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The Twists of Fate	By : MJurjevic Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 5613 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Fandom Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Summary: Remus takes Nagini to his place of safety; her clairvoyance foretells something vital for Remus, but obscures a nearer impending danger.

Like chill dawn waiting for sunrise, I am waiting for you —Rainer Maria Rilke
oOoOoOo

Remus wasn’t sure if he could touch Nagini, if he should, so he just stood there, a shoulder for her to lean upon of her own free will. Slowly, carefully, he gently held her in his arms when she clung to him, letting her cry as she wished and feeling the anger melt out of his body at her fragile touch.

Nagini wept on his shoulder, repeating, "I’m sorry, so, so sorry."

Suddenly, nothing mattered. The past didn’t matter. Only the here and now.

Impulsively, Remus clasped her tightly to him. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn’t. She cried out in pain, wincing, and he knew something was wrong, very wrong, and drew back, unnerved.

As he made to guide her to sit back down on the plush settee, the serving girl had crossed over to them, asking, "You two’ll be needing a room, dearies?"

In the blink of an eye, Nagini whipped out her wand and flicked it, casting Disillusionment and Muffliato Charms around her and Remus.

Intuitively, Remus pulled his wand out as he heard Nagini hiss, "Danger! They are near!" and snapped his head to where she gazed.

Entering the Mewling Quim, the distinct figures of Lucius Malfoy and Broderick Bode came into clear view.

Their serving girl, shocked at the sudden disappearance of her previous customers right in front of her nose, just as quickly recovered and forgot about them as she turned and bee-lined to greet the newly arrived, distinguished patrons.

Remus and Nagini instinctively maneuvered together around tables and customers to the main door, exiting. Their breath puffed out in the cool October air as they fled to the nearest side alley. Standing there, staring at each other, they felt almost as if they were in Hogsmeade like so long ago, but, of course, too much had changed.

Nagini looked down at the ring on her left hand, the heirloom ring that Remus remembered she had often fidgeted with, but there was something unusual about it now, altered. The Slytherin emblem was charred as if something had exploded out of the metal, disfiguring it. He commented, "Your family ring…"

"If it glows, someone is nearing my chamber. If not, all is well."

He was curt and to the point. "And where is your chamber? With whom?"

She struggled to answer him, closing her eyes, and winced again, unable to answer.

She is under a Tongue-Tying Curse and others, no doubt, he noted as the realization dawned on him, bound to keep her from answering or talking about a specific subject! By now, Remus had observed many an interrogation with Moody and other Aurors to recognize the symptoms well: wincing, momentary befuddlement, triggered disarray...

As she opened her eyes, a cloudy expression followed, and Remus made a snap decision. He carefully held her close to him and said, "Close your eyes." He swallowed hard. "Trust me."

To his shock and delight, she complied. He pulled her closer to him, holding her firmly, and Side-Along-Apparated.

oOoOoOo

With a loud pop, they landed on the top step of a threshold in some obscured building. Nagini’s eyes snapped opened, but all she saw was a dark door before her and around them a distorted, murky veil. Some sort of Disillusionment Charm!

Remus waved his arm and the door flung open. "Please…" He gestured for her to enter, and as she did so, he followed her, the door closing behind them. Taking a moment, he motioned here and there; lit candles appeared, and soon the high-ceiling main hall of a posh flat was made visible. To Nagini’s left was a French door leading to a spacious living room, and to her right, an open front salon. Remus gestured to the Victorian stairway on the left leading up to the second floor. "My room is upstairs…"

It’s like a miniature number twelve, Grimmauld Place… There’s something so familiar… As she made to climb the stairs, Nagini saw a photo framed and hung above the first step on the wall. It’s Sirius and… Alphard Black!

At her fixated stare of the photo, Remus confirmed, "Yes, this is Sirius’ uncle’s home, or rather, it was… He was murdered, it appears…" He gave Nagini a sober look. "He left everything he owned to Sirius." Nagini looked around, slightly panicked. "No. No, he isn’t here."

On the top landing, he indicated behind him towards the front area of the town house they’d entered. "Sirius’ room." Then he listed off as they walked in the opposite direction down the hall, "Guest room, my room." He motioned as they stood in front of the door at the end of the hall, but instead of opening it, he opened a door to the direct right. "My transformation room."

Nagini peered into the dark space and felt compelled to enter. Stopping in the centre of the stark, ominous space, she stared at the thick reinforced bars placed not only over the windows but all around, the walls being fortified as well. Even the floor had a metallic twang to it as she took a few more steps; she glanced up at the ceiling: an odd, silvery gleam caught the light from the hallway's glowing sconces. She shuddered. A cage! A huge cage!

"Your—for when you transform—every month?"

"Yes." He saw her suppressed abhorrence at the dark empty space and offered, "It’s not as bad as before… I’m on a test trial potion, cleverly named the Wolfsbane Potion, at present." His expression became fiercely hardened. "It helps pacify the more lethal instincts of my werewolf transformation." He sniffed. "You should be proud."

Nagini’s brow furrowed in her confusion.

"Your mother's brother, Damocles Belby, invented it. Each month’s dosage seems to be progressing, helping; it eases my symptoms. I seem to have some human awareness lingering more and more during it; my mental faculties are a bit keener. I still transform, but at least I…" He stopped himself, then curtly continued, "I have a place to stay, somewhere safe, and I sleep through the transformation... for the most part."

"That’s—that’s wonderful… A cure? Soon, there’ll be a cure?"

A bitter, dark look passed over Remus’ face. He crossed over to a side door and waved his hand, opening it. "Perhaps, you’ll be more comfortable in here."

She entered an elegant bedchamber, full with matching sofa chairs, facing each other, in front of a fireplace.

Nagini warily noted the grand four-postered bed before asking Remus for a glass of water. He pulled out his wand, and as she heard his 'Aguamenti!' filling two brandy glasses, she crossed and sat in one of the chairs.

Remus placed their waters on the side table beside Nagini and waved his hand, igniting the fireplace with warming flames. He then sat on the edge of the other sofa chair, leaning forward, his head’s weight propped on his fisted hands clasped together. He pressed his lips against them while he observed her sipping the water from the glass, her posture stiff and straight, her gestures slow and with extraneous effort.

"You’re hurt. Injured," he stated bluntly, remembering her cry when he clasped her tightly in his arms at the Mewling Quim.

Nagini looked at Remus in puzzlement, not responding.

Seconds ticked by in silence.

As he continued to observe her, she made a strenuous effort to speak. After struggling for several seconds, she finally was able to verbalise that which she sought from him this evening.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

In bitter strife with himself, Remus made a painful, huffed sound and, slowly, ever so slowly, rose from the chair, only to then deliberately kneel down on both knees in front of her and lay his head in her lap.

Gently, she ran her trembling fingers through his hair as Remus burrowed his face in the deep folds of her skirt. She protectively clasped him, only to then decisively sit up from his clinging form and gently caress his face.

Remus looked up at her, and she held his face in her hands. With a soft smile, she pressed her fingertips lightly as her head lolled back. She saw in her mind’s eye the image of a witch with pink hair, her expression aglow with joy, and in an altered voice, Nagini uttered, "She knows happiness… You have given her that which she never knew could be… Such joy is hers…"

Then the Seer quietened and opened her eyes, now soft and placid.

Remus blinked at her, his brown eyes wide with concern. The days of him being cynical about precognitive signs and clairvoyance by so-called Seers and their Inner Eye were long gone. He had embraced and steeped himself into the study of Divination after recovering from their attack so long ago… as well as further research and experimentation in the Dark Arts in order to gain fuller understanding into the deeper, obscure corners of the Dark Lord’s domain. I must think how they think, know them, be them to fight them… to hunt and conquer Death Eaters… Needless to say, he was given Dumbledore and Moody’s full approval, support and guidance, developing into a formidable young expert.

"Who?" Lupin hoarsely whispered, "You?"

"I, what?" she asked him quietly, for Nagini could not, apparently, remember what she had just said, the exact words, only a feeling of peace was left from her vague prophecy.

Remus repeated the words she had just uttered, and she gave him a sad smile, closed her eyes and searched her psyche. "It feels like… It feels like…" With eyes shut tight, she trembled and slowly pointed out, "No… someone else… someone already in your life or who shall one day be."

Remus huffed derisively—he hated the obscure vagueness that Divination was. "That could bloody fuck be anyone… and I want it to be you—you, Nagini!"

Remus took her hands and kissed her fingers, then lay his forehead on them. They stayed like that, just being together, as the minutes ticked by.

Finally, Nagini whispered, "I must go." As Remus raised his head, his doleful eyes questioning hers, she reassured him with a complaisant expression, "We’ll see each other. Soon. At the Ministry."

She flinched and Remus responded by rising up. He couldn’t speak and trembled in emotion, not quite knowing what he wanted further to say. Too many questions whirled about in his mind that they rendered him speechless; he would have to be satisfied for the time being with this initial step in what he hoped, prayed—no, what he would force to be more chances to be together. Hope. That was a novel desire for him, and its fresh sensation cruelly decreed he would have to be content with just that: wishing for something inexpressible with the expectation of its fulfillment. There will be time to find out… I must be careful with her, so very careful. Patience, Remus, patience!

"Let me show you out," he hoarsely uttered, "to the Apparating point."

He slowly escorted her out of the room, letting her take the lead.

However, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened, and figures started filing in: Sirius, Moody, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, the Potters, the Longbottoms, and to top the group off, Albus Dumbledore.

Apparently, an impromptu Order of the Phoenix meeting was about to take place.

His wand lashing out to send an Unforgiveable Curse at Nagini, shaking, Sirius glared at Remus and demanded, "What the bloody fuck is she doing here?"

oOoOoOo
A/N: The Mewling Quim establishment referred to here and in the previous chapter is a branch location, which I've graciously been given permission to use from the original creators of it, the authors of Where Your Loyalties Lie, the one and only Advanced Smut Making. The wonderful JKR owns everything; I’m just playing around with her characters in another play pen.
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The Twists of Fate