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Plans Being Made


Miiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaoooooowwwwww!!!!

The kneazle went running down the hallway of Fallengunder, his claws out, strands of carpet fiber flying about behind him as he moved, his bottle brush tail held high and puffed as he yowled his way along, racing, his yellow eyes gleaming through the dark corridor.

The black dog followed, barking loudly, sliding and very nearly hitting the wall as he tried to make the turn, and he scramble in place a second, then shot once more after the kneazle. He raced along, fur bouncing as he moved, his tail wagging in a frenzy behind him as he went.

The kneazle knew the halls far better than the dog, having lived there for years untold, and he ducked swiftly into a room with two doors, letting the dog follow him in, then skidding back out the second door way and hurriedly doubling back down the corridor the way they’d come.

Snuffles’s claws made him skid across the floor, sliding uncontrollably… his paws on the slick surface not being able to get any traction with the velocity he’d been running, and he swept along, spinning about like a top, until he slammed into the pile of books by the window. The books went flying about in every direction, loud thumps like firework explosions as they hit, and he himself broke through a loose wood paneling beneath the build-in window seat - the one Remus enjoyed sitting in - and disappeared into the dusty darkness.

Downstairs, Remus looked up from where he as painting teal trim along a high window, waving his wand to magick the colour onto the wood. The crashing and thumping echoed through the castle. Ned Veigler looked up, too, and a moment later, the sound of the shrieking kneazle, who was racing down the stairs, thinking the dog was still chasing him, echoed in the corridor.

Remus and Ned looked at one another.

“I’ll go see what he’s done now,” Remus said and he lowered the brush and hurried from the room.

Ned Veigler smirked and shook his head, returning his attention to his own work as Remus’s footsteps echoed and faded up the stairs.

In the library, Sirius was just coming out from beneath the seatee, in human form, coated with a thick layer of dust, his hair a mess, hanging over his face from behind. The hair fluttered as he coughed behind the curtain of it, crawling out on his hands and knees.

Remus stood over him, “Been chasing the kneazle again, I see?”

Sirius looked up, tossing his head so his hair fell over his shoulders as he uprighted himself. “Whatever that bloody hairball has told you of it, he’s the one that’s started it,” Sirius said.

“Well, seeing as kneazles don’t talk, I reckon he’s told me nothing of any sort.” Remus went over and patted dust off Sirius’s back… and his bum. Honestly, he pretended there was more dust on Sirius’s bum than there really was, just so he would sweep his hand over it a few extra times. “You’re scaring the poor thing.”

“Then maybe he ought to stop scratching my nose when I’m sleeping,” Sirius said.

“He would never --” Remus started but Sirius interrupted.

“SLEEPING INNOCENTLY…. MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS….”

“Here we go,” Remus murmured.

“...DREAMING OF RUNNING THROUGH FORESTS WITH YOU, MY WOLF… AND --” Sirius made a loud scratching sound and motion with gnarled fingers, “---RRRRCCHHHHT! RIGHT ACROSS MY NOSE!”

Remus stared at Sirius.

“My bloody beautiful nose.” Sirius pointed.

There was, indeed, a bit of a scratch mark there. Small. Remus wouldn’t have noticed it if Sirius hadn’t pointed it out. It hadn’t been deep enough, apparently, for much of it to carry between the animagus form and the human one. But Sirius clearly thought it was a big deal, so Remus gasped as he was expected to and said, “My star, what’s that evil kneazle done to you?” and pulled him over to the seat in the window.

Pleased for the pity, Sirius dropped next to Remus and stuck out his face, eyes closed to Remus too inspect. “He’s gone and scarred me.”

“Yes, nearly as terrible as mine,” Remus replied and he said, “Oh it’s bad. It’s deep. It’s so very deep. Your face would be ruined -- but luckily, I know the cure for such horrid wounds.”

“Yeah?” Sirius asked, his eyes swiveled up to Remus’s.

“Yes.” Remus leaned forward and kissed Sirius’s nose and Sirius’s eyes closed, his eyelashes fluttered against Remus’s cheeks. Remus pulled back after a moment and said, staring right into Sirius’s eyes, “It’s only a scratch, you can barely see it, you dramatic thing.”

Sirius grinned, “Nawh it’s just that you’ve healing properties in your saliva.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes. I shall bottle it and call it Essence of Moony.”

Remus shook his head.

Sirius smiled.




Jasper Odair was playing a round of hide and go seek in the backyard with his little brother, Edgar Odair, the one that had received a letter from Hogwarts. They were two of five brothers in the Odair house - the only two wizards in a family of muggles. The back door of the cottage style home they lived in opened and Mrs. Odair, a tired-looking black haired woman who had a bit of a nasty disposition, called out, “Jasper. There’s a girl that’s given you a ring.” She had a cigarette hanging from her mouth.

“Is it Lily Evans, mother?” Jasper popped out from behind the shed he’d been hiding behind.

Found you,” Edgar announced.

Jasper rolled his eyes at Edgar, “Of course you have, haven’t you? I’ve come out from hiding.” He looked at his mother, but she’d already gone inside. “Be right back, Ed,” he announced and he ran across the yard, running a hand through his hair.

Inside, the house smelled like tobacco and alcohol. Jasper hurried past his father, who lay asleep on the couch. He ducked into the kitchen, where his mother was standing with her cigarette, flicking the ashes into a tray on the counter while she stirred what looked like a very thick stew on the stovetop.

Jasper took up the phone receiver from the counter and held it to his ear. “Hullo?” he asked.

“Jasper, hi.”

It was Lily Evans. On her end, she was perched on the couch in the Evans living room, the plastic phone receiver held to her ear as well. Petunia was pacing behind the couch, looking rather annoyed as she walked back and forth, anxious that Lily would be on the line when Vernon Dursley tried calling. Mrs. Evans was sitting in her chair, knitting quietly.

“Hullo Lily!” Jasper said and he turned so he was facing the corner, the phone cord wrapping around his knees as he made his bid for privacy.

Edgar ran into the room seeking cookies.

“You’ll spoil your supper, go wash your face - you’re a filthy little piglet,” Mrs. Odair snapped.

Edgar ran back out of the room.

“How’ve you been?” Jasper asked Lily, leaning closer to the wall to block out the sound of his family.

Lily licked her lips, “I’ve been alright, how about you?”

Jasper glanced fleetingly at his mother, who was picking her teeth with her fingernails. He turned back to the corner of the room. “Spiffing,” he answered, because he didn’t reckon he could explain how much he missed Hogwarts without sounding like he was complaining.

Lily’s voice was quiet. “Could we maybe… get together later?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, just for a few minutes. I just need to talk to you.”

“Let me check with my mother real quick.” Jasper glanced back at his mother. “Alright if I go to talk to Lily Evans for a few this evening after supper?” he asked her, covering the mouthpiece on the receiver.

“Who?” his mother asked, looking up from the stew, blowing smoke from the cigarette.

“Lily Evans?” he said, “My girlfriend. The one Edgar met at the Boardwalk.” His mother showed no familiarity with this, so Jasper said, “Can I just go talk to a friend this evening for a few? Probably just a walk around the neighborhood or something?”

“I don’t care,” she said. “Do whatever you want.”

Jasper turned back to the corner, “She says I can.”

“Okay. Brilliant. I’ll come by around seven o’clock. Is that alright then?”

“Alright,” Jasper nodded, “I’ll be waiting outside.”

“See you.” Lily hung up the phone.

The moment the receiver hit the base, Petunia leaped for it, “Move. I have to call Vernon and make sure he didn’t try to ring while you were using it!” She pushed Lily aside and nested herself into the cushions and Lily pushed her back roughly, and Petunia let out a squawk.

“Girls, stop fighting,” Mrs. Evans murmured and Petunia stuck out her tongue at Lily so Mrs. Evans wouldn’t see and Lily gave Petunia a very rude gesture she’d learned from Sirius Black and she turned and marched out of the living room.

Lily stood in front of her closet for sometime, staring at all her clothes, trying to select something that was very modest without being too hot in all the pressing heat. There should be uniforms or guides or something for what it is you should wear when you break up with a boy who doesn’t particularly deserve to be broken up with, Lily thought as she selected a dress with cap sleeves and a modest neckline. She sighed and laid it on her bed.




It had been Evan Rosier who’d been assigned to watch the Potter house that evening. It was Evan who had seen the bit of paper fall from Lily Evans’s pocket, who had waited until James had gone back behind the Fidelus. He’d picked it up and read it and seen the Potter house flicker into sight. He’d watched James Potter moving through the living room, the windows uncovered, the lights all on… It was Evan Rosier that disapparated from Godric’s Hollow to land outside the gate of Malfoy Manor, where he held aloft his arm as he walked through the iron gates and up the walkway to burst through the door, fingers clutched about the parchment. It had been Evan Rosier that bowed low before the Dark Lord on his knees and held the paper up to the pale face of Voldemort, who had handed over the note. It was Evan Rosier that heard the low, cackling rumble of laughter that went echoed in the Dark Lord’s throat, and who received the praise for finding the parchment.

It was Evan Rosier who had made the Dark Lord smile.

And the plans were being made…