Butterfly Effect ; H. Potter

127. lupin's visit.

The jinx broke: the dust figure exploded again, and it was impossible to make out the newcomer through the dense grey cloud it left behind.

Harry pointed his wand into the middle of it.

"Don't move!"

He had forgotten the portrait of Mrs. Black: at the sound of his yell the curtains hiding her flew open and she began to scream, "Mudbloods and filth dishonouring my house –"

Ron and Hermione came crashing down the stairs behind Harry and Antheia, wands pointing, like his, at the unknown man now standing with his arms raised in the hall below.

"Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!"

"Dad!" exclaimed Antheia happily, lowering her wand.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Hermione weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead; with a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron, too, lowered his wand, but Harry did not.

"Show yourself!" he called back.

Lupin moved forwards into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender.

"I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, father to Antheia Lupin, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag."

"Oh, all right," said Harry, lowering his wand, "but I had to check, didn't I?"

"Speaking as your ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check. Antheia, Ron, and Hermione, you shouldn't be quite so quick to lower your defences."

"Fine, next time, I'll be sure to jinx you when you surprise me," said Antheia sarcastically.

They ran down the stairs towards him. Wrapped in a thick, black travelling cloak, he looked exhausted, but pleased to see them.

"No sign of Severus, then?" he asked.

"No," said Harry. "What's going on? Is everyone OK?"

"Yes," said Lupin, "but we're all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside –"

"– we know –"

"– I had to Apparate very precisely on to the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can't know you're in here or I'm sure they'd have more people out there; they're staking out everywhere that's got any connection with you, Harry. Let's go downstairs, there's a lot to tell you and I want to know what happened after you left The Burrow."

They descended into the kitchen, where Hermione pointed her wand at the grate. A fire sprang up instantly: it gave the illusion of cosiness to the stark stone walls and glistened off the long wooden table. Lupin pulled a few Butterbeers from beneath his travelling cloak and they sat down.

"I'd have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me," said Lupin. "So, you came straight here after the wedding?"

"No," said Harry, "only after we ran into a couple of Death Eaters in a café on Tottenham Court Road."

Lupin slopped most of his Butterbeer down his front.

"What?"

They explained what had happened; when they had finished, Lupin looked aghast.

"But how did they find you so quickly? It's impossible to track anyone who Apparates, unless you grab hold of them as they disappear!"

"And they probably weren't strolling down Tottenham Court Road at the time," said Antheia.