1994-07-12: Unprepared

Participants:

Lupin_icon.gif Tonks_icon.gif Sirius_icon.gif

Scene Title Unprepared
Synopsis Tonks and Sirius lose their tempers, Lupin as always is the voice of reason
Date July 12, 1994
Watch For Black family temper
Chronology Takes place after the All-Star Cup
Logger Stubby Boardman

Hogsmeade - Shrieking Shack


Since bolting away from the post office, Sirius has returned to his hiding place. Up in the caves. Unable to stand still there, he's snuck down to the Shrieking Shack, where he's pacing like mad, about to wear the floorboards right through. He hasn't even stopped to think that this could be a good thing. In the way that this draws attention from where he currently is. But it just adds more criminal activities upon his head.

Lupin, if he were able to speak his mind at the moment, would say that he was conflicted. This is good…and this is bad. The doors of the Shack are thrown open and the he enters, his main focus to find Sirius. Ah! And there he is. "Padfoot!" Comes his urgent cry to his friend. "I hear you've been 'spotted' at the Quidditch Cup." He shakes his head. "Killed somebody and conjured the Dark Mark…I can't believe…I know it wasn't you!" Comes his flat out remark.

It took her a bit. It took a /lot/ to weave through the crowds, make sure she wasn't beint noticed, make sure that her business ends were temporarily tied for just a couple of hours so she could get away. And to even make sure, she changed her appearance no less than 5 times all timed perfectly in the midst of still lingering crowds and what not, before she even dared to Apparate.
There's the distinctive *POP* and Initially there in the middle of the one room of the shack she's familiar with, is a worn looking witch with thinning gray hair and a huge, warty nose and a hump back. Quickly, her wand's out and she's morphing back into something more like her 'default' self. Save her hair is still a very angry red. And Oh, look, she's lucky. Having missed what Lupin says due to her untimely arrival, she's got her wand pointed right at Sirius. And yeah, she looks as about as pissed as her hair color is red. She doesn't speak, it's almost as if she doesn't trust herself right now.

Never. Ever. Sneak up on someone armed and as twitchy as Sirius is. The slamming open of doors have him with his wand out, and it doesn't relax even as he hears the familiar voice of his best friend. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he says in a terse and grim manner. About to say something else to Remus, the *POP* is heard and he whips around, his own wand out and aimed at his cousin. Too keyed up to really think rationally, he doesn't lower the wand, and growls low in his throat. Clearly, he's heard the bad news too.

Lupin looks seriously perturbed. This is a bold move the likes of which hasn't been seen in a while. Not since the days of the war. He doesn't seem to have words for it just yet, though when there's the traditional 'pop' of someone apparating to the same room, he spins to face the direction, whipping his wand out to point at the even more newly arrived. "Tonks?" He asks as she morphs back to her normal self. "Tonks. Lower your wand. Don't do anything foolish. Don't do anything you'll regret." And don't forget the two older, more experienced wizards you're standing in front of.

It's almost as if she doesn't hear Remus, despite how comforting she found talking to him before. "Expelli-" And then she just stops. The wand is still leveled at Sirius, but the reflex to disarm instead of stun is what stopped her to begin with. "I disarmed you already-" she says, almost to herself. Though the fact she did say that out loud is an admission she ran into the Quidditch Black-which could explain why she's /this/ upset. Unfortunately for Remus, even while she seems to be having a mental debate, her wand doesn't lower a single inch. But something about the whole wand business is giving her pause.

"I was in the post office when I heard it across the wireless," Sirius states to Remus as his pale eyes stay on Tonks, as well as his wand. "The Death Eaters in broad daylight, now this so soon. It can't mean anything good is approaching." The canine snarling has yet to fully leave his voice as every nerve in his body is on edge. "I already told you I was innocent and explained everything to you. What are you on about /Nymphadora/? You haven't disarmed… where you there?" His eyes narrow as he scrutinizes his cousin further. If she was there, this would explain her current mood. A lot. The tip of his wand shakes slightly but doesn't lower.

Lupin watches carefully for a sign to act or not. He'd rather not have to. He'd rather not have to disarm anyone or blast them on their rear ends. He let's a little 'Mmm' in response to Sirius, indicating that this is perhaps, too, where he heard it. "Now…let's all just lower our wands. We're all friends here. We aren't enemies."

Tonks' eye twitches - either from being called her first name, or because she's not sure how this situation can be handled. "I was there. I was helping with security." Despite her mood, her hand is incredibly steady. "Popped in the middle of the damn field. Killed the referee…" And then her voice raises, "Announced our damn relation in front of people who've no business knowing!" Again, it's not something that people with half a brain couldn't be able to figure out - but civilians were still being hurried out, and what if a reporter over heard it? How will they wrap that into a seeming willingness to let him go? A look's given to Remus, before glancing back at Sirius. Then, the wand lowers about half-way; ready to be aimed quickly though.

"I know that!" Sirius snaps at Remus without looking his way. He's still on edge, even paranoid, wondering if anyone else is going to Apparate in behind Tonks. (Even if reason states they would have done so by now.) As Tonks lowers her wand, he lowers his. "I'm sorry you have to go through this," he says in a terse manner, directing his words at Tonks. "The next time I plan to murder a traitor, I'll take your relation to me in mind."

"Hey!" Lupin exclaims at Sirius, "This isn't easy. No. It isn't. But I've got your back. Between us, you know we can figure this out. We've been through worse!" He sighs, lowering his own wand. He looks towards Tonks. "This is how they act. The Death Eaters. They will impersonate another at times in order to give them a bad name. Sirius wouldn't do a thing like this."

Sirius' cheeky statement gets Tonks to twitch her arm. It seems a great bit of willpower to keep it pointed towards the ground instead of at Sirius' chest. "You don't get it. They're likely to blame /me/ for you getting away, and likely will bring in my relation to back it up." She takes a deep breath, "Even though I was the only one who actually hit you. Him. /It/." That explains why she was annoyed with the relation mention. Taking a deep breath, she seem sto be trying to clam herself. "May I have your wand, please?" Her free hand is held out, and she'll stow her own. See? She's not going to cause problems, not right now.

Sirius completely lowers his wand and says in a manner not unlike a sullen child, "Sorry Remus." At least his friend is preventing him from going off the rails here. Keeping his wand out, but at least it's now down, "No. I'm not much for random killing and maiming." It's always with a purpose and a reason. "Don't forget controlling by means of the Imperius Curse. I wouldn't put it past them this early in the game they're playing." Full attention back on Tonks now, he scowls, "I take it then you got a good look at the person. Did this person look exactly like me? If so, do what you need to do to keep your nose clean at the Ministry." His tone remains sullen, "Just because we share blood ties doesn't mean you're like the rest of the family. Or rather in this case, like me, or what they think is me." Even when in all honesty, he hasn't acted like an innocent man. There's a lengthy hesitation before he hands Tonks his wand.

Lupin takes a seat down on one of the old pieces of now-broken furniture. "No, this is the sign of a Death Eater who knows what they are doing, and knows how to do it well. We'll need to keep our eyes and ears open even more now." He says softly, but leaving the rest to them.

Tonks needs to get her head together. "let me get my overreacting out /now/ so they can't use it against me," she grumbles. She takes the wand and indeed, her wand comes out and a spell's cast. But while the divination is reading back to her what's been cast last, she seems more intent on /inspecting/ Sirius' wand than what it recently cast. It's still too new… the one she disarmed was old - worn. Wizards…don't tend to keep spares. It seems that Sirius' innocence, and Tonks' belief in it, seems to have been on the shoulders of this wand. It's handed back. "It looked exactly like you," Tonks tells Sirius. "/Exactly/." She glances to Lupin, frowning. "I lost my temper," she mutters to the both of them, "I'm sorry."

"They know what they're doing alright. Now that I'm giving them a perfect scapegoat." Now that Sirius has calmed down some, but still easy to set off once more, he's thinking. "Of course, I could let them continue to play this game, not that I've got much of a choice in the matter." His expression tightens, and a brief and grim smile is offered towards Tonks as he takes his wand back. "It happens, we're family," he offers with a shrug, then a brief clap of his hand against his cousin's shoulder as she apologizes. "Could have been any various number of disguising spells or methods. So many combinations gave us problems first time around."

Lupin shakes his head sadly. "Apology accepted, Tonks. You were suspicious. Very right to be. Angry. Of course. And you don't know who to trust in this matter either. You're confused and don't know what's going on with it?" He shakes his head once more. "We should have told you this could happen, and for that /I/ am sorry. You don't know what to expect. Not really. You've never fought anything of this magnitude."

There's a step forward at the clap and Tonks just glances up to Sirius with a grumble. "If I knew how to do that Patronus thing, I could've cleared it up quicker." Sent the Patronus to see if it could find the Real Sirius - or get to someone to confirm his location. She looks to Lupin and the corners of her mouth pull down. She almost feels like she's being patronized, but bouts of temper exhaust her, so she has an easier time wrestling with her youthful pride. After all, she has only been a 'real Auror' for a month, if that. "Yeah, I know."

"Moony, I don't think any of us expected this sort of tactic, although it shouldn't surprise us. We should expect more of this in the future if this keeps on," Sirius says, starting to pace. His head gives a mild shake at Tonks, "It just takes practice. We can work on that with you. I need to get a message to Harry, but I'll have to do that via owl. I can get a message to Dumbledore if you lot need me to. He'll want to know, although I'm fairly certain he's aware by now." Fidgeting on his feet, he's unable to sit still. "They're moving fast.. but why.."

Lupin shakes his head. "I wish we could answer all this…" He sighs deeply. "If they're moving this fast for a reason…" He looks at Sirius. "Fenrir Greyback or one in his group might know." He seems reluctant to bring it up again. "I'll head that again. Hopefully I can get some answers. I should be off to do that. Be careful, Padfoot." He smiles at Tonks. "And you be careful too. Watch yourself." And he's gone without a second word.

"OH! Harry!" Tonks seems animated for a moment, "I expect him to do exactly what I told him not to do and try to write you. He had that look." She then anticipates questioning from both, "Yeah, Harry was there. I kept an eye on him during the game. He was fine after the commotion, too, but I didn't linger or introduce myself, not while I had my peers sneering behind my back." Lupin speaks and she's about to say her goodbyes - and he's gone.

Sirius bares his teeth at the mention of Fenrir and what Lupin does to gather information. He knows it's another tool to use to their advantage. He just doesn't have to like it. "Take care of yourself Moony, get your shots before you mingle with that lot." His head turns towards Tonks, like a dog sensing prey when she speaks up about his godson. His expression is tense, but relaxes into a smile. "Of course he would do the opposite. Like his father he is. Thank you for looking out for him." Without warning, he moves in to give his cousin a tight hug of gratitude for keeping an eye on Harry when he was not able to.

The hug takes her by surprise, but she relaxes, patting her hands against his back. "I knew you'd want to know how he is," Tonks admits. "Besides, I wanted to meet him as well. Too bad he doesn't know my name." She takes a deep breath. "Where /were/ you by the way?"

Sirius lets go of Tonks, and gives her a faint look of apology. "He's bright, he'll have caught on to some connection between us on his own." He nods his head back in the direction of the village, "In the post office. The cute postmistress kindly let me into the office. She had the cup on the wireless."

The cute post-"You were a dog again…" Tonks' shoulders sag with defeat. She shakes her head. Apparenlty, Sirius no longer has any dignity, either. She shoves her hands in her pockets, her mind still obviously on what had happened.

Sirius barks out a laugh at Tonks's reaction. "That's my alibi and I'm sticking to it. She'll confirm I was there. Besides, I hear interesting things when people regard me as a lovable stray. Did you know there's an Auror at the Ministry flirting with a witch half his age? But I digress. I should get word to Harry and Dumbledore.. and you need to get back to the Ministry, cursing my very existence to anyone who'll hear you out."

She nods to this. "I'm not prepared for this," Tonks manages to get through her teeth, almost as if she didn't want to admit that she might have trouble with any questioning they might pose to her.

The look Sirius now gives Tonks is full of sympathy and he places both his hands on her shoulders. "You're strong. You wouldn't be an Auror otherwise. I have confidence in you, and Mad-Eye wouldn't have taken you under his wing if he thought you weren't prepared." Giving Tonks's shoulders a firm squeeze as he gives her a fond look, "You'll do fine. Take your emotions and be angry in front of the others at the Ministry. Say and do what you must so that they believe you didn't let the fake me get away."

DEEP breath and then she lets it out. "Yeah," she nods here. She's just not ready to being accused, either vocally or through knowing looks, of letting someone get away. "Best to get it out now, though. The jitters." She smiles here, a sort of lopsided one. "Well, at least you've got to thank this guy for creating a lead away from you right?"

"That's one way to look at it. Not that I'm pleased to have another murder and criminal activities attributed to my person." Sirius seems on the verge of another downward spiral, emotionally speaking. "Another deep breath. There's work to be done. They made their move, now we must work on ours and try to get ahead of them." He gives Tonks's shoulders another squeeze before he steps back. "You know where to find me. I'm staying put here, in the area. Now. I really need to get a note to Harry and word to Dumbledore. Be strong cousin, you can do it." He gives Tonks a reassuring smile before he transforms and slips off out the shack.


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