Remus couldn't stop thinking about Ned Veigler. Even as the member of the Order arrived one by one through the hearth at the Urquart home in Hogsmeade, as the talk of the rescue plan started, Remus's mind simply rang and rang with the gut-wrenching sound of his own screaming when he realized that Ned had been taken from him. It was a feeling and a sound - so disconnected from his own perception in the moment - that he knew he would never be able to forget. Though at times the pain of it faded into his subconscious, he heard it in each transformation - a similar disconnected scream echoing from within himself - and sometimes it came screaming into his consciousness with no mercy... like now, as he sat, mentally paralyzed, staring at the thistle-lavender area rug spread upon the Urquart's floor.
Dumbledore had recovered from the surprise of being challenged during Remus's mutiny in the Hog's Head Inn and was now orchestrating the necessary steps to recover Alice.
Thanks to the Prewett twins' connection, they knew the Death Eaters were currently dining at the Dolohov's townhouse on Ovington Square in Knightsbridge. The problem was that the house was protected by charms similar to those placed upon Number 12, Grimmauld Place when Orion had been alive: the townhouse was invisible to muggles, protected by layers of the Fidelus charm, the salvio hexia and the cave inimicum. However, being shared with muggles, the side of the home which facef the private square itself could not be hidden permanently, as the square would have to pinch and so the muggles were forever confused why there was the illusion of one more house from within the square than there was from without it. This, Dumbledore said, would be the most vulnerable angle from which to mount their attack.
The gates would be easy to enter into the square and Urquart would place a cloaking charm on the other houses, blinding their view of the square, which McGonagall would mobilize two grotesque marble gargoyles by the gate to block the gate once they were in, to keep muggles from entering during the battle.
"Alastor will need to prepare his disillusionment team at the Ministry if we're to keep this from Minchum," said Urquart.
"We'll need to send Gideon to engage them once he arrives," Dumbledore said. "Moody is otherwise occupied at the moment."
"Where is Gideon?" asked Urquart.
"He said he was with Mr. Potter and Mr. Black at the Ministry - working out a bit of trouble that came up," Dumbledore said, "Once they are able to get away, they will join you in Ovington Square."
"Join us?" Frank said. "What about you? Aren't you going to help us?"
"Of course, but in this particular battle, I shall be more functional apart from you. As in hunting, I will be on the other side - smoking out your Death Eaters and, I expect, negotiating a contract with our new legilimens," Dumbledore replied rather smoothly.
Lily looked relieved and possibly the slightest bit of excitement at this.
Remus spoke up, "And if You Know Who arrives?"
Dumbledore said, "Then I am a cast patronus away and you, my boy, have held your own against Lord Voldemort more than once - none of us here have fallen to him yet."
Peter twitched when Dumbledore's eyes landed on him.
"The meaning of this is extraction. If we have a way to extract without engagement we shall go that way. I do not plan to fight to the death at this time, and this will hopefully be a simple, anti-climatic event in which we go, get what we want, and depart. We are not trying to win the war here - Knightbridge is hardly the place for such things. There are far too many muggles in the area and it affords Voldemort a far greater bargaining tool than want to hand him."
Urquart, McGonagall, Lily, Remus, Peter, Frank, Marlene and Emma, Florean Fortescue, and Bilius Weasley all nodded. The rest of the Order was either otherwise engaged, on their way, or else uninvited for one reason or another which only Dumbledore was aware of.
"Now, let us go and begin preparing. I shall jot by the Ministry and get the remainder of us on the way." Everyone started shuffling to go outside to disapparate, and Dumbledore cleared his throat and motioned to Remus to come over to him a moment.
Remus hesitated. Why did he, a grown man now, feel like a fourth year in trouble? He went over, "Yes sir?"
Dumbledore put an arm about his shoulders and turned Remus to be facing him, his own back to the others. Over Dumbledore's shoulder, Remus could see Lily looking back in concern, even as McGonagall encouraged her to come along out to the yard to disapparate. Frank and Peter had already gone out the door, along with Emma and Marlene.
"I wanted to speak to you - about before, at the Hog's Head Inn," Dumbledore said quietly, his voice lowered for only Remus to hear.
"I'm sorry, sir, I meant no disrespect, I --" Remus stammered, feeling his face heat up with nervousness, "I just don't want anything to happen to Alice like what happened to Ned. I know you are infinitely wiser about these sorts of things than I am and normally I wouldn't question you at all, of course, sir, but --"
"Remus, my dear boy!" Dumbledore interrupted him, shaking his head, "Please, don't be so anxious. I'm not angry with you; there's no reason to explain nor apologize! On the contrary, I wanted to thank you!"
"Thank me, sir?" Remus asked, confused. "What on earth do you wan to thank me for?" Beyond Dumbledore, Lily hesitantly followed McGonagall outside.
"For your courage to stand up to authority," Dumbledore said, "To take on the role of a leader. It is rare to see such a strong stand taken as what you have done - and this is not the first time you have displayed such strong leadership roles. You are not only an extremely powerful wizard, but you are an intelligent and courageous man - a formidable combination which I believe is unparalleled in your generation."
Remus considered this, his face flushing, and shook his head, "There are plenty just as capable as I am in my generation - just look no further than James and Lily and Sirius, sir. And Frank and --"
"None of them stood up to me just now at the Hog's Head. None of them stood their ground and explained their case logically in such a manner as that I would be forced to see the light of the matter and renounce my own beliefs of what our next move ought to be." Dumbledore glanced over his shoulder. Urquart waited by the door, looking respectfully away from Remus and Dumbledore, giving them privacy.
Remus wasn't sure how to respond. He felt humbled somehow. Despite the fact that Dumbledore was speaking words of encouragement, Remus had this sinking feeling of guilt that sort of weighted his stomach. "Even so, I might have done it privately, rather than in front of everyone. I ought not to undermine the true leader with my... childish whims."
Dumbledore patted Remus's shoulder, leaving his palm on him, and finally said, "We shall continue this talk later, after we have rescued Alice."
"Continue it?" Remus asked, wondering what more there was to discuss about it.
Dumbledore nodded, then turned without any further prelude. "Come, let us get to London and retrieve that which is our own."
The motorbike touched down on the embankment with a squeal of tires and shouts from the few muggles walking along the Thames under the street lamps, who seemed to believe the bike had come careening from the street. "Watch where you're driving! Hoodlums --" shouted a man whose red faced anger was accompanied by a waved fist.
Sirius waved back with a one-finger salute as he pulled under a small, dark tunnel that ran under a bridge. James jumped off the back of the bike the moment it had come to a full stop. "You are ABSOLUTELY INSANE," he shouted at Sirius, pointing at the bike, "Positively, absolutely, the most ridiculous maniac of a driver that's ever --"
"I got us here, didn't I? You're in one piece, aren't you?" Sirius demanded, waving his wand to shrink the motorbike and scooping it up in his palm, slipping it into his pocket. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you - a very good proverb, likely written by a dog."
James said, "Barely." Then, "Do you know many dogs who can write?"
"Well, there's me..." Sirius said, flicking his finger as though he were about to make a long list, but he stopped there and grinned.
James shook his head. "Come on, Snuffles," he said pointedly, and he jogged hurriedly toward the doors of the Auror Training Center, Sirius rushing after him with his much shorter legs.
Despite it being late, the ATC was bustling, as it most usually was. James and Sirius made their way through the crowded halls toward the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the corridor that housed Harry Underhill's office. As they passed the copy room, Sean Buckner was just coming out, carrying a box full of documents on one hip.
"Oi hi, Buckner," Sirius shouted as they passed.
Sean did a double-take, "What're you lot doing here so late?" he asked, then glancin' at his watch he added, "Been askin' myself that question half the night..." he looked back at Sirius and James as James was banging on Underhill's door. "Underhill's not in his office at the mo'," Sean said, "He's upstairs in the Department. Moody was called off and that puts Underhill in charge. Was a booking earlier - brought in a suspect for the Blackburn case, an unregistered they picked up. Underhill's with 'er upstairs now."
"A werewolf?" Sirius asked.
"Thanks," James said, not pausing to engage further. He grabbed Sirius's arm and pulled him along as he trotted hurriedly down the corridor - faster than his usual walk, but not so fast as to attract undue attention. "C'mon, Sirius."
Sirius followed after James as they took the little elevator up to the Magical Law Enforcement level and were just about to the Department Head office when Gideon Prewett's voice echoed down the hall.
"There you gents are - what's the meaning of those shenanigans you've pulled? There's things doing down and you're larking about, driving far too fast, disrupting muggles - breaking the statute! Had to modify those poor policemen's minds, not to mention what you've done to my broom!"
"I'll get you a new one," James said hurriedly, "We're here for Underhill, it's an emergency - for the Order," he added that second part a bit lower.
"I know all about the Order's emergency!" Gideon snapped under his breath, "Why the bleeding hell did you think we were trying at catching up with you?"
"I don't know!" James said, "I - I thought you might've been Death Eaters or - or trying to arrest this idiot for his driving the motorbike."
"His illegal magically modified motorbike," Gideon corrected, "Which we've TALKED about and overlooked on at least one other occasion where the bike's been involved in statue-breaking madness."
Sirius blinked, attempting at looking innocent. "Magically modified? Illegally? I assure you I would never --"
"Save it," Gideon said, rolling his eyes. "One of these days, though, Black, we're taking it if you don't stop with the asinine stunts."
Sirius continued his faux-shocked blinking and laid a hand on his chest as though disbelief had consumed him.
"Furthermore, it's a good thing I've caught you up - Dumbledore doesn't want Underhill involved in this," Gideon said.
"Well blast Dumbledore, Underhill's a really good --"
"It's not for discussion Potter," Gideon cut across James, his voice as sharp as James had ever heard it. "Underhill isn't in the Order and this is Order business. The only thing we're going to do is alert him that I've got the disillusionment team on standby and he doesn't need to stop what he's doing if a call comes in for Knightbridge. That's it. That's all he's to know about what's on tonight."
James asked, "Why?"
"I already told you why, Potter, Underhill isn't part of the Order and this is Order business."
"He should be," James said, "He's a valuable asset, he's -"
"Great. Solicit him as a member another day. Not right now. This is a limited operation, not even all the Order members are going - you're acting out of line, especially since I believe it was you who was in our faces back in February, taking a step back out of the Order, weren't you? Seven months later and you're acting like you have a seat in the head of operations of it again, just like that? Stand down. There's more going on here than you realize, Potter, and it's actually dangerous, you acting out like you know everything there is to know about the mission. You don't know what's on fully, and even if you did you're not fully trained in mission work because you quit your training."
James stared dumbfounded at Gideon.
"Hey don't you be ripping on him," Sirius snapped, defensively flaring up, "James started the Order. If it wasn't for him it'd be just a bunch of rottin' old arses in the Resistance getting literally nothin' done."
"Getting nothing done? Don't be daft, Sirius," Gideon snapped. "We have held You Know Who at bay for decades."
"But you haven't defeated him," James said in what even Sirius thought was a nasty, unfair manner.
Sirius could see the anger on Gideon's face and he stepped between them, raising his palms up. "LADIES!" He said, shaking his head, "HONESTLY! There's a bit of an emergency on, we're all quite stressed, but let's not have a pissing contest here in the Ministry. The carpets are too nice!"
Gideon shook his head, "Right arrogant git you are, Potter. Remember you haven't defeated him either and just who it was who's gotten your arse out of trouble --"
"MY MATES?" James exploded.
"YEAH YOUR BLOODY MATES - AND ALSO THE RESISTANCE - ME AND MY BROTHER, WHO BY THE WAY IS THE ONLY REASON THE WHEELS ARE STILL ON THIS CURRENT OPERATION BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE YOUR PART IN IT!" Gideon snapped.
Aurors waking by slowed to look as he yelled.
James's face was angry, but Gideon said, "Enough arguing. Just come on, we're going to get this mess cleaned up and get Alice back. Without Underhill. Period. Don't like it? Then talk to Dumbledore." He marched off down the hall.
James looked at Sirius, seething with frustration.
Sirius sighed. "Deep breaths, mate."