Unplottable

27 - Harry

"You!" Harry shouted and shot a hex at Pettigrew. Of course, the hex was deflected by the two wizards' protective field. Hermione, however, was murmuring an incantation, he noticed; she was probably trying to deactivate their protection. Harry jumped to her side; he knew that she was defenceless while incantating, which meant he had to shield her. Ron was at their side, casting a random array of counter-hexes to keep the two wizards from harming them: Lupin and Pettigrew were shooting some colourful flashes in their direction. Harry tried to build up a protective shield himself, even though he knew it was probably beyond his magical abilities.

Just as the protective wall around Lupin and Pettigrew was thinning, Ron shot a hex against Peter Pettigrew. With a rapid movement of his wand, Pettigrew reflected the hex - but only barely. Harry magically empowered and confirmed his protective shield - it was feeble and two-dimensional, but better than nothing. In the meantime, Hermione attacked the false Lupin, shooting invisible chords at him. Lupin struggled briefly, but managed to throw them off before they could take their final shape. Harry decided it would be his job to uphold the protective shield in this fight: If he could keep Pettigrew and the false Lupin from harming the three of them, Ron and Hermione would have much better chances at Stunning, Disarming or even harming them. His two friends were fighting tooth and nail - and if he wasn't mistaken, they were making good headway. Again he saw the false Lupin throw of Hermione's chords, but this time, the wizard seemed to have more problems defending himself against Hermione's attack than the first time.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the slightly smoky air of the Shrieking Shack. Involuntarily, Harry glanced towards Peter Pettigrew. The stocky, balding wizard had managed to tie up Aisha with his own magical chords; he had grabbed her around the neck and was holding a wand to her temple.

"Throw us your wands, or she will suffer," he snarled. Then, without waiting for a reply, he shouted: "Crucio!" Aisha let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain.

"Stop it, Peter," the false Lupin said, at the same time drawing up a new protective field that looked as solid as their first one. "Let her go. We are fighting children here. There's no need to take hostages." He was still feeding power to their protection; Harry realised the two of them would be hard to beat now.

"She will suffer," Pettigrew insisted. His high-pitched voice had a slightly insane quality to it. "Make sure the kids know how much she will suffer, Rom."

The wizard addressed as 'Rom' narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Let her go, Peter," he hissed. "We can cope without a hostage. You know that Muggles do not usually survive a Crucio curse."

Aisha, bound into immobility, was writhing and whimpering in Pettigrew's grip. Ron and Harry shot another couple of curses against the protective field, but with 'Rom' holding up the protection, they did not see any chance of hurting either of the two wizards.

"Throw us your wands, or I'll finish her off right now," Pettigrew spat at Ron, Harry and Hermione.

Harry did not want Aisha harmed, but he was sure that if the three of them voluntarily gave up their wands, they would be killed, too. "Let her go and give us your wands, and we will let you get away alive," he retorted just to have some kind of reply.

Pettigrew raised his wand in a deft movement; Aisha moaned in pain. Harry felt his heart miss a beat. Would he see Aisha die now? Helplessly he threw another jinx at the protective field; so did Ron and Hermione. The field did not waver for a second. There seemed nothing the three of them could do for Aisha.

"Stupefy!" Hit into the face by the false Lupin's Stunning spell, Peter Pettigrew keeled over backwards and hit his head hard on the floor. With two steps, the 'Rom' had reached the sobbing Aisha. He freed her with a wave of his wand, kneeled down and put his arms around her.

Devoid of his attention, the protective shield had weakened. Hermione annihilated it with a well-aimed spell; Ron Summoned the wand of the unconscious Peter Pettigrew. With a quick "Expelliarmus," Harry Disarmed the kneeling wizard who was stroking Aisha's hair now. The false Lupin looked up at him for a moment only; there was something like resignation in his eyes. Still, he was trying to soothe the crying Muggle woman in his arms. Harry could barely make out her words:

"You're with the enemy, you're with the enemy," she was sobbing desperately and at the same time accusingly. The false Lupin, or maybe 'Rom,' made soothing noises and stroked her hair again, but he did not deny her accusation.

"Get up, hands over your head," Harry said coldly to the wizard.

"I will have to go now, darling," the wizard said softly to the Muggle woman. Then he obeyed Harry by getting to his feet and holding his hands up, showing that he was unarmed now. "I'm ready," he told them tonelessly.

Hermione cast a sticky, magical chord around the false Lupin's wrists, and then, thorough as she was, proceeded to wrap Pettigrew into a tight cocoon, prohibiting any kind of motion in case he should wake up. Ron was holding 'Rom' at wand-point, looking positively dangerous. Tearfully, Aisha stared at them.

"Who are you?" Harry asked fiercely. It was strange to point a wand at a face he had always liked and trusted.

"Romulus Lupin," the wizard replied quietly and with a sidelong glance at the crying Aisha.

"Remus never mentioned that he had a twin," Hermione retorted, frowning.

"As far as I know, he never knew I was alive until recently," the wizard answered. "I think my uncle, who raised me, told them I was killed by the same werewolf that hurt me."

"Remus and Romulus, the wolf twins," Hermione murmured. "How fitting."

Romulus sighed. "My father came from a long line of wolf charmers, which was, I think, the cause for his sons coming in contact with a werewolf in the first place. My uncle thought they were irresponsible, so he 'adopted' me and told them I was chewed up, I suppose." Looking up at his tied-up wrists, he asked:

"Look, can we maybe have this conversation some place else? It seems I will have to be officially questioned and everything, so I don't quite have the nerve to chatter now."

Right, Harry remembered: This wizard who had been fighting alongside with Peter Pettigrew had to be a servant of Lord Voldemort. For a moment he had been fascinated by his story, but now he remembered that this wizard was his enemy.

"Let's go and bring them to Dumbledore," he said to Ron and Hermione.

"Mobilicorpus," Hermione hissed, casting a hateful glance at the unconscious Pettigrew. The wizard rose up like a string-less puppet and hovered in front of her.

"Get going," Ron said to Lupin and poked his wand into the wizard's ribs. Held at wandpoint by Harry and Ron, the wizard followed Hermione and Pettigrew out of the room. Aisha brought up the rear, wiping her eyes.

As they descended down the stairs, Hermione did little to prevent the limp Pettigrew bumping into the ceiling. More than ever, the situation felt like a dejá-vu to Harry. Only on that night almost three years ago, the real Lupin had been present - and Sirius.

"Sirius!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Where is Sirius - and where is your brother?"

"They are with some friends of mine," Romulus replied. "They are held there, but they weren't harmed - besides a little blackmail so Sirius wouldn't betray me over the phone talking to you or to his lover."

"What did you do to them?" Harry hissed. Once more he realised that this wizard, even though he looked like the Lupin he knew, was not to be trusted.

"Nothing, really," Romulus replied. "We didn't hurt them; we just needed them out of the way."

They were entering the secret passage. Pettigrew's head was scraping the low ceiling. Harry felt another blast of hatred. If it hadn't been for Wormtail, Sirius would have been cleared that night, and Harry could have lived with him all these years. If it hadn't been for Wormtail, his parents would be alive today.

Ron must have seen his glance, because he said: "We'll bring them to Dumbledore, Harry - and he'll deal with this scum."

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

In the Entrance Hall, they ran into Flitwick, who emitted a yelp of shock upon seeing the unconscious Pettigrew and the tied-up Lupin.

"What funny business is this?" he squeaked. "What happened to Remus? And where did you find Peter Pettigrew? They must be taken to Dumbledore immediately."

"That's what we are planning to do," Hermione replied. "By the way, this is not Remus Lupin, but a spy of Voldemort posing as him. We saw him plotting with Wormtail."

Flitwick nodded and took out his wand, probably fearing that Harry, Hermione and Ron were not qualified for keeping both of their prisoners in check. "I am coming with you."

"Fizzing Whizzbees," Flitwick said to the gargoyle when they had arrived at Dumbledore's office, and the door opened for them. All of them went inside, Hermione still levitating Wormtail, Aisha sneaking in with everybody else.

"Albus," Flitwick piped excitedly before anyone else could get in a word, "Pettigrew has been caught."

The headmaster, in spite of his recovery still fragile-looking, put away his Daily Prophet and cast a glance at the unconscious Wormtail over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. Then his eyes strayed to the tied-up Romulus.

"Remus?" he asked, tilting his eyebrows upwards.

"Romulus," Hermione corrected him. "Romulus Lupin, Remus' twin brother. I think he came to Hogwarts to spy."

Romulus, whose hands were still tied up above his head in a position which looked rather uncomfortable, stood straight and looked relatively dignified, considering his situation.

"The young lady speaks the truth - there is no point denying that," he said.

For a few seconds, Dumbledore said nothing. He got up and walked over to Romulus, scrutinizing him through his spectacles. "Romulus Lupin," he finally repeated softly. "You were officially declared dead thirty-five years ago."

"So I was," Romulus replied.

"Your name disappeared from the Hogwarts Book of Students after your parents reported you dead," Dumbledore stated, as if he wanted to deny Romulus' existence.

"I was brought to America, where I was raised and schooled," Romulus replied. "My uncle believed that my parents weren't fit to raise children if they could not even protect their sons from werewolves. He basically kidnapped me and let my parents believe I was eaten by the same werewolf that bit my brother, or so he always told me."

"Once more I've housed a traitor under my roof, and once more it was you, Harry, not me, who unmasked him," Dumbledore murmured so softly that Harry wondered if anyone else had heard him. "Maybe I am loosing my grip." Louder, the headmaster continued: "Are you a Death Eater?"

"No, not really," Romulus replied. "I was recruited as a spy because I look like my brother, but I did not swear loyalty to anybody."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed at him. "Roll up your left sleeve."

"I haven't got a Dark Mark, if that's what you mean," Romulus replied, obeying. He had not lied: His lower left arm was smooth and unmarked. To prove his point, he also bared his right arm. "It wasn't too difficult convincing You-Know-Who that I had plenty to hide on my mission without such a little ... decoration."

"So you serve him," Dumbledore said tonelessly.

"Yes, I do," Romulus replied. "I mean, I did. I suppose the game is over now," he added with a false little laugh. For a short moment, his eyes strayed over to Aisha. Suddenly Harry saw fear in his face. He realised that the wizards they had caught were awaiting punishment.

"How could you, you asshole?" Aisha suddenly broke out. Harry saw Flitwick flinch at the profanity. Romulus also flinched, but maybe not because of the swearword, but because of the hatred in his former lover's voice.

"You know that Voldemort guy hates us Muggles," Aisha continued, making Romulus flinch once more at the mentioning of the name. "You know he wants to turn us into slaves. How could you serve him and tell me you love me at the same time? That's abysmally stupid!"

"I admit falling in love with you was highly unprofessional," Romulus replied quietly, avoiding her eyes. "This is not my first job as a spy, but the first one I totally botched up. It also will be the last one, I suppose - I don't think I'll get another chance."

"Because of the current political situation, we will have to set up a little court for you here at Hogwarts," Dumbledore replied. "There, we can discuss your crimes, and also those of your -" for a fleeting second, his face was distorted by rage, "companion. What was he doing here, by the way?"

"He was my contact person," Romulus replied. "He came by to exchange information with me, usually at the time of the full moon when I had to go into hiding anyway. He helped me a lot with finding my way around this castle, as I am supposed to know the place but have never been here before. Also, he knew many of the teachers and students, both from his time as a student and his time as a rat. Without him, I would have never been able to pose as my brother."

"Where is Remus now?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"My brother and his friend, Sirius, are hidden with friends of mine," Romulus replied.

"Death Eater friends," Dumbledore concluded.

Romulus shook his head. "No, I have managed to prevent this. I don't know my brother very well, but I have no reason to hate him. I don't want him harmed. If You-Know-Who got his hands on my brother, he would probably try to get me into his power by threatening him. I didn't want that, so I never told You-Know-Who's followers their exact whereabouts."

"You are trying to outsmart everyone, it seems," Dumbledore mused. "However, we might profit from this. Can you tell your 'friends' to set Sirius and Remus free?"

"What about cutting a deal here?" Romulus replied. "My life against theirs?"

"So you can return Voldemort and tell him everything you have learned here?" Dumbledore asked, his white, bushy eyebrows raised. "Mind you, he might not be happy to welcome you back into his rows when he learns that you have freed Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and that your mission here has resulted into the capture of him." He pointed briefly at Wormtail, whose unconsciousness was conspicuously long-lasting. Harry suddenly felt cold. He had encountered his fair share of traitors at Hogwarts, but never before had one fallen into Dumbledore's hands; most of them had conveniently deceased. What would Dumbledore do with Wormtail now that they had caught him? Would he hurt him, maybe even kill him? Azkaban was no safe place to keep him after Lucius Malfoy's takeover - that much was sure.

"You may be right about You-Know-Who - he might not welcome me back. So, what are you planning to do with me now?" Romulus inquired.

"This has to be decided not by me alone," Dumbledore replied. "For now, you will be kept here at the castle, under supervision. We will question you and your companion. At any rate, we want Sirius and Remus set free. Your cooperation in that matter will strongly influence the way you will be treated by our court."

"Court!" Romulus snorted. "I know I am in no position to argue, but I still think you should avoid using that word if all you plan to do is decide on my fate with a couple of fellow conspirators against the current government. If you were keeping on the side of the law, you would have no need of such an atrocity."

"We do not accept the current government for various reasons here at Hogwarts, as you should know, as we discussed matters with you when we still believed you our friend," Dumbledore replied. Flitwick nodded vigorously, looking a bit hurt.

"All the old structures of wizard society and of our Ministry are being changed; officials and judges are being replaced by our political opponents," Dumbledore continued. "There is no way we will accept any court whose officials are controlled by Lord Voldemort. In case you haven't realised it, your spy mission has landed you in the middle of something that may very well become a civil war."

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

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent the rest of the evening discussing the things they had seen and heard. It felt so good to be together with them again, to have Ron back, and, in a way, to have Hermione back, too: Now that the panacea was completed, she actually seemed to permit herself a bit of a rest. True, she made Ron and Harry do a minimum of schoolwork shortly before bedtime, and she asked Ron whether he was following the revision table she had set up for him. However, if she hadn't at least mentioned schoolwork at some point, Harry would have worried about her health.

With Hermione and Ron, Harry felt, he could not also share fun times, but also most of his worries. The political situation scared him, and Dumbledore's words scared him even more. Practising wanded combat was all very well, and today Ron, Hermione and he had proved they were up to fighting against grown wizards. They might have lost the fight if Lupin hadn't turned against Pettigrew, but they also might have won it - there was no way to tell. However, a war wasn't only about fighting and winning, it was about killing. He couldn't imagine fighting against other witches or wizards with the intention of killing them - against Voldemort, yes, but Voldemort wasn't human anymore. He wasn't a person of flesh and blood, a man or woman with feelings and hopes and dreams. No, Harry would not have minded killing Voldemort - but he did not want to point his wand at somebody else to kill him or her. Ron and Hermione felt the same. Ron, of course, was optimistic; he said he could not believe things would get that bad. Hermione only shook her head in doubt. Harry suspected that she believed the opposite.

When Ron yawned heartily and announced that he was heading up to the dormitory, both Harry and Hermione agreed that it was bedtime. Ron, who had put in some extra Quidditch practice earlier that day (much, much earlier - a century seemed to lie between morning and evening) went straight up the stairs. Harry, however, had yet to pack his books. He found Hermione, who had already stacked her many books into a neat pile, lingering behind, too. She seemed impatient, almost as if she wanted Harry to leave.

"Are you coming up?" Harry asked.

"Er, in a minute, I've got to - there's a homework I've forgotten," she replied, not looking at him.

"Nonsense, you never forget any of your homework," Harry said, not because he wanted to accuse her of lying, but because it was the first thing that came to his mind.

Hermione blushed. "Well, now I did. My Arithmancy homework, in fact. Just go ahead, it'll only take a couple of minutes.

Harry's curiosity had been awakened, but he did not want to argue with her, so he bid her goodnight and walked out the door to the stairs that led to the dormitory. When he had walked up a bit, however, he suddenly on impulse removed his shoes and tiptoed back down again. Sneaking a glance through the door, he saw Hermione, not seated at the table to do her Arithmancy homework, but wearing a cloak and opening the portrait hole.

"Hermione, where are you going?" he hissed.

She turned around, blushing, maybe out of embarrassment, maybe out of anger. "Are you spying on me, Harry Potter?" she hissed.

Walking up to her, replied: "Generally not, but when you are getting into trouble, I suppose I'd better."

"I'm not getting into trouble," Hermione retorted.

"Well, you are certainly about to leave the castle at a time when it's against the rules, and you are not telling us where you are going," Harry replied.

Hermione made a face, but remained mute.

"See, I don't want to spy on you, or meddle with things that are none of my business," Harry said to soothe her. "I just wish you'd trust us enough to share your worries with us, just like we trust you."

She came up to him and laid a hand on his arm. "I do trust you," she replied unhappily. "It's just - just that I promised to keep something secret. I believe the secret would be safe with you two, but a promise is a promise, right?"

He didn't like her to look so crushed, so he said: "It's okay. I only hope that if you need us, you will come to us for help."

Hermione made a strange, little noise in her throat; then she suddenly hugged Harry fiercely and buried her face on his shoulder for a moment. "You two are the best friends in the world," she whispered. Then she let him go, turned around and left through the portrait hole without another word.

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

The next day after classes, Harry looked around the grounds for the Thestral. He hadn't seen the winged stallion for a while - not since Ron had been cured, in fact. Of course, that was not unusual - the Thestral disappeared for a couple of days every now and then, or maybe it just remained invisible, you never knew. Harry was starting to miss his magical half-pet, though - it had been away for longer than usual now. He would have fancied a ride through the gale on the wild flyer, but had to accept that there would be no ride today.

On his way back to the castle, he passed the Quidditch pitch. The Ravenclaw team was just finishing practice. Harry could see Cho's arched dive from the sky right to the door of the changing rooms. He held his breath for a moment while watching her. First she was a flash of blue and silver robes, her long, dark hair flying behind her; then, slowing in her descent, she became the beautiful girl he knew, a girl who noticed him and managed a merry wave to him even in the middle of her dive. She had never flown better, Harry decided; nor had she ever looked better.

Harry had homework to do, but decided it wasn't so much that he was in any kind of hurry, so he waited by the edge of the pitch for her. Not long after, Cho emerged with the rest of her team, dressed in casual robes, her hair still moist from a shower. Seeing Harry, she beamed and walked over to him.

"Hi Cho," he said, "I see you have recovered your flying skills." He could have bit off his tongue. Why did he have to sound like Percy Weasley now?

Cho grinned at his words, but not in a mean way. Then her smile softened. "Yes, I'm better," she said. "Thanks to Hermione. And thanks to you, Harry."

"I haven't done anything for the panacea," Harry protested.

"Yes, but you've done a lot for me," Cho said softly. "You were always there when I needed you." Her slanted eyes met his. Harry felt very hot all of a sudden. Did panaceas undo the effect of evil love potions, too?

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked in lack of a better reply.

Cho nodded. In silence, they rounded the lake. When they were nearing the forest, Harry felt Cho's hand dangling idly against his. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. Should he take her hand? He wasn't sure. He tried to relax, to dangle his hand idly against hers in turn, but somehow he was sure that whatever he was conveying with his touch, it wasn't ease. Finally, he took her hand, but apparently with such a sudden movement that Cho started. He turned to face her and at the same time tried to remove the cause of her fright, but found that her fingers had closed around his, and that she was smiling.

"You're not... I mean, not anymore...." He didn't know how to phrase his question, as he was unwilling to mention Snape's name in her presence. However, she understood him nevertheless.

"No, not anymore," she replied. Her eyes were shining.

"Do you...." He felt his face grow hot. He had to ask now, or he would never dare to ask her again. "Do you think you could like me?"

"I do," she replied, looking into his eyes.

Knowing what was expected of him, he put his hand on her shoulder, pulled her towards him and kissed her. At first, he kissed her with his eyes and lips firmly closed, but then, with a bit of guidance from Cho, he opened his lips just a tiny little bit and experienced something that was completely new to him. Unlike Harry, who had never tasted a girl this was before, Cho appeared to know what she was doing. Harry banned all thoughts of Cedric Diggory from his mind. This was his hour; for years, he had waited and longed for this. He relished in the feel of her lips and tongue, in the smell of her hair, in running his hands over her shoulder and back. Cho drew close to him. He felt the warmth grow between their bodies.

Grinning, Cho drew her face away from his. "You seem to have waited for this a very, very long time, Harry Potter," she said, rubbing the lower parts of her body against his in a playful manner.

Harry felt his face grow even hotter than before. There was nothing he could say. The reaction of his body to her closeness was nothing he could control.

"Have you ever ...?" Cho asked, her eyebrows raised.

Had he ever - what? Kissed a girl? Seen a naked girl before? Touched a naked girl? Harry had once kissed Cho before, about a year ago, but that couldn't possibly count, because she probably remembered this incidence herself.

"No," he replied quietly, wishing for a moment he had slept around in Gryffindor Tower just to seem more experienced now. "Have you?"

"Not really," Cho replied, rubbing her nose playfully against his.

Harry wondered briefly what 'not really' meant, and whether he should worry about knowing apparently less about this important matter than she did. However, when Cho's lips touched his again, he decided that this certainly wasn't the time to worry about anything, about anything at all.