Tested In Fire

This chapter is for my "home girls," as my friend Brian would say. Jess, Maria, Risa, Meg and Amanda- thanks for being my support group and assuming the best when everything seems to be going wrong- both in TIF and IRL. I'm blessed to have you all to encourage me (as well as lock me in closets when I don't update). Thanks!

A special shot to Dancer- for handing over those ruby red slippers of inspiration. I needed them desperately.

Short A/N: I know that most of you are sick of waiting for me to update and I sincerely apologize, but the situation was out of my hands. However, I have Chapters 17-22 sitting at home, completed. Updates for these chapters should be fairly quick. Thank you for remaining loyal and continuing to read. God bless!

Chapter Seventeen: The Balance is Shifting

The room was cold, but that was okay. Voldemort liked it that way when he sat to monitor the success of his plan. The Dark Lord sat with his eyes closed, drumming his fingers in a set pattern and entering a meditative state.

"The balance is shifting," Lord Voldemort said out loud to no one in particular. He was alone- out of the sight of his Death Eaters. He rather liked being that way. There was no one to be insolent, no one to ask stupid questions.

"Dumbledore," he hissed then. "What is that you are doing? Following through with such a thing is insanity."

"What is it, my lord?"

Lucius Malfoy entered, and closed the door quietly behind him.

"Dumbledore. The old fool has been sick for ages, but now he is transferring his power... to someone."

"Who, my lord?"

Voldemort spat. "I cannot trace the flow. Yet."

Lucius nearly shuddered, but instead he murmured, "What is it that I can do, my lord?"

"Get out of my sight. Fetch me Elizabeth. She will tell me. If she will not..." He smiled in anticipation. "I will make her."

**

"Anna, are you here?" Remus's soft voice called into the darkness of the Divination classroom. He paused a moment, then went on through to her personal quarters.

Seated in the middle of her living room on a red rug, with her back to the fire, Anna's hair was disheveled and there were tracks running down her cheeks. Her eyes were closed, and she sat still as a statue, meditating on something.

"Anna."

"Remus!" Anna was startled out of her trance, and nearly fell backwards. Remus's gentle hand quickly steadied her. "You scared me," she mumbled and then held up her hand. "Help me up?"

"You're the Seer," Remus said with a half-smile. "Couldn't you see me coming?"

"You're the bloody werewolf," she shot back, "couldn't you have knocked?"

Remus chuckled. "Touché."

"Do you want something to drink? Have a seat and stay awhile." Her voice and mannerisms were welcoming as she busied herself making tea, but her hands kept straying to her face to wipe away tears.

"What's wrong?" Remus's unusually perceptive eyes pierced her own, and she found her eyes straying from them.

"Fifteen years."

That was all she had to say. Remus took the cup away from her, and pressed her firmly down to the sofa.

"Oh, James... Lily..." Her voice cracked and she was overcome. "Why?"

"There is no why," Remus comforted, rubbing her back in small circles. "There is certainly nothing you could have done."

"I could have seen it coming. I should have seen it coming... I should have been there, I should have..."

"Shush. Nothing. There is nothing you could have done."

"What is the use of this... this Gift if I cannot use it to save my friends?"

"You're keeping Harry alive. That's all that James and Lily would have cared about."

"I cared about more than that. I cared about Lily being my maid of honor, I cared about being there to watch James teach Harry how to fly, and I counted on Lily being there to let me cry on her shoulder. I cared about the future."

Remus smiled ruefully. "I care about the future, now. James and Lily cared about their future. Their future is Harry. All our hopes and dreams lie with him, and Ginny."

"It shouldn't have to be that way."

"No, it shouldn't. But I remember another couple feeling just that sort of pressure. The spell they were working on was dangerous, and we all knew it. Voldemort was out to get them before they got him. They knew the danger as well as we did."

"I know." Anna bit her lip. "Do you want to know what else I counted on?"

Remus's shoulders sagged. "What?"

"You."

The werewolf's eyes and entire posture dropped, and he seemed crumple from within. "Anna, I..."

"No. You just listen to me. I'm angry here, and I want to let some of it out. I've been informed that it's not healthy to harbor resentment for fifteen years. I'm angry at you, because you left. I'm angry because you felt that you were the only feeling pain. I'm angry because you didn't even bother to tell me what you were feeling, and I'm angry because I didn't go after you."

Remus's head lifted. "No, you were right before, I was being an ass..."

"And I was being an immature little girl. I couldn't take care of myself, and we both know it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have got married, all I'm saying is that I'm valuing what we have now as much as what we had back then, but I feel something deeper. I'm not a little girl anymore, Remus."

"I'm not a little boy, and I certainly never thought you were a little girl."

"I did."

There was an awkward pause.

"Are you saying that we should try this again?" Remus asked.

Anna bit her lip. "Only if you want to."

Remus's grin was wide. "Well, at least something good came out of this wretched day."

Anna's smile was more tentative. "So?"

"Well, I say we do it right this time," Remus suggested. "May I?" He gestured toward her necklace.

Quickly, Anna pulled off the chain that looped together her rings. Her hands were shaking, and the rings clinked as she handed it to him.

Remus's deft fingers choose the one he wanted, and he studied it in the light for a moment. "Do you remember when I gave this to you the first time?"

Anna giggled. "Yes. I can't remember which one of us was more nervous. I thought you were going to break up with me. I was fully prepared to be devastated. Lily told me I was an idiot."

"Do you mind if I give this to you again?"

Anna raised her eyes to meet his and blushed. "I'd like to wear it again."

"Remember when we swore we weren't going to get married until everything was worked out?" Remus asked.

Anna rolled her eyes, and a blush crept up her cheeks. "Yes. But, Remus, I don't think I can wait that long. Nothing I've ever read guarantees a happy ending, but I want there to be one for us, if it can be helped at all."

"Oh, I think that this time things will go differently," Remus countered, and cupped her cheek in his palm.

Anna made a little sound in her throat. It all felt so... right.

"Professor, I have a question," Remus interjected into her thoughts.

"Yes, Mr. Lupin?"

"Can we be done talking now?"

His fingers were tracing magic circles on her fingers, and the way his eyes were caressing her face was driving her crazy. "Do you have another activity in mind?" she managed to gasp.

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Their lips touched, and Anna ceased being able to think at all. Of their own violation, her hands crept up toward his neck and began to play with the locks of his hair. Kissing Remus was amazing, a feeling topped by none other, and she wished it to go on forever and ever.

To demonstrate her thorough approval with his improved skills, she stood up on her very tiptoes to deepen the kiss. His tongue slipped across her lips and she granted him entrance. The intimacy of the moment, her initial surrender to Remus's gentle persuasions connected them in a way they hadn't been in a very long time.

"I won't leave you again, Anna, I swear it."

"If you do, I'll come after you. I swear it."

Their lips met again, and again- they drinking of each other, as if they were dying of thirst.

Sometime later, Anna rested against Remus's shoulder. "You know, I've always had a fondness for the way 'Anna Lupin' sounds."

"Me, too." Remus bent down to give her a lazy, slow kiss.

Anna sighed. "You're quite good at this, you know. Sirius used to trust me with you because I would be safe with you. Can you believe that?"

"Safe?" Remus was shocked.

"However," Anna rolled over and caressed him. "I'm not exactly interested in being safe right now."

**

"Elizabeth," Voldemort greeted her warmly, as warmly as he greeted anyone.

Elizabeth suppressed a shudder. Voldemort was looking anything but human these days, and even his voice had taken on a snake-like quality. His eyes glowed with a power that she found disturbing and terrifying. If she wanted to sell information to Dumbledore, though, she had to be prepared to deal with people she didn't like. Even people she hated, like Voldemort. In the deepest, most inner part of her heart, she felt she hid her emotions very well. That was a good thing in a double agent, if that was you wanted to term her.

"My lord," she responded with a bow.

"Report, Elizabeth. Your last mission was a success, of course?"

"Of course," she smirked. "My lord," she added as an afterthought.

"How is your husband's health these days?"

Elizabeth schooled her expression. Voldemort had sought to control her through her husband, who, through his reporter's job at the Daily Prophet, had come into contact with some dangerous people, learned too much, and then said too much. Her first mission had been to begin the slow process of killing him with a discreet poison.

"I fear that it does not go well, my lord. His job at the Prophet tires him so."

Voldemort chuckled. He knew that she was lying, of course. That made this exchange that much more entertaining.

"Most unfortunate," he muttered.

"You called me, my lord?"

"Yes." That was all he said, and sat back and watched her squirm. Fear was the most interesting of emotions, causing people to do all sorts of odd things. Voldemort liked to think of himself as an observer, and he watched Elizabeth carefully for any physical sign of her betrayal.

Elizabeth fidgeted. She wanted to snap at the infuriating monster, but that would only give him cause to harm her. Not that he necessarily needed a reason to harm her. He'd killed people for less reason than a whim. Still, it was better not to madden the beast.

"I need some information. You will tell me exactly what you know about Dumbledore."

Elizabeth opened her mouth and closed it, blocking the smart reply that wanted to fly from her mouth. She took a deep breath.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that, my lord."

"More specific, hmm? You mean to tell me that you haven't been selling information to the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? You mean to tell me that your husband isn't alive in South America?"

He watched her face grow ashen, and chuckled even more. "Oh, yes, I know all about that." He rolled his fingers against the chair arm. The sound made Elizabeth wince.

"I don't know..."

"Please, don't pretend to be stupid. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You made a very, very unintelligent decision. You decided to double cross Lord Voldemort, something that no one survives. I'm going to be..." He paused. "Magnanimous, and give you a chance to save yourself. Tell me about Dumbledore. He's transferring his power to someone, and I want to know who."

Elizabeth's mind worked furiously. "I don't understand..."

"Simpleton! Dumbledore is dying, and his power is going somewhere! Where is it going?"

Elizabeth felt as if an invisible hand were squeezing her throat, until tears came to her eyes. "Please, my lord, give me time."

"Time? Time to betray me again?" He snickered. "Oh no."

"It would have to be Potter, my lord, or Miss Weasley."

"Don't you think that's a bit obvious?"

While Elizabeth was struggling with words, Voldemort rose and strode over to her. He liked to watch the faces of the people that he killed when they died.

"Time's up, Elizabeth. Obviously you don't have the information I need. It was nice working with you. Good-bye. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

**

Harry was having a hard time controlling himself. Ginny and Harry were heading down the stairs to Filch's office, and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Ginny was walking that close to him on purpose. If he just concentrated on getting to his destination, it would make his job that much easier.

If only the prophecy didn't exist, then he could try to... but he stopped that thought.

Finally they reached their destination. Filch's office.

"What we're looking for should be just behind one of the cabinets," he muttered, and Ginny nodded in response.

"Let's have a light," Ginny whispered. "Lumos."

Harry pushed open the door. "Here we go."

Filch was not anywhere in sight, in real life, and on the Marauder's Map, so Harry pushed the offending file cabinet out of the way.

"Harry, that's a broom closet."

"I know, but no one uses this closet."

"Why?"

"It's been known to disappear. Shall we?" Without waiting for her, Harry stepped into the darkness.

"Harry, wait! Maybe this isn't such a- oh blast it. Here I come!"