Disclaimer: See ch.1

Notes: Thanks for the reviews, thanks so much!

Sorry it's a pretty short chapter. But I wanted to end it where I did. But there's quite a lot of gearing up in such a short space… It's important. Read it.  :)

A very poignant chapter, not particularly in the good way. But it marks the start of all the action and here the adventure begins! Heheheheh.

I've tried not to make Remus seem too out of character in this chapter. He's still the same old Remus but this side of him surfaces under pressure, is what I think.

Sorry my writing style's weird this chapter, I was in a weird mood.

Anyway, here it is.

CHAPTER FIVE- THE PLAN

Remus Lupin entered a small room a considerable distance away from the meeting room, Harry following vacantly.

"Harry? Are you alright?" said Remus looking worriedly at Harry, who was in turn gazing blankly at a wall.

"It's happening again," said Harry quietly. Remus was puzzled, but Harry continued. "It's all my fault, it's always my fault."

"Harry?" Remus asked again gently, slightly surprised at Harry's sudden change of mood. After all, he had just thrown a chair at the wall only a minute earlier.

"Just like my parents, like Cedric, Sirius, The Dursleys, now Hermione… It's my fault. ALL – MY – FAULT!" Harry finished off by yelling. Again he picked up the closest thing to hand, this time a small mantelpiece clock, and flung it at the wall.

Remus blinked, surprised. Well, he thought, at least Harry was back to throwing things. This he could work with. He quickly cast a silencing spell on the room, then grabbed Harry by the upper arms forcing him to look at him.

"HARRY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" he yelled. It seemed to work. Harry stopped short of picking up anything else and looked at Remus, slightly shocked. Remus continued. "I already told you don't blame yourself. It's NOT your fault, trust me!"

"I do trust you! You know that! But trust has nothing to do with it," replied Harry, still angry yet much more rational. Then he calmed considerably, sinking down into a nearby chair. "Hermione…"

"Yeah I know," Remus empathised, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder in a way that Harry was beginning to familiarise with, and find comfort in. "She'll be okay! Snape is dealing with it."

"Snape?! Yeah he's dealing with it, in his own precious time! He doesn't give a damn about Hermione, he'll be more concerned about his bloody Death Eater title and saving his own hide!" Harry stood up, yelling again. "And here I am, standing around not knowing what to do or where to go! I can't just stand here while it happens all over again. I won't! Even if it wasn't all my fault, but it always is."

Remus was silent during Harry's outburst, his fingers rested beside his mouth, looking down at the wooden floor in soundless thought. He seemed almost to have fazed out. He looked up, and then he spoke.

"You're right."

Whatever Harry was expecting that hadn't been it.

"What?" he said, taken by surprise.

"You're right," Remus repeated, almost smiling. "We can't rely on Snape when he has his Death Eater role to protect. He'll be no use to Hermione if he's dead."

Remus was now tapping his fingers on the side of his face and pacing back and forth, looking very deep in thought. When Harry didn't reply, Remus continued.

"Hermione's in possession of no information useful to the Death Eaters regarding your whereabouts. Though Merlin knows they'll try to get it out of her. The Death Eaters plan B in the event that they don't manage will be to wait until you turn up to save her, which due to your impulsive disposition- let's face it, everyone knows you're more than likely to do."

Harry, looking somewhat like a startled goldfish, was rendered speechless at Remus' sudden analysis of the situation. His heart dropped as he realised Remus was right on all counts, and it seemed there was no way he was going to let him go after Hermione. He reasoned that maybe he could sneak out after Remus went to sleep.

" Listen," said Remus, gripping Harry's shoulders and looking into his eyes. "I know what you must be thinking right now, and you're probably planning at this very moment to sneak out after I go to sleep. You're like your father that way, when you've got your mind set on something there's nothing that can stop you. That's why I'm going to come with you."

"What?" Harry said again, and felt rather stupid. Again Remus had taken him completely by surprise.

"I'm not going to pretend this isn't the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to do, and I'm not going to pretend we won't be walking into probably the very thing people have gone so far to protect you from. But also I'm not going to pretend I wouldn't do the same thing, and I'm not going to let you blame yourself for one moment longer. So instead of me wasting time disagreeing with you and just delaying the inevitably inevitable, we may as well set out while we can still do something about this."

Harry was stunned at this first-hand testimony that the man in front of him was truly still a marauder.

"Besides," Remus concluded flippantly. "They won't see you anyway."

Harry, despite the situation, smiled broadly. He couldn't fight the feeling that once again he was dragging someone into trouble, but as Remus said- there was no point wasting time disagreeing.

Then Harry frowned.

"But Remus," he said, using the professor's first name with only a small amount of difficulty. "We have no idea where to go."

*****

After what seemed like hours of pacing and thinking (and was in all honesty closer to a few minutes) they had come up with a plan. When Remus had said only a few minutes prior to 'the plan' that 'the previous plan' was the stupidest thing he had ever agreed to, that was only because he hadn't thought of the new one yet.

"This is stupid! In fact, it's beyond stupid, it's suicidal!" yelled Harry.

"Potentially, but I'm willing to take that risk," replied Remus calmly. "Besides, do you have a better idea?"

Harry coughed uncomfortably. Of course he didn't have a better idea, but the plan was crazy!

The plan was as follows:

They would return to Remus' cottage. From there Remus would owl a letter to Hermione's house (he reasoned the Death Eaters would be watching her house the most closely) pretending he didn't know of her abduction and suggesting that he knew of Harry's whereabouts.

The Death Eaters would of course come to take him away. Harry would follow, unseen of course, to where the Death Eaters would take him, which would hopefully be the same place as Hermione ("Death Eaters are sick like that," Remus had said. "They see compassion for others as a common weakness and like to use it against their victims.").

The theory was that there would only be a couple of Death Eaters to keep watch over two prisoners and Harry would wait until the right moment to stun them and free Remus and Hermione; then they would all be free to run off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

That was the plan.

Of course there were about a million things that would probably go wrong.

"What if Voldemort's there?"

"He won't be. He likes to let his henchmen do the work."

"There could be a million Death Eaters keeping watch." Harry said desperately.

"Unlikely. You really think they'd pull out all the stops for what they see as just a weary werewolf and a schoolgirl? They don't need us they need information."

"What if they kill you?"

"They won't. Like I said, they need information."

"What if they don't take you to where Hermione is?" asked Harry, trying hard to convince Remus that his plan was insane.

"Then you stun them anyway, set me free and we try again." Remus replied evenly.

It seemed they had reached an impasse. After a little while of arguing like this, it was clear that Remus successfully counteracted every one of Harry's points (though both of them knew it was wishful thinking). The truth was, the idea was about as far from ideal as you could possibly get- but it was the only one they had.

"What about you? What about all the horrible things they might do to you?" Harry pleaded.

"Nothing worse than what's probably happening to Hermione right now."

Harry raked his hands through his hair frustratedly and glared at Remus. He had no idea his former professor could be so stubborn yet levelheaded at the same time.

But of course he was right. While they were arguing Hermione was probably going through hell somewhere. Quite possibly literally.

Besides, Harry told himself, he wouldn't let anything happen to Remus while he had his back.

"Fine!" yelled Harry, upset and very frustrated. Only would ever manage to get people into these kinds of situations. "But only because there's nothing else we can do."

"Alright, let's go then! No time to waste."

And so they went, back to Remus' cottage.

*****

Back at the cottage the atmosphere was tense, neither Harry nor Remus quite willing to comprehend what they had agreed to.

The fire was flickering and they both sat in mainly silence until the final version of the letter was completed. They had agreed to make it quite vague so that it would be more believable.

"How's this?" asked Remus, showing Harry the completed letter. Harry looked it over.

            Dear Hermione,

I'm sure you've heard the news; I hope you're okay. I have to keep this short, but I have one thing to tell you- don't believe everything you read in the papers.

Meet me at my house and I'll tell you what I mean. Tell Ron to come too.

            Ever wary,

            Remus.

"Vague," approved Harry.

"Yeah I thought so too," said Remus, smiling nervously. Even Remus couldn't hide his fear.

Remus looked at the letter, then around the small living room/kitchen as if he was missing something. His eyes fell on a neatly folded handkerchief sitting on the arm of the sofa. He went and picked it up.

"You have a watch?" Remus asked Harry.

"Yeah, why?" replied Harry, puzzled. An old watch was one among many of Dudley's 'broken' possessions that simply needed new batteries, so of course Harry had taken it. He didn't call that stealing, since it was in his own room.

"I'm making a portkey," said Remus, tapping the handkerchief and pulling out his wand. "Hopefully twenty-four hours should be enough."

"And if it's not?" Harry asked, gulping.

"That's why we need the watch. If that doesn't leave enough time then we chuck the hanky in the corner somewhere before the time runs out. Then just hope a Death Eater doesn't touch it first. After the activation time expires it still works the next time somebody touches it."

"Aah, so that's how portkeys work," Harry said. Remus mumbled some words at the hanky, pointing his wand at it.

Harry had, in the past, wondered about portkeys. He sometimes wondered about the Triwizard cup and how come it still activated when he and Cedric touched it. Harry closed his eyes, remembering.

Remus didn't notice, as he was busy working on the portkey. He replied to Harry's last comment.

"Yeah. You've got to charm the object, in this case handkerchief, while you're in the place you'll want to be in however long. Then you can take it wherever, and it'll take you back to where you first charmed it once the time runs out. Provided you have physical contact with it."

"Hmmm," Harry replied minimally. He was slightly tired.

"Portus activus," Remus said, sealing the charm on the handkerchief. He walked over and handed it to Harry. "Here, you keep this. Keep an eye on the time."

Harry nodded.

Remus walked over to the birdcage with the letter. He swung open the already partially open door and lifted out the large brown owl. He looked back at Harry one last time.

"We're really doing this," he said.

"Yeah," said Harry. "It's crazy."

And then Remus sent the letter. He tied it to the large brown owl's leg and said "Mercury, take this to Hermione's house. She's not there, just take it to the house."

The owl hooted in the affirmative.

"Good luck," Remus said, and let the owl out the window. He sat down wearily in one of the big armchairs and sighed.

"So what now?" asked Harry.

"Now we wait," replied Remus.

So Harry Potter and Remus Lupin sat in the Yorkshire cottage and waited.