The Now of Wolf Thought

Barging In

Remus stood before the darkened hearth and looked to his compatriots. Each nodded their compliance and Remus reached into the paper sack and withdrew a small handful of the pale green powder and tossed it into the hearth. "Headquarters," he uttered clearly.

Instantly, green flames filled the hearth. "Stay here until I come back for you. Sirius may not be alone."

The three exchanged glances momentarily as the older teen stepped through the fire.

Remus reached his arms out, steadying himself and walked out of the floo on the other side. Sirius, who had just ran down the corridor, his wand brandished, stormed into the room, followed by Professors Snape and Lupin, followed by Arthur Weasley.

"Hellooo," Remus said cheerfully.

Sirius stopped dead in his tracks and held out his arms, stopping the other men from pouncing on the intruding teenager.

Sirius' eyes softened, while Professor Lupin's eyes fired up with agitation.

"What are you doing here," Sirius asked gently, holding out his arm to circle around the boy's waist.

"I need to talk to you."

Sirius nodded. "Alright."

"Now."

"Now?"

"Now."

Sirius turned his head toward the other men. "This is private gentlemen. Please excuse us?"

"There is only one place where you could have floo'd in from, Mister Lupin," Snape said.

"And I hope she won't get into any kind of trouble because of this," Professor Lupin said.

"And she won't if Snively keeps his mouth shut. Isn't that right Professor?"

Sensing a potential row and wanting to keep his intrusion as quiet as possible, Remus spoke up: "Am I interrupting something," he asked, his cheeks glowing pink.

Sirius shook his head. "Just a meeting of the Order."

The ginger-haired man's gaze was flitting back and forth between Remus and the Professor and he finally spoke up and approached the teenager. "I'm Arthur Weasley, by the way. I've heard an awful lot about you!"

Remus held out his hand. "You're Ron's dad!"

Arthur nodded. "Yes. May I make a suggestion to you gentlemen? No one knows about this little...visitation."

"Agreed," sneered Professor Snape glancing toward Sirius and the elder Lupin.

Professor Lupin nodded. "Quite right. This never happened."

Sirius grinned and resheathed his wand. "What never happened?" He turned toward Remus. "Can you return in an hour? I'll get rid of everyone."

Remus nodded as Professor Snape advanced. "I suggest that you return alone, Mister Lupin."

Remus stared into the black eyes of the venerable Potions' Master. "Well, as you can see, no one is with me, Sir."

"No. Suffice it to say, I would wager a butterbeer that there are three awaiting a signal to come through."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, I wouldn't take that bet!" The Professor's both looked toward Sirius.

Professor Snape moved closer toward Remus. "Make your return directly," Snape advised.

"There had better not be three," Arthur said with a craned brow and Remus grimaced.

"Sorry, Sir."

"Please tell me that my son isn't drunk...He's not drunk is he?"

"Oh no Sir! He's actually quite...sober. Now that I think on it," Remus confessed.

"Well, that's good."

"And you," Lupin asked.

"I think I'm more buzzed than he is actually."

"How much have you had?"

Remus shrugged his shoulders. "Ahhh...three...four...six. Yes. Six."

Sirius grimaced. "Oooh...Best stick to plain water for the rest of the evening then." He put his arm around the boy. "I'll see you in an hour."

Remus nodded. "Alright." He turned toward the floor and reached up to reach for the floo powder and spun on his heel quickly. "Oh! Any news of Dumbledore? We're all quite worried for him..."

Lupin smiled as did the other men, but it was Sirius who spoke up with a tilt of his head. "Oh, he's just in the next room. Probably going to pluck out what happened in here the second we return."

Remus' eyes fell upon Professor Snape. "I'll have to let him have the information," he revealed with a wry smile. "We will tell him that you were...concerned for his safe return to Hogwarts."

"Yes. I think we can all agree to that. Ya see Rey, we're not quite as adept as our good friend here in the art of occulmency," Sirius teased.

Snape harrumphed and shook his head as he turned to head for the doorway that opened up into the corridor.

"What was that about," Remus asked looked toward his older self.

"Sirius is very adept as you can imagine. I mean, imagine...if you lived here as a child..."

Remus' gaze landed on Sirius and he merely shrugged his shoulders. "See you in an hour," he said.

"Yeah," Sirius replied as he nodded.

When Remus disappeared into the flames, the four men turned to Lupin. "This didn't happen before. It's all new."

"Well, we all know what to keep between us then," Arthur said.

____

Hermione stood up abruptly and the boys who'd been laying on the floor, dozing, rolled over. "What happened? What took so long?"

"Well, I interrupted a meeting of the Order."

"Oooh, that's not good," Ron said. "My parents are members of the Order."

"Yes. I met your Dad. Nice fellow."

Ron closed his eyes. "I'm going to br grounded for life."

Remus chuckled. "I don't think so. He did ask if you were drunk though. Told him that I was more buzzed than you are."

"Well, that's an outright lie mate," Ron replied as his grin widened.

Remus shrugged his shoulders and smiled, then they fell. "I have to return in an hour. And you three, I'm afraid, will have to return. I have a feeling that Professor Snape will check in on you three."

Hermione closed her eyes. "That's so not fair." She looked toward Harry who looked as if he could fall asleep while standing. "I'm sorry, Harry."

She shrugged his shoulders. "That's alright. Why should I need to know anything?"

Remus placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'll let you know what he says, Harry."

Harry nodded. "I'd appreciate it."

Remus turned to Hermione. "You wouldn't by chance happen to have a self writing quill would you?"

"I do, actually. After having seen Skeeter with her quick quotes quill, I thought one might come in handy."

"May I borrow it?"

She nodded. "Of course, but you'd have to come back and get it."

"I'll make do tonight. Will you three be alright if I stay here and you return on your own?"

"Of course," Hermione replied quickly.

Remus sighed and nodded. "Right. Come on, lets get a move on then. I don't have a lot of time left at my disposal."

"I'd said we'd be alright," she argued.

"Uh huh. They're toasted. You're tostier. I'll accompany you and then you can fetch your quill for me. I have a journal that I write my notes in. I'll have to fetch that as well."