The Marauders: Year One (female)

11. The Beast Inside

The first year girls lay restlessly in the Gryffindor dorms that cool Sunday evening.

'I'm boooooreddd,' complained Sirius, her legs up in the air, hanging half off her bed.

Jamie had her Potions textbook open in front of her, but she had nodded off.

Sirius cast an eye around the dormitory. Frankie was preparing to go for a walk on the grounds with Alex and Lillian, Petra was busy eating Licorice Wands and reading a comic, and Remus had her nose buried deep in a book.

Behind that book, she was concealing a worried and anxious countenance. Shortly, and elf would arrive to pick her up and take her to Professor Dumbledore to go over what Dumbledore had mentioned on his visit to the Lupin house earlier that Summer.

Remus cast her mind back. She had been eating her lunch, when the doorbell had rung. Remus looked up, surprised. Due to the Lupin-Howells moving around so much, they rarely had visitors.

'Mum!' she'd called.

Hope ran down the stairs, and opened the door, not asking who it was. She stared in amazement at the odd man she saw standing there: he was very tall and thin, he had a long, crooked nose, and a snow white beard that stretched to below his waist, tucked in the waistband of his silvery robes. Hope had never seen anybody like him.

'Who - who are you?' she asked, stammering.

He smiled kindly at her, his blue eyes going through her like x-rays. 'Is this the home of Remus Lupin?'

Instantly, Hope's face hardened, and she inched the door closed. 'Who's asking?' she repeated.

'Lyall will know who I am,' he'd answered cryptically. Remus had come from the dining room to see the visitor. She peeked from the hallway.

'Lyall!' Hope called.

He came down the stairs. 'Yes, Hope, dear?'

'You have a visitor.'

Lyall walked to the door, looking bemused at first, then going pale as he saw who it was. 'D-Dumbledore. Well... come in, do come in, please.'

Smiling benevolently, Dumbledore took a step inside, bending so that his long, pointed hat would not bump into the ceiling. 'Thank you, Lyall, if you wouldn't mind, there are some things that we need to discuss...'

Looking nervous, Lyall had led him to the living room, shooing Remus away discreetly. Remus left reluctantly, but was called back by Dumbledore.

'Remus, my child, do take a seat...'

Then he turned to Lyall, and Hope, who had just entered the room.

'Lovely, isn't it? The Welsh greenery?' he asked vaguely.

Lyall nodded confusedly. 'Is there - was there something you needed? Of course it is a pleasure to have you, as always, but --'

'It took me a great deal of trouble to find you,' Dumbledore said at last. 'Longer than it should have, for such an old friend.'

Lyall looked sheepish. 'Well --'

Dumbledore showed no sign of having heard him. 'As you know, I've been tracking the movements of Voldemort's followers.'

Lyall shuddered violently at the use of Voldemort's name. 'Please do NOT speak that name in this household.'

'-- Voldemort's followers,' continued Dumbledore serenely, as if Lyall had not spoken. 'Among them, Fenrir Greyback. I have many spies.'

Remus froze up. This was it, then. Dumbledore would turn her in, she would be recorded and marked by the Ministry, and she would be locked away.

'What -- what do you mean?' Lyall asked aggressively, trying to hide his fear. 'What's that got to do with me?'