Gingerbread House

Chapter three: Opening the Curtains

Remus Lupin stared at Albus Dumbledore in abject shock. "They disappeared? One minute they were there, the next minute they were gone?" he asked flatly. Dumbledore nodded and sighed. He looked older, his hair seemed to have far more gray than silver and there was no sign of any twinkle in his eyes. Remus sat in silence for a few seconds contemplating that, before asking the next obvious question. "Who was the other student?"

Dumbledore seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying. It was enough that even Sirius Black, who was sitting with his head in his hands looked up. "Not Ron? Or Hermione?" Sirius asked, now worried not for just one child, but three.

Dumbledore smiled, trying to put both men at ease. "No, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley are both safe in Gryffindor tower. Although, I assume they're trying to sneak out right now to see you two." Sirius' shoulders slumped. Remus cocked his head at his old friend.

All of his life, Remus had believed that the personality of a person was something similar to a house. It was a way to invite people in, or could be a shelter against life. When they were younger, Remus had always thought of Dumbledore as something of a Victorian mansion. On the outside, there was lace and coloring and decks and gables, all very pleasant to the eyes. But inside were long hallways, dark rooms, and infinite possibilities hidden from public view behind that bright exterior. Sirius, on the other hand, had been something of a Tudor style home. The windows were small and narrow so that most people couldn't see inside, but once you got in, the sheer room afforded by the high ceilings could take a visitor's breath away. Sirius didn't let very many people in, but when they did get in, he tended to change his personality to fit those people.

Sirius, while overtly a closed person, needed people; in the same way most humans needed food. He thrived on human contact, something that made him one of the most popular boys in school during their time at Hogwarts. But those few people he let in, and really trusted, Sirius made them the walls and foundation of his house: James, Peter, Lily, Remus himself. Sirius needed to have someone to care for, and be cared by. He had been the worrier of the group then, the fusser, and the mother figure. There had been days when Remus swore that Sirius knew more about healing wounds and tending colds than Madame Pomfrey did. When Peter had betrayed them all, James and Lily had been killed; Remus had scorned Sirius for a murderer...

Well, it seemed as if that lifeline, one of those new walls that Sirius had built up after his escape was crumbling. And the house that Sirius was building wasn't complete; with only Harry, and by extension Harry's friends, Remus, and Dumbledore himself, Sirius still wasn't as balanced as he fully could be. Now with Harry gone missing, it had to be tearing his friend apart. Remus still hated to think of his friend’s appearance at Remus’s door after Harry had participated in the Triwizard Tournament.

"It was Draco Malfoy," Dumbledore finally answered. "According to all accounts, Mr. Malfoy picked a fight with Harry, and during it, they disappeared."

Sirius looked back up at Dumbledore, and his lip curled. "Malfoy?"

Remus looked back at Dumbledore as well and saw that he still seemed hesitant to answer. "Yes, Sirius, Draco Malfoy is Lucius's son." Sirius's scowl deepened, and his pale eyes burned. He opened his mouth to say something, but Remus cut him off. "Draco takes more after his mother, Narcissa."

"Moony, that was four years ago," Sirius pointed out. He turned back to Dumbledore. "Does he have the Mark?"

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, shocked at his friend.

Dumbledore seemed nonplussed by the question. "No, of course not. I would allow no student to stay here if they had the Mark. I've already expelled three."

Sirius nodded. "That means, while Malfoy hasn't been initiated, he is probably spying and running messages for his father and Voldemort," he said disgustedly.

Remus shook his head at his friend's bluntness, but inwardly admitted that Sirius had a point. "What does Severus have to say?" Both Remus and Sirius had been apprised of Severus's return to spying after the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's resurrection. Remus himself had been called back to Hogwarts to teach against the protests of many parents and Fudge himself. Surprisingly enough, it had been the students that had given Remus the most support; even the Slytherins had rallied around him. In his more cynical moments Remus wondered if that might have been because they wanted to lure him to their side, what with Werewolves being considered Dark Creatures.

Dumbledore looked vaguely approving at the fact that Sirius was stopping to think, rather than just reacting to the situation. The last time he had simply reacted, Sirius had been put into Azkaban. "Actually, I haven't talked to Severus yet. He should be arriving shortly."

Sirius snorted. "Probably stopped to gloat that Harry was gone," he muttered.

Dumbledore and Remus frowned at Sirius in unison. While the two of them worked together as allies, their rivalry and hatred hadn't stopped. It drove Remus to distraction; he was always called upon to act as a mediator for the pair of them. "Severus was delayed dealing with the other Slytherins, who are understandably concerned by Mr. Malfoy's disappearance. Also, as the Slytherin Head of House, Severus has to owl Lucius Malfoy and inform him of the occurrence." Remus winced, and didn't envy Severus either task. Sirius just snorted and said something under his breath too softly for Remus to catch.

Remus scowled at his friend, and Sirius rolled his eyes. This was far from the first time Sirius and Remus had this discussion. He turned back to Dumbledore. "Will we be working with Severus on this one?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you will. Remus, I need you to interview all the students in that Care of Magical Creatures class, as well as contact the Slytherins from other years that may know something. See if you can get anything out of them, inadvertent or otherwise. Sirius, I'll need you to patrolling Hogwarts. As of yet, we're still unaware of how the trap was set for them, and I'm afraid other students may be at risk."

Sirius nodded slowly. "For them? Do you actually think the Death Eaters meant to catch the son of Lucius Malfoy?" he snorted, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Even I never thought you were that much of an optimist, Albus."

"You will take that back, Black, and apologize to Albus," a new voice insinuated itself into the conversation. Remus turned around to see Severus Snape glaring harshly at Sirius's back. His normally yellow complexion was a pasty white, his hair greasier than normal, and his left hand seemed to be shaking somewhat.

Remus, absently noting that there were only two chairs besides Dumbledore's, immediately stood up. "Good God, Severus, you look horrible!"

Severus transferred his glare to Remus. "Why thank you for pointing out the obvious, Lupin," he said, his voice a harsh cough as he sat down in the chair.

Dumbledore studied the Potions Master for a few seconds. "I take it Voldemort called a meeting?"

Severus nodded, and grimaced. "Of course. I informed Lucius Malfoy at the meeting."

Remus gasped. "Did he do this to you?" He turned to his briefcase, which was sitting on the floor next to the chair. Remus quickly opened it, and pulled out a bar of chocolate, thrusting it at Severus. "Eat this." Severus rolled his eyes, reminding Remus of Sirius, and Remus frowned at the other man. "Just be glad it's not Madame Pomfrey, Severus. Now eat the chocolate."

Sirius snorted, but otherwise refrained from comment. "What can you tell us, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Severus unwrapped the chocolate bar, and took a large bite before answering. "The trap that took Draco and Potter was only for Potter." Sirius coughed at that, sounding suspiciously like he had just barely stopped himself from saying "I told you so." He froze as three glares were instantly trained on him, and Sirius looked genuinely contrite. "All I could find out was that the spell involved... a gingerbread house." Severus's voice trailed off and Remus could hear vexed confusion in his tone.

"A what?" Dumbledore said, his eyebrows furrowed.

"A gingerbread house. Draco told me himself yesterday. He said he didn't know what it does either, but that Lucius had wrote him that the trap was activated both by time and physical presence."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Malfoy told you all that?"

Severus snorted. "No, he told me that the house would be activated at 9am. And considering Draco's actions in forcing it to Potter physically, I just made the natural assumptions." Remus still found himself slightly surprised by Severus's attitude. While he still hated Sirius with all of his being, and Harry was high on his hit list as well, over the last three years he had come to accept Remus. He knew Severus still got a good laugh out of the memory of Remus's expression when Severus had apologized for outing him as a werewolf. It had been so unexpected that Remus's jaw had dropped and he'd babbled something incoherently. Severus took one look at his face and had burst into gales of laughter, which only shocked Remus further. Before that point, he had never seen Severus truly laugh before; cackle, yes, laugh, no. While they weren't quite what Remus would term as "friends" by any stretch of the imagination, they were comfortable with each other.

As soon as Sirius had grasped the fact that Remus and Severus were getting along, he had started sulking. Remus had told him flat out that he was having none of it: "Sirius, we have to work with him too often to be constantly at each other's throats." Sirius had reluctantly agreed that whatever made the missions run smoother was a good thing, but he still hadn't started trusting Severus even if he had stopped sniping at him. Of course, those resolutions were usually thrown to the wind if someone Sirius cared about was in danger. Like now. Severus turned to Sirius. "So, any brilliant ideas about what to do now, Black? Think another trip to the Whomping Willow will help?" Remus sighed. It didn't help that Severus used every one of those opportunities to get under Sirius's skin. There were days when he found himself bemusedly wishing that someone would create a spell to force the pair of them to like each other. Of course, you'd probably need a wizard of Merlin's power to get the damn thing to stick.

Sirius bared his teeth at Severus, and opened his mouth to reply. Remus thumped his hand down on Dumbledore's desk, surprising both combatants. "That's enough!" he said calmly, now that he had their attention. "We have a problem to work on, together, and I for one would appreciate it if we could get back to the matters at hand. Such as where this house might now that the trap has sprung?"

Sirius nodded. "And why the hell you didn’t try and prevent it from happening, Snape?" His face was focused and intense. Remus recognized the look from before Azkaban. It was the look on Sirius’s face as he went out on assignment: as a Hit Wizard. The man was planning something.

Severus snorted. "And once again you demonstrate why your marks put you near the bottom of our class, Black. I’m a spy! If I interfere, I give away any chance of gathering information!" Severus sneered. "It must kill you, Black, to be depending on me."

Remus slammed his hand down on the table again. "I told you both to stop it," he said harshly. "The next person who ignores that will be taken outside and talked to." Both Sirius and Severus winced a bit at the growl in Remus’s voice.

Dumbledore nodded approvingly. "I couldn't have put it better myself, Remus," he said mildly. Both Sirius and Severus looked down at the ground, reminding Remus of the guilty students he had in his office just after his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He pulled out his wand and conjured a third chair. Remus sat down gratefully. "I think this means a change of plans then. Sirius, you'll still be patrolling the grounds. Padfoot's abilities are imminently useful in a situation like this. I want you to start near Hagrid’s cottage, where the boys disappeared. See if you can find that house for it; it would certainly provide much needed clues. Remus, I'll need you to talk with the Gryffindors and see if you can get any information out of them. You'll also want to contact Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley, and coordinate their information seeking."

Severus looked surprised. "You're going to give them carte blanche to look into this?"

"As you well know, Severus, I have never been one to not utilize an asset. Miss Granger's mind and Mr. Weasley's determination will be two very great assets in a situation like this. Besides, I am not, as you say, giving them 'carte blanche.' Remus will keep them out of trouble." Severus still looked skeptical, but nodded at Dumbledore's explanation. "And Severus, I'm afraid yours will be the hardest task of all. We need more detailed information. Contact Lucius Malfoy." Severus paled slightly, but nodded again.

He stood. "The sooner I do it, the better," Severus muttered. He turned to leave the room. Remus put out a hand to stop him.

"Good luck," he said quietly. "Come back safely, Severus." The other man's brows rose in surprise.

"I didn't expect to hear that sentiment from you, Lupin," he said coolly.

"No more than I ever expected to hear you apologize, Severus. And for the last time, call me Remus." He smiled at the other man, glad to have put a little color in his cheeks. Severus nodded and swept out of the room, his tattered robes billowing after him. It sometimes felt a bit odd to be nice to Severus Snape of all people, but they were on the same side. Remus had learned long a go that a little courtesy and respect could go a long way. And every bit of pride that he had to swallow to be nice to Severus, wish him good luck, tell him to be careful was paid back in full. No one else bothered. Of course, no one else had to take the Wolfsbane Potion once a month, nor had to put up with hissy fits from both Severus and Sirius.

Sirius sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, I suspect he's right. The sooner we get started, the better." Sirius stood and shifted into his Animagus form.

"Well, Padfoot, do you want to at least come with me to check up on Ron and Hermione?" Remus asked the dog. Sirius barked once in affirmative. Remus turned back to Dumbledore. "I'll return as soon as we know anything, Albus."

"Be sure to give Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley the password to my office. I'll be wanting a chat with them later tomorrow," Dumbledore called out as Sirius and Remus trotted out of his office.

"Right then, Padfoot. To Gryffindor Tower it is," Remus said to the dog, gently patting Sirius's head. The odd pair walked down the hallways towards the Gryffindor Common room, where he suspected Ron and Hermione would be lying in wait for them. He still remembered the first day back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had reluctantly given permission for Sirius to stay with Remus, ostensibly because he would be more readily available for missions. Remus suspected it had more to do with Harry's state of mind after Cedric Diggory's death. Most of the students had been scared of Remus's new "pet." Neville Longbottom had taken one look at "Snuffles," squeaked "Grim!" in a very watery voice, and then passed out. But as time went by most of the students had come to accept "Snuffles" as a part of their life. In fact, he had become a rather valuable asset to Remus's teaching. Casting hexes at poor "Snuffles" gave the students much needed target practice and had the added bonus of keeping Sirius in quite good physical shape. Plus Remus found it hysterically funny. And the expression on Padfoot's face when Neville Longbottom had given him the metal-studded, leather dog collar had been priceless. The only thing that could have made that funnier was if Remus had been able to see the human equivalent of that expression.

As the pair approached the tower, they heard voices. "Damnit, Hermione, you know it's Malfoy's fault!" Sirius and Remus shared a look; the only person that voice could belong to was Ron Weasley.

"We don't know that yet, Ron. Besides, if it was Malfoy's fault that Harry disappeared, would he have been trapped with Harry?" Hermione's prim voice responded reasonably. "Besides, we haven't talked to Professor Lupin or Snuffles yet, I'm sure they have more information than we do."

"When I get a hold of Malfoy..." Ron didn't seem to be listening to Hermione. Their voices drifted closer, and as Remus and Sirius rounded a corner they found themselves face to face with Ron and Hermione. "Professor!" Ron exclaimed. "We were just leaving to see you!"

Remus stared at the two of them, his face wearing a stern look of disapproval. "Of all the times to go wandering the halls after hours, this is not one of them," he stated.

"But Professor Lupin! We just wanted to know about Harry!" Hermione broke in before Ron could respond.

"Let's go to my office and talk there, that way Snuffles can join in." Remus pointed, and Sirius led the way, Ron and Hermione following. Unlike Harry, who would probably never be particularly tall, Ron and Hermione had sprouted up in their fifth and sixth years. Ron was now taller than Remus himself, and Hermione was nearly as tall as Remus. Both of them towered over Harry. Other than that, not much had changed about either of them. Ron was still the most impulsive of the three of them, and ended up with the most detentions of the lot. Hermione still relied more on books for the answers to her questions. Of course, when paired together, they made a formidable team. Ron dragged Hermione's head out of her books, and Hermione tempered Ron's energy with reason. And they had even weathered dating each other and come out of it as friends.

The foursome arrived at Remus's office quickly and entered. As soon as everyone was in, Remus cast a silencing charm on the door, as well as a discreet Noli Perturbare spell that Hermione herself had come up with last year. The spell gave a subtle clue to any visitor that another time might be best to visit. "You've seen Dumbledore then?" Ron asked as Sirius changed back to his human form.

"Yes," Sirius answered. "The Headmaster wants Remus to work with you two to try and see if we can research what happened to them. I'll be patrolling the grounds."

"But Sirius..." Hermione said, looking puzzled. "What did happen to them?"

"As far as we know, Lucius Malfoy instigated the trap using Draco, and -"

"I told you, Hermione! Ooh, I'm gonna punch Malfoy so hard..." Ron broke in.

"You'll have to get there before me," Sirius muttered. Hermione shot him a surprised look, but it seemed as if Ron didn't hear.

"Ron, Draco Malfoy is trapped in there just like Harry. And from what we can piece together, Malfoy didn't know what it did either. He was just the delivery boy," Remus said firmly. He knew he wasn't going to break Ron of his prejudice against the Malfoys, and to be honest with himself, Remus wasn't sure if he wanted to. It was just like Sirius and Severus all over again, and regardless of how Remus felt about Lucius or Draco Malfoy, he refused to let any hatreds or prejudices, no matter whose, get in the way of helping Harry. "Now the spell catalyst was a gingerbread house. Considering the spells around Harry, it cannot have been a Portkey. The spell was both time and physically based."

Hermione nodded slightly, as if she was confirming something to herself. "I did think it was odd that Malfoy started that fight this morning. He doesn't usually jump into physical fights." She shot a glance at Ron, and Remus fought a smile as he followed her train of thought. Generally if anything physical happened with Malfoy, it was Ron who initiated the fight. Malfoy, like most cowards, seemed to only pick fights with words, and even then only when he was certain he had an advantage. "And I remember as soon as Harry was on the ground, Malfoy shoved something into his hands." Her brow furled slightly as she thought. "But I've never heard of a physical object being a spell catalyst for anything but a Portkey or a Potion."

Sirius smiled at her. "Well, that's why Dumbledore has enlisted you three to figure it out. You're the brains of the bunch." Both Ron and Hermione sat up a little bit straighter at the praise, and some of the worry left their eyes. Remus mentally congratulated his friend. "But, you'll not be starting today. It's quite a bit past curfew."

Ron groaned. "Coming from you, I take that with a grain of salt."

"He's right, Ron. I'll walk you back to the Tower, and we can start work in the morning. Just try not to miss too many classes?" Remus said, also smiling at them. He and Sirius stood in unison, trying to give both Ron and Hermione a far more forceful hint that their particular talents wouldn't be needed until morning. Besides, Remus could imagine the sort of fretting both of them had been doing all day, ever since Care of Magical Creatures.

It was sort of funny, Remus thought some days, the way they had turned out. While in their third year, he had of course seen Hermione's potential, and judged her chances of becoming Head Girl of Hogwarts as quite high. And as he predicted early on that year, she was Head Girl, and quite good at it. Her maturity and cool reason brought intense fairness to the position. Even the Slytherins respected her because Hermione did not take away points or punish people unless they deserved it. Perhaps the only people she really turned a blind eye too were Ron and Harry, and since Hermione was usually caught up in those adventures with them, it was something of a moot point.

Ron, on the other hand, was something of a surprise. Harry, in his fifth year, had been offered the places of Gryffindor Prefect, as well as Quidditch Captain. To the surprise and disappointment of many, Harry had turned down both positions. Later, in private, Harry had confessed to Sirius and Remus that he had turned down the positions for two reasons. First, he hated the attention with a passion, too many years of avoiding attention at the Dursleys had sunk into Harry. Second, he wanted to use the time freed up to train. As much as Harry hated it, he knew that the entire Wizarding World was pinning their hopes on him. It wasn't fair, but that was the way things were. Not to mention Voldemort's personal enmity. Well, Harry had wanted to be prepared. So, McGonagall had made Fred and George Weasley co-captains of the Quidditch team, and had offered the Prefect position to Ron instead. The arrangement seemed to benefit everyone, as long as Hermione was around to remind Ron not to let the power go to his head. The Quidditch team, however, suffered a little. Having to replace three Chasers and the Keeper had meant their performance suffered slightly as the new team members were broken in. Ron, to his frustration, hadn’t made the cut then, nor in his sixth year as tryouts were held to replace his elder brothers. Remus often wondered if Ron was still bitter about that disappointment.

"Do we really have to?" Ron asked plaintively. "I mean, we could do rounds with you, Sirius!"

Both Remus and Sirius frowned. "No," Sirius answered quickly.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, and Remus suspected that they were planning something. "There might be other traps," Remus explained. "The son of Arthur Weasley and the Muggle-born Head Girl of Hogwarts, both who happen to be the best friends of Harry Potter, would be a great catch indeed." Ron and Hermione looked at each other again, and Remus saw Hermione give a slight nod. He smiled inwardly, it was good to know that the one who did the most thinking was the one who wore the pants in the relationship.

"You'll wake us early?" Hermione asked, biting her lip.

Remus nodded and smiled reassuringly. "Of course. Before the sunrise even."

Ron looked pained. "It doesn't have to be quite that early."

Remus laughed. "All right then, I'll come for you both before breakfast. We'll bring the food here, and Ron and I will start with the books on hand. Hermione, you'll -"

"Go to the library!" Ron and Hermione broke chorused in unison, smiling wryly.

"I see you've heard that one before," Remus snorted. Sirius laughed, transformed once again into Snuffles, and led the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Professor Lupin?" Ron asked. "Will you be wanting to talk to the rest of the Gryffindors tomorrow morning as well?"

Remus nodded, finding himself surprised by Ron's astuteness. "Yes, actually. I'll want to speak to each of them alone. How many were actually there?"

"Well, all of the 7th year Gryffindors take Care of Magical Creatures, since it's still a required subject," Hermione said. "So, eight of us, including Harry."

"That'd be," Remus said, ticking them off on his fingers, "you, Ron, Harry, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Parvati, and Lavender, correct?"

Ron and Hermione nodded. "Who were the closest to the fight?"

"Us, of course," Ron said. "The really odd thing was that Crabbe and Goyle didn't jump into help Malfoy."

"That's right," Hermione chimed in, looking puzzled. "Usually they follow him around like a dog, but this time they seemed to be doing everything they could to distance themselves from the fight. They must have known something in advance."

Remus nodded. "Perhaps. We'll see in the morning." They had arrived back at the Tower, and Sirius barked his farewell before trotting off.

Ron watched him walk away, a strange expression on his face. Hermione said the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and she sleepily swung open. "Coming Ron?"

Ron nodded. "In a minute." Hermione rolled her eyes, but stepped inside Gryffindor Tower without a word. Ron turned back to Remus. "Any word on Wormtail?" he asked quietly.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "No. They raided the Pettigrew home again last month, but found nothing. All the known Death Eater retreats are closely monitored. Voldemort has found a new hiding place, and it seems the Ministry hasn't a clue where to look."

Ron sighed. "It worries Harry quite a bit, you know? He just feels guilty that everyone tries so hard to protect him. Hell, Harry even feels bad for Snape."

Remus smiled. "That's part of what makes Harry Harry. And even Professor Snape has redeeming qualities, Ron." Ron snorted and looked skeptical. "We'll talk more in the morning, all right? I think the Fat Lady is getting annoyed with us." Remus pointed up at the portrait, which was starting look exasperated.

Ron nodded, and stepped inside. "I'll see you in the morning, Professor Lupin."

Remus smiled. "Oh and Ron?" Ron turned back. "The Headmaster wanted me to give you his password. After we meet in the morning, you two will want to go to talk to him. The password’s ‘canary creams.’" Ron laughed, shaking his head as the Fat Lady swung closed, and Remus stood there for a few moments, just remembering.

"C'mon Remus, hurry up, or we'll be late!"

"Oh James," he sighed quietly before turning around and walking away. Remus headed back to his office and immediately reached for one of the few things he had kept from the time James and Lily were killed: Peter Pettigrew's journal. He had kept it as a memento of a lost friend, along with James's broomstick, and a locket that James had given to Lily. He had hidden it to keep it out of the Ministry's hands. Anything of Sirius's Remus had at that time, he had burned. The three items had been packed away in storage for much of the last sixteen years, and Remus had all but forgotten about them. Three months ago, when he had visited the Muggle storage facility to pay for another year of its use, he had decided to inspect the boxes and found the journal. Much of it was in code, but Remus had spent the last few months trying to break the code in hope that it might provide clues to Death Eater hiding spots that the Ministry didn't know about. Not to mention the reason why Voldemort had entered the Potter household with the intent to kill Harry.

While it was obvious that Voldemort's caution had proven true, Harry was a threat, Remus desperately wanted to know why. Why was Harry of all people so important? How could a one-year old child break Voldemort's power? And most importantly of all, how did Voldemort know about the threat? Remus suspected that Dumbledore knew more than he was saying on the topic, but every time he had questioned the elder wizard, Remus had received the same answer: "When Harry himself is ready for the answer to that question, he will be the one to tell you." The answer never failed to irritate Remus who believed that information should be shared. He did understand where Dumbledore was coming from; theoretically, all information could be shared. But sometimes, and Remus assumed this was one of those times, it was just too damn dangerous for people to know. If Harry knew the reason Voldemort wanted to kill him, it would put him at even greater risk. If the Wizarding World as a whole knew the reason Voldemort wanted to kill Harry, then the poor child would have been at risk not only from Voldemort, but also people who wanted to take advantage of whatever natural gift Harry had. It was sad; Harry would never be able to escape the fame. Or the burden. Remus was afraid that even if Voldemort was vanquished, someone else would come along, start terrorizing the Wizarding World, and Harry would be dragged back into the spotlight to deal with them.

Despite this, Remus was constantly amazed by Harry’s lack of bitterness. True, Harry hated the way the situation forced him to lead and be in the spotlight, but except for a few notable occasions, Harry accepted the burden with unconscious grace. That had to come from Lily. Remus smiled a bit at the thought. Lily’s charisma drew the camera’s eye to her, where James, on the other hand, had always mugged for attention.

Remus dragged himself out of his thoughts and sat down at his desk, pulling out his notes. Cyphering had never really been his skill. Oddly enough, it was Peter himself that had musical talent of the bunch. The Ministry had used him as a code-breaker during the war against Voldemort, which explained how so many raids got fouled. Peter knew the codes the Ministry used; he had wrote them. "Hindsight is ever perfect," Remus muttered to himself, looking back down at the journal. He stared at the dates, before paging ahead to around the days that James and Lily had gone into hiding. Remus figured that the most useful information would be there. Finally stopping at October 29th, Remus stared at his notes. He'd already discovered that the letter J had been dropped from every page in the journal, which was something of a telling sign. He stared at the few lines on the page, the last Peter had ever written:

uydrg
vleen
aispi
kihgf
bazyx
dcbaz
dlaed
ateei
kulkh
lkihg
xwvst
tsrqp
iopte
nbden
iarro
bazyx
cbazy
acbaz
srocg
sele
adks
nmlb
kihe
rdcd
rnra
aoaz
pwdc
f
m

"Damnit Peter, how the hell could you write like this?" Remus growled to himself, not for the first time since finding the journal. He stared at it, looking for patterns. Remus blinked, as he finally noticed something. Every other three letters were in alphabetical order when read horizontally. "Those must be nonsense letters," he muttered. "Thank God I noticed this now." Crossing off every other three letters still didn't seem to make any sense. Remus pulled out a clean sheet of paper, and wrote both sets of letters out. "Wait a minute, it's backwards." The cypher was read from bottom to top, and left to right. "Gone in hiding. Made secret keeper. Dark Lord pleased. Wonder about Lily. Parassinikadavu." Remus stared at the last word. "Bugger. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He silently thanked his good luck on finally being able to break the code rather fortuitously. Remus just hoped this lucky break at the beginning of the investigation wouldn’t spell trouble later on down the road.

Remus stood and stretched. He'd have to talk to Dumbledore about this. The sooner, the better. He grabbed the journal and his notes, and for the second time that night, left his office and headed towards the Headmaster's office. He gave the password, and walked back in. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, responding to an Owl. He looked up, surprised. "I didn't expect you back tonight, Remus?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Albus, but I have information." Remus sat down in the chair directly in front of Dumbledore and laid the journal on Dumbledore's desk.

"Is this what I think it is?" Dumbledore gingerly picked up the journal, and examined it.

"Yes, Albus."

"Why didn't you bring this to me sooner?"

"Well, I," Remus stuttered, looking down. He felt guilty; this was the second time he had withheld vital information from Dumbledore. "I only found it three months ago. And I wasn't able to crack the cypher until tonight." Remus pushed the translation of the last entry over to Dumbledore. "That's from October 29th."

"Parassinikadavu?" Dumbledore sounded puzzled.

Remus shrugged. "I was hoping you could tell me."

"How much of the journal have you read?"

"Just that night's entry. I brought it to you as soon as I cracked the cypher. You know I was never very good with these things. Do you want me to decode the rest of it tonight?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I'll check with Severus in the morning to see if 'Parassinikadavu' means anything to him." He handed the journal and notes back to Remus. "Bring a full translation to me in the morning."

Remus nodded and stood. "Albus? Do you know if Severus has talked to any of the Slytherins about the spell yet?"

Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the desk in thought. "I don’t know. I assume if he hasn’t already, he will in the morning. His timing must have been thrown off a bit by the unexpected meeting."

Remus scowled. "I wonder if anyone beyond Lucius Malfoy knew about the plan?" He shook his head. "But never mind. If you see him before he talks to his Slytherins, you might suggest he ask them as well."

Dumbledore smiled. "Quite right. They hear and know far more than we ever give them credit for. I’ll tell him that." Remus nodded and left the room, recognizing a dismissal when he heard it. He desperately needed a drink. It was going to be a long night with an old friend.