Chapter Four: Innocence of Youth...
"So, it wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it would be, was it?" Hermione asked Harry as they sat down in the study after a filling dinner. A large number of Order members had attended - as well as everyone who was living in the house - which made it difficult to talk about things Harry wanted to be kept mostly to himself.
"Yeah, was there any point to it yet?" Ginny added, plopping herself down in the large chair next to the fireplace. There was a small fire burning softly, but it wasn't giving out any heat - given that it was quite warm in the middle of the summer, that was probably just as well. Hermione had told Ginny - after Harry had said she could - about his new `training,' though the youngest Weasley hadn't quite understood the concept as Hermione had. "Aside from getting to goof off?"
Harry chuckled to himself as he shook his head and looked about the room for a place to sit as well. Hermione scooted over in her chair to make room for him to cuddle up next to her, and he sat into her embrace willingly, shifting around a little once they were both down so she was sitting on him instead of the other way around.
"I'm certainly not expecting results immediately, Gem," Harry replied with a shrug. "But it wasn't too bad, really. In fact, I was told that I seemed to know exactly what I was doing around kids..."
"Who said that?" Hermione asked with a smile of her own. She could tell without him saying anymore that he had enjoyed himself despite his previous worries. "One of the mother's?"
She caught the quick darkening of his green eyes before they returned to normal and he shook his head. "Nope, just the older sister of one of the kids," he explained. "She was watching them, and when I stepped in to help the oldest of the little kids - I think she's about seven - she seemed to think I must have younger siblings of my own."
"How many kids were there in the group that Talisien told you about?" Hermione asked.
"Six in all, seven if you count the eldest sister who was watching them," he explained. "Of the kids, the oldest girl's name is Thistle, with a younger sister named Rosie, and an even younger sister named Lilac. I'd bet that Thistle's around seven... but I'm not sure, I didn't really ask."
"Was their mother trying to be cruel to them?"
"Why would you say that, Willow?" Ginny asked, looking to the other girl in surprise.
"Well, each of their names is that of a flower, right?"
Harry's chuckle cut off Ginny's reply. "That's nothing," he said quickly at their looks. "The other girl's name is Chameli, while the oldest sister - the watcher - is named Lillian... but goes by Lily."
Silence met his words, and he looked to Hermione when he felt her arms tighten a little around him. He smiled sadly to her and shook her head. "I'll admit, that caught me off guard, but at least she doesn't have red hair, too. I think that would have been too much."
"What do you mean, too?" Ginny asked sharply. "There's nothing wrong with red hair, is there?" At Hermione's pointed look, she caught herself and tried to backpedal. "Oh, sorry... I mean, I didn't really think about..."
"It's alright," Harry said, trying to keep her from completely embarrassing herself... well, any further than she already had, anyway. "But I said too more because both Thistle and Lilac have red hair."
"So there's just a bunch of little girls, then?" Hermione asked with a grin.
"Are they going to join your fanclub?" Ginny piped up with a giggle, which was joined - to Harry's surprise - by Hermione. "I'm sure I could get them a name to contact if they were interested."
Harry groaned as he sank a bit deeper into the chair - and at the same time pulling Hermione a little closer to him - as he shook his head. "Please tell me you're joking..." He held up a hand quickly when it looked like Ginny was about to say something else - fighting through the sudden fit of the giggles to do so. "On second thought, don't tell me either way - I just don't want to think about it."
This set both girls off on another set of giggles, and Harry found himself wishing without warning that Ron was still at the house so he could have an escape without going somewhere to be alone. "You never answered the question though, Tor," Hermione pointed out. "Are they all little girls?"
"There's two boys too, as a matter of fact. Lily's younger brother - who looks like he's just old enough for primary schooling - and another boy who might be a little older than that, but not by much. Raven and Starling."
"So the girls are named after flowers and the boys after birds?"
"Weird, huh?"
It would have been impossible for even the slowest of people to miss the significant look passed between Hermione and Ginny just then, and Harry had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he wasn't the only one who was more worried than he had first claimed.
A knock of the door interrupted whatever was about to be said between the three of them, and without any real pause, the wood swung open as Remus and Tonks both slipped into the study and shut the door behind them again.
"Wotcher all," Tonks said cheerily. "How's it..."
"Going?" Remus said in a louder than usual voice, cutting her off. She only laughed at him as she plopped herself down in one of the other chairs. "Everything went well this afternoon, did it Harry?"
"Of course," Harry replied easily. "The kids... well, they're really something else. I didn't think anyone could be so full of excitement and life, without letting anything else get them down for long."
Ginny's snort as she tried to fight down her sudden laughter caused everyone to turn towards her, before following her line of sight back to Tonks. For her part, the metamorph was no longer looking towards anyone - carefully not looking towards anyone, actually - but all that did was reveal her short messy black hair.
"Professor Lupin?"
"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me Professor, Hermione?" Remus replied with a sigh. "I thought we had agreed that..." He paused shortly and looked thoughtful for a second or two as Ginny's giggles managed to fight passed her self control. "Speaking of agreements, Dora dearest... I thought you said you wouldn't mirror my face ever again, remember?"
Despite the fact that the werewolf hadn't even turned towards Tonks to look to her didn't mean he wasn't right. Harry and Hermione both turned quickly away from him to look to her, and suddenly understood why Ginny's giggles had turned to full fledged laughter.
Tonks was changing her face relatively quickly and pretending to hold conversations with herself - taking on the faces of each of those in the room. Her current face had frozen in a near exact copy of Remus, though she looked horrified at that fact suddenly.
With a quick popping sound, her features softened again and the grey hair turned a dark brown and lengthed down her back, returning her face to that which she had taken to wearing around Grimmauld Place most often - the face that everyone assumed was her real one.
"I'm so sorry, Remus," Tonks said, the usual laughing tone gone from her voice suddenly. "I just got so caught up in the moment that I didn't even stop to think..."
"You rarely do, dear," Remus replied with a drawn out sigh. "But that's alright... I suppose it's part of why I care so much about you. Still, I can't say I'm not sorry that I didn't see you this time. It is extremely hard to be affectionate with someone who can remind you of yourself from time to time..."
A silence fell over the room at his words before Harry coughed lightly and nudged Hermione, obviously suggesting in a not-so-subtle manner that perhaps they should leave the two adults to their own devices, but Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry Remus, I only called you that because I have a question for you, and..."
"It's alright, Hermione," Remus said with a slight grin, stopping her before she could start to ramble on. "What do you what to ask me that I would know and you wouldn't?"
"How are muggleborn wizards and witches identified?" she asked. "I know that accidental magics are the most obvious of methods - when the Ministry detects large bursts of uncontrolled magical talent, they can figure out who the muggleborn is, but is that the only way?"
Remus sat forward in his chair and clasped his hands together, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Well, it is an effective way," he said slowly. "Since all children tend to have an extremely wide range of emotions, making accidental magic all the more common." He paused for a second and looked up to her. "That said, there is a simple spell that muggles wouldn't even notice being cast on them to determine if there is any magical talent within the target's blood. It is usually used on children in magical families who don't exhibit any traits, however - the parents want to make sure that the children aren't squibs."
"Do you know the spell?"
"Of course," Remus replied easily. "I mean, most adults in the wizarding world know it - it really is that important to be able to tell if a child in a wizarding family has magic, you know. But I've used it in dealings with muggles before, when they seemed especially astute or knowledgeable. Sort of as an extra precaution."
Harry didn't need Hermione's prompting to understand just where she was going with her questions, and was, in fact, glad that she had asked first - it gave him the perfect opening he needed. "Any chance you could come... er... pick me up from the park tomorrow?"
"You suspect one of the children of being a muggleborn?"
"Why don't we just treat it like you said - as an extra precaution," he suggested. "Besides, then you'd get to see just how I'm fitting in with the kids. You'll just have to do one thing for me if you do come."
"Actually, I think you're looking for him to do two things, Harry," Tonks pointed out with a grin, her joyful attitude taking hold once again.
He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well, I did say I didn't want anyone following me for this, since it's training for me," he said. "Still, I think I'm really going to enjoy myself even if it is training. Even though I've only met them all once, I still think it's going to be a great time."
"So what is it you want me to do, aside from making sure none of them have any magical talent?"
"Just act like you aren't surprised by whatever is said, that's all," Harry said with a grin. "I'm sure you had lots of practice with that in the past, huh Moony?"
Despite the painful memories such words were bound to have brought to his mind, Remus smiled to his godson anyway. "You have a point there, cub. Alright, I'll come to meet James Lupin at the park tomorrow... around 4? Mind if Tonks comes, too?"
"Actually, I think it'll be much more entertaining if she does, yes," Harry said solemnly, though his lips were starting to twitch upwards as he fought off a smile. "So of course she's welcome." He then paused for a second and looked back to the werewolf - having looked away for a moment beforehand. "Cub?"
Never having seen his godfather get embarrassed, Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was seeing when Remus squirmed and looked away from him, an odd tinge appearing along his collar. Without any warning, Tonks put a hand on his shoulder gently, almost reverently - a touch that screamed of the compassion held within the younger metamorph - and the older werewolf calmed down almost at once. "He's finally starting to accept his condition in better graces," Tonks explained when it became obvious that he wasn't going to answer. "It is a part of him, even if it is something that he'd rather didn't exist, but everyone wants to change something about themselves, I'm sure."
Harry stood from his comfortable seat as Hermione budged over to let him out, and held a hand out towards Tonks, clapping her on the shoulder and giving her a quick squeeze as he made his way to the door. "Thank you, Tonks," he said softly. "He's needed someone like you for a very long time, I imagine."
"Just like you needed Hermione," Remus said firmly.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "Not needed... need." He then groaned and brought a hand up to his forehead. Before anyone could stand or rush towards him - remnants of the days when his scar would flare with pain - he looked back up and over to Remus again. "Speaking of need, do you need company on nights with the full moon? I know I'm no Padfoot or Prongs, but..."
Remus shook his head lightly, though the was a smile on his face. "Thank you for your offer, Harry, but I could never ask that of you."
"Who's asking who here?" Harry pointed out. "I'm offering!"
"I know, but as I was saying, I don't need any more company than I have."
"Are you saying that everyone in this room who is capable of it is an animagus?" Ginny asked, even as Hermione opened her mouth to voice the same question.
In response, Tonks released Remus's shoulder and took a step away from everyone. In a blink of an eye, she had shifted down to all fours and a rich grey fur was covering her entire body as her face elongated to that of a wolf.
"I'm impressed," Harry admitted. "Looks like she got lucky in her form, given the circumstances."
"Well, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to choose your animagus form," Tonks said with a pop as she returned to her human form, sitting down on the ground looking up at everyone else. "It just makes the learning process a lot more difficult and the initial attempts excruciatingly painful." She smiled as she stood and dusted off her robes. "Still, I'd like to think it was worth it."
"Wait just a second here," Remus said suddenly, looking away from Tonks and over to Hermione and Ginny. Hermione's training he had known about at the time - and had seen her kneazle form many times since - but Ginny was another story entirely. "And just when..."
Ginny held up her hand quickly and shook her head, cutting him off. "As my dear older brothers have often said, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."
"Might I remind you that my best friends while I was in school were unregistered animagus?"
"Be that as it may, I'm still not telling," Ginny said stubbornly, a small grin on her face. "Wanna guess what I can change into?"
"Alright, let's have a couple of hints first," Tonks suggested. "What's your size?"
"She'd fit in the palm of my hand," Harry said, leaning against the door frame, having decided against leaving just then.
"You aren't a rat, that much is clear," Remus said, a dark look in his eyes as he looked away from everyone else. "You wouldn't be pleased if you were, after all... but something that small..."
"I'm betting she's got wings."
"And I'll bet that she can sing, too." Both Remus and Tonks looked away from each other and over to Ginny at the same time for a confirmation, and she nodded easily to both facts. "Alright, here's another question, then... are you a summer visitor, or could we find you year round and not worry about it?"
Ginny grinned to herself and shrugged. "Well, you'll be able to find me at Hogwarts during the school year, and around here for the summer."
"I meant your bird form."
"I know," Ginny replied with a laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. Let's see... technically speaking, I'm more of a summer visitor in Britain than anything else... though it isn't impossible to find me during the winter months, too, provided good shelter."
Harry couldn't help but notice how smug Hermione looked given Ginny's knowledge of her form. He remembered clearly Ron telling him how she had made them study and research everything about their animagus form while they were learning the process, even if they didn't really need the information at the time.
"Well, that rules out the jay, doesn't it?" Remus muttered to himself as he looked thoughtful. "And the waxwing... and even the blackbird..."
"How about a touch of colour information, Gin?" Tonks suggested.
"Brown, a touch of grey, and white."
"Not a warbler, are you?" Remus asked after a minute of silence.
"Come on, now, Remus, you know that the warbler's got black on the wings," Tonks muttered.
"Ah, right," he said, falling into thought once again.
"How about a plover?" Tonks suggested finally.
Ginny smiled as she pushed herself out of her chair. "Nope, sorry," she said. "Both of you are wrong."
"Though I can't help but say how impressive your knowledge of birds happens to be," Hermione pointed out. "Being able to list all those off just from memory..."
"Of course, you could probably do much better, right Hermione?" Tonks asked with a wink. "I'm guessing that you already know what she is, don't you?"
Hermione just sat back and smiled.
"Gem actually helped me perfect my own form," Harry said softly from behind the two adults, who whirled on him in an instant. "Her soothing song helped me relax and forget other, more troubling matters. The fact that my mind was on Hermione at the time had a large part to do with it, too, mind you." He held out a hand in front of him, and a small bird suddenly landed on his palm with a soft chirp and a flutter of song.
"A nightingale!" Remus said, slapping his knee in disgust at not having come up with it himself. "Pretty rare bird, really - endangered by muggles, I believe." He then raised an eyebrow and looked away from the bird in Harry's hand to Harry himself. "Gem?"
"Er... we sort of decided to take after certain other unregistered animagi, and gave each other nicknames to go with our animal forms," Harry explained as Ginny flew out of his hand again and landed in her chair as a human. "And Ginny's name is Gem."
"As Hermione's is Willow?" Remus asked with a grin. He knew the full story of her first appearance, and even still it never failed to bring a smile to his face. "Do I want to know just how many of you there are?"
"Probably not," Harry said with a grin of his own. "But I'm surprised you haven't asked for my name yet."
Remus shot a quick look to Tonks before shrugging. "Given that I've never even seen your animal form, I think asking for your nickname would be getting ahead of ourselves, wouldn't you agree?"
"Really?" Harry asked, thinking quickly. He knew that few people had actually seen his lyra form before - Hermione, her parents, Minerva McGonagall, Ginny, Ron, Luna, and Neville to his knowledge - though he had thought his godfather would have been on the list by then.
In an instant, his world shifted perspectives as he shed his human form, becoming a large feline in the process. He stood at about three and a half feet tall - which for a cat was massive! - and had grey fur covering his body from head to paws, black splotches appearing randomly across his hide.
"A leopard, then?" Remus asked, despite how obvious such a thing appeared. "I must admit that you could probably easily keep me from harming others if I were to become a werewolf and you were around... though I am curious about one thing."
"And what would that be?" Harry asked in his human tongue - one of the natural abilities of a lyra being able to speak, understand, and read any language - human or beast.
The look of shock on both Remus's and Tonks's faces was priceless, and Harry sneezed several times in rapid succession when he tried to laugh at them. Cats just weren't meant to laugh. "You can talk?"
"That's not all," Hermione said from behind him as she stood up from her chair and came over next to him. He leaned his head upwards as she started scratching him behind the ears - something he was well aware was a soothing sensation for almost all felines and many canines as well. "And I think this will answer your other question, too, Remus," she added.
She didn't need to elaborate beyond that for Harry to understand just what she was asking. It took no concentration - in fact, it was almost like letting go more than anything else - and a large set of translucent glowing blue wings sprouted out of his back and unfurled. His wings passed through the chairs closest to him - not to mention passing through Hermione as well, though she couldn't feel anything at all - until his total wingspan was well over ten feet.
"No," Harry admitted as he sneezed again. "I'm a lyra, and I go by the name of Tor."
--------------------------
Hermione yawned as she curled up next to Harry and then pulled herself up to lie next to him on their mattress. *You aren't asleep yet, are you?*
His green eyes opened in the darkness at her purr and he turned his head to look into her deep brown eyes. *You could tell, could you?* His sigh immediately following his question told her that he didn't even need an answer to that. Really, when sleeping in the same bed as someone else, it would be nearly impossible not to be able to tell if the other was asleep or not. *Just thinking, sorry Mia.*
*About the kids, right? Do you really think that any of them are magical?*
*Maybe,* he admitted softly. *But that's another thought entirely.*
She leaned towards him and nuzzled in so her nose was pressed against the side of his throat before she purred softly without any words. Pulling back a little, she smiled up to him again. *Are you planning on lying awake all night, or would you rather talk about it?*
*There's something really special about them, Mia... something I didn't even know was possible.*
*From what you said, they sound like normal kids to me,* Hermione replied after a few seconds of silence. *Playing around in the park without any real worries, right?*
*And that's the strange part...* Harry purred. *They... well, they're so innocent, you know? They just push any worries aside and live happily and, like you said, just play around.*
*They're kids,* Hermione mewed. *What worries could they have?*
Harry sighed and pulled himself up so he was sitting against the headrest, leaning his bare skin against the cool leather covering. *More than you might imagine...*
It was impossible to miss the worry that was in his purr, and Hermione pulled herself into a sitting position as well, fixing the thin strap of her thin blue camisole as she waited for him to continue.
*You know how I said Lily was their sitter, right? Well... that's not quite the case. She's more of... er... their mother.*
*I thought you said they were primary school age, but she was just our age...* Hermione replied before trailing off suddenly. When Harry nodded at the look in her eye, she gasped and leaned closer to him. *An orphanage?*
*Thistle told me that her parents left two years ago, around the beginning of the summer. Starling told me his parents left around the same time... I can only assume that Chameli's parents vanished then, too.* He paused and shook his head. *There's just too many coincidences with them all, but Lily said they all lived near each other somewhere else before she brought them all here to live in her grandparents' house... well, the house they used to live in, anyway.*
"Vanished?" It was a sure sign to her confusion that the words slipped out in a quiet whisper instead of in kneazle. "Without any trace?"
Harry nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head back. *It's been going through my mind all day,* he purred. *But that's not all...*
*There's more?*
*The youngest girl... Lilac... she hadn't made a sound in two years. No words, no tears... I don't even think anyone could hear her breathing, even though she obviously was. I even saw her mouthing words to Lily when they were sitting together on a bench, as though she was trying to speak but nothing could come out.*
*That sounds like a silencing charm,* Hermione pointed out.
"It was," he whispered, his own voice sounding in the quiet room. "When I looked down to her while I was talking to Lily, I caught her eyes. Apparently my dagger decided it would be a good time to activate as well, since it showed me her last memory before the spell had been cast. Mione... their parents didn't vanish."
She leaned into him quickly, both to give him support and to hide the fact that there were tears in her eyes at the idea of what he was saying. *Death Eaters?* she purred softly. *But why would they leave the children alive?*
Harry shook his head and sighed. *One of many questions that have been roaming my mind,* he replied, dipping his head down to kiss the top of hers. *It might have been muggle-baiting, or an initiation, or anything. But I can't tell if they used a memory charm on the kids, or if they just blocked out the memories as impossible.*
*It sounds like Lilac remembers something, doesn't it?*
*But not anything I can ask about.* She felt him tensing beneath her, and looked up to him quickly to see a scowl on his face. *I don't want to believe that anyone would be capable of... they're just children, Mione!* There were tears in his own eyes then, but he made no motion to hide or wipe them away. *And they still have so much innocence... But Voldemort doesn't care about any of that!*
"And that's why we'll beat him, Harry," she whispered, pulling herself up a little bit to lean against his shoulder instead of his chest. "To protect that innocence, and keep him from making any more orphans."
She watched as an odd shudder went through her boyfriend - who was so much more than just that, too - and knew he was surpressing either a yawn or the urge to let loose with a good cry. There was no doubt that he wasn't planning on crying, even if he did feel like it... she had only really seen him collapse in tears once, he was too strong otherwise to do it again any time soon.
*I'll keep my eyes open from here on out,* Harry promised as he started to scoot back down to their mattress so he was lying down again. Hermione waited until he was comfortable before joining him, draping herself half across his body as she nestled her head just below his shoulder... right where the beating of his heart could be heard the loudest. *Love you.*
*I know,* she purred back. *Feeling any better?*
*I don't know,* he replied honestly. *But I think I can at least get to sleep tonight.*
*We'll talk more later, don't worry,* she said as she closed her eyes. There was a few minutes of silence in the room before she cracked one eye open again. *Harry?*
*Yeah, Mione?*
*I love you too.*
--------------------------
Green eyes looked up from the thin book they were reading through at a scream of laughter, and she couldn't help but smile. Thistle, Rosie, and Chameli had all tackled Tor to the ground and were laughing at his feeble - and obviously fake - attempts at getting away from them.
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye as she watched her children playing with the young boy, and she looked up to the edge of her bench to see an older gentleman with greying hair standing there, dressing in a long brown trenchcoat despite the warm afternoon, also watching the group playing around. Next to the man was a younger woman with long black hair that reached all the way down her back. Unlike the man, she was wearing cooler clothes, including a t-shirt with the strangest logo she had ever seen - involving a music note, a stick, and flames. The text `Weird Sisters,' was printed beneath the logo, telling her that it must have been some sort of music group.
"Mr. Lupin?"
The older man looked down to her quickly as she called his name, and he smiled to her - though even the smile looked slightly tired. "I haven't gone by Mr. Lupin for quite some time, my dear. Please, call me Remus." He then motioned to the woman next to him, who wrapped an arm around his waist as she stepped forward. "And this lovely woman here is Tonks... but I'm guessing you already knew that, didn't you?"
Lily couldn't help but laugh at that as the man looked back to the children playing, and specifically to Tor. "Tor mentioned that you might swing by before we left today," she explained. "I'm Lillian Woodridge, by the way, but everyone calls me Lily."
If she had thought the older man had looked tired before, it was nothing compared to the sudden wave of sadness that seemed to wash over him as he fumbled for space on the bench next to her. "Lily, you say?"
It would have been impossible to miss the reassuring hand that appeared on Remus's shoulder, and she looked up to the young woman to see her watching him carefully. She leaned down and whispered something in his ear, and he shook his head.
"Is something wrong?"
He looked up to her as though he had nearly forgotten she was even sitting next to him still. "No, no, don't worry about it," he said quickly. "It's just... well, Tor's mother's name was Lily, too. Such a wonderful woman... I miss her still."
"Well, he never mentioned that..." Lily said softly, looking over to her children again. Tor was on his feet once more, running away from the entire group, who were chasing after him. Three large white balls flew towards him suddenly before bouncing off his back, and she watched as Thistle, Starling, and Chameli scooped them up again to return to the chase. "But I guess he wouldn't have, would he? You were close to them, I assume, since you're his godfather, right?"
"They were some of my best friends," Remus replied in a soft voice. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if they hadn't died."
"I've asked myself that millions of times in just the past two years," Lily admitted. "But I have to say, you've done a wonderful job raising Tor. He's quite polite and seems to love playing with the kids. I really appreciate him being here - sometimes it's hard, being the responsible one, you know?"
Remus found suddenly that he couldn't reply to her words and looked away from her, his breath catching in his throat. Tonks, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any such problems, though she was less jubilant than normal. "As kind as your words are, Lily, I'm afraid that they aren't much help. You see, Remus here didn't bring Tor up... in fact, he wasn't even his godfather at first, though he did know his parents quite well - you're right there, anyway. Tor was raised by his aunt and uncle who hated him before moving to live with... with Sirius," she said softly. "But then he died last year..."
"I guess Tor's had it pretty rough, hasn't he?"
"You have no idea, Lily... no idea," Remus said in a whisper. The three fell silent then as they just watched the kids play around. It wasn't long before Tor looked up again, looked in their direction, and even from the distance, Remus felt his eyes lock with that of his godson... even if they were eyes he wasn't necessarily used to. In fact, if not for the fact that `Tor' was older than the other children, he wasn't entirely sure he would have been able to pick him out, never having seen the disguise before.
"It's been pretty rough for us, too, I guess."
"You mentioned something about two years ago before, didn't you?"
Lilly looked startled at that, and looked to each of the other adults briefly before sighing and leaning back. "He didn't tell you, did he?"
"He told us a bit about each of you," Remus said hesitantly. "And said that you were watching the kids."
"A watcher, huh?" Lily asked with a wry grin. "I guess that's one way to put it." She sighed and slouched on the wooden bench, her shoulders hunching forward. "Two years ago my parents vanished - though Raven insists that they were killed. Big men dressed in black - that's what he said. I don't know, though."
"I... I'm sorry," Remus said quickly.
"I guess Tor likes to keep some things to himself sometimes, doesn't he?" Tonks said, looking to Remus carefully with a grin on her face. She then looked back to Lily, serious once again. "Sorry about your parents..."
"It... gets worse, unfortunately."
She trailed off when Remus held up a hand, and then made a sweeping motion towards the park. "All of them?" he asked in a resigned tone. When she nodded and closed her eyes tightly, squeezing out the tears that were trying to leak free, he groaned into his hand. "Oh, Merlin..."
"Merlin?" Lily repeated, looking over to him again.
Remus winced and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm a bit strange sometimes - that's an expression that my family used when I was younger, that's all."
"I've actually heard it before," Lily admitted with a frown. "But I can't remember when for the life of me... Anyway, after it all happened, we moved down here and I dropped out of school to take care of them. My grandparents left me a bit of money, and I've been using that the best I can."
Remus and Tonks looked to each other, and Remus stood up slowly from the bench. Lily couldn't help but hear the protest that his muscles gave at such a motion, which shocked her. She had figured Tor's godfather was a younger man in much better shape - they would have to be to even try to keep up with the young boy. And the way Tonks was hovering over Remus... well, that just didn't seem right, given the obvious age difference.
She watched as he held up a hand towards the children, and saw Tor nod from the other side of the park. It wasn't long before he was making his way over towards them, the rest of the children right behind him. All other concerns vanished from her mind as she saw Lilac laughing with her eldest sister before snatching Tor's hand away from her and pulling closer to him.
Tor looked down to her with a grin on his face, and then reached up and flicked the red strap for his bandana over his shoulder again. Even though they had been playing on the grass and in the sand, his red jacket was still extremely clean - though his white socks were almost brown from the dirt.
"Hey Remus, Tonks... time to go, is it?"
"Not quite, James, but soon," Remus said with a smile to his young charge - the charge who looked nothing like what he had expected, truth be told. He had warned Tonks earlier that he would look different, but by her stiff reaction suddenly, he knew she was just itching to ask him about it. She prided herself on her own metamorphagus abilities, but having someone else around who could change their appearance would be really good for her, and he knew it. "We thought we'd come by a little earlier than expected to talk with Lily, that's all."
To his great surprise, the oldest of the kids - Thistle, if Harry's explanation the previous day was accurate - suddenly turned to the boy clothed in red and wrapped her arms around him in an extremely tight hug. "Thanks, Tor!"
"Well, for what, Thistle?" he asked, obviously taken off guard by the hug as much as everyone else. "We just played around today - I enjoyed it, too, you know! You don't have to thank me for that..."
"I'm not!" she said in a huff, releasing him and looking up to him with wide eyes. "But I didn't get the chance ta do it yesterday after you helped my sister!"
"What did Tor do for your sister?" Remus asked, looking quickly to the littlest girl that they were obviously talking about before looking back to Tor, who was looking a bit sheepish at getting called out - or perhaps nervous at the thought, he wasn't sure which.
"Tory fell down after lookin at me!" Lilac said with a giggle, sitting down on Tor's foot and wrapping her arms around his leg. Apparently this was something she had done before, because Harry made a big deal about lifting his leg to look at whatever it was that had attached itself to him before `shaking' her off again. "And ten I could talk `gain!"
Thistle nodded gravely up to Remus, which brought a small grin to his face which he prompt hid carefully. Seeing a little girl trying to look really serious was an amusing sight, though. "Tor said he used his imagination ta help her," she whispered as though it was some great secret.
"His imagination?" Remus repeated, his voice only a little louder than hers had been, looking carefully to Tor again. For his part, though, Tor stood firm and met his gaze. Unfortunately, whether because of the different eyes looking back to him than he had expected or because of another reason, he could gleam nothing from the boy's mind on the matter. "And just how did that work?"
"Don't know," Thistle admitted with a shrug. "But I made a ball with my imagination! Wanna see it?" she asked as she held her hands out towards him.
"Per... perhaps another time, alright Thistle?"
"Told ya they wouldn't believe us," one of the boys muttered under his breath, looking over to Thistle. The boy had dark skin and thick curled black hair - both firm indications that he was the one named Starling. "I don't believe us neither, so why should adults?"
"It's not that I don't believe you," Remus said quickly. "But we really do have to be getting home before the pets can tear the place apart."
"He told us bout his cat Tor," one of the other girls said with a giggle. "Is it true that you can barely separate the two of them?"
Remus hid his own surprise at that statement - he had been wondering just why Harry had gone with the nickname of Tor at the park, given how it was his animal name - and smiled down to her. "Well..."
"Chameli," Harry provided in a muted tone.
"Well, Chameli," Remus said with a grin as he knelt before her - ignoring his body's protests as he did so. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the Tor standing behind you and the big cat Tor back home were sometimes the same person, they're that close."
"We had to give up our pet," the other boy said softly. Both Remus and Tonks knew that this boy was Raven, Lily's younger brother, both by the fact that he wasn't Starling - the only other boy - and by the fact that he hadn't said anything thus far, which was as Harry had explained earlier. The boy liked to watch people before speaking up. "A little kitten named Prudas."
Tonks helped Remus back to his feet as he started to stand, and he flashed her a grateful smile as he mentally cursed the fact that that night was a full moon. "That's a wonderful name for a kitten. Maybe Tor here will bring Willow along sometime - she's a smaller cat that wouldn't be a problem outside. Tor's a bit too big for a park, though."
"You never told us tat!" the girl with long black hair said, putting her hands on her hips to glare at the larger boy. "You just said tat he was a big cat! Is he a lion or sometin?"
"No, he's not a lion, Rosie," Harry replied with a smile. "But he is a leopard."
"No way!"
"Pretty wicked, huh?"
"Alright, alright," Tonks said suddenly, stepping between Tor and the other children. "It's time to be getting home there, Tor," she said with a wink to him that went unnoticed by the kids. "Dinner won't be too far off, you know."
He nodded and took a step away from the kids as well. "See you all tomorrow, then," he offered with a smile.
"You never said where you were from originally," Remus said quickly as both Tonks and Harry started out of the park. "Just that you weren't from around here before."
"Yeah, I never told Tor yesterday either - we just switched the topic then as fast as it happened this time, too. We're all from up north - I doubt you've ever heard of the village," Lily replied with a shrug. "If you could even call it that. Small place called Little Hangleton."
"Little..." Remus breathed to himself before a shout from both Harry and Tonks brought him back to reality. "I'm sure we'll see each other again later on in the summer, Lily. Take care of yourself and the kids, alright?"
"You too, Mr. Lupin," Lily offered with a smile. "You'll be in my prayers tonight." She didn't give him a chance to reply before turning back to the kids as she started to lead them out of the park in the opposite direction.
Once they were out of earshot, Remus turned and began making his way out of the park to join Tonks and Harry again. "Little Hangleton..." he whispered to himself. "I'm going to have to speak with Dumbledore tomorrow."
"What took you so long, Moony?" Harry asked when he finally caught up to them. It was impossible not to notice the glare that Tonks sent the younger boy's way, and he stepped in quickly before she could say anything in his defense.
"Sorry, Tor," Remus replied, stressing the nickname. "Just a little dazed at all the information that you neglected to tell us, that's all."
"Er... yeah, sorry about that," Harry said with a grin. "But I didn't have much warning either, if you recall. Why should the `responsible adult' get more than that?"
"Heard that from the other side of the park, did you?" Remus asked in surprise as Tonks's expression softened again into a smile.
Harry held out a hand towards Remus, and the older man looked down to see a ball of flesh coloured string rolled up. "They gave them a little tweaking," Harry explained. "Once one's in your ear, it disappears from view. Now no one will ever know when they're being used."
"I'm going to have to have a talk with those twins one of these days," Remus said with a small shake of his head. "Marauder to young trickster." He stumbled on the curb a few steps later, and Tonks caught his arm immediately, Harry taking up on the other side to help him.
"I told you we should have put off coming until the day after tomorrow," Tonks muttered quietly to him. "The full moon's tonight, after all!"
"Of that I am all too aware, Dora," Remus replied lightly, forcing a small grin onto his face. "But remember, you're the one who's trying to convince me to just live my life anyway."
"Lily's going to think you're an entirely new man the next time she sees you."
"She won't be all wrong, either," Remus said. "I always feel like a new man a couple of days after - you should know that." He then shook his head and looked down to the smaller boy. "Care to explain what we learned back there, by the way?"
"With Lilac?" Harry asked.
"No, with the orphanage," Tonks replied sarcastically.
Apparently, Harry missed the sarcasm entirely - or more likely, chose to ignore it. "I want to help them out somehow, Remus," Harry said softly. "You know about my inheritance better than I do... any chance we could use some to help them out?"
"You could probably support a dozen muggle families for their entire lives with what you have, Harry," Remus said softly, deciding to follow the orphanage angle before moving back to Lilac. "But are you sure this is something you want to do?"
"I don't know how to go about it," Harry replied. "But I'll let you know, okay?" He then sighed and looked away from both of them. "Did you do the spell on them all, Remus?"
"We both did, Harry," Tonks replied. "Not a trace of magical energy in any of them, don't worry. Pure, plain muggles. So no distractions for your training, I guess."
"This is my life," Harry said with a shrug, looking back to her. "There's always distractions, and you know it. But at least I don't have to worry about that, I suppose." When Remus opened his mouth to say something, Harry cut him off quickly. "Since you've cleared that up, I guess you probably want to know about Lilac, right?"
"That would be the obvious question, alright."
"I don't suppose you'd just let it go if I said all I did was fall down in front of her, would you?"
"Trying to hide something, are you?"
"You know about my wandless magics, Remus," Harry admitted. "And I'm sure Tonks has seen me doing simple stuff here and there - and it wouldn't surprise or upset me in the slightest if you told her more than that, Moony," he added with a glance to the Auror in question. She smiled at his trust, and he went on quickly. "I'm not sure what did it, but I sensed something wrong with her when I looked into her eyes. After I fell down - yes, that's true, so go ahead and laugh it up - I cast a Finite Incantatum spell on her, just to see what would happen."
Tonks frowned at that information, and then pulled them both into an alley close to their house. "Are you saying she had a Silencio spell cast on her two years ago?"
"If not even more than that," Harry said softly. "I wish I knew where they were from originally so I could ask Dumbledore to look into it, but Lily never said yesterday, and I don't want to just go asking again and again - would seem a little off, wouldn't it?"
"I'll talk with Dumbledore in the morning," Remus offered quietly. "He always comes by to check on things the day after a full moon," he explained at Harry's questioning glance. "For now, why don't you change back into yourself - it's a bit disconcerting to be talking to you and not seeing at least your green eyes."
"Wicked magics, huh?" Harry asked as he nodded. He took a step away from them and closed off his brown eyes. In an instant, the red cloth wrapped around his head vanished at the same time as his long red jacket turned a dark green again to become the cloak that could shroud the rest of him. He also grew more than a foot in height - almost two, truth be told - and his hair lost the purple shimmer and shrunk down to its messy state once again. Both Remus and Tonks could only assume that his clothes changed back to his robes as well, since they couldn't see them. Harry reached up and pulled the hood down to his cloak to reveal his grin. "Told you that you'd see it eventually, Remus."
"That was bloody amazing, Harry!" Tonks said in a rush. "Talisien taught you that, did he? I never thought it could be taught - I was always told you had to be born with it, myself. Can you change..."
"It's not quite like that, Tonks," Harry said quickly, cutting her off. "I can only change to a couple of other forms, and the change is complete - not like you being able to just change your nose if you felt like it."
"Still, you've gotta teach me that magic!" she said in a hushed voice. "It could really come in handy some day - and not just for me, but for Remus too, you know?"
Harry shook his head and started out of the alleyway, both Remus and Tonks moving quickly to keep up to him. "I promised Talisien that I wouldn't teach anyone else... besides, unless you can do some minor wandless magics, it wouldn't do you any good for me to explain it anyway. Sorry, Tonks." He looked over his shoulder and saw her crestfallen expression before sighing. "But I will show you the transformation in slow motion some time, okay?"
"Thanks, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "Always said you were a great kid!" she added, reaching over and ruffling his messy hair. He actually stood a little taller than she did currently, so she had to reach up to do this.
He batted her hand aside and shook his head with a sigh. "I'm not a kid anymore, Tonks," he said in a whisper. "Voldemort saw to that." He then smiled as they started forward again. "And really, do you think you need to help make my hair messy? If you really want to do something weird to it, you'd try to make it lie flat!"
---------------------------
Author's Note
Well, there's another chapter finished and done with, probably leaving everyone with a few questions. Feel free to ask - I intend on answering most of the questions asked of me in reviews at least partially. And yes, this chapter is meant to be a touch lighter on the mood than often times, despite the rather dark revelation that Remus makes... hope that worked.
I look forward to answering reviews, thanks!
.
Until the sun sets upon a broken world...
The Shadows
-->