Chapter 29-  Dreams and Progress

 “Guess someone will have to share,” Sirius said happily, “Harry and Neville get the top beds since you two are lighter. I get that one and that leaves-“

“Hello,” came Arthur’s voice. “Nice space.” He said looking around.

“We seem to be one bed short,” Remus said.

“Oh, my,” Arthur said. “I think the girls have one spare bed in their tent. I am sure Nymphadora can share with them.”

Poor Arthur failed to see the two death glares he was receiving.

Chapter 30- A Blast from the past

“Wouldn’t have helped anyway, with you three in the room too,” she huffed.

“Dora, Dora, Dora. Of course it would. It would spike his interest. Do you know nothing of advertising?  Give him a sample, enough to tease but not satisfy. You’d be sleeping there, next to him. He would notice you but not be able to do anything because of us. But that would entice him and it would keep popping in his mind when he least expects it to. Your scent, you warmth, the way your body curves. Oh, if you could have turned and hugged him in your sleep, that would have been just perfect. Then after days, weeks, of torment he would just have to act on it. You see? It was fool proof, but noooo, Arthur just had to ruin it!”

They were walking towards the stadium. Sirius and Tonks were ahead and they could hear Remus, Bill and Arthur explaining the charms on the stadium to the awed kids behind.

“Besides, your make him jealous technique won’t work. Not with Moony. He’ll just think you deserve better than him.”

“I was not trying to make him jealous!”

“Yeah, right. That’s why you hugged Charlie like that and you two were doing all the giggling. If I didn’t know better I’d think you two were together,” Sirius snorted.

 “Hum, Siri, hate to break it to you, but Charlie is like my brother and he has been with Natasha for two years now,” she said in a low whisper.

Sirius head turned sharply to look at her, “Natasha?”

“Yep, she works with him, but keep it down and don’t say anything. His family doesn’t know.”

“Why?”

“His mom is always bugging him and Bill for grandchildren but he doesn’t want to settle down just yet,” Tonks shrugged

 “Yes and you two better stop this gossip before one of the kids hears you and tells mum!” Charlie hissed from behind.

“We were just chatting,” Sirius said smirking. “Wait you said kids?”

“Dad and Bill know. It’s just mum I haven’t got the guts to tell.”

From the corner of his eyes, Sirius saw one Mr. Remus “Moony” Lupin watching the trio as he talked to the kids with a frown. With a wicked thought, Sirius put one arm around Tonks and the other around Charlie, “You know Dora, maybe your technique wasn’t all that farfetched after all.”

“Huh?” Tonks mumbled.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. Let Uncle Sirius deal with this.”

He was met with worried looks from Tonks and Charlie but just led the way towards the Top Box.

XXXXXXXXX

“Why do people always think that foreign means deaf?” Remus whispered to Sirius, annoyed as they left the stadium. If it wasn’t enough that they had been joined in the Top Box by the unpleasant as usual Malfoys, their beloved Minister of Magic had made a fool of himself by shouting to the Bulgarian Minister the whole time until Remus took pity on everyone’s ears and offered to translate. Fudge had grudgingly accepted.

“What did you two laugh about?” Sirius asked.

Remus smirked and said, “Oh, well, it just so happens that the Bulgarian Minister does speak English.”

“Then why did he let Fudge yell like that?”

“He thought it was funny and I have to agree. He almost let it slip at the end though; he was about to make a comment in English but I gave him a nudge just in time and Fudge didn’t hear. He must still be making a fool of himself somewhere,” Remus said wistfully.

“Sometimes you are just evil, Moony. Evil,” Sirius laughed. He sobered quickly though. “I am just glad Crouch didn’t show up. Bad enough we had to endure his presence and be polite to him at the camp site.”

“Sirius, don’t you think it’s time to let the past go?”

“He was about to chuck me in Azkaban for life without a trial Moony! If you hadn’t bothered Dumbledore so much about me being innocent, I’d be there right now.”

Remus looked at his friend and sighed, “I know. But it’s no good to make powerful enemies Sirius.”

“That’s why I behaved myself when he and Bagman showed up at the campsite.”

“Barely,” Remus raised an eyebrow. It had been all he could do to keep Sirius from hexing Crouch. Sirius had scowled at the man the whole time and just grunted if he was spoken to.

“Besides it was cruel of him to make that poor elf be there, keeping his seat when she was afraid of heights, and not even bother to show up!” Sirius cried.

“That was weird,” Remus frowned. “Why do it?”

“Probably because some rule said he had to be there so he sent a representative,” Sirius scorned. “And instead, he was making sure no one was having more than the Ministry approved amount of fun.”

Remus rolled his eyes at this comment and looked ahead. The kids were in a very excited discussion with Bill, Charlie, Arthur and Tonks about why Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, decided to catch the Snitch when the Irish team was more then one hundred and fifty points ahead. Remus frowned when he saw Charlie say something and Tonks push him playfully. He cleared his throat and commented nonchalantly:

“So, Tonks and Charlie are quite friendly.”

“They always have been, best friends since school you know,” Sirius said, and since he was keeping his eyes on the young couple, Remus missed Sirius twitching lips.

“Yes, of course. More than natural. To be expected actually,” Remus muttered. “But he’s all the way in Romania, it must be hard to keep in touch.”

“Probably,” Sirius said calmly, “Why the interest Moony?”

“No interest. I am just worried about Tonks; I mean she’s family. Practically your niece. Yes, that’s it. It’s an Unclely worry. Don’t want to see her hurt,” Remus said firmly, nodding his head as if to convince himself.

Sirius patted his friend’s shoulder and said, “I am sure Charlie would never hurt her. I trust him completely.”

Remus head snapped and looked at Sirius with wide eyes, “You do?”

“Of course,” Sirius said firmly, “I trust Charlie will always make sure Tonks is happy.”

“Oh,” Remus said quietly, “If you do, then it’s fine. Of course,” he mumbled eyeing the couple again.

XXXXXXXXXX

“When did our fun turn into a battlefield?” Sirius asked himself as he dodged yet another curse. “At least they seem to be keeping away from the Unforgivables. I bet my dear cousin is among them.”

Sirius was worried. There weren’t that many Death Eaters, less then a dozen, but they were levitating the campsite manager’s poor Muggle family. If they took the Death Eaters down before someone was able to help the family, they would be dropped and they could break their necks. And with all the fires they started, the crowd had panicked.

“Sirius, watch out!” he heard Bill cry and he ducked. The tent next to him got hit and when Sirius looked up he saw a big hole in the tent’s solid wood wall.

“Good thing I ducked!”

Sirius was getting up when he looked down and saw that his hands, still sprawled on the ground, were green. “Oh, no. Not green!” he thought desperately. He looked up to see why everyone seemed to be screaming even more than before, and was faced with the green glow of the Dark Mark against the skies. His heart fell and his blood froze.

He saw the masked Death Eaters Disaparate and quickly joined the yells of “Wingardium Leviosa” that were directed towards the Muggle family. He ran towards them as they were softly put on the ground.

“Are they hurt?” he asked.

“Don’t seem to be,” Hestia Jones, Auror and former Order Member whom Sirius hadn’t seen in a while, answered. “We’ll deal with them.”

“What about the Dark Mark?” he asked frantically as he looked around. He saw Bill among the ones helping the Muggles, Percy was next to him but he couldn’t see Remus, Tonks, Arthur or Charlie anywhere. And the Mark came from the forest, from where he had sent the kids. “Who was killed?”

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone gravely wounded,” Arthur said, out of breath and running towards them. He was a little scraped but otherwise seemed fine. “Crouch and Diggory are getting a group of Ministry officials together to go to the point where we think the Mark was conjured from. Kingsley asked to call you. He said since you are just on extended leave and not disconnected, you can come as another Auror. He doesn’t want to take any of the Aurors on duty away from the campsite in case the Death Eaters come back.”

Sirius nodded and followed Arthur, scanning the crowd for a sign of the three other missing fighters, “Arthur have you seen the others?”

“Yes, Charlie and Remus are helping put out some fires. Now that they are not hurling curses anymore it should be easier. Tonks is helping a few injured; she had a nasty gash herself but Remus healed her,” Arthur looked at Sirius sympathetically and said, “They’re fine. They are not hurt and the kids will be safe too. We just have to find the one that sent that Mark up and then we can get everyone and be out of here.”

Sirius nodded nervously. He should be used to this. He was an Auror after all, but it had been so long since they had been in the middle of such chaos. They reached the rest of the group. Sirius nodded to them. He recognized Amos Diggory, Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and Cedric Diggory’s father; Crouch of course, who was now Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation after being demoted from Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and Kingsley Shacklebolt. There were a few faces Sirius remembered from his time as an Auror and some he’d never met. Together the group mounted to twenty wizards and witches.

“Shacklebolt seems to think you’d be of use,” Crouch said as if he highly disagreed. Sirius just glared at him but said nothing. He wanted to be in the group, catch the Death Eater that was in the forest and get the kids. “You better follow the rules Black! None of that bravado you used to show when you were an active Auror.”

“Yes sir,” he said through gritted teeth.

“We reached the conclusion that the caster had to be here,” Kingsley said in his deep voice as he pointed at a spot on a map of the woods, “We will all Apparate there in the same circle we are now on the count of three and send a stunning  hex immediately. If he or she is still there, we should catch the culprit in the crossfire.”

Everyone nodded and Kingsley started counting. They all Disaparated at the sound of three, and when they appeared in the forest no one wasted any time and shouted “Stupefy!” at the same time. Sirius blood froze as he heard a familiar voice cry; “DUCK!”

“STOP!” Sirius and Arthur yelled together. But the chaos continued. Arthur again yelled, “STOP! That’s my son!” but it was only when Sirius sent a tickling charm at Crouch that they stopped. Sirius lifted the charm and ran towards Neville, Ron, Hermione and Harry, whom were sprawled on the ground, face down.

“Are you kids all right?” he asked shakily as he helped Harry and Neville up. Arthur was doing the same for Ron and Hermione.

“Where are the others?” Arthur asked.

“We got separated,” Harry answered. “I’m fine dad. That’s okay. Dad!”

But Sirius was having none of it. He was examining Harry for injuries and the boy was blushing at the attention.

“BLACK!” Crouch cried, “What do you think you were doing attacking me like that? I should arrest you.”

“Fortunately, you can’t. It’s not in your job description anymore,” Sirius said as he turned to face him and Crouch’s glare intensified, “No one was stopping. I figured if they heard you of all people laugh they would. We would have hurt the children otherwise and you don’t want to hurt innocent children do you Mr. Crouch?”

“Innocent,” Crouch said coldly, “We’ll see about that. Which of you conjured it?”

“What?” Harry spluttered and Sirius had to agree.

“We didn’t do anything!” Ron cried.

“Don’t lie to me,” Crouch said, pointing his wand at Harry’s face, “You’ve been discovered at the scene of the crime.”

Sirius shoved Crouch’s wand away and stood in front of the children, “Don’t point your wand at my son. They said they didn’t do it and they didn’t.”

A witch from in a woolen dressing-gown tried to appease them, “Barty, Barty, they are kids, they would never have been able to-“

“He’s been raised by Black,” Crouch said sounding mad and pointing his wand at Harry again. “I can only imagine what he was taught.”

“I don’t teach my son how to conjure the Dark Mark,” Sirius hissed, “And unlike you Mr. Crouch, I am always quite aware of what my son is learning.”

Sharp gasps were heard from the assembled witches and wizards and Arthur decided to cut this dangerous exchange quickly as Crouch’s eyes narrowed.

“Where did the Dark Mark come from?”

Neville pointed a shaking hand at the trees behind them and said, “Over there.”

“We heard someone there,” Hermione explained, “They shouted something- an incantation…”

“Oh, stood over there did they? Shouted an incantation? You seem to be well informed about how the Dark Mark is conjured,” Crouch turned to Hermione with wide eyes.

Sirius couldn’t take it and rolling his eyes said, “Yes, imagine that! Only a genius would realize that to conjure something you need an incantation. Surely proves that Hermione, a Muggle-born fourteen-year-old, is well versed on the Death Eater’s way of life. Too bad they wouldn’t actually welcome her with open arms.”

As Sirius and Crouch continued their glaring contest, Sirius staying protectively between Crouch and the kids, the other witches and wizards raised their wands and pointed them in the direction of the woods that Neville had pointed to. They squinted and two of them decided to go inside on the grounds that their Stunners would have caught anyone hiding there. Sirius had his wand ready and kept an eye on Crouch and the other on where Kingsley and Diggory had disappeared in the woods.

“Found someone. We got them good. Unconscious, blimey,” Diggory’s voice called out and soon after he came out cradling a small form, followed by an alert Kingsley.

“Who? Who do you have?” Crouch asked but his face went white when they came into view.

Sirius eyes glinted as he turned to Crouch, “Isn’t that Winky? Your house-elf, Barty?”

But Crouch wasn’t listening he mumbled, “This can’t be,” and practically ran to where Diggory and Kingsley had come from.

“There’s no one else there Barty,” Kingsley cried.

But Crouch didn’t seem to have heard him. They could hear rustling as if he was moving leaves as he pushed bushes aside.

“Bit embarrassing,” Diggory said.

“Dad,” Harry started but Sirius quickly shushed him. Better let everyone forget the kids were there.

“Come off it Amos,” Mr. Weasley said, “You can’t seriously think it was the elf. The Dark Mark requires a wand.”

“And she had one,” Diggory said pulling out a wand from his pocket and waving it around, “Found it right next to her.”

“My wand!” Neville cried.

Diggory’s head snapped up as Crouch came back white faced and empty handed.

“What?” Diggory asked coldly and Neville trembled.

“I dropped it sir,” Neville said quietly.

“Are you saying that you conjured the Dark Mark and dropped this wand?” Diggory asked.

“Of course he is not saying that Amos. Come on, this is Neville Longbottom. I am sure Barty remembers his parents. He wouldn’t do that,” Sirius snapped and Diggory seemed to look ashamed and Crouch was, well Crouch was looking quite weird. He had lost that manic look and seemed quite lost. Sirius turned to Neville, “When did you realize your wand was lost?”

“When we got in the woods. Harry, Ron and Hermione had their wands out and I went to look for mine, but I only had the Omniculars Harry bought for everyone. The wand was gone. Can I have it back? It was my dad’s and Gran will kill me if I lose it.”

So Neville used Frank’s wand. That explained a lot. Sirius would have to have a chat with Mrs. Longbottom about getting him his own wand. He turned to Diggory and asked:

“Is that enough for you Amos? The boy lost his wand.”

Diggory seemed to think that it was enough and focused on the house-elf. “So this elf found a wand and decided to have some fun. Scare everyone. Well that’s a clear violation of the Code of Wand Use. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand.”

At that same moment another pop was heard and Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, appeared panting:

“The Dark Mark!” he said nervously, “Who did it? Did you catch them? Barty what’s going on? Barty where have you been? Why weren’t you at the match?”

“Good question,” Sirius prompted looking at Crouch.

Crouch snapped his head at Sirius and seemed to regain some control, “We are not here to investigate my whereabouts, Mr. Black. Amos, if you could please let me deal with Winky personally.”

“I can give the boy his wand back and not press charges on Winky about carrying it,” Diggory said uncomfortably, “But we have to question her about the Mark,” he finished putting the little elf down on the ground. “Enervate”

What followed next was a classic case of how cruel wizards could be to house-elves.  Granted, Sirius had never liked Kreacher, but that had more to do with Kreacher adoring Sirius’ mother than him being a house-elf. He had always treated Twinky with respect; she had her own room and days off and so did Kreacher. The only reason they weren’t free or paid was because they didn’t want to be. But this, this was horrible. Diggory kept treating Winky like she was beneath him. Questioning the elf like she had conjured the Mark. Poor Hermione had tried to defend the elf, but to no avail. Even after the kids stated that the voice they heard had to be a human’s voice, Diggory insisted on Winky’s guilt and used Prior Incantatem on Neville’s wand. Diggory had been delighted when the echo of the Dark Mark came out the wand and insisted it proved Winky was the culprit. It took Crouch’s outrage about Diggory accusing Neville and himself in order for Diggory to start backing off and Arthur, ever the calm one, was able to be reasonable and get the story from Winky. She had found the wand in the woods from where Arthur concluded that whoever conjured the Dark Mark, using Neville’s wand to escape incrimination, Disaparated and dropped the wand.

Even though Winky was proven innocent, Crouch threatened her with clothes for disobeying his orders of staying in the tent. Hermione had been horrified, and to be honest Sirius was too. The poor elf was frightened, who could blame her for running? Apparently Crouch. Sirius had wanted to say something, and probably sensing it, Arthur started ushering their group back to the tents saying the others would be worried. That sparked Sirius’ interest; he hadn’t seen Remus and Tonks with his own eyes yet. Keeping Harry and Neville very close he walked back to the campsite. Poor Neville, if Mrs. Longbottom didn’t allow him out of her sight before, he wouldn’t have a chance now. Sirius wasn’t paying much attention to Hermione’s tirade against the way Winky was treated. He just wanted to get to the tents.

After they left the woods and extricated themselves from a crowd that wanted to know what happened they managed to reach one of the Weasley’s tents from where Charlie’s head was poking out and calling for them. Inside they found Remus, Tonks, Percy, Bill, Fred, George and Ginny seated at the kitchen table.

“Uncle Moony!” Harry cried and ran to Remus’ fierce embrace. Sirius joined them as Arthur went to his brood. Putting one hand on Remus’ shoulder and another on Tonks’, Sirius asked, “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Remus shook his head as he pulled Sirius into the hug. “We were worried. I didn’t know where you were. Fred, George and Ginny came back alone and Mundungus Fletcher said he saw you dodge a Reductor Curse-“

“I ducked,” Sirius stopped his friend’s babbling, “I’m fine. The kids aren’t hurt. You all don’t look  seriously injured,” he finished as he took notice of Bill holding a bed sheet to his bleeding arm and Percy’s bloody nose, Arthur was already helping take care of them, as well as Remus’ scratches, which looked as if he had rolled on sharp twigs, which he probably did. Tonks looked unhurt and Sirius remembered Arthur saying Remus healed her.

“Kids, why don’t you make some tea and I’ll just take Remus to the bathroom to heal these scratches,” Sirius said as he ushered his distressed friend to the bathroom. He started waving his wand around while Remus kept babbling and running his shaking hands through his thick brown hair.

“Who conjured it?” Remus asked.

“We don’t know yet. They Disaparated.”

“It was like before…like I was back in our years in the Order and we got a call of some attack somewhere and set off to help and I didn’t know where you, James, Lily and Peter were. If you were being reckless, you and James were always reckless, you weren’t reckless today right?” Sirius shook his head but Remus didn’t seem to realize and he continued, “Then I saw the Dark Mark and I didn’t see you or Harry, and Harry was in the woods and the Dark Mark was coming from-“

“Me too Moony,” Sirius said, squeezing his friend’s shoulder with both hands and looking into his pained eyes, “I was scared too.”

Remus was always the calm one no matter what the situation, except in the aftermath of a battle. During the battle he was focused and even a leader, which you would have never said in school since he had been more of a follower. But after the battle, when the rush of the adrenaline was gone, you wouldn’t recognize him. He was a nervous wreck and would only calm down when he made sure all his loved ones had come out unhurt, and they weren’t always. He was right; Sirius and James had been quite reckless and more than once had ended up in St. Mungo’s because they did something foolish in a battle that could have been avoided. Sirius didn’t blame Remus for worrying. They stayed there in the bathroom until Sirius was sure Remus had calmed down enough. Then they joined the rest of the discussion that was going on in the kitchen about what happened.

Sirius noticed that even though they were all seated around the table not leaving any gaps, the two groups had been divided in Weasleys and Blacks with Hermione and Neville in the middle, being claimed by both sides. Sirius understood Arthur’s need to have his children around him. Harry was seated between Sirius and Remus while Tonks was seated on Remus’ other side.

The kids were adamant about wanting to understand about the Dark Mark. Arthur had been ready to dismiss the subject on the grounds of them being too young, but staring at Harry and Neville, two children marked by the war since they were babies, Sirius decided they were old enough. Arthur wasn’t too pleased with Sirius but Sirius suspected that had more to do with Molly’s reaction to her children knowing about it than his reluctance to tell them. Sirius noticed Ron, Fred, George and Ginny hadn’t even known what the Dark Mark was. While Harry didn’t know details, he did have a general idea of what happened, and he certainly knew what the Dark Mark looked like since he had seen a faded version of it on Severus’ arm. Sirius noticed Neville didn’t seem as ignorant as the Weasley children either and assumed that Mrs. Longbottom must have told him more than just what had happened to Frank and Alice; in the woods Neville seemed to know exactly whose father Barty Crouch was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As they opened the front door of Grimmauld Place they were once again met by a frantic Severus Snape.

“Is anyone hurt?” he asked as he checked Harry.

“No,” Sirius answered tiredly as he went into the drawing room, dropped his rucksack on the floor and slumped on the couch. They had stayed up late discussing what happened and had gotten up at the first signs of light to catch one of the first Portkeys. They had all Apparated Neville home where Sirius and Remus apologized profusely to Mrs. Longbottom. Sirius had worried she wouldn’t let Neville out of her sight ever again, but after she had certified herself that Neville was fine she had seemed quite proud of him for standing up for the little house-elf with his friends. Sirius had used the opportunity to suggest that maybe it would be a good idea for Neville to have a new wand as well as his father’s so he wasn’t caught without one again. He also suggested a wand holster like Harry’s and the woman seemed to agree with him. At school Sirius would tell Neville to favor the new wand but there was no need to tell Mrs. Longbottom that.

After that they had all accompanied Tonks to her parents’ instead of her flat. Sirius knew that by now Andromeda would have read the Daily Prophet and would be worried sick about her only daughter.

“Did you read the paper?” Remus asked as he too sat on the couch next to Sirius.

“No,” Severus said bitterly, “I was called to an urgent meeting at Lucius’ this morning. They are all panicked. They have no idea who sent the Dark Mark up. Crabbe suggested Bellatrix or Pettigrew but Narcissa said, and I agree, that they wouldn’t have been crazy enough to go voluntarily to a place swarming with Aurors.”

“So Malfoy and Crabbe were in the crowd?” Sirius asked scowling.

“And Nott, Narcissa, Goyle and Avery,” Severus added as he and Harry took the other two seats.

“Too bad we can’t do anything with that information,” Remus said as he looked at Harry and added, “Why don’t you go sleep some more cub?”

Harry looked like he didn’t want to go, but Remus gave him The Look and Harry went away. He was leaving the room when Sirius said:

“There were almost a dozen, there had to have been more then the ones you mentioned.”

“Probably some of their wives. Goyle has a son that is of age so maybe he was there too; you know, a nice father-son activity,” Severus answered grimly.

When Remus was sure Harry had gone upstairs he turned to Severus and asked:

“Are their Marks getting darker too?”

Severus nodded

“Great,” Sirius said rubbing his face, “What does Albus think about this?”

“He thinks that Harry’s dream was more than a dream. There is also the fact that Bertha Jorkins seemed to have gone on vacation and never came back,” Severus answered.

“Yeah, Arthur mentioned her yesterday to Bagman. Bagman dismissed it as her having a bad memory and probably getting lost, but the Bertha Jorkins we knew from school had a great memory,” Sirius answered.

“We haven’t seen her since the war ended,” Remus said cautiously, “Maybe something happened to her. A spell gone wrong.”

“You believe she’s only lost?” Severus asked skeptically.

“No, I believe we need to keep our eyes open,” Remus answered, “Especially with the Triwizard Tournament being hosted at Hogwarts.”

Severus and Sirius nodded grimly, none of them realizing Harry had never gone up the stairs.