Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

'Are you sleeping with Black?' Lucius asked, as Sirius and Lupin disappeared down the garden. He gave Snape a quick sidelong look, misreading his usually standoffish expression as discomfiture. 'I'm only asking, Severus.'

'Yes, yes I am.'

'I see.' Malfoy stifled his sigh. 'I had always hoped ... well, you know what I had hoped.'

'And so had Black, as far as you are concerned,' Snape said candidly. 'An uncomfortable triangle if ever there were one. How are you getting on with Lupin? He seems to have fitted in very well here. I admit to being somewhat surprised.'

'Let's leave Lupin out of it, Severus,' Lucius said firmly. 'He has no place in this conversation.'

'As you wish.'

They walked towards the walled garden, to where Lucius had planted another tree on Alexus's new resting place. It was a Japanese Acer, and it sat beside the weeping cherry that had come down from Spinner's End of its own accord, and although everything else in the garden slumbered below the hard winter soil, the Acer's red-fringed leaves, and the soft green leaves of the cherry, remained bright and alive, fluttering gently in their own breeze. They seemed to sigh when Snape approached, as the fairies acknowledged him.

'Thank you,' he said quietly, 'it's beautiful.'

'It is enchanted,' Lucius replied. 'No one will ever disturb him. In fact no one but you or I can even see it, or the spot where he rests.'

Snape nodded his appreciation as he realised that Lucius had actually physically planted the tree himself, and not foisted the task onto an elf. 'I cannot come to you, Lucius. I love you, of course, but not in the way you want me to.'

'I know,' Malfoy replied, forcing down a sigh. 'It is enough that you're here. I suspect Black may be better for you than either of you ever imagine,' he added a little ruefully.

'He wanted you, you know. Black really wanted you,' Snape said as they walked on. As they turned away, the Acer disappeared from sight, leaving just a perennial weeping cherry standing sentry over a place no one else would ever see, a place one's eye would slide past as though it were not there.

'But like you,' Lucius murmured, 'I could not love him the way he wanted me to.'

'And what about you?' Snape asked as they stopped walking again.

'About Lupin,' Malfoy began, surprising Snape. 'Oh, no, not what you think; he is not that way inclined, as you pointed out yourself. But I am content with his company; I find it rewarding in the oddest ways, as though I see value in what I once saw as worthless, and no worth in what I valued.'

'You've changed, Lucius,' Snape said, 'for the better.'

'Have I? Do any of us really change? I doubt it. I suspect we just react to the way circumstances change around us.' Malfoy let his pale grey eyes hold Severus's for a long moment. 'I need this chance, Severus. I need to right wrongs too.'

'Yes, I know you do. There was always one thing that set you apart from the others, your one saving grace, and all the more so because not only did you fail to recognise it, but others failed too.'

Lucius looked at him. 'What do you mean?' he asked.

'You have one thing no man can ever take from you, Lucius,' Snape said. 'It is the one thing Regulus has not seen, and would never understand if he did. You have a conscience.'

As Malfoy began to walk towards Lupin and Black, Snape called him back, scanning the rest of the grounds uneasily. 'I do not want you leaving the Manor alone, Lucius. Last night showed us that Regulus is not above dropping in for a visit when he sees fit. It would not do for the master of the Manor to meet him in the grounds alone,' he said, raising his eyebrow, 'like a common gardener.'

'Am I to consider myself a prisoner?' Lucius asked.

'If you like.'

*****

Sirius and Lupin reached the bottom of the row of sandstone stores at the foot of the kitchen garden. As Lupin whispered to the end door it swung open to reveal a space that could not possibly exist in such a small building. The charmed hall had a vaulted ceiling and a polished mahogany floor, in the middle of which sat such an assortment of brightly-coloured bagpipes, and horns, and oddly-shaped stringed instruments, and skin-covered drums, that Sirius winced at the thought of the noise they could produce in children's hands.

Lupin lifted a small wooden pipe, and ran his hand over it. 'Good, eh?' He nodded to where the huge harp loomed down over everything, dwarfing the other instruments as though it had been made to quite a different scale. 'That was Lucius's idea, of course.'

'It's great ... even that monster. How many kids come?'

'Not many at first,' Lupin admitted. 'There weren't that many people who were keen to send their kids to learn anything Malfoy Manor might have had to teach them, but Dumbledore helped, and once the first few parents had come to have a look, it kind of escalated. A lot of families have too many kids below Hogwarts age under their feet, what with the orphans and so on,' he added. 'It didn't take that much persuasion to give them a break a couple of days a week.'

Sirius grinned. He could picture Lupin in the centre of a circle of young children who were blowing noise at him with some sort of vengeance, whilst he scratched his head and wondered what had happened. 'And what about Lucius?' he asked; he'd been meaning to ask before, but he hadn't got Lupin alone until now.

'He stays away,' the werewolf replied. 'It's not quite his scene.'

'How are you managing here, with him I mean?'

Lupin looked surprised. 'With Lucius? Fine, much better than I had expected, I suppose. It's been a lot easier than paying the rent was.'

Sirius nodded, wondering if Lupin had glossed over any underlying relationship, or if there just weren't one to gloss over. He wasn't quite sure how to ask.

'I'm not sleeping with Malfoy, Sirius,' Lupin said with distaste. 'I can tell that's what you're wondering.'

'I did not,' Sirius lied, at once relieved and puzzled. 'I just wondered how you're getting on with him.'

'I got on with him very well. He let me live a life I would never have been able to live without his good grace. In return, I offered him the security he needed.'

'Got?' Sirius said with a frown. 'Needed? What d'you mean.'

Lupin laid the wooden pipe down on top of a little drum, watching as it rolled back and forward for a moment before settling. 'I'll be moving on now,' he said. 'There's no necessity for me to stay here. Don't forget why I came in the first place.'

Sirius began to say something, but he couldn't work out what it was. Lupin was right; it was Sirius who had brought him here to watch out for Lucius ... if he and Snape were here there was no good reason for Lupin to stay. He nodded glumly; sometimes things looked a little too perfect, usually just before they fell apart. 'You'll still teach at the school though, won't you?' he asked. 'Look at the work you've put into it already.'

Lupin smiled his slow smile. 'We'll see. I'm going to see if Dumbledore's got a post for me at Hogwarts; that way I don't have to worry about rent.'

'You'll never need to worry about rent,' Sirius snapped. 'Damnit, Moony, why can't you just ask for money if you need it? You know I forget until you're starving. I wish you wouldn't let me do that.'

They found themselves almost back at the spot where Lucius and Snape were waiting. Sirius shivered; somehow the brief winter sun didn't feel as warming as it had when they'd set out. 'You should go and have a look at his school, Severus,' he said with a grin he didn't much feel like now. 'It's really good. Merlin knows what racket the kids kick up with the assortment of pipes and drums and stuff they've got.'

'Awful,' Lucius confirmed, giving Lupin an openly affectionate look that made Sirius frown, one that made him realise he had to get the blond Slytherin alone for a few minutes, for a very different reason to his usual one.

*****

Lupin looked up; he hadn't heard anyone coming along the corridor.

'What are you doing?' Lucius asked and nodded to where Lupin's clothes lay scattered on his bed, his one battered leather travelling bag already stuffed to bursting.

'I'm moving out, Lucius,' he replied. 'You've got enough protection now, and I've got other things to do with my life.'

'What other things?' Lucius asked and sat on the bed, shoving some of the clothes over a bit to give him space. 'Where are you going?'

'I'm going to Hogwarts ... at least, I'll start there.'

'But ... what about the music school?'

'I'll try to fit it in. I'm sure I can work something out with Dumbledore.'

He watched Lucius look away. Only once had he had to set him straight about his sexuality; he'd managed not to make it an awkward moment, and both men had brushed it off without either being embarrassed. Lupin watched him look back at him now, stifling the urge to put a hand on his shoulder the way he would have put one on Sirius's, in case Malfoy misread something in the touch.

'What about me?' Lucius whispered at last. 'I thought ...' He trailed off, as if he weren't really sure what he thought. 'Don't you like living here?'

'Of course I do. I mean, I'd be mad not to,' Lupin said reasonably. He was beginning to find this very difficult; the last thing he really wanted to do was leave the comfortable little niche in which Sirius had placed him.

'In that case, I would prefer if you took that stuff out of that bag and stopped acting like a petulant child.'

'I beg your pardon?' Lupin stiffened slightly.

'Behave yourself, Lupin,' Malfoy said. 'I am not about to force what I am well aware are my unwanted attentions on you, but ... I thought we were friends. I thought we had left that behind us and embarked upon something I have valued greatly.'

Lupin felt himself relax as he allowed himself a sigh, and even took the step of sitting on the bed at Lucius's side. Malfoy gave him an overtly arch look that made him laugh. 'I valued it too,' he said. 'I valued it very much. But things have moved on.'

'That's nonsense,' Lucius argued lamely. 'Anyway, I'm struggling to say that I want you stay here without you getting the feeling that ... I don't know. I don't want you to feel as though you are taking advantage of hospitality I am ... fuck. You're not taking anything I don't gladly give, Lupin. You didn't have to sell me your friendship ... I thought we had learned that much about one another.'

'I can't live like a parasite,' Lupin replied. 'I need to earn whatever way I can in life.'

'You talk some sanctimonious drivel sometimes,' Lucius replied with a pained expression. 'Now you're beginning to sound like Severus. How much do you think it would cost me to get a music teacher in for the multitude of brats you've dumped on me twice a week? And who's going to help me with looking after Draco? And Severus and Black will gang up against me ... I'll have no life once those two start.'

He looked to the door as it seemed to open of its own accord, until a small, very fast person scuttled in on all fours, with his thickly cotton-clad bottom in the air. He was followed by another slightly smaller boy, who didn't move just as surely; he toppled over onto his own well-padded backside with a bump, as the first boy hauled himself up Lupin's leg, and demanded immediate attention.

'And I'm not being left to deal with two of them,' Lucius added for good measure.

Outside the door Padfoot grinned to himself and trotted back along the corridor towards the nursery, leaving the tiny fairy sitting on top of the still open door to watch the boys; she'd followed along of her own accord, and he hadn't seen fit to argue. Sirius hadn't really been eavesdropping, but he'd thought it was a good move to shepherd the boys along to Lupin's room when it sounded as though Lucius was struggling.

They had put Draco and Harry in one room now. Sirius and Lupin and Lucius had called over Harry's entire store of newly-acquired clothes, and the animals from his shelves in Grimmauld Place, with Accio Charms, as Severus set his Fairy Charms to watch over them. Sirius didn't think he would ever forget the sight of the strange little animals traipsing through the Manor, giggling to one another as they pointed at portraits of long-forgotten Malfoys, and the fairies ushered them along under the steadily rising eyebrow of the current master of the Manor. At least he hoped he would never forget, as he tucked it into the thin file marked "precious memories''.

Sirius didn't know how Snape called the fairies. He had only ever read about how it could be done by those picked somehow by the fairies themselves. He knew it was a very rare talent, only bestowed on a wizard of unusual power; that bit didn't surprise him. Snape had left the original fairies in Grimmauld Place; he told Sirius they would be content, and that the room would always be a safe haven for any of the four of them who needed it. Sirius had thought for a moment that he'd included Lucius as the fourth, until he realised Snape meant Harry. Severus had seemed a little uneasy about including Lucius in the new Charm though, until Sirius pointed out that they could hardly prohibit Malfoy from seeing his own son when he was in the nursery in his own home. Sirius wasn't entirely sure that Harry's fairies didn't have an extra set of instructions though.

He changed back to his own form and pushed open the nursery door, kicking the slumbering elf who was supposed to be watching the boys.

*****

'Is he indeed?' Regulus said, giving the elf a thin smile of distaste.

He had wondered where Severus had holed himself up since Dumbledore had got him off. He had tried to find him a few times now, but Spinner's End wasn't occupied, and it had the air of a house that was never going to be occupied again, as though it were about to disappear back into the miserable ground from which it had sprung. He had suspected he'd gone to Lucius, but his visit to the Manor had denied that when he'd gone there two nights ago, on the pretence of wanting to talk with that supercilious idiot, Lucius. He hadn't wanted to send Snape another owl, not just yet; Regulus preferred to let him worry that he'd been a little too curt with his reply. He'd just decided that Snape had gone abroad, perhaps to seek out Voldemort himself, or gone to Hogwarts; Dumbledore had a record of providing shelter for hybrid half-blood trash ... and now it seemed not.

Regulus needed someone to confide in. There were too many thoughts in his head, and just sometimes he found the conflicting ideas and emotions of himself and Voldemort were more than he could deal with. He had already cast Snape in the role of confidante; he couldn't think of anyone else who would fit the bill as well as the dark snake would. Regulus was just a little put out that he couldn't find his family home though, and Severus Snape had his feet firmly under the kitchen table.

He eyed the elf again, trying to stifle his disgust at it; he'd always hated it. 'What do they talk about?' he asked.

'They talks very little, Young Master. The half-blood is very cruel to Kreacher; he send him away when he talks to the master.'

That hardly surprised Regulus. Snape was one dour uncommunicative man; he doubted his brother's dubious charms would awaken his passionless soul. He had found himself sceptical of the rumour that had flown around after the Potters had been dispatched that Snape had been having a fling with James; it must have been a figment of someone's overtaxed imagination.

'Tell me, does he share a bed with my brother?' he asked; he might as well discard it right away, offload any excess baggage, so to speak.

Kreacher gave him a sly look back. 'Once he did, Young Master,' he said. 'Then he left my mistress's house and Kreacher did not see him for days. Then he came back again, three moons ago.'

Regulus gritted his teeth. He knew he was going to have to drag everything out of the elf; it would not lie to him, he doubted that it could, but he knew it was up to him to think up the right questions. 'And now, do they share a bed now?' He was mildly shocked for some reason that Snape had indeed succumbed to Sirius. It must have been animal magnetism, he snorted inwardly in derision. He hadn't taken the old snake for a dog lover; he was almost disappointed in him.

'Only when the other half-blood came a few days ago.' Kreacher began to wail. 'There is now more half-bloods than pure peoples in our Noble House, Young Master.'

'Lupin?' Regulus asked in some surprise. He had been informed that the werewolf was staying at the Manor; both Andromeda and Macnair said so. It was a fact that Lucius hadn't seen fit to deny either.

'Not the wolfman, Young Master, a small half-blood. It can't walk yet, and the master feeds it, but Kreacher knows it will grow if it is allowed to.'

'Potter.' The name escaped Regulus's lips before he could stop it. He felt the fury rise in his blood. That his brother had brought Snape to the house was one thing, he had intended to woo the dark snake himself; he knew that perhaps Snape alone had the power to help him when it ultimately mattered, but to have spirited James Potter's half-blood spawn to Grimmauld Place and away from his reach again, was unthinkable. He grabbed the tea towel the elf wore, just below his throat. 'Why did you wait so long to seek me out?'

'Kreacher was not allowed out, Young Master,' the elf howled, jerking his head so that his tears and the slimy drips from his nose landed on Regulus's tightened fist until his "Young Master" dropped his hand in revulsion. 'But when they all went out they forgot to tell Kreacher to stay at home,' he said, and gave Regulus another cunning look, 'and Kreacher comes to you, Young Master. They will not even notice poor Kreacher is gone.'

'Let us hope not,' Regulus murmured. 'Can you get me under whatever Charm they have cast?'

'Oh yes, Young Master,' Kreacher declared in triumph at last. 'When the witches sealed it to only peoples who was in the house, they forgot Kreacher was there too. All the peoples in the house was allowed to take visitors.'

'In that case, we shall go visiting.'

'They has all gone out, Young Master,' Kreacher said doubtfully. 'Kreacher does not know when they returns.'

'Oh, that's all right,' Regulus said, smiling at last, 'I don't mind waiting.'

*****

'It involves a lot of very complicated lies, Sirius,' Dumbledore said sceptically. 'And you'll have to stay out of sight for ... forever maybe?'

'Oh, that's all right,' Sirius replied airily. 'I don't get out much anyway.'

'No, this will not work. You have not given it enough thought,' the Headmaster said firmly now. 'I am surprised at you, Severus,' he said reproachfully to where Snape sat at the end of the dining table, quite un-put-out by his opinion. 'I would have thought that you, at least, would have thought things out a little more carefully.'

'Quite,' Snape replied. 'I should certainly have thought more carefully about allowing Black to put our case across.'

'Oh dear,' Minerva said, clutching theatrically at her bony breast. 'That sounds as though there is more.'

'Of course there is,' Snape retorted. 'Black just wanted to get the bit about himself in first.'

Dumbledore listened, reluctantly beginning to see Snape's reasoning. The seat of the Malfoys was a vast Gothic Manor house that had stood for centuries; there were parts that he knew of that were virtual ruins. He remembered exploring the back of the eastern wing of the Manor with Lucius's grandfather when he was but a boy himself; it had been inhabited by nothing but a few errant mice ... and whatever else had moved in in the interim period. It would be no great task to annexe a couple of rooms. He had to agree that, even with Regulus's intention to "dispose" of Sirius, Lucius was the most vulnerable of them. He needed the protection of the men here; he was the one who was expected to produce results in a steady stream over the next few years. Dumbledore thought, not unkindly, that the presence of the other three would also go a long way in preventing Lucius backsliding into his old ways. The Headmaster knew, perhaps better than any of them, just how easily Lucius could be swayed by the trappings of power and glory, be they dark or light.

He wondered uneasily just what had hastened Regulus into making his visit to Malfoy Manor. He could not know Sirius was a direct threat to him just now; it was out of context with the rest of his planning. Dumbledore wondered if Regulus already knew that Harry had been moved; in fact had it not been for Lupin's constant vigilant presence in the Manor, he admitted that he would have automatically cast Lucius as a potential traitor. That led him to more uncomfortable thoughts centring on the Potters' son. Perhaps it would be well for him not to resist this; it would protect everything that needed to be protected for the time being.

Dumbledore would have liked to come face to face with Regulus himself, just to confirm what Severus had already identified, but he couldn't risk it. Voldemort, or whatever part of him Snape seemed to think dwelt within Sirius's brother, would know he could not dupe Albus Dumbledore the way Snape had deceived him into thinking he had fooled Lucius. And, if what Snape suspected were true, as Dumbledore admitted to himself he knew it to be, he could not afford to send what remained of the Order to Europe on a wild goose chase to attempt to find whatever remains of the Dark Lord were hidden there; he had an uncomfortable feeling he would need them right here.

He was just about to voice his concerns and his agreement when the dining room door opened. At first he thought it had simply been a stray draught, until he watched Severus stand, his face white with anger; it was only then that he noticed a fairy had perched on his shoulder and was whispering into his ear. He almost gasped in surprise as he caught Minerva's eye, and saw her astonishment too. It was very strong magic to control a fairy the way Severus obviously controlled this one; they were not of this world, and as such concerned themselves only with that which pleased them in it. He had never taken Severus Snape for being a Fairy Beckoner; it was an extremely rare talent which could not be inherited or learned, one only bestowed by the fairies themselves.

'What's wrong?' Sirius had jumped to his feet too; he'd also seen the fairy. 'The boys, where are they?' He began to run from the room.

'They are safe, Black, come back,' Severus called. 'We have another quite different problem.' Snape sat down. He'd set the fairy on the table, and she seemed content to dance in a little circle in front of him, singing to herself.

'What's happened,' Lucius whispered anxiously from where he sat at the other end of the table, with Lupin on one side and Andromeda on the other, nodding to the fairy. 'Damnit, Severus, are you going to tell us what's wrong?'

None of the other men seemed surprised that Snape had the fairy; they obviously already knew. Dumbledore assumed he had summoned it to watch over young Harry, a more pleasing and powerful Charm than any reluctant blood ties with Muggle relations. He watched as Severus turned to him. 'The Nominatum Perpetuum Charm, Dumbledore,' he said. 'I think we've made a terrible mistake with whom we allowed under the Charm.'

'I thought it was just the people around this table,' Lucius said with a frown. 'Apart from me of course,' he added, failing to mask the fact that he still felt slighted, as he looked around the others with suspicion-laced superiority.

'There was someone else in the house at the time, Lucius,' Snape said quietly, shaking his head at some folly Dumbledore was just beginning to recognise. 'Someone none of us took any heed of.'

'Fuck,' Sirius whispered. 'The elf?'

Snape nodded. 'The elf has just brought Regulus to number twelve, Grimmauld Place. I suspect we didn't move a moment too soon.'

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head slowly, before eyeing the little fairy with concern. 'What about the other fairies, the ones you left at Grimmauld Place? Will they be all right?'

'Oh, yes, nothing in this world can harm a fairy.' Severus looked at the tiny greenish-brown girl, barely the height of his finger, with her pointed ears and her dress that looked as though the skirt were a dandelion clock, and her minute grass-stained feet, and her little black mouse eyes, before closing his hand gently around her; when he opened it she had disappeared. 'At least there is a small way we can use this to our advantage.'

Dumbledore looked at him with a renewed respect. This was powerful magic indeed; they would all know that. But there was one thing they wouldn't know; they would not know that a fairy could only be summoned for good, and if she ever were bidden for anything but a blameless cause the Beckoner would cease to be. He wouldn't even die; he would simply cease to have ever existed. He wondered when it would occur to Snape to remind Sirius that he should have told the elf not to leave the house before they left; he thought he'd keep that to himself just now.

'Can they spy?' Sirius asked.

'No, they will not leave the vicinity of the room they protect if they sense danger,' Snape replied. 'But at least we will know if Regulus moves away from the house.'

Dumbledore watched Sirius nod in what was to be a short-lived relief; he closed his eyes in anticipation.

'You only had one thing to do before we left the Ancient and Most Treacherous House of Black,' Severus said, shaking his head slowly. 'And you forgot that.'

*****

It was a quite different Charm to the Nominatum Perpetuum Charm that Dumbledore eventually approved. This one allowed free access to those who knew the rooms were there, and it meant that any other Order members who were not there just then could also visit if necessary. Sirius and Severus had spent some time arguing which rooms they thought were near enough to Lucius's main living rooms, and remote enough not to be looked for. Dumbledore suspected the remains of the large sunken bath Lupin had almost fallen into while they were exploring, might have had something to do with their final choice.

He finished setting the Charm. He felt much better about this now, and he knew much of that comfort stemmed, not only from the fact that Lucius had agreed to move the nursery within the Charm, but that the fairies were willing to move too. Tricky little things fairies, it was very easy to offend them; Dumbledore knew that, he knew that a fairy scorned was a much more spiteful being than any woman scorned could ever hope to be. He was quite pleased with the balance of magic here. They had checked that the Patroni could pass the Charm, but the elves could not, and Dumbledore knew the whispering fairies were the ones who set the limits. He allowed them their victory; they had already made a mistake with one elf. Quite apart from that, he was an old man, and old men were easily enchanted by little girls.

He was just about to leave, had just taken Minerva's proffered arm, when Sirius stopped him.

'Aren't you going to help us clear up this mess,' he asked, looking at the sky through a hole in the roof.

'Come, come now, Sirius,' he replied. 'You need something to keep you out of mischief for a while.'

*****