His Sacred Dogma

By the Hippy Gypsy

Disclaimer: Not mine! JK Rowlings! But read it anyways, dag nab it! Anyways, thanks to everyone who's reviewing! I love you all! I'm starting to get a nice fan base for this story, so I think by the time I finish with it (trust me, I have tons more chapters to write, so no fear, your Snape/Tonks appetites will be satisfied) my goal will be 100 reviews. Help me make my goal people! Also, yo! DumbOldDork aka Morrolan, I'm writing as fast as I can! Working on this is definitely a nice alternative to paying attention in my stupid psych class. But with that, enjoy this chapter! I'm hurrying as fast as I can! Thanks again! :-D

Chapter 6: Howlers and Typewriters

We had made it back to Nymphadora's office about an hour after leaving. I couldn't help watching her smile as she went on about past productions and future projects she wanted to be in. Apparently, one of her biggest wishes was to play Velma Kelly in a version of Chicago. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't…well, let's just say I was impressed.

But as we turned the corner leading to her office door, a slightly disturbing sight met our eyes. "Uh oh," I muttered. "The bullfrog's out of her pond."

Delores Umbridge was standing in front of Nymphadora and Kingsley's office door, her wand out, and it looked as if she were trying to charm the lock and knob, making an effort to jimmy the lock.

"Oh, that's it!" Nymphadora exclaimed. Abandoning everything else around her, she stomped up to the woman, whipping her wand out of her blouse sleeve. I followed, also irritated, but I could tell with one look from Nymphadora I was not allowed to interrupt in the least. "Delores Umbridge! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she yelled pointing the wand between the older witch's eyes.

Looking outraged, she shoved Nymphadora's hand out of her face, and snapped, "Put that wand down, you silly, foolish girl!"

I could tell she took being called a girl an insult, and Nymphadora put her hand right back in place. "No," she said coldly. "I feel threatened. Breaking and entering? Don't you know that's against the law?"

"I have reason to believe you are hiding information necessary to the Ministry." Umbridge crossed her arms across her chest and gave Nymphadora a death glare.

Nymphadora rolled her eyes. "Oh, how thick can you get?! Delores, everything Kingsley and I have said to you is truth."

"And what of the words of that filthy Death Eater?" she said venomously pointing at me.

I had managed to keep my temper low, but my blood began to boil again. I had enough from her from one day. She was doing nothing but stirring up trouble. I took a step towards Umbridge, but Nymphadora held her hand up, motioning for me not to move. I stopped in place, and watched her. Nymphadora stepped forward with her wand up, forcing Umbridge back until her shoulders flattened against her office door. Neither women's face betrayed anything until Delores spoke.

"How dare you with that Howler," she said bravely.

"Shut up, Umbitch," Nymphadora snapped. Delores' face contorted to shock, but she went on, "Your services are no longer required in our department. In fact, they were never needed in the first place. So…" She went on slowly, calmly, "I'm going to ask you very nicely to leave."

Delores' hand shot out again and pointed at me. "He belongs in Azkaban!" she shouted heartily.

Nymphadora's voice over powered hers. "He deserves exactly what he received! Order of Merlin! It's the least the Ministry could do! And another thing. Do you know how to read? Because all of Severus' past records with the Ministry were sent directly from our Headquarters to your office. You should have received them, or were they in Runes and you could not understand them? Because if you did, you would've realized the man's paid his debts! And in response to the two Howler's we exchanged today, one, I do find Harry Potter to be a reliable source, two, yes, I would hex you if I had to, and three, yes! I do mean it!"

"Half-blood tramp!" the woman snapped.

"You bite your tongue!" I suddenly let escape, but Nymphadora held up her hand once again.

"I'll have you sacked!" Umbridge yelled.

Nymphadora's eyes narrowed. "You don't have that power! You're not a member of this department! Kingsley's the one with that authority, and the last time I checked he thought I was doing a damn good job!" She leaned her face forward, and her voice suddenly became unnaturally calm. "Take this bit of advice, Delores, straight from me to you. Keep your nose in your own damn business, because you are not an Auror, you are not the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, you are not the sentencing Wizengamot, and you are most definitely no concern of ours."

In a swift movement, Umbridge swept her hand back, and before either of us realized what she was doing, her hand slapped Nymphadora across her face. Nymphadora only stepped back once, and grabbed her jaw out of shock more than anything. But Umbridge's hand reached back again, and knowing she was going in for the kill, I quickly grabbed her wrist and held it in place. I did not cause her pain, but I was firm, and made sure she couldn't move. She looked at me in anger, but I was expressionless. "Delores," I said without heat or emotion, "I believe it's time you return to your office." I felt as if I were trying to consult an unruly child back in my classroom. She stood there, gaping like a fish, just as Fudge had done earlier. One would have thought she was trying to catch flies.

All at once, she walked away, leaving us, and everyone who had stuck their heads out of their offices, wondering what all the commotion was about. We hadn't noticed since we had been pre-occupied. Watching Umbridge's retreating back, Nymphadora suddenly mumbled, "She slapped me." She checked her jaw, and repeated, "That bitch slapped me." She unlocked her door. She motioned me in behind her, and I shut the door as she flopped into her desk chair, burying her head in her hands. "What a nightmare," she mumbled after a long moment.

"The woman or the situation?" I asked with the slightest of grins.

"I'm going to go with both."

I shrugged my shoulders. "You know, I always knew someone would one day make her snap, but I had my money on Minerva."

She laughed at this.

"Is your jaw okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," she said, adjusting it once again. "After all the bumps and bruises I've had, that barely stung. Like I said, she wouldn't make it as an Auror. She's not strong enough. But geez…who knew, ya know?" She looked down at all of her paper work. There was a ton more in her IN box than in her OUT box. And Kingsley still had not returned from lunch. A mournful look came upon her face, and if I could, I would've made the whole lot of it vanish, but I knew I couldn't. She was stuck at her desk for the rest of the day.

Taking in the small hint, I said, "I better leave you to your work. No doubt that scene isn't going to make your day any easier."

She nodded in understanding. She then turned to me and looked me in the eyes. I'll never forget that moment. It was then I noticed just how cat like those eyes could be, and how they could almost penetrate anything…even the darkness that was my soul. Then I remembered they belonged to the woman who had just clobbered Delores Umbridge with her own words. And she had certainly done better than I had. She hadn't sworn up a storm in front of the Minister of Magic.

"Thanks for the nice afternoon," she said with a smile. "It was fun. I'll see you Friday night then?"

I did not say you're welcome or yes, but instead, before I could stop myself, I leaned over and dropped a kiss on her forehead, then I went directly out the door, shutting it behind me. Suddenly feeling partially weakened, I leaned back against it, to find the hall once again deserted. I could've screamed with joy, but being myself, I held it in behind that harsh exterior. Force of habit really. For once in my life, things were definitely looking up. But before I could walk away, back inside her office, I heard a very audible cheer, which was immediately followed by an exceptionally loud CRASH and "ow." I opened the door again, to check on the noise, and found the back of Nymphadora's chair and her own head sticking out from behind the side of her desk. She gave me a very sheepish smile and blushed violently.

"I fell over," she whispered.

I nodded my head and shut the door again. Force of habit nothing. By the time I had reached the end of the hallway, I was laughing openly. What a woman, I thought to myself. What she has to put up with…the Ministry, Umbridge, and now…me. She deserves something for all this. She deserves flowers…now there's a thought.

A rather interesting idea had just popped into my head, but I knew I needed more information to act upon it. With that, I instantly apparated to Grimmauld Place. She tells Remus everything, I know that much.

As I appeared inside the front hallway of the old house, I looked up to see Mrs. Black, still trying to scream, but nothing but awkward silence coming out. I grinned smugly as I passed by her and opened the door to the kitchen. "Remus!" I called out, but he wasn't there. No one was. Not even that damned house elf. Instead, I backtracked and made my way to his room on the third floor. As I proceeded down the hall, the smallest of clicks began to fill the air, and I discovered the noises were coming from behind his door.

I knocked and called once again, "Remus!"

"It's open!" his voice called back.

When I walked in the door, the sight that met my eyes stopped me in my tracks.

Two of the four walls of his room were covered in pieces of typewriting paper. The slight breeze from the open window ruffled them, but they stayed tacked on with some type of spell. Remus did not notice at all. Instead, he sat at a type writer at his desk, diligently concentrating on his work. He quickly finished a sentence, then in one swift movement, pulled the paper out of it's respective trap, tapped the end of it with his wand, and it flew among the other pages of typing, firmly sticking itself into place.

It was then he turned to me and smiled.

"What the hell Remus?" I asked thoroughly baffled.

"Ah," he replied. "Just the man I wanted to see!"

"Really?" I asked crossing my arms across my chest. I began to feel slight misgiving, knowing the Marauder inside seemed to be showing for the moment. "You mean I have something to do with this?"

"Partially," he replied rising from his chair. He extended a hand and I shook it. "I had a divine inspiration the morning after the fall of Voldemort." He eyes were shining with anticipation, and I decided to stop him.

"You mean when you were sobering up?" I said giving the same smug grin I gave to Mrs. Black.

Remus groaned and put his hand to his forehead, and rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "Don't remind me. If I ever drink that much fire whiskey again, hex me. The hangover was horrendous."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said with a slight chuckle.

"Anyways," he continued, getting directly on track once again. "As I laid there, thinking about the fall of Voldemort and everything it entailed, I had a thought. The amount of Dark Magic used and his forces, well, many of these spells are unknown, or so ancient we barely have recollection of it, meaning defenses were down. Lo and behold, it partially happened in the final war."

I nodded and he went on with barely a beat.

"Then it hit me, I've read almost every damn book there is on defensive skills concerning the Dark Arts. And now, new research has to be done so these forces can be rejected."

"Right," I said.

That's when he motioned over to the two walls that were covered with paper. "I'm writing a book," he stated matter of factly. "An encyclopedia. Everything one needs to know about defending the new and ancient magics of the Dark Arts." He turned back to me for a moment, a slight bit of overjoyed madness in his eyes. "I have it all planned out Severus. Everything will be in there, from maneuver tactics, to spells and incantations, to potions-"

"Aren't you rather poor at potions?" I replied amused, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you see, that's where you come in." He grinned at me.

"Ah, well then."

"I can write everything out, and get it published. No one can stop me from doing that just because I'm a werewolf." He sighed, turning back to the wall of his work. "Then I can actually feel like I'm doing something of value, instead of sitting here, waiting for the next full moon."

I gave a small nod of my head and walked up to the wall. Holding one of the pages still in the slight breeze of the open window, I began to read what he had typed out. Within the first six lines, I was impressed. He certainly was planning on writing about everything he knew, and knowing Remus Lupin, it would take him months. No, years. Many years. This wasn't just some project he was planning. It was going to be his life's work.

I gave a quick look back at him, then began to read another page that was magically tacked to the wall. He was serious. This was probably the most serious thing he ever had in his life.

I made a decision, and realized whatever differences there had been between us in the past, I was going to let them dissolve…now. The man had a mission, and I wasn't going to hold him back from it. I admired him for his determination. The man was intelligent. There was no doubt about it in my mind. There was just no getting around it. I was beginning to hold Remus Lupin as a good, trusted friend.

"Type out everything you know," I said, turning back to him, "Then I'll edit it, make sure everything is right." I nodded firmly. "I'll help you with this."

Remus smiled greatly at me. "Perfect." He stepped up next to me and gave me a clap on the shoulder. He then leaned in and began to read over his own typing. "That means I have you for potion work, Dumbledore for general defenses, and Tonks for maneuver tactics…"

That's when I remembered what I had originally came to Remus for. I shifted awkwardly, wondering how to put this. I was completely new to this game, and there were no rules to go by. I simply had to learn as I went.

"Nymphadora is the reason I came to see you."

Remus didn't move. He still looked over his work. "I figured," he replied in slight monotones. "Heard you asked her out. Congratulations."

I shook my head and stared at him incredulously. "How the HELL did you know that?" I said in complete shock. It was one thing for me to try and talk to him about this, but it was completely another for him to already know without my knowledge.

Remus chuckled and straightened up. "The other night she told me about your talk on the roof. She said she felt kind of foolish when she blurted out for you to come visit her at her office." A kind of smug satisfaction laid across his face.

"Really?" I asked with my eyebrow raised high. At least the conversation was getting interesting… "She was shy?"

Remus shrugged her shoulders. "Don't ever tell her I told you this, but she's admired you for a long time. Nothing too strong at first, mind you," he said quickly. "But mostly for your bravery and what you had to do with the Death Eaters, being a spy and all."

"Really?"

He nodded and walked over to his desk, and picked up what appeared to be a letter with a bright yellow envelope. "So it really was no surprise when I was downstairs getting tea, this was shoved through the Floo Network and flung at my back."

He handed the letter over to me and I opened the envelope, reading its contents over with interest.

Remus!

He came today! He's coming with me to the cast party! I'm about to bust out of my skin! I can hardly see straight! I'm ecstatic!

Tonks

I gave a laugh and smiled. "I must have made one hell of an impression on her. I never had a clue," I replied in complete honesty.

Remus leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "You did something alright." He stretched his arms behind his back and went on, "I was planning on going opening night myself. I know a bunch of people in the production, if you don't want to listen to Shakespeare drone on by yourself, of course."

I looked over the letter with an eyebrow raised. It was a trap. "You want to see how much of a fool I make of myself, don't you?"

He smiled innocently, trying to conceal that Marauder within. "Well, it'd be a talking point."

"One thing though, I wanted to ask-"

"She loves white roses."

For the second time in about three minutes, I was completely shocked. He knew exactly what was on my mind. "How the HELL did you know that?!"

Author's Notes: Sorry it's taken so long with this chapter, but stuffs starting to slow down slightly because I no longer have my psych class. Sorry guys. But hey, show me love and I may be able to write faster! ;)