Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Remus and Sirius had been playing cards for about an hour, when Remus said, "I'm worried about her."

"What? You said that she was almost positive she was getting fired. You're worried about that?"

"No. Not that. She's been acting strange." Remus held his cards loosely in his hands, not looking at them.

"How can you tell?" Sirius joked.

"Come on. I'm not joking. She used to reprimand me for being reckless and not understanding about undercover work. Now, she's doing many of the things she used to harass me about. She's been making a lot of rash decisions. Did I tell you she threatened her brother?"

"About time. Someone's needed to put him in his place for years," Sirius said derisively.

"Sirius!" Remus said harshly, trying to get his friend to be serious.

"Okay, okay. What's bothering you?" Sirius asked as he put his cards down and gave Remus his undivided attention.

"Ever since she got hit by that spell that nearly killed her, she's been acting odd. Taking all sorts of risks that she normally wouldn't."

"What do you propose we do?"

Remus put down his cards and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know. I know she didn't want to go St. Mungo's the first time around, so I doubt she would go now. I guess I'll just keep watching her. But that's the other problem."

"What? Is she Disillusioning herself around you now?"

Remus was so distraught that he didn't catch the joke. "No. It's just that I'm still working, and I can't keep an eye on her during the day. I know that she has been seeing Malfoy. She won't tell me about it, but I can tell."

"I thought she was going to take an antidote for whatever potion he was giving her?" Sirius asked pointedly.

He nervously shuffled his cards around the table. "She's been working on it, but hasn't found the right one yet. I can't take it anymore. I know she's not doing it willingly, but that doesn't change anything. I'm going to tell her that she has to quit. That she'll have to give up on getting inside information. Add to that the fact that she's not an Auror anymore, and I think she could be in some serious danger."

"Do you think she'll listen to you?"

Remus sighed and looked away from Sirius. "I don't know. I hope so. She's said she loves me, but she has become almost fanatic about finding out what Malfoy and the others are up to. You heard the last report she gave."

Sirius thought back to how adamant Wendy had been at the last meeting that she was getting closer to the Death Eaters and was working to unravel the mystery of why Malfoy was interested in prophecies. "Yeah. I think you may be right about her. I always remember her being the sensible one, even if she was tormenting me. She's acting more like Bellatrix now." He didn't know what else to say. He knew that he was the last person Wendy would listen to.

"It's your deal," Remus finally said to break the silence.

It was late afternoon before Wendy arrived. Remus and Sirius looked toward the door to the drawing room when they heard her coming up the stairs. Remus saw the glum look on her face and thought he knew what the outcome had been. "How bad was it?"

She flopped into a nearby chair. "Bad. My brother is quite an accomplished liar. Of course, the panel was more than willing to believe him given my long history of questionable behavior. Never mind that much of that behavior was at the behest of my superiors. And because of who he is, there was never any discussion of using Legilimency to determine the truth of his statements, even after I brought it up. I don't think that made me look any better.

"His cronies, of course, testified as to my brutality. And since I did attack one of them, even if it was self-defense, though I really couldn't tell them that, the testimony of the others was believed. Effective half an hour ago, I am no longer an Auror. Lucius, being the bastard he is, didn't show up. I'm sure he will have some sort of wonderful excuse about why he couldn't be there. Not that I'm entirely sure his testimony would have been beneficial, since he would be hard-pressed to contradict the complaint he submitted at the beginning of the year.

"I have also been notified that any interference, perceived or otherwise, I might give to official investigations will be severely punished with a sentence to Azkaban. While there are no dementors there, it's still a miserable place." She leaned forward in her chair. "They even warned me against any sort of vigilante justice. This basically means that if I look at my brother oddly, he can probably get me in trouble." By now her glumness had been replaced by anger.

"Did he say anything about the other day?" Remus asked cautiously.

"No. I didn't think he would. He's going to pay for this." She rubbed her hands together.

Sirius scoffed and was silenced by a glare from Remus. Remus said, "I think you need to set your revenge aside for the time being. We need you as a member of the Order, not stuck in prison."

"Oh, I'm not going to act now. I've already got him nervous. That's good enough for now. My revenge is not going to be simple. I want him to suffer, but only him. The rest of his family will be spared. I'm going to ensure that he is discredited and publicly humiliated."

"Hell hath no fury..." Sirius started.

"Oh, shut up," reprimanded Remus. "Wendy, please, let it go. He's not worth it," he pleaded.

She grinned devilishly at him. "Don't worry about me. When I decide to act, I will leave behind no proof. If you don't mind, I'd like to head home. Coming?"

"Sirius, I'll see you later," Remus said before departing with Wendy. He didn't like the tone of voice she had been using.

Arriving home, Wendy was contemplating the possibility of a nice hot soak when she heard a rather unwelcome voice greet her. "Ah, Wendy. My sincerest apologies for missing the hearing this morning. I heard it didn't go well." While his voice sounded sincere, he was giving Remus a disapproving look. "I see that you have a guest."

"This is John, my houseguest," hoping that would be enough to get Lucius to ignore Remus.

Lucius gave Remus a small smirk and said, "Pleasure." Turning his attention back to Wendy, he continued, "I wonder if we might finish this discussion in private?"

Knowing that she had no choice, she replied, "Of course. John, I'll finish explaining it later."

Remus tried to plaster a pleasant expression on his face. "No problem." He watched Lucius escort Wendy into the drawing room, and he found himself wishing he had a set of extendable ears.

"Once again, I do apologize for not being there. Narcissa took ill this morning, and she simply wouldn't me leave her until the Healer assured her it was nothing serious, and she would be perfectly fine in a day or so. Though, from what I heard, it may not have made much difference." He flashed her a placating grin and took her hands in his. "I would like the opportunity to make it up to you."

"How so?" she asked cautiously.

"We are hosting a dinner this Friday, and I would love for you to attend. It would be the perfect opportunity to reassert your presence in society. Not all of us agree with what your brother did. Of course, he has made some rather questionable decisions lately."

"I don't know..."

He continued smoothly, "Oh, come now. It will be quite a good time. You know most everyone that will be there, and I assure you, they are sympathetic to you. I've even invited Andrew MacCleod and Simon Jones. I think you will agree that either one of them would be a good match, though I suppose you may find Simon a tad old."

She was trying to decide if there was a diplomatic way she could turn down his offer. "I had hoped to just spend a quiet evening at home. This has been a very rough week for me."

"Understandable." He reached up and brushed her cheek. "I just thought you might welcome a bit of a diversion. And the guest list is just large enough that I'm sure a brief absence on our parts would go unnoticed," he finished in a whisper and leaned forward to capture her mouth for a passionate kiss that left her momentarily breathless.

Unable to think clearly, she replied, "I'll think about it."

He continued to touch her. "Please do. I would hate to think of you cooped up here when you could be having a much more enjoyable time at our dinner. I'm afraid I can't stay much longer. Narcissa's sleeping potion will be wearing off soon, and I must be there when it does. Have you made much more progress on prophecies?"

"Nothing more than what I already gave you. I don't think I have anything else that would be of assistance without more information," she replied, hoping to get some more information from him.

"No matter. What you gave me has been very helpful already. I may have another task for you on Friday. I look forward to seeing you then." He gave her one last kiss before departing.

Remus found Wendy sitting in the drawing room after he heard the front door close. "What did he want?" he asked gruffly. When she didn't answer, he touched her shoulder and tried again. "Wendy? What did he want?"

She shook her head to clear the confusion from her mind. "Oh, what? I'm sorry. Damn him. He gave some excuse about Narcissa being sick and that's why he couldn't be there. I'm sure he planned it so that I'll think he's on my side. On that note, he invited me to a dinner on Friday. He has several bachelors lined up for me."

"You're not going, are you?" Remus asked hopefully.

She sighed. "I don't know. I don't want to, but there are advantages to going."

He sat next to her on the sofa and took her hands in his. "You can't go. It's too dangerous now. You were protected as an Auror, but that protection is gone now." He knew that there was now no reason why they would not try to get her to join the Death Eaters.

"What else can I do for the Order? He said he had another task for me. Dumbledore was pleased when I gave him the information about Lucius being interested in prophecies. Maybe whatever this task is will give him more clues."

"Or perhaps it's the start of your initiation?" he offered.

"I doubt it. Lucius hasn't told me about his involvement with the Death Eaters."

"No, but that may be what the dinner is for. Think about it. You've been feeding him information for months that you are unhappy with the Ministry, unhappy about the state of the Wizarding World. In short, everything he would expect a Death Eater to say. Did he say anything about the other guests?" he asked, hoping to get her to think more objectively about what might occur at or after this dinner.

She thought back to her conversation. "No. All he mentioned was that they were sympathetic to me and unhappy with my brother. He didn't give me any other names."

He knew by now that asking her not to go would only be met with resistance. "You will be careful, won't you?"

"I always am," she replied smugly.

He held his head with his hands and leaned his forehead against hers. "No. You're not. That's the point. You aren't invincible; you are just incredibly lucky. I don't want that luck to run out on you."

She started kissing him. "I will be very careful with him."

"And what about his potions? You still haven't found an effective antidote."

"I think I know what I need now. I'll be safe. Besides, if he's trying to fix me up with one of his buddies, he won't really be after me that much," she said reassuringly.

"I hope you're right." He finally returned her kiss and decided to lead her upstairs.

They had spent most of the day sequestered upstairs, trying to have a few moments of peace in the chaos. They were drifting off to sleep when they heard the doorbell ring.

"Who could that be?" asked Remus, noticing that it was incredibly late.

"I have no idea," she replied as she slipped out of bed and began throwing on clothes. Picking up her wand, she headed towards the stairs. Remus followed closely behind her.

Cappa was waiting at the door for her mistress's permission before answering the door.

"Please, please. There is no need for that," said Albus.

"Albus? Come in, come in." She wondered what he was doing here. There was the chance that he might be seen, however slim.

"Thank you. My apologies for disturbing you at such a late hour, but it was less likely I would be noticed this late. Remus, would you mind if I spoke privately with Wendy for a few moments?"

Remus really wanted a chance to speak with Dumbledore, to let him know what he thought about Wendy's erratic behavior, but he knew that this was not really a request. "Of course. I'll wait in the other room."

Once they were alone in the drawing room, Albus said, "Kingsley informed me of what happened today."

"Yeah? What of it?" she replied defensively.

Albus had known this would be a difficult discussion. "I also suspect that some of the Death Eaters had something to do with this."

"Obviously. Lucius claims that my brother acted alone, but I don't believe him. What do you really want?" she asked shortly. She knew that he wouldn't have come by just to ask her about the hearing.

Albus knew that her emotions were still raw and did not respond to her anger. "I wanted you to know that even though you are no longer an Auror, you still have value as a member of the Order."

"Isn't that nice and sentimental." she replied snidely.

"Wendy, you are a very gifted witch, and you are in a unique position to help the Order. You have an opportunity to get information from within the Death Eater organization. It would be a shame for you to do something else to ruin that now."

She stared at him, unblinking, unwilling to rise to his challenge.

"Yes, I know that you visited your brother. You would be unwise to carry out any threat you may have given him."

Anger flashed in her eyes. "It was no threat. He will regret his decision to have me fired."

"Because he ruined your life?" Albus asked.

"Yes!" She started pacing the room like a caged animal.

"But did he really ruin your life?" he asked pointedly.

"Of course he did!" she said defensively.

"You have shown no interest in returning to your place in aristocratic society. You have continually complained about the shallowness of those people. Was it so horrible that he removed you from that society?"

"Well, no," she admitted sheepishly.

"And if he had not done so, you would not have met Remus. I have heard that the two of you are engaged. In a way, you have your brother to thank for that."

"I was happy doing my job and he has taken that from me. It was all I had after he took Andorra away from me," she cried, desperately trying to hang onto her anger.

He replied gently, calm in the face of her waning anger, "But now you have Remus. Being an Auror was just a job. A job cannot fill an empty void. That is what family is for. While your brother took your family from you, he also made it possible for you to love." His blue eyes twinkled at her.

"It's always love with you, isn't it?" she asked bitterly, she snapped as she crossed her arms. He didn't seem to understand the magnitude of what had happened to her.

"It is a very important emotion. You did not love your job. You were good at it, but you did not take joy from it. I think that perhaps you can be of more use to the Order now," he said sagely

"So, what is my new role to be?" she asked defensively.

"Much as it was. Use your contact with Lucius to learn more about the Death Eaters. The information you have provided about his interest in prophecies has proven quite useful. I have several theories on why he is interested in that information. Since you have helped him once, he will likely turn to you again."

"Ask me anything but that. I can't be around him anymore." She knew she sounded weak and hated showing weakness, but he was asking the impossible.

"We all must make sacrifices. I know this is a very large one, but with luck, you will not need to make it much longer. Remus will understand. The time may come when he is asked to make a sacrifice of his own."

She had the impression that he meant something specific by the statement. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing in particular. We all must make sacrifices from time to time, and we never know when that time will come. Now, I cannot remain long. Stay the course." He rose, placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and walked out of the room.

She couldn't find the strength to get up.

Remus was in the library waiting for Dumbledore to leave. When he saw the old wizard, he caught the older man before he could step outside. "Albus, I'm worried about her. She's changed."

"We all change, Remus. You know that," Albus replied simply.

Remus knew that he was not explaining himself well. "That's not what I mean. Ever since she was hit by that spell, she hasn't been right. She's been more reckless, less willing to listen to advice."

"I think that she is cured from her troubles with the spell. There may be something else causing her strange behavior."

Only now, did he consider there might be other possibilities. "If it's not that, it would have to be Malfoy. Something about the potion that he is using on her."

"That is a possibility. And she has not yet formulated and antidote?" Albus knew she had been working to that end.

"No."

"I shall ask Severus for assistance."

Remus pleaded, "No, please. Don't ask him."

"Do you not trust him?" Albus asked cautiously.

"It's not that. It's... complicated." He knew that while they were on the same side, Severus still did not approve of his relationship with Wendy. Severus would probably claim that it was not a potion, but the fact that she naturally desired someone like Malfoy.

"I understand, but if you truly believe it has something to do with the potion, we should enlist his aid. There is no one better at potions," Albus said solemnly.

He knew the old Headmaster was correct. "I know. I'll contact him if we need his help. She told me she thinks she has it now."

Albus looked into Remus' eyes and the two men shared a pained expression. "I know this is difficult. I hope it will soon be over. I have found those like Lucius have a short attention span."

"Not for her. They have a long history," Remus replied morosely.

Albus said nothing for several seconds. "I see. Then we will have to find another way to ensure this ends soon. If she can provide proof of his position within the Death Eaters, we could remove him from the picture."

"Thank you, Albus." Remus watched the elderly wizard disappear into the night before walking to the drawing room. "Wendy? What did he want?"

"More of the same. Telling me what a great job I'm doing. Keep up the good work. Keep trying to get close to Malfoy." She looked up into his eyes, on the verge of tears. "I don't think I can do it anymore."

He knelt next to her and pulled her to him, not quite believing his own words. "You can do it. You are strong."

She desperately clung to him. "I want to run away. Find someplace where none of this is happening."

He gently stroked her hair as she leaned against his shoulder. "No, you don't. You would regret it. You are the only one that can do it." He wondered why he was encouraging her. Right here, he had the opportunity for an easy out. When she didn't reply, he noticed that she was crying, and he rubbed her back, trying to reassure her.

"It's so hard," she whispered between sobs.

He kissed the top of her head. "I know it is. War is never easy. You're strong. I know you can do it."

When she finally pulled away from his arms, she wiped her eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For all this. For getting you in the middle, for having a breakdown."

"There's nothing wrong with that. You're under a lot of stress." He stroked her hair. "Did you want to head back upstairs?" he asked gently.

She nodded. "Okay."

The following morning Wendy realized how empty everything seemed. She had nothing to do, no job to go to. At least not until tomorrow evening, though she really didn't want to do that. She thought she should go into the factory. The problem was, she just didn't feel like it.

Remus noticed her sullen mood and had been trying to engage her in conversation all morning. "Wendy," he called sharply to get her attention. "I said, I could take the day off work, if you would like."

She finally looked up from shoving her eggs around the plate. "No. You don't need to do that. It wouldn't be fair of you to just not show up."

"It wouldn't be unfair. I let Sally know that I might not be in."

"No, you go to work."

"Are you sure? I'm worried about you." His concern was clear in his expression.

She tried to flash him a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. I'll get out of the house today."

He reached across the table and took her hand. "Are you sure?" He had known that she would be upset by the decision of the board, but he had thought they had prepared for the negative ruling.

"I'll be fine." She took note of the look he was giving her. "Really. I will. I won't do anything stupid. I know they will be really watching me for the next couple of weeks."

"Why don't you meet me for lunch?" He thought this was an innocuous way to keep an eye on her. "There's a passable pub by the book shop."

She smiled weakly. "I'll meet you then."

Wendy spent two days surveying her holdings. She had only half paid attention to the briefs and tours she had been given. None of it really interested her. That was why she had never really gotten involved.

Now, she was staring at her wardrobe, trying to decide what to wear. Thanks to all the undercover work she had done, she had plenty of options. She discarded the first few robes for being too sexy. Another for being too matronly. She was staring at two, a black one and a green one, when Remus entered the bedroom.

"You're going," he said quietly.

"Yes." There was really nothing else to be said.

He noticed that the dresses she was considering were somewhat conservative. "Have you found an antidote?"

"I've got it under control. I'll be fine." She discarded the black one and decided to go with the green. It had less embroidery and was in the Slytherin colors.

"When are you leaving?"

"A little before seven." She began digging through her jewelry box, looking for pieces that were not too ostentatious. After several minutes, she settled on a simple set consisting of emeralds set in platinum. When she looked up, she noticed that he was gone. Slowly, she dressed for the evening. She spent a lot of time working on looking good, but not too good. After she finished putting her earrings on, she looked briefly in the mirror.

Before leaving the bedroom, she picked up her wand and pointed it at a painting on the wall. It swirled and revealed a hidden chamber. She removed the box hidden within and removed the protective charms. Slowly, she picked up the ring and slipped it on her finger. Even though she thought it was her imagination, she thought she could feel the power from it flowing through her body. Closing her eyes, she clutched at the ring.

After the feeling of power subsided, she applied a charm to the ring to alter its appearance. At a minimum, she knew that Remus would recognize it and there was a decent chance that someone at the dinner party, especially Narcissa, would also recognize it. One last look in the mirror and she was sure that she was ready.

Remus was waiting downstairs. He couldn't bear to watch her dress for the party. He could feel the knot in his throat when he saw her. She looked regal, though not ostentatious. "Are you leaving?"

"I have a few minutes."

"And you're sure that you've solved the potion problem?" he asked cautiously, knowing it was the only chance she had against Malfoy.

She nodded. "I've got it now. There won't be any problems with it this evening." She wrapped her arms around him, wanting to feel him. "I'll get out of there as soon as I can."

"Be very, very careful," he said quietly.

She leaned her forehead against his and looked into his eyes. "I will." None of them can harm me, she added silently. The ring would protect her. She pulled away and Disapparated.