Number Twelve Grimmuald Place: Roomates
“Eat up Buckbeak,” Sirius said as he tossed the hippogriff a bag of dead rats. He had gotten Kreacher to go scavenging for him with the usual threat of burning his cupboard. It’s been about a week and a half since anyone has come back…thought Sirius as he headed downstairs to see if there were any pests that needed to be taken care of. Sirius shivered thinking about the last time there was a boggart. He had seen James Potter, his old best friend, the man whom he had felt as a brother. I trusted you Sirius. Now look at Lily and me. Do you see what Harry had to live with? I thought I knew you better…
Shaking his head, he tripped and fell into his mother’s painting. “Traitor! Scum! You are a disgrace to the whole family! Abomination of my…” Sirius did not get to hear the rest though, for he had managed to throw the curtain over her painting while screaming “SHUT UP YOU OLD HAG!” Looking down, he found that he had tripped over Kreacher, the family house elf. Quickly pulling out his wand, he muttered “pyroendieum,” hot blue flames emerged from the tip of his wand, setting the disgruntled house elf on fire. The sound of the front door opening came as Sirius laughed at the sight of his house elf running to the kitchen, jumping to get to the sink. Edging himself so he could see the door, Sirius found himself staring at the last of his fellow marauders, Remus J. Lupin. “Sirius! Err, why is Kreacher on fire?” Remus said bemused as Kreacher came dashing out of the kitchen to see if he would help him.
“Don’t quite know,” replied Sirius as he dumped a bucket of water over Kreacher. “There you go (he muttered something nearly inaudible that oddly sounded like bloody little cretin)” as he motioned the house elf to leave the room. “So why are you here, Moony?” Remus looked as if he had been stalked by a group of Cornish pixies equipped with firearms over the past months. His hair was much grayer then at Christmas, the last time had seen him, and he obviously needed some new robes.
“I’ve come to tell you Harry’s gotten an article in The Quibbler. Rather odd he’d actually let someone publish an interview, and what’s odder is that Rita Skeeter wrote it! That women would never write something that actually stayed with the facts!” said Remus as he sat down by the table.
“The Quibbler? Isn’t that the tabloid magazine that had an article about me being a singer or something? I wonder why Harry would get that magazine to publish it. I wouldn‘t have known anyhow. After all, the only magazine I‘ve ever had, you took away and set on…”
“He probably had some reason to do it, perhaps he is planning something,” Remus interrupted as he shifted uneasily.
“Something wrong Remus? There a full moon coming soon?” said Sirius looking rather bored.
“Well, also Severus has to stay here a bit, something to do with Umbridge suspecting him to be in with Dumbledore or what not…”
“SNAPE?! Staying here? Please tell me this is just a cruel joke of yours!” Sirius‘ face twisted with anger and confusion; he seemed to be trying hard not to shake Remus for answers.
“Unfortunately not. I’ll be staying here also though… too keep you out of trouble of course and since I really haven’t anywhere to live at the moment,” Remus began to drift off as he stared at the table in front of him. It had been awhile since Sirius and him had time to discuss everything that had happened. Their meeting in the Shrieking Shack had been too short, while their encounter in the Order had been solely about the discussion of Voldemort. And of course Christmas had much more important things to look after.
“Great,” Sirius said sarcastically, “now I can’t get him in his sleep.” He was grinning broadly now…almost like he used to when were younger…Remus couldn’t help thinking.
“Hahaha, so what have been up to all this time Padfoot?”
“Well let’s see…. I’ve been stuck in this house for a couple months now… the most useful thing I’ve done so far is stop Kreacher from wandering into peoples’ rooms and stealing their stuff while their gone,” he replied while sighing.
“Oh,” Remus’ face flushed, “err I didn’t mean to…that is I mean.” THUNK! Their conversation was interrupted by the crash inside the entrance hall. Both Sirius and Remus rushed to the doorway, wands ready to fire at the intruder. They jumped out of the door and managed to magically bind the trespasser. When Sirius looked at him he burst out laughing. Remus, however, looked shocked and dismayed. There was a slight grin across his face, but he was obviously trying hard to hide it.
“Umm (interrupted by laughter) sorry about that (more laughter) Snape!” choked Sirius as he grabbed the doorway for support.
“Severus! I didn’t think you were (Be quiet Sirius!) coming until next week,” Remus said as he stared uncomfortably at the tied-up man in front of him lying on the floor.
“Would you mind untying me? Or are you too busy working?” sneered Severus. He was glowing red with anger as he struggled to free himself from the bonds.
“Of course! (laughter) I’d be happy too!” Sirius said grinning as he bent down to untie him. “If only I had a camera!” muttered Sirius as he stood up. Severus brushed himself off as he got up with a scowl across his face. Remus was still standing in the doorway, watching as he picked up his bags and hovered them upstairs and disappeared into his room. Sirius was now leaning against the wall to stop himself from falling from his laughter.
“This definitely can’t be any good,” sighed Remus as he sauntered up his own room. The moon would become full in two weeks. I hope I can last that long…thought Remus with a smirk.
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“ALRIGHT, WHO STOLE IT?!?!” awakened Remus the next morning. He quickly threw on some robes and scampered to the hall. There he found Severus Snape (to his distress) in his nightwear, paled at the face with a fierce look to match. Sirius, however, was rather scruffy-looking and staggering through the hall towards Snape.
“What’s going on there Snape?” yawned Sirius as he slumped into a chair.
“WHAT’S GOING ON?!? WHAT’S GOING ON? I’LL TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING ON YOU..”
“Severus,” began Remus in a calmed tone used to settle down a four-year old, “please lower your voice so we don’t wake Mrs. Black or Kreacher.”
“Who knows how that house-elf would act this early in the morning,” muttered Sirius as he stretched. Snape’s face flushed as he slowly restarted.
“Well, I awoke this morning to find that my personal…book, as you may say, was gone! And since we are the only ones in the house, I can only suspect that one of you can be responsible,” said Severus through gritted teeth. Remus gave a laugh to Sirius’ surprise, but quickly lowered his head.
“Are you telling me that the potions master of Hogwarts, the man who supposedly once was a top Death Eater, actually keeps a diary?” said Sirius as he barked a laugh. Next to him Remus chuckled under his breath, pretending to cough as Snape’s face reddened for the second time that morning.
“No! I do not keep a diary you
mutt! It is a personal journal with my schedule and reminders!” bellowed Snape as he clenched his fists. Sirius’ eyebrow rose as Remus bent down to retie his shoe to keep from shaking of laughter.
“No need to call each other names,
Snivellus, but what is this about a personal journal? If it was just some planner, why in the world are you so upset about its disappearance? Makes me wish I did take it,” snickered Sirius.
“The reason is that it was given to me by my father when I was a small boy!” snapped Snape.
“And I half expected you were raised by wolves (oops, sorry Moony),” replied Sirius. Remus blinked sleep fully as he slouched into a nearby chair.
“We can help you look later if it means that much to you, but let’s get dresses and eat something first. We’ll be more (yawn) awake then,” remarked Remus as he made his way to his room.
“He’s got a point. Eat first, help never, uh later,” stated Sirius as he staggered in the opposite direction to his own room.
“I still say one of them have it. Doubtlessly Black,” murmured Snape to himself as he later paced downstairs to get Sirius and Remus to help him look for his journal. Remus was busy reading a book as he relaxed on a couch, while Sirius was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, looking rather bored.
“Humph,” coughed Severus. Sirius turned his head and stared. Likewise Remus closed the book with a snap and looked over towards him.
“What do you want?” barked Sirius, with a look of jaded interest.
“Well, I want to get out of this retched so-called home of yours, but right now I’d like for you two to help me search for my lost possession,” scoffed Snape, “Though it will be futile, since one of you probably took it,” he mumbled as he led the way upstairs.
“Did you say something after ‘helping you look‘ , or were you just talking to yourself?” inquired Remus as Sirius barked a laugh. Before he could defend himself, Sirius broke out and said he had forgotten to feed Buckbeak that morning and needed Remus’ help. Swiftly they left and got some food (forcibly) from Kreacher for the hippogriff and went into his room to feed him.
“All right, you took it didn’t you?” asked Remus with a raised eyebrow as he petted the hippogriff on the beak. Sirius grinned in reply, but did not actually say anything, causing Remus to grin himself with a laugh. Sirius was groping between the mattresses of Buckbeak’s bed as his friend watched in awe. “What are you doing?” queried Remus.
“You’ve been asking a lot of questions lately, haven’t you Moony?” replied Sirius as he strained to put his arm under the mattress as Remus got up and helped lift it. “This, my friend, is what could revive “The Marauders” soon enough,” Sirius declared with a fulfilled look on his face.
“Snape will probably suspect something if we don’t get back to help soon,” said Remus with a roguish smirk.
“Well then, let’s meet up here later so we can plan some blackmail,” Sirius said grinning as they paced towards Severus’ room. Just as Snape had predicted, their search was unsuccessful and they went down for some tea.
“Bloody lying bastards! I just know they took it. Damnit, where is it?” muttered Severus the whole way down towards the kitchen as he eyed everything and everyone quite suspiciously. Behind him, Remus let out a deep sigh.
“Kreacher, I don’t have any more chocolate. Would you mind getting off? I’ll give you some later!” said Remus in an apathetic manner.
“That’s no way to deal with him Remus! Here, let me show you how…” Immediately after saying this, Sirius drew out his wand and chanted “
Wingardium Leviosa!” lifting the house elf in the air and leaving him dangling for a few seconds and then with a loud thunk back onto the stairs. Kreacher quickly scurried down, back towards his cupboard muttering muffled insults.
“Wasn’t that a little harsh Padfoot?” stated Remus as they reached the kitchen.
“After having to live with him for a few months, let’s see you do any different,” grumbled Sirius in reply. Severus, then again, continued to stare skeptically at the duo. With an awkward silence, they sat down and drank their tea (prepared by Sirius). Snape broke the silence and shifty stares.
“I think I’m going to take a nap and then again begin the search for my journal,” yawned Severus as he got up and headed upstairs. Both grinning eagerly, they exchanged a stare. After nodding, Remus walked to Buckbeak’s room and minutes later Sirius appararted inside the room. After getting the book from the mattresses, Sirius opened the book and after reading to themselves, began to read aloud…
January 20th-
Dear Diary,
Today really sucked! That bloody pair Potter & Black embarrassed me in front of that filthy mudblood Evans and to top that off, managed to mortify me in front of Rinuial! I mean they already humiliated me enough today, why in front of that
one girl? I really have to get back at them somehow. And that fat little Peter Pettigrew was laughing his head off, he really just wants to impress Potter and Black somehow. Pathetic! Not to mention their other ugly ally, Remus Lupin. I swear he bribed the headmaster somehow! There is no way he could be a prefect! He watches them do horrible things to me and doesn’t say a word against it! Ugg, and now Rinu probably thinks I’m a complete defenseless git too. Her damn friend saw it too, I bet she thinks even better of that mutt now (how in the world can she like Black?!), some people have the worst taste. Reminds me of Potter and Evans. *shiver* Anyways, they hung me up on a ceiling lamp and then they took my robes! I swear I’m gonna get them back! Malfoy & Goyle are waking up now, I’ll write back later!
-Sev
P.S. Professor Dumbledor was the one to save me & I’m putting in my latest drawings on the next page! (REMINDER: I <3 Rinuial!
At this point, Sirius was on the floor laughing while Remus had his head between his legs cracking up. Even Buckbeak seemed interested in the book as he nosed his way to look at it. After staring at the page, the hippogriff went off into the farthest corner and dozed off while Sirius and Remus laughed hysterically. Remus was first to calm down.
“I told you Rinuial’s friend liked you! Remember, she kept staring at you during O.W.L.S. testing!”
“Forget about that! Snivellus liked Rin Rin! He always did act queer when she was close by!“ laughed Sirius.
“Do you even remember who Rinuial was?“ With a flip of the page and the sound of a gulp, a look of impression swept Remus’ face. Sirius sat back down on the bed and stared down at the page and a look of wonder came on his face.
“Who knew he was such an artist?” rhetorically asked Sirius, “I definitely remember who she is now! That dark-haired Gryffindor girl, right? She was always that loner in the back of class with her friends.”
“I thought she was a Ravenclaw; wasn’t she the one to always answer the questions right in Defense Against The Dark Arts?”
“Yea, she did answer all those questions, but we had that class with Ravenclaw, she coulda been either! O.W.L.S. girl was a Gryffindor, so wasn‘t she one too?”
“Maybe, I think her name was a-o-wyn or something…MOONS! We spent over an hour reading that diary! Severus might have woken up by now!” exclaimed Remus, dismayed. Quickly putting the book back in between the mattresses Remus aparated downstairs while Sirius laid down on the bed…I wonder where Snivellus learned to draw like that, thought Sirius with a laugh as he fell asleep. Meanwhile downstairs Remus had grabbed a book and sat down in the kitchen, commencing to read.
¤¤¤
There was a loud crash on the bottom floor. Being the closest (and possibly the only awake), Remus rushed to find what made the noise
…Probably Kreacher, hope he isn’t looking for chocolate again… When he reached the room, he saw Nymphadora Tonks sitting on the floor brushing herself off. She had recently changed her hair to different shades of red and orange, creating a flame-like affect with the spikes.
“Wotcher there Remus! There’s a huge bump in this rug,” said Tonks as she got up.
“Hello Tonks,” Remus said a shadowy figure moved behind her, “err, who’s that, may I ask?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean Rin!” Tonks replied grinning as a person with boyishly short dark hair with bright silver eyes stepped forward with a jaded expression. His silvery-blue cloak swished as he put out his hand and introduced himself more formally.
“My name’s Rin Snivelly, but please don’t ever call me by my last name,” he started, “I’m a…*sigh* new member at the Order.”
“Pleased to meet you. Remus J. Lupin,” he responded as he shook her hand with an half-hidden amazed look, “…did you go to Hogwarts?”
“Yea, I was a Ravenclaw there awhile back,” Rinuial answered as Tonks changed her hair to a magenta-purple shade after muttering about her hair beginning to look peaky. Nodding, he watched him follow Tonks upstairs and give her a brief tour on their headquarters.
“Wasn’t he… err she…anyway hmm, maybe it’s a different person! Well, this is going to be some week,” Remus said to himself with a laugh. Doubtlessly waking up to his chuckle, Kreacher came swaying into the room sleepily and headed towards the stairs.
¤¤¤
Sirius woke up with a start all of a sudden, due to the house-elf, Kreacher, prodding him with a stick. Almost automatically, he took out his own wand and hexed the house-elf. With a barked laugh, he sat up staring at Kreacher’s new lime green mohawk. “Where’d you get a wand?!” Sirius asked now in a more awake state. Kreacher jumped and attempted to run out of the room clutching the wand, but spasmodically levitated in mid-air. Sirius seized the wand and let him down with a thunk and left the room.
This is probably Remus’ or maybe someone else from the Order came back…red cedar and oak… maybe Elphias‘… CLATTER. A dagger fell to the ground in front of Sirius’ feet as he collided with a someone.
“…ow…err sorry about that,” he said as he picked up his dagger and looked at him, “Do I know you?… wait…… Rinuial?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE A BLOODY GIRL!”
“…I…
am a…girl,” Rinu paused a bit after fumbling for something inside her cloak as she restrained herself from screaming, “Umm… nice to see you again too,” Rinuial said as she licked her teeth ominously, while Sirius stared, gaping in awe. “Would ya mind giving me back my dagger now, Black?” she shifted anxiously as he hastily handed back her dagger.
“Great to see you still carry that thing,” Sirius said hesitantly as it disappeared under the folds of her cloak. “You must be part of the Order now, right?” With a nod, she started to leave, most likely so she wouldn‘t attack him, but Kreacher suddenly walked in front of her, pulling on her cloak and pointing at Sirius.
“What is it, Kreacher?” she said with a sigh as she watched him point at Sirius, who looked like he desired nothing more then to hit him.
“He has your wand!” the house-elf said with a cackle.
“He does? Well how did he get it?” she questioned, staring intently at Kreacher. Sirius only watched as the house elf ran off with a shriek down the hall, tripping every once in awhile. “I’m guessing you got it from him when he was casting a spell?”
“Close, he poked me awake with it,” Sirius replied. Rinuial took her wand back with a smirk. She started off again as Sirius went to find Remus. I wonder what was with her hair… Sirius thought with a snicker.
¤¤¤
I don’t look like a guy, do I?! *grr* I bet it’s the short hair. Damn drunks! It wasn’t my fault that Death Eaters were following me and that the Locke-dude made me cut my hair with my dagger to be in disguise! I swear, if I ever see him again, I’ll… THUNK! Several loud and appalling screams of a woman echoed throughout the halls of Grimmauld Place. “What the heck is that noise?!” Rin shouted as she hurried down the stairs to find Lupin and Black struggling to close a pair of curtains over a painting that was shrieking about sinister lycanthropes and traitors. Sirius himself was screaming back at the painting as they succeeded in closing the drapes. Tonks was a few feet behind them apologizing over and over about knocking over an umbrella stand again. Rinuial quickly wandered towards them with a look of bemused look on her face.
“…don’t… say anything… here…” Remus murmured softly as he beckoned her to follow Sirius, Tonks, and himself into the kitchen. Inside, they all sat down at the table and had a rather business-like atmosphere.
“The portrait was my mother, since you look rather confused there Rin,” Sirius said after an awkward silence among them. “…retched old hag…” he muttered softly. Rin nodded to show understanding and licked her teeth. “She’s rather annoying, but you’ll hafta get used to that…”
“That’s rather obvious Padfoot. I don’t think you really have to explain that to him,” Remus said. Tonks and Sirius repressed a laugh as Rinuial gave a sigh and threw something past Remus’ head, narrowly missing it. With a sharp cutting sound, her dagger had flew through the air and landed into the wall behind him. Tonks had a dismayed expression, while Sirius had a confused dog-like face and Remus seemed completely bewildered. At this point Snape walked into the room and stood in the doorway looking the most puzzled of them all.
I’m guessing you’re really a girl, correct?” Remus said slowly. She nodded with a uninterested look and got up to retrieve her dagger. Sirius, Remus, and Tonks all exchanged looks as Snape entered staring at Rinuial. She passed by him and went upstairs quietly.
“Who was that guy?” Snape said as he glanced around the room.
“Oh, just a new member of the Order,” Sirius replied.
To be continued in Part Two...
Marauder Legacy ¤¤¤ Rinuial
