Too Much Trouble COMPLETE

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Chapter 8
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Remus couldn’t believe how well the job interview was going. The fifteen minute appointment had already stretched into more than thirty and showed no signs of winding up any time soon. If it hadn’t been discussed earlier, he would have thought that the man sitting at the other side of the desk had missed the word ‘werewolf’ on his application form. After so many disappointing rejections, he actually wondered if he had a chance for this one.

Suddenly the interviewer was looking over his shoulder and Remus turned round to see what had caught his eye. He drew in a sharp breath when he saw the silvery wolf patronus standing behind him. He wondered what the emergency was and hoped that Sirius had the sense to keep his message brief. With the escalating war, one couldn’t be too careful about what you said in front of strangers.

“Hey, Moony. How did the interview go? Are you on your way home yet? I’m cooking your favourite and thought we’d have a romantic meal at home. And for dessert I going to…”

Remus felt his face burning red with embarrassment as Sirius detailed what he had planned for dessert…and it had nothing to do with food.

“Well,” the interviewer said with an embarrassed shrug of his own. “You’re a…”

“Homosexual,” Remus said, nodding calmly. “Is that a problem?”

The interviewer shook his head, but the atmosphere had changed and Remus knew that the job was forever out of his reach.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius had always had the annoying habit of sending his patronus to Remus for every little thing that sprang into his mind. At first it had been amusing and endearing, but Remus had rapidly lost patience with it, even going to far as to threaten to hide Sirius’s wand if he so much as looked like he was going to think the spell. The threat had had its desired effect, and Remus had been relieved to find that Sirius could restrain himself from sending his patronus to him every five minutes.

At least that had been the case up until now.

The time they had spent apart, combined with the fact that they were living on two separate worlds, had spurred Sirius to send more patronuses in the last few hours than he had ever sent in his life.

“Here, use this one,” Remus muttered, shoving a wand at Sirius with a glare of annoyance. “I’d like my own wand back, if its not too much trouble?”

Sirius sheepishly passed Remus his wand back and took the new one instead. “Where did you get this?”

“It was my father’s,” Remus replied shortly. “Don’t lose it or anything, I want it back as soon as we get you home.”

Sirius nodded and cast yet another patronus, sending his latest message across the worlds to Remus.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus sighed as the silver wolf appeared beside him. He gave an apologetic look across the desk to Headmistress Sprout. They had only arrived at Hogwart’s ten minutes before, and this was the second patronus to appear in her office already.

“Just ignore it,” Remus said, his cheeks flushing slightly at the way everyone was staring at him. “What were you saying about Professor – I mean Albus – Dumbledore?”

“Well, Albus was certainly a student here, but he was never a teacher, as far as I know he never applied for any teaching post at all.”

“Ahem!”

Remus turned to look up at the wall to his left. An elderly witch was gazing down at them with a smile.

“Yes?” Headmistress Sprout asked.

“I recall that Albus Dumbledore did apply for a post here,” the witch stated. “Headmaster Dippet interviewed him for the position of Transfiguration Professor.”

Headmistress Sprout turned to the portrait of Armando Dippet. “Is that correct?”

Dippet looked a little confused by the question but eventually nodded. “I interviewed quite a few people for the post…don’t recall this Dumbledore exactly…but I guess I could have done.”

“Let’s look at the records,” Headmistress Sprout suggested, bustling across the room to open a large cupboard. She rifled through the papers within the cupboard for quite a while, before eventually pulling out a long roll of parchment with a triumphant exclamation of glee. “Here we are! Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.”

James snickered to himself, earning a poke to the ribs from Lily.

“Looks like he applied for the job right out of school,” Headmistress Sprout said. “Very young, very young indeed. This must have been before he got mixed up with You-Know-Who. His grades were exceptionally good, a brilliant student.”

“Knew coming here was a good idea,” Sirius whispered in Remus’s ear.

Remus nodded and flashed a smile at Sirius. “You were right,” he whispered back.

Sirius glowed under the praise and wriggled in his seat. “You ever think I might be right about other things too?”

Remus sighed. “Please don’t do this,” he begged, casting a glance at the silver wolf that was in the middle of its third delivery.

Sirius glared at the patronus and Remus sighed again.

“It looks like an old address,” Headmistress Sprout warned them. “But it’s a place to start.”

“Should you really be giving out information to these people?” one of the portraits piped up with obvious disapproval.

“As Mr Dumbledore was never made a member of staff, I don’t see why not,” Headmistress Sprout replied firmly.

Remus reached out and took the piece of parchment that Headmistress Sprout had scribbled on. He felt cold as he looked at the words she had written; he had seen those words before, they had been engraved on his mind ever since the moment he had first read them.

“What’s the matter?” Sirius asked. “Is something wrong?”

Remus shot up from his seat and ran from the room. He needed air, he needed to be outside and away from the concerned faces and worried words.

He wasn’t sure where he was running to, but he finally found himself near the Willow at the side of the lake. He collapsed against it and leaned his face against the trunk. Absently he mused that even the tree was different, there were no pictures or letters carved into the bark, no moon and star hastily etched into the wood by Sirius on their last day of school. Remus traced the bark with his fingers and growled low in his chest. It wasn’t fair.

He expected Sirius to be the one to find him and ask what was the matter, but instead it was Lily who cautiously approached him. “Remus?” she tentatively asked.

“Just give me a minute or two,” Remus requested.

Lily, stubborn as ever, sat down beside him, but at least she didn’t press him for answers.

Finally he looked up at her.

“What was on the parchment?” Lily asked. James and Sirius approached them and Remus could tell that they were equally curious.

“An address,” Remus replied, passing the parchment to Lily as he spoke.

“Godric’s Hollow,” Lily read. “Never heard of it. Is it important?”

Remus shook his head and gave a short, bitter laugh. “I hope not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” James snapped. “It’s always secrets with you, isn’t it?”

“You want to know what it means?” Remus snarled, causing James to back up a few paces at his venom. “I’ll tell you what it means, since you’re so eager to know. This isn’t the first world I’ve been sent to that isn’t my own. I’ve been to others, and one of them was a world that was almost exactly like mine, except it was years in the future.”

“I don’t understand,” Lily interrupted. “You mean you travelled into the future?”

“One possible future,” Remus explained. “One where Godric’s Hollow became a lot more than a small village that no one had ever heard of. Every wizard had heard of Godric’s Hollow in the future. There wasn’t a witch who didn’t know the name of the place where He was defeated.”

“He?” Sirius asked.

“My world has a dark wizard of its own. His name is Lord Voldemort and he was defeated by a baby in Godric’s Hollow.”

“What?” James asked. “A baby took out a dark wizard? How is that possible?”

“No one knows for sure,” Remus admitted. “The history books had a lot of theories. All anyone knows for sure is that Voldemort was last seen at this very address in Godric’s Hollow, and after he had killed the parents of the baby he turned his wand on the child and was never seen again. The baby – Harry – survived.”

“That never happened here,” James said.

“It hasn’t happened in my world either,” Remus pointed out. “At least not yet.”

“You think it will?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know. I talked with my double in the future and…”

“And?”

“Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly celebrating along with the rest of the wizarding world that night.”

“You mean he was one of the dark wizard’s followers?” Sirius asked.

Remus scowled and shook his head. “No, it’s a long story, and I guess it doesn’t really matter to anyone in this world. I just have to get back to my world before events overtake us and history repeats itself.”

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius knocked on the door to the room he suspected Remus was hiding in. He smiled when he heard the familiar voice call for him to bugger off. He ignored the order and opened the door.

“Are you deaf or something?” Remus asked.

“Thought you might like some help with the research,” Sirius offered.

“Since when does Sirius Black crack open a book?”

“Since he started studying human transfiguration in second year,” Sirius replied easily. “There’s nothing I won’t do for my Remus, and if I have to read every book in this place…I will.” He waved his hand around the library dramatically.

Remus looked at him briefly before passing him a thick and dusty tome that he had clearly not yet opened. “There you go,” he said with a smirk.

Sirius could tell that he was hoping he would merely give up and leave him in peace, but he didn’t know Sirius Black as well as all that. He opened the book and began to read, smiling to himself as he caught a glimpse of surprise on Remus’s face from the corner of his eye.

-o-xXx-o-

Godric’s Hollow was a small village, and not exactly a popular tourist attraction. There was hardly anyone about when Remus and the others arrived, just a couple of teenage muggle boys kicking a ball around a nearby field.

“Which way?” James asked.

Remus shrugged. “I don’t know; I’ve never been here.”

“No pictures in the books you read?”

“Only one of the monument that was raised to the family. Obviously that isn’t here yet.”

“Let’s try this way,” Lily suggested.

“Why?” James asked curiously.

“I don’t know. I just guess that if I was living here, I’d want to live down this way.”

Remus felt a shiver tingling down his spine at her words. He had a horrible feeling that Lily’s instincts would lead them directly to the house where so much tragedy had taken place on another world.

“This is where the monument stood,” he said, recognising the spot from the picture.

“What was it of?” Sirius asked.

“The parents and the baby.”

“You say that like you knew them,” Sirius said quietly.

“I knew their doubles,” Remus replied. “Or rather I know them, they’re still alive and well in my world, at least I hope they still are.”

“So, would the house be around here?” James asked impatiently.

Remus shrugged and waved over an elderly woman who appeared to be returning from a shopping trip. “Excuse me!” he called, hurrying towards her.

A couple of quick questions later and the old woman was pointing the way to the address they needed. Remus thanked her and they all continued on their way.

The house was small and had an air of neglect to it. The flowerbeds were in need of watering and the door hadn’t seen a coat of paint in years.

Remus walked purposefully down the path and knocked on the door. The sound of movements came from inside and a minute later the door opened to reveal an elderly man who looked far from pleased to see them.

“What do you want?” he asked in a voice that was part bored and part irritated.

“We’re…I’m…trying to locate a Mr Albus Dumbledore,” Remus explained. “We understand he used to live here.”

“He did.”

Remus frowned at the shortness of the response. “You’re saying he no longer lives here?”

“You catch on quick.”

Remus watched in stunned surprise as the man closed the door in his face without another word.

“Well, that went well,” James commented from behind him.

-o-xXx-o-

“Got anything yet?” Sirius asked when Remus tossed another book aside.

“Does it look like it?” Remus replied. “Why don’t you do something useful and try to get your useless doubles to do something to help?”

“They’d help anyway if you weren’t so bloody rude to them.”

“They don’t seem that eager to get home,” Remus muttered. “Seem to be making themselves quite at home here.”

“It must be the pleasure of your company,” Sirius teased. “Plus they don’t have the added incentive I have.”

Remus snorted under his breath.

“Got something to say?” Sirius asked mildly.

Remus ignored him. Sirius was getting used to it.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus hammered on the door to the house again. They really didn’t have time for this. “Open up, we need to talk to you!”

It took several minutes of banging and shouting before the very disgruntled man opened the door once more. “Clear off!” he ordered. “Before I call the Aurors on you.”

Remus pushed on the door, forcing it to remain open. “Where can we find Albus Dumbledore?” he asked. “Tell us and we’ll be gone, I promise.”

“No idea,” the man replied.

“You’re lying.”

“What’s it to you? What do you want with him?”

“We need his help. I need his help.”

“My brother never helped anyone except himself,” the man told them.

“Aberforth?” Remus whispered, barely having recognised the man in front of him as the owner of the Hog’s Head, a public house in Hogsmeade that he and his friends had frequented a great deal during their later years at Hogwart’s.

“Do I know you?”

“Yes, I mean no. I’ve heard about you though.”

Aberforth looked at him suspiciously. “What have you heard?”

“All good,” Remus hurriedly assured him. “I know you’re a good man. Please. If you know where I can find Albus, you have to tell me.”

Aberforth looked at him for several long minutes. “I don’t know where he is,” he finally replied. “But the Dark One probably does.”

Sirius stepped forward cautiously. “I heard that Albus Dumbledore was imprisoned by the Dark One, and that he escaped.”

“You heard that, did you?” Aberforth asked.

Sirius nodded. “Some say the Dark One let him escape.”

“I’ve heard that rumour too.”

“Do you know where he might have gone? Do you have any idea?”

Aberforth shook his head. “I don’t know where he might be, not after all these years, but I can hazard a guess that he won’t have gone far from the Dark One. He was obsessed with him, infatuated even. Find the Dark One and you’ll find my brother.”

Remus nodded solemnly. “Thank you.”

Sirius waited until Aberforth had closed the door. “What did you thank him for? He didn’t tell us anything useful.”

“Yes, he did.”

“I don’t see what,” James interrupted. “The Dark One knows how to stay hidden, otherwise he’d have been killed years ago.”

“I’ve met him,” Remus said quietly. “He told him he’d contact me when he needed me to repay the favour he granted in letting me live.” Remus pulled back his sleeve and pressed down on the skin, revealing the faint mark on his arm.

“You’re one of His minions!” James hissed, recoiling in horror. Lily didn’t say anything, but her face paled considerably. Sirius on the other hand reached out and traced the mark with his finger.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

“No, not any more. You can’t even see it unless I put pressure on the skin.”

“It’s still there,” James pointed out. “You can hide it all you like, but it won’t make it disappear. Just like you can hide the wolf, but it will always be a part of you.”

Remus shrugged and pulled his sleeve back down. “I guess I need to find a way to return to the Dark One, without being summoned to his presence.”

“And how do you think you’re going to manage that?” Lily asked. “You can’t just walk in through the front door, even if you knew where the front door was.”

“I’ll find the pack that your Remus runs with.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sirius immediately announced.

“No. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ll stay in my animagus form.”

“No.”

Sirius glared at him and folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not asking your permission. I’m telling you what I’m going to do.”

Remus looked at Sirius, expecting to see the usual puppy-dog eyes that got him his own way far too often. He was mildly surprised to see instead, a quiet determination that was startlingly reminiscent of his own Sirius. He knew there would be no arguing with him or talking him out of his plan.

-o-xXx-o-

“Damn,” Remus muttered. “I thought I’d found something there.”

“What?” Sirius asked, looking up from his own book in hopeful anticipation.

“Nothing.”

“Can I see?” Sirius pressed on. “It might be worth looking into.”

“Fine, here.” Remus pushed the book across the table and waited for Sirius to read the passage he was pointing to.

“This looks promising,” Sirius said as he read. “A way to trace worlds that have been travelled to and from. It would narrow the search for our homes considerably.”

“Read on.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…oh.”

“It might work though.”

“Do you remember where you were when you left your home world? The exact spot?”

“I was in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwart’s. I don’t recall the exact spot though.”

“That may be good enough. But read the rest.”

Sirius read on, swearing under his breath as he saw what the problem was. “Damn. A one way trip that can’t be repeated.”

“That’s right.”

“So, if I use the spell to find the way to my world, I can’t use it to find Remus. If I use it to try to find him, I can never go home.”

“You got it.”

“Maybe the book has it wrong?”

“It seems pretty clear to me. The spell doesn’t open a portal; it rips you right out of the world you are in and into the one you’re aiming for. A second trip would kill you. You haven’t seen the other problem though…”

“And what would that be?”

“If that office has been used to open more than one portal then you run the risk of going to a world that isn’t either of the ones you are searching for, and you’d be stuck there instead.”

“I could use the spell to find Remus, then find some other way to open the portal to get us home.”

“What about the Sirius left behind in the prison?”

“Damn.”

“You’d forgotten about him?” Remus asked.

Sirius nodded. “Things are just such a mess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Remus said. “By thinking of yourself and not your double, you just proved that you’re every bit as selfish as all the other Sirius Blacks.”

Sirius turned back to the book. He wasn’t selfish. He wanted to help the other Sirius who had got left behind just as much as he wanted to help all the others get back to their homes. He couldn’t help it that he was worried about Remus, or that he was desperate to get back home. That didn’t make him selfish…did it?