list in the main hall for me? In case they turn up without their memories or something.' He drew his cloak more tightly about him, a woebegone expression creeping across his freckled face. 'I?d better go,' he said, and ducked out of the stairwell.
'I think young Percy has been reading too many comic books,' Sirius remarked as the third Weasley child disappeared down the hall. '?This location is now hopeless compromisedindeed. Why didn?t he just say it straight out: 'This building is full of miserable Death Eaters in training whose fondest dream would be to make festive if unconventional balloon animals out of your internal organs.?'
'Not everyone possesses your fabulous descriptive powers, Padfoot.'
'Too true.' They ducked out of the stairwell and made their way back to the Main Hall, still a hive of feverish action. Lupin watched Sirius a little uneasily as they made their way across the parquet floor. Sirius had that air about him of being ready to do something unexpected. That was never good.
They paused in front of a long roll of parchment tacked to the wall near two of the larger doors. Knots of wizards and witches stood about, muttering in low voices: nearby a pretty red-headed teenage girl was hugging an older witch and wizard — obviously her parents — and crying.
The parchment had a number of names on it, most of which had been checked off and a location noted where the Whirlwind Charm had dropped the subject: Jessica Noll: Kensington High Street; Serena Verdant: blasted heath, Yorkshire; Darcy Claiborne: haystack, Suffolk. Sirius picked up the quill that was floating nearby and began to scratch Rons name onto the bottom.
'I wouldn?t bother, if I were you,' said a sour voice from behind them.
'Hes not considered missing. Hes considered to have run off.'
Lupin knew who it was even before he turned around. Snape. He stood behind them in his customary black, his greasy hair half-hiding his narrowed eyes, looking like a bat who had just swooped down from the high ceiling overhead. His long fingers were stained, as if he had come straight from his Potions laboratory.
'Snape,' Sirius said. 'What are you doing here?'
'Dumbledore sent me to find you,' Snape said. 'He had an urgent message he wanted me to deliver.'
'All right,' Sirius said, and folded his arms across his chest. 'What is it?'
'Don?t you think it would be better if we spoke outside?' Snape demanded in a hissing whisper.
'No,' Sirius said. 'I think it would be better if we spoke right here.'
'Sirius…' Lupin began with a groan.
'What are you afraid of anyway, Snape?' Sirius snapped. 'The idiot Death Eater minions in this building? They can?t do anything to us. They don?t want to show their hands too soon, so they?ll leave us be — after all, we?re not Muggles, and we?re not breaking any rules.'
'Oh, no?' Snapes eyes glittered. 'I?m fairly sure theres a rule about no dogs on Ministry property.'
Sirius affected an injured look. 'And I invited you to my stag night, too.'
'Although he did skip the reception,' Lupin pointed out.
'Yes,' Snape admitted. 'But I had a good reason.'
'Oh?' Sirius looked curious. 'What was it?'
'I didn?t want to go.'
'Then why did you bother going to the stag night?' Sirius threw up his hands.
'I like the Cold Christmas Inn.' Snapes voice was ruminative. 'I enjoy their dartboard.'
'You weird, antisocial, gerbil of a man,' said Sirius. 'I don?t know why I bothered inviting you in the first place.'
'I assumed Narcissa asked you to,' Snape said. 'She always liked me.'
'Yes, well, nobodys perfect,' Sirius muttered.
'I told her many times she was too good for you,' Snape announced. 'It would have made far more sense if you?d married him.' He pointed at Lupin. 'Nobody else can stand either one of you, and you could take each other for walks.'
'I?m not sure any amount of urgent messages from Dumbledore are worth this,' Lupin said, interrupting the glaring contest developing between Snape and Sirius. 'Severus, if you?ve got something to say…'
Snapes eyes darted around the room. Then, with a sigh, he reached into his pocket and drew out a glass vial; he uncorked it and poured the potion inside onto the floor. A bright cloud of scarlet smoke flew up and enveloped the three of them inside a cloudy crimson bubble. Lupin could hear his own breathing and Siriusin his ear; but other than that there was total silence. No noise from outside the bubble penetrated at all.
'Now we?ve broken a rule,' said Snape, with some satisfaction.
'Always riding the ragged edge of rebellion, aren?t you, Snape,' said Sirius. His eyes were bright and amused. 'I take it nobody can hear us when we?re in here?'
'Exactly, but its temporary, so listen closely.' Snape spoke rapidly.
'Professor Dumbledore has asked me to request that you once again assemble the old group. Headquarters will be the Burrow; its already been re-warded. The great likelihood is that if the current Ministry is if not entirely under the control of Voldemorts supporters, it soon will be.
It may be necessary to create an ancillary Ministry, and a secondary Council, recognized by the foreign Ministries — '
'That hasn?t been done for hundreds of years,' Sirius protested in an awed tone.
'Your grasp of history is as always, astounding. I recognize that this is an extreme procedure but these are extreme times. You are to be in charge of assembling our allies. Work quickly. We have very little time.'
Barely had Snape finished speaking when the scarlet cloud disappeared, leaving Lupin feeling oddly exposed. He looked around, expecting that everyone would be staring at them, but nobody was.
'The cloud is invisible to all except those inside it,' Snape said, seeing his confused expression. 'Handy, isn?t it? An invention of my own.'
'Yes.' Lupin was sincerely impressed. 'Very nice.'
'I call it the Cloud of Silence Potion,' Snape added, warming to his topic.
'I would have called it Bernard,' said Sirius. 'But thats just me.'
'You think you?re very funny, don?t you, Black,' the Potions Master snapped.
'I am, as always, a slave to majority opinion,' Sirius replied.
'I must get back to the school.' Snape had apparently decided that ignoring Sirius was the best approach. 'Dumbledore will owl you both later.' He began to walk away, but paused after only a few steps, and turned. 'Have you any message for him?' he asked, slightly reluctantly.
Sirius paused for a moment. Lupin knew that his dislike of Snape was battling it out with his desire for help from the man he admired most in the world. Finally, he said, 'Tell him that his Head Girl is safely with us, in case he was worried. Ask him, if he hears anything from Lucius about our boys…anything at all…to please tell me immediately. Even,' he added, more quietly, 'even if it isn?t good news.'
Snape looked at him for a long moment. Then he nodded briskly, and walked off.
Sirius took a deep breath. 'I need some air, Moony,' he said, and his voice was suddenly tight. Without a moments hesitation Lupin took his friend by the arm and steered him past a knot of wizards and witches, almost knocking over the teenage girl and her parents in his haste to get out the double doors.
Once outside, Lupin released Sirius, who leaned heavily against one of the impressive marble pillars adorning the front of the Ministry facade. He looked down, his hands balled into fists at his sides. There were scars along his knuckles: scars he had gotten in Azkaban, Lupin knew, for they had not been there before. He had never asked Sirius how he had acquired them. Aside from the scars, he had neat, careful, artistic hands, the nails freshly manicured for the wedding that had never taken place.
'I?m so worried, Moony,' Sirius said, looking away from Lupin, towards the empty Ministry gardens, their bare grounds covered with a light powdering of snow. 'I?m so worried about both of them I can hardly breathe. The last thing I did was yell at them…'
'They?re fine.' Lupin pushed his own worry down and spoke convincingly. 'Look at your Vivicus charm.'
Sirius glanced down at the silver band around his wrist. The red stone in it pulsed brightly as long as Harry was healthy and well. It was bright now. 'I know,' he said. 'If it wasn?t for that, I?d have gone mad ages ago.
