A Model

Chapter 4

Some Surprising Revelations

The vivid light of a full moon shown in through the window of Atropos´s public office. It added a cool silvery glow to the warm light of the dozens of candles that were spread about the room. The beeswax tapers covered every available surface. Academic Merriman disliked sitting alone in the dark. She also disliked the cold. The fireplace, which doubled as a portal to the modeling room, crackled with a warm blaze that spread flickering shadows across the carved salamanders that ran up down its sides. Behind the impressively large and mostly empty desk, the walls were lined with books. The salamanders appeared again here in the cherry woodwork. The books weren´t hers. They had been thoughtfully provided by the Academy with their typical thoroughness and were intended for the students she would be recruiting and training.

She had been sitting at her enormous desk for several hours trying to keep her mind off Lupin´s current circumstances by reading over schedules that he had given her before withdrawing to his locked office. However, this only allowed her to trade one mental discomfort for another. The list of students was daunting; she had three to meet tomorrow for two hours each and was furiously pretending not to be nervous about it. But Atropos had stopped dealing with teenagers slightly before she had stopped being a teenager. She didn´t feel terribly thrilled about spending six hours discussing their possible careers. Though Ron Weasley´s name at the top of the list cheered her slightly.

Atropos was rather excited to meet the boy she had read about in Lupin´s commendably comprehensive paper. The report had peaked her curiosity and she almost wished she was doing the model of Ron Weasley. For such a seemingly ordinary boy to survive so many hazardous situations suggested some sort of hidden quality or ability. It would have been exciting to perhaps uncover what it was.

Though maybe I can discover it in the normal way, by actually meeting with and talking to a person. Now there´s an innovative idea!

Unfortunately, with Lupin ... indisposed, she and poor Mr. Weasley would have only each other to deal with in the first meeting. It would probably be horribly uncomfortable for them both. Well I can worm my way into his good graces by removing that disgusting spell. Os Obserare? On a boy? It´s completely inexcusable. What was Tiresius thinking? And what business does he have trifling with my Witness? Feeling unreservedly disgusted she snatched up another schedule. Her anger wasn´t entirely on young Mr. Weasley´s behalf either. The Academy had managed to reveal it was behaving reprehensibly twice that day. Which was the true reason she was sitting up so late.

A slight tapping at the window stopped her sightless perusal of a list of Slytherin students. An owl hovered outside, looking at her reproachfully when she didn´t immediately leap up to allow it in. She reluctantly walked across and allowed the bird to deliver its message. While it flew off to rest at the Hogwarts Owlery, she gazed unhappily at the sealed envelope. The Eye stared back at her mockingly. When she flipped the letter over, she saw the name "R. J. Lupin" written in graceful script.

Well look at that! It´s Academic Persis´s handwriting. Head Counselor Bertand didn´t even have the guts to send this himself. With the letter still clutched in her hand, she stalked over to the fire. It took several minutes and several conversations with polite subordinates to finally reach her boss.

Head Counselor Bertand greeted her coolly, sounding slightly harassed. He was dressed in a bathrobe and looked as if he only just risen from his bed. Atropos wasn´t particularly ashamed that she had forgotten the time difference.

Dispensing with return greetings, she said harshly, "I just got a letter from the Academy, sir, or, rather, my secretary did. And it had better not be what I think it is."

Bertand´s response was equally cool, "Academic Merriman! I should have no need to discuss this with you. We at the Academy made it clear, after we agreed to Councilor Tiresius´s request, that we would not allow Mr. Lupin to compromise the standards we have held for a thousand years. I feel this is a graceful solution to the problem. Even a generous solution."

Her voice was incredulous, "Generous? You call this little charade generous? You´re firing him!"

Bertand remained calm in the face of her anger, in fact he sounded almost amused by her frustration, "We cannot allow our employees to engage in forbidden Dark activities. We have always reserved the right to discontinue our association with individuals who break our code. Therefore, while Mr. Lupin is ... not himself, he is also not an employee of ours." The oneiromancer made a slight gesture, "Do not worry. We will send him the letter rehiring him soon."

Atropos leaned so far forward into the fire that she narrowly avoided singeing her eyebrows, "You´re firing him for a day and than rehiring him?"

Now Bertand´s pleasure was clear. He disliked Atropos Merriman intensely. "Actually, as he takes several days to recover, we see no need to rehire and pay him while he is providing us with no work. Mr. Lupin should get his letter in a few days."

She was now pale with rage, "You ... you ..." she was at an utter loss for words, "The man´s ill with something he has no control over and you´re not even giving him paid sick leave!"

The Head of the Oneiromancers smiled gently, "The Academy has always prided itself on its financial practicality." His voice became mockingly solicitous, "Was there anything else? I know that this position is new for you. I wouldn´t like to think that I had placed you in a situation you were unequal to." The unspoken "again" hung in the air between them. Bertand was among the many Academy members who had been secretly pleased to learn that Academic Merriman hadn´t been able to finish her Sirius Black model. The fact that he knew, as leader of the Academy, that Fudge´s withholding of information from her had caused the failure hadn´t lessened his pleasure a jot. He didn´t particularly care about the public being lied to. Counselor Bertand´s life and interests were focused entirely on his organization. The petty concerns of outside individuals only helped finance the Academy he loved.

Visibly controlling herself, Atropos forced out her words, "I would like to lodge a formal protest."

He inclined his head graciously, "Of course. Now if you would excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." His face winked out. Atropos left the fire and set the now crumpled letter on her desk. She hadn´t even realized she was clenching her hands. Waving her wand to smooth it out, she dropped into the chair. The final blow of course was the fact that they had sent the letter to her. It would be her task to present Lupin with his firing and rehiring notes.

I´ll be damned before they make me a party to this stupidity! Scowling she stared into space. Her mind methodically ran over possible solutions. Tiresius would be no help. Even if he had wanted to, he had spent most of his influence getting Lupin the job in the first place. And Dumbledore had lost any leverage he had at the Academy when he refused to take the final exams 130 years ago. I´m not much use. It took all the power I had to get a chance to have Bertand gloat over me. Beginning to feel desperate, she slumped back in the chair. I can´t tell him. I barely know the man. How am I going to maintain a trusting and useful Witness relationship if I have to fire him once a month? How am I going to look him in the eye every day? Nervously shuffling papers, she uncovered a letter from her Gringotts vault. Oneiromancers were well paid and Atropos rarely found the opportunity to spend her money. Also, as a recruiter, she was provided with extra funds for recruitment needs. She read over her balance carefully and sat back doing a little mental arithmetic. As her wild thought began to take form, she began to smile unpleasantly. It would be easy. And it´s a wonderfully circular solution. If Lupin agrees, of course.

Deciding to deal with Remus´s possible objections when he actually made them, she pulled out a blank parchment and wrote out a quick letter to the wizarding bank. Then, before her conscience or wisdom could kick in, she stuffed the letter to Lupin into her pocket. She would tell him about both it and her plans when she finished mailing her letter. She then hurried off to the Owlery, carefully ignoring her more sensible side that was condemning her actions in the strongest of terms.

* * *

Remus Lupin wobbled into the Hospital Wing sometime after 5:30 in the morning. His skin felt like one giant brush burn and he was beginning to think that his bones hadn´t knit themselves together properly. This meant that he wasn´t overjoyed to see Merriman sitting by the bed that Madam Pomfrey had left prepared for him. She seemed to be excited over something and her fingers were tapping nervously on the arms of the chair.

Good God! She doesn´t expect me to run out for some chalk or something does she? Deciding to wait her out, he walked to the bed and drank one of the several healing and pain-relieving potions that were set out for his use. He sat down and gave her a level look, "I thought I explained how much time it would take for me to recover, if you really need anything..."

Atropos didn´t let him finish, she sounded slightly annoyed, "No, I don´t need you to do anything. I like to think I´m not that self-centered. I just ... I have something I have to give you so I thought that it was better to get it over with."

Well this doesn´t bode well. Lupin´s head began to swim with sheer exhaustion but he forced himself to remain in a sitting position on the bed. He didn´t feel sufficiently comfortable with her to lie around while they talked. Making a last attempt to get her out of the room so he could rest he spoke wearily, "How urgent is this?" Then a thought galvanized his mind into anxious alertness, "Is this something to do with Sirius?"

She winced, "No, not him. Actually it´s a letter." When all he did was stare at her through red-rimmed brown eyes, she ran a hand through her hair and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, "Alright, I am completely botching this. Just read it! And please don´t panic."

Recognizing the half-lidded eye from the letter he had received from the Academy and feeling as panicky as an exhausted werewolf could, he swiftly broke through the wax and read over the contents. Upon finishing he laid the letter carefully next to him on the bed. He was proud that his hands remained steady. When he spoke, his voice was utterly calm. "I hope you are going to explain this to me." He took a deep breath. "What part of the contract, that I don´t remember signing by the way, am I supposed to have broken?"

Her voice sounded small, "The ones regarding participation in Dark Arts activities." She road over his response, "They mean your transformation. The Academy doesn´t allow people who practice the Dark Arts to be employed by them." Now she sounded angry, "So they have decided to fire and hire you at monthly intervals."

Remus Lupin had suffered many insults in his life. Being a werewolf required his sense of pride to be based on something other than the way the rest of the world treated him. He had thought he´d already encountered all of the hardships that came from his condition. But this was something new. "Fire and hire?"

"Yes. And it gets worse." Atropos jumped out of her chair and began to pace around the bed. Remus suddenly noticed the lines of tiredness around her mouth and eyes, realizing that she must have been awake for some time. He felt slightly encouraged to see that she didn´t seem to approve of her employers actions.

He forced himself to listen to her further explanation. "They are docking your pay for the days you spend recovering, because you´re not an employee." Lupin gaped at her and then he started to shake with convulsive laughter. His abused muscles began aching in protest, but it was laugh or begin attacking his pillows. Also in the back of his mind it actually did strike him as exquisitely funny. Somewhere in the all-powerful Academy there is someone calculating how much they pay me per-day and carefully removing it from my paycheck. I really ought to be flattered. When he finally calmed down, he met Atropos´s worried eyes. She looked as if she thought he had lost his mind. He made a slight gesture of apology, "I´m sorry. I am, to be frank, insane with exhaustion." Saying it made Lupin realize it was close to true. He blinked his eyes in the hopes that his vision would remain focused, "Why are they doing this?"

She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. Her voice took on a note of disgust, "They seem to be counting every Knut they spend on you." She met his eyes and seemed to be weighing her words carefully, "But I have a solution for us -- or a trick for them. It depends on which way you look at it. But you have to be willing to be slightly sneaky."

Sneaky? He reached for another one of Pomfrey´s potions in the hopes that it would buy his weary mind some time to think. Remus tried to sort out what she had said. "What species of `sneaky´ do you mean?" he said slowly.

She swiftly sat down and leaned towards him, "The Academy provides recruiters with a stipend to use for purchasing special items or services for the students. At the end of the year I have to justify my use of the funds. I want to pay you for the time you´re...resting and call it the cost for hiring a temporary secretary."

Remus raised his eyebrows, "Who would be, in fact, me?"

She beamed at him, "Exactly."

He carefully enunciated each word. "You want them to pay me for replacing me after they fired me?"

Atropos´s voice shook with laughter, "That was impressive, Lupin! I don´t know that I could have formed that sentence coherently on one of my best days. And yes that is precisely what I want to do. And also yes, it is sort of deceitful even a tad illegal, but I don´t feel any twinges of conscience. Do you?" Her pale eyes gleamed, "More to the point, I think we could get away with it, since there isn´t anything that specifically forbids me from hiring outside people. You´d be my employee for a few days, not theirs."

Remus felt a small tremor of apprehension pass through him at the thought of trying to trick the Academy. He, like everyone else in the magical world, had a healthy respect for its rather unsettling reputation. But the oneiromancers were also making every effort to cheat and insult him. And he hadn´t spent his school years running wild through the Forbidden Forest in the company of three unregistered Animagi because he was easily intimidated or because he had an unshakeable respect for the rules.

To say nothing of the fact that I feel ready to agree to anything if I would be allowed to lie down afterwards. "Fine." He said abruptly. "I agree to your sneaky plan." When she grinned in response, he added, "And I accept your offer of employment." He indicated the letter lying next to him, "Apparently I need a job anyway."

Atropos let out a relieved breath and hopped from her chair. "Oh I am glad. Especially since I already told Gringotts to start paying you out of the recruitment funds." When he stared at her she waved a negligent hand, "I was pretty certain you´d say yes and I needed something to do while I waited to tell you about it."

Lupin couldn´t hold back an incredulous bark of laughter. "Well I´m glad you found the time to tell me! What were you planning on doing if I refused?"

"I don´t know," she admitted, her lips twisted up into an enigmatic smile, "Probably something sneaky."

He rubbed a hand across his eyes. "I´ll have to keep that in mind for later. Now ..." He looked pointedly at the exit.

Atropos chuckled softly and began to walk towards the door, "Now I can leave you alone. Have a nice day, Remus."

She didn´t hear his response because it was said directly to the pillow.

* * *

Ron Weasley rubbed his sweaty hands down his robes for what seemed like the hundredth time. He was beginning to suspect that he had managed to get lost on the way to Academic Merriman´s office. At least he could tell that the part of Hogwarts he was wandering in obviously didn´t see much use. It wasn´t dirty of course. The house elves would all roast themselves in the Hogwarts ovens before they would allow any public nook or cranny of the school to collect dust. But it felt empty. Most of the portraits were of scowling witches and wizards, all apparently so bad-tempered that they had been banished to an unused wing of the school. Most of these were asleep in their frames and looked like they had been for years. Ron nervously avoided a picture that was covered by a black cloth stitched with signs and sigils. They strongly resembled magical locking and sleeping spells and he felt certain that the cloth wasn´t there to give the portrait´s subject privacy. Yeah, the last thing you need to do right now is release a demon or something. He turned down another corridor. This one was dimly lit. Is this the right hallway? Why did they stick her so far from anywhere?

"There you are!" Ron let out an extremely unmanly yelp. His heart almost leaped out of his chest before he recognized the cool voice of the oneiromancer. She was standing in front of a door he had managed to walk past while he was avoiding the covered painting.

He turned to look at her and tried to feel more brave than panicky. "I´m sorry I startled you," she said. "I really ought to put up a sign or something." A faint smile hovered about her lips, "Though I think that my spell that tells me when people pass is slightly more dramatic."

Not trusting his voice, Ron summoned up a sickly smile. She was looking at him oddly. He felt as if he was being examined rather than seen. The pale eyes suddenly flicked away from him and she made a slight gesture of welcome.

Feeling butterflies the size of mastiffs cavorting in his stomach, he followed her into the office. Ron only had the chance to get a quick impression of candles and too many books before she was pointing towards the fireplace. "You won´t need to say anything. It´s only connected to one location. We´ll talk there." She stepped into the flames. Ron savored the moment he had alone to gather the shreds of his thoughts and then followed her through the fire.

He tumbled out of the fireplace helplessly sneezing and covered in ashes. He blinked around at the eccentric room. A desk was piled high with parchment paper and stuffed into one of the odd angled corners that graced the chamber. A large part of the floor looked a child´s sidewalk chalk outline. Except the wheel was more elaborate than anything he had drawn when he was small. Academic Merriman had seated herself on one of the two chairs. She seemed to be waiting for something. There was no one else in the room.

Ron gathered his courage and spoke hesitantly, "He ... he told me that Professor Lupin would be helping here."

An expression that could have been sympathy flickered over her face. "Mr. Lupin hasn´t recovered yet from his monthly change." Her voice became wry, "You may not believe this, but I too would rather he was here for this meeting." She took a deep breath. "But I feel certain we can both survive. Please sit down."

Feeling slightly cheered, Ron sat stiffly in the other chair and faced her. He couldn´t really relax though. He had a request to make and wasn´t sure of how it would be received. He remembered Hermione and Harry´s insistence that he ask her to remove the spell, but her strange robes and cool presence seemed to dry up the words he had carefully prepared.

You can do this.

Throwing caution aside, he blurted out, "Could you take this spell off of me? I know that Tir ... Tor ... that the older oneiromancer said it was important, but I ..."

Atropos lifted one hand to cut off his scattered request. She looked directly into his eyes and spoke firmly. "I want you to know, Mr. Weasley, that I do not approve of the Os Obserare spell. Loyalty and discretion should not be imposed by others." She sat back in her chair and drew out her wand from her sleeve. "That said, I want to make it perfectly clear that what we do here is highly privileged information." Heavy amusement colored her next words. "I am not expecting you to keep this from your friends. They will eventually be aiding with the model and I am certain Miss Granger, at least, has already managed to winkle out much more information than Tiresius would like." Ron couldn´t restrain a short laugh at that and she smiled briefly. "I merely wish you to keep this secret to those you would trust without reservation." Her eyes hardened. "I will not be pleased to hear that the story of the model is making its way through the school rumor mill."

Ron now began to feel slightly offended. His life had been threatened often enough for him to place great value in it. And you couldn´t be Harry Potter´s best friend and not know that some secrets were meant to be kept. Does she think I´m going to chat with Parvati and Lavender about the plan to spy on You-Know-Who?

Merriman was frowning at him, plainly waiting for an answer. "I know how important this is ... Academic," Ron said stiffly, "I won´t tell anyone who shouldn´t know."

Satisfied, she nodded once, "Show me where it was placed."

Ron slowly pulled back his sleeve. A blue mark that looked like a bruise stood out against the pale skin of his forearm. "It appeared after I read Oneiromancer Tiresius´s letter." He said nervously.

Atropos inspected the mark carefully. Her lacquered wand tapped his arm at various places. "Yes. Well. The Os Obserare was developed by the Academy some centuries ago to restrain ermmm ... gossipy Witnesses." She seemed to find something. Her wand paused and an eyelid twitched. "Many organizations use it now, but I personally feel that restraining someone´s will without their agreement sounds uncomfortably like the Imperius Curse. I don´t use this spell myself." Her lips pulled into a slightly unsettling smile, "My Witnesses usually have sufficient respect for me to remain discrete." Making a satisfied sound she swiftly moved her wand in a spiral, saying firmly, "Pando!" The bruise mark faded from Ron´s arm. The slight pressure in his head that he had felt since he read the letter his parents had given him from the oneiromancer seemed to slowly dissipate.

Feeling immeasurably relieved, Ron settled into his chair. He pulled his sleeve back over his arm and waited for Merriman to speak.

"Tiresius´s letter explained why I would be meeting with you?"

Ron nodded, "He wasn´t very specific about what I would need to do though."

She smirked, "That´s because he doesn´t know. Every oneiromancer´s methods are slightly different. I need you because of your long acquaintance with Scabbers the rat." She pulled out a sheaf of parchments. "For today, and probably next week, I only want you to answer these questions about him to the best of your ability. Later on we will be performing more ... active magic."

Ron stared at the pile with dismay. He wasn´t looking forward to two hours of Scabbers questions. Merriman smiled knowingly and plumped the pile into his lap, "You can start anywhere you wish and you may use my desk. There are quills and ink in the drawer." With pressure of a completely non-magical kind building in his head, Ron dragged his chair to the desk and began preparing to answer the first question:

"What pet store was the subject purchased in and were there other rats in his cage as well?" he muttered. Does she mean like lady friend-rats and brother-rats? How would I remember? Forcing himself to remember the trip to the pet store with Percy and his mother, he wondered if all the other questions would be this specific.

Merriman had begun working mysteriously near the chalk model. He could hear the muttered words and see her waving her wand out of the corner of his eye. He couldn´t restrain a yelp though, when Professor Lupin seemed to rise out of the floor.

She turned to him, "It´s not actually him. Or rather it is the him from a few days ago. And it won´t do anything to us. It´s the Foundation." She frowned and spoke musingly, "It´ll talk to the model but it won´t talk to me. I can´t see anything of what its doing."

When it was clear that she wasn´t going to elaborate for him, Ron shrugged and tried to put his mind back on his questions. He didn´t think he wanted to know why the oneiromancer had dummy Lupins hidden in the floor.

Ron had just finished an involved question about Scabbers´ early sleep patterns when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Academic Merriman standing over him. "The two hours are almost up. We should get back to the Salamander room. I have some things to give you, anyway."

Ron rose obediently from his seat. It suddenly struck him, standing this close to her, that he was taller than she was. It was something that was happening a lot lately. Many of the adults he knew seemed to have shrunk over the summer.

When they returned to the office room, Academic Merriman moved over to her bookshelf. She appeared to be looking for something.

"Should I leave?"

She glanced at him, "Not before I give you your reading texts. Remember that you are supposed to be considering the Academy entrance exams!" She suddenly turned around entirely and looked at him sharply, "Have you taken Arithmancy?"

At his frantic head shaking, she turned back to the shelf and pulled out two books. "Then you will want to begin reading these general materials. They´ll give you a working knowledge."

"I´ve never even looked at Arithmancy before!" Ron said incredulously.

"Then it is fortunate that you have Miss Granger to help you. I saw that she was enrolled in the Arithmancy program." She paused slightly, considering him. Coming to a decision, she swiftly pulled a third smaller book off the shelf. "I think you will find this interesting. At least you can read it without the numbers knowledge. Prepare me a foot and a half of parchment discussing the value of the chapter of your choice."

Ron stared at her in shock, clutching the three books to his chest, "Do you want me to finish all of these by next week?"

She laughed, "Of course not! Though I would like you to have finished the shorter book." At his expression she sobered slightly, "Don´t worry Mr. Weasley. I actually think you may enjoy the third book. Now you may go. I have a Miss Cho Chang coming to see me in five minutes."

In a confused swirl, Ron found himself standing in the corridor outside holding three heavy books. Trying to avoid thinking about the Arithmancy tomes, he looked at the cover of the smaller book. Battle Symbolism: How Far Can the Model of an Event Go and How Do You Get it There?

He shook his head as he made his slow way back to Gryffindor Tower. At least Hermione would be pleased. Not only was he able to tell her what was going on with the oneiromancer, but now she would be able to tutor him in Arithmancy. It was odd, but the thought of spending a huge amount of time studying with Hermione didn´t sound as horrible as it should.

* * *

When Ron returned to Gryffindor Tower, he was greeted by two pairs of anxious eyes. Harry and Hermione both looked ready to pounce. He walked over to join them at the fire, grateful that the common room was empty. As he sat down next to his friends, he saw the barely restrained excitement in both of them. Rather enjoying the tension, Ron didn´t answer the question that was hovering in the air. The pressure was finally too much for Hermione.

"Well? Did she do it?" she whispered fiercely.

Ron grinned, "Yeah. She did it. Said that she didn´t like the spell anyway. I guess she isn´t the boss."

"Never mind that! What´s going on? What is she doing to you? What ..."

Harry interrupted her, "Stop whispering! You´ll get everyone in the Tower down here trying to hear what we´re saying. We´ll be fine if we just keep our voices down." He turned to Ron, "Now spit it out Weasley or I´ll have to start using violence."

Ron raised his hands in mock surrender. He took a deep breath and plunged into the long explanation. It was rather fun to have his friends´ undivided attention. As he talked, he could tell that Hermione was impressed by the plan. She kept making admiring and interested noises.

When he finished, Harry frowned and spoke up, "So she´s going to need to see us too?"

"Uh huh. But only for the time in third year and the time when ... when You-Know-Who came to your house. When you were a baby, I mean."

Harry´s face seemed to close up. Ron cursed himself silently. He knew Harry didn´t like to think of that time.

Hermione quickly moved in to save him. "So you are meeting her to make this model? What are the books for then?" She gestured at the pile sitting next to him.

He winced. "I have to look like I really am studying for these exams. And she´s decided that she wants me to actually be studying for them." He smiled at Hermione sheepishly. "It means I´m going to need some help with these."

When Hermione saw the Arithmancy books, she placed a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. At Ron´s slightly hurt expression, she calmed down. "Don´t worry Ron. I´d love to help you to learn two years of Arithmancy in a few months." Her smile was warm and she reached over to squeeze his shoulder, "You know I am always willing to do a little extra work."

Ron felt himself blushing. When he turned to look at Harry, his friend had a smirk on his face. It took a lot of will power for Ron not to kick his Friend-Who-Lived.