Journey

Chapter 3

   Several days had passed since her first night and all she had done was speculate. She had a plentiful of ideas of places to look, but each seemed as unlikely as the next. Of course she knew he'd be hard to catch, and he was probably still traveling to his destination, but she felt that her progress would have been better. She was stumped.

Of course he would come to Hogwarts in due time if he were either or not, but not yet. What, or who, would he go to first? If he was guilty, to Voldemort to help resurrect him, to Harry to kill him before he's at Hogwarts, to old Deatheater friends to rally them. If he was innocent, Harry, to see the son of James, Remus to ask for help in his journey, or her. Ignoring the last, things like this had coursed her head over the past week.

Harry would be safe at Privet drive. The wards Dumbledore had placed around the place were impenetrable, she herself had tried to before, but of course she had been restrained. According to Dumbledore, it would be harder in Harry's life to know of his aunt and know that she is unable to care for him, then to not know of the aunt. Dumbledore was always right, right?

She wasn't going to wait around watching death eaters houses, and to where Voldemort was, she hadn't a single clue. The only option left, Remus. Remus Lupin the man who she hadn't seen in years.

After the war, though they had been best friends, their relationship had dwindled to a ghost of what it once was. Perhaps it was because of the crippling guilt they felt to each other, or the pain of their losses, but she had not seen Remus Lupin in over a year, even then it was only brief.

Last she knew he had taken up residence in an older apartment in the center of Lewisham, though he hardly stuck to the same place for longer than a couple months, and she didn't think he was currently on the grid.

"Thank you for the stay ma'am," she announced, placing an array of muggle money on the counter.

The woman grunted, shuffling over to the coins, and sweeping them into a purse.

"Thank yee for the stay, pleasure havin' yeh, come back any time,' ' she responded, unsmiling, in a welsh accent not even looking up from the dirty rag she was using to whip the counter.

Isabel turned tail, walking out of the tavern, and to a shady corner where she could disapparate without being seen.

Isabel appeared behind a crumble of a building, with tents piled sky high, in Lewisham London. People lined the streets, begging for even just a crum of money, Dealers stood in the corners, selling fentanyl and heroin, a police officer stood doing nothing, while watching an older man narrow down on a young girl, smoking his pipe. The scene was devastating.

Isabel had always hated his move here, but he wouldn't have ever allow her to assist with money, and by then they had drifted too far apart for her to fully reprimand him. Along with just drifting apart, the two had had several quarrels over the past years concerning the innocence of Sirius. Remus strongly believed that he was guilty, and with the mixed feeling of betrayal, wasn't in the mood to listen to her ideas of his innocence. She, on the other hand, had been unsure of his conviction, believing there was more to the story. But all she had was his word and her gut to back her up, and that wasn't enough for Remus.

"Excuse me ma'am," she said to an old woman ranting about her husband in the center of the ruckage. She seemed to be the one in charge as in between parts she would yell out orders to be followed through by others, "Does Remus Lupin still live here."

Coming out of her trance she sputtered, "Hmm, wha'?"

"I said," Does Remus Lupin still live here? " Do you know him?"

"I fink he moved over to Brighten but ain't sure. You can ask Frank over there, he'd know." She motioned to a ruddy old man staring into space.

She approached the old man flattening her dress, " Excuse me sir,"

"Ey," he uttered.

"Well that woman over there, er, she said you'd know where a friend of mine is. I don't know, could you help me?" she rambled.

"Prolly hun, but knowledge don' come for free," he swayed over to her leaning on her.

"Well what are you insinuating?" she said.

"No need to be proper honey," he jeered, leaning closer. She stood straight, not backing away from the dirty man, "but you seem like you could help. Right."

"And what would you need help with?" she questioned.

"Well who ya lookin for, task depends?"

"Why?"

"Need to know your, how ya say, the area of expertise?"

"Remus Lupin, and I mean, I suppose I'm also looking for another, but if he's even ever been here, I don't know."

The man's face lit up with delight, he pried, "But how do you know of him?"

"I-i went to school with him. We were friends, but drifted apart in later years."

"And who's the other?"

"Well I-I guess I'm also looking for an old attachment, Sirius Black, to know if he truly did what they say he did."

She didn't know why she was giving him the full story, but felt it necessary to find them, "But I need to find Remus first."

"You one of them?" he whispered, pulling her down the alley.

"What one of them," she probed out, unconvincingly.

"Witch, wizard, Hogwarts, you one of them?"

"How did you know? How did you even know that we exist?"

"I'm part of a half muggle, have wizard organization, I me'self am a squib. We're the outcasts of society. We do our own, by our own, but we need help on a mission, and you could be it. So are you one or not."

"Yes," she admitted, staring at the funny man passively.

"Well, I'll tell you where you're Remus Lupin is now, and you help us on our mission. Deal."

"What's the mission first?"

"No, you gotta accept first, no mission no Lupin."

She paused, it couldn't be too bad, I mean a little bit of stealing never hurt anyone, and she really did need to find Remus, "Ok I'll do it."

A/N: Alright it's been more than a month and I'm real sorry for that. Being the clutz I am, I kinda lost my computer for a month, and on top of that I've been swamped with life in general. But enough excuses! I'm sorry for the spelling and grammar in this chapter, I just wanted to get the chapter out ASAP.

I love y'all and I hope your having a great day!

-Plumtree

PS: (Please don't be a silent reader)