Death Before Dishonor

Death Before Dishonor

Chapter Five: Progression Toward Victory

Remus Lupin sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea and not breaking his gaze away from Arthur Weasley, who was, if not uncomfortable in his presence, at least a little wary. Trusting came hard, now, for Arthur, especially as the days flew by and Cornelius Fudge sank deeper into lies and denial--which, of course, had little to do with the composed former professor sitting in his house. However, Lupin´s presence did feed his finely honed sense of paranoia, and Arthur could not help but worry. He had never met Lupin before and had never heard him mentioned as a member of the Order of the Phoenix--but unfortunately that meant very little. As one of Dumbledore´s spies within the Ministry of Magic, Arthur Weasley actually knew very little about the Order, but he did realize that You-Know-Who had to have his spies within it.

He´s got Snape, a nasty little voice reminded him. Or at least he thinks he does. How ironic. Dumbledore thinks Snape is his spy against You-Know-Who, and You-Know-Who thinks Snape is his spy against Dumbledore. I just hope that Dumbledore is right, and Snape really is working for us. Lupin´s words startled him out of his reverie.

"I thank you for taking Hermione," the former professor said softly. "And for letting me stay the night."

"It´s no problem," Arthur replied. "Hermione and Ron are best friends, and I can see why she´d be in danger. I only wish I had thought about it myself. How did you think of it, Professor?"

"Please, just call me Remus. I´m not a professor at Hogwarts anymore." Lupin shrugged. "But it all started with a letter from Dumbledore about Harry."

Arthur felt his jaw drop open. "He sent that to you?"

Lupin hesitated. "Uh, no," he responded slowly. "But the individual he sent it to was a houseguest of mine at the time."

Watching the other´s face close off, Arthur realized he would get no more out of him. In the long run, he was probably better off not knowing, but he was unbearably curious about who Dumbledore had sent to rescue Harry. Finally, he asked, "Do you think Harry is safe?"

"Yes," Lupin replied, his face still impassive. Although a practiced politician, Arthur could read nothing from the werewolf--funny, how that didn´t seem important when they were all fighting You-Know-Who--and he hoped that wasn´t a bad sign. It was hard, though, to form a definite opinion about a man he´d never known before--although were both Gryffindors, Lupin had not been at Hogwarts while Arthur attended the school, and all he had to go off of was his children´s´ high opinions of the man.

"Are you sure?"

"I´m sure we´d know if he wasn´t," Lupin said quietly, and Arthur´s heart did a sudden back flip into his throat. Suddenly, something pained flashed in Lupin´s eyes. "Look, I realize we don´t know each other," he continued, "and that makes it hard for you to trust me, but we are on the same side. James and Lily Potter were some of the best friends I´ve ever had. Trust me when I say that Harry´s safety is my primary concern. That´s why I brought Hermione here."

A new voice from the kitchen doorway startled them both. "He does have a point, Dad," Charlie Weasley interjected. "If he was working for You-Know-Who, he would never have brought us Hermione."

"True," Arthur admitted, then turned back to Lupin. "I apologize if I seem untrusting. Just, these days it´s hard to know..."

Lupin smiled slightly and waved off his apology. "I understand."

Helping himself to a cup of tea, Charlie sat down at the table with them. "Well," he said, "they´re finally all asleep--Hermione is with Ginny, again, and I managed to get Fred and George to stop tormenting Ron and go to bed. It´s a good thing that none of them are allowed to use magic over the holidays, because Fred made Hermione so mad that I could see her deciding what curses and hexes to throw at him. Fortunately, though, she´s got the most sense out of the lot of them, and no harm was done."

Both Arthur and Lupin chuckled. "I always wondered what it was like to deal with those twins at home," he commented. "They were highly amusing to teach."

"Amusing?" Charlie´s draw dropped open. "You´re certainly the first professor to ever say that! Where were you when I was at Hogwarts?"

"Charlie!" Arthur scolded his son, but Lupin chuckled again.

"Don´t worry about it," he said with a smile. "Did they ever mention the `Marauder´s Map´ to you, Charlie?"

Arthur watched his son´s eyes widen, and then Charlie´s expression grew quizzical. "Yes..."

"Well, you´re looking at one of the original Marauders," Lupin responded with a twinkle in his eyes. Charlie´s mouth dropped open again.

"You´re kidding!"

"Nope."

Now Arthur was really confused. "Ah, excuse me, but what exactly is the Marauder´s Map?" he asked.

"Well, you see, Dad, it´s a really neat magical map that Fred and George stole--err, borrowed--from Filch´s office--"

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted Charlie´s explanation. Standing up, Arthur wondered, "Who could that be at this time of night?"

"I´ll get it," Charlie said immediately, rising.

"We´ll both go," Arthur corrected him, shaking his head ever so slightly. "You can´t be too careful these days."

"You-Know-Who isn´t exactly known for knocking, Dad."

"You can never be too careful." Arthur shot a sharp look at his son, who finally nodded. "Especially with your mother out of town."

Together, father and son made their way to the front door, and the more Arthur thought about it, the less he could imagine why anyone would be knocking on his door at midnight. Usually, he would not even be awake at such an hour, but the kids´ excitement over Hermione and Lupin´s arrival, it had been difficult to quiet the house down. Molly, of course, would have had them all under perfect control within thirty seconds, but Arthur had always been a tad more indulgent than his wife. Besides, he had been interested in meeting the infamous Professor Lupin, the werewolf that Albus Dumbledore had trusted enough to let him teach at Hogwarts.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Charlie had taken his wand out, and decided to do the same. One could never be too careful...and he had a house full of children to protect, one of whom was not even his own. If there was one thing Arthur Weasley had learned by working at the Ministry, it was that appearances could often be very deceiving, and preparations were everything. He hadn´t thought that his family would be a target yet, but he could be wrong. Cautiously, he opened the door.

And came face to face with Sirius Black.

Instinctively, his wand came up, and he heard Charlie gasp behind him in surprise. Voldemort´s right-hand man is standing on my doorstep! Mind racing, Arthur quickly ran through a mental catalogue of spells that could disable one of the most powerful Dark wizards alive--he´d never been trained for this--sudden movement caught his eye, and he noticed Black´s wand coming up--

"Impedimenta!" Charlie´s voice came from behind him without hesitation, but even as the words left his son´s mouth, Arthur heard Black´s answering spell.

"Finite Incantatem!"

Arthur didn´t have the time to gasp the significance of Black using a purely defensive spell, because the small figure to Black´s left suddenly leapt forward.

"Mr. Weasley--Charlie--wait!" Harry cried, but Arthur couldn´t take chances. They had to disable Black--

"Expelliarmus!" a third voice cried, and Arthur´s wand was ripped out of his hand. It flew over his right shoulder to someone behind him. Dimly, he noticed that Charlie´s had done the same. But Black still has his wand, his mind reported feverishly, and Arthur spun to face the new attacker. It was Lupin.

"I was wondering when you´d get here, Sirius," Lupin said levelly.

"Remus."

But Arthur wasn´t listening to Black´s courteous response. He was staring at Lupin, feeling cold inside. The former Hogwarts professor met his gaze evenly.

"I realize you´re feeling betrayed at the moment, Arthur, but I think you will understand once I explain," Lupin said. "First, though--Sirius, Harry, why don´t you come inside and close the door?"

As he backed out of the way, Arthur noticed out of the corner of his eye that Black nodded for Harry to precede him, and the boy did so without argument. Quickly, though, he noticed that Harry was abnormally pale and looked a little shaky on his feet. Worry started boiling inside him, and he turned back to face Lupin furiously.

"That´s Sirius Black!" a voice suddenly called, and Arthur´s head snapped around in time to see his children, plus Hermione, pouring into the room, wands in hand, and led by Fred and George.

"George, no!" Ron made a grab for his older brother´s arm, even as Hermione reached out for Ginny. Beside him, Arthur felt Charlie tense for action, and knew that they had a split second in which to act--

"Expelliarmus!" This time it was Black, reacting with inhuman speed and catching Fred, George, and Ginny´s wands in his left hand. By then, Ron had a solid grasp on George, and Hermione had control over Ginny, but Fred still looked willing to try something, even without a wand.

"Wait!" Harry cried again. "All of you! This isn´t what it looks like!" The urgency in his voice made Fred stop. Everyone stared at Harry, but Arthur thought he saw Black smile slightly.

"Do you know who this is, Harry?" he asked.

"Yes, I know who he is," Harry replied impatiently. "Can you at least listen before you all try to kill him?"

Lupin spoke once more, his voice still very calm. "I will give you your wands back, but I think you ought to listen to what I have to say."

Stepping forward, the brown-haired wizard returned both Arthur and Charlie´s wands. Arthur stared at him suspiciously, but all Lupin did was nod and give Black a significant look. With a nod, Black tossed the children´s wands back. "Here."

Looking at Charlie, Arthur nodded in the direction of Ginny, Hermione, and the boys. Wordlessly, they both backed up a little further, coming in between the children and Black. Arthur hated to move away from Harry, but unfortunately, Potter seemed convinced he had to stand near Black, and without a united front, there was no chance of standing against Black and Lupin.

However, Lupin turned merely to the boy at Black´s side. "Are you all right, Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "It´s just been a rough day."

Lupin´s eyes focused on Black, who scowled. "First Death Eaters, and now the Weasley family," the wizard responded to the unspoken question. "I´d say it´s been a rough day."

"You look like hell, Sirius," Lupin remarked. They´re distracted, Arthur realized, watching. Taking a deep breath, he began to raise his wand.

"Nice to see you, too, Remus," Black retorted, but then his head snapped around, his eyes tracking like a well-trained Auror´s--now, why did I make that comparison?--and focusing unsettlingly on Arthur. "Don´t."

Black did not raise his wand again, but something told Arthur that he´d lose that battle--or any other--against the man.

"Dad, just give them a chance to explain," Ron said suddenly, and Arthur twisted around to look at his youngest son. "Harry´s right. This isn´t what it looks like."

There was so much earnest honesty on his son´s face that Arthur had a hard time doubting him...but a dark corner of his mind wondered why Ron would say such things. Was he confounded? Confused? Finally, though, Arthur turned back to face Lupin, knowing he had no choice but to listen as the former professor spoke.

"Let me start out, Arthur, Charlie, by saying that Dumbledore trusts Sirius," Lupin said quietly. "He was the one who Dumbledore sent to get Harry."

"What?" Arthur gaped, staring at Black. True, the man did not look like he had after escaping Azkaban. Even in the dim light coming from the kitchen, he was no longer gaunt, and had filled out a great deal; his hair was now cut neatly to just above his shoulders, and was much cleaner and fuller than before, but he was every bit as pale. And his eyes were every bit as unreadable.

"But he´s..." Charlie started, only to trail off and gulp as Black stepped forward.

"We´ll be here all night if I don´t explain this, Remus," he said to Lupin, then to nearly everyone´s surprise, slid his wand back within the left side of his robe. Then he turned to face Arthur and his family.

"Let me make this very simple," Black said levelly. "I was never James and Lily´s secret keeper. At the last minute, I switched with Peter Pettigrew"--his voice grew dark for a moment--"who betrayed them to Voldemort. Knowing this, I tracked him down, intending to kill him, but Peter faked his own death and pinned the blame for everything on me. Dumbledore knows this. I have been working with him for the last year and a half, trying to keep Harry safe."

Arthur stared. The story was almost too incredible to be true, yet there was something about the forthright way that Black spoke that made his words seem true. To his right, Charlie shifted slightly, but the children were surprisingly silent. After a moment, Black continued.

"Remus knows this because he was there when I finally tracked Peter down two years ago. Harry, Ron, and Hermione know because they, with Dumbledore´s help, saved my life when Fudge wanted the dementors to give me the kiss." His voice was calm, even cool, but Arthur wasn´t blind to the emotions rolling around in his eyes.

"But the attacks..." Charlie said quietly.

"Voldemort," Black replied, and Arthur winched as the man said the name again. He wished certain people would stop doing that. "I have never been, and never will be, a Death Eater."

"He´s telling the truth," Harry said quietly, stepping up beside Black. "I know Sirius would never have betrayed my parents. And if he was a Death Eater, he would have turned me over to them today, instead of saving my life."

"What happened, Harry?" Ron asked, beating his father by moments.

Lupin´s hand suddenly went up. "Wait." He studied Harry for a moment, and then his eyes traveled quickly to Black and back again. "Harry needs rest. He can answer your questions in the morning. For now, it is enough that he´s safe."

Finally, something Arthur could agree with them on. Immediately, Charlie took charge. "Right. Ron, take Harry upstairs, find him some clothes, and get him to bed. The rest of you can talk to him in the morning. Go to bed."

"Okay," Ron said. "You coming, Harry?"

"Yeah--oh, wait." Harry grinned sheepishly and started fishing in his pockets. "I´ve got plenty of clothes..." As he pulled a small pebble out of his pocket, Arthur began to wonder if Harry had gone mad. The boy looked up at Black expectantly.

With a pop, the pebble turned into Harry´s trunk, and Arthur transferred his gaze to Black in time to watch the other casually return his wand to the pocket inside his robes. Then, with a flurry of good nights--Arthur noticed that Harry actually hugged Sirius Black, who mussed his hair with obvious affection--the kids flew up the stairs, George and Fred hauling Harry´s trunk between them. He knew they´d never go to bed, but at least Harry would be lying down for all the discussions they had, and that, Arthur supposed, was better than nothing.

But it still left Sirius Black standing in his living room.

There was a long moment of silence, and Arthur could not help but notice as Lupin and Black exchanged yet another knowing look. Uneasily, he coughed into one hand, not knowing what to do, and praying that Black was telling the truth--but unable to believe it. Both looked at him, but it was Black who spoke.

"You don´t trust me." It was not a question.

"Should I?" Arthur countered. He was surprised to see that it was Lupin who bristled at his response.

"You son does," Black replied evenly.

"Ron is a trusting boy." Slightly angered that Black would bring his youngest son into this discussion, Arthur couldn´t keep his voice nearly as calm as Black´s seemed to be.

"He is. But we got off to a rocky start. Having your leg broken by someone and then listening to them insist that your pet rat has to die isn´t a good foundation for trust, usually," Black commented.

Arthur stared at the younger man, puzzled, but before he could ask, Charlie interjected. "Shouldn´t we take this into the kitchen, Dad?" he asked. "So we don´t keep the kids up?"

Grudgingly, Arthur had to admit that his son was right. Warily, they moved into the kitchen--he hardly liked the idea of turning his back on a convicted murderer, no matter what the man said about his innocence. He and Charlie crossed to one side of the table, leaving Lupin and Black on the other. Turning back to face them, Arthur put his own wand away with a certain amount of reluctance; however, he knew that was necessary, and a simple look drove Charlie to do the same. Lupin, he noticed, had done so on the way out of the living room.

"I think you owe us a more complete explanation," Arthur said.

Again, Lupin and Black exchanged a look, and after a moment, Lupin nodded. "I´ve told this story once," he said with a slight smile. "Now it´s your turn."

"You know what Remus is, right?" Black asked without preamble.

"We know he is a werewolf, if that´s what you mean," Charlie responded suspiciously. "But I don´t see what that has to do with your situation."

Black didn´t rise to the bait offered. "It started in our fifth year at Hogwarts. Three of us--James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and I--had known for some time what Remus was, and had been searching for some way to help our friend. Finally, knowing that Remus was only a danger to humans, we became Animagi."

"What?" Arthur stared at him. "That´s impossible for fifth year students. It takes years of study and in incredible amount of experience." Not to mention the fact that it was highly illegal, too.

"All three of us," Black responded. "I was a dog, and James was a stag. Peter was, appropriately"--his voice grew hard--"a rat. His ability to transform himself is what saved his life. After cutting off his finger, he simply transformed into his Animagus form and fled, having ensured that everyone watching thought I was guilty. Considering the irony of the situation, I laughed. I was certain that a trial would prove me innocent, but I was never given one. Instead, I spent the next twelve years in Azkaban."

A shiver ran down Arthur´s spine. There was no way, absolutely no way, that Black had been sent to Azkaban without a trial. If he was truly innocent... Look what men like Fudge have done to cover up the Dark Lord´s return, he suddenly reminded himself. Is it so hard to believe that the Ministry wanted someone to label as You-Know-Who´s right-hand man, just so people would be reassured that it was finally over? Could they have cared about justice that little? But Black was continuing, his voice still hard and a little mechanical.

"I escaped, not to kill Harry, like nearly everyone assumed, but to kill Peter. You see, I saw a picture in the Daily Prophet of your family in Egypt. And I saw Ron´s pet rat. It was Peter."

"Scabbers?" Charlie gasped. "Ron said he died two years ago."

Black scowled. "Unfortunately, no. He got away due to...the unfortunate circumstances that followed my first encounter with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Remus here helped me convince them of the truth, but when Snape and about a hundred dementors interfered, things went to hell. Peter is back with Voldemort."

I wish he´d stop saying that name! The look on Charlie´s face told Arthur that his son agreed with him, but Lupin seemed unbothered. But all the pieces were beginning to fall into place, and taking a deep breath, Arthur spoke. "Despite myself, I believe you. I just a question." After Black nodded, Arthur continued. "Why haven´t we heard of Pettigrew working for You-Know-Who by now?"

"You ever hear of Wormtail?" Lupin snarled, and the ferocity in his voice almost made Arthur jump. Equally surprised, Black looked at his friend, who met his eyes frankly. "I was as much in favor of killing him as you were, Sirius," he said coldly; then he took a deep breath. "Although, in the end, do I believe Harry was right...James wouldn´t have wanted us to become killers. But that doesn´t change the fact that Wormtail has to die."

The cold finality in Lupin´s voice told Arthur Weasley that he really did not want to gain the former professor as an enemy; however, as the other man suddenly turned to Black, he realized that Lupin made an extraordinary friend. "Are you all right, Sirius?"

Black had been staring off into space, but the sound of his friend´s voice seemed to bring him back. He blinked. "Just tired."

"Don´t even start with me, Padfoot." Abruptly, Lupin stepped forward and placed a hand on his friend´s shoulder. "You and Harry are pale; he´s shaky on his feet. I smell pain from both of you." Pain? Alarms started going off in Arthur´s head, but Lupin continued gently. "What happened earlier, Sirius? You said something about Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?" Charlie repeated, and Arthur knew that he, too, was remembering Black´s grumbled comment about a `rough day´ in the hallway. Why didn´t I catch that? he wondered, but knew the answer. I was too caught up in having an escaped prisoner in my house. Molly would slap me for being so narrow minded.

Leaning back on the counter, Black nodded. "Harry and I were in Muggle London when we ran into three Death Eaters. We nearly lost them, but we ended up cornered in an alleyway instead. Since Harry can´t Apparate, there wasn´t any way out. All three of them threw the Cruciatus curse at us. I´m pretty sure all three of them were aiming at me, but Harry caught one for a few seconds before I could stun them."

There was silence for a long moment; Arthur had not missed the fact that both Harry and Black had been struck by the Cruciatus curse, yet still Black had managed to stun the Death Eaters long enough for them to escape, but no matter how unique that was, he didn´t think this was the time to ask--especially with the appraising look that Lupin was suddenly shooting in his direction. But the former professor spoke first to his friend.

"You need rest, Sirius," he said softly. "As much as Harry does, or more, I expect, if you´ve been staying up nights watching him."

"Guilty as charged," Black admitted with a shrug. "I´m fine, Remus, really."

Lupin only rolled his eyes in response to that before turning to face Arthur once more. His hand never left Black´s shoulder as he spoke. "I´m going to ask you to trust us simply on the strength of our words," Lupin said quietly. "I know this is not easy, but you need us here to help you protect Harry, Hermione, and your family. Sirius brought Harry here because this has always been a safe haven for him, but right now, it may not be safe enough."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"I mean that if Voldemort comes here, he will come in force, and you will need all the help you can get." Lupin´s expression softened slightly. "You can owl Dumbledore in the morning if you want, but for now, you´ve simply got to trust us."

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Author´s Note: Stay tuned for what happens when the director calls, "Death Eaters, enter stage right." Please review!