Emma was sitting trying to read the Sunday papers but eventually gave it up as a bad job when she realised her gaze was resting more on the mobile phone placed on the table than it was on the newsprint.
Dan was making no pretences, he couldn't even sit as he paced back and forth across the room, the phone rang and he pounced.
"Hi Dad, we got it and apart from getting our feet wet everything was perfect. Nobody has as much as a scratch on them though Sirius and Remus might need a brandy but I think that was our flying."
Dan hadn't said a word, he was just so relieved to hear his daughter's voice, and she must have assumed he would get to the phone first.
"Are you going after the second one today?"
"Yes" she answered, "with a bit of luck they'll both be gone and we can go home tonight."
Dan just had to smile at her already calling the Institute home, "ok but you be careful and phone the minute you're finished, bye love."
Emma went back to being uneasy while Dan resumed his pacing, "I wish we could have went with them," she said to her husband for about the twentieth time today.
"So do I dear but we can't do anything against magical traps except distract the very people who need to concentrate, thankfully this is the last one."
"Just as well, I don't think my nerves could have taken another one," her husband silently agreed.
.....
They arrived at the tiny dilapidated cottage with a dead snake nailed to the door and Harry stopped Sirius and Remus from going any further, "sorry guys we need to do this one ourselves."
"Oh no way, we've seen what Emma can do with that pistol, there's not a hope in hell we can allow you to go in there without us."
Sirius was nodding in agreement with Remus, when Emma was in the zone with a pistol in her hand she was downright scary – just ask Molly Weasley.
Harry and Hermione started to speak in tandem, thinking that the demonstration would be as important as the words in making these two see some sense.
"It's not that we don't want you,"
"Its just not practical."
"This is a very small cottage."
"And if the shit hits the fan."
"We know exactly what."
"The other is going to do."
"Where and how."
"They're going to move."
"You could get."
"Someone seriously injured."
"Or even killed!"
"Stop!" implored Sirius, "you're giving me a sore head. Do you honestly just expect us to just sit here while you go in there and face that alone?"
Hermione kissed him on the cheek, "of course not Sirius, we have another job for you."
"About half a mile along the road is a graveyard that contains the remains of Tom Riddle's father. If the remains are removed and disposed of that cuts off one avenue for him to acquire a body, we want you to take a stroll along there and deal him as big a blow as we are in here." Harry had his game face on, he knew what could go wrong in the cottage and didn't want Hermione anywhere near it.
Hermione of course was well aware of this and was having none of it; they were going to face everything together for the rest of their lives.
"Are we supposed to just walk in there and start digging?" Remus wasn't too happy about letting them enter that cottage themselves.
The smirk on Hermione's face signalled trouble, "Aren't you supposed to be marauders? Why don't you just pretend to be two gentlemen out looking for a quiet somewhere to spend a little alone time, hold hands as you walk in the cemetery and I guarantee anyone around will give you a wide berth."
"Just don't go letting the muggles see your wands!" Harry managed to say before he and Hermione burst out laughing.
"Ok Reme love lets go. We're obviously not needed here and in this light you're actually not bad looking!"
"Sirius I may be a werewolf but that doesn't mean I don't have standards." After everyone had a good laugh to relieve the tension Remus continued, "you two take care and head towards us when you're finished, we'll meet on the road and get the hell out of this place."
Hugs were exchanged as the two marauders started walking, "I've a feeling that we're going to be the butt of wand jokes for the next few days," said Remus.
"I very much doubt it, can you see them telling Dan and Emma that they went after that one themselves, I know I'm saying nothing. Since when did you start having standards?"
Remus thought for a minute, "I think it was seeing Harry with Hermione and wondering how these Potter men always get the best witch of their generation. Heaven knows if anyone deserves happiness it's Harry but in a few weeks the son of our best friends will be married and we're not only still single but with no prospects of that changing in the foreseeable future."
"So you're not going to ask Pomona then?" Sirius saw the panic in his friends eyes, "what, you think I haven't noticed the way you look at her? I can honestly say I've seen her checking you out as well."
Remus had run the full gamut of emotions from panic to shock but eventually and surprisingly hope, he knew he could trust Sirius not to joke about something like this. That was filed away for later because they had a job to do, "ok how do you want to play this?"
"Well as much as I love you I refuse to hold your hand in the cemetery, especially after that standards jibe."
"I was thinking more along the lines of a man taking his dog out for a walk," said Remus.
"OK," agreed Sirius, "but no collar and lead, that just makes me thing of McGonagall and Flitwick for some reason."
"You too?" shuddered Remus as a man took his black dog for a walk. He wondered what the hell Padfoot was playing at when he picked up a road kill squirrel until he realised the marauders plan. "Brilliant Padfoot but you better brush those teeth before I get my goodnight kiss." The chuckling Remus was drowned out by the growls coming from the big black dog.
They got to the cemetery and discovered it was deserted and a bit run down, the Riddle grave was no problem to find as it had easily the largest monument in the entire graveyard.
Padfoot dropped the dead squirrel and Remus transfigured it to resemble a human skeleton, he then performed a switching spell before transfiguring Riddle's remains into a walking stick. The man with a walking stick and his dog casually exited the cemetery and headed down the road. They found Harry and Hermione sitting on a low wall while she phoned her parents to confirm they were all ok and that the second one had been a lot less trouble than the first, especially with Harry's parcelmouth ability