Chapter 289

"Well, are you cured?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, causing Nymphadora and Sirius to look even more surprised.

"How is that?" Black looked at me blankly.

"There are some consequences remained, it seems, because of the basilisk carcass as a source of energy. But no loss of control and transformations. According to calculations, it turns out that I am not contagious either, and the result just changed my nature a little."

"What about the headmaster? It must be a dark ritual..."

"What's so dark about it? Dark magic is magic whose only meaning and essence is to cause harm. According to the Ministry's classification, there's a whole coven of dark wizards around here. It's called Mungo. And that's where they heal people."

The door opened, and Andromeda, in her bright yellow robe, walked into the room, immediately closing the door in front of the four redheads and one black-haired boy.

"Mrs. Tonks," I nodded in greeting.

"Mom..." jumped Nymphadora. "Here..."

The girl pointed her hand at Lupin lying in bed.

"I'm not blind, Dora. Max..." she nodded to me and then to Sirius. Then she walked over to the bed and took her wand out of the depths of her robe, and began to move it around Lupin's head. After a dozen seconds, Andromeda cast a couple of wound-healing and tissue-restoring spells and a couple more unknown to me.

"That's it. Injuries are minor thanks to timely assistance," Mrs. Tonks summarized. "Give him Skele-Gro six drops per glass of water, and the damaged bones in his skull will recover. A simple Wiggenweld Potion, coupled with his increased regeneration, will restore the rest."

Andromeda stepped away from the bed and looked at me.

"I wrote you letters," I smiled, wanting to see the reaction.

"Don't get me wrong," she smiled back. "We are all connected with the Order in one way or another. We all avoided any outside contact in any way until a fully protected shelter was finally established. A reliable means of communication will appear in a couple of days, and we thought to answer you just then. To be sure that neither the message nor the addressee could be intercepted. We contacted ourselves with the help of Fawkes and two special breeds of owls."

"We don't know," Nymphadora took the floor. "Even with information from their side, what exactly Voldemort will do. Yes, and I wrote to you right after the start of the holidays, but the owl flew back."

It looks like Kreacher took my instruction too literally to "lock himself up" in the house on Grimmauld.

"I see. Okay. Anyway," I got up from my chair, "I should mind my own business, too."

"Max!" jumped from Nymphadora's chair. "You wanted to see what the Order is capable of?"

"Let's say," I turned around at the door.

"Would you like a little sparring? There is a duel hall," the girl smiled predatorily.

Sirius was paying all his attention to worrying about Lupin, and Andromeda just shook her head dejectedly.

"Don't confuse a fight with a duel, Nymphadora, but I agree. Lead on."

"And don't call me Nymphadora," she remembered suddenly, heading for the door and opening it. "Follow me."

Outside the door, as before, the redheads and Potter were waiting.

"What's going on?" Harry asked the question immediately.

"Yo, Max!" the twins nodded in sync, smiling, and Ron's place was taken by Bill, who had recently shown up here in a business suit but still wearing the same dragon skin boots. He didn't say hello, but he looked at me in surprise.

"Lupin got shot, but it's all right," said Nymphadora, "And we have a duel."

"Hmm..." grunted Bill, and if Potter headed into the room, then the twins, who had been silent for the time being, Ginny and Bill followed us.

"A duel?" Ginny spoke up. "How serious is it?"

"We'll just test each other's strength."

"Yeah? Okay, then."

The girl turned toward the stairs. The twins looked at each other.

"We'll go check on the Marauder, too, then."

The boys headed back to the room where Lupin was resting.

We went down to the first level of the basement, where we walked literally a couple of meters down a gloomy stone hallway to a large wooden double door.

"Come in," Nymphadora pushed the door open, and we found ourselves in a spacious and simple stone hall with high ceilings. The room was divided into two sections. The smaller one, closer to the entrance, had sofas, a table, and a couple of narrow and tall bookcases. A much larger part was completely empty. There was nothing to look at except the bare stone walls and floor. Even the light here was the same as in the Chamber of Secrets - it is not clear where it comes from, but good enough both for reading and fighting.

"So," Nymphadora turned sharply, putting her hands on her hips. "Max and I go there."

The girl nodded toward a large, empty part of the room.

"And you're here," she added for Bill.

Unbeknownst to us, Andromeda appeared here, all in the same yellow robe.

"If anything happens, I'll put your arms and legs back in place."

Bill grunted once again. I took off my robe, remaining in a casual black suit of pants, high toe boots, and a hoodie.

"Restrictions?"

"No unforgivable and dark spells. It's a duel, Max."

"All right..."