Chapter Thirty: Cooking Inconvenience

21 November, 1982

A black smoke rose up the pan and soared toward the ceiling as Remus pressed on the bacon rather aggressively with the spatula, a sizzling sound emanating from the burnt crisp. Flipping it once, then pressing it again, he scooped it up and deposited on the tray, where poached eggs lay morosely amidst a few other burnt pieces of bacon. Turning off the stove, he picked up the tray and dropped it on the dining table with a clatter.

Remus pulled out a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table and glaring at the wall opposite him, as thought it has done him mortal offense. A few minutes later, the door opened and Sirius and his friends filed in, seemingly unaware of Remus's mood.

As they took the chairs around him and began filling up their plates, Nathan, Marlene's brother, looked up at him and scrutinised him carefully. "Remus, I know you don't like being locked up here all the time -" he began, but he sent him a glare and spoke.

"No, why wouldn't I like it?" he asked with evident bitterness dripping from his voice. "I absolutely love not going to the shelter, and having to stay here and listening to you about how people like me are being killed everyday for no reason other than the fact that they're born. I'm having the time of my life."

"Oh, please." It was Sirius who spoke, his voice irritated. "Stop being so selfish. There's a war going on here, and all you're worried about is your job."

Remus's eyes snapped to look in his direction. "A war which I'm not a part of," his voice rose. "Why should I suffer because of that? Why am I letting you stay? You're wizards, you can whip up a hiding place anywhere you like."

Sirius seemed intent on delivering a speech, but Nathan spoke before he could. "Remus, you're forgetting they're wizards too," he spoke quietly, but had a firmness in his voice that he couldn't argue against. "We need to remain united and within reach of each other. We can't do that if we're moving from place to place and running from death eaters, and this is the safest place we could find. We are sorry for all the inconvenience we are causing -"

"Speak for yourself," Sirius interrupted, before looking at Remus. "I'm not sorry. You've become a part of the wizarding world, whether you like it or not. You've heard too much, you've seen too much, and you cannot run away from it just like that. This war, our lives are far more important than your stupid shelter."

Remus's fingers stiffened around his fork, but he wasn't given the chance to speak as Sirius roughly stood up from his chair, sending it crashing backwards, and picked up his breakfast before leaving the kitchen. Marlene exchanged a glance with his brother, but Remus was seething with anger. Sending one last glare in the direction Sirius had disappeared from, he turned to his food and began to attack it with renewed vigour.

Being questioned by his coworkers, especially Adam, wasn't what was worrying Remus. Sirius had taken care to modify Adam's memories to make him think that Remus was on a holiday, so he wasn't in the risk of getting an unexpected visit from him. He was worried about money, of course, because the amount he got from the shelter wasn't enough to last him a long time if he wasn't working. But more so than that, Remus was hating staying at home all the time with nothing to do except cook, read and watch TV, and occasionally answer Nathan's curious questions about the muggle contraptions that so fascinated him.

Next morning Remus decided that he would sleep in. He didn't have anything important to do anyway, and he didn't mind having breakfast late. So when he was woken by the warm streams of sunlight from the window, he pulled back the curtains and fell asleep again.

He was snapped from his sleep with a sharp burning stench and a heavy smoke hanging in the air. Immediately, he leapt out of his bed before hastily pulling on some robes, and dashed downstairs, where he found the kitchen covered in black smoke and the three wizards all speaking at the same time, moving around frantically. His mouth hanging open, he attempted to enter the room to help, but was immediately repulsed by the odour.

A voice called out, "Aguamenti," and he saw a spring of water fountain into the air, and the smoke cleared, allowing him to see what was going on. Then Marlene applied another spell, and the smoke completely dispersed.

The kitchen was in chaos, pots and pans clattered on the counter, and Remus had the suspicion they had used the Accio on them, and the pan which stood on the stove contained a very black and very sticky goo. Nathan was prodding on the goo with the back of a spoon.

Remus shook his head in defeat as he stepped into the kitchen, the smell of smoke still lingering in the air, and muttered, "Useless wizards," as he emptied the pan into the dustbin and began to look for something to cook. He glanced over at Nathan who gave him a sheepish smile. "I taught you how to use the stove, didn't I?"

He laughed apologetically. "I was trying to experiment a bit."

In ten minutes, the burning stench was replaced by the sweet smell of syrup as Remus made some pancakes, which he deposited on the table. However, luck didn't seem to be on his side today, for no sooner had the four sat down on their respective chairs, that the three wizards jumped on their seats, before scrambling to pull out their chains from inside their shirts. Remus watched blankly as they stared at the pendant shaped as a P, and then leapt to their feet and grabbed their wands from where they lay on the table.

Sirius was the first to leave the kitchen, and then Marlene and Nathan followed him. Remus, with a sigh, went after them. They opened the front door and swarmed outside, before three sharp cracks echoed through the air, signifying their departure. Remus stared at the door for a few minutes before walking over to lock it, muttering, rather angrily, "Yes, ignore me. It's not like I'm giving you food and shelter, when I have every valid reason not to."

❇

The air was misty that morning when Sirius apparated to the designated place. It was somewhere in the countryside, wide valleys enveloping the low stretch of land, scattered around which were several small huts and cottages. The place was deserted, only a few pedestrians walking around lazily, none of them having noticed him in the shadows. Marlene and Nathan appeared a fraction of a second later, and the three shared a glance before they began to walk, hands gripping tightly on their wands which lay inside their pockets.

They had been informed that a large number of death eaters have taken residence in this area, and this was where they gathered to make plans and carry out operations. The three parted to walk a few distance away from each other, and sometime later, Sirius noticed more shadows joining their own. Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle were the first faces he saw, though he was sure there were many more. A silent agreement passed between them and they simultaneously applied the disillusionment charm on themselves to become invisible.

Now all they had to do was locate the headquarters.

There was something wrong and Sirius sensed it before he could see it. Involuntarily, he whipped his head around, but the same silence and serenity of the valley greeted him. Nevertheless, he tightened his hold around his wand and held it up, ready to attack or defend at any given moment.

A sharp cry from the left reached his ears, and he turned to see that one of the Order members - he couldn't quite make out who - was lying on the ground and whimpering in pain, blood gushing out of his chest, while a death eater clad in black robes and wearing a mask stood over him, a knife glinting in her hand, the steel blade glistening with blood. Her large tangle of curly black hair stood out among the empty space which was now being filled with death eaters appearing in a whirl of clouds.

Sirius immediately went alert, and felt the others around him do the same. The disillusionment charm faded, and he became visible once again, though that was the least of his worries, as death eaters appeared left and right, taking down unsuspecting Order members. They were too many, far too many, and soon the ground was covered with blood and victims whimpering and convulsing. The death eaters seemed to have abandoned the use of the killing curse, instead enjoying the pain they inflicted on their victims using other curses.

Amidst a whirl of chaos and disorder, Sirius found himself engaged in a duel with two death eaters. One of them has dropped his mask, and a wide manic grin flashed at him as the man sent him curse after curse. Light rays whipped past him, toward him, deflected by his own spells which seemed to become weaker and weaker as he was forced to back away. The two death eaters seemed to be winning, his hand was aching, he nearly missed the spell once, the flashing red light almost hitting him in the process. Something grabbed his arm, and in the next moment, he found himself reeling through vacuum, and then he stumbled to the ground, his whole body sore with fatigue.

He blinked his eyes open and found Marlene, who gave his body a flitting glance, looking for any wounds he presumed, and then disappeared. He heaved a few deep breaths, not bothering to pick himself up from the ground, as he stared up at the warm blue sky, soft cotton clouds drifting lazily across it. Under other circumstances, he would have been angry with Marlene for pulling him out of the war, but now he was feeling too much shock to feel any anger.

It had been so sudden and so precise, as though the death eaters were waiting for them. They knew the approximate location of their headquarters, and they were the ones who were supposed to attack them. Who tipped them off?

A crack was heard, and he turned his head to find Nathan crouched on the ground, a figure cradled in his arms. Marlene was trying to hold him steady, but he crumpled and fell, unable to balance himself as well as the unconscious woman he was holding. Sirius was on his feet in a moment, and helped them settle down.

It was only when Nathan had sat down properly on the ground, that he noticed who the woman was. Gillian Abbott. She had a wound on her stomach, from which blood was pouring out in rivulets, soaking Nathan, who tried desperately to stop the blood flow.

Sirius looked up at Marlene, who looked quite lost. "Can you hold her?" he asked loudly to get her attention, startling her. "Apparate to Moonwood. I'll take him."

He held Nathan by the shoulders, and taking a deep breath, he disapparated.

Gillian was quickly laid down on the floor, while Marlene summoned the potions from Sirius's room. The bag which held them skidded to a halt beside her, and she fumbled inside it, pulling out bottles of potions and looking at the labels. Sirius, meanwhile, used his wand to close the wound that branded Gillian's neck and chest. Nathan held her steady, tears streaming down his face and eyes looking shocked as though he has seen a ghost.

"Sirius, we're out of dittany," Marlene stated in a hoarse, shaky voice, holding up a clear bottle, on the bottom of which could be seen a few drops of green liquid. Sirius saw her lower lip was quivering. "Did you have any with you?"

He shook his head.

"I have some that might work?" All three turned their heads to look at Remus, eyes widened in surprise. Sirius had forgotten that he was in the house. He looked uncertain, but he continued, "Uh - not potions, of course. But I have some medicine that can help to heal the wound."

"Bring it," Marlene ordered urgently, and he disappeared out of the door.

Sirius and Marlene backed away and allowed Remus and Nathan to work. The medicine wasn't a liquid, unlike the potions. It was a thick cream that Remus applied over the wound, while Nathan tied it up with a clean piece of cloth.

"Did you - uh - know about Nathan and Gillian?" Sirius asked quietly, watching as Nathan fed her a potion that would recover for the lost blood. Marlene frowned.

"I didn't. He seemed very absentminded lately, but I never guessed - they didn't even interact that much."

Gillian has joined the Order only last month, having graduated from Hogwarts a year after Sirius. Both her parents were killed while she was still in school, and she was left with skills of magic that were usual in Sacred Twenty Eight families, Abbotts being one of the few members of the Sacred Twenty Eight that benefitted from the Dark Arts taught in the families, but avoided using them for pureblood purposes. Gillian, despite being young, was more skilled than many of the others of the Order.

Remus gathered up the medicines and left the room, while Nathan enveloped Gillian in his arms and closed his eyes, rocking her gently. A small sigh left Sirius's lips, as he couldn't help but admire Nathan's bravery to allow himself to feel things in the middle of the war when he knew well enough that there was every chance of one of them being torn from the other.