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Leaving With the Devil	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Sirius Views: 38945 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 14
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this work that throws most of canon out the window

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
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A reminder of what's on my profile; reviews whinging or complaining about lack 'o smut in stories get deleted. If you want something that is one long, smut-filled story, find something else to read as my work isn't for you.

Beta'd by the most wonderful, amazing and stupendous Tenchi. Woman, you are the best and love you for all you do for me!

With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Chapter 14

Minerva took the cup of tea Remus sent her with a soft thanks and added what she wanted. After a sip, she waited until everyone settled in then asked, “What is it you wanted to talk to us about?” This wasn’t a full meeting and it was at Remus’ small cottage, so she assumed it was some sort of business with the Order, but wasn’t certain what it could pertain to.

After taking a seat by Tonks and picking up his own beaker, Remus glanced around with a nod. This meeting only involved him, Tonks, Minerva, Bill and the twins. He would talk it over with those there then branch out if needed or if they thought they should. “It’s about some of what Sirius and Harry said.”

“What about it?” Bill asked, curious. He knew he and his brothers had mentioned to Remus they were uncomfortable with some of what Albus planned. Remus had expressed the same sort of concern. He assumed Tonks felt similar. That was the link for all of them, but it was Minerva he wasn’t certain about on the topic.

“Some of what Sirius and Harry imparted about Harry’s home life,” Remus told him. Then he glanced around and added, “I asked you four since you’ve expressed being troubled by some of what Albus planned. Tonks and I thought we could hash some of this out and decide on a way to proceed.”

With an understanding nod, Minerva asked, “What do you have in mind?” She would judge from there how to go about this, though she agreed the whole mess troubled her, especially after some of what she heard from others and what turned up in the paper.

“Tonks and I have done a little checking over the last couple of days about some of what Sirius and Harry said. My thought going in ran along the lines of while there were probably partial truths in what they said, most—well they embellished some. However, it’s not the case. Coupled with how wrong Albus admits to being on so many matters,and what Harry and Sirius said, I’m concerned about plenty. My hope is to figure out how to proceed from here between all of us as we talk it out.”

“Remus and I are going to talk to Mum about this cock-up,” Tonks then tossed out there, looking around. “Remus thought it best to talk to Sirius about plenty. Won’t be nice, we know this, but he will. Our thought on it leaned towards Mum talking to him first to see what she can manage. The two always got on well.”

“Might be the way to go,” Minerva nodded. “Albus has mentioned to me about putting out feelers to him as well. However, I do need to ask what else you wanted us for? You’ll need some help with Sirius, I’m sure of this, but I don’t see how it affects anything now since you haven’t contacted him yet.”

“Our other troublesome spot is how much Albus is hiding from all of us,” Remus explained, looking to the other faces sitting at the table. “This can’t go on. We have ended up left with our backsides swinging in the breeze and hell coming our way from plenty of directions. Not to mention how blindsided we’ve ended up because of what they revealed. The part about Harry having to die to fulfill a prophecy alone is horrifying. I can’t say I blame Sirius and Harry for being so upset about that.”

“Me either,” Bill added with a nod. “The playing of games by Albus and hiding plenty has put us in a place where we can’t end up effective as we don’t know just what we’re dealing with or what he is planning for.”

“We’re agreeing there,” Fred added with George nodding as well.

“This needs to stop, fast,” Remus sighed, glancing at Minerva as he wasn’t sure how she would take some of what he said.

Once she took another bracing sip of tea and put her beaker down on the table, Minerva folded her hands then looked down, thinking over all they said. After just a couple of moments, she gave a slow nod. “I do agree. None of us knew some of what they imparted in the shouting match. It also shows us how long Albus planned some areas, what he hid and plenty else. While I understand he makes guesses with a lot, we can’t function this way. If it goes on all we’ll end up with is another mess like the Alley, no help and the Ministry breathing down all our necks. Sources I know have imparted Rufus means every word he said in the paper and plans to gather the information he needs from us in the Order by any means he can devise which is legal. That is not good as we all know he doesn’t play around.”

“Not sure how well this will go over here, but it’s something I noticed,” Bill then interjected, looking around. “Albus—well, I’m not sure what is going on there. Either he doesn’t understand how mad Sirius and Harry are or he doesn’t get it. Minerva, even asking you to put out feelers to Sirius is an example. Sirius has every reason in the world for his anger. You writing him, as he’ll guess quickly it’s at the behest of Albus, will just infuriate him more and lead him to think it’s more manipulations on Albus’ part. And that’s just one example I’m seeing here.”

Before anyone could ask, he added, looking around, “He asked Ron to see about recruiting other Aurors and from the DMLE for the Order. While we need the help, something we’ll all admit, it’s a monumentally bad idea as infuriated as Rufus is. I told him plainly if he did and word reaches Rufus, he would probably not only end up fired, but in Azkaban. To even suggest he try is foolhardy.”

“If word gets back to Rufus that Albus even suggested Ron try, there will be hell to pay,” Tonks said, shaking her head, eyes wide. “We need help, no doubt there, but it’s best to let them come to us. And you can bet Rufus will know in minutes if they did. Everyone knows how mad he is and what happened with us in the Order who are Aurors.”

“We all told him the same thing,” George nodded. “Even Dad told him to leave it and not try.”

“It’s off sounding to us, honestly,” Fred added. “Though he’s done it before when we needed help, this is bad timing to try now.”

“You’re right,” Minerva agreed, looking around slightly troubled by what she heard. “I’m not sure what he’s thinking with that suggestion, honestly. We need to worry about those in the Order now and how this is affecting them, not to mention what might come of it, not recruitment. I’ll—yes, it needs to stop.”

“If he keeps it up we won’t have him,” Bill added with a shake of his head. “Rufus isn’t playing, from what we all know. My feeling is he’s hopping mad enough that he’ll go after Albus with everything he has. If he does, we’re sucking wind honestly, since we have no clue what Albus is planning for so much or knows on some topics. Not to mention You-Know-Who isn’t likely to tangle with Albus. He sure as hell will with the rest of us though. If Rufus takes Albus out of the equation, he’s opening all of us to that evil git having a huge advantage. We need Albus and what he knows. This means he needs to start telling us, not spoon-feeding up small pieces and keeping the rest to himself. None of us can function and end up effective this way.”

“More I’ll bring up to him,” Minerva agreed with a determined nod.

“He needs to back off any fiddling in the Ministry,” Tonks warned. “Trust me, Rufus isn’t playing games. While we need some information, we need to look elsewhere for it. And, in all honesty? We need the Ministry’s help. We know what we’re looking for and can’t find them. Even Albus admits he doesn’t have many clues. Since Harry and Sirius tossed it out there for the world to hear about the Horcruxes, my guess is You-Know-Who is about to go gather them all up and put them in a safer place.”

“Even more we need to discuss,” Minerva admitted with a resigned sigh.

“We need to lay all this out there for Albus in front of everyone,” Remus told them looking around. “They need to hear some of this. While Albus is the leader of the Order, the time for blindly following him has ended. We all need to know what he does on most matters. It can only help.” Then he lowered his voice and added, “He’s made plenty of mistakes, huge ones from what we now know, so we need to figure out if he’s made more.”

Then he added, gently, “And ensure he’s not counting on help from Sirius and Harry. While I understand why he wants it, we can’t factor it in. It’s very doubtful they’ll help with anything at this juncture, no matter what they see while in the country. If I know Sirius half as well as I think I do, my leaning is if they do help it’ll be the Ministry, not the Order. There is no trust left for the Order after so much of this.”

“Can’t say I blame them there,” Bill grunted with a heavy groan. “Planning Harry’s death would have sent almost all of us there, honestly. The same with the abuse and so much else. Yeah, we can’t count on them for anything. Leaving them alone is for the best.”

“Look, we’re not as well versed as everyone else with some of this,” Fred said, glancing around, a serious expression on his face. “We do know some, though, and one of the biggies is both the Order and Ministry can help each other.”

“As it is, it’s like a house divided,” George added. “Both sides are working towards the same goal, but don’t have all the information they need to end up effective. In just having half of it, it’s only helping You-Know-Who.”

“Very true,” Remus admitted with a resigned sigh.

“Maybe not,” Tonks tossed in there, looking around. Before anyone could ask, she explained, “Look, I gave up everything I knew to Rufus. Kingsley did. I’m sure everyone else who ended up called in did too. Which means Rufus knows more than we do and can piece plenty together from what we gave him. I doubt it’s enough though, since none of us know what Albus does on so many topics. My thought is Rufus knows more than we do, which means he can do more. What we need is him focused on the war, not us. Him focusing on us is just helping the other side.”

“Yet more I’ll bring up,” Minerva told her sourly as she thought over all they had talked about so far. The more she thought about it, the worse it seemed. Yes, this needed to end and for all of them to focus on the common enemy, not fighting among the factions who were battling You-Know-Who. “Let me see if there’s an Order meeting coming soon. If not, I’ll push for one. While we wait, I’ll talk to a few others in the Order to hear their take on so much. If I hear more, we’ll meet again to discuss it. Then we’ll go from there. For now, we’ll leave Sirius and Harry out of everything. Even mentioning talking to them needs tabled until we sort out our own house.”

“While I understand why they need left out of what we’re doing, keep in mind those two know plenty more than what they said in the Alley,” Bill cautioned softly, glancing around. “Remus made damned sure Sirius knew what was going on through letters, so he knows plenty. He was also in the country here and there. While he’s furious over so much, if this goes badly he can pass it along to whomever. If he does, we’re all in a world of hurt and in trouble. Like Severus.”

“Very true,” Minerva admitted with a soft groan. “Let me see what I can manage with some people then Albus. We need to focus here and hone in on the real goals of ending the war, not secrecy and skulking around behind the Ministry’s back. If it takes a truce between Rufus and Albus, it needs to happen.”

“Agreed,” Remus told her, a determined bent to his voice.

“The bit with Harry,” Bill started, looking at Remus. When the werewolf looked at him, he asked, “It was all true? The abuse and that I mean.”

“All of it, and more,” Remus imparted, looking down at the table and shaking his head. “I talked to plenty of people in addition to Arabella, then Tonks and I looked into it more. It’s just as Sirius said. His family abused Harry and they mistreated him the whole time he lived there.”

“They were quite bad from what I saw of them before we left Harry,” Minerva added, now curious just what Remus found out and how it might factor in. When everyone looked to ask, she imparted what she had seen of the Dursleys so long ago then prodded Remus to tell them what he learned. While she wasn’t certain how it might help, she was sure it would at some point. The more information they had, the better off they’d be in dealing with what would come.

While uptight about this venture as she stepped off the Muggle bus, Hermione stiffened her backbone, prepared to go through with the meeting. Once she moved away from the bus stop, she pulled out the slip of paper she had the address written down on. Of course, she put the standard spells on herself so she didn’t draw attention. If she calculated the address right, the house should be just on the other side of the park.

Though she kept the slip of paper in her hand to check it if needed, she then began the trek across the park, eyes all over. From what the letter said, Sirius would meet her somewhere close so he could take her through the wards. This was good.

Just as she was stepping out of the park on the other side, she stiffened up, clutching her wand, when someone said her name softly. Then she relaxed when she recognized the voice and saw Sirius materialize. “Good,” she breathed, thankful she managed to arrive safely.

With a hand on her back, giving it a reassuring pat, Sirius told her softly, keeping a look out, “Loop your arm through mine and I’ll get you through the wards then we can relax.”

Hermione did as he requested, holding his arm tightly then began to walk with him. Though she had a million questions and wanted to know plenty, she would wait until they were safe. Once they settled down, she’d find out what she wanted to know.

After polishing off the meal the elves brought them, Hermione relaxed with the nice glass of wine which came with it. This was good. So far they hadn’t talked about the mess, but the two walked her through so much of what went on with them while they were on their ‘grand adventure’, as they called it, after leaving. It warmed her heart to know she helped give them a wonderful life and loved knowing how much fun they had for so long. There were plenty of laughs over some of it as well. The two—yes, once more she realized she made the right choice so long ago in insisting Sirius take Harry with him.

Once the two also finished their meals and sent the plates off for the elves to handle, the time had come to settle down, talking over what they needed to know. She also wanted them to fill her in on what they were planning so she could help.

“Right, give us a brief rundown of what you know is going on,” Harry told his old friend, leaning slightly against Sirius. “Then jump into what you think we need to know to protect ourselves.”

“Unless you have to worry about being home at a certain time, we’ll take as much as you need,” Sirius jumped in. “We’re fine when it comes to the time part as we made damned sure we didn’t have anything we had to tend to tonight.”

“Good,” Hermione smiled then ordered her thoughts. She would go through the major events up until this point then delve into the rest after she finished. Since she was sure it would end up with plenty of questions asked, she would make it as brief as possible, only giving the details she knew they needed to know. Then she launched in.

As the clock in the hall struck eleven, the three in the kitchen were finally winding down their talk. She covered the major events, had them up to speed about all she knew and plans devised to help. Because she had to work the following day, they were going to call it a night, though they planned a few more meetings. Besides, she wanted to talk to them more before they left the country again as it didn’t sound like they would come back any time soon. “As I learn information, I’ll pass it along to you, like plans by Albus or the others.”

“Much appreciated,” Sirius told her honestly with a smile. “We’ll keep you filled in on what we’re doing and how our plans are playing out as well.”

“We’ll be around for a while because we have to sign the papers for the houses as they sell and various other ventures,” Harry told her. “Not sure how long it will take, though we’re hoping fast.”

“As protected as they are, I’m sure they’ll go quickly, even if they are expensive,” Hermione told them, honestly wishing she could afford the one they were in now. It would end up perfect for her, in plenty of ways, despite how huge it was. Over the next few days, she might try to figure out a way to see if she could afford it then ask the price.

“Our thoughts as well,” Sirius nodded. “The houses are only part. We need the paperwork filed for the citizenship and other business areas, something that’ll take time and we have to stick around here to tend to it. If we could do it by owl post, we’d go that route. It’s just not possible.”

“Understandable,” she nodded. “I don’t think Rufus will try to drag you in again, but it does sound like Albus will in some way.”

“He can try,” Harry snorted, rolling his eyes. “Won’t work. The restraining order will stop the overt bull from him, but we already know to prepare for the covert and him enlisting people to help.”

“Just stay alert,” she cautioned. Then she smiled and gave a soft chuckle before adding, “Not like you won’t anyway.”

“We always are,” Sirius told her with a winning grin.

“I hope we can set up some more meetings, even if it is just to talk. Hearing your ‘adventures’ is fun,” she then smiled.

“We can do that as well,” Harry told her with a smile himself. “It’s nice to have someone just to talk to, honestly. We haven’t had that since we left. There was too much to hide to let anyone close. While we had acquaintances in plenty of the places we stayed, it’s not like having a real friend.”

“We’ll make time,” Sirius assured her. “If you want to pick one day a week to set aside to meet, we can arrange whatever around it so we can meet here.”

“I can,” Hermione nodded, adoring the idea. “This day is always good. It’s one I tend to use for personal matters and want left alone anyway.”

“We’ll make it a date then,” Harry told her, loving the idea.

With a sigh, Hermione then stood and told them regretfully, “I do have to go. Work tomorrow.”

Sirius stood, with Harry doing the same, then began to guide her to the front door, “Understood. We have some paperwork to finish tonight anyway.”

Once at the front door, Hermione hugged Harry tightly, smiling, then did the same for Sirius. “I enjoyed our talk and can’t wait to do it again.”

“So did we,” Harry told her, hugging her back. “And we’ll enjoy it as well.”

“Just make sure you stay safe,” Sirius cautioned, though smiling as he did.

“Don’t worry about me,” Hermione assured him. Then, smiling, she said her goodbyes and Apparated away, in a wonderful mood.

After the crack of her leaving died down, Sirius nodded. “We now are as up to speed as we can get, thankfully. Which means we’re ready. Now it comes down to staying on top of everything going on, keeping our heads down and pushing to get the hell out as fast as we can manage.”

“While it sounds easy enough, we both know multiple spanners will end up tossed into our plans,” Harry chuckled dryly, shaking his head. “Nothing ever ends up that easy when it comes to us, Sirius.”

“Very true,” Sirius admitted with a soft groan. “We’ll just go for minimizing the chaos the best we can. All we can do.”

Then he straightened up and said, “Right, let’s take a walk around and see the progress. We did a quick check before she came over, but we weren’t looking for that, more to make sure it was safe. Once we know, we can gauge better when we can put it up for sale. Then we’ll head home and finish the paperwork before finding something to get into. We need a little fun tonight.”

“I say we just go relax at that Muggle pub we saw when we were in town last night,” Harry suggested, trailing along behind when Sirius motioned him to follow then headed for the stairs. “It’s a busy enough place we won’t look odd or people will notice much. Just watch a little telly, have a beer and chill.”

“Good plan,” Sirius agreed leading the way to the uppermost floor, planning to start at the top and work their way down. “We’ll take a gander at what’s waiting for us to tend to then see about making plans for another outing. I say we do the other fun park this time.”

“We can,” Harry grinned, already imagining the fun they would have. “Should end up a right riot like the other.”

“If it’s anything like the other one, it will,” Sirius agreed, eying the stairs and walls as they made their way to the top floor. Yeah, the elves still had a ton to clean up and ready for the house to go on the market, but they were making a dent. It was all they could hope for with as bad as it was.

Then he switched topics, tossing out the first feelers for where Harry thought they might want to move to when it came to Russia. While the old family home would end up used, it might be nice to pick somewhere else to live as well. They’d travel, of course, since both had a touch of the wanderlust after all these years, but having somewhere to call home was even better. Since they had the money, they’d find somewhere good they’d both like.
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Leaving With the Devil