A Promise Worth Keeping

Chapter Twelve

Sirius opened his eyes. His brain struggled to process the fact that he was no longer in an armchair with Harry on his lap, but instead was lying on the floor of a dungeon, barely lit by the flicker of a magical torch. "Wha -?" He sat up, backing into the wall behind him, heart hammering in his chest. Panic stricken, he frantically looked round, in a desperate hope that Harry might be here too.

There was an amused snort from one side of the room and a figure stepped forwards out of the shadows. The face was older, but the greasy hair and sneering expression were exactly the same as they always had been. "Snape!" exclaimed Sirius. He looked round wildly, as if he thought Harry might have appeared, "Where's Harry? What have you done with him, you bastard?"

Snape's eyes glittered in the torchlight and he smiled unpleasantly. "I can't say I'm delighted to see you again either, Black. As for the Potter boy, you'd better get used to the idea that you're not going to see him anytime soon."

"NO!" A rush of rage, generated by his dreadful fear for Harry, took over Sirius' mind, and snarling, he launched himself at the other wizard. A part of him that was still rational registered with satisfaction the flicker of fear that crossed Snape's face as he stepped backwards, even as he raised his wand. With a bang, it shot thin, twisting cords that wrapped themselves round Sirius' wrists and ankles and he crashed to the floor. "What have you done with him!" he yelled, struggling against the ropes.

"Tsk, tsk," said Snape reprovingly. "I see nine years in Azkaban still haven't taught you to keep your temper."

Snape's gloating face was almost more than Sirius could bear. With a supreme effort he managed to hurl himself towards the other wizard, earning himself a kick in the jaw for his pains that half stunned him.

"Get away from me you filthy devil!" Snape's face contorted in a snarl.

"Severus! That's enough! What do you think you're doing?" another voice exclaimed sharply. Snape whirled round as the newcomer walked forwards out of the gloom. Sirius' heart gave a horrible lurch as, blinking away stars, he recognised Remus. What the hell?

"Protecting myself from a mad dog." Snape's sneer was pronounced.

Sirius noticed that Remus gave the slightest of flinches as Snape said this, but he made no comment on the remark, merely telling Snape calmly, "You're wanted upstairs. Fudge is here."

"Getting rid of me so you can kill him yourself?"

"You think that after all the trouble it took to catch him, I'd do that?" Remus looked incredulous.

"Who knows how a werewolf's mind works," responded Snape.

Sirius broke in. "Remus," he croaked, "what's -?"

Ignoring Snape's comment, Remus turned expressionless eyes onto Sirius and said, "Be quiet."

Sirius quailed at that look and the tendrils of hope that had appeared with the sight of his old friend withered immediately. It wasn't the expression of a friend.

Snape must have been satisfied by this interchange, however, as he gave a slight smirk and, with a swish of his robes turned and left.

Remus waited until the other wizard had gone and sighed. "What were you trying to achieve by all of this? Did you really think you'd get away with it?" He made a dismissing movement with one hand. "But that's not why I'm here, Dumbledore'll get that out of you. I can't even pretend to understand your motivations any more."

The shocked realisation slammed into Sirius' brain that he wasn't being held by Voldemort's supporters at all, although the presence of Severus Snape was puzzling. But it must mean Harry was safe. His relief was short-lived.

Folding his arms, Remus stared at Sirius for a long, cold moment. His face gave nothing away; he'd always been good at that. "I made sure there are anti-transformation wards on this cell," he remarked. "So don't imagine that Padfoot can help you." He paused and paced around the cell for a moment. Sirius got the impression that he was unsure what to say next. Standing before the flaring torch, he looked up at the green flames flickering at the edge of the flare then glanced down at Sirius once more.

"Why did you do it?" Despite the impassive face there was a barely perceptible shake in his voice. "What did Voldemort offer you that made you turn on us? Was it worth it?"

Sirius stared at his old friend in horror before bursting out, "Remus it wasn't me! Please, you've got to believe me! I never betrayed anyone."

In an instant, the impassive mask disappeared, and Sirius saw rare anger flare on the other man's face. "Not you?" Remus hissed, "When you were so clever telling everyone that I was the spy?"

Oh no, no, no. Sirius felt his blood ran cold, not least at the bitterness in Remus's voice. "Oh God, Moony, I'm so sorry, I know I did, I made a mistake," he moaned, shaking his head.

"Oh I don't think you made a mistake at all," Remus replied, his voice hard and cold. "I think you planned that very carefully, split us up, created distrust amongst us. You deliberately made us more vulnerable, after all, you knew there was really only one possible choice when Lily and James needed a Secret Keeper."

"Remus, I was never the Secret Keeper," frantically Sirius tried to keep hysteria out of his voice and sound convincing.

"Really? And if it wasn't you then who was it? Oh let me guess, the oh so conveniently dead Peter?" Remus's sarcasm was withering.

Sirius made the beginnings of a nod, "But he's not -"

"How dare you! You make me sick! You haven't even got the guts to stick with the choices you made." The contempt in Remus's voice was searing, "I never thought you'd try and weasel out of it with such a pathetic story. It was Peter? Do you really expect me to believe that James and Lily let Peter be their Secret Keeper?"

"Remus please! You've got to believe me," Sirius begged, close to tears. "I know it sounds stupid, that was the whole point." He was struggling to sound coherent now, to hold it together.

But Remus wasn't finished. "At least Harry's safe from you now."

Horrified, Sirius tried again. "I'd never do anything to harm Harry!"

Remus gave a small, tight smile. "Oh I know you wouldn't kill him. He's far too valuable isn't he? But turn him to Dark Magic and whether Voldemort's permanently gone or not, what better way to curry favour with his remaining supporters?"

Sirius' horror was rapidly turning to frustrated rage. Still encumbered by the ropes binding him, he managed to crawl on his knees towards Remus. "That's ridiculous!" he bellowed, "I couldn't care less about Voldemort's supporters."

A resigned expression settled on Remus's face as he took a step backwards. "Oh, so that was it, you were going to use Harry to gain power for yourself."

"NO! Why won't you bloody listen?"

"Oh I think I've heard enough," and with that, Remus took another step backwards to the dungeon door. Pulling it open, he muttered, "Finite Incantatem," and left.

As the ropes disappeared, Sirius slumped to the floor and gave way to the surge of emotion overwhelming him. Somehow, through all the guilt and remorse, he had felt that if he could only talk to Remus, explain what had happened, he would be believed. But now he'd had that chance and he hadn't been believed. That could only mean one thing; they were going to send him back to Azkaban.

***

Remus walked swiftly along the corridor, furious with himself. He had been determined not to lose his temper and what had he gone and done? But the barefaced lies had been too much. All he had wanted was to know why, to try and understand what had gone wrong. He supposed it was too much to expect that someone who had taken those unrepentant steps down the dark path would be honest about anything. He slowed down. Up another level and he would be approaching the inhabited part of the castle.

It was hard to believe the man in the nearby dungeon was the same man he had grown up with. Physically he was barely recognisable, with his stick thin limbs and gaunt features. His eyes had a horrible haunted quality except when they were filled with insane rage, showing that the man within had also changed beyond all recognition. Remus shuddered. Poor Harry! First the Dursleys and now this monster.

He walked towards the opening of the spiral staircase and stopped for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. Peter! Poor, heroic, dead Peter. He surely didn't look that much of an idiot did he? No, Snape had the right of it, even if he hadn't realised how apposite his remark was. Black was nothing more than a mad dog; he'd certainly sounded deranged enough. Remus took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. Then he turned and climbed the stairs.

The next level was less dank and forbidding. If he remembered correctly the Slytherin Common room was along here somewhere. He passed a couple of teenagers who gave him curious glances but didn't challenge him, and he was sure of it.

Once into the main part of the building, he quickly made his way to the Headmaster's office. When he entered, Fudge was there, holding forth. Snape was looking gratified, but Dumbledore… Remus didn't think he looked quite as satisfied with the outcome as he might have expected.

"Ah Remus, come on in," Dumbledore said. "Cornelius, this is Remus Lupin, the other person who captured Black and rescued Harry Potter."

Fudge nodded pleasantly to him. "This has been a shocking business, I was just saying to your friend Snape here, I don't know what we would have done if Black had harmed the boy."

As the Minister had turned to speak to Remus, he didn't see the way Snape winced as he was referred to as Remus' friend. It gave Remus a sour sense of amusement. He felt the Minister expected him to say something so he agreed, "It would have been a tragedy, but fortunately one we don't have to face."

"And we've got Black back under lock and key again without having to panic the public, couldn't be better." Fudge turned to Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk. "You know, Albus, we must see about getting some reward for these chaps, Order of Merlin perhaps."

Remus stared at Fudge, stifling the sarcastic grin that threatened to take over his features. First werewolf in history to be awarded the Order of Merlin. Clearly the minister had no idea he was a werewolf, he thought, as Dumbledore replied, "I'm sure it's no less than they deserve."

"We should certainly have a formal reception at the Ministry," Fudge continued, "I'm sure Harry would like to be there too, show his gratitude to his rescuers, you know, that sort of thing."

"I don't think that would be entirely appropriate, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, then as Fudge looked taken aback, added, "For Harry to be there, I mean. He's had a nasty shock, and needs time to recover."

"Albus are you trying to tell me Black did manage to do something to the boy? That he's not all right?" Fudge sounded suspicious.

"I mean no more than what I have said," Dumbledore responded in a bland voice. "He needs time to recover, and thrusting him into the limelight will not aid that."

"Oh, I see." Fudge didn't look completely satisfied, but didn't press for more. Instead he said, "I'll go and set things in motion. Milton and his chaps will be up shortly to take care of Black."

"We need to question him, Cornelius."

"What's the point? We know he's resistant to Veritaserum, we'd never be sure if he was telling the truth."

"Nevertheless, we still need to question him. He's perfectly safe where he is, or do you not think that Hogwarts is secure enough?"

Fudge harrumphed awkwardly. "It's not a question of security, although I'm sure I don't know what the school governors will say about you keeping notorious dark wizards in the dungeons here, Albus. This is supposed to be a school after all. I for one won't be happy until he's back in Azkaban. In fact I rather think…." His voice trailed off as if unwilling to continue with that train of thought under Dumbledore's piercing gaze.

Remus wondered which way it would go. He hadn't met the Minister before but he seemed the type to either bluster and become stubborn or give in immediately, when faced with a stronger will. Surrender won this time as the man said, "Well I suppose you'll do what you want, Albus, you always do." He murmured a summoning charm and held out his hand for his lime green bowler hat, which floated over from the hat stand. He put it on, "Gentlemen," he nodded at the three of them and left the room.

As he did so, Remus gave way to mirth. "The Order of Merlin and a reception, Headmaster? He doesn't know, does he?"

"I quite fail to see why your lycanthropy is even an issue, Remus," responded Dumbledore. In the background, Snape snorted. "However, if you'd rather not, then it's entirely up to you." He glanced at Snape, "Severus, do you think you could give us a few minutes, I need to speak to Remus, and then I think it's high time we spoke with Mr Black."

Snape stood up. "As you wish, Headmaster." He nodded to Dumbledore and stalked straight past Remus, ignoring him completely.

Dumbledore waited until Snape had left the room, then motioned Remus towards one of the button-backed leather armchairs. Remus sat down. "You spoke to him then?" Dumbledore asked.

Remus felt himself start to blush and nodded. He had gained the impression that Dumbledore would have preferred him not to speak to Black.

However, the old man commented, "I would have been surprised had you not done so. What did you ask him?"

"I wanted to know why he betrayed us," Remus responded simply.

"I think we would all like to know that," Dumbledore replied. "Did he tell you?"

Remus snorted, "Of course not. Wouldn't even admit it had been him. Kept saying it had been Peter." He looked up at the Headmaster, shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean, come on, Peter?" He paused and looked down at his hands for a moment and sighed. Then he looked back up. "He was going to use Harry to gain power, he told me that much."

Dumbledore who had looked thoughtful during the first part of Remus' speech now looked concerned. "You're sure?"

"As sure as I can be," responded Remus. "You know, I think I always had the hope that just maybe it was all a horrible mistake, that he didn't do those awful things…." Remus struggled to maintain his composure.

"I think we all shared that hope, Remus. But you don't think that any more?" Dumbledore asked looking down at him with compassion in his eyes.

Remus looked bleakly up at the headmaster and shook his head. "Not now." He blinked hard. Oh God, this was horrible, he thought and took a deep breath. "At least we have Harry back. How is he?"

Dumbledore's serious expression did not lighten. "Harry has been through a terrible ordeal, and I'm not talking about Mr Black, I'm afraid. It seems that his aunt and uncle never told him of his wizarding heritage, and he has found out about it in the worst possible way."

For an instant, Remus thought he saw a flicker of doubt on the old wizard's face. Part of him was almost glad at this sign of human fallibility, but he wished it hadn't been bought at such cost. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Harry's magic nearly killed his uncle," Dumbledore said. "He has to come to terms with that. At the moment, the fact that it was an accident is irrelevant to him," Dumbledore's expression grew bleaker as he continued, "As is the fact that his uncle was apparently assaulting him at the time. Since then, it seems that the only person who has treated him with any consideration at all is Sirius Black. We need to change that, but I'm not sure that Harry will let us."

"I'll go and talk to him," Remus said immediately, standing up. The twinkle came back into Dumbledore's eyes and Remus grinned. "You wondered whether I would? Wild horses couldn't stop me. Where is he?"

"Still in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey. Anywhere else and it might have seemed as if we were locking him up."

---

Remus could hardly stop himself running down the corridor towards the hospital wing. Classes were changing and the corridor was thronged with pupils. Some of the older ones gave him curious glances but no-one challenged him until he ran into the pompous Weasley boy again.

"Can I help you?" he demanded, in the sort of voice that indicated that the only sort of help he was prepared to give would be to escort Remus from the premises.

"No thanks, Mr Weasley, I know my way around here." Remus smiled at him and carried on walking.

It wasn't far to the hospital wing, and he pushed open the door, looking round the ward. Only one of the beds was occupied, but not by Harry. Where was he? Suddenly nervous, Remus went and tapped softly on the door of Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Come in!" the Matron's voice answered.

Remus stuck his head round the door, "Madam Pomfrey, where's Harry? I need to speak to him."

"Remus!" the Matron turned round from where she had been working at her desk. " I wondered if you would be coming. Harry's in a room by himself. It seemed… easier for him." She grimaced. "You've spoken to Dumbledore?" Remus nodded and she continued, "I can't believe he wasn't told about his heritage. He's not taking it well."

"Dumbledore hinted as much." Remus sighed and walked into the room, closing the door behind him. "Has he said anything?"

"Not much, and beyond asking where Black is, he hasn't asked anything at all."

"What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything. Dumbledore tried to explain about who Black is, but I'm not sure how much got through. He's built walls around himself to keep everyone out. Perhaps you'll have better luck than Dumbledore."

"I hope so." Remus sighed.

The door to the room Harry was in was not locked. It was, however warded. "He tried to leave a couple of times, and the wards act as an alarm," the Matron explained.

She opened the door. "Harry, there's a visitor for you," she said and let Remus walk inside before closing the door again behind him.

Remus looked round, but at first glance, there didn't seem to be anyone else in the room. The covers on the bed were unruffled and the chair beside it was empty. Then he saw the boy.

Harry was huddled on the floor in the corner nearest the window, hugging his knees as if trying to make himself as small as possible. Green eyes warily watched him walk round the bed and crouch down before him.

"Hi, Harry," Remus said, trying hard not to sound too eager. "I'm Remus Lupin, did Professor Dumbledore perhaps mention me?"

There was a pause, and then a definite headshake.

Blast. He held out a hand and smiled. "Why don't you come up and sit on the bed. It'll be more comfortable?"

This time the pause was longer. But finally Harry uncurled and, ignoring Remus's outstretched hand, stood up and sat on the bed, facing the window.

Remus sat down beside him. "There, that wasn't so hard. And this is a comfortable bed. It always was, I remember."

Harry turned a questioning stare on Remus, and he explained, "I went to school here, like you will next year. Did Professor Dumbledore tell you that?"

A brief nod.

"You'll like it. I know I did. I was in the same year as your father, we were great friends." Remus paused, inwardly wincing.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry's voice sounded strained.

"Er, downstairs. What did Professor Dumbledore tell you about him?"

"He said Sirius had escaped from prison."

"He's a very dangerous wizard." Despite himself, Remus couldn't stop his voice hardening.

"You don't like him." It wasn't a question.

"He was responsible for the deaths of three dear friends of mine." Had Dumbledore told him two of them were his parents, Remus wondered. He wasn't sure, but looking at Harry's strained face, thought better of mentioning it.

Salvation… Harry's tummy rumbled. "Are you hungry?"

A nod.

"What would you like for lunch?"

Harry looked nonplussed, then he said, "Erm, whatever you're having."

"I'll get some sandwiches, how about that?"

Another nod.

Remus got up and left the room. Outside, he leaned back against the door with a long sigh and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them as Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.

"Heavy weather isn't it?" she asked with an amused smile.

"It's like drawing teeth. I'm terrified I'm going to say something that'll push him over the edge. Lunch seemed like a good idea." Remus ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Things didn't improve after lunch. Remus felt the harder he tried the more awkward things became. Harry volunteered nothing, asked no questions of his own, although he would answer if asked directly. But then inspiration struck as he asked, "Have you seen much of the castle?"

Harry shook his head.

"Shall we go for a tour?" Ah, Remus thought, as Harry nodded immediately, that's got you interested.

He led Harry out of the hospital wing, having told Madam Pomfrey what he was doing, and they went downstairs. Harry's eyes widened as they walked down the enormous marble staircase into the Entrance Hall. "Wait until you see the Great Hall," Remus told him with a grin.

They walked through into the Great Hall and Harry's eyes widened even further. "There's no roof," he said sounding puzzled.

Remus explained about the ceiling being charmed to reflect the sky outside and, pointing out the tables, all about the four houses. "Come on, there's lots more to see," he said leading Harry back out through one of the other doors. As they walked along a corridor they passed an archway with stairs going down.

"What's down there?" Harry asked, suddenly.

"Oh, just the Slytherin Common Room. Only members of each House know where their Common Room is and I wasn't in Slytherin so I don't know exactly where it is. They always told me it was in a dungeon. Professor Snape has his potions classroom down there too."

Harry looked thoughtful, but didn't say anything.

Remus took Harry all over the castle, and they ended up on top of Astronomy Tower, looking at the view. It was a clear winter's day and they could see for miles. They could see the lake, it's blue colour a reflection of the sky, and Remus pointed out Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest. It was chilly however and they didn't stay long. On their way back downstairs they ran into Professor McGonagall who was looking positively ferocious until her glance rested on Harry and her expression softened slightly.

"If you're taking Harry to see Professor Dumbledore, Mr Lupin, you won't be able to." Remus must have looked surprised as she continued in a voice frigid with disapproval, "Lucius Malfoy called an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors just after lunch. He's been tied up with them ever since."

"That's a bit… unusual isn't it?"

McGonagall snorted. "Of course it is. It obviously has something to do with," she glanced at Harry, "our friend downstairs."

"Oh I see. Well we'll just have to catch him later." He nodded to McGonagall and they walked on. "Shall we go back to the Hospital Wing?" he asked Harry.

Just then the door of a nearby classroom opened, quickly followed by another one further down the corridor and children started to stream out. Soon the corridor was full of a swarm of black robed children pushing and shoving to get past on their way to their next class. Some of them even murmured, "Sorry!" or "Excuse me!" as they did so.

As the crowd thinned, Remus realised to his horror, that Harry was no longer there.