Hermione Granger and the Theft of Magic

Chapter 33: Shuffle

[A/N: Thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this chapter!]

The familiar sensation of having his entire body sucked through his belly button faded and Remus once again opened his eyes. "Ugh," he said. "I'm too old for two portkeys in quick succession."

Sirius leaned over, hands on his knees. "I'll argue with you about us being old as soon as the room stops spinning."

"Good afternoon," a woman's voice said. Remus looked up and into the concerned eyes of a witch on the high side of middle age. Her hair was drawn up in a bun and animated black cats chased grey mice across her off-white robes. "Are you alright?"

"Give us a minute, love," Sirius said. "We've just come a long way."

"My goodness!" she said. "It certainly sounds like you have. Did you come directly from the UK?"

"Our international portkey dropped us off in New York," Remus said. "We took another straight here."

"I imagine you need a moment to catch your breath," she said, "but you should probably do that off the arrival platform. Can I help you to a bench?"

Remus waved her off and linked arms with Sirius. "Thank you, but I think we can make it," he said. The two of them staggered over to one of the wooden benches placed helpfully against a wall near the arrival platform.

"Welcome to Buffalo," the witch said. "My name is Angela Dobbs, and I'm afraid we don't get many visitors from abroad. What brings you to our fair city?"

Before Remus could answer, a portkey deposited a dark-skinned man on the arrival platform. He staggered for a moment before straightening up to his full six-foot height and shaking his head, sending his dreadlocks whirling around his head. "I hate those," he said as he hopped off the platform.

"Tell us about it," Sirius said.

"Another visitor?" Dobbs asked.

"Indeed," the man said, "but I'm not exactly here on my own." He strode up to Sirius and Remus and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you gents. I'm Ellison Drake from the New York Ghost. It's not often the US gets such illustrious guests as yourselves, and I thought I'd tag along and write a feature piece on what you're finding of interest here in our country."

Remus had to stifle a growl at the reporter, but Sirius gave a hearty laugh that would have sounded convincing to anyone who hadn't known him since he was a child.

"We're just here to cause trouble, mate," Sirius said, "but you're welcome to come with."

"Illustrious?" Dobbs asked.

"I'm not sure I'd go that far." Sirius pushed himself back to his feet as he spoke. "My name is Sirius, and this is my husband Remus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Dobbs said.

"And it's our honour," Drake said, "to welcome the Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black to our shores, to say nothing of Harry Potter's adopted family."

The woman's eyebrows shot up. "You're a lord and you raised Harry Potter?"

Remus fought down a sigh while Sirius bowed. "Guilty as charged," he said. "In fact, we're here for him. The poor kid's been down in the dumps since he got back from helping in Indonesia. He's not even going to the pub anymore!"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Drake said, not looking sorry at all.

"We couldn't let that stand," Sirius said, "so we decided to bring the pub to him. We've already collected some of the best beer in the Isles to bring him, along with a selection of fine pub grub under stasis charms. He loves Buffalo Wings, though, and I didn't want to get my boy any less than the absolute best."