A Life Forever Altered

By: WeasleyTwin1

Chapter Five

Finally, I made it home. When I arrived I found the front door opened and there was a man that I recognized as the Minister of Magic. What would the Minister of Magic be doing here, I thought to myself as I made my way towards the opened door. Then my face lit up with happiness, the Minister of Magic usually came by after Father had returned from a scouting mission. They would meet and discuss all that was found out over dinner. This was how I learned a lot of information about happenings in the world.

These meetings were fascinating, father always had stories of interesting creatures he had meet or had to deal with throughout his travels. John Andrews, the Minister of Magic enjoyed hearing these tales too as well as getting the information he needed. I smiled at the thought of father's return as I bounded into the room and set the herbs on the table.

The instant I entered the room, I noticed the atmosphere was tense and Mum's head jerked up as she caught my sudden movement of throwing the herbs down.

"Oh, Remus," she said, holding out her hands to me.

"Mum, what's wrong?" I said as she pulled me into her embrace. I had a bad feeling that I already knew what was wrong.

"Lad," said Mr. Andrews in his soft Irish accent. "Lad, your father's…your father's dead."

I knew and understood what I had just heard but I refused to believe it. I looked from Mum to Mr. Andrews and back to Mum again, tears threatening the spill unchecked down my cheeks.

"How?" I managed to croak out, past the lump forming in my throat.

" We're not sure, exactly," Mr. Andrews said with some difficulty, I noticed tears trying to work their way past his eyes. "We think it was an accident, the Ministry is looking into it right now."

My eyes narrowed in anger, tears began to stream down my face and I hugged Mum closer to me and said barely audibly.

"Voldemort killed my father."

Mum's head shot up at the mention of the name and Mr. Andrews gave me a startled look, a look which told me he suspected the same thing.

"We don't know any details yet…How do you know about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

I shrugged at Mr. Andrews' question and turned away from him.

"I'm really sorry Beatrice, your husband was a good man, one of our best…he was a good friend. He'll be honored with the Order of Merlin, 1^st Class."

Mr. Andrews paused, he was torn between his duty to the Ministry and his grief at the loss of a friend. I could tell he wanted to stay here and help. He wanted to be able to share our loss, a loss that he felt too. He sighed and rubbed his hand across his eyes.

"I…I better get going. We'll tell you details as we get them. Expect my owl soon…" he paused again, knowing that words of sympathy were not enough. "If you need…want to talk Beatrice my door is open."

Mum looked up, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Thank-you, John."

Mr. Andrews took her hand and held it for a while, then nodded and left the house closing the door behind him. Before, he did however, I noticed his shoulders heave with a shuddering sob.

Then mum began to cry. I held on to her and cried with her. I tried to think of comforting things to say, like she always did to me when I was upset but I found that I couldn't. My mind was whirling in pain and confusion. All I could see was Voldemort's clinched fist and my father…dead.

I heard the birds chirping their happy songs of daybreak and realized that we had sat like this all night. I looked towards the window and saw the sun peeking through the curtains and while a new dawn is suppose to bring new hope all I could think about was how my life had been altered in one night. My father was gone and Mum…I'm sure Mum would never be the same without him.

"Mum?" I asked hesitantly, not knowing what she might say or if she would speak at all.

She didn't move.

"Mum?"

Then slowly she looked up at me and I nearly broke down in tears again as I saw a look of such loss and grief reflected in her eyes. I shut my eyes to keep the tears from starting again and hugged her closer to me.

"Remus," she said, her voice hoarse. "Oh, Remus"

She pulled me so fiercely into her embrace that the breath was nearly knocked out of me. She didn't cry though, perhaps she had cried all she could. I put my face into her shoulder and saw only darkness as I closed my eyes, then I saw the hand…the clenched fist that had claimed my father and I thought I heard a hollow, high laugh…

There was a knock at the door. My head shot up. I had fallen asleep and not even known it. Mum didn't move she just stared vacantly at the wall opposite. The knock came again. I left Mum and answered the door, giving a backwards glance I as I left her, I saw a bit of life come back into her eyes for a few seconds. The Anderson's were at the door, Katie her Mum and Father.

"Beatrice, I just heard," said Mrs. Anderson, "I'm so sorry."

Mum, rose, a little more life coming to her features then was there before and she embraced Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and Katie.

"Thank you for coming," she said, still a little hoarsely, then she looked down at the ground.

Mrs. Anderson smiled, a little concern in her gentle eyes, and then took Mum by the arm.

"You look terrible Beatrice."

Mum actually laughed and allowed Mrs. Anderson to take her down the hall and into her bedroom. I heard more sobs and a few words…"He's not dead." Mr. Anderson shook his head and wiped some tears from his eyes, then said

"Your father was a good man, Remus. We were all year mates along with John, the Minister of Magic. Your father was a great wizard, one of the best in his area."

I felt myself begin to cry and I looked down at the floor. Katie put her arm around my shoulder. I looked up at her and saw that she too was crying. Then the dam just exploded and tears came rushing out. I tried to stop them but it was too late. Katie turned my head into her shoulder and held me tightly as we both wept.

"She's asleep," Mrs. Anderson's voice penetrated the haze of my sorrow and I looked up to see that she had reentered the room, a sad expression on her face. "We're going to stay here for a few days, Remus. I hope you don't mind."

I shook my head as I left Katie's embrace and sat down at the table. Around me Mrs. Anderson went about the household tasks, including making breakfast. As she worked, she would sigh and wipe away tears. Mr. Anderson was sitting across from me, his eyes unfocused as if he was seeing another time. Katie was leaning up against the wall with her eyes closed. I tugged on her sleeve, she opened her eyes quickly and looked around fearful, she had fallen asleep standing up. I pointed down the hallway and began to walk away. Katie followed.

"When I've got breakfast ready, I'll get you," Mrs. Anderson called to us. Katie turned and said, "okay" in a sleepy voice.

Mr. Anderson still sat brooding, "I can't believe he's gone, Lizzie," I heard him say before I closed the door to my room

Katie sat down on my bed and stretched out, a little ironic smile on her face.

"You're room doesn't look to different to mine, darn."

I found myself smiling and I sat next to her. She looked at me and frowned, I looked down at my hands and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Remus."

"I know, I'm just worried about Mum," I looked in the direction of Mum's room.

Katie nodded as she fingered the end of her shirt…

"Mr. Andrews, the Minister of Magic came by this morning and told us. He was so grief-stricken about the whole thing. They were quite a group at Hogwarts, My father, Mr. Andrews and your father. A group of trouble makers the way Father and Mum tell it."

The last time I had seen Father had been four months ago, leaving for this assignment. He was so serious about his work that I found it hard to believe that he would cause trouble at school. Not that he was devoid of a sense of humor, he was funny and enjoyed telling animated stories to me at bedtime and he was prone to setting pranks on my birthdays. This past birthday he had set Fillibuster Fireworks around my bed that went off when I got up. It scared me to death almost, but I laughed when Father poked his head into the doorway laughing.

He always bought us whatever we wanted, but it wasn't what he bought my Mum and I that made me know he loved us. It was the time that we spent together at home as a family that proved his love for us…also the way he protected us. There had been a time on a full moon where a pack of Werewolves had blocked our path home and Father threw a protection spell over us and he banished the pack with silver arrows. He didn't kill them just forced them to flee. I wondered why he let them go.

As I thought about all the times with my Father I found myself smiling at the memories. I remembered every present, ever Christmas party and every Quidditch game we went to over the years. I found that I wished for my Father even more now. I looked down at the ground and sighed. Katie put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up.

I smiled and asked Katie to tell me what she knew. She was glad to tell all that her parents had told her about their days at Hogwarts. I found some of the things she told me hard to believe, my father would never lay pranks in a professors office. It blew my mind to hear the stories she was telling me.

"You're a lot like your father, Remus."

I looked at her, a "yeah, right" sort of expression on my face.

"Really?"

She nodded her head and smiled, "You'll probably be an unholy terror at Hogwarts too."

I smiled then looked down at the ground. Unholy…that word brought back all the horrors of the night. I saw the Card again. 49 change to 50. News that my father was dead. I shuddered and sobbed involuntarily. Katie turned my face towards her and she looked deeply into my eyes, a look of concern flashed across her face.

"Are you okay, Remus?"

I looked at her, shocked at the question, and then quickly lowered my head again. She took my chin and raised my face upwards.

"I…I…"

It was then that, for some reason, that I removed the Voldemort card from my pocket and held it up in front of my face. My eyes even with the number of kills Voldemort had been responsible for…it had changed again…now it read 55. I also told her about Old Welnith's prediction. Katie listened, a growing look of concern on her face with every word I spoke. I began to wish that I had said nothing. I even wondered what caused me to remove the card in the first place.

"What do you think it all means?"

"I'm not sure, but I know who will know. Professor Dumbledore."

I knew a little about Professor Dumbledore, he was the new Headmaster. He had been the Transfiguration teacher for a while and he was the logical choice for Headmaster when Professor Dippet had died. Old Welnith had also painted his portrait for the school.

"I'll tell him and see what he says."

I nodded and smiled up at Katie as Mrs. Anderson called "Breakfast!" from the kitchen

*

The Anderson's stayed for about three weeks. I think they stayed mostly to make sure that Mum didn't do anything stupid. She didn't come out of her room and I was growing worried about her more and more as those weeks progressed. I know that she ate and talked and seemed to be getting better thanks the Mrs. Anderson's help and concern. Then on the Wednesday of the third week Mum came out from her room. I was so happy to see her. She smiled and hugged me, but I could tell that deep down she was still in agonizing pain over the loss. Loss is a bitter friend to have.

That Friday the Anderson's left, they had too, Katie had gotten her Hogwarts Letter for the new term, which was staring in a week. I was sad to see them go, I wanted so much for them to stay.

"I'll send you an owl when I find out anything,' said Katie as she hugged me a little tighter then she had before. "Just keep yourself and your Mum safe."

I nodded as Katie hugged me again and kissed me, then followed her parents. She turned to wave one last time and then they were gone over the hill. Mum closed the door and turned to look around the room. I just stood there looking at the floor by the door. I was wondering if Katie believed what I had told her about the Voldemort card and if she believed that I had "witnessed" my father's death on it.

"A sickle for you thoughts," Mum's quiet voice said into the darkness.

I looked up at her and smiled.

"I was just thinking how great it will be when I finally get to go to Hogwarts."

A smile quickly grew across her face. Her face lit up with joy and anticipation. Mum was back to normal…at least for now.

"I was wondering when you would come into your powers. I'll have to show you some magic, at least some basic Herbalism and Astronomy, of course your father, "she paused for a moment. "Your father would've been better suited to teach you Astronomy, he loved the stars, he was the only reason I passed that class," tears filled her eyes.

"Don't worry Mum I'll make you both proud."

I don't know why I said that. It was a foolish thing. I guess I was just trying to make her feel better. She smiled at me and the tears vanished from her eyes.

"I'm sure you will Remus."

A/N: Rowling owns the characters, except for the ones I added who all belong to me. Ummmm, well there is more…the next chapter is the one. I know that this contradicts what Remus said about his parents helping him after the bite. But, his father will show up again later in the story to help him. Read and Review. ThanksJ