Chapter 11: 27th July 1991, Saturday: Part 11

George's foster parent's 'conversation' concluded with Dominic nodding at Amanda and pulling a key out of his trouser pocket. With a wave of his hand, his foster father gestured at Remus to present his cuffs. Seeing that the end to his incarceration was at hand, Remus eagerly stood up from the sofa and turned around. Dominic grabbed the presented handcuffs and somewhat reluctantly inserted the key, opening the latches. They were swiftly removed and stuffed back into Dominic's back pocket, hopefully for the last time today.

Remus looked down at his now liberated hands and chuckled, "it sounds silly but... I was starting to think that you were never going to take those handcuffs off."

"Whatever would give you that idea, Mr Lupin?", Amanda retorted with mock surprise while handing over his wand.

Remus received his wand back and happily replied, "nothing at all, Mrs Linwood. I guess I just have an overactive imagination. Now if you don't mind..."

Remus started to raise his wand and George could physically see both his parents go on high alert. After seeing a shiny object twinkle in his periphery, George looked down and saw that the knuckle duster was back in Dominic's clenched fist. His foster father was strategically hiding his weapon out of Remus's view and he appeared to be ready to swing at a moment's notice. George was getting a worrying sense of déjà vu. For Remus's sake, he hoped that Dominic wouldn't jump the gun.

George wasn't worried that Remus would pull some sort of trick now and attack his family, it wasn't in the werewolf's disposition. Remus was many things but a swindler wasn't one of them, he wouldn't lie just to get a cheap shot at George. If anything, he was too honest for his own good. Now that Remus had declared his intentions, he wouldn't go back on them even for Dumbledore. The problem was that George's foster parents didn't know that. To them, Remus was just a weird magic man with some scars on his face. Could he blame them for being apprehensive after all the red flags?

To the whole Linwood family's relief, the wand kept rising until it was pointed directly at Remus's badly broken nose. Just as George had presumed, the spell was going to be self-inflicted. Before casting the spell, the man hesitated and closed his eyes in preparation. Then the tip of the wand glowed bright white and... snap.

"Merlin's beard! Why does it always hurt more setting it back?", Remus said while delicately touching his now realigned nose.

Their guard had just been raised to the maximum so all Amanda and Dominic could do was just stare at him intensely.

"What is it? My nose is pointing the right way, right?", Remus asked in a panic.

Amanda snapped out of her stupor and pulled out a silver embroidered handkerchief from her apron, "for the blood."

Remus sheathed his wand up his sleeve and politely accepted the handkerchief. Unfortunately, the realignment appeared to start another nose bleed and the small piece of cloth wasn't helping. Remus looked like he had been in the epicentre of a bar fight, his moustache was now completely stained with both wet and clotted blood. George was hoping to witness some special wolf blood kicking in and stop the bleeding but no such phenomenon occurred. He personally healed fast so it didn't seem like a massive leap for werewolves to be the same. George guessed that their physical benefits must only come once a month, good to know.

"Oh, that will not do at all. I can't be having our guest in such a wretched state. Mr Lupin, there is a bathroom just down the hall. It's the fourth door on your right. Feel free to use the facilities to clean yourself up", Amanda offered insistently.

Meanwhile, Remus had his head tilted all the way back and was firmly pinching the swollen bridge of his nose.

"Thank you but I don't want to impose", he tried to decline.

"It's no bother at all. If we are to discuss George's future at...", Amanda looked back down at the letter briefly, "Hogwarts, then I can't be having you looking like that."

Remus smiled from under the now bloody handkerchief, "well, when you put it like that. How can I refuse?"

He then pointed down the maze of corridors, "just down there?"

"That's right. Remember, third door on the right", Amanda said with a beaming smile.

He then started walking out of the living room only to stop halfway and turn back, "wait. Didn't you say the fourth door on the right?"

Amanda's smile didn't waver in the slightest, "yes I did. Are you sure you're okay, Mr Lupin? You're looking a little pale. My husband could still drive you to the hospital if you'd like?"

Remus looked a bit disorientated for a second before saying, "I'll be fine, Mrs Linwood", and then rounded the corner.

George couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the man since he knew that neither the fourth nor third door on the right was a bathroom. Remus might have to resort to using magic to find his way back out if he really did have a concussion. Unless Amanda was coming down with early onset dementia, George doubted that was a mistake.

Amanda's expression radically morphed once Remus's footsteps could no longer be heard. She pulled Dominic to one side of the room and started a private discussion in hushed voices. It was obvious that the foster children weren't meant to hear what was being said but for George, this didn't apply. Once again, the blessings of his advanced abilities allowed him to overhear.

"I don't like this. He's being too friendly", Dominic whispered.

"That's because he isn't here for us", Amanda glanced at George, "he's here for him."

"Do you still think handing him back his weapon was a good idea?"

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"He's not a threat yet. That will come down to whether he can take no for an answer."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We weren't wrong, Mr Lupin is a scout. This... school has clearly set their eyes on George."

"Should I call Matthew? He does owe me a favour."

"That might not be necessary. We should see what George thinks before we act too rashly?"

"But he's only eleven. He doesn't know..."

Amanda cut him off, "he knows no less than we do right now, we're all in the dark. It's his life, his decision. He should make the call and we'll go from there."

"But this stuff about magic and the 'Ministry'. They know where we live and we know nothing about them. We're not safe anymore."

"Do you think I don't know that?", Amanda said a little too loud.

She looked back in George's direction and he made sure to look at the television. The act was only hampered by the fact the tv wasn't turned on. Luckily Ellie was here to stare back at Amanda and steal her attention. Her little confused face served as a great distraction to prove the children were none the wiser.

Amanda then turned back and continued, "Remus Lupin seems to be more than willing to talk. We'll see how much more we can get out of him and then George can make his decision".

"What if he changes his mind and he doesn't feel like talking anymore?"

"We'll go back to the old plan and you can give Matthew a call. Now you go and check on our guest, and I'll tend to the children."

There was a few seconds of silence before the foster parents split up and initiated their plan. From what George had heard, they weren't planning on killing Remus... yet. At least until he fulfilled his usefulness as an information broker. George didn't want to seem too unreasonable but ideally, he would like it if Remus stayed alive. Blending in at Hogwarts would only get harder if there was a magical inquest into a missing werewolf. The Ministry probably had a good way of tracing bodies so he doubted his foster parents could get away with it.

Dominic walked off down the same corridor as Remus while Amanda headed over to George and Ellie. The warm smile returned as she kneeled down in front of them.

"I have to say how proud I am of you two. You've been so brave and well-behaved. I think a reward is in order after all this is over."

Ellie face lit up but George was dubious. The promise of rewards meant further expectations, that's how parents seemed to operate. Perhaps a humble approach would be the answer to this sudden bout of charity from his foster mother.

George hung his head low and frowned, "but I wasn't well behaved, Mrs Linwood. I sneaked away from the dining table and I looked into that room with all of the monitors."

Amanda's face twitched slightly, "George, don't worry about that. No one is perfect after all, we all make mistakes. As long as you promise to never do it again, and the same goes for you Ellie, then everything's okay."

"I promise mum."

"I promise, Mrs Linwood."

Ellie and George were almost in sync with each other as they both made empty apologies. George knew that a slap on the wrist meant nothing to his step-sister, she would go back to her old ways in a heartbeat. And for him, George was an angel from heaven until he needed to do otherwise.

"Now you two are still in your pyjamas and we have a house guest, does it need to be said? Get yourselves upstairs and get dressed", Amanda said while pointing at the stairs.

Both of the foster children happily complied and ran up the stairs as if their lives depended on it. For Ellie, it was to escape any further prosecution and for George, it was about gathering his thoughts. Too much had happened within too short of a period, he needed time to reevaluate and prepare. Just as he was about to reach the second landing, he heard his name being called from below. George peeked his head over the bannister and saw a displeased Amanda looking back up at him.

"No more of this Mrs Linwood, young man. We agreed on Amanda or mother. It's like Dominic said, you're a Linwood now. You better start acting like it."

George's only response came in the form of a timid nod of acceptance before fleeing back upstairs. That borderline threat felt like it had a lot more meaning behind it than one might first assume. If he didn't know any better, that was the 'remember where you stand' warning. He was a Linwood now, whatever that meant. Maybe there was an initiation ceremony in his near future, a process to prove his loyalty. He could imagine Dominic putting a gun in his hands and telling him to shoot a masked captive. Or maybe he was like Remus, with an overactive imagination. Knowing George's luck, it would be the former.

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