Rosabella Black|Daughter Of Sirius Black|(Book 7)

The Bribe

Harry's Point Of View:
The presence of the Death Eaters outside increased the ominous mood inside number twelve. We had not heard a word form anyone beyond Grimmauld Place since Mr. Weasley's Patronus, and the strain was starting to tell. Restless and irritable, Ron had developed an annoying habit of playing with the Deluminator in his pocket. This particularly infuriated Hermione, who was whiling away the wait for Kreacher by studying The Tales of Beedle the Bard and did not appreciate the way the lights kept flashing on and off.
   "Will you stop it!" Hermione cried on the third evening of Kreacher's absence, as all the light was sucked from the drawing room yet again.
    "Sorry, sorry! I don't know I'm doing it!" Ron said, clicking the Deluminator and restoring the lights
   "Well, can't you find something useful to occupy yourself?" Hermione said.
   "What, like reading kids' stories?" Ron retorted.
   "Dumbledore left me this book, Ron –" Hermione said indignantly.
   "– and he left me the Deluminator, maybe I'm supposed to use it!" Ron said.

Unable to stand the bickering, I slipped out of the room unnoticed by either of them. I headed downstairs toward the kitchen, which I kept visiting because I was sure that was where Kreacher was most likely to reappear. Halfway down the flight of stairs into the hall, however, I heard a tap on the front door, then metallic clicks and the grinding of the chain.
Every nerve in my body seemed to tauten. I pulled out my wand, moved into the shadows beside the decapitated elf heads, and waited. The door opened. I saw a glimpse of the lamplit square outside, and a cloaked figure edged into the hall and closed the door behind it. The intruder took a step forward, and Moody's voice asked, "Severus Snape?"
Then the dust figure rose from the end of the hall and rushed him, raising its dead hand.
   "It was not I who killed you, Albus." said a quiet voice.

The jinx broke. The dust - figure exploded again, and it was impossible to make out the newcomer through the dense gray cloud it left behind.
I pointed my wand into the middle of it.
   "Don't move!" I yelled.
I had forgotten the portrait of Mrs. Black. At the sound of my yell, the curtains hiding her flew open and she began to scream, "Mudbloods and filth dishonoring my house –"
Ron and Hermione came crashing down the stairs behind me, wands pointing, like mine, at the unknown man now standing with his arms raised in the hall below.
    "Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!" He said.
    "Oh, thank goodness." Hermione said weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead.
With a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron too lowered his wand, but I did not.
    "Show yourself!" I called back.
Remus moved forward into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender.
   "I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, uncle of Lucas, Jason, Jacob, Michael and Rosabella Black and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag." Remus said.
    "Oh, all right. But I had to check, didn't I?" I said, lowering my wand.
   "Speaking as your ex - Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check. Ron, Hermione, you shouldn't be so quick to lower your defenses." Remus said.

We ran down the stairs towards him. Wrapped in a thick black traveling cloak, Remus looked exhausted, but pleased to see us.
   "No sign of Severus, then?" Remus asked.
   "No. What's going on? Is everyone okay? Ro?" I said.
Remus smiled at me.
    "Ro's fine. Only injuries she's got is a bruise on her forehead." Remus said chuckling slightly.
     "Do I even want to know how she got that?" Hermione said apprehensively.
     "She jumped out and scared the hell of out of Jake. Instinctively, he punched her. Jay thought he was a Death Eater in disguise and he tackled him while Ro was laughing and Mike was yelling at them to have some common sense." Remus said, rolling his eyes at the craziness and chaoticness of his niece and nephews.
I could picture this scene so easily. Ron roared with laughter and I laughed to and Hermione shook her head but she was laughing slightly too.
    "Whst about everyone else?" Hermione asked.
   "Everyone's fine but we're all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside –" Remus said.
    "We know –" Ron said.
    "I had to Apparate very precisely onto the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can't know you're in here or I'm sure they'd have more people out there. They're staking out everywhere that's got any connection with you, Harry. Let's go downstairs, there's a lot to tell you, and I want to know what happened after you left the Burrow." Remus said.