Author's Note: Ha-hah! Another update! At this rate, I might actually meet the Fifth Book Challenge! Stranger things have happened. Two birds with one stone here folks, the meeting with Dumbledore and…. the siblings' reunion.

Enjoy! Review! Come back for more later!

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never have, never will.

Chapter Twelve: In Which We Go Back A Bit…

Three and a half months earlier…

It was a dark and stormy night.

Remus pulled the hood of his cloak lower over his face to shield himself from the frigid blast of the wind as his mind went tripping off into the whimsical. Looking ahead, he could barely make out Sosia climbing the mountainside ahead of him, her cloak wrapped tightly around her petite frame and looking for all the world like she'd just stepped out of a Bronte novel. Her white face was resolute, but her pale eyes betrayed an anxiety with which he could sympathize.

Struggling up the rocky path—path? This is barely a game trail!—in the pitch dark, the two travelers were almost imperceptible to any spying eyes down in the village. The black storm clouds, whipping wind, and occasional pelting rain made equally sure that none of the village folk would feel like taking an evening stroll and thus catch sight of the miserable duo. As they scrabbled over yet another jagged outcropping, Remus called for a rest. He was not yet fully recovered from the last full moon and the past 48 hours had not been much of a benefit to him in that area.

He and Sosia seated themselves on the outcropping, looking through the murky night to where the outline of the great castle could barely be made out. Squinting, Remus fancied he could see a light still shining in the Headmaster's office. Absurd, of course, he could scarcely make out his hand in front of his face clearly, much less a light more than a mile away. All the same, he was sure that the old Professor was getting very little sleep tonight, what with all that had happened.

After he had shut the door behind their entrance into the familiar confines of the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore had turned and startled Sosia by embracing her like a lost child, holding her close for a long while.

"My dear, my dear," he exclaimed as he finally released her, " it is so good to see your lovely face again."

Blinking back tears, she replied, "and you, Professor. It's been…. too long," she continued awkwardly.

"Indeed it has, and there are many things that are now overdue because of it." He looked soberly through his half-moon spectacles at her wan complexion. "The first is an exceptionally overdue apology. You were right to keep faith in your brother; he is no murderer, nor ever was one." Stated simply and sincerely, Sosia nevertheless seemed staggered by the Headmaster's admission. She sank into one of the overstuffed chairs by the blazing hearth and looked up into Dumbledore's somber eyes.

"I… thank you, sir. But I do not really deserve any sort of apologies. I should be the one who is…" she paused, unsure how to proceed.

"You showed great loyalty, Sosia. Both to your brother and to your instincts." The old Headmaster paused; a grave faraway look crossed his face. "I should have had more faith; certainly I could have questioned the circumstances more closely."

She interrupted him with a harsh bitterness in her tone.

"It wasn't loyalty or courage or any other kind of virtue. You give me too much credit, it was cowardice plain and simple."

"There is nothing pure in cowardice and it is rarely simple," he replied with a kind glint in his eyes. "You are too unforgiving with yourself, as you always were. I must take some of the of the blame for this upon myself."

You didn't send him to Azkaban without trial, Professor." Sosia responded.

"No, and I fear that the man who was responsible for that is paying the price for his past decisions now."

"What?"

Remus and Sosia exchanged confused glances, and Albus began to explain the many strange and disturbing events that were not common knowledge—and certainly not Daily Prophet material. Bartemius Crouch's strange illness, the intimations that Voldemort was regaining his strength, the strange pain Harry felt in the scar he bore as memorial to the night his parents perished—a pain that seemed to correspond to Voldemort in some perplexing way.

"But why? Why does the poor child feel Voldemort's presence so keenly? Didn't the fiend do enough to him that Halloween without his being actively tormented by him for the rest of his life?" Indignation colored Sosia's idealism. Remus hadn't realized how much he'd missed her clear-eyed, if sometimes over-simplistic, views of right and wrong until he heard it voiced again. Her calling was sometimes betrayed by the sudden outbursts of impractical conviction.

Dumbledore's mouth quirked up in an ironic smile as he answered, "What he did to young Harry, whom I assure you is far from a child though he is by no means an adult yet, is precisely why he does feel him in the scar he carries. It may very well be a blessing in disguise, it has unquestionably saved him once already.

"This cannot be solved in your traditional way, my dear. These matters are too complex for the narrow view of your profession or your vocation. We must all take in the whole picture and view it as best we can. It is difficult, I know; so many pieces are missing and others fit in different manners that previously believed. But I must have faith in our ability to persevere, otherwise we may as well give up now and throw ourselves to the tender mercies of our enemies."

"I, for one, do not see this as a viable option. I have witnessed the aftermath of their "tender mercies" as you call them too many times." Rejoined Remus firmly, his voice passionate as he warmed to his subject. "In one of my infrequent visits to St. Mungo's, I had the misfortune to stumble across the mental ward after taking a wrong turn in the night. The killings are bad enough, at least those poor people are out of their misery and their families have closure. I never again want to look into a man's face, a man who I knew once and who once knew me, I never again want to look and see only vacancy. I never again want to watch as his family visits him and he does not even recognize his own beloved child. What happened to Frank and Mary must be headed off, just as surely as preventing others following the fate of James and Lily."

"Frank and Mary? Frank and Mary Longbottom? Remus, what happened to Frank and Mary?"

Blinking, Remus responded, "I keep forgetting how much you have missed. " And he laid out the details of the Longbottom's torture by renegade Death Eaters in hopes of gaining information on Lord Voldemort's whereabouts and the fate that they suffered once captured.

Sosia was silent for a long moment after Remus finished his tale, the only sound in the room the popping of the logs in the great fireplace. Then an altogether different 'pop' intruded on their reverie as a house elf, tea towel freshly starched and pressed, appeared suddenly beside the Headmaster's desk, looking apologetic.

"Headmaster sir," it piped in the strange high voice that only elves possess, making it hard to distinguish male from female. "We is sorry to disturb you, but we is sure you'll be wanting to know, sir, the three students visited us again sir. Asked many questions and upset that new elf." A slight frown passed over the elf's unlovely visage as it continued. "They is asking for food, sir, and we gives it to them, is this right, sir?" The elf looked suddenly hesitant, afraid it had done wrong.

A smile flitted across the Headmaster's face as he turned toward the elf.

"Quite right, Nicksy. Allow them whatever food they require, I should have foreseen this development." He smiled more broadly at this. "Yes, help them all you can, and don't mind their strange questions, students are curious creatures."

"They most certainly is, sir." A knowing sigh escaped the elf's lips as he bowed and made to go. Another 'pop' prevented his departure though, as another very different elf appeared in the office. Wearing, not a clean toga draped tea towel, but rather a bizarre assortment of outlandish fashion choices, the new elf was clearly agitated.

"Mr. Dumbledore, sir." Calling the Headmaster by his name earned the elf a reproving stare from Nicksy that he ignored completely. "Sir, I does not think that Winky will last much longer without her Crouchman. She is too attached, sir, and does not accept her change of circumstances, sir!"

"Calm yourself, Dobby." The Professor reached down and laid a quieting hand on the elf's shoulder and immediately Dobby grew still, though his eyes still roved about. "Winky must choose her own path, you cannot choose it for her, and she must let go of her previous life, as you have."

"Ah, but Winky is not thinking her former life was so bad as mine, Dumbledore sir. She is thinking her Crouchman, he needs her still. My masters were bad dark wizards, they…" Dobby trailed off as he spotted Sosia, who was staring amazed at this example of house elf individuality. "But miss, you is alive! You is alive and unhurt! Oh miss, I worried so. You was our only guest that night and I worried so when he sent you off into the dark all alone!"

Sosia's jaw had dropped during this impassioned little speech and her eyes had darted fearfully between Remus and Dumbledore. Finally, she summoned up her powers of speech once more.

"You… you're Malfoy's house elf! What are you doing here?"

"I is no longer Mr. Malfoy's elf, miss. The great Harry Potter freed Dobby and he is now a free paid elf, miss. I works for Professor Dumbledore and I is getting wages and vacations, miss." Replied Dobby with satisfaction. Nicksy, whose scowl had deepened as Dobby's speech went on, positively grimaced at this last statement. He rushed forward, pulling Dobby back.

"We is sorry you had to hear that, miss. Dobby does not represent us all, I assure you."

Dobby pulled back and shook off the other elf's grip as Remus finally absorbed the meaning of the exchange between Sosia and the now free elf.

"When were you ever a guest at the Malfoys?"

Nicksy once again attempted to grab Dobby, having decided it was time for them to vacate the premises. Dobby once again pulled back, this time scampering away from the irate senior elf.

Sosia's eyes betrayed her discomfort, they roamed here and there, never resting on anything for very long and never meeting Remus' eye as she answered.

"Guest is a somewhat ironic euphemism, I was briefly a captive in the Malfoy family home shortly before I left the Wizarding world, that Halloween in fact."

"A captive? How? Why?…. THAT Halloween?" Shocked, Remus would have liked to probe further, but just then he found himself swarmed under by two over-wrought house elves. Dobby had tried to dash around him, but found the path blocked by a quick-witted Nicksy, so took the only path he knew Nicksy would never dare follow. He climbed up Remus' leg and attempted to climb onto his shoulders.

"Many things happened that night," the Headmaster replied enigmatically, and because Remus' attention was entirely taken up with controlling the over-excited house elf, only Fawkes observed the sharp glance Sosia shot at the old wizard and the answering challenge in his gaze.

On the move again, Remus and Sosia were very close to reaching their destination on this rough and tumble trail. Rounding the last turn, the cave's entrance came into view and standing before it, launching a tawny owl into the sky, was a gaunt dark-haired man with pale eyes. As Remus raised a hand in greeting, Sosia picked up her skirts and dashed past him, fighting the wind the entire way, to fling herself into her brother's arms. She threw her arms tightly around the brother thought lost to her forever, her dark head reaching only to his chin. He, in turn, held her close, seemingly beyond words, one hand stroking her long hair as he rested his cheek atop her head and wept unashamedly.

Remus hung back as the siblings clung to one another—not wishing to intrude on their reunion—but after a long moment, Sirius lifted his head and smiled.

"Come here, old friend."

He waved Remus close and drew him into a snug three-way embrace.

Releasing them, Sirius led the way into his hiding place, capturing and clasping one of Sosia's hands in his as they walked.

"Best bow to Buckbeak, I wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea about you two." Sirius gestured to the back of the cave, where the hippogriff knelt imperiously. Remus and Sosia both bowed quickly to the proud animal, which nodded back at them and settled down to doze.

"Albus sent that owl to tell me you were coming. We've a lot to catch up on."