The Muggle

Chapter 2

Back in Black

Snape walked up to Dumbledore's office, he was still furious about that blasted woman, thanking him, like he had done anything special to save her. He just did what was expected from a teacher, nothing more.

Who was she? And why did Dumbledore asked her all those senseless questions? The Headmaster was a little unnerving sometimes, but Snape never thought he could have lost his sense of reality. The questions he asked, Snape thought shivering with disgust, that woman must have thought that all of them were just as daft.

They had to get rid of that woman.

Snape was marching down a long, dark corridor, the shadows moving on his clothes and face, his figure merging with the darkness. Professor Umbridge will ask questions that Dumbledore won't be able to answer and he sure didn't want to be around at the time. He quickly reached the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Chocolate Frog," Snape snarled at the thing.

What in the name of Merlin was Dumbledore thinking when he made such a ridiculous password? Snape knew that Dumbledore was very fond of sweets and other unthinkable rubbish, but he should've done something with more dignity, something more proper.

Snape knocked on the door, something like slaughter, he thought smirking, that would've been proper.

He entered Dumbledore's round office, the portraits had quit pretending to be asleep, some of them had moved from their paintings to the frames near Dumbledore's desk, except for Phineas Nigellus, he had a deep frown between his eyebrows and had his piercing gaze fixed on Dumbledore.

"Ah Severus, please sit down," said Dumbledore, producing an overstuffed chair next to Professor McGonagall.

Snape walked towards Dumbledore's desk, he could see that Professor McGonagall was a little stressed; she was looking quite annoyed, like she had been arguing with a five year old child.

"I was just about to explain a few things I consider of great importance," said Dumbledore smiling brightly at them, "but first," he waived his wand and said, "Conticesco."

The teachers continue their conversation, but none of the portraits could heard them, it was like they were just moving their mouths and no sound was being made. The portraits were all very displeased; they all thought that they would be able to listen to some remarkable secret - as for Phineas Nigellus he was gone from his portrait.

Dumbledore continued talking to his teachers. "Professor McGonagall thinks that it would be in our best interests to move Miss Stone to St Mungo's, where a group of experienced healers would be able to work with her and try to restore her memory." Dumbledore walked over to Fawkes and patted him. "But as I was saying before, I have a very strong reason not to send her there."

Professor McGonagall seemed struck suddenly with a question but before she could speak, Snape cut in quickly.

"Headmaster, you must consider the risk of having this... woman inside the castle. Surely, Headmaster, you realize that Professor Umbridge will ask about her and that we won't be able to satisfy her."

Dumbledore sat down slowly behind his desk.

"Yes Severus, I have considered it."

Snape and Professor McGonagall exchanged exasperated looks. What was he thinking? Umbridge was just waiting to find a problem, to cause trouble.

"I gather you've both heard of Seward Darken?" asked Dumbledore.

"Why, of course, I think we all have," said Professor McGonagall a little too briskly, "he died before he ever joined the Order."

Snape had a distasteful look on his face, like they had mentioned Gilderoy Lockhart coming back to Hogwarts.

"One of the very best indeed, Seward hunted down the first Death Eaters to join Voldemort. He captured a few and sent them to Azkaban," said Dumbledore frowning. "That cost him, and his entire family their lives."

"But why have you mentioned him? asked Professor McGonagall nervously, "What has he to do with anything?"

"Well, I think we've just met his granddaughter," answered Dumbledore, calmly unwrapping a lemon drop.

Two very different reactions followed Dumbledore's astonishing comment. Professor McGonagall covered her mouth with both hands to muffle a little scream, as for Snape, his utterly white and smooth face had gone grayish, his hands gripped the arms of the chair like claws.

"But...they...they were...killed," Professor McGonagall managed to blurt out.

"Yes Minerva, we all know that Seward and his family were murdered by Voldemort himself and a group of young Death Eaters, but I assure you, Morgan Stone is Seward's granddaughter."

Dumbledore rose from his chair and moved to the fireplace, his gaze lost in the flames.

"Seward was a very close friend of mine," his voice trembled a little. "After he graduated, he married a fellow Slytherin, Silver Lestrange. They had three children." He turned around and looked at Professor McGonagall. "You must remember them Minerva."

Professor McGonagall had dropped her hands in her lap; she looked tired, like she had been through a horrible journey.

"Yes, I do." She took out a handkerchief and started twisting it in her hands. "Solomon, Agnetha and ... and Brenna."

"Solomon was in Slytherin, like everyone else in the Darken family," Dumbledore continued, "but Agnetha was a Hufflepuff and Brenna a Ravenclaw."

Professor McGonagall nodded, afraid that her voice would betray her and she'd disgrace herself in front of Severus Snape.

Dumbledore walked towards a small fragile looking cabinet next to the fireplace and fetched a small leather-bound book. He gave it to Professor McGonagall; as she opened the little book the first picture brought back all sorts of memories, happy and sad at the same time, from the moving picture, three teenagers waved at her.

She could see Solomon smiling, tall, dark long hair, dressed in his Slytherin robes and a prefect badge on his chest. He was hugging two girls, Agnetha with her dark curls moving as she waved happily, and Brenna, wearing her Quidditch robes, holding a bludger bat in her hand.

Professor McGonagall took her handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes under her spectacles.

"They were such dear children," Professor McGonagall whispered firmly holding back the tears. "Solomon was so intelligent, so driven and ambitious. Agnetha was the sweetest thing, so caring and faithful. As for Brenna, I'm sorry to say it, but she was my favorite, even though she wasn't in my house, she was so clever and industrious."

"We all felt very sad when we heard of their deaths," said Dumbledore sitting behind the big desk. "As you said, Solomon was very driven. He was Head Boy and graduated top of his class. You would've loved to meet him Severus, he was wonderful at Potions," said Dumbledore smiling at him. "He married Bettys Fleweling, another Slytherin, they had a son Oberon. Agnetha married a Gryffindor, Absalom Morris, they had a daughter Ravenna. The last one to marry was Brenna."

"I remember, they said he was a Muggle, some sort of healer, wasn't he?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore nodded. "She married a famous Muggle Doctor, Rae Stone. They had twins, Morgan and Sevarin Stone."

"But Albus," said McGonagall incredulously, "why didn't we know about them earlier? If they were Brenna's children, they must had have received a letter from Hogwarts!"

"Not if they're squibs," said a cold voice. Snape had remained silent trough the conversation, but couldn't contain himself from blurting that out.

"Precisely," answered Dumbledore, "but most important, we didn't know that they had survived." Dumbledore stared at Snape under his spectacles,"Severus, I presume you never met them?"

Snape didn't answer immediately, he seemed deep in concentration. "No, I didn't Headmaster." he answered coldly.

But there was a mild hesitation that made Dumbledore give him a deprecating stare for a few seconds, and then he leaned back in his chair and sighed. He knew that Snape had done terrible things during his time as a Death Eater, he had suspected that Snape knew what had happened to Seward and his family, but Dumbledore had never asked.

Now, however, he must.

"Severus, you know I would never ask this from you, but I need you to tell me if you know anything about Seward's family?"

Snape shifted restlessly in his chair, resting his hands in his crossed knees, his face grew even paler if possible, it was the only indication that the question had disturbed him and yet his face seemed stripped of any feelings - it was like looking at a statue. Dumbledore knew this reaction; he knew it all too well.

Professor McGonagall glared angrily at him, she knew about his years with He Who Must Not Be Named, but she couldn't imagine him killing Seward and his family; Snape must had been only a teenager at the time.

"I know nothing," was Snape's calm but gruff answer.

"Are you sure Severus?" Professor McGonagall pressed on.

Snape faced Dumbledore, his lips barely moved, "Headmaster, I know nothing." The scowl on his face told her he didn't liked being doubted.

"I see," said Dumbledore calmly. "Well, in that case, we must take action and make her safe. If Voldemort finds out who she is, he might want to finish what he started. That is why I came to a difficult decision. I must beg understanding from you and the other members of the Order, we must take her to our house in London, there is no safer place and she can not stay here, not now anyway."

Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement, it was for the best, Morgan was Brenna's daughter and she would do anything in her power to protect her from that monster.

Snape grimaced, so that his face looked like a skull. It was rigid with anger. "Headmaster I don't think it would be wise to do that."

"And why is that Severus?" asked McGonagall in a rough tone.

"It will put our mission in great danger," answered Snape, his tone dangerously threatening.

"Rubbish!" said Professor McGonagall, "Morgan will be safer there."

Snape turned to the Headmaster for support, but saw in his wrinkled face that he had made up his mind, so he relented to the stupid idea.

"Minerva I believe I can trust you with this?" asked Dumbledore with a kind smile.

"Certainly, I'll see to it right away."

As Professor McGonagall left the room Dumbledore turned to Snape who was about to leave too.

"Severus, a word please," said Dumbledore watching him lower his hand from the door and frowning at him.

"Yes Headmaster," this time Snape didn't sit down, he knew what was coming so he needed to be ready for it.

"Severus, I must ask you again, now that Professor McGonagall has left, do you know anything about that night?" asked Dumbledore from his chair.

Snape lowered his eyes for just a fraction, he seemed enraged, but then he fixed his dark gaze on Dumbledore. He could see the struggle inside the Potions Master.

"I can't..." Snape whispered his voice strained over his anger, "you know... I can't"

"I know this must be hard for you, I've never asked you anything about your life before you came to me and asked for my help, but now I need to know from someone that was there. Were they all killed?"

A heavy silence had fallen around the office only the sounds of the creaking fire at the heart would disturb it.

Snape was furious, anxious and dangerous. Was this woman so important to Dumbledore that he was ready to risk everything he had worked for all these time? Snape was frozen, staring off, lost in thought.

"I do not wish to answer that question, Headmaster," Snape whispered.

"I need to be sure," said Dumbledore kindly.

Snape moved soundlessly towards the window, he turned his head slightly, "What about me? What about everything I've worked for?" he hissed.

Dumbledore didn't answer. Snape turned around with folded arms, "You don't answer me, I'm not giving you what you want, am I? You wanted to defeat The Dark Lord didn't you? That's what I'm doing. Taking this woman under our protection is a risk we can't afford.

"You know we must do whatever we can to save her, she would be an easy target as soon as Voldemort knows who she is and he will know," answered Dumbledore reasonably, "Now Severus, what do you know of that night?"

Dumbledore saw the changed look in Snape's features as he hid himself again behind his detachment.

"I only knew Seward and his wife, they died. I never saw the others, but I saw the ruins when they were still smoking. No one, much less a child that small, could have survived the massacre and the fire," said Snape with a stone-like expression on his face.

Dumbledore's face relaxed, "I appreciate you telling me this, Severus, you may go now and try to rest."

Snape nodded and got out of the office as quick as possible, he silently closed the door behind him, went down the stairs, as soon as they stopped, he went down the corridor running like hell, Snape had never run inside Hogwarts, not even when he was trying to escape from James Potter and his friends. He had to get to his private chambers before he lost control of his anger.

He pushed a woolen tapestry aside and marched through a narrow passage, then he reached a big wooden panel, waved his wand and the panel moved to reveal the library.

Snape prowled through the tables and went quickly outside almost knocking flat a squat round witch wearing a fluffy lilac cardigan.

"Professor Snape!" she said breathlessly.

The moment he heard her girlish voice, he moved two steps backwards and compose his face into his famous I-don't-give-a-dam-expression.

"Professor Snape at last I've found you," said Umbridge with her high-pitched voice composing the horrible Alice band in her big head, "A word, please."

"Certainly," answered Snape with a small trace of a smile, the foolish woman blushed like he had given her a compliment. Snape gritted his teeth and followed the short witch to her office.

He had to control his temper, she was already making a lot of trouble for the staff and he had to remain neutral. They walked down a few moving stairs until they reached what had been the fake Moody's office, as soon as she opened the door, Snape stood rooted to the floor, What in the name of blasted Merlin had this stupid woman done with the place?

"Would you care for some tea Professor?" said Umbridge sweetly.

"Yes, of course," hissed Snape, bracing himself from touching anything. Every surface was draped in lacy covers and cloths. Professor Umbridge was setting the tea on a table near the windows; Snape carefully sat on the lace covered table, a vase full of dried flowers sat in front of them, his black clothes looked so out of place in that pink space, but Professor Umbridge thought he looked as imposing as ever, she felt overwhelmed at Snape's presence, she had liked him the moment she had laid her prominent pouchy eyes on him.

It had been days since she had tried to get her hands on him. Snape was a perfect match for any maiden witch like herself, he was a Pureblood for sure, from a wealthy and honorable family. A Dark powerful wizard and from some sources she would not name... a Death Eater, which only had made him more appealing to her, and now at last she had a reason to call him into her office and she would not waste the opportunity.

Snape felt nauseated as he noticed on the opposite wall there were a series of ornamental plates each decorated with kittens wearing a different bow around their necks. They were so foul that he fought hard not to grab his wand and blast them all to pieces.

"Hem, hem."

Snape tore his eyes form the horrible plates to look at a more horrible sight, Professor Umbridge's toadlike face was attempting some kind of an alluring smile at him.

"As I was saying, Professor Snape, I was looking for you because I heard a racket down at the Dungeons entrance and I thought that you might be able to tell me what's been going on."

Snape turned his dark unreadable eyes upon her.

"A dead rat at the bottom of the stairs scared Professor McGonagall."

Snape felt pleased of the evil lie, which would surely make McGonagall mad when she found out.

"A rat?" said Umbridge, her pouchy eyes looking around as if she were afraid that one of the hideous things would actually jump at her throat. "I see, well in that case, Professor Snape you should had called Filtch to clean up, you shouldn't have stained your hands with that filth, that's what we have the Squib for." said Umbridge sweetly.

Snape narrowed his eyes, the deprecating word had been on his lips countless times, but for some reason he felt angry to hear it from her.

"Of course," he managed to answer her coldly.

"But you are not drinking your tea," said Umbridge with an evil smile on her ugly face.

Snape glared at her. Many years of studying the Dark Arts and his years as Potions Master had taught him, to never drink or eat anything he hadn't prepared himself or at least know where it came from, and he was not about to overlook that fact now, especially when it came to a nauseating woman like Umbridge.

Snape reached inside his cloak and pull a small purple bottle; Professor Umbridge frowned as her pouchy toad's eyes watched him pour three drops in his tea cup. Damn! That would ruin the love potion.

Snape sampled the tea and his highly sensitive taste detected the traces of a badly made love potion, he smirked maliciously, she should have learned how to sidestep a man like him before trying to poison him with that kind of rubbish.

"Well," said Snape tersely, taking advantage on her stunned silence, "I must leave; I have double Potions with the Gryffindors."

Snape got out of that place as fast as his legs and dignity would take him.

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Remus Lupin was enjoying a very pleasant afternoon sitting in the kitchen at number twelve, Grimmauld Place; he was listening to Artie Shaw and his Orchestra on his gramophone, sipping a very strong cup of tea and playing wizard chess with his best friend, although he was upstairs now feeding Buckbeack.

Mrs. Weasley moved around the kitchen, fixing dinner for the members of the Order who would be attending the meeting tonight, now that Sirius was gone, she hummed along with "Nightmare", as she cooked.

Suddenly they heard a stern voice coming from the fireplace; Lupin immediately shut the music off with his wand.

"Remus, are you there?"

Mrs. Weasley had already walked towards the fireplace, it sounded like Professor McGonagall, as she approach she saw her head hanging above the flames in the massive fireplace, sparks flying around her head. She looked extremely worried.

"Oh Molly, good! I'll need your help on this also, is Remus there?" said Professor McGonagall looking around.

"I'm here Minerva," said Lupin crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug.

"I need you to come to Hogwarts immediately, it's an emergency, meet me in the usual place," and with a small pop, she vanished.

"It must be Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley wringing her hands together.

"Nonsense," said Lupin reassuringly,"he's all right, it's probably something to do with Hagrid, I'm off to the Shrieking Shack. Please tell Sirius to hold the game for me," said Lupin putting on a battered cloak on and leaving the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley sat at the table, her gaze lost in the void, she was so worried, and she had been nervously waiting for news, but not this kind of news. The door to the kitchen burst open and Sirius Black entered the kitchen wiping his hands with a rag.

"Coward," Sirius murmured sitting next to the wizard chess board, "I knew he'll run."

"Remus was called to Hogwarts, there's been an emergency," said Molly walking towards the boiling pots.

Sirius sprang from the chair, "Harry!"

"No," said Mrs. Weasley slamming a large copper pot onto the table and began to wave her wand at a large group of chopped potatoes. She had never liked Sirius Black, he was irresponsible and selfish. "It's probably something about Hagrid; Remus said to hold the game for him."

Sirius made a derisive sound and sat back down. "He is so naive," he grabbed the Prophet and started drinking Lupin's tea. Well at least his friend had the chance to get out of that hell hole once in a while. Sirius was sick and tired of that damn house, the years he had to endure in that place hadn't been actually happy. His dear parents had personally seen to it that he never enjoyed anything.

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Two hours passed before Lupin returned. He looked urgently around the kitchen.

"Sirius, come and help us!"

Sirius practically jumped from the chair; at last he had something useful to do. They both got out of the kitchen and quickly climbed the narrow stone steps to the hall, Sirius saw two people standing in the middle of it whispering harshly.

"How can Dumbledore risk the whole operation with this?" said a tall black wizard, his gold hoop earring shinning in the dark.

"As I told you before Kingsley, she is Seward's granddaughter," whispered Professor McGonagall quickly.

"Right," said Lupin coming with Sirius at his side, "I think we could put her in my room."

Sirius glanced down at the woman sleeping on a stretcher lying on the dusty moth-eaten rug.

"Why your room?" whispered Sirius with a roguish look on his face.

Lupin flustered, answered quickly, "because my dear Padfoot, your room looks and smells like a doghouse."

Sirius' smile widened, "But I am a dog, Moony."

"Enough of this," said Professor McGonagall sternly. "Let's move her out of here quickly, we don't want to wake anything."

Sirius looked quite surprised to see them picking up the stretcher instead of waiving their wands, he guided them up the stairs to the second floor, passing the row of shrunken heads, and soon they reached the landing and were walking along the dark corridor towards the last room.

Sirius opened the door and completely agreed with Lupin this was the cleanest room in the house. He worried thinking that he must clean his own since Lupin would have to spend the night with him until they fixed another room.

Kingsley and Lupin placed the stretcher on the floor and both carefully moved Morgan on to the bed, she moaned in her sleep, but didn't wake up.

"Who is she?" asked Sirius lighting a few candles with his hand.

"I think it's better that Dumbledore answers that question," said Professor McGonagall, "now everybody out, I have to check her bandage."

The three men silently left of the room and walked towards the kitchen, Dumbledore was there along with the rest of the Order.

They all sat in silence while Mrs. Weasley served dinner, helped by her son Bill. The silence was so thick that they could almost touch it; Professor McGonagall entered and sat down opposite to Sirius. When the last piece of Mrs. Weasley's excellent pumpkin pie had vanished, Dumbledore cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"My friends, today is a very happy day indeed, the woman you all heard of is here, and I am pleased to say that it is true, she is Seward Darken's granddaughter."

A wave of voices rose from the table. Alastor Moody looked straight at Dumbledore, his good eye and the magical one, staring unblinking.

"Yes, we all know how he and his family were killed by Voldemort," they all shivered at the name, "but, for some reason Ms. Stone managed to escape."

"Brenna's daughter?" asked Moody in a sharp tone.

"Yes Alastor, Brenna's daughter," nodded Dumbledore.

"What about Sevarin, what of him?" asked Moody his gruff voice trembling.

"I'm sorry to say that we know nothing of him, but as soon as Morgan recovers from her wounds, we will know."

"Merlin! Brenna's daughter, she was the best beater Ravenclaw's ever had, she was ruthless." said Elphias Doge with his soft voice, shivering at the thought.

"What about the others?" asked Hestia Jones timidly, "Anything about Solomon or Agnetha?"

"I'm afraid we will know more when we ask Morgan," answered Dumbledore as Mrs. Weasley placed a cup of hot tea in front of him.

Suddenly the door opened and Severus Snape entered with a black travel cloak swirling about him, he promptly remove his gloves and walked towards the table.

The only empty chair was right between the werewolf and Black, Snape would rather have stood, but Mrs. Weasley had already placed a cup of tea at the empty place.

That blasted woman already knows I don't have anything at the meetings, Snape thought bitterly.

"I had to brew more potions for Ms. Stone," said Snape in a manner of explaining, he sat down and pushed the cup of tea aside.

Lupin had whispered a small 'Good evening Severus', that had gone unanswered.

Sirius, on the other hand, had almost left the kitchen, but he wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of driving him out of his own kitchen, so he gritted his teeth and prepared himself for the hour ahead.

"Dumbledore, may I ask why our magic didn't seen to affect her? Kingsley and I try to move her from the bed to the stretcher but it was an impossible task," asked Lupin with a mild voice.

"What?" said Moody in a croaky voice, "You couldn't perform that easy spell?"

Snape jerked his head at Moody, "Well Moody, I couldn't move her either when I found her, she just became very light"

"The same here," said Lupin tuning to Snape with a small smile that made Snape narrow his eyes dangerously. "When Kingsley and I lifted the stretcher it didn't seem that heavy at all."

"Interesting," said Moody mysteriously, "I remember once Brenna cast an easy spell on her to keep her sitting in her highchair, but it was useless, the child almost broke her neck, falling several times... so she really must be Morgan."

They all stared awkwardly at Moody, Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes heavenwards; they all knew he was inhumanly suspicious of everyone.

"You are right Alastor, I remember Seward saying something about that, actually he was going to take her to St Mungo's just a few days before they were attacked."

"Minerva said that Madam Pomfrey couldn't help her either, is it true? asked Dedalus Diggle leaning over the table.

"Yes Dedalus, Poppy couldn't help her." answered Dumbledore quietly.

"But who attacked her?" asked a witch sitting next to Lupin.

"We don't know Emeline, all we found was a Muggle car that had crashed on the dirt track near Hogsmeade," answered Professor McGonagall.

"A Muggle car?" said a few of them flabbergasted.

"Yes, she was also dressed as a Muggle. She wasn't carrying either a wand or a broom," continued Professor McGonagall frowning.

"Perhaps she was hiding from someone," said Moody suspiciously.

"Perhaps she's a squib," snarled Snape, unable to stop himself from bursting everybody's bubble.

"A squib!" screamed Hestia Jones outraged, "how dare you say that?"

"We are not saying that she is," said Professor McGonagall glaring angrily at Snape, "It's just a suggestion; she might had been hiding from Death Eaters."

"But why has she returned?" asked Lupin, "I mean if she was in mortal danger why would she come to Hogwarts?"

"Maybe she came to warn us of something," said Elphias hopefully.

A silence fell over the table, as everyone pondered this suggestion.

"You mean that she came to alert Harry?" asked Sirius casting a worried look at them.

"The world does not revolve around Harry Potter," said Snape his eyes glistening maliciously, "She could had come looking for Professor Dumbledore."

Sirius was about to answer Snape when Dumbledore rose from his chair, "We must go back, we can't leave Arthur alone, we will deal with these questions when she wakes up."

The meeting was over, they were all standing up and leaving the old kitchen, but Sirius wouldn't move out of Snape's way.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he growled at Snape, sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes and clutching his hands at his sides.

Lupin stood between them, "I believe Severus was just saying that Harry was not in danger, right?"

Lupin's pathetic attempts to stop the hostilities didn't succeed.

"What did you mean by that Snivellus?" Sirius asked again, shaking with anger.

Snape's eyes hardened perceptably at the insult, "You heard me."

"Enough of this," said Lupin briskly, "We mustn't fight amongst ourselves, we have to work, remember?" he said meaningfully to Sirius.

"Speak for yourself werewolf," snapped Snape, his black eyes fixed on Sirius, a malevolent smile raising the corners of his thin pale lips, "I don't believe Black is doing anything industrious at all."

That was it, all hell broke loose in that kitchen, as Sirius launched himself at Snape and hit him hard in the chest, Snape drew a few steps back and took his wand out, but he wasn't quick enough and received a Severing Charm in his wand arm, the cut sleeve showed a bleeding wound.

Lupin had been thrown to the wall, but he was quick enough with his werewolf reflexes to snatch Sirius' wand before he could do more damage, Snape threw a punch at Sirius' jaw, that made him fall to the stone floor, and was about to raise his wand at him, when he felt Lupin's wand in his neck.

"Please Severus," said Lupin panting, let's not fight amongst ourselves.

Snape lowered his wand a murderous look in his face, his black eyes like flames in a skull, "We'll finish this Black, when the werewolf isn't around." He then grabbed his gloves and left.

"Any time you bloody bastard!" screamed Sirius viciously, "What the Devil is wrong with you?" he snapped at his friend grabbing his wand back.

"Sirius, sometimes you behave like a nineteen year old," answered Lupin helping his friend up. "You'll never grow up."

"I spent most of my adult life among Dementors, what do you expect? I'm stuck in adolescence," was his harsh reply.

Sirius sat back down rearranging his robes and glaring at his bothersome friend.

"Are you going to clean your room Padfoot?" asked Lupin with a twinkle in his eye.

Sirius cleaned the blood from his mouth with his sleeve and smiled devilishly, "I should make you clean the bloody room, Moony, you almost got me killed."

"OK!" said Lupin smiling, "come on dear friend, let's finish our game."

"When shall we three met again..."

William Shakespeare

Macbeth.