Harry Potter & Hell\'s Assassin

*

Sirius Black gazed out the stained window of the living room and up into a sky that mirrored his emotions perfectly; dark and dreary, the heavens cast a bleak overtone on the world below.

This is how he spent most of his time, when Remus wasn’t here with him on the weekends. He sat and stared and thought. Sometimes he drank; something that was once a rare occurrence was now turning into a bad habit. He thought his friend might start to get annoyed with him, if he wasn’t already, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He had failed at the one thing he was sure he was meant to do in this wasted life. He couldn’t keep a sixteen year old boy safe and so grant the wish of his dead friend.

A pang shot through his chest and Sirius raised a half empty glass to his dry lips and let the rum flow over his tongue and down his throat, leaving a fiery trail that gave him something to focus on besides his emotional turmoil.

As he set the glass down on the small end table beside his chair, the small movement of his head made a glimmer catch on a photo on the mantle piece. He stared hard at it for a moment, knowing what it was and trying to refrain from moving to grab the object. If he looked at it, it would undo all the hard work he had put in to drinking five glassed of rum. He could not bring himself to look at Harry’s smiling face pressed against his, their cheeks flushed from the cold snow that was falling behind them.

That small pang in his chest grew and Sirius realized that he was picturing the photo in his mind. He rose from his chair with great effort and shuffled across the room to the glowing hearth. He thought he remembered Remus coming in and lighting a fire several hours ago.

The metal of the frame was cool on his heated skin and he clamped his other hand around it.

Harry’s eyes twinkled, dangerously close to resembling Dumbledore’s, and Sirius found a sad smile gracing his lips.

“Sirius?”

Startled, the frame fell from Sirius’ slack fingers as he spun around as best one could after so many glasses of alcohol. The picture hit the floor with a crack and the animagus’ attention immediately went to the floor at his feet.

“I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Remus watched as his friend slowly bent to pick up Harry’s picture. He didn’t know how many times he had walked into the room and found Sirius gazing at it. He made his way over to stand beside his friend and saw a large crack running right down the center of Harry’s face and shoulders.

He took the frame from Sirius’ fingers and sighed as the man just stared at the empty space.

“Don’t worry, I can fix it.”

His friend was already turning from him though, back towards the chair by the window and Remus felt a sharp jolt of annoyance in his stomach.

“What, you don’t want me to fix it?” he asked, he voice cool.

Sirius’ eyes were bloodshot and lidded. “Maybe its better if we just get rid of it.” Remus stared for a moment, unable to believe his ears. He struggled to find words. “Why…would you want to do that?”

“Because I can’t forget this if his face is everywhere I look!”

Remus was trembling with the effort it took to restrain himself from smacking the man in front of him.

“You want to forget him? How could you say such a thing? That boy loved you! He looked to you as a father! And now you just want to forget him?” Remus was met with stony silence and the anger welled within him. Hurling the picture frame against the wall with all his werewolf strength, the thing shattered into a million pieces, leaving the paper to drift out and onto the floor. Remus marched forward and grabbed the listless man by the collar and hauling him right out of the chair.

Sirius yelped in surprise as he was slammed against the wall, glass crunching under his feet and cutting through the thin socks and into his flesh.

“Get a grip, Sirius!” Remus shouted.

Remus never yelled and Sirius gave him his full attention, a trembling hand coming up to grasp the one about his neck.

“Remus…”

“No! You will listen to me and you will do so carefully. I realize you are in pain, Sirius, I do, but this is. Not. Healthy.” He paused to see if any of what he was saying was sinking in. “I’ve left you pretty well alone for the last month and hoped that you might come out of this yourself. We are all grieving, Sirius, but killing yourself with alcohol is ridiculous.” Remus forced his hands to unclench and Sirius dropped a foot, though kept eye contact. “Harry would not want to see you like this. He wants you to be happy. He wants you to live.

Sirius was shaking his head now. “And what kind of life is this to live, Remus? I haven’t left this house in months. I couldn’t until just recently and besides even if I tried to get a job most of the wizarding world still thinks I’m a criminal and wouldn’t hire me anyway!”

A moment of silence and then.

“Come to Hogwarts, like Albus asked. Help me teach Defense to the children.” Sirius heaved a sigh and let his head fall into his palms, he rubbed his eyes vigorously. The fact that Sirius was neither agreeing nor disagreeing meant that he was at least thinking about it.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Sirius said once he had sat down again, “How are they? Ron and Hermione and the Weasleys I mean?”

Leaning back into a chair across from Sirius’, Remus thought about the question. “Well, miserable like expected. I think Ron is having the worst time of them all. He just doesn’t know what to do with himself. A lot of the other children in the school are affected as well.”

“And they don’t even know the truth…”

Remus nodded. “Makes you think what they’ll do when they find out.” He sighed, “The Slytherins are having the time of their lives with it of course. I’m always walking around a corner to find them sneering at some group of Griffindors. I even caught Blaise Zambini and Ron down by the pitch. They were beating the pulp out of each other.” Remus grinned. “Ron was winning so I pretended not to see them for a few extra moments.”

A frown marred Sirius’ face, “I’d have thought some of them would have known from their parents what was going on.”

“That’s what I thought too, but Albus seems to think that Voldemort has put the fear of Merlin in them, and given strict orders not to tell anyone. Those he hasn’t already Obliviated anyway.”

“So how is it teaching classes again?”

Sirius listened as Remus went on about his days spent teaching at Hogwarts. He understood why the first years were too excited to pay attention in class he just wished they would try a little harder. And the third years, well! It was about the time they started thinking the opposite sex wasn’t so gross after all. Remus was tired of half the class staring into one another’s’ eyes or giggling like idiots. However he was rather impressed with the children in terms of marks. They were smarter and more disciplined than ever (minus the love struck ones). They knew everything he was teaching them and then some and many of them were starting to have trouble keeping their eyes open in class. “I’m telling you, Sirius!” Remus insisted upon seeing his friend’s disbelieving look, “They know spells that the seventh years are learning. And the other day as I as was cleaning up after I had dismissed them I heard two boys talking about different types of shielding charms. Their densities, their endurance, their difficulty level and magic depletion.”

“What the hell is magic depletion?”

Remus rolled his eyes, “That means how much of your magic the spell will take and how long you can successfully hold the spell before you become drained.”

Sirius blinked, “Oh…”

Remus shook his head, “These are sixth years we’re talking about. I don’t even know how they know this stuff, much less how they practice it…what are you smiling about?”

Sirius had a small, sad grin on his lips, “I know why they are so advanced. The DA.”

“The what?”

“The DA.” Sirius repeated. “It was a group Harry, Ron and Hermione started in their fifth year. Umbridge was such a poor teacher the children decided to take it upon themselves to learn what they thought was important.” Sirius chuckled, “Apparently there was quite a large number of students in the group from all four houses…including Slytherin. Harry told me once that they had all made a unanimous vote that he should be the one to teach them.”

Remus found himself smiling. “How’d he take that?”

“Oh, he fought it tooth and nail, of course. You know how Harry is.” Sirius smiled, “Anyway, that was all I could get out of him before he blushed to the roots of his hair and ran for it.”

“What did Ron and Hermione tell you then?” Remus knew Sirius would have immediately gone to them next.

“They told me Harry was an outstanding teacher. That he gave them the courage and the ability to believe they could do anything they wanted.” Sirius’ eyes shone proudly. “Did you know he taught Neville Longbottom to produce a corporeal Patronous charm? Along with about fifty other students…”

Remus felt his mouth fall open and snapped it shut quickly. “I noticed a difference in Neville. He’s more confident with himself. And his magic has improved considerably.” He smiled and scoffed, “That’s amazing. I had no idea Harry did all that.”

“Yeah…”

As an after thought, Remus asked, “What does the DA stand for?”

Sirius smiled again, “Dumbledore’s Army.”

Remus felt warmth spread through him at the thought of Harry and all the amazing things he had done in his short life. He missed the boy terribly and knew that he would, forever. But he could not help but feel joy when he realized Sirius was chuckling, his eyes still shinning proudly.

“Such an amazing boy…” He whispered, shaking his head. Then he sighed, though it was a feigned exasperation, his expression was playful. “I suppose I better write Dumbledore with my answer.”

Remus grinned from ear to ear, “Going to come and help me control Hogwart’s new generation of misfits, are you?”

“Nah…I think I’ll help them out. Teach them some old tricks.” Sirius called over his shoulder as he left the living room.

Suddenly, Remus felt nervousness replace the warmth and his face fell. “Sirius?” He called uncertainly. “You wouldn’t really, would you?”

When he received no answer, Remus leapt up from the chair he was in and raced after the animagus, “Sirius! Don’t you dare!”

A bark like laugh sounded from within the kitchen.

* * * *

“Alright, everyone open your books to page 219 please, we will be starting a new chapter, again, seeing as most of you have been on the verge of falling asleep recently.” Remus gazed sternly at the bored expressions before him.

One boy, he could not remember his name, asked loudly, “Why don’t we start in on the seventh year stuff?”

Remus sighed and turned his back to the class as he flipped through his own textbook. “The first reason is because you are not in your seventh year. The second reason is because it is too late to begin an entire new curriculum.”

The class seemed to slump as a whole and the children began to listlessly flip through the pages of their textbooks.

Suddenly, a thought came to Remus and he went with it before he had time to change his mind. Harry may have taught a lot of children to do the Patronous charm but he didn’t teach them all and, in times like these, it was a good thing to know. He called out to the class, “How many of you can produce a fully fledged Patronous?”

Several hands rose into the air cautiously, wary of the sudden change of attitude from their teacher. However, once several brave souls had put their hands up, others rose out of the crowd. Still, more than half the students had remained still.

Remus clapped his hands together, “Right then, books away and wands out please.”

This time, they obeyed before he had even had even finished giving the instructions. Talking in a flurry of excitement, the students had done as he asked and more, moving all the desks off to the sides of the room to create a large area for practice.

Remus stood on the spot, shocked. “How many of you were in the DA?”

This time, most of the children put their hands up, proud smiles on their faces.

“We was all in the DA mostly.” Said Anderson, a small boy that looked far too young to be in this grade level. “But a lot of us was newcomers see, and we couldn’t get the charm in the time we had left before the summer hols.”

“So you are all varying in stages of learning the spell. So, as only a very few of you know how to do it properly, we will all start at the beginning. As you all know, you need a happy, powerful memory…”

Even though they all knew the material, the attention of the students was focused on Remus completely. Patronous charms were challenging and interesting, even for those who already knew how to do them. Two students, however, detached themselves from the rest of the group and made their way to the back of the room. Ron and Hermione sat, shoulder to shoulder, atop a desk and remembered Harry, who had taught them how to produce their own Patronous. Harry, who had taught them all just as Remus was doing now. They tried not to think about how much they would rather have Harry here instead.

* * * *

Remus eased himself into a chair, the strain of a full day of teaching aching in his muscles.

“Long day, Remus?”

“Quite, Fillius. I decided I was going to teach them all the Patronous charm, but looking back on it I’m not really sure it was such a good idea…”

The charms professor regarded him carefully for a moment before he nodded, “No, no, highly useful charm to know. Especially with times as they are.”

Remus grunted as a form of agreement, his mind focused more on filling his plate.

“How is Sirius doing?”

Remus sighed as he pulled his plate towards him, “Better than he has been. Much better. He still has a long ways to go.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it! That poor man has been a wreck for months now.” The little man shook his head, “’Course, it’s understandable. That boy deserved better than what life gave him.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “I mean, the poor boy hasn’t even been given a funeral! If the wizarding world knew what had happened to Harry Potter everything would grind to a halt, and very well it should!”

“All the more reason to keep your mouth shut when you know there are so many ears to hear you!”

Remus and Fillius looked in the direction from which the acidic hiss had come. Remus himself had been about to remark on his co-workers blatant disregard for secrecy, only Severus had beaten him to it.

“Oh, I do apologize, Severus, I got carried away.”

Snape rolled his eyes, “Yes, yes, the poor Potter boy’s cry for attention has been answered once aga –”

The potions master never got to finish his snide remark as Remus had risen from his seat, reached right over the charms professor’s head and gripped Severus’ throat in his hand.

“Take it back.”

Something undeniably ugly shone in Remus’ eyes and he felt an anger swirling deep within his mind that he could never remember feeling before. It paralyzed his reason and judgment and fog swirled around his head.

Snape’s shocked gaze was mirrored in the blazing eyes of a wolf as he clawed desperately at the hand around his throat. Screams of frightened children drifted through the hall but Remus paid them no heed. His name was being called in the distance and he found he could not answer it; the rage would not let him.

“Take. It. Back.”

His voice, as cool and hard as steel, cut through Snape’s senses like a blade.

“Let go of me you rabid animal!”

“TAKE IT BACK!”

Remus’ voice seemed to rattle the windows and more cries followed him as children fled the hall.

But Severus’ black eyes glared from under drooping lids, defiant even on the brink of consciousness. “I…won’t…”

Fury exploded in his chest and Remus squeezed with all the strength of the wolf. In the next second, several things happened.

Remus felt, for the first time, the damage he could do with his power. Arteries pinched, tendants stretched and mashed together and bone grinded hard. A strangled moan and gurgle and Severus’ black eyes rolled back into his skull. Then darkness consumed Remus and he blacked out out before he even hit the floor, his grip on Snape’s throat going slack.

* * * *

Upon waking, Remus could never remember a headache so bad. Not after a night at the pub, not in school. Not even after a transformation had he been in so much pain, his mouth thick with cotton.

“Finally awake are you?”

The voice sent shock waves into his brain and he clutched his head in both hands, moaning.

That was Poppy Pomfrey’s voice. But if she was here, that meant he was in the hospital wing…

“What happened?” He managed to grind out.

The medi-witch set a beaker of water down on his bedside table and gave him her usual, hard stare. “You attacked poor Severus is what happened! Mind you I imagine he did something to warrant being attacked…”

Something cold had begun to grow somewhere around Remus’ navel at Madam Pomfrey’s words. He was assaulted with memories of him gripping Severus’ throat and it crushing beneath his hand. Bile rose in his throat and he fought to keep his stomach in check. His face ashen, he looked up at Poppy with wide eyes.

“Is he alright?”

The witch stopped talking and looked at him curiously.

“Who, Severus? Yes he’s fine.” His concerns were briskly waved away as a matter of little importance. “Of course he is!” A mischievous smile tugged at her lips, “Though I dare say he needed to be brought down a peg. To every house but Slytherin, you are a hero.”

Remus rolled his eyes, feeling considerably better now that he knew he had not killed his co-worker.

“I’ll go and get you a pain reliever. I imagine you must have quite a nasty headache.”

“You have no idea…”

As soon as the woman was gone, the doors to the wing opened silently and in came two familiar faces, both of which lit up upon seeing him. It was the first smile he had seen on Ron and Hermione’s faces since Harry had disappeared more than two months ago. He felt good, knowing that it was him that had made them smile.

“Alright?” Ron asked as the duo came up to the bed.

Remus couldn’t help but grimace, “My head is a bit sore.”

Hermione scoffed, something Remus was sure he had never heard her do, “I should imagine it would after taking eight stunners to the head.”

“Bloody brilliant, what you did!” Ron burst. He seemed like he had been waiting a while to say that and color tinged his cheeks.

Remus looked away. “I shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

To his surprise, it was Hermione that was shaking her head. “If you hadn’t, someone else would have. Ron was already halfway to the head table before Seamus and Dean jumped on him.” She looked at Ron sternly and his ears turned pink.

“Bloody git was talking loud enough for everyone to hear.”

Remus saw something dark glittering in Ron’s blue eyes that had never been there before.

“…wish the bloody bastard would just kick it already.”

“Ron.” Hermione’s voice was not shrill or outraged, or even irritated, like Remus had expected, it suggested caution – that he should be careful about what he says in the open.

Remus was still staring in shock, though it did not show in his face. Ron was known to be brash and often said things he didn’t mean when he was angry or upset. But the conversation was calm and Remus heard only truth in the red head’s voice. He really did want Severus to die. Remus felt his heart ache and his throat constrict. Children should not have such murderous thoughts. They should not have such sorrow and hatred in their eyes.

“Anyway,” Hermione said, with the air of wanting to move on. “What’s done is done.”

“Well, have I missed anything?”

Ron smiled suddenly at the question and Remus frowned. “What?”

“Have you missed anything?” Ron laughed, “I should think so, you’ve been out for nearly a week!”

Doing a spectacular imitation of a goldfish, Remus attempted to put words in his moving mouth. “W-what?! A week!”

Ron and Hermione laughed hard at him, their cheeks going red and tears shinning in their eyes. Suddenly Remus forgot about his shock and his guilt and began to laugh with them.

“I told you that would get him riled up.” Ron gasped, wiping his face.

Hermione chuckled. “Don’t worry, professor, we had a good replacement.”

His brows creased in confusion for a split second before his face broke into a smile once more.

“Finally awake are you Remus?”

Sirius Black, clean shaven and wearing fresh robes walked into the hospital wing with a welcoming smile on his face.

“What have you done with my class?” Remus asked, his tone accusing but grinning from ear to ear.

Sirius placed a hand over his heart. “You judge me so quickly. And here I thought you liked me!”

* * * *

When Madam Pomfrey finally released Remus from the hospital wing, he was sent straight to Dumbledore’s office. Ascending the staircase, he couldn’t help but feel like a nervous schoolboy awaiting his punishment from the headmaster.

“Come in.”

Remus did so, feeling guiltier than he had in a long time. Dumbledore was peering at him over the top of his glasses and Remus could not bring himself to meet the penetrating gaze.

“Sit. Would you like some tea?”

“No, thank you, sir.”

There was a moment of palpable silence while the headmaster poured himself a cup.

“You have been out for quite some time,”

“Yes, well…”

“Did Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger tell you anything that has happened?”

His curiosity peek, Remus sat up straighter and looked up. “Only that Sirius had taken my classes for me.”

Suddenly Albus smiled widely. “Ah, yes! I was glad to receive his letter, and just in time too.” The old man added, giving him a look. “It is so good to see him finally taking advantage of his freedom, however much he had wished to share it with Harry, he needs to move on. The poor man has had no time to live.”

Remus nodded, “Try telling him that. I’m relieve we finally got through to him.”

“Yes, quite, quite. Now. There is news I need to tell you, but I must ask you now not to get your hopes up. It is about Harry,” Dumbledore said, seeing the question forming on Remus’ face. “However, it is not much and rather…er, far fetched.”

“But it’s a start.” Remus insisted, sitting forward excitedly.

Albus nodded sagely, “It is.”

“Does Sirius know yet?”

Again he nodded. “Yes, he does. And he took it rather well.”

“This is good.”

“We have Severus to thank.”

At this, the wind left Remus’ sails rather quickly and heat rose in his cheeks. “Err, yes, about that headmaster, I –.”

Dumbledore raised a wizened hand. “Think nothing of it. We all loose our temper sometimes. I dare say I was close to losing mine after that comment. Suffice it to say I have spoken to Severus and he will hold his tongue.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Remember only that the ministry allowed you to return here because the public have lost confidence in them and Fudge needs to built up their trust again, and I don’t wish to sound conceited but, I am the lesser of two evils in the public eye, I think. Especially now that Voldemort’s return has been accepted. However, if word gets out to the public that you are attacking teachers, no matter how much they deserve it,” here he bestowed a small smile upon Remus as the werewolf sunk lower and lower into his chair, “you must know that the parents will turn to the ministry once more and I will not be able to protect you.”

Remus was now feeling thoroughly embarrassed and guilty. Basically what Dumbledore was saying was that he needed to keep his temper in check otherwise they would lose the tedious hold Dumbledore, who just happened to be the leader of the Light, had on the public. He needed to control himself or he was going to bullocks up what little advantage they had.

Remus nodded jerkily, not trusting his voice at all. He felt so foolish.

“The discoveries we have made will all be discussed at the Order meeting tonight.” The headmaster’s tone took on a businesslike quality and Remus embraced the formality to distance himself from the intimacy of the last half an hour.

“I trust you would like to return to your classroom and right whatever damage Sirius has done.”

“Thank you sir, I mean, yes, sir. Thank you.” Flustered, and dangerously close to graveling, Remus stood and fled the office, grimacing at his childish behavior as he tried to block out the chuckles drifting from Albus’ office door.

* * * *

The house was quiet with anticipation that night. It was less than an hour until the meeting commenced and already there were many people bustling about the house. Molly was cooking in the kitchen, her way of coping with stress.

No one knew exactly what tonight’s meeting would reveal; only that it was about Harry, and they were eager to begin.

Sirius and Remus had claimed the living room as their sanctuary and they sat on the sofa by the fire. The two were silent, staring into the flames in the hearth intensely, lost in their own thoughts.

“What do you think it is?”

Remus sucked a lungful of air into his lungs and dispelled it in one great burst. “If Snape discovered it I’d say it was something to do with the potion…”

Sirius sighed then as well and shifted in his seat, sinking lower. “I have nightmares about that.”

Remus pulled his eyes from the hypnotic power of the dancing flames and stared at his friend. “About the potion?”

“Yes. About how he thought it was burning. About his screams…how it must have felt to be torn apart, piece by piece.”

“Stop, Sirius.”

Feeling ill by this point, Remus’ hands trembled where they rested in his lap. If this is all Sirius had been thinking about then no wonder he was having such a difficult time coping with it.

“You have to stop thinking about this.” Remus was glad to hear his voice was much steadier than his hands. “You have to move on and accept that Harry may not be coming back.”

“I know that, Remus.”

He didn’t sound angry, only tired.

“And I want to…I thought I was. But then Dumbledore came and told me they found something and…” He sighed again, shaking his head.

The two lapsed into silence once more and waited for the meeting to start.

* * * *

“As you all well know, we have made some progress in discovering some information about Harry’s disappearance. It has to do with the potion he was given.”

Several pairs of eyes dropped to the table in memory of the incident. Dumbledore had sat down and waved in the direction of the potions master and, with a sigh that suggested he believed this was an enormous waste of time, Severus stood.

“I have, with the help of the Headmaster of course, been able to make a list of all ingredients in the potion. It has a name, we discovered. Also we know what it does.”

Sirius jumped up from his seat, the legs of the chair scrapping loudly on the floor. “You wasted your time with that?! I could have told you what it did! It bloody tore him to pieces!”

People’s faces drained of color at the words.

Miraculously, Snape only gave a sharp sigh, looking very frustrated. But it was not directed at Sirius, the potions master was looking straight ahead, his greasy head swaying from side to side. Sirius, confused at the lack of response from Snape, could do nothing but seethe at his own words.

“The potion isn’t much, according to everything we read. It’s a remarkably useless potion by itself. But, when combined with dark magic, such as the ritual the Dark Lord performed, it becomes very powerful.”

Arthur Weasley, along with the majority of those present, was frowning.

“But –.”

“I know!” Snape cut him off. “I don’t understand it either. In all my life I have never seen anything like this.”

And by the looks of it, it was driving the man mad. His hair was greasier than normal, his face gaunt and tired. He kept fidgeting with his hands and couldn’t keep his gaze on one spot.

“Never?” Kingsley asked, sounding dubious.

But Snape exploded, “NO! Never! This is what worries me. I have never heard of combining a potion with a spell. Potions are magical because the ingredients you make them with have magical properties. But they are two separate entities. It would be like combining oil and water. Even if you did manage to do it, it would be pointless…nothing would come of it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The Dark Lord has gone beyond what he has accomplished so far. He is pushing the boundaries of dark magic.” Here, Severus shot Dumbledore a look, a rare spark of uncertainty shinning in his dark eyes. “Albus and I have devised a loose theory of what the potion and the spell combination may have been used for but we cannot be certain. However, it is rather a stretch of the imagination…”

“It is plausible.” Albus spoke firmly and everyone turned their eyes on him.

Severus, happy to be out of the spotlight, sat down at once, but still looked decidedly uncomfortable with the situation. He was a man well known for not trusting anything that wasn’t solid. And their theory, if you could even give it so much structure, was anything but solid.

For a moment there was silence while Albus regarded everyone at the table. Then, “We believe that there is a chance Harry is alive.”

* * * *

This chapter was a little rough but that’s because I was in such a hurry when I wrote it. If you are wondering why I keep posting a bunch at a time, it's to get you guys caught up. I have this story posted somewhere else and have all 18 up there...