All in the Family

Chapter 181: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

 The cottage was right on the edge of a quaint village. There was a brickwork fence separating the next house over from quite a ways, but certainly no unreasonable walking distance. The rolling hills, green pastures, and smell of animal in the air was a welcome respite after so much time spent in their horrid future, now they were getting a glimpse of a past that was not theirs.

Remus found himself rolling around in hay and spitting a bit of that and some sort of hair out of his mouth in disgust. Peter appeared before him, snickering and holding his hand out covered in the same mess.

"Wish I had a camera," Wormtail told as he gratefully took it and they both started brushing themselves off. "Nobody would ever suspect you for a werewolf if they saw you turning down goat blood Moony."

"Pretty sure that's another myth Pete," he shrugged. Said animals were bleating and coming in curiously from the edges of their fence, sniffing around their pockets for treats. Peter had knocked a stool over he was now setting upright, and one was even trying to wiggle up to his hands expectantly for scratches. The golden book rested in the horns of one particularly fuzzy creature.

Remus swallowed as he picked it up and looked from their tidy surroundings, the lingering snow in the air and the sunsetting it all in dusk, and back to the house. It was a grand home, but not sublime. Modest and wealthy, all at once, open, and bright on the edge of civilization where a magical family would hide. Sirius was at the window and chatting animatedly with someone already.

"Think I'm going to stay out here and read," he whispered as he sat himself down in the dirt, taking care to miss a bit of feces as he got himself comfortable.

"Want some company?" Peter asked kindly.

"No, that's alright," he said honestly. He hadn't gotten any progress on putting together a single thing in his head. Not why he was suddenly so much more on edge than even back when this had started, not what he was trying to tell Sirius or even himself. Repeating the same fear over and over in his head as he looked at James, at everything in his future wasn't helping, but this book felt like progress. Stories had always been his escape from his reality before the Marauders, though he was terrified to go back to that...reading would at least keep them moving along, and as he flipped it open and thumbed through the pages this more than any of them appealed to him.

The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. Yes, their headmaster most certainly was going to keep featuring in his life as much as the Marauders, he just didn't know why any of them bothered. His life, his lies, what any of it could be tangled together with his own sordid past and where they were now...

Wormtail gave him a friendly nod and went inside. The bitterly cold wind dusted the place, spraying hay and fur across the pages, his arse was numb in seconds as he sat shivering in the dirt and curled into himself even with the goats cuddling up to him. Snow never settled on the ground in here either, this must be a wizarding family's home to keep such warmth in this enclosure. Albus's own home perhaps?

"I forgot Dumbledore was a redhead!" Sirius shouted out with a laugh. He barely recognized his headmaster. Nose unbroken, half moon glasses on his head, nary a beard in sight, only the eyes and the names carved into the frame gave it away. He stood arm and arm with another bloke who didn't resemble him much, hair a much thinner blonde, they were the same height and had the same blue eyes though. A little girl was between them twirling on the spot, bearing much closer to this Aberforth in her coloring as well, as the two brothers playfully pushed each other.

Regulus came up beside him from the shadows, leaving the door open behind him where trophies were already scattered around from their headmaster's awards in school.

"Must be where they lived before Godric's Hollow," Sirius murmured mostly for himself even before he glanced out the window and saw Moony resting outside with a goat on his knees trying to nip at the hem of his pants, ignoring that as easily as if it were Sirius trying to distract him as he read.