Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 154: Cat-sitter

"Padfoot? Wet? What do you mean?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Padfoot?" Harry echoed.

"Oh, well, we had names for each other... while we were in our ... er... other forms... I was Moony, James was Prongs, Peter was Wormtail, and Sirius... Sirius was Padfoot," Professor Lupin said slowly. "I still think of them like that sometimes."

The air between them hung heavy as Harry ingested his words. He mulled over what it would be like to lose all of his friends in one night... and not only that... but how it wasn't just that they were gone, but that all the time they'd had before was a lie... that the friendship wasn't what he thought it was... he wasn't sure he'd be able to survive if Ron, Hermione, Neville, or Gemma turned out to be siding with Riddle... plotting to kill him.

Harry realized he had been quiet for a long time when Professor Lupin prompted: "You said you figured out why the dog was wet?"

"Er, right. When we were down in the tunnels... you know, beneath the Center, we learned that the water had an effect on the nulling magic... from the vessel that McCarthy placed there. It was like the water calmed its power and he used water to control the amount of null it was releasing into the Center. It reminded me of the way Mei uses water to control their magic. So maybe Black used the water in the tunnels to get away from the nulling magic so that he could transform? So that he could get closer to us without being affected by the null zone?" Harry said.

"Hmmm. But no one said that Sirius was working with this Bill McCarthy bloke! Do you think he was?" Professor Lupin asked, scattering pebbles as he jumped up and started to pace in front of Harry.

"I guess I don't really know. McCarthy seemed pretty bent on getting Mr. Khan... he didn't say anything about anyone else or Voldemort, or anything," Harry said as Nio nudged his elbow. He put his hand down and the little snake slithered up his palm and coiled around his wrist. "And he didn't seem to care who I was... which, gah, it's weird to say that..."

"But you get that a lot, don't you? Wizards noticing you; acting differently around you."

"Yeah," Harry sighed as he sagged. "I hate it."

"Hmmm. You're different from James... more like Lily," Professor Lupin said as he stopped in front of Harry, his voice directed at him like he was observing carefully.

A silence grew between them as Harry felt warmth snaking up his neck into his ears.

Suddenly Professor Lupin was next to him, pulling him into a side hug and jostling him while mussing his hair, "Oi! That's not such a bad thing, you know! Your Dad, James... Merlin's pants how I miss him! But he could be full of himself sometimes. I'm glad you got some of Lily's sense. Really I am!"

Professor Lupin let him go with a sigh that sounded a bit like a strangled sob. And they sat quietly for a little bit.

Harry ran his fingers through his hair and listened to the birds that were flitting between the branches of the tree above them and the rooftop surrounding the courtyard. Their chittering, whistling song reminded him of early mornings at Privet Drive.

"So where were you when all of this happened? The null thingy shutting down the school and all?" Harry said, sitting up straighter and turning his face toward Professor Lupin.

"Oh. Well, I was with Arig. We had actually gone to some lengths to travel to Hogwarts since the Egress was closed. Healer Jordan gave us permission as we were working on setting up Arig's secure place for when he transforms and I wanted to show him what I had used while I was a student at Hogwarts. It was different from what is set up at the Center and he was curious about how the wards worked. We were discussing the pros and cons of the location and wards. It was on our way back to the castle that we saw Mei's signal from the lake. She... er, I mean... they were looking for someone to help Healer Jordan. That's when we learned about all the trouble at the Center. I was able to use the floo network to contact the Ministry of Magic and then we traveled through the floo to get back to the Center."