Adventures in Shopping and Disappearances
“This is absolutely the last time I go grocery shopping with you.”
“Oh, you know you love my taste in food.”
“I think that’s the only thing I like about you right now.”
“Then what’s your problem?”
“The obscene amount of food you can consume! Honestly, Padfoot, I’m a minimum wage worker in a bookstore and you’re just getting into the Academy and you seriously need four boxes of biscuits? Do you know how much that’s going to cost?”
Sirius grumbled indignantly, glaring down at the tiled floor for a moment before muttering, “I like sweets.”
“So do I, but looking at all of that is making me faintly ill.”
Sirius grinned cheekily. “Well, you’ve always had a weak stomach.”
Remus groaned, shaking his head as he bent down and removed three boxes of biscuits from the cart and replaced them on the shelf, much to Sirius’s dismay.
“Wet blanket,” Sirius muttered.
“Pig,” Remus shot back, heading forward to the next aisle in the store, leaving the biscuits to mingle with the boxes of coffee filters. Grocery shopping with Sirius turned out to be an adventure, one that involved several splitting headaches.
“You’re calling me a pig?” Sirius shouted, chasing after his roommate. “Don’t think I didn’t see you hide those four chocolate bars under the coffee!”
“Four chocolate bars are nothing compared to four boxes of biscuits,” Remus replied calmly as he selected two boxes of cereal. Merlin knew Sirius ate the stuff as if it was going out of style. “And besides, I was going to give you two.”
“Oh… well… that’s alright, then.” He knew he should be grateful he was even getting half of the chocolate Remus bought. The man’s addiction had only increased with his age, though they had all taken bets on whether or not it would disappear with time. James had said it would, Peter bet it would end by the time he was sixteen and Sirius said it would never end. It looked like Sirius was getting a nice payoff from James soon.
While Sirius was waiting for Remus to finish in that aisle, he snuck off into another and when he came back, he was grinning mischievously and slipped something into the cart when his friend wasn’t looking. “Oh, I like that cereal,” he commented casually.
“Yeah, I saw you eat three bowls of it in one sitting,” Remus said with a laugh, dropping it into the cart before his eyes caught something that hadn’t been in there before. Restraining himself from swearing, he plucked up the box Sirius had sneakily put in there. “Hair dye? Honestly, Padfoot?”
“For those pesky grey hairs!” Sirius replied cheerfully. His grin only widened at the infuriated look on Remus’s face. Honestly, sometimes it was too much fun to push Remus’s buttons until he snapped. It was when he snapped that things became less fun.
“I’m aware that having grey hairs at eighteen is unnatural. Do you really need to constantly remind me?”
“Absolutely!”
Remus’s lips thinned into a dangerous line before a chuckle escaped from them. He really couldn’t be mad. It was ridiculous that his hair was already greying and he was not even twenty yet. As much as he hated it, at least someone was able to joke about it. Remus shoved the box of hair dye onto the shelf and continued pushing the cart with Sirius trailing behind him, happily observing the rows and rows of food.
“You’d make a good dad, Remus,” Sirius finally piped up, falling into step with his roommate. “Or mum. Which parent does all the shopping?”
“The mother, Padfoot,” Remus replied, shaking his head. Now he was being compared to a woman. First the hair dye and now this. He wondered if it was too late to go back to his parents. “Why would you say that?”
“Because you do all the shopping and know how much to get and all that. And you put up with me, the perfect example of an obnoxious child!”
Remus chuckled before shooting Sirius a curious look. “Do you want me to just buy a wig and be done with it? I’m only doing this because if I let you do it, we’d be in debt for the rest of our lives. Low wage worker, remember, Padfoot?”
“Right,” Sirius said, grabbing a container of milk as they passed it. “We need milk, right?”
“Yes.” Remus paused and inspected the contents of the cart. It seemed that they had everything they needed. Now to see how much they would be spending on it all. “Come on, let’s go pay.”
“Have you heard from your parents lately?” Sirius asked curiously as they made their way to the checkout counter. Remus’s mother had written constantly during the first few weeks her son had left home, but he wasn’t sure if Remus had received a letter in a while. He supposed if Remus hadn’t, it meant Mrs. Lupin was getting used to her son moving away.
Remus shook his head as he and Sirius began unloading the cart for the woman at the counter to ring up. “Not recently. I s’ppose my mum is getting used to not having me around and my dad never really nagged me constantly so…” he trailed off as he placed the cereal on the counter. The woman at the counter, a brunette with blue eyes, was eyeing Sirius hopefully and he appeared to have noticed this.
“And how much will this all be, pretty lady?” Sirius asked the woman, who looked to be a year or so younger than they were, with a charming grin.
The woman couldn’t keep her cheeks from reddening and she, unconsciously it appeared, flipped her light brown hair as she rattled off the price. Remus and Sirius pooled their money and ended up just having enough to pay for everything. As they left, Sirius threw the woman a wink, to which she giggled, obviously pleased with herself.
“Hey, whatever happened to Emily Fort?” Remus asked suddenly, referring to the Ravenclaw prefect Sirius had dated for two years. “You remember her, your girlfriend?”
“Did I never tell you? We’re through.”
Remus blinked in surprise. “When did this happen?”
“Towards the end of the year. She told me she liked another bloke, wasn’t anything personal. So I didn’t make it anything personal.” Sirius shrugged. She was a nice girl and hadn’t done it to hurt him, so he wouldn’t hold it against her. Then, with another cheeky grin, he went on, “We need to find you a lady, Remus.”
“We’ve been through this, Sirius…” Remus started impatiently, staring straight ahead.
“And every time I come to the same conclusion “ girls-”
“‘Love a guy who can sing and play the piano,’” Remus said at the same time, rolling his eyes. “Let’s be realistic here for a moment.”
“I am being realistic, Moony. Honestly, you write yourself off for everything just because of your… you know, your furry little problem.”
Remus rolled his eyes at the old nickname James had given his Lycanthropy. It was so much easier for them to think on the positive side when they weren’t the ones who had to deal with it. He hadn’t written off of everything a normal person should be entitled to, society had written him off. Remus wasn’t stupid. He knew he should have everything going for him. He was smart, he was a good person. He knew these things.
“And you don’t know any better to write me off,” Remus retorted as they started down the street in the direction of their flat.
“You’ve just been cheerful all evening, haven’t you?”
“Sirius, do you realise how close I am to being fired?”
Sirius’s mouth dropped open and he halted in his tracks. “No, because you never bothered to tell me!” When he saw Remus had not stopped walking, he hurried forward to catch up. “Are you seriously going to be fired?”
“Mr. Foster’s hinted at it… a lot.” Remus turned the corner, sidestepping a man walking his dog. It was only earlier that day that Mr. Foster casually mentioned a store across the street that was happy to hire undedicated workers. “He’s all but told me that the next time I miss work, I’m out.”
“But you’ve told him you’re sick, haven’t you?” Sirius paused for a moment, wondering why Mr. Foster always had to have a broomstick stuck up his bum. Anyone with eyes could see that at a certain time, Remus was not healthy enough to work. He didn’t understand why it had to be taken out on him. Remus nodded. “And he doesn’t care?”
“He doesn’t care as long as he doesn’t know what it is and I’m not about to tell him he’s hired a bloody werewolf.”
“You want me to beat him up for you?” Sirius asked impertinently, knowing that his friend was just going to get more upset if he let the conversation continue going the way it was going. It was best to cheer him up now before it became unbearable living with him.
And, to Sirius’s relief, he saw the corners of Remus’s lips turn up. “And get me fired sooner? If I was fired already, maybe…” He shook his head. It was already the end of August and he had missed a good number of days because of the full moon, particularly after the last one. It had been coupled with work for the Order the night before and he was bloody exhausted. Sirius claimed that he, James and Peter had tried their best to keep him under control, but it hadn’t worked very well.
Needless to say, Remus’s boss was not pleased when he returned four days later for work and still appeared out of it.
“Look,” he continued as they climbed the stairs on the side of Mrs. Sherman’s building to their flat upstairs. “I can find another job if I have to.”
Sirius pulled out his key and slid it into the lock, shaking his head as he did so. “I can help, you know.”
“No, I think it’s better if I try and find the job for myself. Besides, I’ve still got this job.”
Their work with the Order kept the boys and Lily extraordinarily busy for the majority of the summer. Added to that was James’s Healer training every morning, Sirius’s Auror training five out of seven days and the articles Lily was writing for the Daily Prophet and they barely had time for personal lives. Remus managed to keep his job at the bookstore only by casually mentioning that it wasn’t morally right, or legally correct, for a boss to fire a worker because of health issues. At least, that was what Remus’s mother had told him when he had visited his parents and he just happened to mention it during work one day. Peter was also kept busy as he had bought a lot of land that housed a store up for rent in Hogsmeade and was preparing to turn it into a novelty shop.
There were two new additions to the Order over the summer “ the newlyweds Frank and Alice Longbottom, both of whom had joined Sirius in the Auror Academy. Alice and Frank were put through the same test the boys and Lily had gone through though Alice and Frank had the advantage of not only having the support of Dumbledore and Moody, but of five extra Order members. In a matter of weeks, the Longbottoms were officially part of the Order of the Phoenix and the extra help was greatly appreciated, not to mention sorely needed. It seemed that Voldemort’s army of Death Eaters grew every day and the Order just couldn’t keep up.
What was more, the Order didn’t know what to expect. They knew some of what Voldemort was up to, such as trying to recruit Dark creatures into his ranks and was trying to infiltrate the Ministry. But they didn’t know who the Death Eaters were that were trying to do this, though they had some suspicions and one or two confirmations. Sirius reluctantly divulged the information that his brother was among the Death Eaters, but Regulus was still at Hogwarts. They couldn’t do anything to him there and Dumbledore wouldn’t let them. Dumbledore probably believed that Regulus could change by the time he completed his career at Hogwarts. Sirius wasn’t holding his breath for that. Regulus had had his chance to get away and he didn’t take it. Whatever he got was well deserved, in Sirius’s opinion.
But, as under any circumstances, life during war went on. Sirius continued to go to his training, using his inheritance from Uncle Alphard to help pay the rent and living expenses. Between his training and work for the Order, he had no time for a job. Remus was just managing to keep his own job at the bookstore. Some days, after he finished up at the bookstore, he and Sirius would meet Peter in Hogsmeade and help him set up his shop. Peter was grateful for the help more than the company. Ever since Sirius and Remus became roommates and James moved into his own place, he felt they all had little contact with each other. True they worked together in the Order, but even then there were so many other people around, it was hard to have any time with his former roommates.
When James was not busy with his Healer training or work for the Order, he spent a great deal of time with Lily. He saw Lily when they were at Order meetings, but it wasn’t nearly the same as when he got to be alone with her. But they were both so busy that it became nearly impossible sometimes. When they could be alone, they made the best out of it. Since neither of them was keen on venturing out after dark (at least Lily wasn’t), they would stay in Lily’s flat some nights and ‘be Muggles’ as James liked to put it. They would watch old movies or order in and just talk. They didn’t need to go out or to a fancy restaurant to have a good time. On the nights when they could go out before dark, they usually went to the Three Broomsticks for a dinner. It didn’t really matter where they went or what they did. As long as it was Lily and James, they were happy.
“Why’s it so quiet?” James asked Sirius uncertainly, taking a seat beside his best friend. James and Lily had just arrived at the Order meeting Dumbledore called and they were shocked to find it eerily quiet. Usually the place would be lively with chatter.
Sirius, who was sitting with Remus and Peter on the long sofa, looked up at James and shrugged. “Dunno. We got here and they were all talking. The second they saw us, it went quiet.”
“Then it must be about one of you,” Lily assumed, sitting on the other side of James. When the four boys stared questioningly at her, she explained, “Honestly, that’s how it always goes. People will be talking and then the person they’re talking about walks in and everyone gets quiet. It has to about one of you three,” she concluded, nodding at Sirius, Remus and Peter, all of whom glanced uncertainly at each other.
“What have we done?” Remus asked, utterly nonplussed. They had done nothing except help the Order in any way they could. They certainly couldn’t be in trouble, could they?
“I don’t know,” Peter muttered, slouching in his seat and crossing his arms across his chest. He didn’t need this right now; he could be working on his shop right now, trying to get it to open sometime within the next century. If the rest of the Order wasn’t going to let them in on their little secret, couldn’t they just leave?
“They keep looking at us,” Sirius commented under his breath to James, who shrugged unhelpfully. He had only just gotten there and hadn’t noticed. Whatever was going on, he knew it wasn’t about him or Lily. He couldn’t deny that he was curious as to what brought this about. The whispers coming from the table varied from urgent to quiet.
Sirius spotted Frank, who had just broken away from the whispering group. “Oi, Longbottom! Care to let us in your little secret.”
Frank, whose face was pale, carefully went over to him. “You never cared to let us in on yours.”
Sirius noticed Frank’s eyes flicker over to Remus, who also saw this and paled at once. There was only one secret they had that would draw such a response. Well, two if they counted being illegal Animagi, but Remus was sure that wasn’t what they were talking about. “What secret?” he asked hoarsely, though he needn’t have to. He knew what secret they were discussing, he only had one.
“Moody figured it out, Dumbledore confirmed it. You didn’t think it’d get past the top Auror, did you?”
“Look, I was going to tell everyone eventually.”
“I shared a dormitory with you for seven years, how did I never figure it out?” The way Frank said this was more in a tone of disbelief at himself than it was anger at Remus. He had been studying to become an Auror for years and he couldn’t discern that he lived with a werewolf. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. It was obvious Remus went to great lengths to hide this, but his friends clearly knew. He knew they should because his four roommates were best friends, they would have found out. He was friends with Remus, obviously, but never to a great extent.
“What do the others say about it?” Remus asked hesitantly when he was sure Frank wasn’t going to chew him out about it. His mind was already going through several dozen scenarios that ranged from them being unrealistically accepting of his abnormality to being ridiculously disgusted by it.
“Moody’s a bit wary right now,” Frank began to explain, drawing up a chair for himself and sitting down. “But he’s talking it over with Dumbledore and Moody trusts Dumbledore more than anyone. If Dumbledore can trust you, Moody probably can.”
Remus let out a small breath of relief. He hoped that went for most of the Order. Remus always felt Dumbledore was foolish for trusting him as much as he did, but it was proving to be beneficial. “And the others?”
“There’s a… mixed reaction.” Frank looked over his shoulder at the group around the table, their heads bent together, whispering furiously. “Some aren’t sure they want to trust a werewolf, others are a bit more accepting of it and others are a bit mad that you never bothered to mention it.”
“Dumbledore said I should tell everyone when I was ready,” Remus replied, recalling a conversation he had had with the Headmaster about it. Though it was September now and they had been with the Order since July, he still wasn’t ready. It had taken him two years to be comfortable with his friends knowing. Dumbledore couldn’t expect him to be instantly comfortable with telling a group of people he barely knew. As it was, he would have told Frank and Alice before anyone else. At least he knew them. “They’re not ready to throw me out, are they?”
Frank shook his head. “No they won’t do that, but just be ready for whatever reactions they send you.”
“Err… how did Alice take it?” Remus nodded towards Frank’s wife. He had known her for a long time as well and he wondered if she would be upset that he hadn’t told her or, what he feared, would despise him for what he was. He sincerely hoped it wasn’t the latter.
Frank smiled at him reassuringly. “I believe the first words out of her mouth were ‘poor Remus! How does he handle it?’ She’s not mad at you at all. You’ve always been nice to her, she could never be mad at you.”
Remus nodded, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen ever so slightly. Before anyone could say anything else about the subject, Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and officially called the Order to the meeting. The boys and Lily pulled their chairs up to the table and waited patiently for Dumbledore to start the meeting.
“Now, I have called you all here to discuss the growth of suspected of Death Eater activity that has been increasing in London.” There was a faint murmur around the table. They were well aware of it. Over the past few weeks there had been many disappearances amongst Ministry workers, particularly in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It was only the fact that Sirius was still a trainee, and thought to be fairly worthless, that his friends weren’t worrying about him as much as they might have been. For people like Moody, however, there was a need to fret. But Moody was tough, he wouldn’t be taken down without a fight and the Death Eaters would be lucky to not escape a fight with him outside of a body bag. They also had a suspicion that no one was crazy enough to take Moody down.
“A Ministry official from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has disappeared. Mr. Warren Yearly, his name is and it is my impression that without him, Voldemort can easily access different Dark creatures and bring them under his wing.” Dumbledore did not fail to notice the several sets of eyes that instantly darted towards one of the Order members, whose face promptly turned three shades of red. With another clearing of his throat, Dumbledore regained the attention of his colleagues and with a reproachful look from their leader they ignored the werewolf among them. “I believe it is our responsibility to bring Yearly back. The Ministry is trying, but they are making little success.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” Gideon Prewitt asked, leaning back in his seat and watching Dumbledore expectantly. “If the Ministry is having a difficult time, what makes you think we’ll be able to do any better?”
“They would not be expecting someone outside of the Ministry to go after them,” Dumbledore replied calmly. “I have been informed that it is believed Death Eaters have set up camp in the Forest of Dean. If that is true, we will be able to find Mr. Yearly there. Now, before we decide who will take this mission, I have a personal request for Mr. Lupin to stay out of this.”
“Sir?” Remus didn’t understand why he was being told not to go. Out of all of them, he would probably be the most helpful, seeing as he was a Dark creature.
“We plan on starting this immediately and are not sure when it will end. The full moon is in two days, it would not due for you to be there when it falls.” Remus nodded stiffly, once again feeling all eyes on him. He hoped they were merely curious rather than scathing. Of course the bloody full moon would keep him from helping. But Dumbledore was right, his transformation would be the last thing they needed and his assistance would be hindered the day of the full moon anyway. He was already beginning to feel drained and the moon was still two days away.
“Maybe I should stay behind,” Sirius spoke up tentatively. He didn’t want his friend having to go through the full moon by himself, something had hadn’t done since Christmas of their seventh year. Someone needed to be there for him in case it got out of hand.
“No, you’re going to go, Sirius,” Remus said firmly, knowing that Sirius wanted to help and, more importantly, could help. Remus was aware that the eyes of the Order members were on him still. “I’ll be fine.”
“Question, Albus,” Aberforth said unexpectedly. Usually Aberforth was quiet during meetings, listened rather than spoke.
“Yes?” Dumbledore replied politely.
“How do we know Lupin can be trusted? What if the moment he gets the chance, he goes and informs those like him that some of us are coming? We can’t risk a group of werewolves attacking and making us just like them.”
“We don’t even know it’s werewolves that are involved in this,” James snapped, half out of his seat. “We just know it’s Death Eaters.”
“Yeah, and everyone knows that the Dark creatures are in the Death Eaters’ pockets.”
“Aberforth,” Dumbledore said warningly.
“Please, Dumbledore, I’m not the only one thinking it. How do we know we can trust him?” He jerked an angry thumb in Remus’s direction. Remus felt himself sliding down in his seat as if he was trying to hide. Soon only his bright red forehead would be visible. “He never even bothered to tell us what he is, that’s not something someone trustworthy would do.”
“No, I agree,” Dumbledore said mildly, drawing looks of utter shock from the boys and Lily. How could Dumbledore say that? He, of all people, would understand why Remus was hesitant to reveal the nature of his condition. “It’s something someone who has been mistrusted and mistreated for a good portion of his life would do. I don’t expect you to understand this, Aberforth, but I have full trust in Remus and his motives and intentions will not be questioned.” He said it in his calm, though deadly, manner and this brought silence around the table. “Now, we shall discuss who will be involved in this. Sirius, you have already volunteered?”
“Or Remus volunteered for me,” Sirius replied with a cheeky grin. “But, yes, I would like to.”
Dumbledore nodded. “Others?”
Gideon and Fabian were quick to volunteer, as well as James and Lily. Peter was hesitant to raise his hand, but didn’t have to when Dumbledore decided that five people were enough and there was enough work to be getting on with for the others here in London. Dumbledore gave them enough time to go home and gather whatever they would need before they had to report back to him and he would give them the information that they needed.
“You sure you’ll be alright for the full moon? You haven’t done this by yourself in months.”
“I’ll be fine, Padfoot. I used to do this by myself for years before you three became Animagi.”
“And in the morning?”
“I just owled my dad and he said I should just go there for the full moon. They’ve still got the shed set up and everything in case I needed it. Knowing my dad, he’ll probably get James’s dad to come over the next morning. And I also asked Peter if he’d stop by here once I get home and he said he would once he finished at the shop.”
Sirius zipped up the rucksack he was hastily stuffing items in. Straightening up, he frowned at his roommate, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch. “Are you sure?”
Remus rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “Yes, Mum. Honestly, Sirius, shouldn’t I be the one worrying? You and James and Lily are going to find Death Eaters and Merlin knows what.” He got up as there was a knock on the front door. Pulling it open, he stepped aside to let James and Lily in. They both had their own sacks slung over their shoulders and were wearing grim expressions. Who knew they would be heading out to rescue a Ministry official from the Death Eaters? They greeted Remus and turned to Sirius, who had just slung his own sack over his shoulder.
“You ready, Padfoot?” James asked in a strange voice. It was as if he wasn’t sure if he was in a dream or not and he knew it was one he would want to wake up from. He knew what would happen if he didn’t wake up from it. He had volunteered to do this, he would give it everything he had, but that didn’t mean he had some reservations about it.
“Yeah,” Sirius replied in very much the same voice. Turning to Remus, he managed a small laugh. “Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone. I don’t think Mrs. Sherman would appreciate it.”
Remus chuckled. “How’d you know what I was planning?” Clapping James and Sirius on the shoulder and giving Lily a quick hug, he said, “Please be careful.”
“We will be,” Lily assured him. With that, the three left the safety of the flat, ready to face whatever dangers lay in store for them.