'But — '
'The last thing he needs,' said Narcissa, evenly, 'is to get more angry. While he would never hurt you, if his temper gets out of control, he could become a danger to himself as well as to the breakable objects around him.'
Hermione paled, but nodded.
Narcissa glanced over at Lupin. 'Make Sirius write that letter. And while he's doing that, you can work on translating that book.
Agreed?'
Lupin raised an eyebrow. 'Yes, indeed.'
Narcissa held out a hand to Hermione, who glanced down at Ron.
Ron grudgingly released her, and, with Narcissa holding her arm, they left.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Ginny let out an exasperated breath. 'What about me?' she said, turning to Lupin and Sirius.
'Don't I get given orders too? Or am I not useful?'
Sirius put his head in his hands. 'Ginny…' he said, wearily. 'Not right now…'
'Oh all right,' she said crankily, got to her feet and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
As soon as Ginny had left the room, Sirius wheeled on Lupin. 'Now tell me the truth,' he said, looking at him hard. 'Do you think that love potion is reversible?'
'I don't know,' replied Lupin, who was taking down a number of books from the shelves and tossing them onto the desk.
'I saw your expression change. You know something.'
Lupin picked up a book whose spine was stamped in gold lettering: Moste Potente Potions. 'I don't know anything for sure,' he said, irritably. 'But what I do know is that love potions are not exactly benign magic. There's a reason they're illegal.'
'Because they're really, really annoying?' asked Sirius, drawing the parchment Hermione had been writing on towards him and scanning the sparse lines she had scribbled.
'Any magic that contradicts one's essential nature is by definition dark magic,' said Lupin. 'Love potions are simply another variation of what goes into the Imperius Curse. An enchantment that subsumes the will of the subject…'
Sirius shook his head. 'Hermione's a strong-willed girl.'
'That's what I'm worried about,' said Lupin, flipping morosely through Moste Potente Potions. 'You've seen what can happen to people who fight the Imperius Curse. Madness…if they're lucky…'
'Don't,' interrupted Sirius, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes. He reached out for a piece of parchment, lifted his quill, and stared moodily.
'What?' said Lupin, looking down at the top of his head.
'Snape,' said Sirius, gloomily.
'Yes, what about him?'
'Oh, come on Moony! If I write and ask him for a favor, d'you really think he'll hop right to it? He HATES me!'
'Probably on account of that one time you tormented him mercilessly for seven years straight when we were in school,' said Lupin, the corners of his mouth twitching.
'Yes, he's tetchy that way,' agreed Sirius. Then his eyes lit up suddenly and he smiled.
Lupin gave him a very suspicious glance. 'Something just occurred to you, didn't it?'
'Well,' said Sirius, a small smile still hovering around his mouth, 'Snape wouldn't be jumping to do me a favor…or you a favor, admit it, he hates you too — and he'd rather have his leg eaten by a Blast-Ended Skrewt than do Harry a favor, but there is someone he does like…'
'Draco,' said Lupin, and paused. 'But he's not here. Hermione said he went off to be by himself.'
'Can't blame him,' said Sirius. 'Just as I'm sure he wouldn't blame me for this,' and he picked up the quill and began writing furiously.
'Are you forging a letter from Draco?' asked Lupin, with detached interest.
'Yep,' said Sirius. 'Hand me that Malfoy family seal, will you, it's in the third drawer…'
'That's rather dishonest,' said Lupin, handing him the seal.
Sirius slammed the quill down on the table and glared at his friend.
'Do you have a better idea?'
Lupin thought for a moment. 'Not really.'
'You saw the look on Harry's face didn't you? And Hermione — it's not fair, they're just children, they shouldn't have to-'
'Sirius,' interrupted Lupin, tugging the quill out of his friend's hand. 'Your-'
'Moony!' protested Sirius, in exasperation. 'I am sending this letter, and nothing you can say — '
'Your hand is shaking, is what I was going to say. Give me the parchment, I know Draco's handwriting from when I had him in class. Let me do it.'
