Away Team (Chapters 7, 8, and 9 now up! *EDITING*)

Chapter One

"But really Remus, Muggle law and Wizarding law are two entirely separate entities---not just completely separate, but drastically different. If you were to---"

" 'Scuse me but DAMN this is good. Why don't we have anything like this back home?"

Tonks eyed the supersize burger-with-everything Sirius was scarfing down, barbeque sauce dripping off his fingers and down his beard. He held it out to her, but she shook her head and waved it away.

"Because we prefer to live past thirty?"

Remus glanced around the lobby, mentally making notes on each of the other patrons as they minded their own business, eating their lunches and trying not to look at the odd threesome who obviously had never set foot in a Burger King until today. This wasn't a dangerous mission they were on by any means, but it could never hurt to be a little cautious. Aside from an elderly couple shooting them annoyed glances from two booths down, no one paid them any mind.

"I've just won an apple pie," Sirius exclaimed, staring at the peel-n-scratch gamepiece from his large Coke.

"So really, what you're saying is that any Wizard activity outside of the Wizarding world is exempt from Wizard law---is that correct?"

"No, what I'm saying is that we're not bound by Muggle law, which if applied to us would directly prohibit many standard Wizarding activities such as---"

"Are you going to eat those chips?"

Remus pushed his fries across the table. "I believe they're called French Fries, Sirius."

"Of course they are." Sirius stuffed several into his mouth, chewing loudly around a satisfied smile.

"So things like the simple act of casting a spell in a public place would be patently against the law here, is that what you mean?"

"Well it would depend on the spell, I would imagine, though if one was to---"

"Anyone want more of this fizzy drink stuff?"

Tonks shot Sirius an exasperated look, shaking her head. "It's called soda, and no thank you---I've had quite enough of that liquid travesty to last me a lifetime or two." She grimaced, pushing her cup away.

Sirius fired back an incredulous face, scooting out of the booth with his own empty cup. "Travesty? This stuff is SUPERB. Watch what it makes you do..."

He screwed up his face for a moment, twisting his mouth to one side and tucking his chin back, then thrust it forward and let roar a gigantic, ridiculously drawn-out belch. Remus peered redfaced from behind his hand, trying to convey to the other patrons with his eyes that his friend was mentally challenged and didn't get out much.

"Wonderful way to avoid drawing attention to us. Will you please...?"

Sirius grinned, winking at the elderly woman two booths away who was staring in disgust. He loped off toward the drinks fountain to gleefully refill his cup as Tonks rolled her eyes and Remus sighed heavily.

"I swear Remus, he's like a child sometimes."

"Give him a break, he was in prison a long time. It warped him."

"He isn't exactly blending in."

The pair watched in incredulous silence as Black filled his cup, drained it in a few long gulps, and filled it again.

"He's going to keep doing that and get us thrown out of here."

"I'm ready to go anyway. Shall we...?"

Remus scooted out of the booth and took Tonks by the elbow to help her out. The other patrons tossed scornful looks in their direction as they pulled their coats on; Sirius was flirting loudly with the girl at the register, a scary-looking punk waif no more than seventeen years old with at least a dozen piercings and purple-streaked hair to her waist. She and Sirius were comparing tattoos.

"We'd better get him," Remus said quietly. He glanced nervously at the young man who had for the last ten minutes been pretending to mop the lobby floor; the boy looked at him, then at their messy table and back to him again, his expression clearly asking You're gonna clean that up, right?

Remus looked at the table full of wrappers, crumpled napkins, and the three-foot-long straw Sirius had put together to blow the hairpiece of the curmudgeonly old man at the next table and caught himself almost reaching for his wand to make it all disappear. He silently chastised himself and smiled innocently at the boy, sweeping the debris of their lunch onto a tray and shovelling it into the nearby trash receptacle.

"Thank you come again!" the boy chirped in an insincere singsong tone. Remus grabbed the back of Sirius' coat, tugging him away from the tattooed girl as they headed for the exit.

"Ahh come on Remus, she was just about to show me her nipple ring!" Sirius whined in the parking lot, knocking in the back of Tonks' knee with the toe of his boot. She spun around and took a swing at him, hissing a curse as he danced out of her reach.

"What is your PROBLEM Black?!?"

Sirius grinned maniacally. "I can't help it, I've got all this energy." He was jumping from foot to foot like a boxer warming up for a match. "I feel great!"

Remus glanced around at the street signs, orienting himself with the handwritten map Dumbledore had given them. "It's all the soda you drank, it's full of sugar," he commented absently. "I think we go this way."

"Great stuff," Sirius proclaimed happily to nobody in particular; he and Remus stepped into the street and were met by a cacophony of blaring horns and screeching tires as cars skidded to a stop mere inches from them.

"Hey, I'm walkin' here!!" Sirius bellowed as Remus yanked him back to the curb. Tonks reached out and smacked him in the back of the head.

"See that light over there?" She pointed to a flashing image of a hand, palm forward. "That means don't walk. Understand?"

Remus gave her a sheepish look; he folded the map and put it back into his pocket.

"You're right, we should be more alert to our surroundings...we're drawing far too much attention to ourselves as it is, we certainly don't need to be flattened by one of these---" he gestured toward the traffic---"vehicles and wind up in the muggle newspapers or on that television thing."

"Television was cool," Sirius remarked.

"Yes it was, I rather enjoyed that nature program we saw at the hotel."

Tonks interrupted impatiently with news that the light was giving them permission to cross the street. They hurried across, eyeing the cars with suspicion as they ran to the curb on the opposite side.

"That light changed awfully quickly---who controls these things?" Remus followed the length of the pole to the crossarm with his eyes, searching for signs of a human hiding somewhere with binoculars and a button. "Is it a remote system? How do they work...?"

Tonks tugged his arm, her patience running very thin. "Please guys, we have GOT to get where we're going. COME ON!!"

"Where exactly are we going?" Sirius asked, eyeing a pair of passing girls who blatantly eyed him right back. He turned around to watch them from behind; Tonks glared at him, beating him bloody with her eyes.

"If you needed to know, you'd have been told," she said tersely. Sirius waggled his tongue at her mockingly.

Remus sighed.

"This is going to be a very long trip."