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Chapter One

Remus Lupin was sitting at the bar, contemplating his ale and wondering where to go next. He was still not completely recovered from his last transformation, but he had started hearing the whispers, and knew it was time to move on before suspicions became fact. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the fireplace, he noted with a sigh the ragged edges of his robes and the unnaturally sharp angles of his face, and decided with a bitter frown that it would be impossible to find a decent job anywhere. As he raised the glass to take a sip of his drink, he heard a commotion in the next room and got up to check it out, happy to have a diversion from his tiresome and unprofitable musings. He opened the door to the back room of the pub and saw a girl trying to hold off three men attacking her with Stunning Spells from several directions at once. Remus instinctively drew his wand and cried "Expelliarmus!" catching all four wands and pointing his at the largest man.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking at each in turn. Suddenly the girl drew a sword and had one of the men on the ground, her weapon pointed at his throat as she stood over him. "Who sent you? Was it Harold? Edgar? Gwendolyn?" She pressed the weapon in, drawing blood. "Well? I'll finish off all of you in turn, if I don't get an answer."

"Just wait a minute! Who are you, and get that sword out of that man's throat or I'll Stun you where you stand." Remus was shocked at the girl's action. She looked eighteen at the most.

The girl stared up at him with pale green eyes and said, "This isn't your fight, whoever you are, so I'd appreciate it if you'd give me back my wand and let me finish my business."

"I'd appreciate some thanks from you. These three had you cornered. Now put that sword away!" She gave him a furious look but slowly put her sword back in its scabbard and simultaneously placed her foot on the man's throat, causing him to choke and gasp for air as she pressed down with her full weight. His two companions started forward, ready to attack again as they realized Remus could only cover one of them.

Remus sighed at the memory of the barely touched ale still sitting on the bar but stepped forward, dropping the men's wands and grasping the girl firmly with one arm as he Apparated well outside the town. As soon as they were firmly established on the ground, he pointed his wand at her, saying "Keep that damned weapon put away. I'm not going to hurt you, but you owe me an explanation as payment for saving your life. Those wizards may have been using Stunning spells, but it obviously wouldn't have ended there." He handed her wand back to her, keeping his pointed at her throat.

"Did I ask you to interfere? I would have had them-"

"You would have been dead. Come on, let's go somewhere less conspicuous and you can explain to me why I wasted a good ale to save your ungrateful hide."

She surveyed him head to foot, eyebrow raised, then broke into unexpected laughter. "I guess I do owe you a drink, at the very least. Let's find a pub and I'll do some explaining. It won't take too long."

Sitting in a corner of a sparsely inhabited pub, Remus took a close survey of her as she took a long sip of her wine. She wasn't pretty exactly, but she had the look of an aristocrat, with fiercely intelligent eyes over high, slanted cheekbones set off by a stubborn jaw. Her robe was finely tailored, and her thick, dark hair was done up in a sloppy coil.

"Well? Why is a girl of obviously good family and some wealth brawling in pubs? With a sword? Isn't that a bit anachronistic? And how did you end up in England, since from your accent I assume you're French?"

"I am French, but I have no parents and must work for a living. As a matter of fact, you just made my job quite a bit harder, since now I'm not sure who's upset with me."

"That's a good story. Now how about the truth."

"That's it. By the way, my name is Viviane. Yours?"

"Remus Lupin."

They shook hands, and Viviane continued, "Why did you get involved? You could have gotten killed yourself - those guys aren't people to mess with. I think they were enforcers for a rival of the wizard I'm working for. I - eh - have made life a little difficult for them lately, as well as lessened their numbers by a wizard or two."

Remus laughed, incredulous. "You're telling me you're a lieutenant for some kind of wizard mobster? You?" He was laughing so hard he nearly upset his ale. "You look like you can barely handle a complex Transfiguration Spell."

"I don't need to do complex Transfiguration Spells to be a basic thug. But I'm an expert at swordsmanship, and know enough spells, charms and curses to keep opponents busy for some time. Your turn. What are you, some kind of Gringotts employee out on a lark?"

Remus scowled. "No. I'm unemployed at the moment, and on my way to somewhere else to try and find work."

"Oh. Why don't you try the area around Liverpool? That's where I'm headed. We can't Apparate directly there; there will be too many Muggles around, and we'll have to do some walking between towns. I'll pay for your lodging if you'll come along and watch my back. Since you rescued me so precipitately, I don't know where the danger is coming from and could use another pair of eyes."

Remus studied Viviane. She was terribly impulsive and possibly one of the strangest people he'd ever met, but her offer of lodging was tempting. As long as it didn't include-

"Oh, and we're getting separate rooms, Mr. Lupin. Just in case you-"

"Please, call me Remus. And I'll take your offer. Do you have a last name, by the way?"

"Chance." She then spelled it out for him, since the French pronunciation differed from the English. "Shall we?"

They left the pub and started down the road in the mellow autumn evening, the handsome, shabbily dressed young man and well-dressed girl making an odd pair as their robes swept through the piles of leaves on the ground.

"Let me get this straight. You work for this aforementioned wizard, doing whatever job he needs you for? How on earth did you meet him?"

Viviane laughed, and the mischievous note in her voice and the sly sparkle in her eyes made Remus catch his breath as he was vividly reminded of Sirius.

"I was broke, drunk and ended up pouring out my misery to Mort as he sat at a bar. He tried to pick me up, but found I was more useful as an associate than a potential bedmate. A good swordfighter with a thorough grounding in spells is hard to find."

"Oh." Remus thought that each conversation with her was stranger than the last. "And it pays well? Why not just find a teaching job?"

"I'm not much of a teacher. And yes, it does pay very well. Here's a good spot to Apparate; the next wizard town isn't too far away."

"That sounds great to me," Remus said, tired and eager for a good night's sleep.

****

They were on the last leg of their journey to Shipley, and a light rain was falling as they walked along the road towards town, well sheltered by the Repelling Spell they had put on their cloaks. Remus was in a contemplative mood, finding the gray skies and light patter of rain on leaves soothing as he speculated upon what kind of employment he might be able to find. He occasionally glanced over at his traveling partner, who seemed overly confident, if anything, when dealing with innkeepers, barmaids and at asking for information. She was amazingly skilled at refusing to give any, however. Despite Remus' best efforts, he didn't know much more about her than he did the first day they met.

His peaceful reverie was rudely interrupted by a pair of rough-looking wizards that burst out from behind the trees lining the road and, drawing their wands, shot alternate Patrificus Curses and Stunning Spells at Viviane.

She had her wand and sword out before they had cleared their hiding place, and easily deflected their attack with a Shield Charm. Laughing gleefully, she advanced on them, maiming one in his wand arm with her sword, and smacking the other across the temple with the flat of the blade as she whirled away from the first man in a blur of robes and hair. Stunned, the man staggered sideways while the first shifted his wand to his other hand and attempted an infuriated barrage of curses and spells that kept Viviane busy parrying them. Remus stood still, amazed at the scene, until Viviane huffed, "Remus! Get out your damned wand and take care of that idiot!" Belatedly, he realized that the man she'd Stunned had recovered and was again taking aim at her. Remus drew his wand and prepared to hit the attacker with a Patrificus Curse, but the man lost heart at facing a second opponent and fled back into the woods. Seeing his partner abandon him, the other let up and Apparated, leaving Viviane and Remus alone in the road.

Blinking with shock, Remus asked Viviane, "What was that about?"

"That's the sort of thing I hired you to help out with. Be a little more prepared next time, eh?" She threw her head back and laughed, apparently exhilarated by the experience. "What a sorry pair. They didn't even present a decent challenge. At least I know now who's trying to get me. I recognize those two idiots; they work for Gwendolyn. She and Mort are engaged in a territory war over whose girls work what areas-"

"Girls? You mean prostitutes?"

"What else would I mean? They aren't fighting over shopgirls and stableboys. How tall was that ivory tower you escaped from, anyway? Come on, let's get moving and find someplace to eat because I'm starving."

Remus tilted his head and looked at her in vague disbelief, as she stood among the leaves they'd stirred up, face flushed and hair in a wild tangle, her dark green robes blending with the colors of the foliage along the road. He wondered at her lightness of heart amidst the obvious dangers she faced, but felt his own spirits lift a little as an unwilling grin spread across his face. "All right. I'll try to be a little more helpful if this happens again. You just need to give me time to adjust to life in the criminal underworld."

"Adjust quickly, will you? Next time the attackers might not be so stupid or so slow."

****

As they approached Shipley, the pair skirted the Muggle settlement and Remus followed Viviane as she scanned the area and finally walked up to a closed junk shop that looked like it was about to topple over. She placed her hand on the head of a crumbling statue of a manticle and muttered "Hermetic Alley." An archway appeared in the side of the shop, and they both walked through to the wizard section of town. "This place was a real hotbed of Death Eater activity, I've heard," Viviane explained. "So the inhabitants have set up extra precautions these days." They found a decent-looking inn whose main room was most inviting, with dark paneled walls and a huge stone fireplace surrounded by comfortable chairs. A cheerful-looking woman with blue eyes and a knot of light brown hair was presiding over the bar against one wall, and the tables were crowded with people consuming the usual pub fare.

"Hello, luvs. My, you look like you've come a ways. Do you need a room?" queried the woman behind the bar. Viviane was amused to see her glance of obvious appreciation at Remus.

"Rooms, actually. We may be here for a month or two. I'm working for Mortimer."

"Oh, you work for Mort! Well, it's wonderful to meet you, my dear. You certainly don't look like the usual type he hires. So young! And you?" she asked Remus.

To his great annoyance, Remus found himself blushing as he answered, "Er, I came here to look for work, Mrs., I mean Miss-"

"My name's Emma, luv. Let me get somebody to show you some rooms. I'll be up later to make sure they meet all of your requirements."

As they followed another witch up the steps, Viviane shot Remus a sly look and raised an eyebrow.

"Not a word, Viviane," Remus growled. "Not a single word." He decided that if Emma knocked on his door he would definitely be fast asleep and unable to answer.

****

The next day Viviane went off to track down her boss, and Remus took a survey of the town, finding some job possibilities as a curse-breaker and a Defense instructor for the locals. When he got back he found Viviane in the main room, ensconced in a chair, reading, her feet on the fender and with a mug of coffee next to her. Remus sat down and glanced at her book. "A History of 13^th Century Wizard Warfare. You go in for light reading, do you?"

"Remus! How did the job search go?" She took a sip of her drink and grimaced. "Why can't this country brew decent coffee? And the wine isn't much better."

"Try ale." He laughed at the face she made. "I found some possibilities. And you?"

She leaned back and closed her book. "I have to cover a shipment that arrives tomorrow, and make sure it gets to Liverpool, so I may be gone for a few days."

"Dare I ask?"

"No."

"Dare I ask you to be careful?"

"Only if you promise not to be tiresome about it."

Remus leaned forward to speak more quietly. "Viviane, I just don't understand. Why are you doing this, taking these risks when it's obvious that you were destined for better things? You should be at Beauxbatons, or working for the French Ministry. This-"

"I have nowhere to go in France, because I got expelled from school. I told you I have no family and I really am better off here, doing what I'm doing. Please don't ask me to explain. Now, why is a nice young man like you scrounging for menial jobs when it's obvious you're well-educated and highly trained? At Hogwarts, most likely. Hm?"

To her surprise, a look of deep sorrow crossed Remus' face, and he said, "It was, like I suspect it was for you, a combination of untoward circumstances that lead me to this. Come, shall we have dinner?"

"That's an evasion-" Viviane broke off as Remus' face closed down in a forbidding mask. "Sounds good to me - I'm famished!" she concluded.

****

Viviane left with her shipment of contraband goods, and Remus accepted work as a Defense instructor for a small group of wizards still worried about Death Eaters. The first day of class, he surveyed the half-dozen witches and wizards gathered about, and decided to just get down to business. After an hour of basic instruction in Confundus Charms, he dismissed class, and a distinguished looking wizard with dark curly hair, greyed at the temples, and sharp dark eyes came up to speak to him.

"Mr. Lupin. My name is Anthony Scipio. I'm the local Healer for Shipley, and we're thrilled to have a Hogwarts graduate to teach us the finer points of Defense. Especially one that's been through the wars."

Lupin was slightly taken aback. "How did you-"

"Oh, I do my research! I'm sorry that Hogwarts lost so many-"

"Thanks. One question, though. The war is over; why are you still so worried?"

The wizard ran a hand through his hair and said, "Shipley was hit hard by Death Eaters. We're still not sure they're entirely gone, and are afraid they may still attempt revenge on those who fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Look, Mr. Lupin-"

"Remus."

"Call me Anthony. My wife, Melinda, told me to bring you home for dinner. Please, do. This town has been so overrun by thieves and con men lately, I've not had a good conversation with an educated man for some time. I can promise some good food and a decent glass of brandy afterwards."

****

Remus fell onto his bed and stared up at his ceiling, just a little tipsy and feeling happier than he'd been for some time. Anthony turned out to be a wonderful conversationalist, and after a tasty dinner prepared by his shy but pleasant wife, they sat in his study and Remus found himself talking about esoteric subjects not touched on since he graduated from Hogwarts. While discussing Anthony's residence in Italy, they discovered their mutual interest in astronomy, which had been part of the curriculum at the medical school the Healer had attended. Obviously thrilled to have found another enthusiast, his host lead him up the tower attached to his house, where Remus was invited to use a magnificent telescope. As Remus turned the settings to bring the star Sirius into view, Anthony had remarked, "You came on a perfect night for this; there's no moon." Remus gave a start and had to redo his settings, but soon found what he was looking for.

"Padfoot," he whispered to the walls of his room, and as he got up to get ready for bed he wondered if there would ever be a time when everything didn't lead back to that moment in the street, with Sirius and Peter, and a freshly shattered world.

****

Remus and Viviane fell into a routine of working for the day, then returning to compare stories over dinner. Viviane even introduced Mortimer, a tall, powerfully built man with thick gray hair and disconcertingly blue eyes, who raised his eyebrows at Remus and seemed to find him terribly amusing. "My goodness, how did you end up keeping company with this French hellion?" he asked. "A nice Englishman like yourself?"

Remus looked quizzically at Viviane, who shrugged, and then all three of them collapsed in laughter. "Ah good, you have a sense of humor. Well, you'll need it if you're going to spend time with this one." He pulled Viviane's ear playfully and walked off to talk to Emma.

"Quite a character," Remus remarked. "Powerful?"

"Very. He controls several operations in the North. He's treated me fairly and kept me busy, which is all I can ask for right now."

"Viviane-"

"Shut up, Remus. I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow evening."

****

One morning over breakfast Remus announced that he was leaving for a week.

"A week? Where are you going?"

"Never mind. Will you be here when I get back?"

"I hope so, unless Mortimer decides to send me off somewhere."

He didn't and when Remus came back, he ran into Viviane walking back from the grocery store with a can of coffee.

"Viviane!" Remus smiled at her. "You've given up and gotten a coffeepot?"

"Remus! I'm so glad you're back!" She stopped to take a closer look at him. "What happened to you? You look ill. Where on earth were you? You've lost at least 10 pounds, and you can't afford to lose any."

Lupin said with a hint of a smile, "My turn to keep some secrets. Is my room still open?"

"Yes it is! And I just got paid for a bit of extra work, so we're going to have a very large dinner this evening. Come along!"

To Remus' surprise, he let himself be carried off, but he decided he was too tired to argue with Viviane at the moment.

****

The drinks were going around, and Remus, who'd been invited by Mortimer to join the group as he walked in after work, was amused in spite of himself by their plan to scam an ex-Ministry official. Sirius would have loved this, and James would have been horrified, he thought, and the familiar pain stabbed through him. He was distracted from sorrowful thoughts by Viviane hailing him as she entered the pub, dragging up a chair to their table. Before she could sit, Mortimer reached out and pulled her into his lap. "And how are you today, my aristocratic guttersnipe?" he said affectionately as he motioned for Emma to bring her a drink.

"Just fine. Anything going on?"

"Oh, a little project concerning a ex-Ministry official, a few bits of useful information and lots of gold. There's nothing for you to do, unless-" He took her chin and turned her face about, looking at her intently. "You know, you might do. You're not a beauty, but play up that French accent and get you in a low-cut robe, loosen up the hair; yes, you'd do perfectly. You're intelligent enough to act dumb."

Her face held firmly by the chin, she glared at him out of the corner of her eye and said, "I'm a hired sword, not a hired courtesan."

"I don't need you to be a courtesan. Just a distraction. Hold him in the bar while we investigate his room, that sort of thing. It would be very easy for a smart girl like you, and you'd get a very nice bonus."

Viviane shrugged. "Sounds interesting-"

Remus interrupted, "No deal, unless I go along. This sounds simple, but we don't know who she'll be dealing with, and she has no experience in this sort of thing."

Viviane stood up. "Under no circumstances. Just how am I going to explain your presence? As my houseboy?"

"As anything. Be creative. But I'm going to go along, because I can just see you making a disaster out of this."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Remus-"

"Shut up, you two," barked Mortimer. "Well, Lupin, I never thought a fine and discriminating gentleman like you would care to join in our nefarious schemes." He smiled rather fiendishly. "But it might not be a bad idea to have some backup. Lurk around and if Viv mucks it up, step in and make a jealous scene, or act like an outraged brother." He eyed Lupin. "You'd better stick with outraged brother. You don't look like the jealous type."

****

Remus was about to knock on Viviane's door when he heard a shriek and then a burst of giggles emanating from the room. Oh, no. She's had Emma help her get ready, he thought and had to pause to gear himself up to meet Emma's disconcerting glances. They were flattering, but he wasn't exactly sure what it all meant. For the millionth time, Remus wondered how he'd gotten mixed up in all this, then sighed and knocked. Emma opened it and stood aside to let him in. "Our girl will have no problem attracting Godfrey Pifflebaum, Remus. Make sure you keep your eye on her."

"Will do, Emma," he replied as she brushed past with a smile and a wink and went downstairs.

"Remus, you really are being an idiot. I can do this by myself, you know," Viviane greeted him as she turned from the mirror. Remus stared at her in shock.

"Viviane, you really do look like an idiot. Where did they get that robe?" He gazed in horror at the skin-tight red gown made of cheap satin that displayed ample cleavage.

"They borrowed it from one of Mort's girls. How's the hair and makeup? I so seldom wear it these days-"

"You look like you want to be picked up in a bar. So let's go and do it."

"Shall we?" Viviane said with a grin, taking the arm Remus offered her. They immediately both broke into a fit of laughter that they had to stop and get the better of before walking downstairs.

As they entered the bar of the inn down the street from theirs, Viviane spotted the ex-official that was her target from Mort's description. She sat down next to him and ordered a gin and tonic that she knew would be mostly tonic. Nerves strumming, she almost sensed rather than saw Remus take a seat around the corner of the bar, out of sight but within hearing. She chatted up her target, time passing rather slowly as she was forced to listen to a long, drunken tale of how he'd embezzled thousands of Galleons from the Ministry and left before he could be arrested.

All was going well until Godfrey decided he wanted a more private setting for their conversation. He imperiously demanded a bottle of champagne and a private room and taking Viviane by the hand, led her off. The barmaid glanced at Remus, and handing him the bottle, pushed him towards the door. Remus entered the room to find Viviane coquettishly holding the man off as he leaned into her, recounting his younger triumphs.

Godfrey turned around and gesturing at Remus, said, "Go on, pour it, man, and get out of here." Remus poured, then slammed the door, but quietly retreated to a dark corner of the room.

The ex-official turned back to Viviane and said, "I like 'em like you - not too pretty and stuck up, but nice and with some upholstery to you. Those women that tended to join Voldemort, they were a snobby bunch, 'specially those Slytherin girls. That was no place to go to school, if you ask me, 'specially if you got stuck in Hufflepuff like me. Being a Death Eater was no fun on the fun end either, you know, but it sure was profitable, if you know what I mean-"

Suddenly Godfrey crashed to the floor in a wave of blood, and Viviane stood over him with a dagger, her face glowing but her eyes filled with such cold rage that they chilled Remus to the marrow. Remus gazed at her, stunned by her transformation and the body on the floor, and then the metallic smell of warm blood and the sight of the gaping wound in the man's chest overcame him and he had to run to the fireplace to vomit.

As he recovered, he gasped, "Viviane, what have you done! You've killed him! Are you mad?"

Viviane prodded the body with a toe. "Do you think he really went to Hogwarts?"

"What?! What kind of question is that?"

"Do you?"

"Damn it, yes, he did. He was three years ahead of me. Viviane-"

Viviane smiled slightly, and wiping some blood from her blade with her finger, licked it slowly off. "That's two for one, then. Let's go. Did you lock the door into the bar?"

"Yes!" said Remus, somewhat wildly.

She took her stunned friend by the elbow and left out the back. As they reached their inn and went upstairs, she said "Goodnight!" and went into her room, closing the door in Remus' face. Remus started to knock, but something told him it wouldn't make a difference, so he prepared to spend a sleepless night awaiting explanations.

When Viviane awoke, she was startled to find Remus sitting firmly in a chair in front of her door. "Remus! How dare you break into my room!"

Remus, arms and legs crossed, simply stared at her.

Viviane gave a stretch and a yawn and continued, "Well? Oh come on, you know I'm no angel. The man was a Death Eater. He's wanted by the Ministry for embezzlement, and as unsettled as things are now they aren't going to waste time finding out who took him off their hands. Perhaps I should apply for a reward!"

"I don't even know what to say to you. You killed that man - killed him - without provocation-"

A faint echo of last night's rage glowed in Viviane's eyes as she said, "You don't know my provocations. Trust me, I had some. You'll have trust me, because I'm not discussing them at this time."

Remus got up, and Viviane realized, too late, that he was practically beside himself with anger. She flinched a little, shocked by the intensity of his emotion as he stood over her and said in a strained voice, "You've put both of us in jeopardy by your inexcusable behavior last night. How could you involve me in this mess-"

Viviane leapt out of bed, infuriated. "How could I? Did I ask you to get involved? Did I beg you to come along? Please recall that it was you-"

"Yes. I did. I agreed to a simple plan to hold the man downstairs, not murder him. Now we've got a dead body, the Ministry most likely nosing around, and have you even thought about what Mortimer is going to do when he finds out? Viviane, he may think you're cute and indulge you when you obey orders, but when you go around murdering people you're only supposed to detain, he's not going to like it at all. It draws too much attention to him."

Viviane rolled her eyes. "I'll handle Mort."

Remus' voice softened a little as he said, "You have a lot of growing up to do. I feel awfully strange saying this to a murderer, but you have no idea what you're dealing with here. I don't know why you did this, but I simply can't take the risk of being hauled into court for murder or beaten up by an angry mobster. I've made enough here to pay off my bill, so I'll be going."

"You're leaving? Now?" Viviane sat back down, wide-eyed.

"After my class today. I packed up last night. Viviane, I can only hope the best for you, but you're taking too many risks and frankly, you scare me. If you could have seen your eyes last night-" Remus gave a shiver, then quickly kissed her on the forehead, and left.

Viviane sat on the bed, bewildered. "What just happened?" she said aloud. "Remus?"

But she didn't get an answer, and found that he had left for class. As she got dressed for her next assignment, guarding a wizard on a journey to York, she wondered whether she should try and stop him. He was nice to have around, but something of a busybody. She couldn't deal with the problem then, though, because she was already running late. We'll sort this out tonight, she thought. He'll cool down.

On her way to the house where she was to meet the wizard she would be protecting, Mortimer unexpectedly joined her.

"Come along, my dear, that little job has been cancelled." He guided her into a house, lead her into an empty room and shut the door. Eyeing her for a second and taking in her puzzled look, he then grabbed her shoulders, lifted her off her feet and slammed her so hard into the wall that it knocked the breath out of her. As she gasped for air, he snarled, "What do you think you were doing, killing that man? How dare you disobey orders and bring the Ministry down on me?" He slammed her into the wall again and let go, allowing her to fall to the floor. She landed in a crouch, looking up at him furiously and reaching for her wand.

"Oh no, none of that. Expelliarmus!" As he caught her wand, he pointed his at her and exclaimed, "Crucio!" Viviane let out a scream, and curled into a ball as Mortimer leaned over her to hiss, "I've killed people for less than this. But you're useful, intelligent and young enough to learn the lesson I'm about to teach you. Crucio!" Viviane flipped over, letting out a wail but glaring up at him through the pain. "Ah yes, you do have spirit, don't you, my dear. Damon? I need you in here." Mortimer made a gesture in Viviane's direction as a brutal-looking wizard came into the room. He gave Mortimer a surprised look as he pointed to Viviane and Mortimer nodded. The thug swung his leg back and gave Viviane a kick in the ribs, audibly breaking some, then aimed a blow at her back. Mortimer commented as he watched, "I'd rather just use the Cruciatus on you, but I can't risk damaging your mind. You're so damned stubborn, though, that I need to give you a lesson to remember. And Damon will make sure you'll remember this one every time you look in the mirror for the next week."

After a few more strategic kicks, Mortimer hauled Viviane to her feet and held her up, grasping her jaw in a carelessly tight grip. "One more, but not too hard. We don't want to damage her face permanently." Viviane gave Damon a look that made him hesitate for less than a second before his fist made contact with her cheekbone, snapping her head sideways.

Mortimer released his grip on Viviane, letting her collapse to the floor. "Well my dear, that's it for now. Don't worry about showing up for work - I'll let you have the week off. Vacation time." He laughed as he left, only turning around once to put a lengthy, parting Cruciatus Curse on her before tossing her wand at her and shutting the door.

She lay there for several hours, in too much pain to move, but finally the cold cleared her senses enough for her to retrieve her wand and drag herself to her feet. Dizzy, and aching in every part of her body, she slowly made her way back to her room, taking back streets and alleyways, shrouding her face in her cloak.

****

Remus was sorry to leave his students and beyond furious with Viviane for what she'd done. It was first civilized existence he'd enjoyed since Hogwarts. He liked teaching the Defenses that he knew, and he felt in some way that he was making up for his failure to realize that Sirius was a spy for Voldemort. And as far as he could tell, his students liked him. Emily had even made him several batches of his favorite ginger snaps over the last few weeks, and had wept a little when he announced he was leaving. Anthony, shocked, tried to question him, but he curtly refused to answer, merely saying that he'd had an urgent message, and had to go.

On the way back to the inn, he pondered once again about the murder Viviane had committed, and shook his head for the umpteenth time that day, wondering how an odd but seemingly levelheaded girl could harbor such deadly rage. It was something he simply couldn't risk hanging around to find out the answer for, no matter how pleasant his life had become.

As he walked up the steps to his room, he passed a hunched figure with a mass of tangled hair, making its way slowly up the steps while clinging to the railing. Remus was momentarily surprised, because he hadn't seen a crone in years. As he was letting himself into his room, he noticed that the crone was trying to unlock Viviane's door, and staring in disbelief, he moved towards the figure and took its arm.

Viviane let out a scream and doubled over. "Don't touch me!"

"Viviane?" Remus said, aghast, as he pulled the hair away from her face. What he saw shocked him so badly that he reeled against the wall. "Viviane?"

She ignored him and fumbled with her wand, trying to unlock the door. Finally managing it, she stumbled into the room and fell on the bed, eyes closed. "Go away, Remus. We said our goodbyes this morning, as I recall."

"Viviane? What happened? Was it Mortimer? What did they do to you?"

"Yes. He had one of his thugs work me over, and then Mort favored me with the Cruciatus Curse."

Remus' voice was hushed. "He used one of the Unforgivable Curses on you?"

Viviane peered up at him with an exasperated expression, then shut her eyes. "No, he tickled me with a feather."

She heard a chair scrape across the floor and Remus sat down next to the bed. "We should get Anthony to look at you. Your face-" He lightly touched the livid bruise on her cheek, and Viviane flinched. "Stop that. It's all superficial. Mort wants to keep me around, so this is just a lesson. I'll be fine in a week."

"Are you sure? You seem to be having trouble breathing."

"Oh, I've got some broken ribs, another injury that just needs time. I'll be fine." She heard Remus leave the room and tried not to mind that he was gone for good, but it took an effort to keep tears back. Then she heard him re-enter.

"Here. Drink this. Emma made it for you. It will let you sleep off the initial pain from your injuries."

Viviane tried to raise an eyebrow but found it hurt too much. "Made it for you, you mean. Emma has fallen for your gorgeous brown eyes and gentlemanly manner!"

"Drink up and sleep, you silly girl." Viviane took a sip and as Remus turned to leave, she said, "One last bit of advice before you go. Remus, you're a wonderful man, you really are. But you have got to lose the habit of being always right. It's an infuriating trait, in a man especially. Do yourself a favor and work on losing that."

Remus grinned at her. "Right. You can elaborate for me when you wake up. I'll be here, I promise."

Chapter Two

Remus entered Viviane's room to find her pacing around, randomly banging into the furniture and cursing under her breath. She glared at him as he walked in, saying, "Remus, will you please call off Emma? She won't let me out of here and I'm about to go crazy! I'm fine now, really."

He scrutinized her, and noticed that she was once again moving quickly, her ribs apparently healed from the recent beating. "Hm, you do look better-"

"Good. I have an idea - let's get some food and go for a walk. It's such a beautiful day, and I've been cooped up here for ages. There's a really nice spot down by the creek that I noticed when I was taking the last shipment to Ainsley." She dashed off down the steps, leaving Remus to shake his head and say to himself, "I guess we're going on a walk."

****

As they leaned back against the sloping bank of the creek, dabbling their feet in the water and squinting up at the clouds, Remus ventured a question. "You've mentioned that you have no family. Does that make you an alien or an orphan?"

Viviane laughed. "Orphan."

"May I ask what happened?"

"Oh, the usual. Voldemort had a fit over something and they were in the way. It happened to lots of us. I was away at school when it occurred, and the school wasn't too happy about having a student who might draw Voldemort's attention. So they asked me to leave."

Remus sat up, horrorstruck. "They asked you to leave?"

"Of course. They couldn't endanger the lives of everyone else just because of me. It was different later, in Britain, where Voldemort's modus operandi was well known, whereas we were working in the dark against a power that we did not understand. It didn't matter in the end anyway, because the school was shut down. I had nowhere to go, so I thought Britain as good a place as any in which to disappear. Why stick around to be fodder for Death Eaters?" Her eyebrows slanted towards her nose in a scowl as she hefted a large rock into the water.

"I can't believe they just threw you out. What school was this? Surely not Beauxbatons?"

"Beauxbatons? What a joke, no. My school no longer exists, so it is of no matter; please don't ask where. And you, did you finish Hogwarts?"

Remus fell back against the bank, staring up at the sky as he wondered where to begin and how much to tell her. "I graduated. We were all happy, all ready to begin our lives, when the war started and everything changed. James Potter and his wife, Lily were cut down by Voldemort, leaving their son Harry parentless. Peter Pettigrew was blown to bits in the middle of a street. And Sirius Black is in Azkaban for betraying all of them." Remus paused for a moment. "That's the whole sordid tale, I guess. It was my fault, really; I suspected Sirius but couldn't bring myself to really believe- everything was so chaotic and nobody knew where to turn-"

"Harry Potter? His father was your friend? Oh Remus, I am sorry; I've heard about what happened. And Sirius Bl-"

"I don't want to talk about him."

"Ah. But surely you could have stayed at Hogwarts? As a teacher? Why are you wandering the country with a Frenchwoman of bad temper and dubious reputation? I mean truly, Remus, you don't need to be here, getting mixed up in my problems. You could have a position at the Ministry, or - or anywhere."

Remus bit his lip while viciously tearing chunks off a loaf of bread and hurling them at the ducks sailing by. "Sometimes you just get fed up with everything and everybody. I want nothing to do with the Ministry, and Hogwarts…well, too much occurred for me to be anything but unhappy there." He stared down at the desiccated bread in his hands and quickly set it down, giving Viviane a penetrating stare that made her shift uncomfortably.

"And you, Miss Dubious Reputation, are not all that you seem, or rather, you're more than you seem. Just how wealthy was your family, and how well established? You know far too much about good wine, a fine set of robes, and the niceties of class distinctions, not to mention the odd talent for swordfighting, to be from the average wizard family. What do you think you're doing, working for Mortimer and engaging in various dishonorable-"

Viviane nearly fell into the creek as she jerked herself up on one elbow to glare at him. "Oh, honor!" she scoffed. "To hell with honor. To hell with family. I've seen what a fine sense of honor can do, which is exactly nothing, or worse than nothing. And in the end you're left with your fine sense of honor and the world in ruins." She huffed and settled back down, ripping blades of grass out of the bank.

"So, murdering a man is just a convenient outlet for your overabundant energy? Nothing to do with revenge, or, er, honor?"

Viviane tickled his nose with a long blade of grass. "It gives me satisfaction," she said, her voice nearly a whisper. "What is it to you if I rid the world of some vermin? It was worth every resulting blow I got from Mortimer."

Remus caught her wrist and took away the annoying blade of grass, regarding her with puzzlement. "What the hell happened to you, to freeze you at the core like this? I've seen people emotionally and physically destroyed by the war, but you are-"

"I'm what? I'm just a royally angry woman who isn't afraid to act on it and besides, you have no right to call me frozen. How much more anger can you possibly store away in that underfed body before you go mad? All right, final question. Where do you run off to every month? Got a mistress stashed somewhere?" Viviane quirked an eyebrow at him.

"No. And it's none of your business. Viviane, I want you to promise me that you won't try to follow me, or find out where I go. This is something personal, and it's important to me. Please don't argue."

Struck by Remus' solemn tone, Viviane said, "Of course, Remus. I won't pry." She got to her feet, brushing off the grass she'd torn out of the earth. "I need to go find Mort and find out if I still have a job." She gave Remus a hand to help him up, but retained it once he was upright. "What we've said today goes no further, right? Friend to friend?"

"Friend to friend," answered Remus, giving her hand a slight squeeze before letting go and turning back to the road.

****

When they got back to their lodgings, Viviane headed for the offices behind the bar to talk to Mortimer and Emma detained Remus, who was on his way upstairs, by way of pleasantries and a large glass of ale. As Viviane reached for the handle on Mortimer's door, Damon, his bodyguard, caught her arm. "I see you've recovered, Miss Chance," he said with a grin. "Let me see if Mortimer wants to talk to you."

She removed her arm from his grasp and stood aside with a slight snarl. Damon reappeared and with exaggerated courtesy ushered her into the office where Mortimer sat behind a massive desk piled high with parchment and bags of illicit potions ingredients.

"So my dear, are you back for more? I must admit, I was almost convinced that I wouldn't see you again." He appraised her critically, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. "You're even tougher than I thought."

Viviane smiled. "It never hurts to be underestimated." She walked slowly along the front of the desk, trailing her fingers on the top, finally stopping to tap them thoughtfully against the surface. "I'm useful to you, am I, Mort?"

"Quite so, when you're not leaving a corpse behind for me to deal with. Is this the beginning of a request for a raise?"

"No. But I want more….latitude in dealing with certain people." Her fingers began to trace the inlaid pattern on the desk. "I must admit, dearest Godfrey took me by surprise; I wasn't expecting a former Ministry official to be a Death Eater as well as an embezzler-"

"You're lucky that he was what he was. The Ministry didn't ask many questions and the matter blew over without too much inconvenience and minimal amounts of Galleons on my part."

"-but if I take more care next time, I want to be able to dispose of people in my own fashion, without a Cruciatus Curse waiting for me later." She finally stared directly into his eyes, and Mortimer, hard man that he was, gave an involuntary shiver.

He got up and walked around to sit on the edge of his desk and, taking her shoulders, held her at arm's length. "Viviane, to survive in this business, you can't indulge in the luxury of personal scores. It's business, not an excuse to run around waving your sword and wiping out whomever pisses you off. Emotion has no place here and it will only get you killed in the end. Choose your fights wisely, and make sure they're about the right things." She continued to stare at him, unimpressed, until he dropped his hands from her shoulders in exasperation. "Whatever world spawned your unlikely self is destroyed; let it go, girl. I'd hate to lose you to your unfortunate yen for trouble."

"I've renounced luxury, Mortimer, and I know quite well that there's nothing left of the person I was and the world I came from. The only thing that remains is a cache of unsettled personal scores, and I'll keep those to remember myself by. But if you give me enough information beforehand on the people I will be working with, I can let you know if they'll be disappearing. Deal?"

Mortimer stood up, surveying her through narrowed eyes. "You drive a deadly bargain, Viviane Chance. I'll agree, on two conditions. If I say no to one of your assassination attempts, you will abide by my decision. Secondly, you're in charge of cleaning up any resulting mess from your murders. I'll not get mixed up in them, and if you get caught I won't know you."

Viviane shrugged. "I accept your terms. Any jobs for me?"

He rifled through some parchment on the desk, frowning as he studied a set of documents. "Not at the moment, but come back early Wednesday. I'll have a package to be delivered to a client in Liverpool. He looked back up at her with a wry smile. "I must say, if nothing else, the mess Voldmort left behind has created some very strange bedfellows. See you Wednesday, my lady."

****

Remus was still chatting with Emma when Anthony Scipio strode into the bar and took a chair next to him. "Remus, I've been looking for you. How about dinner and a look at some new books I've received? The moon is too bright for any stargazing."

"Anthony, that sounds perfect. Do you know Emma? Emma, this is Anthony Scipio, a Healer."

Looking somewhat uncomfortable, he shook her hand and declined the ale she offered him. "Look, Remus, why don't we go now? We can sit in the garden with some wine and the books-"

Viviane, returning from Mortimer's office, interrupted him as she stopped at Remus' chair and looked inquiringly at Anthony.

"Anthony, another introduction. This is Viviane-"

Anthony stood up, looking at Viviane with disdain. "I know who she is. Did you have a productive day? Commit a murder? Or was it your day for extortion?"

Embarrassed, Remus turned to look at Viviane and caught the last flicker of hurt in her eyes before she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'll leave you and your overly scrupulous friend to your conversation. Goodnight, Remus." She walked to the other end of the bar and Remus looked back at Anthony, who was edging towards the door. "Shall we, and I'll try to explain my rudeness."

As the two men walked through Shipley to Anthony's house, he gestured at the many cheap pubs lining the street, as well as at the rows of empty buildings that were quickly falling into disrepair. "Look at this mess. It used to be a thriving center of commerce, with wand shops, bookstores, a wonderful potions ingredients trader. All gone, now. It breaks my heart, to see what's happened here. First, Death Eaters either recruited the long-established wizard families, or killed them off. Then that bastard Mortimer moved in, and ever since we've been overrun with con men, thieves, and witches and wizards like your friend, who specialize in the murder and extortion of those of us who remain. Remus, do you know what Viviane does? The damage she inflicts?"

Remus, who'd been staring at the ground as he walked, looked up at Anthony and gave him a half-smile. "I've had trouble reconciling myself to many of Viviane's actions. But believe it or not, we're a lot alike. We're both refugees from Voldemort, making do with what we were left. I can't condemn her, Anthony, I'm sorry. Can we just agree not to discuss her?"

"I suppose. But Remus, she can only involve you in serious trouble. You're so much better than that-"

"Please."

Anthony sighed. "All right. Here we are - ready for some decent wine and new books?"

"Always."

****

Viviane was trying to get her emotions back under control as Remus left with Anthony, and Emma came over to pat Viviane's hand. "My dear, Dr. Scipio dislikes all of us. We're part of what he hates happened to Shipley as the result of the war. But he had no right to take it out on you."

"Thanks Emma, but he's of no moment to me. I-" She broke off, turning so pale that Emma stretched out a hand to her, afraid she was going to faint.

"Viviane? Viv, what is it? Are your ribs still hurting-"

"No," Viviane whispered. "No, they're fine. I- I just had a dizzy fit, thanks." Emma gave her an indulgent smile. "You've tried to do too much too soon. You should listen to Remus and slow down, luv."

Viviane made sure Emma was at the other end of the bar before she slipped behind one of the wooden pillars that were scattered around the room. It's one of them, I know it. I remember that face, she thought, staring at the wizard dressed in exquisitely tailored robes of fine wool as he argued with a waiter over the quality of the ale. Visions of him with his wand raised, blasting through the ancient walls of Aquitaine, cutting down terrified professors and students with the Killing Curse erupted in Viviane's mind, the details she tried so hard to suppress on a daily basis careening across her mind's eye in a riotous parade. Viviane caught herself staring at her boots, waiting for the blood from bodies crushed by rubble to start pooling around them, then gave a start and retreated to her seat in the corner of the bar.

Picking up a Daily Prophet lying on the seat next to her, she continued to watch her target from behind its pages. He made short work of his meal, and pulled on his cloak with a bit of a flourish. Yes, just as you seemed to enjoy orchestrating death, she thought, recalling his elaborate gestures as he'd aimed his wand at his victims. Viviane smiled grimly behind her book. We'll see how he likes death, unorchestrated.

As he left the building and started down the road leading out of Shipley, Viviane shadowed him, noting that the few people he passed did not greet him. He's a stranger here. Nobody will miss him for some time, probably. He came upon the most desolate section of the road, shadowed closely by trees on both sides, but before he got too far Viviane quietly slipped alongside of him and, pressing her sword against his side, divested him of his wand while hissing a warning about keeping silent.

When they reached a small clearing, Viviane pointed her wand at the ground and lit a small fire, then turned to look at her captive.

"So, Monsieur, do you know who I am?"

"A teenage delinquent who'll be brought before the courts fairly soon, no doubt. What do you want, money? Here, take a few Galleons and let me be on my way like a good girl." He tossed some coins at her feet with a sneer and continued, "The sword's a nice touch, dear. Gives you a bit of style."

Viviane whipped her sword up and backed the man against a tree, the point pressing into his throat, her hand and her voice steady but her body shaking in anger. "You never found what you were looking for that day, did you, you and your Lord Voldemort? When you tore Aquitaine apart looking for a girl, and the secret to immortality? I cannot tell you if the secret exists, but the girl does, and she remembers you quite well, Reginald, I believe you were called?

"Merlin's beard," the man breathed, sheet-white, his hands grasping the bark of the tree. "Viviane Devereux. But how-? We thought you must be dead, accidentally killed with the rest-"

"Ah, the rest. Yes, the bodies I waded through to escape from the ruins, those you left as food for carrion at Voldemort's pleasure. I was in a hidden room, you see, but only three of us made it in there before the destruction began, and though you could not see us, I saw you, and how thoroughly you relished your actions."

As he opened his mouth to reply, Viviane, with careless grace, swept her sword across his throat and bent over him as he fell among the leaves and underbrush to make sure he was dead. Finding him so, she heaved a sigh of satisfaction and headed back to her lodging.

****

Late that evening, Remus walked back to the inn, enjoying the unusually warm November weather and trying to decide which Defense technique to start with for his next class. Anthony had expressed interest in learning some of the ways to try and detect the Imperious Curse, and the book he'd just lent to Remus cast some fascinating new light on the subject. "Time to start reading up on my specialty again," he remarked happily to a gnome that scurried out of his way in the road.

He was surprised to find Viviane still reading by the fire in the common room, but noted the faint look of unease on her face and paused. He pulled up a chair and gently took the book from her hands, saying, "I'm so sorry about the incident with Anthony. Viviane, he's angry at what's happened to Shipley. It's a long list of things, and you're only the last item-"

Viviane got up and snatched the book back from him. "And I should care because? He survived the war with his wife and his house and his profession intact. That gives him every right to look down upon me, a piece of garbage washed up from the shores of France to sully his precious town." She took a deep breath, and started again. "Remus, I'm glad you've found a friend that you can talk with, about all the subjects most of us can't begin to understand. I really am. I'm just tired, I guess. Still not quite recovered from Mort's little lesson, so I'm going to bed."

Remus smiled at her and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "You must be tired, to admit that. I'm off on my usual little vacation, so I'll see you in a week or so. Until then, take care, Viviane."

****

That Wednesday, as agreed upon, Viviane reported to Mortimer to pick up the items she was to smuggle into Liverpool. "Here. This needs to be dropped off by mid-afternoon tomorrow. There isn't much happening afterwards, but be around next week because I'll need you for some security work. Got that?"

"Sure thing, Mortimer. Can you tell me what's in this? Just in case I need to hide it or something?"

"Consignment of Boomslang skin."

"Ooh. Expensive."

"Yes, they paid handsomely for it, so you'd best be careful and deliver as planned." He gave her a keen look. "Yes, despite your appearance, you're useful. Taken to this business better than I thought you would."

"Investment paid off, did it?"

"You were more like a gamble. Off you go, now."

Viviane took off through the forest to the next town, avoiding the path and striking deep into the trees to escape detection. Her destination wasn't a wizard town, so Apparating was not an option. But she was enjoying her walk, and the calming effect the isolation of the deep forest had on her, until she heard faint screams that sounded almost, but not quite, human. Taking out her wand, she quietly slipped through the trees, the screams becoming louder and more tormented, sometimes ending in a howl that seemed wrenched from whatever was making them. Are Death Eaters torturing some poor creature? Viviane thought. I'll make sure they answer for it, and silently drew her sword out of its scabbard. After several moments of tracking the direction of the sounds she found the old, boarded up shack from which the unearthly screams were issuing.

Prying loose one of the boards from a window, she peered in, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Viviane saw what seemed to be a man, or almost a man, kneeling on the ground, his head bent down as his body twisted in pain, bones elongating and coarse fur starting to cover his body. She sheathed her sword and nearly walked to the front of the shack, thinking of attempting to help, but her instincts took over and shouted, Werewolf! Viviane you idiot, stay out of there. Her knees grew weak and she clung to the sill, horrified, but unable look away as his screams became more desperate while claws sprouted from what were once fingers. As the now more-creature-than-man lifted his head for a last, piercing howl while the transformation became complete, Vivane caught sight of a pair of terrified brown eyes flecked with gold and a face with sharp cheekbones just before they disappeared into the head of a wolf. Sliding away from the window, she buried her face against the rough planks of the shack and dug her fingernails into the wood as she gasped for air. Remus, no, not you, not the sane one, the learned one, the compassionate one. "Unfair. Unfair," she whispered, and beat her palms in frustration against the side of the building, thinking bitterly that this was one instance where she could do nothing to help.

She stumbled away from the shack and back to her original pathway, trying not to think about how devastating such a transformation must be to the fastidious man she knew. If he knows you know, it's the end of your friendship. You must complete this job. Get to Liverpool. Complete the transaction. This is the end of your friendship because I can't possibly hide what I've seen from him. "Damnation. What a mess. What a mess. The only person I trust is a werewolf. What now?" she whispered, and forced herself to keep walking and keep alert, despite the confusion in her mind. Should I just leave, without telling him? Spare him the ordeal of facing me? He obviously is terribly shamed, barricading himself in that shack to tear at himself. Mortimer could send me to another town, and I'd leave some money for him to get on with. There's nothing I can do for him, except be there when he becomes human again, and what would that do? Oh Remus, you could have told me.

Her debate continued through the handoff and her journey back to Shipley. Once in her room, she sat down and tried to make a decision about what to do. The bitter truth is, she thought, that I wouldn't have made it this far without him. Yet if I decide to help him now, I've pledged myself to help him out later, and it means concealment and lost time and far too many complications. That is, if he doesn't renounce our friendship altogether when he finds out I know.

Feeling trapped, she threw open the window and took some deep breaths before she realized just how cold it had become. Quickly closing it again, she leaned her forehead against the glass and thought of Remus waking alone and bloody and freezing, and what would happen should someone else discover him. His arms will be a bloody mess, and will have to be bound up to keep him from bleeding to death, probably. He must be inflicting some awful wounds on himself, with those claws. She shivered at the memory of them, and momentarily lost courage at the thought of being their target, and of the fangs she'd seen pushing through Remus' gums. Finally she threw on a cloak, put some rags, food, and another cloak in a bag and set back out for the shack, steeling herself for several days of guarding Remus from intruders, and possibly the other way around, she thought in despair.

Remus was still in his wolf stage, howling and raging and tearing at his arms as he careened into the walls, seeking a way out. Viviane took one peek at him through the loosened board but as she did, Remus sensed her there and lunged at the opening, snarling and trying to bite through. Viviane let out a screech and threw herself backwards, using her wand to refasten the board as she fell, then curled up in a ball, trying to control an onslaught of nausea and holding her ears against the howls. After she got hold of herself and settled down within sight of the shack, she wondered if she would be able to stand the noise without losing her mind.

She thought she was doing well after the first day, managing to block out the noise through reading and an Aural Charm that dissipated the worst of it, but at night, as she sat huddled over a small fire, she began to imagine that she could hear Remus' voice through the shuddering howls emanating from the shack, tortured and aware of his loss of control. Unable to take it any longer, she doused the fire and ran deeper into the woods, blindly running into branches and tearing her robes on the underbrush as she attempted to get away from the noise. At last, out of hearing and out of breath, she stopped and took out her wand. "Lumos," she whispered, and tried to breath quietly in the stillness of the woods and clear her mind of the images left from observing the transformation. Using one of her sleeves, she wiped off tears and the blood from scratches off of her face, and recoiled her hair. Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she returned to her post, whispering, "Until morning. If I can only stand it for that much longer," and walked slowly back to wait for Remus to retransform.

In the morning Viviane woke from a slight doze, sensing something was different and realized that Remus was silent. Viviane cautiously looked in again. He was back to human form, lying face down on the floor, motionless and bloodied. Viviane blasted through the locks on the door and stood with her back against it, terribly frightened even though she knew Remus was no longer dangerous. She slowly approached him and began to bind up the wounds on his arms, which were deep and jagged, some catching on former scars and re-opening them. Staunching the blood took longer than it should have, because Viviane kept flinching and even jumping backwards in fright if he moved. "He can't hurt you now," she kept whispering to herself.

After she finished with his arms, she rolled Remus onto his back and out of the blood that had pooled around his body, and managed to pull on the remains of his robe and fasten it. Taking the cloak she'd brought, she tucked it around him and subsided to a corner of the shack, hugging her knees and trying to keep down the fear. "He can't hurt you," she kept whispering.

Viviane stayed huddled in her corner of the shack, occasionally checking on Remus and his injuries and trying to get some sleep, but she found that impossible. Finally, after two days, Remus' eyelids began to flutter, and soon he blinked and tried vainly to sit up. He stared at amazement at the cloak that covered him, and then caught sight of Viviane looking apprehensively at him from her corner.

"You- you followed me. You broke your promise. I trusted you-" The pain in his raspy voice and his struggle to free himself from the robe caused Viviane to crawl to his side so she could look him in the eyes. "No, no I didn't. I heard you as I was on my way to Liverpool and found the shack. Oh Remus, I arrived just as you were- were- turning. So I've come to get you out of here and back into your room. If anyone finds out, they'll run you out of town, or even kill you."

Remus narrowed his eyes at her. "Why would you want to do that? I can see how afraid you are of me, how disgusted at the werewolf, the gross, slavering beast I become."

Viviane sat back on her heels. "I've met far more beastly humans than your werewolf seems to be, including myself on occasion. And you want me to say it. All right, I will. You saved my life. Maybe a couple of times. I owe you one. Or two." She resumed her slouch against the wall. "And you're the only person I trust, or feel I can rely on. Hell, I even know when you'll be turning into a wolf. How's that for reliability?"

"This is no joke, Viv. You may trust me, but I can't trust myself around you. Knowing you, you'll burst in at the wrong time and be hurt or killed. I can't take that chance."

"It's a little late for your tender conscience to awaken, Remus. Between the two of us, we should be able to keep your secret, and keep you safe during your transformations. As Remus began a protest, Viviane interrupted. "Stop it. I'm being selfish about this, because I've enjoyed having you as a companion. I've been lonely since I left school, and the crowd I hang with isn't the most refined bunch. You remind me of what I wanted to be, once, and the people I knew." She looked down at her hands, embarrassed.

Remus sat up with an effort, and leaned against the wall beside her. Taking her hand, he grasped it as tightly as he was able. "All right. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe it would be a better plan to stick together. You don't exactly remind me of the people I used to know, but I like the way you're valiantly fighting whatever strange obstacles you find in your path, as they did." He gave a short laugh. "I almost envy your singleminded determination to wrest what you can out of this damned wasteland that we exist in."

Viviane looked over at him, then looked away and tried surreptitiously to wipe off her tearstained face. Remus sighed and felt in his tattered robes, pulling out a handkerchief that had miraculously survived destruction. "Here. I'm going to chain one of these to you at some point."

"Thanks." Viviane wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "When were you bitten?"

"When I was a child. My parents tried to make do with the situation as best they could. Then I went to Hogwarts, and after a while my friends found out. I was terrified that I'd become an outcast, that they'd tell everybody, but they did so much to help - became unregistered Animagi, kept me company during my transformations and made life more bearable than I ever thought possible. More than bearable - wonderful." The muscles of his face tightened. "But they're all dead now - or as good as dead, and life has become more than unbearable at times." He closed his eyes and willed himself to continue. "With all of the fear Voldemort caused and Death Eaters still about, my condition has gotten harder to conceal and makes it more difficult to escape if someone finds out."

"I know. Hiding what you are consumes your soul. I thought it would be easy-" Viviane began, but the shock and her exhaustion from watching for three days made her finally break down. She leaned her forehead on her knees and shook with sobs. Remus carefully placed his injured arm over her shoulders. "My brave girl. You've had quite a week, haven't you?"

"Nothing like yours," gasped Viviane, trying to get herself back under control. "I don't know about you, but I'm too exhausted to make it back to the inn right now. I think we could both use some sleep."

"Agreed. Sorry about the accommodations. When you're a werewolf you take what you can get."

Viviane stretched out on the dirt floor, propping her head on the bag she'd brought and held out a hand to Remus. "Come on, you can use me as a pillow. There's some food left if you're hungry."

Remus lay down with a sigh and curled into a ball, his head on Viviane's stomach. "No, I just need rest," he murmured, barely finishing the sentence before he was asleep. Viviane spent a few moments staring at the ceiling before she, too, fell asleep and slipped into a series of nightmares that seemed to have no end.

Chapter Three

A/N: All thanks to Zsenya, Hecate, Phoenix, Frances and Yolanda, who beta'd, read, suggested and put up with all my whining about writers block. Vive La Société des Femmes Dangereuses!

Remus moved about the room, finally recovered from his transformation. As he paced about, restless from days of inactivity, he pondered the dynamics of his relationship with Viviane. Somehow, no matter how he tried, he always came back to how it began and how it had continued; mutual trust and mutual protection, force-fed by a world so out of kilter that neither could gain a secure foothold in it. And to her, my being a werewolf is just another complication in the fight for survival. He smiled cynically, remembering what a shock the truth of his condition had been to the Marauders, and what drastic means they had taken to grapple with the matter. How protected we were, how sheltered, to be able to give so much time and energy to the problem.

At that moment someone knocked at the door, and Remus, startled out of his musings, shouted, "What?" The door opened partway and Viviane poked her head into the room. "Out of bed! Great." She opened the door wider and stalked in, an annoyed frown on her face. "Anthony's been asking for you, and appears to think I murdered you for your fortune. Please disabuse him at the first opportunity."

"Will do," replied Remus with a grin. "Shall we meet for dinner later?"

"Of course. I have some extortion to perform, so I must go."

After Viviane had swept back out, Remus decided it would be wise to reassure Anthony about his safety. Throwing on his battered cloak, he made his way to the Healer's house, where Melinda greeted him at the door with a warm hug, and gazed into his face. "Remus, we've been so worried about you. Anthony has nearly worn out the floor in the observatory, pacing about and imagining horrors."

Remus smiled down at her. "That's nice to hear, Melinda, and I'm sorry I didn't send a message. But I guess I owe him a new floor, since I'm just fine. Is he around?"

"He's in the study. Go on in; he'll be thrilled to see you."

The smells of fine leather binding, beeswax, and burning cherry logs met Remus' nostrils as he walked into the study and found Anthony gazing into the fire, ignoring the book he held in his hand. He looked up as Remus entered, and tossed the book aside as he went to greet his friend. "Remus! By Merlin's beard, I began to doubt I'd see you again."

"So I heard," Remus replied. "I thought I'd come and reassure you before you went after Viviane."

"Huh. Well, take a seat and a glass of wine. You're such a man of your word, that when you said you'd be gone for a week and after eight days hadn't appeared, we all began to worry."

"Anthony, travel these days is difficult at best. It took a few extra days to get back from my usual destination."

"You're not on the road for Mort, are you? The last thing you need is to get mixed up with that rotten bastard."

Remus laughed. "I have already, but once was enough. I'll tell you about it someday, but right now I wonder if you could spare some time and effort to help me on a little research. There are some fine points about the Imperious Curse that I think may yield possibilities about how to detect it."

Anthony's dark eyes began to sparkle. "Imperious Curse? To be able to detect that would be a breakthrough indeed. Where shall we start? I'll call in Melinda; she did quite a bit of work with the Ministry, trying to sort out who was under what spell right after the wars."

As the trio gathered around the study table and began to spread out books and parchment, Remus thought, This is what I was meant to do. This should have been my life. Well, at least I've recovered something, as long as they don't discover what I really am.

Remus and the Scipios organized and started their research, then Remus, having lost track of time through his absorption in the topic, had to hurry to make it back to the inn for his dinner with Viviane. Walking into the bar, Remus spotted a group of people at one end who looked vaguely familiar. He was hesitating, uncertain whether to approach them or to keep a low profile and head for his room when one of the group, a man with scarred but still handsome features stepped forward. "Remus Lupin, is that you?"

Suddenly he remembered the man's name. "Alastor Moody. You paid several visits to Hogwarts during the war, and helped us out quite a bit-

"Ah yes, anything for Albus Dumbledore. A fine wizard, he is." Moody fell silent and stared at Remus, who got the unnerving feeling that Moody was somehow noting every detail and filing it away for reference. The Auror finally spoke again. "I remember you lost some schoolmates to Voldemort, in a particularly nasty incident. Sorry to hear that-"

"Didn't you graduate from Hogwarts as well?" Remus interrupted. "How are things going with you these days?"

"Fine, fine. Been back to the old place lately?"

Remus succeeded in controlling the wave of bitter feeling before it had time to show on his face. "Not in some time. I hear you've been quite successful as an Auror. Congratulations."

"Thanks. I'm here with Annabel, in my year at Hogwarts, and Vince, our rookie over there, who's closer to your generation. We're still mopping up cells of Death Eaters. It's amazing how soon people forget what it was like under Voldemort. Constant vigilance! The fools don't realized how much danger is still out there."

"Hey Al! Don't just stand there, bring Lupin over so we can reminisce about how badly the Gryffindor team beat the Slyths back in his day." Vince was grinning and waving at Remus from the bar.

"The danger, oh, yeah," Remus responded to Moody's comment, feeling unaccountably nervous. "Well, I'm off. Say hello to Vince and Annabel, and I hope to see you around." Exactly what I don't need, Remus thought. A bunch of arrogant gits hanging about to remind me of Hogwarts. Well, they're probably too important to stick around this backwater for long.

Just as he reached his door and paused to undo the Guard Spells, he heard Viviane's voice greeting Emma. But instead of bounding upstairs with her usual energy, singing one of her French war songs loudly and off-key, which was how she usually announced the end of her workday, her footsteps dragged and he heard her sigh as she reached the top of the stairs. When she finally appeared at the end of the hallway, Remus raised his eyebrows at her drooping shoulders and tired eyes.

"Oh Remus, what a day I've had," she said, dramatically slouching against the wall. "All this rain made the roads nearly impassable, and I'm soaked through. Not to mention that I Apparated in the middle of a Muggle rugby game and had to cast about twenty Obliviate Spells."

Remus walked over, pulled her upright, and tugged off her cloak. "When will you remember to use Repelling Spells, Viv? One day you're going to catch pneumonia, and do you really want Anthony to be the one prodding your lungs?" Remus pulled his wand out of his belt. "Exaresco!" Viviane's robes and cloak dried instantly.

"You're such a fusser, Remus. I'll be fine."

"Nonetheless, let's have Emma bring up some dinner to my room this evening. It'll be warmer than downstairs, and I don't feel like facing a crowd right now."

"Agreed on both counts. Let me change into something less mud-covered and I'll meet you in your room." Remus began to laugh. "We are still standing in the hallway, aren't we! Viv, the unconventional messes you get into are so diverting that they're undermining my manners."

Emma brought up some of her marvelous lamb stew, loaded with garlic and laced with port. The two friends ate before Remus' fire, basking in both the warmth of the small room and the absence of the public clamor downstairs. Afterwards, gazing into the flames, comfortably silent together, they listened to the storm that had begun to rage outside.

"I've been thinking, Remus. About your friends, and how they became Animagi in order to keep you company during your transformations. That's very advanced magic for a bunch of students. They must have loved you very much."

She saw the now-familiar tightening of his face. "Don't. Please, tell me about it. I'm missing my own comrades tonight." She got up to look outside at the freezing rain pelting the window as the wind howled through the trees and blasted past the building. "I used to love nights like this. In our bedroom at school we'd feel so secure that we had to make up stories to scare ourselves. We thought nothing could really touch us."

Remus pulled himself out of his chair to join her by the window. "And now we live those stories," he said wearily. "All right, sit down." He huddled in one corner of the broad window seat and leaned his head against the glass, his sharp profile framed by shaggy brown hair, knees drawn up to his chest.

Viviane curled up in the opposite corner of the seat, and waited for him to begin.

"I've told you that when I started at Hogwarts, I fully expected to be an outcast. I knew I'd have to disappear for one week out of four, and that the whispers would start as my schoolmates began notice my frequent illnesses and the wounds I gave myself. Dumbledore took extraordinary measures for me - secret tunnels were built, a building was outfitted with what I needed during my transformations, but there was no hiding that I was…different. Sirius, of course, was the one who found out. He managed to follow when Madame Pomfrey took me one evening to the place set aside for my transformations, and jumped out to scare me after she left.

"It should have been the most humiliating experience of my life. One of my best friends was standing there laughing, thinking that he'd played a magnificent joke. Sirius had no idea, of course, and wouldn't leave. He just kept making up more and more wildly unlikely reasons why I was there. I tried to lie. I said I had an unusual family-related illness. I was being tutored secretly. But, being Sirius, he wouldn't listen. I even tried to push him out, but finally I had to tell him the truth. I was on the verge of my transformation, and I couldn't let myself bite him.

"I thought it was over; my friendships, my education, everything. But Sirius, he…he didn't look at me with fear or disgust. Instead, I saw admiration in his eyes, and just a little bit of…of envy. "You transform into a wolf? What I wouldn't give to be able to become something else for a little while." I can still hear him say that; he was desperate to break any boundary he could find." Remus trailed a finger down the middle of a diamond-shaped pane. "He always saw the possibilities in any situation. And after the full moon passed, he gave me the courage to tell James and Peter."

"It was James who dreamed up the Animagi. He was brilliant at Transfiguration, and he managed to find the processes they needed to manage the transformations. Poor Peter needed lots of help, but they all managed it in the end. James was a stag - Prongs. Peter became a rat; we called him Wormtail. Sirius - Padfoot - was a large, scruffy black dog.

"Nobody knew what we'd done, not even Dumbledore. Most of the school associated James and Sirius with dangerous pranks and wild adventures and they certainly racked up an impressive number of them, even in human form. People assumed I held them back from even more outrageous stunts, but really it was James who tried to keep us in line. As a wolf, I'd follow Padfoot anywhere. Sirius was so reckless, so sure of himself. He would find open fields without the scent of a human for miles, and fast-moving streams that felt so good as the water passed through our fur. James would have been horrified had he known how many nights Padfoot and the wolf roamed as fast and as far as we could. And I could have bitten someone on many of those nights. But I didn't care." Remus paused. He said more fiercely, "I don't care. I have a life to live just as other humans do. Surely there's more to it than this wretched existence the world condemns me to lead."

He glared at Viviane. "Do you think I deserve other than a shack and locks and a dirt floor? Do you?"

Viviane leaned forward to sweep the hair out of his eyes. "You deserve far more than the world is willing to give," she said. "I only wish-"

"Don't, Viv," he said, batting her arm away. "We're dealing with realities here."

Viviane stared at him with a ruthless glint in her eye. "Realities? Then I must amend your last statements. You do care, very much, about biting anyone, and you know exactly how I feel about the manner in which the world treats you."

Remus sighed in exasperation, then paused to wrap his robes more tightly around his knees. "How the wind rages. Your turn. Tell me a story. No- no protest. You're in Britain now and you have to play by our rules. Turn and turn about is fair play."

"Oh, all right. Such the sporting gentleman, you are!" She shifted her gaze out the window. "My two best school friends were Amelie and Pierre. We were incorrigible, stealing Floo powder from Professors' rooms so we could visit each other when we weren't allowed and do whatever was expressly forbidden. We'd sneak outside to raid the orchards and build bonfires out of sight of the chateau." Viviane chuckled. "Once, we tried to make a potion over the bonfire and it set off a massive explosion. It was heard in the chateau and caused quite a panic. Luckily, we managed to dive behind a hedge and didn't get badly hurt. We thought we'd gotten away with it by sneaking back in during the confusion, until we realized that the fire had singed off our eyebrows. Then there was the time we stole horses out of the paddock to go riding and ended up miles away, hopelessly lost. Our Headmaster had to rescue us from a most disreputable pub. I began early, you see! Oh, we weren't allowed off the grounds for months over that one."

"And?"

Viviane shrugged. "And what? They're gone. We're here." Remus' mouth twitched and he leaned back against the glass. They fell silent again.

****

The next afternoon, just as Remus had gotten back from teaching his Defense class and was helping Emma move some heavy wine casks behind the bar, Viviane staggered in, pale, one side of her robes drenched in blood and spitting a string of curses so anatomically graphic that even Emma began to blush.

"Viv! By all the gods, what happened to you?" Remus quickly stepped from behind the bar to meet and steady her swaying form, to start to pull back her cloak.

"Ambush. I had to escort one of Mort's VIPs to Liverpool today, and we got attacked about a mile away. One of them actually got my sword away from me and cut me with it; I'm so bloody embarrassed," she nearly screamed in fury. "Ssssss-" she concluded as Remus began to pull away fabric caked to her side by dried blood.

"Remus, hold on, you don't want to do that," Emma said, shooing him away. "Viviane luv, come back into Mort's office and let me take a look. You're having a horrid week, aren't you?" They helped her into the next room and Emma began to explore the wound, which was a deep gash running vertically down her side. "Oh Viviane, how did you make it back? You must have lost so much blood," Emma murmured as she worked over the cut. "I can clean away the blood and close the wound, but you're going to have an awful scar. Perhaps if we call Dr. Scipio-"

Viviane made a rude noise. "No thank you. I have no wish to be embarrassed by his refusal. Do your best, Emma, and it will be more than enough for me. I did manage to use a Staunching Spell once the attack was over."

Remus began to protest but Viviane cut him off. "No, Remus, no arguments. Now get out of here so Emma can take care of this."

With a resigned sigh, Remus laid a hand on Emma's shoulder. "Take care of our girl, Emma. Let me get some disinfectant to clean it - I'll be back fairly soon."

By the time he returned, Viviane was both comfortable and ready for dinner, so she and Remus took a table near the fire and ordered their food. Remus noticed Alastor and his companions at a table across the room. "See them?" he said to Viv. "They're Aurors. They went to Hogwarts; the one with the strong features and dark hair is supposedly the best Auror the Ministry has. Alastor Moody, his name is, and he's, er, very intense, and very dedicated to his job."

Viviane surveyed them with interest. "Oh. Impressive. You have to have an advanced set of Defense skills to get that job, I hear."

"Very advanced-"

A terrified man burst into the bar, shouting, "Giant! Giant! There's a giant attacking the village. He's already destroyed three houses-"

As a group, the Aurors rose and hastened out to follow the man. Viviane rose too, turning back to Remus. "Don't you want to see these guys at work?" Remus looked nonplussed. "No. Not interested. I think I'll sit and finish my dinner while it's still warm."

"All right then, I'll bore you with the story when I get back."

Viviane hurried out of the inn and down the street, one hand settling her swordbelt more firmly on her hips. Oh dear, it's colder than I thought. I should have stopped for my cloak on the way out.

As she approached the area where the giant was ripping roofs off of homes and rummaging through the contents therein, she saw the four Aurors standing in a huddle, obviously trying to come up with a strategy to subdue the creature. She watched with interest as he hove into view, taller than any living thing she'd yet seen. As she gazed up, awestruck, she suddenly realized that the creature was heading straight for another cluster of homes, and the Aurors were still in an intense discussion.

"Excuse me, but aren't you going to do anything about that?" She pointed at the giant. "He's about to take out more homes."

The short but powerfully-built man that Remus pointed out as Alastor glared up at her. "Who do you think you are, young lady? Killing a giant takes strategy. Now get out of here and let us do our job." Viviane, utterly insulted, turned on her heel and worked her way around to the back of the giant, who was just starting to take off the roof of the first house. Viviane pulled her wand out of her swordbelt and blasted the giant with a Stunning Spell. It barely slowed him down, but he did turn away from the houses to advance on her.

Grinning down at her, he said, "A feisty one, are you? Not like our master strategists over there?" He reached down to grab her, but she evaded his fist, turning him away from the buildings and towards a clearing. Just a few more steps, she thought, and backed up, wand still pointed at the giant. As he laughed and leaned forward to take another swipe at her, she stepped forward and put all her focus into a Stunning Spell aimed directly on his arm, while with the other pulled out her sword and thrust twice, once at his heart and then near his stomach. Her aim proved true, and the giant took one staggering step before toppling forward, causing Viviane to back up so quickly she tripped on her robe and rolled head over heels to land in the dust at the Aurors' feet.

Amidst total silence, one of the men grabbed her elbow and hauled her to her feet, giving her a gentle shake and peering intently into her face. "Where did you learn that? Last I heard, swordfighting skills weren't part of any school repertoire that I've heard of. You can't be more than eighteen or nineteen years old; it must have taken you years of practice to-"

Viviane, still a little dazed by her tumble, said, "Yes, it has taken me years to learn. I started young." She smiled at him uncertainly and held out her hand. "Viviane Chance."

He grinned at her and said, "Ezekiel Forrester, but call me Zeke. This is Alastor Moody, Annabel Rosemont, and Vincent Charleton." He turned to Alastor. "I guess she had a point back there, hey, Moody?" Moody glared at Viviane. "She got lucky. If that giant had fallen backwards, he'd have taken out all those houses she professed such interest in protecting."

"Come off it, Al. Hey, Viviane, how about a post-giant drink?"

"Sure. Just let me get my sword." It was lying near the fallen giant, and the silent townspeople gave her a wide berth as she went to pick it up. As they headed back to the inn, Zeke asked Viviane, "So how do you plan to get rid of the, er, remains?"

At Viviane's horrorstruck expression and gasped, "What?" all four doubled over in laughter. "The…the town takes care of it, actually," Zeke gasped. Viviane stood there, irritated. "Enough of the Auror jokes. Really," she huffed, and started off down the road, leaving them to catch up with her once they recovered from their laughter.

Zeke commented, "Where did you learn tactics? The same place you acquired your sword arm?"

Viviane smiled rather enigmatically. "The same."

Remus was startled to see Viviane return in the company of the Aurors, dusty, disheveled and laughing. "Hey Remus," Vince exclaimed, "great to see you again. You've got some traveling companion. I haven't seen a giant taken out that neatly in…well, ever!" He sprawled in a chair at Remus' table.

Remus looked up at Viviane resignedly. "Don't tell me you got involved in this."

Zeke grinned. "She sure did. A couple of Stunning Spells and spot-on work with her sword made quick work of that giant." He gestured to a passing waiter. "Round of ales, please."

"Ugh. Wine for me, thanks," interposed Viviane.

"You haven't overcome your French prejudices yet?" interrupted Moody.

"Remus, was he always this surly?" Viviane asked.

Annabel leaned forward. "Yes," she said with emphasis. "And all this work with Death Eaters hasn't improved his disposition any." She playfully poked Moody in the ribs, who smiled at her reluctantly and nearly blushed. Zeke laughed and raised his just-arrived tankard to Moody. "He's a tough talker, Al is. Cries at homeless kittens in private, though." Moody snarled back, "Oh, this from the man who wants to pardon every pretty Death Eater he meets."

"Only the nice ones. Viviane, do you make a living with that sword of yours?"

"You might say," Viviane replied, and nonchalantly sipped her wine.

****

The next evening Viviane was sitting at the bar, going over some of Mort's accounts when Moody wandered over and took a seat next to her. He leaned back to get a better view of her profile but said nothing for several minutes, waiting for her reaction to his scrutiny. She continued to work with the papers in front of her, refusing to acknowledge him, so he finally spoke. "I've been doing some checking. You're not the most upstanding citizen around here."

Viviane gave up trying to ignore him. "No. But I don't like Death Eaters, if that's what you're asking."

"Did I say anything about Death Eaters? Just wondering what kind of trouble you've got planned for the future." He leaned towards her, his dark eyes glittering. "Don't get in our way, Chance. Just don't." He slid off the barstool and walked back to his companions, leaving Viviane to track him with a smoldering glare.

She'd just gotten back to her rows of figures when the sounds of an argument erupted from the end of the bar where the Aurors were gathered.

"Yeah, show up now, you useless bunch of Ministry hacks. We don't need you now; you're too late. Just look at our town - destroyed - where were you two years ago when the Death Eaters took our property…killed our citizens….left Shipley in ruins?" The drunken man took out his wand, and was copied by his companions who had been nodding in agreement during the man's tirade.

Viviane looked up to find that Remus had wandered back from the library. "What's going on?" He spoke directly into Viviane's ear to be heard above the noise. "I see Moody and company found some trouble."

"Yeah, but Zeke looks like he's talked them down-"

Just then, one of the men at the back of the group shot an Engorgio Curse that hit Zeke directly on the nose, causing it to swell so much that the Auror could not hold up his head. With an infuriated look, Moody lobbed back a Stupefy Spell at Zeke's attacker, and in seconds the bar had degenerated into a melee of witches, wizards and assorted nasty spells and curses careening through the air accompanied by goblets, tankards and articles of dinnerware.

"Get down!" Remus grabbed Viviane and pulled her under a table, where they took shelter to observe the scene. "Viviane!" Remus exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Joining the fun! Come on," she replied as she crawled through overturned benches and trestles, avoiding the increasing amount of broken glass on the floor, and the flying pewter. Safely ensconced behind a table, she took out her wand and gleefully began burning holes in Moody's boots, then hit him squarely on his rear with a Numbing Spell. "That'll last him for days," she said with immense satisfaction. "Too bad he won't turn around so I can zap him in the front, too, although Annabel wouldn't thank me for that one."

"Viviane!" Remus said again, aghast, but the next moment he grinned to himself and managed to hit Mort with a Jelly-Legs Jinx as the smuggler entered the bar to see what was going on. One for Viv, he thought, recalling the beating Mort had given her. Reaching up to appropriate an untouched glass of whiskey sitting on a table, he took a sip and sat back, enjoying the sights. Zeke, having fixed his nose, was working on his eyebrows that were wriggling out of control, while Moody was doubled over with helpless laughter from a Rictosempra and Annabel staggered around the room, vainly trying to get rid of the effects of an especially strong Tarantella Curse.

Remus had finished his second glass of whiskey and was looking around for a third when Viviane flopped down beside him, holding a pristine gin and tonic she had found somewhere in the melee. "You'd think a bunch of Aurors could have disposed of this crowd fairly easily," she remarked. "Really, what sort of Defense teachers did you have at Hogwarts?"

"Viv, they're far outnumbered and are probably used to complex operations, not barroom brawls."

"That's good to know, Remus." She gave him such a mischievously sly look that he started to laugh and found he couldn't stop.

"You're tipsy!" Viviane exclaimed. "It's about time, too," she added, joining in his laughter. They continued to enjoy themselves until much later, when, drunk and giggling helplessly, they staggered up to their rooms.

****

The four Aurors sat around a table, deep in discussion. As Viviane walked towards them on her way to Mort's office, she prepared to greet Zeke, but a nasty look from Alastor Moody made her change her mind and walk directly towards the door. She was stopped by rising voices from the table, and when Zeke called out to her, she turned back to greet them.

"Zeke. Annabel, Vince. How goes it?"

"Viv." Zeke pulled a chair from another table up to theirs and invited Viviane to sit down. "We've got a situation, and you may be able to help us. Want to hear more? It involves bringing a Death Eater to justice, so I thought-"

"Zeke thinks you could be persuaded to help us. I personally think it would be a disaster to get you involved," interjected Moody. "Just what we need, a career criminal on the team."

Viviane sat down and casually leaned back in the chair. "Death Eater, eh? And exactly what do you want me to do?"

"He's in hiding. We know where, but he's too well guarded so we need to get him here. Apparently, he can't resist a good deal when it comes to certain illegal potions ingredients, which is where you come in. Do you think you can make him an offer he can't refuse through Mort's connections and lure him to Shipley?"

Before she could answer, Emma stopped by with a round of ale, and set a full wineglass down in front of Viviane. "Saw you join these mad creatures, Viv. Be careful, especially around this one - oh!" Zeke pulled her into his lap and gave her a resounding kiss on the neck. "My beautiful Emma, with eyes that remind me of Lough Shellin. When will you agree to be mine, my love?"

"When you start acting like a sane man, Ezekiel. Now I have to get back to my inventory - no starting any fights, or you'll be righting the furniture and fixing the glassware, hear?"

Zeke tilted his head backward to grin up at her. "Promise!"

"To get back to this bad idea, Zeke - surely we can think of something that doesn't involve her?" Moody gestured at Viviane.

"Alastor!" Annabel looked over at him reprovingly. "I don't see a problem. Viv, do you think it would work? And would Mort agree to use his connections to make it look real?"

Viviane sat back and scanned their faces. "And I should do this because? I'm a busy witch, Zeke."

"I thought you might like to see how we operate. Besides, have you ever seen a trial? Seen a Dementor give a Death Eater his or her just punishment? You might want a taste of how we deal with these folk, if only as an academic exercise." His voice hardened and he leaned towards her, his genial manner turned menacing. "In contrast to your own rather dubious and highly unlawful methods."

"Zeke, if that's a threat, you're a fool to have made it. And if you want to use Mort's influence, be prepared to pay dearly. He doesn't want the reputation of an Auror's blind. But I'll ask him, and I'll think about it. As I've said, I'm busy witch, and don't have time to do your job as well as mine. But it does sound interesting."

As she left the room, Moody followed her out the door and caught her arm.

"Interesting, nothing. If you agree to the plan you'll stick to it, and not mete out your vigilante justice before we have a chance to try this man. We have no reason to trust you, and I can't imagine why Zeke thinks he can."

"Upset that you can't handle this yourself, Moody? You're only getting me more intrigued by this plan of Zeke's. I'll be seeing you soon, Monsieur Auror, hopefully with your man in custody."

Moody growled at her, but let her go and returned to his friends at the table.

***

"August Somerville, August Somerville," Viviane muttered as she paced, going over the spurious transaction in her head. "Boomslang skin, ground manticle liver, powdered scorpion eyes. Got it. I can't believe Mort agreed to this; I wonder what sort of bargain he made with Zeke. Or perhaps I don't want to know." She turned to the door of Mort's office as it opened to admit a nondescript wizard of middle age and a sly countenance. He stopped short when he saw her, then recovered and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, you aren't what I was expecting. Not used to dealing with pretty young witches in this line of work. Do you have the ingredients?"

"Yes of course," Viviane replied, shaking his hand and gesturing towards a chair. "Welcome to Shipley; I hope you didn't have any trouble getting here."

"None at all. Mortimer has quite the reputation, so I was glad to hear from you. Knew it was safe, unlike the hacks that are selling around London. You never know what you're getting, or who might be behind the sale."

"Indeed," said Viviane, and her malicious smile and glittering eyes made the man sit up in his chair, but he had time to do no more before the Aurors burst in, wands pointed at the man.

"You damned bitch," August spat at Viviane after surveying his four captors with comprehension dawning in his eyes. "Who are you, to sell me to a passel of Aurors? How much did you get for this, you wretched-"

Despite the wands pointed at him, he lunged for Viviane, to be stopped by a Stunning Spell from Zeke's wand and by Moody, who grunted "Expelliarmus!" and offhandedly caught Somerville's wand as it zoomed towards him. Zeke looked up at her.

"You OK?"

She nodded and turned the Death Eater over with one toe, scrutinizing his face. "I don't know this one."

Zeke stared down at the man, a rare, grim expression on his normally cheerful face. "He's a spineless coward. He planned and ordered the murder of scores of Muggles, but never had the guts to do the dirty work. He stayed in the background and well hidden, which is why we haven't gotten him sooner." The Auror turned to Viviane and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, my dear. You've been invaluable."

"My pleasure, Zeke, but I must beg off attending the trial next week; I'm far too busy and I'm quite sure Mort wouldn't appreciate one of his thugs giving evidence at a Ministry, eh, function."

Zeke grinned at her. "Understood."

***

Viviane slipped into the back row of the court, well shrouded in her cloak. There would probably be no one there to recognize her, but she wasn't going to risk exposure to any high-ranking Ministry official who happened to be present. Glancing around, she thought she'd never seen such a dismal place as this circular room looking down on a chair draped in chains. She gave a start as guards dragged the wretched prisoner in and forced him into the heavy, wooden seat. Viviane shuddered as the chains began wrapping themselves around the man, the dull thud of iron biting into flesh and material echoing in the room. Unable to bear the thought of being bound so, she looked away.

The trial began, and it was difficult to listen to the recital of murders ordered, families destroyed and possessions plundered. Viviane watched as Somerville, confronted with the evidence of his actions, began to weep and plead. Zeke is right; the man is a coward, Viviane thought. The verdict - guilty - was read and the man began to scream in terror as guards left the room and returned with two Dementors. Viviane had seen such creatures from afar, but this was the closest she'd been to one. Odd, how they bring such a chill into the atmosphere, she thought as she glanced at the pale, distressed faces of those about her and back at the shrouded, gray figures of the Dementors.

Suddenly one of the Dementors leaned over the man and his screams increased in terror, if possible, as the creature brought its face to his. The screaming abruptly, chillingly, stopped, as the prisoner's soul was sucked away to leave his body still sitting upright, with staring eyes, in the chair.

Viviane sat still throughout the procedure, but crushed several fellow spectators as she fled the building once it was over. Bursting out of the courthouse, she turned down the first alley to be sick and leaned, shaking, against the dank brick wall.

Slowly, wrapped in her cloak and still shivering, she made her way home. Viviane was nearly there when she heard Remus calling out behind her.

"Viv? How went the trial?" His greeting faded as she turned and he caught sight of her ravaged expression. Taking her arm, he sat her down on the steps of a long-closed shop and gently pulled back the hood from her face. "Viviane? What is it?"

"Oh Remus. It was….it was….dreadful. Unspeakable. That Dementor….it took his soul," she whispered, going even paler at the recollection.

"But Viv, you knew that going in. Was the reality so bad?"

"Have you ever seen-"

"No. But this man did terrible things, Viviane. Just as bad as the people you hunt down so intently."

Viviane gave a shiver. "Remus, I'd take an honest sword-thrust over….that…any day. Isn't death enough? Afterward his body just stared." She leaned over the edge of the steps, feeling nauseous again, but soon recovered enough to let Remus guide her into their inn. Emma and Mort both gave exclamations of alarm as they caught sight of Viviane, and Remus guided her to a barstool and hauled her up into it.

"She went to the trial. The sight of the Dementor's kiss was a bit much for her."

"Oh, and no wonder," said Emma. "Nasty things, those Dementors are. Here, luv, sip this tea and you'll feel better."

The teacup was intercepted by Mort, who substituted a generous glass of Old Ogden's. "Tea won't do it, Emma. What she's just seen needs something a little more potent to put it out of mind."

Viviane had to wrap both shaking hands around the glass in order to take a tentative sip of the liquor, then peered up at Mort. "You've seen-"

"Once. I'll never forget it, either. Chills me to the bone every time I think about it, which I try not to do."

Viviane gazed into her glass. "I got him here. I lured him." With a flash of anger from her green eyes, she demanded, "How could you let me go along with this if you knew?"

Mort shrugged. "I had no idea you'd never seen the Kiss. Besides, the stupid bastard shouldn't have gotten mixed up with Death Eaters to start. Not my problem, Viv. And I'm not one to get in the way of your crusade when it doesn't injure my interests. I believe that was our bargain?"

His electric blue eyes hardened as he looked at her, then he swept past Emma to return to his office.

To be continued...

Chapter Four

"No, don't-"

Too late. Boomer Aukland had lived up to his name and lobbed a powerful but poorly aimed Reductor Curse that caught Emily off guard. The spell blasted her into the wall, and she landed in a dazed heap on the floor. "Oh Emily, are you all right?" Remus queried, hastening over to pick her up, followed by a red-faced Boomer.

"I'm- I'm fine. Really." The young witch beamed up at Remus with a besotted smile, and he released her with a pat on the shoulder.

"Well then, perhaps we should leave off here. Next lesson, this Saturday. Same time, same place."

As the classroom emptied, Remus glanced around for Anthony and found him directly at his elbow. The Healer opened his mouth to speak, looked uncomfortable, then stood there silently.

"What, Anthony? You look, er, nervous. Which is unusual, for you."

"I've got a problem. A patient, to tell the truth, who desperately needs a potion containing some stingers from African scorpions. They're unavailable through the normal channels, because a disease has decimated the population and the supply is short." He began to pace, his body tightly held, his shoulder blades straining towards each other across his back. He whirled around to face Remus. "What a world this is. When I, a fully trained Healer, can't get ingredients for medicines. When scum like Mortimer can, and sells them at exorbitant prices. While I see people dying for stupid reasons. I hate it Remus. I hate it. How can you live like you do, always calm amidst chaos, with people-"

Remus said, abruptly for him, "I thought we agreed not to discuss her."

"Right." Anthony ran a hand through his hair. "But I'm afraid that I may need to deal with her and her boss. I need this potion, Remus. My patient needs it."

With a trace of contempt, Remus said, "Do you want me to ask about it? So you don't have to dirty your hands?"

Anthony's cheeks flushed. "Please. Remus, don't get this way. I'm just - frustrated. I'm sorry, and I'll deal with this myself. I'd much rather head home and share a meal with you, then take some time to look at the stars in peace. How about it? Will you come by around 7 o'clock?"

Remus smiled and held out his hand. "Of course. In the meantime, I've got to stop by the library."

After a quick handshake, the two men left the classroom.

***

"Boomslang skin. Powdered unicorn hoof. Manticle tooth." Viviane was busy sorting potions for a consignment she was going to hand off. "Wildebeest bladder, slug antennae-"

"African scorpion stings," a deep voice added. She raised her eyes from the desk as she heard the door swing open, expecting Mortimer. Her eyebrows lifted to see Anthony Scipio walk in and halt before the desk, fury and wounded pride fighting for dominance in his expression.

"African scorpion stings," he repeated. "Tell me how much you're charging."

Viviane continued to stare at him as she sat back in the oversized leather chair, a slow grin beginning to form on her face. Before she could say anything, Anthony stalled her.

"Just