Moonlight

Chapter Seventeen

The Stigma, the Order, and the Department



"Wait a minute!" said Rodger. "You're saying that your dad was seventeen when your mum was four?"

"Approximately," Ted sighed.

He, Rodger, Victoire, and Rodger's girlfriend Cecilia Bell, were all having a sort of double-date outing on the sunny grounds the next afternoon, thinking they deserved a little break from studying after a hard Wednesday in school. It was the middle of the week, and attention spans tended to wane on sunny Wednesdays like these. They were underneath the beech tree, and for the moment the four of them were lying out together on their backs. Victoire was the youngest of the group, being the only fourth-year, while Ted, Rodger, and Cecilia were sixth-years. But she was hardly intimidated. It had been her idea that the four of them get together, and in a single afternoon a sort of bond had formed amongst the four of them. For most of Ted's time at Hogwarts it had just been him and Rodger, with occasional appearances of Rodger's ever-changing girlfriend, while Ted just dreamed of Victoire. But now Ted actually had Victoire as his girlfriend, and Rodger might at last be going steady with his latest one, Cecilia. The only thing Ted had found a bit wearisome about this whole affair was--after so much encouragement from Rodger and Victoire--agreed to let Cecilia in on what he'd learned so far of his father's legacy.

"Remus Lupin?" Cecilia had said curiously as they'd sat in a circle in the shade of the tree. "As in, Professor R.J. Lupin?"

"Once upon a time," Ted had replied, picking up a leaf that had fallen off of the tree and twirling it idly in his fingers.

"I remember my cousin Katie telling me about him!" Cecilia had then proclaimed excitedly. "She said he was the best defense against the dark arts teacher this school's ever had!"

Ted had been unable to help flushing with some pride then.

Now as the four of them lay on their backs in a row, gazing up at the branches of the tree, blinking at the light filtering through, Ted had just gotten to what he'd just read last night.

"That'd make 'em about thirteen years apart, wouldn't it?" Cecilia deduced, having subtracted four from seventeen in her head.

"Yeah, I guess it would," Ted agreed.

"That's mental, that is," said Rodger, who was idly stroking Cecilia's long, raven black hair. "He was way too old for her...."

"Maybe...."

"Love knows no age, Rodge," said Cecilia.

"Well...there is a limit though...."

"Rodger, you have to understand," Victoire began, "they got married when they were much older, and when you're much older, the gap sort of closes, figuratively speaking. They were still thirteen years apart, approximately, but they were both overage."

"Yeah but then how was he able to stand having sex with her later on?"

"Rodger...."

"I mean it, 'Cilia: if I'd first been shown a woman when she was a four-year old while I was already seventeen, I'd be a little squeamish about--"

"So, Ted," said Cecilia, "Rodger and Victoire tell me that you have this special ability to sense werewolves with your nose?"

Ted laughed. "No, it's not like that...well I mean it is in a way.... Let me explain...." And so he did. He explained how when a person who was a werewolf was near, his nose prickled, and it intensified if said person came closer, if more people who were werewolves came along, both, or--at its most intense--when the werewolves were in their lupine form--meaning the wolf form they take on full moons. And of course in that case as well the intensity further depended on the proximity and number and so on.

When he finished explaining, Cecilia said: "Ah."

"And while we're talking about special things," said Victoire, "I'm wondering what special conditions and stuff there would have to be in order for a Metamorphmagus to pass his or her metamorphosing powers directly onto their child?"

"I think that's kind of obvious actually," said Ted.

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, what's the difference my parents and other parents where one of them is a Metamorphmagus?"

He felt Victoire shrug. "I dunno. I dunno any other parents where one of them is a Metamorphmagus. I only know about your parents."

"Okay, I'll ask that differently: what's the difference between my parents and other people's parents?"

Victoire tittered. "There're lots of differences between everybody's parents, Ted!"

"No, that's not what I mean!" Ted snapped, inexplicably yet thoroughly agitated. He got up from beside Victoire and walked some ways away from the rest of the group.

All three of his friends sat up, regarding him with puzzled expressions.

"Let me put it this way," Ted went on irritably, thrusting his hands deep into his trouser pockets. "How many parents have you known besides mine where one of them has been a werewolf?"

"Ted, I knew what you meant, I was only teasing," Victoire said defensively.

"Yeah, but now I understand why some people look at me funny when they hear my last name. Some of them even say, 'Not Lupin as in Remus Lupin?' and I'd say, 'He was my dad,' or when I was littler my grandmum'd speak for me and she'd say, 'He was the boy's father', which is about the most my grandmum ever talked about my dad to tell you the truth." He hadn't really thought much of it when he'd first discovered his father's affliction, but now that he did, he realized that that was the reason why some people--most of them strangers but who had apparently known what his father had been regardless of whether or not that had met him person when he'd been alive--looked at him strangely and asked him strange questions, and the questions and looks had only been strange because his grandmother from the start had always been quick to try and prevent the truth from coming out for Ted to hear. So when Ted got old enough to speak for himself, and he'd ask why they were asking, "Not Lupin as in Remus Lupin?" they'd smile awkwardly and tell him, "Oh, no reason," and then get away somehow before he could interrogate them further.

However, Ted knew instinctively that whatever "stigma" he was being subjected to could not compare with the genuine stigma to which Remus Lupin had been subjected for nearly the entire course of his life. But the fact that he was also being subjected to a sort of "stigma" meant that he might very well be the only person in the entire world fathered by a werewolf. Or at least fathered by a werewolf and didn't turn out a werewolf himself. In fact, it was possible that a few people who knew what his father had been might suspect that he too was a werewolf without bothering to find out for sure first. It was even possible that he was carrying the gene...and it was just dormant inside of him....

Ted looked at Victoire and locked gazes with her.

Victoire rose and went over to him. She took his hands in hers and said, "I'm sorry, Ted. Really, I am." She let go and glided into the sunlight, out of the darkness of the beech tree's shadow and did a graceful series of pirouettes.

As he observed her, with her ardent red hair swirling around her like a twirling flame, Ted found himself enchanted by a light, happy, buoyant sensation. She was perfect...and he never wanted her out of his life. His heart glowed. He smiled.

Victoire stopped pirouetting and beamed. "Forgive me?" she asked uncertainly.

Ted joined her in the sunlight, took her in his arms, and kissed her. It was as simple as that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, their last night at Hogwarts, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter went to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade for a few rounds of butterbeers to celebrate. They were all of age, and they basically weren't students anymore--they'd be leaving on the Hogwarts Express the very next morning, so it they needn't sign any kind of form or anything like that in order to go. A lot of the other students in their year were there as well. The whole pub in fact had been turned into a huge graduation party for the Hogwarts class of 1978.

The Four Marauders and Lily sat at one of the big round tables next to the huge ten-person table in the corner, where the Gryffindor Quidditch team was sitting, most of them with their arms slung around their dates. James was doing a lot of mingling, switching back from his team's table to his friends' table, but eventually he settled down at his friends' table and put an arm around Lily. He used the hand of his other arm to hold his drink.

"Hey, Potter!" his captain, Jerry Lovett, called to him.

"What?!" James called back, his cheeks getting flushed.

"What team gets the Snitch--

"--wins the cup--"

"--and roars for the crown?!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" chorused James and his teammates as they raised their second round of overflowing mugs of butterbeer high into the air before taking a great collective swig.

James slammed his drink down on the table, his mug already half-full. "God it's good to be alive!"

"I'll drink to that," said Sirius, raising his own second round of butterbeer.

"As will I," said Lily, raising hers.

"I'm game," said Remus, raising his.

"Here, here!" exclaimed James, raising his half-full mug.

"Oh, yes, here, here!" Peter chimed in, raising his own drink too.

"To being alive!" they chorused.

They banged their mugs together, splashing a little butterbeer on each other, and then drank deeply from their mugs, draining them, even though they hadn't the head start that James had had. Then Sirius ordered another round and this time when he raised his mug, he said, "To friendship."

"To friendship," said the five of them with sincerity, this time clinking their mugs together gently, as if in veneration of the concept of friendship itself. And as they sat there drinking, they all took a moment to drink the sight of each other in as well, and all of five of them were beaming fondly and one another.

Hagrid came in, and the Four Marauders and Lily waved to him. "Hey Hagrid!"

"'Lo, James. Sirius. Remus. Lily. Peter." Hagrid beamed at them all. "Off ter make names for yerselves in the world now?"

"You could say that," said Sirius, glancing around and catching the eyes of the others.

"See you, Hagrid," said Remus as Hagrid continued squeezing passed their table. In fact, they didn't realize how soon they'd be seeing him, for unbeknownst to them, Hagrid was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Good luck, you five!" Hagrid boomed over his shoulder as he joined some fellows at the bar.

Then James piped up, "Ooh! Madam Rosmerta! Over here!"

The barmaid of the Three Broomsticks, Madam Rosmerta, turned at the sound of James' voice, in the middle of giving a group at a neighboring table plates of food. She smiled brightly when she spotted him, finished doling out the food, and then magically whisked away her tray so she could come right over to their table, her turquoise heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

"James Potter and Sirius Black," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "thought you were gonna leave Hogwarts without saying goodbye to me first?"

"'Course not, Rosie," said Sirius.

"We just love you, Rosie," James laughed.

"And Remus Lupin," she added, smiling at Remus.

Remus smiled back, his face colored pale scarlet from drinking. He often wondered if she knew about what really went on in the Shrieking Shack--that it was used for his full moon transformations rather than just a house built there only to be haunted by particularly violent spirits. "Spirits" that would now be "silent", as he was leaving Hogwarts tomorrow and would not be returning. Maybe never. This thought caused him a stir of melancholy, but the influence of the butterbeer pushed that thought from his mind at once and returned him to total and complete exuberance.

"How's business been, Rosie?" Remus asked, beaming.

"Oh it's wonderful at the moment," Madam Rosmerta chortled. "Thanks for asking. I always keep telling you Remus: you're such a gentleman, and any girl would be lucky to have you."

This time it wasn't the butterbeer making Remus blush even harder. He avoided Lily's eyes until Madam Rosmerta continued: "And where's little Peter Pettigrew? Oh, there you are."

"Hello, Rosie," said Peter cheerily, waving.

"And Lily Evans, dear," Madam Rosmerta added to Lily.

"Hello, Madam Rosmerta," said Lily pleasantly.

"Call her Rosie," said James in her ear.

"Now you better keep an eye on this one." Madam Rosmerta nodded to James, but she was still smiling.

"I think I can handle that," said Lily, and she and Madam Rosmerta shared a brief moment of the eye-contact female-telepathy that was beyond the sort of communication comprehensible to men. Oh, men had their own form of telepathy too, but they only understood the telepathy that could be understood by either men or women, not this strange telepathic language that only women seemed to comprehend, and in which Lily and Madam Rosmerta were now sharing a brief "conversation".

When they broke it off, Madam Rosmerta clapped James on the shoulder. "So, do I get to hear one last joke from Master Potter and Master Black?"

Remus took a sip of his butterbeer and over the rim of his mug watched James and Sirius exchange glances. He swallowed the warm, savory butterbeer and set down his mug as James said, "Well...only if you pay us this time."

"Because I think now that we're of age we can demand payment for our comedy stylings," Sirius put in.

Madam Rosmerta tilted her head, looking confused. And then her face spread into a wide grin.

"Joking!" laughed James and Sirius.

Remus, Lily, and Peter laughed as well.

"You two!" laughed Madam Rosmerta. But then the laughter died away and she said, somewhat disappointedly, "So...is that it? Just that?"

James and Sirius looked at each other again.

"Well..." said James, "I suppose we could do one more."

"For you," added Sirius with a wink.

Madam Rosmerta smiled and thumped her fist on the table. "Right then. Let's hear it."

~

Remus' interview with the Department of Mysteries employment officer at the Ministry of Magic in London was to be at 10:00 am sharp that June morning a week after their last day at Hogwarts. Lily's was to be at 10:30 am on the very same day. Remus had put on a set of his father's old robes, which had fit him surprisingly well, however they were a tad shabby: his mother had never had a chance to sew a few places on it before she died. Meanwhile, Lily had opted to put on a set of professional-looking witch's robes, which were green to match her eyes, and she'd arrived at Remus' straight after breakfast, since he was the one with the mode of transportation.

"Nervous?" Lily asked him as they stood in their traveling cloaks before the fireplace in Remus' house.

"A little," Remus admitted as he took a pinch of Floo powder from the flowerpot on the mantelpiece. "You?"

"Some," said Lily as she took the pinch from Remus. As always, Remus was being the proper gentleman and host by allowing Lily to go first. She stood in the fireplace, shouted, "Ministry of Magic!", and disappeared in a whirling rush of green fire.

Remus went next, and was helped out of the fireplace in the Ministry Atrium by Lily's gentle hand, while he coughed on the ash he'd managed to breath in. "Thank you," he managed as he stepped out onto the marble floor of the Atrium, which was filled, as usual, with hundreds of people, most of them Ministry employees of course.

"No problem," said Lily smilingly.

They both took a moment to brush as much soot off of themselves as they could and take in the grandeur of their surroundings with slightly open-mouthed awe before joining the throng of briefcase-toting Ministry workers heading down the Atrium. As they searched for the security desk that they'd been told to find in their letters confirming their appointments, they noticed a young man at the stand where copies of The Daily Prophet were being sold. They heard him before they saw him, because he was shouting headlines at the top of his lungs:

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 'Suspicious activities in Leeds may be sign of Death Eater rallies'! Extra! Extra! Only two Sickles a copy! Two Sickles for the latest on 'Muggle Murders in Merseyside'! Minister Bagnold to give a press conference on it this afternoon...!"

"That's odd..." Remus observed as they walked on, tapping his mustache with his index finger. "Bagnold hasn't gone public in a while, last I heard...."

As they came to the great golden Fountain of Magical Brethren, Lily whispered so quietly so that only Remus could hear: "Thank God, Voldemort hasn't taken the Ministry."

"He may as well have," Remus whispered back, tossing in a few Knuts (it was all he could afford to give) into the fountain.

Lily followed him, tossing in a couple of Sickles as she went. "What do you mean 'he may as well have'?"

Remus opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak he spotted a sign that read SECURITY. "I'll explain later," he whispered. Then he added, at a normal volume level, "This is the one," pointing out the sign.

"Oh," said Lily. Naturally she could have been acknowledging either statement. In reality she was acknowledging both, but the thing was that Remus and she began to notice that they weren't the only ones engaging in some covert, whispered conversation on their way to their destination.

They approached the security desk and Remus cleared his throat. "Pardon me, miss."

The witch sitting there put down her copy of Witch Weekly and scrutinized Remus and Lily's anxiously grinning faces. She shoved into her cheek the piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum that she was chewing and said, "Can I 'elp yer?" in a tone that suggested she really had no desire to help at all.

"Er...we're visitors here at the Ministry today. We have appointments with the employment officer from the Department of Mysteries," said Remus.

"Step over 'ere then, luv," the young witch drawled, shutting her magazine on the desk.

"Ladies first," said Remus, stepping aside so Lily could come forward.

"Thank you, Remus." Lily smiled so wonderfully that Remus found it hard not to blush without her noticing.

The witch didn't seem to care who went first. She had taken a long golden rod from behind her desk and was now passing it up and down Lily's front and back. Then she asked for Lily's wand. Lily gave it to her, and she stepped behind the desk with it and placed it on a one-dish brass scale. The instrument vibrated and then a moment later a narrow strip of parchment came speeding out of a slit in the base of it. The witch tore it off and read the script upon it aloud. "Eleven inches, dragon-'eartstring core, been in use seven years. 'Sat right?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Lily, nodding.

The witch impaled the strip of parchment on a brass spike, handed Lily's wand back to her, and then asked Remus to come forward next. Remus obeyed, but felt himself go hot around the collar while the witch passed the long golden rod up and down his front and back. Then she set his wand on the brass scale and read to him what was written on the strip of parchment that sped out of the slit. "Eleven-and-a-half inches, unicorn-'air core, been in use seven years?"

"That's right," said Remus.

The witch impaled the strip of parchment on the same brass spike and handed Remus back his wand.

"Thank you," said Remus. "Could you please tell us how to get to the Department of Mysteries?"

The witch, who was already returning to her magazine, flicking through it to find the page where she'd left off, replied lazily, pointing towards a pair of golden gates up ahead, "There're are lifts up there. Take one of 'em to the next level down, and tha's the Depar'ment o' Myst'ries. Savvy?"

"Er, yes. Cheers."

The witch was already deeply engrossed into her magazine once more as Remus and Lily rejoined the crowd making its way to the golden gates and the lifts beyond them. After they passed through the gates, they grabbed the next lift that opened, and found that it was empty save for one other wizard, as it was a lift going down to the Department of Mysteries: being the only level out of all nine that was below the Atrium, not as many people had to get down there.

Remus and Lily climbed inside. The golden grilles clanged shut, and the lift descended.

With the wizard behind him being the only other person there, Remus then became aware of a huge tension, and he wasn't quite sure why. And what was more, for some reason, he felt a natural instinctive sense of protectiveness, and took a tiny, discreet step closer towards Lily.

The wizard took a step forward so that he was next to Remus."'Morning," he said pleasantly.

From where Remus drew strength to answer calmly and collectively despite the tense knot forming in his stomach, he hadn't the faintest shred of an idea, but he did it all the same: "'Morning," he replied in kind. He wondered if this was what Sirius would call, "acting".

"Good morning," said Lily just as sweetly.

"Nice weather we've been having," said the wizard.

"Yep," murmured Remus.

"Yes, it has been very lovely," Lily agreed.

"Department of Mysteries," said the cool female disembodied voice inside the lift.

"And where are you two headed here in the fine facility our Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries?" the wizard asked them illustriously as the three of them stepped out of the lift and into the main corridor.

"We're here for interviews with your department's Employment Officer," said Remus.

"We have two appointments right next to each other," said Lily. "One at ten, and one at ten-thirty. Mine's at ten-thirty. His is at ten." She jerked her head at Remus.

"How cute," said the wizard, who sounded like he thought it was anything but cute. Checking his watch he said, "Well, it is ten of ten at the moment. I don't have to be down to the...er...well, where I work--got to keep this all top secret you know--but I don't have to be where I have to be here until quarter after ten, so why don't I escort you to the department's Employment Office?"

"That would be greatly appreciated," said Remus, glancing at Lily.

"Oh, yes," added Lily. "Thank you very much, Mister...?"

"Rookwood. Augustus Rookwood, at your service." He held out his hand and both Remus and Lily shook it.

Now that Remus had a good look at him, he saw that Rookwood was about his height, sallow faced with a black beard and mustache, and dressed in fine black robes. He had a feeling that Rookwood had simply put on his "public relations" face, because he was sure that Rookwood considered his somewhat shabbier attire to be "beneath" him. He could tell by how brief and slight his handshake had been. However, he rather took his time with Lily, throwing in a small kiss on the back of her hand as though it were the nineteenth-century and they were at a fancy ball.

He took them to the waiting room outside the Employment Office, which was to the side, isolated from the department such that if any applicants didn't get a job there for which they were applying, they wouldn't glean any of the department's secrets that were forbidden to leak out. Remus' meeting was first, and he found the wait gave his stomach time to churn faster and faster. And then--

"Remus Lupin!"

Remus gulped. He glanced at Lily. She patted him encouragingly on the hand, and he found strength in her smile. He stood, and entered the office.

A bald wizard sat in a wing-backed chair behind a desk, writing on a sheaf of parchment with a hawk-feather quill. He had white hair cut in a monk-style ring around his head, and he wore an eye patch over his right eye. He was dressed in dark purple robes. He looked up when Remus entered and smiled. "Please, Mister Lupin," said the Employment Officer, his voice as gnarly as his hands, "do have a seat." He motioned to the empty chair in front of his desk.

"Thank you." Remus cleared his throat and sat down. He trembled from his head to his toes, and he was starting to sweat slightly, while his heart rate increased by a few degrees.

The Employment Officer finished what he was writing and set it aside. He smiled up at Remus as he opened a file drawer in his desk. "Now, Mister Lupin, you are applying for training to be one of our Unspeakables here at the Department of Mysteries, is that right?"

"Yes, sir," Remus replied.

With a flourish, the Employment Officer withdrew a different sheaf of parchment from the file drawer he'd opened. "Right. Let's have look-see at your CV then, shall we?"

"Al-Alright," Remus stammered. The palms of his hands were growing sweaty as they rested quietly in his lap. It was only a matter of time before the Employment Officer found what he'd had to put down underneath the form's question: Do you have any long-term or permanent afflictions of the body, mind, or soul that you are aware of? He'd figured, why let them find out and then hate him for being a liar as well? (Especially since lying on a resumé was an infraction of wizarding law.) He'd had to put down the answer: lycanthropy (meaning he was a werewolf). Besides, as he was already aware, they'd find out anyway: he was registered as a werewolf by the Ministry, and he was sure that that information could easily be recovered in cases like this when werewolves tried to apply for jobs.

"Hmmm..." said the Employment Officer as he skimmed Remus' resumé. "Impressive...you've got an O on all of your N.E.W.T.s...taken all the necessary coursework...excellent recommendations from your professors...Albus Dumbledore among them...and Horace Slughorn...very, very excellent...school prefect for Gryffindor House...not Head Boy though?" He glanced up at Remus.

"Er...I tended to be a bit lax in some cases."

"Involving your friends, no doubt."

"Yes, and also...I wasn't one to snitch."

"Hmmm." Remus' heart leapt when he saw the Employment Officer grin. "That shows you won't give secrets away, I suppose. That's a good quality then, for we are a department that deals in secrets, after all." He turned back to the resumé. "Let's see.... Well, Mister Lupin, I see no reason why.... Oh."

Remus' heart sank. In fact, it not only sank, it plummeted.

"'Lycanthropy'.... Hmmm...that's going to be a bit tricky, I'm afraid. Let me just double-check that." The Employment Officer opened another drawer, took a small square of purple parchment, and scratched something on it with his quill. Then he folded it into a paper bird with his wand and sent it zooming out of the office. "This'll only take a moment, son," he said kindly to Remus, however Remus noticed that the man's smile was a little more forced and somewhat fake.

So this was one way people reacted when they found out someone they'd just met was a werewolf. Remus felt as though the office had been transformed into an interrogation room, and he was the convicted felon being interrogated.

Another violet paper bird came zooming in through the door, and fluttered to land on the Employment Officer's desk. The Employment Officer opened it up, read it, and then said, "Excellent." He made the memo vanish in a puff of smoke with his wand. "Now all we need to do is wait for young Dolores from the Beast Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures up on level four. She's their new office witch there. You know, delivers copies of things to people--like she's doing for us right now, delivering us a copy of the Werewolf Registry--and she also gets workers things like their lunch or their tea or coffee or what have you. There's an office witch or wizard for every section of every department. I understand this new girl, Dolores, she started out working at the Daily Prophet for a few years, and now I hear she's interested in politics, though I can't understand why she's working in the Beast Division of the D.R.C.M.C. and not somewhere on level one, with the Minister of Magic and Support Staff, but then I also understand she's very passionate about the particular issue of witches and wizards who are...er...half-breeds. Besides, most politicians don't get their first job there, come to think of it--not unless they're lucky, which I suppose she wasn't. Ah, there you are, Miss Umbridge!"

Remus turned in his seat to see a woman somewhere in her early thirties, wearing a pink cardigan with a matching skirt, and pink pumps on her feet. She was a rather flabby woman, and Remus thought she looked a bit like a toad. She had a batrachian resemblance in her wide mouth that was particularly creepy, even disturbing. In fact, the black bow in her hair made him think of a fly, and any minute he expected her to flick a long sticky tongue and grab it and eat it, as any real toad would do.

"Here's the copy of the Werewolf Registry you wanted, Mister Sklawkins," said the witch called Dolores, or Miss Umbridge, professionally. Her voice was so sweet, that Remus found it left him nauseated. She seemed nice enough, and yet the sight of her filled him with a frustration and a despising, the origins of which he hadn't the faintest idea. She approached the desk briskly and handed Sklawkins the Employment Officer a large folder.

"Thank you, m'dear. Just stand by until I'm finished. Save you coming all the way back, this won't take me but a minute." Sklawkins set the giant folder on his desk and proceeded to open it.

"Very good, sir," said Dolores Umbridge, taking a step back from the desk. She cast a sideways glance at Remus, and Remus did not like the look in them. She obviously knew why the Employment Officer would want to see a copy of the Werewolf Registry while interviewing an aspiring applicant, and at once he knew at once just what her "passions" were concerning the issue of half-breed wizards and witches. They were not the least bit kind. In fact, "cruel" was much too sugarcoated of a word to describe her views on the matter. He wouldn't be surprised that if she had the power, she'd have every werewolf in Britain tried and put to death. Maybe not even tried. Just found out using the Werewolf Registry and then executed...or chucked into Azkaban....

Remus shuddered and looked away, but not before he flashed her a fierce look that he hoped looked very lupine indeed. That done, he felt quite satisfied with himself.

Sklawkins, meanwhile, was running down the list, using his arthritic index finger as a marker, muttering surnames under his breath as he went. "Loper...Lunasky...Lupin.... Lupin! Here it is. 'Lupin, Remus: born tenth March, nineteen-sixty; bitten on fifteen April, nineteen-sixty-seven....'"

Remus felt a little jolt at hearing this. Being a little boy when he'd been bitten, he'd never been too concerned with the exact date of the attack. And so he'd never thought to ask. Now that he heard the date written officially in ink, as if set in stone, he tried to think back to every 15th of April that he could recall after his being bitten. Had his parents been aware of that date? If they had, did they ever show it when the day came along, or had they striven to forget it to the point that they really had forgotten the exact date? And then he thought of the werewolf who had actually bitten him. Poor man. Or woman. Whoever it was. They, like he, hadn't been able to control themselves...they couldn't have helped it...at least they knew what he went through every month...knew what it felt like.... Perhaps one day, if he ever came across him or her, he might find a kindred spirit in them....

His insides warmed somewhat at the thought.

Sklawkins meanwhile closed the folder and handed it back to Dolores. "Thank you, Miss Umbridge."

"You're quite welcome, sir," said Dolores, taking back the Registry in both her hands. "Is there anything else I can get you while I'm here?"

"No, thank you."

"Very well then. Good day, Mister Sklawkins. Good day to you too, sir," she added to Remus.

Remus raised his eyebrows and watched her leave the office. He hadn't expected her to be so courteous towards him. He turned back to Sklawkins when Sklawkins cleared his throat.

"Well...this does make things difficult," he informed Remus. "Lycanthropy..." He looked down at the resumé again. "Workers aren't comfortable working with a werewolf, you know. That's to be expected though, of course. The Ministry in fact has a policy regarding lycanthropes. You understand.... Oh. That's interesting." He looked up at Remus inquiringly. "You can do...wandless magic?"

"Yes, I can," said Remus, hoping this fact might improve his chances.

"That's another very handy thing for this department." Sklawkins went back to the resumé. "Could you please just demonstrate?"

"Certainly, sir." Remus cupped his hands and held them out so that Sklawkins could see. Incendio! he thought, and immediately flames blossomed in his hands, but did not touch his skin. Once he'd given a gaping Sklawkins a good look at his wandless skill, he put the flame out and folded his hands in his lap once more.

"Well...er...this is certainly difficult, Mister Lupin. You're a werewolf, and yet you have so many excellent qualities...you could prove to be one of the best Unspeakables yet in this department. And witches and wizards who can do wandless magic are so hard to come by, you know...and very valuable to the Ministry, especially the Department of Mysteries...." He sat back, and for an excruciatingly long moment, he descended into deep thought.

Remus could hardly breathe he felt so tense.

"Tell you what I'm going to do," Sklawkins finally said slowly. "I'm going to do a sort of test with this and see where it goes. I really can't afford to let such a qualified applicant go on account of lycanthropy. We'll just keep this information between us, and...in the meantime, here's your benefits: you get one sick day per month for your full moons, and conveniently, everyone in this department gets one sick per month anyhow, so no problems there. You'll get paid while you're here, but for a start, let's give you a grace period of six months and see where that takes us, okay? Now, here's what I'm looking for: no biting, no aggressive behavior. Keep that wolf under control." He waggled his knobby forefinger at Remus. "If I hear so much as a whisper about you getting out of line with any of your co-workers...I will have you sacked on the spot. Is that clear, sir?"

"Y-Yes, sir," said Remus, hardly daring to believe his ears. "Does--Does that mean--Does that mean--? Did I get the post?"

"Yes. Congratulations, Mister Lupin." Sklawkins held out his hand for Remus to shake.

Remus shook it, and didn't even care that Sklawkins' shake wasn't very hardy, and quite brief and reluctant.

~

Lily got the job as well, and the both of them were in such a mood to celebrate. They couldn't of course, because they had to meet James, Sirius, and Peter. The five of them had a private meeting at one o'clock that afternoon with Dumbledore, to officially sign them up for membership with the Order of the Phoenix. They were meeting James, Sirius, and Peter in the Leaky Cauldron, but where the five of them were meeting with Dumbledore, Remus didn't know. James and Sirius had the details on that bit.

Even so, he couldn't help leaping for joy in his young heart at the thought of working right alongside Lily as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries....

"Remus! Pay attention!" Lily laughed.

"W-What?" Remus looked around, coming out of his happy trance. He perceived that Lily was trying to hand him a pinch of Floo Powder. "Er...no, no. Ladies first, my dear." Before he thought about what he was doing, he flashed her a smile that to both his horror and delight made Lily go slightly pink. He shifted his ocular focus to his shabby brown shoes instead, feeling his own cheeks flush.

"Very well then, Moony," Lily teased. She stepped into the fireplace before which they were standing in the Atrium and shouted, "The Leaky Cauldron!" threw down the powder, and vanished in a whirl of green fire.

Fire like her eyes... Remus thought dreamily. He mentally slapped himself, grabbed some Floo Powder from the silver dispenser on the mantelpiece, and did exactly what Lily had done. In a rush of emerald heat he had arrived in the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron Pub, which didn't appear to be getting much business today. He observed this as he stepped out of the fireplace, coughing from the ash, and brushing soot off of himself. He spotted his friends at a table nearby, where they were waving to him. Lily had already joined them, with James' arm wrapped around her waist.

Remus made a direct route for them and sat down beside Sirius.

Sirius punched him on the arm. "We heard the good news, mate! Lily told us as soon as she got here! Congratulations!"

"How'd you manage to get the job despite your furry little problem?" James asked with a grin, lazily running his thumb up and down his mug of butterbeer. "Imperius Curse?"

"James, don't joke about things like that!" Peter reprimanded, his eyes flicking around the dimly lit pub.

Remus however smiled at James' quip. "No. Actually, he was so impressed with my perfect N.E.W.T. scores, and the fact that I was prefect but not one to snitch which meant I'd be good at keeping secrets, and the fact that I could perform wandless magic. He made me prove it to, so I did the old flames-in-the-hands thing, my personal favorite."

"Fancy that," said Sirius.

"So, where are we meeting Dumbledore?" Lily asked.

James drained his mug and slammed it down on the table. He wiped off his mouth with his sleeve and said, "We'll show you. C'mon." He stood, and the others followed his lead.

They went out of the Leaky Cauldron and into the Muggle London street, where Remus knew at once that they must look a sight to the Muggle passersby. James took them to a side street and checked his watch. "Good thing we gave you two plenty of leeway in terms of time," he said. He knelt down beside an empty tin can. "We've got about a minute left. Everybody grab on, quick."

Remus and the others understood at once. They were getting to wherever they were going by Portkey. "Do you know where this is taking us?" he asked James and Sirius as he joined them all in touching the old tin can.

"Well...Dumbledore didn't actually tell us that bit..." Sirius said, crinkling his brow.

Before anyone could say anything else, Remus felt a jerk behind his navel, and in a rushing whirl of color, he and his friends were transported through the vortex and landed with a thud in a quaint little sitting room lit with the soft glow of lamps and the natural illumination of the grey afternoon. It seemed they were in a mansion of some sort. Slowly the five of them got to their feet and looked around a bit.

"Oh! You're here!" exclaimed a wheezy voice behind them.

Remus and company whipped around to see that an old man dressed in a fine set of robes had just come into the room through double doors of dark, polished wood.

He beamed at them with his arms spread wide in welcome and said, "Albus has been expecting you, of course. Well, greetings to you all here in my humble abode, which is also now headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix! I am Elphias Doge, at your service."

Everyone introduced themselves to Doge and shook hands with him.

"James Potter," said James. "A pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Much obliged," said Doge. "And you are?"

"Sirius Black, sir," said Sirius, shaking Doge's hand.

"Black, you say?" Doge raised an eyebrow.

Sirius sighed. "Believe me, sir, I am nothing like my family. For one thing I was the only one put in Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. Er...you'll know my cousin, Andromeda? She was sorted into Ravenclaw, and she's now married to a Muggle-born."

"Ah yes!" Doge smiled warmly. "I remember talking to her and dear old Ted Tonks a few times before! Now I remember! Yes, yes. She told me you two were quite close. That's good then. And you--oh! You're down there! Well, you're a rather short young fellow. And who might you be, lad?"

"Peter Pettigrew, Mister Doge."

"Please, do call me Elphias! And my, who might this lovely lady be?"

"Lily Evans."

Doge bent his lips to Lily's hand, just as Rookwood had done earlier that day. "A pleasure. Now, who may I say is this fine young lad?"

"Remus Lupin, sir," said Remus, shaking Doge's offered hand.

"Ah, yes, of course!" Remus was surprised at how heartily Doge shook his hand. He must not have known that he was a werewolf for him to be so forthcoming with him.

"Ah, there you are Elphias. Greeting our newcomers, are we?"

Everyone looked to see that Albus Dumbledore himself had entered the room.

Remus' face suddenly felt a little hot. The last few times he had seen Dumbledore in such a similarly private situation, he had been somewhat cold and insolent, demanding that he be allowed to leave the school as much as he liked to visit his baby brother, Ramirus.

Dumbledore came and surveyed them all with his piercing blue eyes.

"They certainly seem like a good, intelligent bunch, don't you, Albus?" said Elphias with a grin. "And to think, they're all fresh out of school. Am I right then in saying they were all in Gryffindor?"

"Yes, you are," said Dumbledore, still surveying the five youths before him.

"Ah, thought so. Only Gryffindors would have plunged themselves right into the heat of battle straight after Hogwarts. Hufflepuffs, maybe wait a month or two, but they're a noble bunch, so they're as much a Gryffindor as any other house. Ravenclaws, well you know them. They have to spend so much time calculating everything. And as if a Slytherin would ever show other than to blast us all to smithereens in the name of You-Know-Who!"

"I think we get the point, Elphias."

"Oh yes! Well then, er...I think I'll go boil a spot of tea, shall I?" He swept from the room, leaving Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter alone with Dumbledore in the sitting room.

"So," said Dumbledore quietly. "Here you are then." He paused a moment, and then heaved a sigh and conjured a sheaf of parchment from the end of his wand. He set it on the coffee table and took out an eagle-feather quill and set it beside the parchment. He regarded them all through his half-moon spectacles again. "There's no need to ask any of you whether or not you're prepared to take this risk, is there?"

"What? Just because they were in Gryffindor, Albus?" inquired a voice from another door. This door matched the double doors, but it was a single door, and against its frame there leaned a man who looked very much like Dumbledore. He had his eyes, for one thing, and he too had a long beard, but unlike Dumbledore who was dressed in rather magnificent robes, this man was dressed for a job somewhere between bartending and goat-farming.

Dumbledore closed his eyes. "Aberforth, not now."

Aberforth ignored him, stepped forward, and introduced himself. "Aberforth Dumbledore, also known as 'Albus' wayward younger brother'." The last four words, he spoke rather scathingly, and he looked directly at Dumbledore when he said them.

"Aberforth..." Dumbledore said testily.

"Fine then, doom some more, if you like," said Aberforth, his tone bordering on indifference. Remus had a feeling it was pretended however. He himself had spoken that way whenever he was trying to hide feelings of pain and anguish.

"Aberforth..." Dumbledore repeated. This time though, he sounded bleak and regretful.

"No, no," Aberforth cut across him. "It's all for the greater good, right?" He raised his eyebrows at Dumbledore, and before Dumbledore could say anything, he left the room.

Dumbledore gazed hard at all of them, "Well? Are you prepared to take this risk?"

Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter looked at each other. Slowly, all five of them smiled, but not hugely, so as not to look like they weren't taking this seriously. Because they were. Besides, this smile was more of a symbol with which they communicated to each other their bond of friendship and brotherhood. That done, they looked at Dumbledore, and nodded.

"Very well then. If you will sign your names then."

James took up the quill first, naturally. As he bent over the parchment and scribbled his name Dumbledore said with a smile, "How's the Auror training going, James? I hear you, Sirius, and Peter just started a few days ago."

James blinked at having been addressed by his former headmaster by his first name. "Oh...er...it's going great," he finally managed to say, handing the quill over to Sirius. "Thank you for asking."

"Yeah, it's been real great, sir," Sirius put in, signing his own name beneath James'.

"Oh, yes, very good," squeaked Peter, taking the quill from Sirius when Sirius handed it to him. He signed his name below Sirius' and then handed the quill off to Lily.

"And your interview with the Department of Mysteries, Lily?" Dumbledore asked her as she signed her name underneath Peter's.

"Very well, sir."

"You secured a post as a trainee Unspeakable?"

"I certainly did, as did Remus." Lily beamed at Remus as she handed him the quill.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore's smile widened. "What made them decide to take the risk, Remus?"

"The Employment Officer was just so impressed with my talents, sir," Remus answered sheepishly, signing his own name below Lily's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ted could hardly believe what he was reading now. He was probably the only kid in the world who was getting the in-depth insider's perspective of the mysterious Department of Mysteries. By the light of his wand tip, still dressed in his mud-spattered Quidditch robes from Quidditch practice that evening as he sat on his four-poster, he read what secrets his father had dared to record.

It's a good thing this journal's private, otherwise I wouldn't dare to break Unspeakable protocol and write this stuff down. But as a forewarning, if anyone does read this, like some wizard history scholar of sorts, don't even think about repeating any of what I say about the Department of Mysteries! And don't worry, I'll warn you beforehand if I'm ever about to share something like that.

So, the day after my friends and I enlisted in the Order, Lily and I started work at the Department of Mysteries as Unspeakables-in-training at the Ministry. As newly instated trainees, we were given tours of the facility. At the heart of the department, once you passed the courtrooms and such, there was a room with doors all around that rotated. And their destinations always switched around, so I don't know how the workers there were able to keep track of it all. And as we went along, we were required to take notes on clipboards. I suppose that was the only way you learned how to get around was by studying it as if the Department's layout were in and of itself a subject.



Ted stopped a moment and allowed all that he'd read to sink in. He thought back to when Sklawkins had been looking up Remus in the Werewolf Registry. He flipped back to the entry on it, and reread the paragraph. Yep. He'd read it correctly. Remus had learned from Sklawkins that he'd received the werewolf bite on the 15th of April. Same as Ted's birthday. His father had been bitten on April 15, 1987. He, Ted, had been born on April 15, 1998. The coincidence of it was quite staggering. He wondered if it would come to mean anything later on--after all, it had to mean that sometimes his birthday had to fall on a full moon....

Well, only one way to find out! Ted thought enthusiastically. He turned back to the page he'd been reading, and continued.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Try to keep up," said the Head Unspeakable, Harriet Pince, to Remus and Lily, who were both diligently taking notes on their clipboards. They followed Pince into the next room, where they saw a magnificent tank of water, in which a school of brains was swimming around. "This is our Thought Division, where we try to unlock the mysteries of the human brain. These brains are isolated ones removed from preserved cadavers--some were wizards, others were Muggles--and the water is actually a potion that ignites electrical impulses in the brains, hence their ability to 'swim' about here. At the moment, we are trying to find a way to put actual thoughts into a physical form, but coming up with a process is proving to be quite tricky. We also have reason to believe that the brains become inexplicably dangerous to humans if they are removed from the potion, with or without the use of magic. Right then, moving on."

Next she took them to the Hall of the Cosmos, where the department worked to unlock the mysteries of the universe. Remus' breath caught at the magisterial sight of a live scale model of the planets in their home solar system. Jupiter in its actual size made him a mere pinprick. Not even that, in fact. After that, they visited the Time Division, where there was a cabinet full of Time-Turners, and then there was a room where Lily and Remus both delighted themselves in watching a hummingbird in a giant bell jar on the desk of the Time Division's head, Gareth Farringdon. Inside the bell jar, there was all of this glittering wind, and the humming bird at the heart of the jar would hatch from a tiny, jewel-bright egg, fly, and then get pulled back in the current and turn back into a chick, before becoming enclosed in its egg once more.

Then, cutting through the Time Room, they went through another door, and were introduced to a large, dark room full of both dark and pale blue light, and shelves upon shelves that held rows upon rows of white, glowing, luminescent, glass orbs.

"Welcome, to the Hall of Prophecy," said Pince grandly, her voice echoing in the large, stone-walled space. As she walked them up and down the rows of shelves containing hundreds of millions of glass balls, she explained: "Every real prophecy ever made by a seer, from the time that the division of this department was incepted, has been recorded here. Each one of these glass balls contains a record of the prophecy, and we contain these records by having the memory extracted from whomever the prophecy was delivered to, and trapping them in the same substance used in Penseives to contain people's memories, and then surrounding them in memory-impermeable glass, which results in the spherical shapes you see before you. Don't touch though. The glass is extremely fragile. The only people permitted to handle these are those who label and shelve them. Moving on now, we've got one more stop."

Pince took them to another large, dark room. Remus saw a giant pit-like arena before him, and in the center, at the very bottom of the "pit" was a dais. Nothing more than an empty dais. "What's this place?" he asked.

"This room was just recently built for our latest division. It's to be called the Death Room, or the Hall of Death. Whichever you prefer. It's still under construction I'm afraid, because we don't yet have something to study. But we know what we're trying to find and have installed here."

"So, are you planning to study...death in here?" Lily inquired.

"Precisely. And the relic we seek is a rather large one. It is the Gate of Death itself. Once we locate it and have it brought here, we will have it placed upon the dais there, and then we will have researchers observe is effects on subjects that are sent through it. See? They'll sit here in the arena seats and be able to take notes."

"Erm...wouldn't everything that goes through just er...die?" Remus said tentatively.

"Of course. But we want to know why. Why does death happen? I doubt if you know the answer."

"No, I don't, ma'am."

"Well, neither does anyone else. There's more to death than just passing through it, you know."

"Well, do you have an idea of what the Gate to Death looks like?"

"We have theories based on ancient Muggle religions and such," said Pince as she led them out of the Death Room-to be. "We believe that the gate we are looking for will be a large stone archway at the least. Some of us believe there is also a veil of a resilient, unearthly substance that hangs before it, a concept with which I myself agree, because I believe that the veil would hide the secrets of what happens beyond death from us, so that the only way we can see it, is by going through it, and by going through it, we die. But this is all theory, mind you. Others in the department believe that no such veil exists, and that there's just the archway. Come along now, keep up."

As they came back out into the central room of revolving doors, Remus somehow figured out that they had gone through all but one. And what was more, he knew exactly which one it was, and he pointed it out to Harriet Pince.

"Ah," said Pince, her hands folded behind her back. "Yes. Well, that one doesn't open, you see. If we were to open it, the effect of what would be unleashed from within would be catastrophic. It was a miracle that it could be contained in the first place. But because of the risk, we've made it so that nothing can unlock that door: not Alohamora, nor any form of magical unlocking device."

"What's inside?" Lily inquired, peering at the door.

"Behind that door is a force such as we here at the Department of Mysteries have never encountered before. It was our first subject here, and it's been difficult to study because it's so terribly powerful. It's also completely invisible. In that room, an extraordinary thing occurred. You see, this part of the Ministry we now stand in--this level here--was once something else, and when we began constructing the Ministry building, we branched off from here, and deemed this the Department of Mysteries, because of what was found in that room. This entire floor was once a hiding place for wizard families running from Emeric the Evil. I assume you learned about him in your history of magic classes?"

Remus and Lily nodded, remembering the never-ending drone of Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts, and quite unaware that he was dead.

"Well, Emeric eventually found this place, and he ravaged it like the wrath of hell itself, murdering everyone in his path. It was also here that he met his final downfall. Against where that door is--" She indicated the door directly across from the locked one "--he had this one family cornered. So the father and husband, Honorius Peverell, stood in front of his wife and children, and demanded that Emeric take him and spare his family. So, Emeric just laughed and killed him. And then he shot the same Killing Curse at Honorius' family, but surprisingly, the spell rebounded--almost bounced right off of them, and Emeric became swallowed in its green light, and was sent flying backward and crash landed right into this room here--" She tapped the locked door with her fingers "--and then people saw his body melting like candle wax right before their eyes, and sensed an odd presence gathering in the room. The people evacuated, and officials were called to investigate. Luckily, before the force managed to get passed the barriers of the room, the officials were able to seal it off properly and pretty much--permanently. That's why it's so difficult to study. However, given all the events that led up to this force unleashing itself like that, we have a strong theory as to what the nature of this mysterious force might be."

"And what is your theory?" Lily asked.

Harriet Pince smiled. "We believe it is love."