Valentine for Shinan7 from ToffeePrince
Title: Remus Down the Rabbit Hole
Recipient:Shinan7
Author: ToffeePrince
Rating: T (Probably lower to be fair).
Characters: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Tom Riddle Jr
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, Remus/Regulus
Word Count: 5,650
Warnings: Pre-slash, mild violence and injury, character death.
Prompt:Red,Black,Green
Summary: What happens when Remus' simple world of green meadows, red blushes and the Blacks is tossed down the rabbit hole.
Author's Notes: My first attempt at AU, so I hope you like it. You said you like Regulus/Remus so I've also included my first try at that pairing as well. So I hope you have a good Valentine’s day, single or otherwise, and continue to love Wolfstar, the best ship there is.
Thanks for reading and putting up with the spawn of my brain.
Remus drew in a deep, contented sigh. He was so very happy being in the world at the moment, a world that was currently split into three important parts.
The first part was the meadow. It occupied a rather large part of his current existence. The caress of emerald grass on his bare arms was indescribably pleasant. He rolled over and opened his eyes. Stretched beyond him, rolling away towards a forest, was grass so green that it reminded him of a certain set of eyes.
This was the second part of his universe. The Blacks. They had moved into the largest house in his village just last month and Remus hadn’t stopped thinking about the young lords, Sirius and Regulus since. Sirius had jet black eyes to match his ebony hair. It was Regulus who had the green eyes so reminded Remus of this expanse of lush vegetation.
Only Sirius had wanted to have anything to do with anyone in the village, interacting with the other teenagers and Remus. Regulus was aloof with the rest of his family, disdainful of the villagers and now Sirius, by association.
Remus grimaced to himself. They were both so beautiful and made him flush crimson every time he saw them.
And so he was here. Lying in the meadow where the only thing flushing red was the third and final aspect of his existence, his vision. Every time he closed his eyes and pointed them at the sky, the whole world washed a comfortable, glowing red. Like the coals of a fire on a cold winter night.
He was still gazing at the beauty before him, trying to ignore other beauties when something flashed past him.
“Late, late, LATE!” It muttered as it scrambled towards the forest. “I shall be so incredibly late to the sorting!” It was a mouse, Remus saw. Or was it? It looked a little like his friend Peter.
He jumped up and ran after the Peter-mouse. Rat?
The whatever-it-was stopped momentarily to look at a pocket watch with no hands on it. Remus noticed that instead of a finger on one of his hands, the rat-man had the long second hand of a clock. It twitched and ticked occasionally and Remus thought it must keep him up at night. Poor Peter-rat.
Remus watched as it ran and disappeared somewhere at the base of a willow that weaved gently in the breeze. Remus walked cautiously after the rat.
He approached the hole that it had vanished down. It was dark and seemed to go on forever. Remus leaned over, trying to see the bottom.
At that moment, a wind whipped up and the willow he stood under came alive. The branches lashed about angrily. One of them came straight at Remus from behind and hit him squarely, resulting in him losing his balance and rather spectacularly pitching down the hole.
His last thought before he fell was that he’d probably miss dinner that night and since it would be liverings, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
(-ooOoo-)
Remus was floating gently downwards. It was a rather messy and cluttered hole, he noted with distaste. There were broken bottles and empty cages on the walls. Even one ludicrous wig with an equally silly tiara perched on top caught his eye.
He reached out for it and brushed it with his fingertips. The tiara teetered and then toppled towards the tunnel floor. It cracked and smoked faintly.
He rolled his eyes as he continued to fall, quite fed up with the way this tunnel insisted on being so different. Who did it think it was? Tunnels had no business being anything but boring and muddy! Remus was feeling quite peeved by the time he was set down gently in a long hallway.
He could see, some distance off now, the rat. It was running flat out still squeaking madly. The portraits along the hall were scolding it as it went.
Remus followed at a run and soon arrived at a circular room with doors all around the edges. He couldn’t tell which door the rat had gone through so he strode up to one without a keyhole, reasoning that with no keyhole, it could hardly be locked.
It would not open. Remus felt frustrated and pulled harder, kicking the door and causing hot pain to blossom in his big toe.
He let go of the handle and stepped away. As he did so, the door to the hallway behind him slammed shut and the room began to move. Well, the walls did.
Remus stood with has mouth agape, staring at the walls spinning around until he felt ill. He sat down heavily and closed his eyes.
He reached to the carpeted floor to steady himself and his hand brushed something. He opened his eyes and saw a small bottle filled with a liquid that looked as green and dark as swamp water. He picked it up, it was so small, barely three mouthfuls. He noticed a label attached to its neck.
“Drink me!” It read in a curving script that looked pompous and self-important.
Remus did not much fancy drinking this, at best, dubious liquid but there was nothing else that he could do. He didn’t want to try another door and spark off another rotating nightmare so instead he unstopped the bottle and sniffed gently. It smelled musty and a little rotten with a hint of something sweet that was, for the most part, masked by the other scents.
Further put off, but lost for anything else to do, Remus brought the bottle to his lips and took a tentative sip.
Several things happened all at the same time. First, the potion changed colour, swirling and becoming the brightest crimson, like fresh blood spilling from a painful wound.
Second, Remus felt very strange. Two points on his scalp began to tingle and suddenly his mouth felt, inexplicably, too small. For some reason this made him angry and a low growl built in his chest. He stopped, shocked at himself. What was he doing? Boys didn’t growl. Particularly not at themselves. It was stupid and he was quite ashamed of himself, vowing to not do something so unnecessary again.
He reached up to the points on his head and causing his eyes to shoot wider as he felt two fluffy ears poking up from beneath his hair. They then lay flat against his hair as his lips curled back in a snarl, something was not right.
Again, he stopped. Shaking himself and coming back to his senses. This was when he noticed the third thing.
One of the doors had a glowing X slashed on its surface. It looked like it had been done by great claws. The marks let out a soft green radiance, like moonlight through pine. It was enticing and Remus stepped forward involuntarily.
Remus stilled his feet, with effort, and thought. Should he go through the door? Would he be able to? He couldn’t think that any of the other doors seemed as likely to open and he hardly wanted to stay in this room forever, so he strode confidently to the door, attempting to forget his new features.
He reached out as he approached but before he could take the handle, the door softly creaked open. Mist poured from the bottom of the door and Remus thought, with annoyance, that it was entirely too melodramatic for his tastes. He walked through.
(-ooOoo-)
There was a forest on the other side. It was dark, damp and ancient. The sick trees stood two hundred feet tall scarping the oddly dark clouds above Remus. Little orbs hung from the branches, all filled with mist.
They clinked in a slight breeze, swaying and knocking into one another.
In front of him there was a small clearing, or what looked like a clearing. He looked closer and saw that it was actually just the flattened stump of what must have been the largest tree in the entire world.
In the centre of the stump there stood bed. It was four-poster and seemed to have been carved from the tree that was no longer there. It flowed seamlessly into the stump.
Remus saw the source of the smoke that had flowed under the door. A boy lay on the bed with his eyes closed, covered in sheets that looked like moss. He had a large shisha. Remus’ felt a jolt in his stomach as he recognised Regulus Black. He was different. But Remus couldn’t pinpoint the discrepancy.
“Don’t just stand there, Remus. Come, lie here with me.” Regulus commanded without opening his eyes. He took another long pull from the shisha and blew smoke with pursed lips. The smoke rushed into the shape of a skull with something protruding from its mouth as if filling a container. A second later it burst apart with the distant sound of screaming.
Remus stepped up to the bed and sat on the edge nervously.
“Regu- Master Black, would you mind telling me where we are? I seem to have gotten lost.” Remus mumbled, thinking that although this boy was usually cold and indifferent towards everyone, he might have the heart to help someone who really needed it.
“We are here.” Regulus declared, gesturing expansively around him. “Now lie down. And look up.” Remus did as he was asked.
Regulus once again blew smoke into a very specific shape. It looked like a grey mirror. Regulus waved his hand in front of it and it became silvery and reflective.
In the dark green light of the forest Remus saw himself reflected with Regulus. As he had felt, he had lupine ears on top of his head. His teeth looked odd as well; longer and sharper than he thought teeth had a right to be.
His gaze quickly fell on his own eyes, now bright yellow and glowing slightly. He flicked his eyes to Regulus’ reflected orbs. They were also glowing a dark jade and his skin was covered in scales. Shocked, Remus looked at the actual Regulus next to him.
His skin was normal and he was looking at Remus as though he was something to eat.
“You see Remus?” He said quietly, inches from the other boy’s face. Smoke ghosted from his lips. “You are not quite the innocent villager you claim to be. You have a hungry animal inside you. Who are you?”
“Just Remus.” Remus replied, entranced by the way Regulus’ mouth looked when he spoke. “I’m just an apprentice librarian-“
“No.” Regulus cut him off, firmly but quietly. “That is the description of someone who will grow up and get a wife and have three children. You…. Will not I think.”
“No.” Remus said. He thought he would agree to anything this boy said. He was feeling fuzzy and sleepy, not at all himself.
“You’ll leave Sirius won’t you?” Regulus asked. “He has plenty of other friends.”
“Mm…” Remus hummed, closing his eyes. Wait, what? He didn’t want to stop being friends with Sirius. Not even for Regulus.
Remus was about to say so when a screech cut the air. A wind followed and orbs tinkled and smashed against each other, little shards of glass raining down as smoky forms leapt from the broken spheres. Regulus sat up and looked into the forest away from the door.
“Go.” He said simply. “Drink a bit more from the bottle when you’re through the door. And take this.”
Regulus placed a locket over Remus’ head. Remus didn’t know what to say.
“Come see me later. I’ll die for you.” Remus thought that was a very odd thing for Regulus to say. However he obeyed Regulus’ earlier words and left him standing on the bed, arms spread to the direction of the terrible scream.
Just before Remus stepped through the door he heard Regulus mutter “Beware the Jabberwock my son…” Remus didn’t know why but the name Jabberwock, sent shivers of terror down his spine.
(-ooOoo-)
The door slammed shut behind him and the room began to spin. Remus closed his eyes, knowing what to expect this time.
When he thought it was safe he opened his eyes and looked around. The glowing marks had vanished from the doors he’d been through so he couldn’t tell which way Regulus was now.
He remembered the instruction to drink and pulled the bottle out of his pocket. It was still bright red.
He pulled the top off and smelled again. It was packed with scents. It was quite sickly as if the smells were trying to make up for the fact that it actually looked like blood. As soon as Remus thought this he thought he could detect the slightly metallic smell coming from the bottle.
He decided to ignore it and poured a little of the liquid down his throat. It was thick and syrupy and slid slowly past his tongue.
The changes began again. The liquid changed instantly to the darkest black. It was opaque and Remus fervently hoped he wouldn’t have to drink this last bit.
As he was looking at the bottle in his hand, Remus’ attention was drawn by movement on the tips of his fingers. His nails grew longer and curved into claws. He yelped as he heard a ripping sound behind him and spun his torso around to look down at the rear of his trousers, which now had a tail poking out.
He felt rage bubble inside him. He had to tear things. Destroy this place that had done this to him. Blood would flow and people would die!
Remus pulled his mind away from that state, horrified and shivering. What was he becoming? He pushed his worried aside for the moment and looked at the doors expectantly.
Sure enough, there on one of the doors was a glowing cross of claw marks, this time a radiant scarlet.
He sighed and walked to the door, trying and failing to tuck his tail out of sight.
He reached for the hand but once again the door came open before he could make contact. A hand reached through the door and yanked him through with a delighted cry. Remus sighed again and wished to be home.
(-ooOoo-)
This time, Remus found himself standing a very odd place. It looked like a desert that curved in on itself. The sand was red and emitting a great deal of heat.
Remus could feel growing warmth through the soles of his shoes and thought that he would probably cook here when the person who’d been dragging him jumped up onto a small walkway and turned around to help Remus up.
Of course it was Sirius. Remus felt pained at having the other object of his desire suddenly appear in this odd place. Sirius was grinning at him as he offered his hand.
“Come on then, you don’t want to get caught do you?” Sirius was speaking very fast, still holding his hand out. Remus took it and stepped up to the walkway. “There’s a good Remus!” Sirius ruffled his ears.
Remus felt a mixture of horror and extreme pleasure. He wanted to stand there and let Sirius scratch his new ears for hours on end. However he also wanted to punch Sirius off this walkway for embarrassing him.
“Nothing to be ashamed of!” Sirius said, whipping off a hat that seemed to be a large hourglass that his head fit in to. He too had not-so-human ears peeking from beneath his hair. Sirius’ were black, matching his hair perfectly, almost blending in. “Don’t be shy.”
Sirius grabbed Remus’ hand again and put it on his ears. Remus scratched hesitantly. This was really not how he thought he’d be initiating physical contact with Sirius Black, if at all.
Remus wasn’t entirely sure how long they stood there scratching each other’s ears. Eventually, however, Sirius pulled away causing Remus to whine slightly.
“None of that!” Sirius instructed, putting a ringed finger on his lips. “It is nonsense. Follow me; I have far more interesting nonsense just over here.” He spun about and strutted off.
Remus followed and finally focused on what Sirius was wearing. He was covered in time pieces. The rings on his fingers were all sundials of various sizes. He was wearing a cloak of watch-straps that failed to swish behind him as impressively as other fabric would have.
As Remus had already noted, his hat was an hourglass. He seemed to have small hourglass earrings as well. There were various clock faces stuck at seeming random points all over him. Remus suppressed a hefty sigh. Exasperation wouldn’t help him here, moving forward might.
With escape in mind, Remus began to look at his surroundings. The red sand below him seemed to be moving very, very slowly. Grains trickled over one another, all in the direction Sirius was taking him.
He craned his neck, trying to see past Sirius to where they were going. He saw a platform with a large table on it. It was draped with a crimson and gold tablecloth that seemed to have been chosen to compliment the expanse of desert that lay underneath it.
No. The desert, Remus saw, did not lie directly under the platform. It gave way to a hole, through which sand was pouring at a steady rate.
They were in an hourglass. Which was completely pointless, Remus thought, for how would you ever measure time from the inside?
He shook his head and resigned himself to being surrounded by oddities for the foreseeable future. He trotted forward, catching up with Sirius.
“Sirius?” He started. “Where are we?” Remus was hoping for a more coherent answer than the one Regulus had given him.
“We, my dear Remus, are here.” Remus was disappointed. “And we are going to a tea party before the sorting, which was several months ago. But, you see, we are in an hourglass as you so wisely observed to yourself so it’s always teatime and we will always be both early and late. See?”
“No.” Remus said honestly. He didn’t have the faintest idea what Sirius was going on about.
“Well I’m afraid I haven’t the time to explain.” Sirius twisted his neck around to wink at Remus. “I’ll just introduce you to the others.”
Remus jumped, in what seemed like no time at all, they had covered a fairly large distance to the platform.
Sirius ushered him to the seat at the head of the table and brandished the second hand of a large clock to indicate the rest of the table’s occupants.
Peter was there, the clock-hand-finger he’d been sporting earlier was now being waved about by Sirius. Peter was asleep.
“This is Peter, though I suspect you know him already, can’t think why, he’s dreadfully boring.” Sirius said, poking Peter with his own mock-finger which made him mumble in his sleep and roll over onto a piece of toast covered with Jam. “He was so stressed about being late for the sorting, so I put him to sleep.”
“Rude. That is what you’re being.” Whispered a voice from the other end of the table. There sat a woman with incredibly large spectacles perched on the end of her nose.
“Sybil!” Cried Sirius joyously, “Chosen to join the world of the present, have you? Good, good.”
Sybil said nothing but just stared back at her teacup making symbols in the air with what Remus had thought was a cloak but turned out to be a pair of large magpie wings this woman had instead of arms.
“Talkative and lovely lady.” Sirius informed Remus. “Now drink your tea and think on this riddle.” He handed him a cup that was filled to the brim with steaming tea.
“Death and life, trouble and strife, share with your wife and sharp as a knife, blunt I be. What am I?” As Sirius spoke, the steam rising from Remus’ tea swirled and formed images as he spoke. Remus thought and sipped at his drink, which was infinitely more pleasant than the contents of the bottle he’d picked up.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.” Remus admitted grudgingly, unwilling to admit defeat.
“Nor do I, we must be twins!” Sirius announced. “Though I certainly hope not.” He drew close to Remus, smiling and ticking slightly. “Siblings rarely have as much fun when together as others might.” Remus’ head was reeling.
“Urk!” He said articulately.
“Quite right!” Sirius agreed. “I also think we should go to the sorting now. Farewell Sybil, I’ll see you last week then?”
Sirius led Remus up onto the table and to a hole in the centre. As he looked down at the sand vortex beneath him, Remus suddenly felt cold.
He looked up and saw smoky clouds pushing against an invisible barrier in a dome above them. He peered into the depths and thought he saw a gigantic figure approaching through the smoke. The locket around his neck tingled and Remus felt fear shoot through him.
As he expected, a shriek split the musty desert air. The various clocks Sirius wore began to melt and the sand beneath him began to slow, flowing ever more sluggishly.
“Better be quick.” Sirius said cheerily. “Remember the potion. Take this.” He thrust something into Remus’ hands.
It was a tiny, ornate mirror.
“Lucky you, a mirror that will reflect nothing but my visage. Look into it when you need a saviour.” Sirius said in a rush. He leaned in faster than Remus could blink and pressed a kiss to his lips, tongue curling around his fangs.
Remus was still in shock when Sirius pushed him through the hole in table and he fell towards the place where all of the sand disappeared.
As he fell he heard Sirius shouting something to the gathering clouds, wielding the lengthening clock hand in his own.
“One, two! One, two! And through and through. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head he went galumphing back.”
What rubbish! Remus thought as he plummeted to what was almost certainly a gritty death. Some of those weren’t even real words!
He hit the sand with a soft plumph! And fell through its surface.
(-ooOoo-)
Remus landed in the room of doors once again. The door to Sirius’ tea party slammed shut and the rotation began once more.
Remus didn’t waste any time, he took the top off of the small bottle and downed the rest of the black contents, this time without taste or scent.
The bottle cracked in his hands, falling to the floor in three pieces, Remus felt fur beginning to sprout all across his body, which was very itchy and inconvenient.
At the same time, each of his senses intensified, not helping with the itching and reminding his nose that he’d just been in a very hot desert with the wrong clothes and had sweated quite a bit.
Remus ignored these and looked for the door. Sure enough, on a door directly opposite him there was a large black cross, still emitting light which baffled Remus. Black was an absence of light and, by rights, shouldn’t glow on a door.
He walked to the cross with purpose, reaching out for the door handle again. As before, it didn’t wait for Remus. Before he could touch it, the door folded in on itself, turning to fabric and fluttering away in a non-existent breeze.
Remus took in a deep breath and walked forward into darkness.
(-ooOoo-)
“Mind your head!” Remus ducked. Something went whizzing past his head and vanished through the door-frame behind him.
He looked up angrily and saw that he was at the lip of a large cavern, spiraling downwards to a distant floor with something on it.
On and eye-level with him were about twenty people sat astride flying mallets. They were throwing balls at one another.
Every so often one of them, the one who was wearing a large purple cloak, would announce that he’d won ten points and everyone else would groan.
That was Albus Dumbledore, Remus recognised, the mayor of his town.
“Mr Dumbledore!” Remus called across the air at the man who seemed to have no respect for gravity. Remus had to talk to someone. Something was coming. It had only been held off by Regulus Blacks attempts, he was sure.
“Remus Lupin? How utterly splendid you are looking! Nice ears. Here about the Jabberwock hmm?” Dumbledore asked, weaving towards Remus knocking green clad people on the head merrily as he went.
“Possibly.” Remus answered. Regulus had mentioned a Jabberwock… whatever one was.
“Yes well, far too late now I suppose. Just time for the sorting.” He peered at Remus through spectacles that made his eyes look as if they had vertical rectangle pupils, like a goat’s.
“All seems in order. You have been sorted! Welcome to Gryffindor.” Dumbledore proclaimed, smiling widely. “Now come along, we’ve a game to win.”
Remus was very confused. That had been the sorting? It seemed too quick. Too rushed. All that hype over a ten second decision? How utterly preposterous it was.
At that moment Remus felt the mirror in his pocket and the locket at his throat heat up. He took the mirror out and looked into it at Sirius’ smiling face, tongue lolling out of one side of his mouth.
“Just coming. Shan’t be a second. Go to the bottom, we’ll meet there.” He winked and was gone.
Remus huffed, frustrated at how fast paced everyone was around here and looked around for Sirius. When he wasn’t instantly there Remus began the walk down the obsidian steps to the bottom of the cavern.
As he went, Remus passed various people holding assorted weapons crouching behind rocks and stalagmites. Dumbledore would occasionally pass over them and mutter to them before returning to his game, pretending nothing had happened.
Dumbledore was a very strange man, Remus thought.
(-ooOoo-)
Remus arrived at the bottom of the cave out of breath. He sat down heavily, panting and looking around him. In the centre of the floor was a raised section of rock, on which stood an archway.
Remus found that he couldn’t keep looking at the archway for too long without becoming very uncomfortable. A veil fluttered in the arch and Remus kept on catching glimpses of shadowy figures standing just behind it.
He didn’t like the arch at all. It was wrong and he felt his hackles rise. He snarled quietly, not bothering to correct himself. If he was in such an out of place universe, he might as well fit in to the oddness.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. “ A voice behind Remus said. “I lost track of the time.”
Remus sprang to his feet and leapt at Sirius, wrapping his arms around the only familiar thing he had.
“Remus, I believe we discussed the actions that sibling may or may not take against one another?” Sirius said quietly in Remus’ ear, gripping tightly. “Is murder one of the allowed interactions?”
“What?” Remus asked, pulling away. He flushed red with embarrassment.
“It seems that my brother has joined the Jabberwock.” Sirius said, for once not making any quips or being ridiculous.
Remus turned slowly and looked up at the podium. In front of the veil stood three figures. One was a large bird with a wickedly sharp beak and deranged eyes. It cackled and turned its head quickly from side to side, examining the room.
The second figure was Regulus. He stood, looking defiantly around him; scales visible now even without the smoke mirror. Remus locked eyes with him and felt betrayed. But then he felt warmth spreading from the locket around his neck and he remembered Regulus’ words.
“I will die for you.”
Remus breath caught in his throat. Regulus had not asked Remus whether he wanted his life sacrificed for him. He was being insane and quite frankly rude assuming that he knew everything Remus wanted.
The third figure was hardly a figure at all. It was a tall column of shifting smoke, writhing and occasionally forming recognisable shapes. It shifted through the figure of a man, a snake and a skull.
Slowly the third figure solidified. It was the size of a man now, with large, leathery wings and a flat nose, with slits for nostrils.
“The Jabberwock.” Sirius said quietly, Remus saw he was clutching his clock-sword.
“Citizens of Dumbledore. I have come here to kill every last one of you!” The Jabberwock announced voice filling all the empty spaces of the cavern. Remus had expected this denizen of hell to be far more eloquent. Just a little of his fear dissolved. How could something so blatant in its actions be dangerous?
The Jabberwock raised its hand swept it in an arc. Dark black smoke poured from its fingertips and whenever it touched a flying figure, they fell dead. The large bird next to it screeched and took flight, catching falling corpses in its beak and killing the living with its claws.
Just when Remus had started to think he would most certainly die, a ray of light cut through the smoke and fell on the Jabberwock, causing it to stumble and cover its eyes.
Dumbledore was pointing down at the Jabberwock, fury written on his face. The light appeared to be burning the Jabberwock.
The giant bird flew down swiftly and shielded its master from the fiery gaze of Dumbledore.
“My time has come.” Sirius said next to Remus. “Beware the Jub-jub bird no more. It soon will die.”
Sirius kissed Remus again, softly pressing their lips together, hand tangled in his hair, stroking his wolf’s ears. Then he was gone.
No longer under the light Dumbledore cast, the Jabberwock was beginning to recover. But before it could, Remus saw Regulus’ body elongate and become almost fully serpentine.
He slithered over to the Jabberwock and wrapped around him three times, squeezing tightly.
Remus felt the locket twitch and heard thoughts that were not his own.
For you, Remus. This is for you.
Regulus dragged the struggling Jabberwock back past the fluttering veil. A sighing sound was emitted by it, coupled with the final call of the evil beast.
“I will not die! You will not survive as long as I. Watch for Me! I will be back!”
Again Remus was disappointed with the basically very straightforward message of doom and despair. It just wasn’t as scary as things that were mysterious and unknown.
He was pulled out of his reverie and shock at Regulus’ sacrifice when he heard Sirius cry out.
He stood on next to the arch, bleeding from one arm. The Jub-jub bird was also leaking a foul black blood from several places, the result of Sirius long sword no doubt.
“That’s the best you can do?” Sirius demanded, laughing, “I’ll see you dead within no time at all…”
As he was speaking the Jub-jub bird speared forwards. Sirius blocked the blow but was knocked backwards. He stumbled and tipped backwards, falling right through the veil, still smiling.
“No!” Remus cried. Sure, after watching the Jabberwock, that the veil was a death sentence.
No longer aware of what was going on around him, of his appearance or odd situation, Remus ran. He pelted towards the veil, determined to drag Sirius back through, quick joke playing across his lips.
However, before Remus could reach the veil, where he probably would have been killed by the bird either way, he tripped.
His foot simply caught on a jutting piece of rock and he fell, headfirst, onto the floor, hitting his head hard.
What a boring way to fail to save a loved one. Remus thought woozily as the world turned black around the edges. He should have done something stupid or crazy. Something to be remembered by. He shouldn’t have cracked his own skull on a rock because he was so clumsy.
Remus sighed, wishing that he’d be dead when he woke up.
(-ooOoo-)
Remus felt groggy. His head pounded and could smell wet dog.
He blinked and his vision slowly swam into focus. Above his was Sirius Black, black hair framing his face, looking concerned.
“Remus, are you ok? Christ you scared the shit out of me!” Sirius was rambling. “I found you here, you must have hit your head, you were bleeding, and can you walk? Should we go?”
“Sirius.” Remus interrupted. “Thank you, I’d like to go back home now. Err… could you help? I still feel like a horse has stamped on my head.”
That had been the weirdest dream ever. He’d got to kiss Sirius so it had also been a good one… Regulus had been there. Remus had had claws.
Remus groaned and slumped half-way through being lifted by Sirius.
“Remus!” Sirius cried, catching him. Remus quite liked being concussed, he decided. Sirius touched him a lot. “Stop worrying me!” That was nice too.
“Sorry” Remus mumbled, reaching into his pocket for a tissue to check for blood on his head.
He froze. His hand had encountered not the soft folds of a tissue, but the smooth surface of a small mirror.
His hand leapt to his neck and there was a necklace hanging there where there hadn’t been one before.
Remus didn’t know what to think. Could that have been real?
Sirius reached up and rubbed Remus’ head exactly where his wolf-ears had been in the dream. It had to be a coincidence. A huge joke?
“Do… do you want to come to my house for supper?” Sirius asked, seeming nervous.
Remus turned to him and smiled. “I’d love to.” He said, leaning on Sirius slightly more than was necessary.
Whether his dream had been real or not, Remus thought contentedly, it was always good to have dinner elsewhere when your parents were serving liver.
~The End~