Lost Cub

Chapter Twenty-One

There were thirteen others in the room. Hunter recognized a lot of them: Cassie, who was grinning at him; Sirius in dog form, giving Remus a longing look; Remus, who was torn between ignoring Sirius and glaring at him; Aunt Petunia, who was pale and terrified at being in a room with so many witches; Dudley, who looked a mixture of excited and worried; Snape, who kept glancing frantically at Cassie and glaring at Petunia; and the three Malfoys, who looked incredibly confused (Draco) or were talking pleasantly with an unfamiliar man. He didn't recognize the three people with Cassie, or the man by the Malfoys.

"Daddy?" Hunter whispered to Remus. "Who's that?"

Remus followed Hunter's gaze to the man with the Malfoys. "That's the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He insisted on being present, since Siri-" his voice cracked. "Well, he was informed that Siri would be here, and he wants to capture him again."

"But Mummy's innocent," Hunter protested softly.

"Yes, but Fudge doesn't know that, yet."

Griphook entered at that moment, and everyone silenced and took their seats. "Now that we're all present -- except for Mr. Pettigrew, and Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, we can get started," he said crisply. He pulled out the two wills and placed it on the table.

The scroll unrolled and a voice spoke.

"Testing, testing, is this thing working?"

The dog snorted, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Hey, if you guys are hearing this," the voice continued, "this is James Potter, and I'm probably dead. If I know anything about me, I will either be a martyr for the 'Greater Good' -- stupid motto -- or, I will have done something incredibly stupid, like try and kiss a dragon."

Sirius barked a laugh.

"I wrote this down so the Ministry would know what to do with my stuff. And my kid. Who apparently isn't my kid, because Dumbledore had the GREAT IDEA of kidnapping my best friends' cub and having Lily and I adopt him."

Sirius perked up his head in shock, and Remus tensed. Everyone else looked stunned, except Cassie, who was furious.

"Also apparently, Dumble-butt didn't tell them. So anyway, if Lily and I die, then little Hunter has to legally go to his actual parents: Remus and Sirius Lupin-Black."

The Minister's eyes widened.

"Okay, on to the will of the greatest person ever!" This earned an eye-roll from Remus and a snort of laughter from Sirius.

"All my estates, vaults, and stuff like that will go to Hunter, since Lily and I didn't actually have a kid. Also for Hunter, I have my book of pranks, the Marauder's Map (if Filch can part with it), and my Invisibility Cloak. Dumbledore has it, Fudge, if you could just take it back.

"To Wolfstar -- also known as Remus and Sirius Lupin-Black, Mr. Moony and Mrs. Padfoot, Mr. Nerd and Mrs. Idiot -- I won't give money or houses, since Remmy is Lord Ravenclaw and Sirius is married to the effing rich dude-" Remus rolled his eyes "-I give The Marauder Memoire and prank supplies. I also think Dumble-butt is up to something, so I give the memory of Lils and I changing our Secret-Keeper to Peter Pettigrew."

The Minister's jaw dropped.

"Speaking of Petey, I bequeath to little Wormy 1,000 Galleons and Potter Cottage, unless he betrays us to Voldy. Although now I'm thinking Voldy's the lesser evil. Voldy wouldn't kidnap a child.

"...I really didn't want to add Snape, but Lily insisted."

Snape's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I'm... so-rr-y. There! Oh thank Merlin that was hard. Eh... other than my apology *sigh* I give Snape all my potions stuff."