Death Before Dishonor

Death Before Dishonor

Chapter Six: It Begins

The vulture landed on the windowsill without warning and cawed irritably. This made the group of wizards and witches sprawled around the Weasleys´ living room look up in surprise, and then exchange curious glances.

"Whose is that?" Charlie asked.

A series of blank looks answered his question, until Mr. Weasley commented, "I can´t even think of any witch or wizard who uses a vulture for the post. They´re considered the worst kind of luck, at least as far as birds go."

"Well, it does have a letter," Ron pointed out. No one, however, moved. "Fine, I´ll get it."

The youngest Weasley boy rose and, after nearly getting his hand pecked off by the unhappy bird, wrestled the small piece of paper away from it. The parchment was folded messily, and wasn´t even sealed. "What in the world--hey, get back here!"

Without warning, the vulture had flown out the window, and despite Ron´s angry yell, it didn´t return. Soon, though, Ron was absorbed in the letter. Harry waited impatiently for him to look up, or for him to say anything, but as long seconds ticked by, Ron´s expression only became more confused. He flipped the paper over to look at the back, and then turned it over again, staring at the letter in puzzlement. Finally, Harry could take no more.

"What is it?"

"It´s a bloody letter without a signature," Ron spat. "Heck, it´s not even a letter! It´s only got one sentence."

Something cold settled in Harry´s stomach, and he could hardly get the question out. "What´s it say, Ron?"

"It just says `We are coming´," Ron replied. "Nothing else." Then he swung to face his brothers. "This was you, wasn´t it? Is this your idea of a joke, isn´t it?"

But George and Fred only stared at him, and Harry realized that the horror on their faces matched what he was feeling inside. This can´t be happening... They were almost safe. The train left tomorrow, and tomorrow he´d be at Hogwarts... He heard several dismayed whispers from his companions as others thought the same thing that had occurred to him.

"Wait one moment," Mr. Weasley´s firm voice interrupted Harry´s bout of fear. "You-Know-Who doesn´t warn his victims. He just arrives. This has to be something else."

"Ron, give me that letter," Lupin said suddenly, his voice tense.

"What?"

"It says `we´!" No one could understand the sudden urgency in his voice, but the former professor was on his feet already, taking the letter out of Ron´s hands. After one look at it, his face went white, but he immediately passed the paper to Sirius. He whispered, "Tell me I´m wrong, Sirius."

Harry´s godfather´s face did not go white; rather, it hardened. His voice was cool. "No, Remus. You´re right."

"Right about what?" Harry demanded, feeling very confused and frightened.

"It´s Snape´s handwriting," Lupin said softly.

"Professor Snape?" George asked. "That´s good, right?"

"No, George," Lupin replied. "That´s very bad."

"But why?" Ginny demanded. "And why would Professor Snape send a letter that says `We are coming´?"

Coldness, though, was filling Harry´s insides, and he remembered the Dark Mark on Snape´s left arm, remembered Professor Dumbledore´s words when he had asked if Snape was ready. Snape is working for Voldemort. Fear seized up Harry´s insides. Death Eaters!

"Shit!" Heads turned as Sirius let loose the startled curse, and they all watched anxiously as he reached inside his robe for his wand. When he pulled it out, the wand was bucking in his hand. Sirius shot to his feet. "They´ve breached the first barrier."

During the two previous days, Sirius and Lupin had painstakingly erected wards around the Weasley home. At the time, Harry had wondered if should have even bothered, but since Sirius and Professor Lupin seemed so serious about it, he hadn´t asked. Now he was glad he hadn´t. Sirius had said that they had constructed three lines of wards, but that both could and would be breached--all they really existed for was to buy them time to escape. Ron´s father had agreed to their construction, but judging from the look Harry saw on his face, he hadn´t thought Voldemort would dare attack the Burrow, either.

And then searing pain erupted from Harry´s scar. He cried out without meaning to, clamping a hand to his forehead to try to stop the pain. The burning sensation faded after a moment, but this time, it did not die. Instead, his scar seemed to pulse in a consistent way it had never done before.

"Harry?" It was Sirius, holding him gently and looking at him with concern. Harry blinked, opening eyes that he hadn´t even realized he had shut, and nodded in response to the unspoken question that hung between them.

"Voldemort," he whispered.

Mr. Weasley was on his feet. "Quickly, Charlie, get the Floo Powder," he said. "The rest of you, get your trunks."

The room split into organized chaos. Supposedly, the first ward was simply a warning barrier. If things went as planned, they now had three minutes before the Death Eaters could approach the house because of the Anti-Apparition fields Sirius and Lupin had also put in place. They had planned it so that everyone would have plenty of time to escape, but three minutes suddenly seemed like a very short amount of time.

Sirius helped Harry to his feet, glancing at Professor Lupin, who Harry noticed was at the window. "How many?"

"At least fifteen."

Harry saw his godfather nod, then watched with amazement as flawlessly took charge of the situation. His voice was level "Arthur, you go first. Ginny, you follow him."

"Sirius, I think that it might be best if I--" Mr. Weasley began to object, but Sirius overrode him easily.

"You´re no good if it comes to fighting off Death Eaters, Arthur," he said bluntly. "You haven´t been trained for this, and an adult has to show up first. That means you. Go!"

Mr. Weasley looked like he was might have argued, but instead he turned to the fireplace and grabbed Ginny´s school trunk from the pile of them that had been laid next to it in preparation for this eventuality. Charlie took a pinch of Floo-Powder and tossed it into the fire for him, and moments later, with a shout of "Diagon Alley!" Mr. Weasley was gone.

"Go, Ginny," Charlie said, and she, too, vanished.

Without being told, Fred stepped forward, grabbed his trunk, and was gone. George followed him without protest, and Harry turned to Hermione. "You next, Hermione," he said.

"Harry, don´t you think that you--" she started, but he cut her off with as shove forward.

"Just go."

Sirius was by the window, now, standing with Lupin, who had a very strange look on his face. Hermione disappeared.

"Who´s going last?" Charlie asked as she disappeared with her trunk.

"I will," Sirius replied.

"Sirius--" both Lupin and Harry objected at the same time, but Harry´s godfather only stared at Lupin.

"Get him out of here." A jerk of Sirius´ head made Harry well aware of the fact that his godfather meant him.

"I´m not going anywhere without you!" Harry said stubbornly, knowing it was stupid, and that Voldemort wanted him the most, but he wasn´t going to lose Sirius. Not now. Not again!

"Harry, you daft--" Ron started to cry, but Charlie cut him off with as shove.

"Go, Ron. We´ll get Harry." With one cross look, Harry´s friend was gone.

Sirius´ wand twitched again. He spoke with inhuman calm. "Second barrier."

"Time to go, Harry," Charlie said, then, grabbing Harry´s shoulder.

"No! Not if he´s going to try and do something dumb!" Harry cried angrily. I´m not losing the only family I have! Desperately, he jerked away from Charlie´s hands, and Lupin´s sudden motion made them all go still before he could say anything more.

"I smell blood."
"Blood?" Charlie echoed, but Lupin was looking out the window.

"There´s a Death Eater down."

"Down?" Harry looked at Sirius. "But I thought your wards wouldn´t kill."

"They don´t." His godfather looked out the window again. They exchanged a glance. "You think?"

"Yes," Lupin agreed.

"Dumb git is going to get himself killed," Sirius snarled suddenly.

"Who´s going to get killed?" Charlie asked.

"Snape." Lupin and Sirius answered the question together, but Sirius turned away from the window. "Go, Charlie." Ron´s brother opened his mouth to object. "Just go." Grabbing Harry´s trunk, Charlie was gone.

Sirius looked at Lupin. "Take him. I´ll go."

Their eyes locked. "I´m not leaving you here, Sirius."

"What are you talking about?" Harry demanded. "Sirius, let´s just go!"

His godfather looked at him for a moment, and it occurred to Harry that his expression was rather sad. Then, Sirius shook his head, and suddenly there was a dog standing in his place. Harry´s eyes widened, and he saw Lupin leap forward, trying to grab the dog before it could move, but it was too late. With two giant leaps, Padfoot crossed to the side window and jumped out.

"No!" Harry howled, and without thinking, tried to follow. He was not going to lose Sirius! Not now! "Sirius!"

Strong arms grabbed him from behind, wrenching him away from the window. To his left, out the front window, Harry saw a horde of Death Eaters approaching, but still he struggled. He had to get to Sirius. He wasn´t going to lose him! Distantly, he heard shouting in his ear. It was Lupin, telling him he couldn´t, telling him that he had to go, but Harry didn´t care. He was shouting his godfather´s name over and over again, and only realized too late that that Lupin was carrying him towards the fireplace.

"No!"

"Diagon Alley!"

The world was spinning... They came rolling out of the fireplace together, with Harry still locked in Remus Lupin´s arms. Fury lashed through him, though, at the thought of what happened, and as soon as he was able, Harry jerked away from Professor Lupin and scrambled to his feet. He stared at his father´s old friend, ignoring the confused looks on his companions´ faces.

"How could you?" he cried. "How could you leave him?"

Lupin rose slowly and looked him at him with an expression that melted Harry´s fury immediately. Swallowing, Harry tried to pretend that he couldn´t see the tears in Lupin´s eyes. "Because I have to keep you safe," the wizard said quietly. "If I don´t, Voldemort wins."

"But what about Sirius?" Harry felt like his heart was breaking. "What if he dies?"

From somewhere behind him, Harry heard a gasp as his friends realized what had happened. At the moment, though, he could hardly care. All he could think about was Sirius, his godfather who he´d found and now lost again... No! This isn´t fair! Suddenly, Lupin´s hands were on his shoulders, and Harry realized he was crying, which wasn´t a very mature thing to do, but he didn´t mind. Sirius...

"Listen to me, Harry," Lupin said softly. "Sirius may do a lot of things, but he never acts without a plan. He´s going to save a life, not get himself killed. He´ll be back. I know him; he´ll be back."

As Lupin embraced him, Harry ceased to care who saw him cry. It only mattered that he might lose Sirius, no matter what Professor Lupin said. He might lose the only real family he had ever known.

They stayed that night in the Leaky Cauldron, desperately alert for any news about Sirius, but no one they talked to had heard anything. Harry tossed and turned all night long, plagued by horrible nightmares about what might be happening to Sirius, and hoping desperately that he was only imagining the pain in his scar. When he awoke the next morning, he felt terrible, and knew from one look at Professor Lupin as he approached the breakfast table that Sirius´ best friend felt the same way.

Quietly, Harry sat down between Ron and Hermione. They ate in silence for a long while before Harry could stand it no longer. "This is the first time I´m not excited about going back to school," he whispered.

"Oh, Harry..." Hermione put an arm around him, and for once he didn´t mind. "You´re not alone, no matter what happens."

Ron´s hand was on his shoulder, too. "She´s right. We´re always here, Harry."

"Thanks," Harry answered, sucking back tears that threatened to rise. "Thanks, guys."

Finally, he got control of himself, and noticed that Mr. Weasley was looking at them expectantly. "Are you ready, Harry?"

He nodded without enthusiasm. "Sure."

A little over an hour later, the three friends, accompanied by Ginny, George, and Fred (which made a tight squeeze in the compartment, but they didn´t particularly care), sat quietly, trying to look on the bright side of things, but unable to find one. Suddenly, though, a faint scream came from outside the compartment. All six heads perked up, and George yanked the door open to hear better. Sure enough, the screech came again, but this time it was higher in pitch and full of exaggerated terror.

"Sound fake," Fred scowled.

"Sound like Malfoy." But as soon as Harry said it, he knew it couldn´t be true. What would Malfoy be screaming about?

"You´re right, it does," Ron agreed, jumping to his feet.

"Oh, what are you doing, Ron?" Hermione demanded.

"Hey, Malfoy´s screaming," Ron replied with a grin. "This has got to be good."

His words goaded them all into motion, and within moments, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were pouring out of the compartment on Ron´s heels. They rushed forward, towards the middle of the train, and found themselves pushing and shoving their way through a bunch of half-frightened and half-curious first years. People were murmuring amongst themselves, trying to figure out what was going on, but no one seemed to know, even though George asked twice. Just when they were about to lose hope, though, another bout of high-pitched wailing told Harry they were getting close.

"Let´s go!" he said, diving into the crowd and finally reaching the third car from the front of the train. When he finally made it into the car, though, the sight before his eyes made Harry stop cold.

Draco Malfoy was crouched in the corner, doing a very bad impression of a terrified individual. He was screaming, "Oh, help me! Help me! It´s going to kill me!" over and over again, much to the amusement of a group of Slytherins who were gathered off to the other side of the car.

But Malfoy´s bad acting wasn´t what made Harry or the others skid to a stop. No, that was the figure of Professor Lupin, who was striding toward Malfoy purposefully. Instantly, Harry knew why Malfoy was acting at being frightened--he wanted the entire train to know that Professor Lupin was a werewolf. It was just another example of Malfoy´s spite, but it infuriated Harry to see it. He started to step forward, but Ron grabbed his arm, hissing, "Wait."

Lupin walked straight up to Malfoy, and, ignoring the Slytherin´s pitiful acting, grabbed the blonde-haired boy by the front of his robes and hauled him to his feet.

"Contain yourself, Mr. Malfoy, or you will find yourself with detention before the year has even started," Lupin said coldly.

Malfoy´s eyes almost bugged out of his head; it was obvious that he hadn´t expected Lupin to react without shame. But he recovered quickly and jerked away from the older man. "You can´t give me detention," he said haughtily. "You´re not a professor at Hogwarts anymore."

"I hate to disappoint you, Mr. Malfoy, but I am," Lupin responded. "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to return to Hogwarts."

Even the snickering Slytherins shut up at those words--only Malfoy didn´t have the sense to keep his thoughts to himself. "But you´re a werewolf!" he objected. "My father and the other governors would never stand for a monst--"

"That will be quite enough," Lupin interjected, and Harry marveled at his control. Even though Malfoy´s words had to hurt him, Lupin didn´t seem bothered at all. His icy eyes bored into Malfoy, and Harry watched the Slytherin back up a step, probably without even meaning to. After a moment, though, Lupin stepped away from Malfoy and turned to the other Slytherins in the car. "I expect all of you to contain yourselves and act like the young adults you are all supposed to be," he said with a small bite in his voice. "I don´t expect that Professor Snape would be pleased to hear that his fifth, sixth, and seventh-year students are acting in such an undignified manner. Go to your compartments. Now."

Without a word of argument, the Slytherins disappeared, leaving the six Gryffindors standing in the passageway and staring at their professor. Lupin turned towards them, and he smiled.

"There you are," he said, approaching. "I was just coming back to look for you."

Although Harry knew the others were grinning, he felt uneasy. "Why didn´t you tell us you were coming back?"

"I would have told you, Harry, if I was sure about it myself," Lupin responded gently. "I got an owl from Professor Dumbledore right after all of you boarded the train. Until then, even I wasn´t sure if I was coming back. I didn´t want to tell any of you and then have to say I wasn´t coming."

"So, are you teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again?" Hermione asked excitedly.

For a moment, Lupin´s eyes slid out of focus. "I hope not."

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Author´s Note: I´m a wimp...can´t leave anyone hanging for too long. So, please be nice to me and review... And stay tuned for "When Sirius met Snape" aka `What happens when two people who hate each other´s guts have to work together to survive?´. And stick around for some rather angry Voldemort, too... Till next time J