married my cousin? I knew you were stupidly in love with her, but I didn't think you'd ever take the leap, Moony. You're old enough to be her father, you know."

Remus rolled his eyes dramatically. "If that isn't the cauldron calling the kettle black."

Sirius grinned. "I'm always Black."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Remus clapped Sirius on the shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Padfoot. If you're well enough to make terrible name puns, then the world has somehow righted itself."

"Drink up, love," Tonks said as she walked in with two cups in hand, passing one over to Sirius and the other to her husband who smiled up at her with grateful, adoring eyes. Sirius chuckled softly as he caught the glance, shaking his head in amusement at the idea of the two of them married.

Tonks smiled down at him. "You all right then, Sirius?"

He gave her a lopsided grin. "I will be. You know me. Can't keep this old dog down. And speaking of old dogs…" He winked at his young cousin. "Looks like you finally got this one collared."

Remus growled in reply, and Tonks ran her fingers affectionately through his hair. "Yeah, I did," she said with a hint of triumph in her voice. "You should see the matching leash."

Sirius let out a loud, barking guffaw while Remus groaned.

"Right, boys," Tonks said with a laugh. "You look after each other. I've got to get back to the Ministry before they realise I'm not there. I need to make sure no one caught our great escape."

Remus stood to walk her to the fireplace. "Be careful."

"Always am, love." She grinned, kissing him quickly before vanishing into the Floo.

Sirius sat up straight, grimacing as he finished his tea and set his empty cup on a nearby table, surreptitiously scanning the room for Remus's stash of firewhisky. He knew that his friend's father had had an old shelf in the corner of the room that housed the few decent bottles ever on hand; ones that Sirius, Remus, and James had constantly been replacing the few times they had been allowed over prior to their sixth year at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, while the shelf was still present, the beautiful bottles of liquid amber had been replaced with wedding photos.

Temporarily giving up on his treasure hunt, Sirius ran his hands over his beard thoughtfully. "All right, fill me in. What's happened with Harry?"

"We're at war, officially," Remus said on the end of an exhausted sigh.

Sirius scraped his hair back from his face. "We're always at war."

"True, but this time the Ministry isn't arguing the point. Rather, they're going above and beyond the call of duty to remind the people how safe we all are and how everything's under control." At this statement, both men made rude hand gestures.

"Which essentially means that it's worse than we imagined?"

Remus nodded in reply. "Moody's sure that the Ministry has been infiltrated by Death Eaters." When Sirius raised an incredulous brow at the declaration, Remus added, "Kingsley agrees with him."

"That's good enough for me." Sirius ran a fidgety hand through his hair, contemplating its length. "How long was I gone?" While it could not have been too long, the way Remus and Tonks spoke suggested that a lot had happened in his absence.

"A little over a year," Remus answered.

"Shit," Sirius groused. "Haven't I lost enough years?"

"We'll be collecting Harry in a few days," Remus said, trying to distract his friend. "The Order has put together a plan. It's his coming of age next week. We'll be removing him from his aunt and uncle's house permanently."

Sirius's nose twitched in disgust. "Sodding pricks."

"We're being paired off when we go to Little Whinging. Half of us will be Polyjuicing ourselves into Harry's likeness to distract potential ambushing Death Eaters."

"Good plan. Mia's idea? Girl's always loved her Polyjuice."

" Hermione," Remus clarified again. "No. It was Mundungus's actually."

Sirius raised a sceptical brow and scoffed incredulously. "I highly doubt that, Moony."

"So," Remus carried on, ignoring Sirius's disbelief, "we'll pair off, fly out to separate safe houses, and Portkey back to the Burrow. It's headquarters now."

"What about Grimmauld Place? My mum's screaming finally drive you lot out?"

Remus turned his attention briefly away from Sirius's stare. "We think it may have been compromised."

"Impossible. Dumbledore is the Secret-Keeper. It can't be compromised, and I know because I made him the Secret-Keeper myself. I know better now than to be switching Keepers about. Fool me once-"

"Sirius, he's dead."

Sirius gaped in shock at Remus, feeling the blood rush out of his face. He opened his mouth to say something, likely on the profane side, but no words came to him.

"I'm sorry," Remus continued, "there's no easy way to say it."

A heavy silence fell over the room as the two friends sat, regarding one another. Remus held Sirius's gaze as he flashed between anger, confusion, and grief-trying to focus on not letting his emotions get the better of him.

He tried not to take his fury out on his friend. Remus had been there during the moments of Sirius's life when he had lost people: his father and brother, James's parents. Though Remus had not been there the night James and Lily were killed, Sirius knew that he understood well enough to know that it took a thing like death to bring him to tears, however angrily he fought them off.

"Who?" Sirius finally broke the silence, the word pushing through his teeth on the edge of a low growl.

"Snape," Remus said quickly.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Sirius stood up and kicked the nearby table hard enough that it flipped over, knocking the teacups to the ground. He staggered briefly, trying to establish balance, his strength still greatly lacking. "I knew it! I told you! I told all of you that we couldn't trust that snivelling traitor!"

"Well, you'll have a lot of time to say 'I told you so,' but it won't do a bloody thing to change what's already happened." Remus moved from his seat, flicking his wand to repair the damage Sirius had caused.

As the two men stood face-to-face, Sirius looked into Remus's eyes belligerently. His friend had a good four or five inches on him and was clearly using that leverage to get Sirius to calm down and return to his seat on the sofa.

"Dumbledore's dead, Grimmauld Place is compromised, Snape's a traitor, Voldemort is infiltrating the Ministry, and Harry's in danger. He's always in danger," Remus said, taking a step forward and forcing Sirius back.

The friends growled at one another, their canine and lupine counterparts vying equally for territory. Sirius's nose twitched, and he let out a low, dog-like whine when Remus growled louder and stepped forward again, invading his space. When a sharp pain stung his shoulder-a magical reminder of his place when it came to the old game of werewolf versus Animagus-Sirius finally backed down, and he collapsed on the sofa behind him, unable to stand any longer.

"So, where do I come in?" he asked in defeat, arms crossed over his chest like a petulant child stuck in the corner. "I assume Mi- Hermione had a purpose for bringing me back? Some grand plan where I am greatly needed?"

"Actually, no." Remus shook his head, looking surprised by the day's events. "Not that I'm not thrilled you're alive, Padfoot, believe me, but she gave no reason. Mentioned that she'd discovered something while researching and needed to get into the Department of Mysteries to test a theory. That's all she said. I agreed, of course, because I naturally assumed she was going there-"

"To get the Time-Turner?" Sirius interrupted him.

"Yeah," Remus affirmed. "We found the Time Room, but after a minute of looking around, she left to find the room with the veil."

"So she didn't… ?"

"No. She didn't get it."

"So, what does that mean?" Sirius asked, panic in his voice. "How old is she?"

"Almost eighteen."

Sirius did the math in his head. "Another year?"

Remus nodded. "If we survive it."

"And then what?"

"And then I do my part," Remus said with a small smile as he reached into his robes and removed a Time-Turner.

"… and you think we're just going to let you, Harry, and Hermione go gallivanting off on some harebrained adventure!?"

Hermione could hear Mrs Weasley screaming from the kitchen the moment she stepped out of the fireplace. Wincing, she tried to quietly make her way toward the staircase in order to avoid being caught up in the conversation that Ron should have had with his parents weeks ago.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ron called after spotting her. "Don't go throwing me under the bus!"

She turned and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her red-headed best friend, a dare in her eyes. "If you can remember what that expression means, I will gladly step in and fix this for you."

Ron stared back, stuttering out a few syllables as his ears turned red.

"Hermione?" Mrs Weasley appeared in the doorway, and her gaze worried. "Could you please explain to me why my son thinks he's not going back to school this year?"

Hermione sighed in defeat but not before glowering in Ron's direction. "I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley, but we have to do this. It's up to Harry now. It's always been up to Harry, and I, for one, am not going to let him go it alone," she tried to explain. "Ron has voiced that he feels the same."

Mrs Weasley's voice was high, bordering on a shriek as she demanded, "And where are you going? What will you be doing? Why can't the Order or, Merlin forbid, your own parents know about it?"

Hermione flinched at the word parents, and Mrs Weasley caught the reaction immediately.

"Oh, my dear girl." She walked quickly over and pulled Hermione into a hug. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but… I can't lose any of my children. That includes you, just so that you're aware."

"I know." Hermione nodded. "But we've put our trust in Dumbledore and in Harry. Unfortunately, this mission is not the only thing we need to deal with. Harry needs to come here-come home," she clarified with a sad smile as she looked up at Mrs Weasley, who was now crying for what was clearly not the first time that day.

The conversation was interrupted by a tapping sound at a nearby window. Hermione inhaled sharply as she recognised Remus's owl. Ron raised a questioning brow, catching her reaction, but she shook her head, a silent plea for him to drop whatever suspicions he had about the anxiety on her face.

"Order meeting tomorrow," Mr Weasley said as he walked into the room. "Remus says it's important, but that we shouldn't worry ourselves."

"Easier said than done," Mrs Weasley said with a huff. "Don't think you're getting out of this, young man." She pointed a stern finger at Ron who swallowed, a lump in his throat, and nodded his head hastily as his parents left the room.

Once out of their sight, Ron snatched Hermione's hand, practically dragged her up the many flights of stairs to his room, and slammed the door shut.

"Silencing Charm," Hermione scolded him before he opened his mouth.

" Muffliato !" Ron threw it up quickly and turned to face Hermione. "What was that about? You knew that the Order was getting together tomorrow?"

"Yes. I was with Tonks and Remus today," she revealed calmly.

"What's it about? Something wrong with Harry? Has the plan changed?" he demanded in obvious panic.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Sit down before you pass out. No, the plan has not changed as far as I'm aware. Just… something new." She shrugged her shoulders lightly and knelt on the floor where she removed the mediwitch kit from her bag. "Remind me to refill this tomorrow. I need to make sure our potions are stocked and ready before we go."

"Why's it empty?"

She sighed. "You'll find out soon enough."

The worried edge of his voice grew more pronounced as he asked, "Hermione, what's going on?"

She turned to face him. "Calm down. I'm fine. It's just, well, tomorrow at the meeting there are going to be a few people who are very happy with me, and some others who are probably going to be very angry ."

"What did you do with Tonks? I thought you were putting together a wedding present for Fleur?"

"I lied."

"You lied? Why would you lie to me?"

"Because if anyone knew what I was planning on doing, no one would have let me out of the house. Before you ask me again, no, I'm not telling you. You'll just have to wait. I hope, however, that no matter what happens tomorrow, you'll be by my side." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. " On my side."

"Of course," Ron assured her, "but I don't like the secrets."

"I know you don't. I'm sorry."

"Am I going to be one of the people who's happy with you, Hermione?"

"I hope so. But really, in the end, it was all for Harry. He'll be happy, and that's what matters."