𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲!

Chapter 3

'Cancel all cards and close all of your bank accounts out. Take any money you have out in cash.

If you have multiple accounts, close them out over a period of days to avoid drawing attention.

Dispose of anything in your flat that will spoil or die. This includes food, plants that need to be watered, and pets. 

Pack a bag, a small one with clothes and other effects. Do not bring any personal items that remind you of home. Leave them behind.

You will keep your flat. When you arrive I will help you open new accounts that automatically pay rent every month to avoid suspicion.

Bring your cellphone and any other device that friends can use to contact you along with your passport.

If there is anyone in your life who will be concerned with your whereabouts, and demand that you see them in person after a few months, then you should meet with them over the next few days and set up some reasons for your impending absence. There are some structured examples of what to say on the back of this sheet. '

James poured over the sheets and sheets of paper that were contained in the manilla envelope. They were scattered across the floor of his flat in neat rows and he had read the multitude of demands Regulus required hundreds of times. In fact, he had spent a lot of his time running around his flat packing things up, throwing things out, consulting Regulus' notes, and running around again.

Regulus was very meticulous in his instructions. He provided diagrams, fake scripts of possible conversations, packing lists, and various other suggestions. He was however less meticulous about the information that James deemed most important. Like when would Regulus call? When did his job start? Where was he going? How long would he be gone?

The topic of Remus Lupin was another issue entirely. It had been a week since James had gone to the warehouse and per Regulus' instruction, James was keeping up his same routine. A routine which now included lying horribly to his best friend about not getting the job.

James would sit in the coffee shop every morning while pretending to fill out job applications and agonise over how to tell Remus that he wouldn't be coming in anymore. At least for the foreseeable future. So far his plan was to say that he'd be away visiting his parents for a week or two. Remus surely couldn't find fault in that. And then after a few weeks had passed, James would write or text or call if he could manage and tell Remus he had found a job, out of the city, and would be away for a while.

James felt a little stab in his heart at the thought of not seeing Remus for a while and felt an acute guilt at the web of lies he knew he was about to spin. The only thing that was getting him through it was the idea that James would come back for him. James would come back for Remus, and fund every single degree he wanted to get with all his wealth. Remus wouldn't have to work at all when James was done with this heist; James would pay for him to study literature and classical civilizations and political science and anthropology and anything else Remus wanted to learn. Whether or not Remus would feel comfortable accepting all that money would be another issue entirely, but James would cross that bridge when he got there.

When James began floating the idea of visiting his parents past Remus, he was surprised to see that he looked almost relieved. "I think that's a brilliant idea, James. I think I might actually go on a holiday myself." That's what Remus had said. Perhaps he was a little tired of having James mope about the shop in his jobless state. James tried not to read too much into it.

One week was quickly becoming two and James was once again struck with the foreboding thought that this had been a giant elaborate prank, that was until his phone buzzed in the early hours of the evening. James snatched it up quickly. He had been checking obsessively every couple of minutes since Regulus told him he'd be in contact. He turned the volume all the way up and never let his phone out of his sight just in case. It was a text from Remus: